Late Night Archives - Page 4 of 6

In Deli

Caplansky’s Delicatessen at Pearson International Airport in Toronto

November 3, 2014

Caplansky’s Delicatessen has been pitched on Dragons Den in 2011 to expand his business by opening food trucks, but was unsuccessful. He went on again to pitch a second time, but still unsuccessful due to their evaluation.

When I was in Toronto, I saw them at special events, but didn’t have time to stop by their truck. They have claimed to have Downtown Toronto’s best smoked meat, so when I was at the airport, I knew it was my last chance to give it a try.

In August 2014, they opened their first franchise at Toronto Pearson Airport in Terminal 3 after the security check. They bring their famous BBQ beef brisket and deli classics like blintzes and kniches to people traveling out of Toronto. I had dinner here before my flight back to Toronto.

They have a dining area and also a take out area for people in a rush. It was really busy during dinner time, but I had to give it a try before my flight. You will find them near gate B39.

Coke ($3) is what I ordered to quench my thirst and add a little kick of caffeine without drinking coffee.

Smoked Meat Deli Sandwich ($9.95) comes with a slice of pickle.

The quality of meat was ok, but wasn’t as succulent as they portrayed on tv. The smoked meat with pretty lean, but did need their signature mustard to add more flavour. This item was featured on Diners, Dive-ins and Dives, but it doesn’t look the same, but perhaps its because it’s a franchise.

We Rate Caplansky’s Delicatessen:

Address:
Terminal 3
6301 Silver Dart Dr Mississauga, ON

Website:
http://www.caplanskys.com/

In Chinese

Doolami Dessert 多乐蜜甜品: Chinese Dessert in Vancouver

October 20, 2014

Doolami Dessert on Granville Street in the Marpole area specialized in Asian Dessert. If you love durian, this is your place to go. You will find durian ice cream and durian sago cream. Durian is a very pungent fruit from asian. It has a spiky exterior shell with soft silky fruit. Some love and some absolutely hate it because of it’s smell.

I came with M and KoreanGirl for some late night dessert just to try this new place out.

Their hours of operation are very limited:

Monday – Thursday 7:00pm-11:00pm
Friday – Saturday 7:00pm-12:00am
Sunday 7:00pm-11:00pm

The interior is not very large, so there is limited seating.

Durian Sago Cream ($7.99) it was cold, smooth and yummy. It comes in a small bowl it is enough for one person or to share. The taste of the durian was like onions. Eat this with caution because if you burp, someone is going to smell the durian on you.

Chilled Mango Cream with Pomelo ($6.99) is a popular dessert. Good and delicious for all. Can’t say no to mango.

Chocolate Doolami Ice Cream ($7.99) was quite expensive for what you get as there are only 2 scoops. It was also the last dessert to arrive as they make it fresh to order. The ice cream was soft and its served over a cone bowl.

They have homemade pints of ice cream for $11.99. Their ice cream has no additives, made of real fruit and made in-house.

There are a few flavours available:

Durian
Mango
Matcha
Blueberry + Lavender
Chocolate

They sell out of their pints quite early in the evening, so go early or call ahead of time to request flavours. We got the last durian pint at 8pm, which was one hour after they opened. Imagine Doolami as the asian Earnest Ice Cream.

We Rate Doolami:

Address:
8030 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.weibo.com/doolami

In Izakaya

Rajio: Turn On The Rajio Dining Package

September 24, 2014

Rajio is located near UBC and are owned by the same people who have brought us Suika Izakaya and Kingyo Izakaya. Rajio is Japanese for Radio, so you will notice their logo is a radio at the front of the restaurant.

The team at Vaneats.ca are currently offering up a $20 ‘Turn on the Rajio‘ dining package, which includes 4 items:

Kushikatsu – 4 bite size skeweres
Banga Cauda – fresh veggies and dip
Sashimi Salad
Heavenly Ebi Ramen

I came here on a weekday with 3 of my good friend to enjoy some yummy Japanese food. We used the package, as well as ordering a few items off them menu.

The interior is quite nice and really connects you back to Japan.

Complimentary cabbage with a light acidic dressing. Yummy!

Bagna Cauda has fresh veggies with a dipping sauce made from garlic, anchovy, olive oil and sweet Japanese white miso. This was a really strange dish to see at a restaurant especially if it’s served in a pyrex cup. Funny to see all the vegetables, but it actually pairs well with the sauce. The sauce blew us away.

VANEATS Sashimi Salad has their Chef’s omakase sashimi with crisp romaine lettuce tossed in kalamata olive soya dressing topped with tobiko. Very good sashimi salad.

Kushikatsu is what Rajio is known for! It has the Chef’s recommendation of 4 deep fried, panko breaded, bite sized skewers with their dipping sauce. Just make sure you only take on dip. I was scared to use the sauce because what if someone double dipped by accident.

Heavenly Ebi Ramen is a new item and has tender ramen in deep-golden shrimp broth, embellished with slices of cha-shu pork and shrimp infused garlic oil. Its a bit disappoint to see there isn’t any who ebi shrimp in the dish. It tasted ok but I felt like it was still lacking something.

Overall, the Vaneats Turn on the Rajio package is a good start to dive into their menu, but you will need to order a few more dishes to round out the whole experience.

Let keep exploring some dishes outside of the dining package.

Smashing Hit Punch ($13) looks pretty awesome. It is punch with watermelon, orange, grapefruit, vodka, rum, white wine and all served in a watermelon. It’s a small watermelon and not those regular large ones. It looked really cool, but M thought the beverage could have been colder to enhance the flavours.

Chicken Knees is actually chicken cartilage with some meat. Some people may think this dish is weird, but it’s just like chicken karaage but with the added cartilage.

Tontoro Yaki is their grilled pork jowl with shredded onions and yuzu kosho – a citrus dressing.

The KFC ($7.80) has boneless chicken karaage coated with their secret spices.

We also ordered more Kushikatsu.

Chicken Kushikatsu, mochi Kushikatsu, and bacon wrapped tomato Kushikatsu.

Sausage Kushikatsu and Camembert Cheese

Tako Wasabi ($3.80) has raw chopped octopus with pickles marinated in a wasabi sauce. You take the mixture and scoop them onto the seaweed and eat it together. I like this dish because you get the nice kick of wasabi.

Overall, my friends and I had a great time! We casually chatted over beer and food. The ambiance was great because they actually played some good music. Discovered a few songs that I wanted to put on a few on my playlists.

We Rate Rajio:

Address:
3763 W. 10th Ave.
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RajioJapanesePublicHouse

In American

The Keg: Steakhouse in Vancouver

August 12, 2014

When I’m not cooking steak at home, we head out to The Keg Steakhouse and Bar. There are multiple locations throughout Canada. We went to the Burnaby location as always as it is the closest one to our home.

They of course have a variety of meat and seafood to choose from, plus they do have salads for vegetarians. The prices are fair and they always have consistent service and food quality.

Since we had a large group, we decided to make a reservation a few days ahead of time so we don’t have to wait in line.

Filet Mignon (7oz – $32) is the cut I recommended to my in-laws. Since it is their first time in Canada, they really need to try how tender and delicious our Canadian beef really is. This dish has the tenderloin wrapped in applewood smoked bacon and served with some veggies and a side of your choice.

They chose roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Blue Cheese Filet (7oz – $33) is their filet mignon wrapped in applewood smoked bacon, covered
with a blue cheese crust, and finished with roasted garlic cloves. I got roasted vegetables on the side.

It is best to choose it done medium rare and you can really taste the flavours of it.

New York striploin (12oz – $31) is what M ordered. It is tender and full of flavour too. He only gets his steaks done medium rare.

Overall, everything tasted great! No complaints at all.

We Rate the Keg Steakhouse:

Address:
4510 Still Creek Ave
Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.kegsteakhouse.com/en/locations/BC/burnaby/burnaby-keg/

In Chinese

Richmond Night Market: What to Eat?

August 7, 2014

The Richmond Night Market is a summer attraction in Vancouver. I’ve come here for many years and I always gravitate towards the food stalls. The smell of grilling skewers, the slurping sounds of people drinking Bubble Tea and the sight of all the people speeding past you. Entrance is now $2.75 per person. Alternatively, you can purchase a Zoom pass for $20 to get up to 15 visits. It is transferrable and you get to go in the VIP line up rather than the regular line up. It’s good if you are planning to make multiple visits to the night market, have lots of friends, or just hate waiting in line.

I only come to Richmond Night Market once a year, so I paid $2.75 and went in the regular line up. Even though the lineup does look SUPER LONG. It does go by quickly. Their staff is pretty efficient.

There are many options to get to the Richmond Night Market – Driving, Canada Line Skytrain, or you could walk if you really wanted to.

We opted to just drive since we live in Burnaby as they do not charge for parking. So, we thought we could beat the 7pm rush and get here at 6:40pm. To our surprise, there was still a line up for parking.

They made us park a fair distance away from the Night Market entrance. Turns out, their closer parking lot isn’t open until AFTER 7pm.

So, we began our walk to the entrance.

Then we kept walking…and walking until we got to the closer parking lot.

We did eventually get to the Night Market. We just didn’t like the fact that we got “punished” for arriving early and have to park so far.

We headed straight towards the food section! I always get overwhelmed by all the different vendors, so I walk around the booths to see if there are a few booths that make my mouth water. You will find a plethora of different items here like German Pork Hocks, Skewers, crepes, grilled squid, donuts, curry, dim sum, takoyaki, etc.

Shaka Shaka Squid is an awesome new booth this year that serves up Deep Fried Squid. I much prefer deep fried squid over the grilled ones.

There are 3 flavours to choose from:

Shaka (Original Salt and Pepper)
Sweet Seaweed
Spicy Shaka

Small sizes are $7 and Large sizes are $11.

Shaka Deep Fried Squid (Large – $11) is what M, CCK and myself started with. The batter is definitely super crunchy and full of flavour. The squid was not chewy at all and cooked perfectly. The mayo on top went well with it. The Shaka flavour was by far our favourite. I would highly recommend this place.

It was so good, we went back and bought 2 more to try the rest of the flavours

Spicy Shaka Deep Fried Squid (Large $11) is quite spicy after you eat a few of them. It’s good if you love spicy. The amount of batter and crispiness was consistent.

Sweet Seaweed Deep Fried Squid (Large $11) was still good, but it wasn’t our favourite. I think I just really love salt and pepper.

No matter what flavour you get, i’m sure you’ll like it. The batter is what makes it so addictive. M, CCK and I were so addicted to these.

Another new booth this year is Tenryu Hashimaki which sell Japanese savoury crepes on chopsticks.

They have 5 main flavours:

Curry
Cheese
Ramen
Crab
Shrimp

It’s $6 each or 2 for $10.

They even have a diagram to show people how to eat it.

Crab Hashimaki ($6) has the crepe wrapped around the chopstick and topped with the crab, seaweed, and a generous handful of dried bonito flakes. You definitely need two hands to eat this or else it will get messy with just one. I felt the crab didn’t add much flavour to the crepe.

Ramen Hashimaki ($6) was quite similar but it has the crispy ramen noodles, mayo, seaweed, and bonito on top. The ramen added nice texture to the hashimaki.

It definitely reminded me of an Okonomiyaki on a stick or a takoyaki in a different form.

A visit to the Richmond Night Market isn’t complete until I take a visit to Chef James to buy a few of his skewers.

You can choose from:

AAA Steak Beef
Chicken
Lamb
Honey Prawn Garlic
Crispy Green Onion Bun
Lamb Kidney

The skewers are 3 for $7.25 or 5 for $11.50.

We chose an assortment of skewers – Lamb, Chicken, and 3 beef skewers. Delicious as usual.

M started getting thirsty from all the salty food, so he made a visit to Sugar Cane Juice for some Young Thai Coconut.

Young Thai Coconut ($4) M really enjoyed it. Thirst quenching and delicious as always. We prefer these ones over the brown-looking coconuts. These are much sweeter and the coconut meat tastes good. Too bad we didn’t have a spoon to eat it.

For my beverage/dessert, I took a trip to my favourite booth – Icy Bar. I love these items and remind me of my childhood. Plus, I also love mangoes.

They also have a permanent location inside Crystal Mall in Burnaby.

Mango Tapioca Icy ($5) has fresh mango, small tapioca pearls, coconut milk, shaved ice, and condensed milk all layered in a large clear cup. Tastes delicious and looks delicious.

Overall, despite our failed attempt at arriving early to the Richmond Night Market to get a close parking spot and beating the crowds, the food is undeniably delicious and is quite a unique experience.

There’s definitely more food options than what I covered, but you will find something you will like.

On Friday and Saturday, they are open from 7pm till 12am. Sunday and statutory holidays, they are open 7pm till 11pm. It is open this season till October 13, 2014, so you have plenty of time left to visit.

Website: http://www.richmondnightmarket.com/

Address:
8351 River Rd
Richmond BC

In Late Night

Ferris Oyster Bar: Oysters in Victoria, BC

July 25, 2014

Ferris’ Oyster Bar is located in Victoria, BC. When I was here for a work trip, I wanted to check it out as it was one of the most talked about places in town, plus very high reviews. It is more upscale compared to the Ferris’ Oyster Grill on the first floor. Mags and I came here once we wrapped up work.

The interior is nice and cozy with cool art on the walls.

Baked Oysters (one of each $18) has 6 different flavours you can choose from. Since Mags and I wanted to them all, we opted to try them all.

The flavours were:

Cornelius – corn flakes, butter, fresh thyme
Bottecelli – pecorino romano, cracked pepper, lemon and breadcrumbs
Original Rockefeller – spinach, green onion, butter and Pernod
La Truffe – Creamed Leaks, crispy prosciutto, truffle oil
Sea horse – horseradish, butter, lemon
Catalan – romesco, bread crumb, olive oil

When it arrived to our table, I thought it was strange it wasn’t baked in the shell. The only flavor we enjoyed was the Botticelli, but everything else was quite strange.

Virgin Seafood Caesar ($6.50) has freshly shucked oyster, chilled mussel and tomato juice with spicy picked green beans, piparras and fresh horseradish. It was a beautiful presentation and tasted great!

Chicken Liver Pate ($9) is served in a mason jar and topped with a pedro ximenez gelée and served with crostini. We did not like this dish because we like to keep our pâté separated from the jam. It really was drowning in the jam and masked a lot of the pâté taste. I would never order this again.

Ceviche ($12) was served with local seafood, aji amarillo, and spicy leche de tigre. This dish was also very disappointing because it did not contain any acidic notes in the sauce. It tasted more like mango juice with tuna sitting inside.

Overall, Mags and I were not very impressed with Ferris’ Oyster Bar. Nothing tasted right and the service was atrocious. Our server dropped some of our crostini on the table, while she was placing it down. She just said ooopps and put it back onto our plate with her bare hands. The only thing good was the Virgin Seafood Caesar. There’s a lot of other Oyster bars that are better than Ferris.

We Rate Ferris Oyster Bar:

Address:
536 Yates St
Victoria BC

Website:
http://www.ferrisoysterbar.com/

In American

Prohibition Tasting Bar: New Restaurant in Yaletown

July 14, 2014

Prohibition Tasting Bar is owned by their parent company – Prohibition Brewing Company, which is located in an old distillery on the outskirts of Kelowna in British Columbia’s Okanagan Region. They are 100% B.C. owned and operated and strive to bring clean, crisp and refreshing traditional beers while supporting local suppliers and communities.

They feature five different Prohibition beers, cocktails and small pairing menu. It’s a fantastic spot for lunch or after work drinks.

The interior is quite beautiful with their elegant black and red colour scheme. It’s a great place that can handle large groups.

The 5 beer they feature are:

Bootlegger Amber Ale
Lawless IPA
Getaway Lager
Smuggler Scotch Ale
Hideout Honey Lager

They also have a cider that is off the menu.

Flight of Four ($8) is a great way to sample most of their beers. I loved all the beers except for the Lawless IPA, but I never really liked IPAs anyways.

Moonshine Sour ($9.50) is served as a double and has moonshine, walnut butters, citrus and whites. The drink was sweet and refreshing.

Charcuterie Board ($16) has a selection of their market meat and cheese. It is served with some nuts, crostini, mustard, dipping sauce, and pickles. It’s a good dish to pick at while having drinks.

Duck Wings ($11) has a pound of the wings and you can get them hot, lemon pepper or BBQ. We got the lemon pepper and it was delicious! Highly recommended. TaiwaneseGirl and I couldn’t stop raving about these. It’s easy to eat and theres so much flavour.

Prosciutto Sandwich with Chips ($9 +$6) the chips are very addictive! It’s thick cut and super crunchy. Great flavour too.

Look at that meat.

The proscuitto sandwich contains tomato, balsamic, brie, lettuce, and proscuitto inside the bread. It tasted ok, but I wasn’t too impressed.

Pretzel Knots ($8) has ale cheese, dijon and pickles on the side.

You must dip the pretzel into the cheese and make it taste really good. Can’t go wrong with cheese right?

Overall, the drink selection is great and the food that accompanies it is also yummy. I would definitely bring my coworkers here after work for a few drinks. The staff were also very knowledgeable on all their drinks, so I definitely learned a lot. Great service!

We Rate Prohibition Tasting Bar:

Address:
1269 Hamilton St
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://www.prohibitionbrewingco.com/

In American

Mamie Taylors: Food and Taxidermy

June 29, 2014

Mamie Taylor’s is one of the newer restaurants to open up in Chinatown across from Phnom Penh. It’s usually busy in the evenings and there is pay parking in the streets. They serve up modern American food on their menu and have a wide selection of drinks and cocktail. A perfect place to go after work with coworkers.

The inside is very nice, but it’s creepy when you start looking at all the taxidermy on the walls. It definitely gives this restaurant character.

Sapporo ($6) was my choice as usual. I’ve always liked it’s light crisp taste.

Japanese Whiskey Flight ($20) has nikka super, nikka from the barrel and nikka black. My coworkers enjoyed trying the different types and how their taste differed from one another.

Corn Bread & Biscuit ($4) comes with a jalapeño bourbon butter. These two items were very delicious! Full of flavour and quite enjoyable.

Fried Olives ($4) has blue cheese, currants, and sherry. I do love olives surprisingly and it was a nice way to add some crunch to an olive. It is a small dish, so these olives can go quickly if you are a quick snacker.

Pimento Cheese ($5) comes with cannoli, espellete, and salad o’ celery. This was yummy! The delicious cheese paired with the crunchy cannoli was perfect. I could eat a few of these.

Tuna Melt ($6) the tuna is cured & smoked, has potato salad, and cheddar. There’s some small onion on the side too. This was a yummy tuna melt.

Turducken ($6) has scotch egg in the centre. It is accompanied with tomatillo sauce and a garlic mayo. It’s not exactly what I imagined for a turducken but it’s their fun twist to it. It tasted alright.

Overall, we ordered all their snacks but didn’t stick around for dinner since we all had alternate plans after drinks. I’ll definitely be back for dinner since their entrees looked pretty damn awesome.

We Rate Mamie Taylors:

Address:
251 East Georgia St.
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://mamietaylors.ca/

In Late Night

Maji Restaurant: Taiwanese Restaurant in Richmond

June 28, 2014

Maji Restaurant is located in Richmond on Alexander Road with all the other delicious restaurants on that strip. I came here for dinner with a few friends and I was excited to try this place. Maji serves Taiwanese food and are only open for dinner till late.

There is parking in the back, but during peak hours, it’s really hard to find a spot. You may find yourself having to park further away.

The interior is unique and the bricks on the walls look quite neat. It is a bit dark inside, but it sets the mood for late night snack and drinks.

If you know Taiwanese Beer, this beer is pretty delicious! I haven’t been able to find it at any other restaurant till now. It’s very light and has a crisp taste.

Stir Fried Gai Lan ($6.25) was delicious! It is stir fried with garlic. The downside is that it’s a bit oily.

Taro Chicken ($8.99) is once of the dishes our friends suggested. It has a good amount of chicken and taro. Some of the chicken had bits of bone, but the sauce was very good. I would get this again.

Rice was ordered so we could eat it with the dishes we ordered. Since I don’t eat a lot of rice.

Overall, the food was pretty good. M and I shared these items and we still had to take some of it to go. The portions are perfect and price is great.

We rate Maji Restaurant:

Address:
1180 – 8391 Alexandra Rd
Richmond BC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/majirestaurant

In Late Night

The Narrow Lounge: Hidden Gem on Main Street

May 26, 2014

Where do you want to go for a great time with friends with cheap drinks? Find the Narrow Lounge by looking for the red light and the SUPER SKETCHY entrance. When my coworkers took me here, I thought it was like a place to buy drugs or something.

Once you get through this entrance, you will discover that it’s not a bad place at all. It’s a popular place and word is mostly spread by word of mouth. It’s been around since 2008.

It’s a dark lounge indoors and it fills up quite quickly on Fridays after work. Since we were sitting in offices indoors all day, we needed a glimpse of the sun, so we opted to sit outside on the patio.

The patio has so much characteristic. It opened up in early May and it’s here to stay for the Summer.

There’s not too many seats, but it’s good if you come early to snag a table for your buddies. Plus, you get a cool view of these tiki masks.

Sol ($3) seriously what a good deal. It was the special of the day. I’m impressed by the price of their beer menu too, most beers are under $7. If you really want to drink and not break your wallet, come here!

Fish Tacos (2 for $5) has tequila and lime marinated tilapia, cabbage, tomato, cilantro, and a creamy chipotle lime sauce on small corn tortillas. My coworker thought these were amazing and could have ordered a bunch more of these.

Mac and Cheese with pulled pork was what Mags ordered. It was a decent mac and cheese. You can add different types of protein on top, but it can become pricey. Not the best mac and cheese, but you can see for yourself.

Nachos ($14) had layers of cheese, jalapeño, olives, tomatoes, and salsa and sour cream on the side. Good size for nachos and fed 4 people perfectly. It was a bit burnt but it was still so good.

Overall, we all had a great time! Drinks on the patio and some finger food was perfect for after work. The service can be a bit slow on the patio since the servers aren’t always outside, but it’s not too bad.

We Rate Narrow Lounge:

Address:
1898 Main St Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.narrowlounge.com/

In Dessert

Wanda’s Belgian Waffles: Dessert on Younge Street

May 15, 2014

Who likes waffles? I like waffles. When I was in Toronto for vacation, I was looking for some dessert after dinner. Something kinda walkable from Eaton’s Centre. There were lots of options but a lot of them closed early. Wanda’s Belgian Waffles popped up on my Urbanspoon app, as well as the Yelp app. Reviews were decent and how can you go wrong with waffles?

The pictures looked decent and we thought it would be a nice place to hang out.

When we arrived, we ordered from the window. The man was a bit rude and pushy when it came down to ordering. It wasn’t a very good first impression. We watched the man grab a ball of dough and stick it onto the waffle iron. It was pretty sad to watch the grumpy man make our waffles.

When we got our order, we didn’t know there was another counter inside to order. We would rather order from the inner counter rather from the window as we were dining in.

Ice cream special ($4.79) has the liege waffle topped with ice cream, caramel drizzle and powdered sugar. The liege waffle was very doughy and you could tell there was a lot of sugar in it. I kept biting small sugar crystals.

Strawberry Special ($7.49) has the liege waffle with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. This one was the better one out of the two waffles we got. Lot of strawberries and whipped cream covering the liege waffle. The liege waffle was also quite doughy and dense.

This place was ok, but nothing impressive here. After trying Nero Belgian Waffle Bar in Vancouver, nothing else can compare. Sometimes I hate being a tourist because I can never make good food decisions in a city I am not familiar with.

We Rate Wanda’s Belgian Waffles:

Address:
361 Yonge St Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.wandaswaffles.com

In Korean

Miss Korea: Eat and Drink like a Korean

May 5, 2014

Miss Korea is a Korean bar/restaurant that sells lunch, dinner, and drinks. It is located near Yonge x Bloor Streets in Toronto, which is not too far from the 2 universities (U of T and Ryerson). The interior has a hybrid look of old and modern feel. It’s clean and good for a small group of friends to hang out (you can also host a bigger party upstairs). I’ve noticed university students and young professionals frequent this place often.

After window shopping and walking around the Yorkville area on a nice Sunday evening, Bunny-Bunny and I (Fabo) went to Miss Korea to grab a bite and a couple of drinks.

When we were there, it was only about 6-7pm so the place was quite empty. At one point we were the only customers there, which I liked. Miss Korea is usually more crowded around 9pm and onwards as it’s a good place to drink beer/soju/rice wine and eat snacks with your friends.

After looking through their menu, we decided to get something from their combo menu plus a main to satisfy our Korean food cravings. We ordered 4 bottles of beer and oden soup from their combo menu. Oden soup was tasty, but perhaps because of MSG. We depleted the soup before eating all the fish cakes.

Don’t have a picture, but we got 2 bottles of Coors Light and 2 bottles of Keith. There also were imported beers on the menu, but those weren’t part of the combo menu (I wanted Sapporo, but oh wells).

We also ordered bulgogi dolsot to share. It comes with a separate spicy sauce (gochoojang) to mix with.

It was my first time visiting Miss Korea during dinner time as I usually went for drinks. Going there during dinner time was actually not bad because you can enjoy a quiet conversation with your friends. If you are too lazy to travel all the way to Christie or North York for a Korean food, and if you want a casual place to meet up with friends, I would recommend you to give this place a try.

We Rate Miss Korea:

Address:
687 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON

Website:
www.misskorea.ca

In Four Beakers

Bar Isabel: Canada’s Best New Restaurant

May 4, 2014

My most recent trip to Toronto to visit a few friends over the long weekend was a blast. I got to catch up with old friends and chill. Flo recommended we hit up Bar Isabel as it is one of the hottest restaurants in town. I am not familiar with any restaurants in Toronto, so she made reservations a few weeks in advanced and we got a spot. This experience in Toronto was created in partnership with momondo.

It is highly recommended you have reservations before you come dine here or else you might be out of luck. The open everyday from 6pm – 2am.

They serve up spanish tapas and are best known for their grilled octopus. They have been named Canada’s Best New Restaurant 2013 by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine. Also, they have been named one of Toronto’s top restaurants in 2014 by Huffington Post.

The interior is pretty cool. It’s a bit dark inside and really red. It was really hard to take photos in here. To have a good time, groups of 2 or 4 are best.

Hopeless Mermaid ($16) has Elyx vodka, St.Germain elderflower liquor, fresh lime and grapefruit juice, rich ginger syrup, Angostura bitters, and grapefruit zest.

We Choose Yer Own Adventure ($15 – $20) is great for indecisive people. The server will have a chat with you to see if you like refreshing/light or bold/sturdy drinks. Then, they will choose something for you.

Roundhouse ($16) has Auchentoshan 12yr scotch, Jameson Irish whiskey, Los Arcos amontillado sherry, bad azz orgeat, fresh lime juice, Angostura bitters, and lemon oils.

All the drinks were pretty good! Pricey…but the quality was really good.

Cured Meat Plate ($16) has some pickled vegetables and you can choose 3 types of cured meats from the menu. We chose chorizo, beef carpaccio and coppa.

Bread ($4) was soft in the centre and has the crunchy crust.

Spicy Fried Squid ($8) has crispy tongue and kale on top. The squid is very soft and tender. I found that the tongue and the kale didn’t add anything special to the squid to accentuate the flavours.

Smoked Sweetbreads ($18), has raw tuna, spicy pickled green tomato, and brown butter. If you don’t know what sweetbreads are, it’s not what you think. It’s really glands from an animal. This dish tasted pretty good and the sweetbreads had a chewy spongy texture to them.

Albacore Tuna Tiradito ($14) has asian pear, celery, jalapeño and fried rosemary. It had a good assortment of ingredients that pairs nicely with the tuna.

Whole Sea Bream Ceviche ($26) was pretty awesome! It even comes with the deep-fried fish carcass and on top of that is the ceviche. Very delicious!

1/2 Grilled Octopus ($34) was my favourite part of the meal. The half-size was plenty enough for the 4 of us. Wow, this octopus was tender. When you bite into the tentacles, the suction cups just fall apart in your mouth. Hands down best octopus I’ve ever eaten. It has great flavours! I still think about this dish a few times a week. MmmMmmmm so good!

Leche Frita & Salted Dulce de Leche ($6) this was my favourite dessert. It was really delicious and the sweetness and flavours were nicely put together. It was like a churro.

Salted Dark Chocolate Ensaimada ($7) was ok, not as good as their other 2 desserts. The star here is the salted chocolate ice cream. The ensaimada didn’t add much to the dish.

Basque Cake ($8.50) has Sherry Cream all over it. The cake was moist and the sherry cream was perfect with it. So simple but so good. My other friends thought this was the best dessert.

Overall, the four of us had a good time at Bar Isabel. The food was good and I would definitely come back.

We Rate Bar Isabel:

Address:
797 College St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://barisabel.com/

In Izakaya

Itadakimasu Izakaya: Japanese Food on Main

April 24, 2014

Itadakimasu Izakaya is a Japanese restaurant on Main street. They are only open for dinner and they have some good drink specials at night. We came here for a triple birthday party as they had great drink specials and good price on food.

Sapporo Pitcher ($9.99) and Large Geikkaikan Sake ($5.99) are an amazing deal.

Daily Cute Temari Sushi Box ($12) has 10 assorted ball shaped sushi. They are essentially nigiri’s in a different form. They definitely look amazing, but once you taste it, its quite standard. Nothing different tasting.

Beef Tataki ($10) has seared rare AAA beef tenderloin marinated in ginger soy and mirin. It also has ponzu sauce in gelatin form.

Chicken Karaage ($6) is marinated chicken thats been deep-fried. It comes with 6 pieces and its delicious as always.

Geso Karaage ($6.50) is deep fried squid legs. Squeeze some lemon to it to add some more flavour. I thought it was a bit bland.

Pari Pari Ebi Mayo ($7) has crispy prawns with a spicy chilli mayo sauce. It was good! We all enjoyed it. The sauce has a nice level of spiciness.

Butter Mentaiko Udon ($8) has udon noodles tossed in a butter and cod roe sauce. It is garnished with shreds of seaweed. Simple and delicious. You just mix it all together before eating.

Tsukemono ($5) has assorted pickled vegetables. It was alright.

Tako-yaki octopus dumplings (10 pcs – $7.50) is topped with tonkatsu sauce, kewpie mayo and bonito flakes. It tasted pretty average.

Toro sashimi was delicious and always enjoyable.

Tuna Tacos ($7) comes with 3 pieces and it contains seared tuna, coleslaw, yuzu, pepper, mayo, and some garnishes.

Tuna Tataki ($8) has Shichimi crusted tuna, ponzu jelly and scallions. It comes with 8 pieces.

Fried Udon Noodles ($7.50) has pork, kimchi, and fried udon noodles with garnishes. It was a tasty dish.

Overall, the food was good and a plus are the cheap drinks! I’d definitely come back.

We rate Itadakimasu Izakaya:

Address:
4148 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.itadakimasubar.com/

In Cafe

Mimibuloveme: Parfaits in Vancouver

April 22, 2014

Mimibuloveme is a Japanese cafe specializing in parfait. It’s packed during peak hour…it’s really busy at night. One time I went at 1opm and we had no luck with a table because there were so many groups waiting.

The next time, we came at 6pm and just managed to get a table.

The space is really tiny, so there are only a handful of seats. It’s probably best to come in groups of 2 or 4. Anymore and you will be waiting for a while.

Besides parfait, they have pasta, waffles, gelato and various drinks.

Everyone basically orders the parfaits. They really look great.

Hedgehog Parfait ($7) has hedgehog gelato, chocolate cake, marshmallows, chocolate and whipped cream.

Matcha Parfait ($7) has matcha gelato, mochi balls, red bean, cereal, and whipped cream with a raspberry on top.

Strawberry Cream Parfait ($7) has strawberry gelato, strawberry, strawberry puree, cereal, and whipped cream.

The most popular flavours are matcha parfait and strawberry parfait. Another popular flavour is black sesame too. The parfait was a good size and for some people, it might be good to share because it is big.

Overall, Mimibuloveme is the perfect hangout for women or a cute date. Come early if you want to get a seat. It’s terribly busy during peak hours.

We Rate Mimibuloveme:

Address:
5556 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.mimibuloveme.com/

In Downtown

Donair Dude: Huge Delicious Donairs on Granville Street

April 16, 2014

Donair Dude on Granville Street is cranking out some amazing donairs. I can’t believe it took me so long to come here. KoreanGirl and I were looking for some cheap lunch to fill our bellies and stumbled upon Donair Dude.

We are so glad we did because it might just be one of the better donair places in town.

What caught my eye was the lunch special. A pita donair with a can of pop for $5.99. It’s only available from 11am to 3pm. Good deal if you want a filling lunch for under $10.

You pay for your item first, and you choose the ingredients you want in your donair. Everything looked fresh.

Chicken Pita Donair Lunch Combo ($5.99) is huge. Its also quite heavy too! I was very impressed. It is also carefully grilled so the donair does not fall apart. Good execution.

Inside, it is overflowing with vegetables and meat. It tasted really good too.

Chicken Rice Plate ($9.99) has 2 falafels, tabouleh salad, a grilled pita, tzatziki, rice and a bunch of chicken.

They give you a lot and they don’t skimp out on ingredients. KoreanGirl really enjoyed it and left very happy. She also had to save some for a snack later in the day.

We Rate Donair Dude:

Address:
1145 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Tacos el Gordo: Amazing Tacos in Vegas

April 14, 2014

Tacos el Gordo is located at the North end of the Strip. We took a taxi here as we didn’t want to walk from our Hotel. It’s kinda close to Encore and Wynn. They are known for some good tacos.

The taxi dropped us off at the parking lot next door and it was a few seconds of a walk.

The tacos are authentic and the prices are pretty good.

You go inside and grab the tacos that you would like. Then you pay at the cashier. The staff are pretty quick at putting together orders and the smell is incredible.

When it is busy, there can be quite a long line up.

We grabbed a little bit of everything. You can also get unlimited amount of limes and radishes for free.

Horchata ($1.40) was really sweet and hard to drink. It just seemed like nothing I’ve ever had in Vancouver. It’s probably best to stay away from this.

We ordered at bit of everything. I can’t remember which taco was which, but they were all really good. Taco DeLengua (Beef Tongue) $2.25, Taco De Asada (Steak) $2, Taco De Suadero (Beef Shoulder) $2 and Taco De Adobada (Spicy Pork) $2 were among some of the variations we got.

I would definitely come here again. They have really late hours, so its perfect for night owls or after drinking.

We Rate Tacos el Gordo:

Address:
3049 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TacosElGordoLasVegas

In All You Can Eat

Fatty Cow Hot Pot: All You Can Eat Hot Pot in Vancouver

March 26, 2014

Fatty Cow Hot Pot on Victoria Drive is known for their amazing hot pot. Best part is that you don’t need to go to Richmond for some goood all you can eat hot pot. My friends and I come here when we don’t want to travel far. Plus, the interior is nice and the quality of ingredients are pretty good.

We made reservations in the afternoon and they didn’t have many spots left, so we began eating at 6pm. I don’t speak Chinese, so it was very difficult to make a reservation as they couldn’t understand me half of the time. It worked out after a lot of repeating to make sure they didn’t mix up the time with the amount of people in the party. 6pm for 5 people can be a bit confusing.

The prices are reasonable too. $20 for adults with a few additional addons for broth, drinks and whatever else. You will probably end up spending around $30 after tax and tips.

They only accept cash and debt, so make sure you have one or the other.

Double Soup ($8.50) has hot and spicy on one side and the other was a clear vegetable broth. This is my favourite kind since the spicy is great for cooking meat and the clear broth is best for vegetables. Also, its a good way to satisfy the different tastes at the table. Me and my friends would never be able to agree on which broth is better.

To accompany the hot pot, I ordered Sour Plum Juice ($1.50 – glass | $5 a jug). It’s definitely an acquired taste. Only the Chinese people at the table liked it and all the Koreans thought it tasted like BBQ sauce. They couldn’t handle it.

The first order of meat arrived. We ordered a lot, but we had to get our moneys worth. In these huge stacks, there was Beef Rib Eye, Beef Sirloin, Pork Jowl, and Lamb.

You can’t go wrong with any of these.

Marinated Beef and Bean Curd always good stuff to order too. The bean curd does look a bit weird, but it is good.

Beef Cubes had potential, but you have to make sure you don’t over cook them or else they will be chewy and flavourless.

Spam is required. My friends love spam but its not for everyone. Nom Nom Nom Nom spam.

Here comes the healthier items! Vegetables, tofu, mushrooms and the fish balls/meat balls. There needs to be a balance.

Fish Skin is surprisingly AMAZING. It’s crispy and crunchy like chips. You can eat them as is or you can dunk it into the broth. I know it seems weird to eat fish skin, but it’s really good and addictive.

Frozen Tofu is another one of my favourite items to order. It’s so porous, so it has lots of space to absorb the broth. The texture is so different from regular tofu. Get this!!

The oysters are on steroids or something. It’s huge! It was the size of my palms. As they aren’t fresh, it’s good to make sure its cooked all the way through. These were so massive, that it was hard to enjoy.

Mango Pudding was a complimentary at the end of the meal. It was a nice touch since other places won’t have desserts.

Overall, we all had a good time. There’s nothing better than spending a nice dinner with friends eating mass amount of meat and arguing over what side of the broth we should be putting the ingredients into. I’ve never had a disappointing time here yet.

We Rate Fatty Cow Hot Pot Restaurant: