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In 24 hours

Denny’s: Breakfast for Dinner, Dinner for Breakfast

April 10, 2012

At some point in your University career, you may go hours and hours fixated on a large assignment. TaiwaneseGirl and I experienced that last week as we spent the whole day at SFU trying to do some data modeling. We worked so hard but out model just didn’t look right at all. Eventually we gave up and headed down from SFU and ate at Denny’s.

Denny’s is open 24 hours so, you can have breakfast for dinner, or even dinner for breakfast. They have quite a large menu, so you will find something that will tickle your taste buds.

Bacon Avocado Burrito has crispy bacon, avocado, scrambled egg, hash browns, cheese, pico de gallo and a spicy sauce wrapped in a large flour tortilla. It is grilled and served with crispy hash browns.

I actually quite like this dish since it has bacon and avocados. Having it all hashed up in the burrito mixed very well. It’s not your traditional burrito, but it was good after a long day of work! I asked for some tabasco sauce to add a bit of kick to this dish.

Slow Cooked Pot Roast has creamy whipped potatoes and herb-roasted carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions atop grilled ciabatta bread and covered in rich gravy. TaiwaneseGirl was more into a dinner meal for dinner rather than a late night breakfast craving. She liked it and was surprised at the quality.

Overall, Denny’s is a great place for late night food especially when you are a University student. When you are desperate for something edible at night, you know Denny’s is always open. The food is probably not healthy for you, but at least you are fed.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in their lot
Food can be a hit or miss
Quite greasy

We rate Dennys:

Address:

500 Austin Ave
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
www.dennys.com/en/

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In Cafe

Cafe Artigiano: Latte, Yogurt and Sandwiches

April 9, 2012

There are days in the office when I really don’t want to venture far for some breakfast or lunch. Downstairs from my office is a Caffe Artigiano, so it’s quite convenient to just grab and go. Even though there are lots of other cheaper coffee places around – Tim Hortons and Starbucks don’t even compare.

I found their lattes a bit of a hit and miss depending on who is there making the drinks. Sometimes I will get some amazing latte art and sometimes the art will be very very sloppy. I am not an expert on coffee tastes, but I know it was good enough to give me a jump-start for the day.

For breakfast, I just had some mango peach yogurt and a latte for breakfast.

Mango Peach Yogurt with Granola ($3.49) looks promising, but there really wasn’t enough mango and peach compote inside. Once I mixed everything around, it still tasted like the normal yogurt.

Then, I came back for lunch since their sandwiches did look quite good, but that means I didn’t have to walk far for lunch either. Clearly, I was having a very lazy day.

I grabbed a Green Tea and it comes in one size when you dine-in. If you need more tea, you can ask them to fill it up with more water.

Chicken & Brie Panini Sandwich ($8.59) has roast chicken breast, brie cheese, spinach, ﬁg jam, roasted garlic mayo served on a ciabatta bun. It is then grilled in their panini machine. You also get a side of salad too.

The sandwich was very warm and melted to perfection. The brie cheese complimented the chicken well and make it a very gooey cheesy experience.

Overall, Caffe Artigiano is a great place to have a chat with someone over coffee or lunch. It’s not great for studying as there is no wifi. The food is pretty good and makes for a quick lunch. They have tons of locations in Downtown

Words of Wisdom:

Quite busy during peak hours
No wifi

We rate Cafe Artigiano:

Address:

574 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.caffeartigiano.com

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In Chinese

Pelican Seafood Restaurant: Dim Sum + Hello Kitty Mango Pudding

April 6, 2012

Pelican Seafood Restaurant is located on Victoria Drive and Hastings Street. It’s a favorite amongst people in the neighbourhood for dim sum. I came with the Vancouver Gastronomical Brouhaha group to just chow down on some dim sum. It’s always better to eat with great company!

By 10:30am, this place was packed! Unlike traditional Dim Sum restaurants, they do not use carts to push around the food. Instead, you just order it off a piece of paper and it comes to your table. For some people, they may like it, some don’t. It’s just personal preference.

Durian Pastry cane give a lot of people mixed feelings. Some people love durian, some people hate it. Durian is the fruit with all the spikes.

I personally don’t mind durian at all. The pastry was flakey, but the durian was a bit small, so the flavour wasn’t as great as it could be.

Egg Yolk Bun are just the chinese steam buns but filled with custard-like filling.

I didn’t like the texture of the interior because it was pretty gritty. You could taste a lot of the clumps.

Radish Cake is lightly fried on the outside and has a lot of pieces. Good taste too.

Eggplant with prawn puree is one of my favorite dishes.They make it great here! The eggplant is slightly mushy with the savory prawn puree on top. The sauce accompanied the dish nicely too.

Egg Tarts comes with 3 pieces per order. Sometimes if you order multiples of a dish, they combine it together. I’ve never really been a fan of egg tarts.

Rice Rolls with Beef and Parsley is just the steamed rice roll wrapped around a mixture of beef and parsley. It’s another one of those dishes you must order.

Meat Dumpling is crispy on the outside and has a savory meat filling.

Beef Meatballs is one of my favorite items. Who can turn down meat? I sure can’t. hahaha I like dunking the meatballs in worcheshire sauce.

Sticky Rice is wrapped up in leaves and is quite fragrant.

Pan Fried Rice Flour Roll were ok, but I wish it had more stuff to it.

Spring rolls comes in 4 pieces per order, but the picture has 2 orders.I liked them because they had shrimp inside.

Prawn Dumplings (har gau) are my favorites! Or anything with shrimp is my favorite.

Taro Dumpling (wu gok) is super crispy on the outside with soft taro on the inside.

Steam Pork Bun (Xiao long bao) were not very good. The skin was quite thick so it did take away from the flavour of the meat.

Mango Pudding comes in really cute shapes.

Our second order of mango pudding was quite cute too! They really know how to impress the kids. I thought the taste was ok, but it could have had more of a mango fragrance to it.

Overall, the food was good with a few hit and miss items. The service was ok, but there were times where one of the managers or servers were quite rude.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent prices
Rude service
Parking lot in front but usually full at peak hours
Lots of MSG or salt in food

We Rate Pelican Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
1895 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

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In Gastown

Chronic Taco Cantina: Introduction Of A New Menu

April 4, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited to try out their new menu, but I tried to keep the review as unbiased as I could. The review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

Chronic Taco Cantina is located in Gastown and has introduced a new menu to better cater to the people in the area. Their new menu has more variety of California-Style Mexican food as well as appetizers. They still serve their signature tacos and burritos.

I came with GastroFork, FoodPunk, PetitFoodie and CandiedZen to try it out.

There are tons of TVs on the walls so it’s easy to catch the game. Also they have some crazy artwork on their walls. Taco life anyone? They have also installed more booth seating!

Coke! The days when I go without tea or coffee, I go with coke!

Chips and Salsa (complementary) I liked the crunchy chips but I wish there was more salsa. The salsa was good and chunky but the container is a bit small to dip the chips into. I would suggest ordering a side of guacamole to go along with this.

Baja Ceviche ($7.49) has wahoo fish, lime, mango, pears & plantain chips. This is not your traditional ceviche, but I did enjoy the hints of fruity and acidic tastes. We did not have enough plantain chips to use with the ceviche, so we started using the chips.

Taco Platter ($8.49-$11.49) comes with your choice of two tacos and side of rice and beans. The price varies depending if you want soft or crispy shell, or vegetarian. I am not a big fan of rice or beans, so I thought they were alright.

You can choose from these tacos:

Carne Asada – marinated grilled steak
Pollo Asado – marinated grilled chicken
Carnitas – slow cooked pork
Al Pastor – spicy marinated pork with pineapple & onions
Fish – wahoo tecate beer battered or spicy baja style
Shrimp – tecate beer battered or grilled

There’s also other types of rice and beans that you can add. The tacos were quite large too.

The tacos that were really good were the beer battered fish and the shrimp.

Al Pastor Taco has the spicy marinated pork with pineapple & onion. It was indeed large and quite spicy. I usually can take spice, but I had to resort to grabbing a glass of water. The pork was nicely spiced and tender.

Carnitas Taco has slow cooked pork and comes with veggies, salsa and guacamole. The meat was a tad dry.

Jalapeno Poppers ($9.49) are breaded jalapeno peppers with cream cheese & a side of baja sauce. It’s a good item to order when watching the game when you need some finger food. Its a bit spicier than usual places, but I did enjoy the amount of heat.

Beer Battered Prawns ($9.49) are drunk prawns with baja sauce & cilantro sauce. I loved this appetizer! The prawns were of good size and tasted good. It had a crunchy exterior and the succulent prawn inside. YUM!

Flank Steak Fajitas ($15) comes on a sizzling hot plate with flank steak, peppers, and onions. There is also rice & pico de gallo that comes with it. You wrap them all up in a flour tortilla.

The steak tastes good when it comes right off the sizzling plate. If you wait too long, the meat isn’t as tender or flavourful.

This is a fun dish since you can do it yourself, but it is a bit expensive. In the end, we didn’t put it together since we were more interested in eating the meat.

Southwest Stuffed Peppers ($15) contains tofu, spinach, rice, jack cheese & mole.

It is a very unique dish and I’ve never had anything like it. You would expect it to be savory, but with the mole, it just tastes like sweet chocolate.

Deep Fried Ice Cream Sandwiches ($6) has 2 ice cream sandwiches battered and deep-fried with caramel drizzle. You definitely want to share this with another person.

The deep-fried ice cream sandwiches had a good fragrant cinnamon taste to it, which I enjoyed. On the downside, it wasn’t cold in the center as the ice cream just melted from the heat. It ended up more mushy than solid.

Churros Con Sorbete ($6) has fresh churros, cinnamon sugar, caramel sauce, and vanilla bean ice cream.

I like the pairing of the 2 items and the cinnamon and sugar is just heavenly. Unfortunately, I felt like the churro was a bit overcooked. It still had the nice crispy exterior and softer center.

Overall, don’t expect Chronic Taco Cantina to serve traditional Mexican food. It’s a bit different. The food is great to go with games and just chilling with friends. They have a very large interior, so they can accommodate large groups.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent eats
Around $10
Lots of space to watch the game
Beer battered anything is yummy
Burritos are huge!

We Rate Chronic Tacos Cantina:

Address:
102 Water Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.chronictacos.ca/

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In Fast Food

KFC Zinger Double Down Only in Canada

April 1, 2012

KFC has brought back a much talked about sandwich – the Double Down.

Having had a horrible experience with the original Double Down, I was quite hesitant to try it agin. This time around, they have a new version too – Zinger Double Down. This is a spicy version. It only available in Canada!

When you open the box, this little guy is wrapped up in a wrapper to avoid your hands from getting all dirty from eating it.

You can see the 2 pieces of deep-fried chicken, Monterey jack cheese, bacon and spicy mayo sauce.

Upon closer inspection you can see everything inside. Not a pretty sight.

The bacon is quite sad, it’s quite limp and not crunchy. I love crunchy bacon. You can tell the chicken pieces are spicy, just take a look at the spice in the meat.

After taking a bite of the sandwich, I did enjoy it way more than the original Double Down. The sandwich is indeed spicy and it pairs well with the mayo, cheese and bacon. Since the spice is quite strong, it doesn’t taste very salty anymore.

I would definitely order this again and perhaps eat it with a bottle of beer. I am pretty sure it would pair well with beer. It’s only available for a limited time, so get it before its gone.

In Downtown

Miyako Sushi: Soft Shell Crab of Disappointment

April 1, 2012

Miyako Sushi is located Downtown on Pender and brings in a large crowd during lunch time. They are proudly Japanese owned and you will see that in the front of the restaurant.

This place was very busy and the servers seems a bit “cold” and rude when we got a table.

Low Carb Box ($11.95) it come with sunomono, miso soup, dynamite roll, salmon & tuna sashimi, chicken teriyaki salad and fruit.

The sunomono was ok, but could be better as the noodle seemed like they were sitting there for a while. The sashimi tasted alright too, but MeatLover found a bone in her salmon. Thats a bit scary. The chicken teriyaki had so much oil that the whole salad was just very warm and slimy. The dynamite roll was good! The fruit…was super disappointing since it was just a piece of orange when the menu had grapes and apples.

The bento box will get you full, but the execution of the items could be better.

The miso soup was ok and nothing special.

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab ($7.95) was so disappointing. This crab was very very tiny and not worth the money at all! It wasn’t very crunchy and the inside was very juicy, so when you bite into it, a lot of juice would come out. Avoid this at all costs!

Overall, the sushi is good but everything else is disappointing. Sure, they do use wild salmon rather than farmed salmon, but it wasn’t enough to love this restaurant. The items can be a hit and miss, but if you stick with a bento for lunch, you’ll be alright.

Words of Wisdom:

Misleading menu pictures
Good rolls
Can be a bit pricey compared to other restaurants in the area.
Some items poorly executed
poor service

We Rate Miyako Sushi:

Address:
829 West Pender St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://miyakosushi.ca/

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In Burnaby Cariboo-Lougheed

Mui Garden: Curry Beef Brisket

March 29, 2012

Mui Garden has 4 locations in the Lower Mainland and serve up Chinese food. M and I come here once in a while when we want to just get some cheap eats without traveling far. We like to be lazy like that.

From past experiences, they have some decent food here and we’ve had some bad foor here. It’s always good to know what are the better items to avoid the horrible ones.

Sauces at your table. Its kinda gross how all the amounts in these jars are quite low.

Tea! Gotta love tea and gotta have tea everywhere I go.

Curry Beef Brisket ($10.50) is something that M always orders. It’s more Hong Kong Cafe – Style rather than what you would find in an Indian restaurant.

It has a good taste and it’s quite large! This is off the regular menu, but there is also a lunch set that you can get too.

Wonton Noodle Soup ($5.50) was very disgusting. It was quite salty or had lots of MSG. The wontons seemed pre-made or something that you can get frozen at T&T. Definitely avoid from here.

Overall, I would still say the dishes are a hit and miss. You can’t go wrong with the curry beef brisket.

Words of Wisdom:

Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Curry Beef Brisket
Great for large groups
Cash or Debt
Hit or miss food
Free parking
Decent prices

We Rate Mui Garden:

Address:
4327 North Rd
Burnaby, BC V3N

Website:
http://www.muigarden.com/

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In Dim Sum

Dinesty Chinese Restaurant: Steamed Pork Dumplings (XLB) Is Addictive

March 29, 2012

Dinesty is a Chinese restaurant in Richmond best known for the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumplings). They have been know to have amazing food and great prices.

Since the last dinner didn’t go so well at Po King with my parents, I decided it was time for me to decide where to eat. After luring them with delicious internet photos, they agreed to take me here.

Once you enter the restaurant, you’ll see a wall of teapot and little dim sum toys. They are glued to the shelf, so don’t think about stealing them.

Told you there were mini dimsum toys.

For a Tuesday dinner, this place was packed. My mom was super surprised and excited at the same time. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. I’m pretty sure the weekends are crazy to get a table.

The best part about the interior is their open kitchen. You can see everyone cooking in the kitchen. It reminded me of watching a reality show on Food Network or something.

Look at them making the Xiao Long Bao. I was excited.

All your utensils and plates already at the table.

Steamed Pork Dumplings ($6.50) comes in 8 pieces. The skin has a nice thin layer, but still keeps the juice locked up inside. They were pretty good! My little sister couldn’t get enough of these.

Comes with a vingar and ginger dip for the dumplings. I love dunking it in this sauce.

Marinated beef with soy-sauce wrapped in pancake ($5.50) is crispy on the outside and has a great flavour overall.

Cold Wined Chicken ($7.50) was good, but it did have a bit of a strange taste with the wine. If you are into the whole cold chicken type of thing, this may just be for you.

Stewed Chicken Leg in Brown Sauce ($6.50) was good, but most of the meat was closest to the drumstick. The meat was quite tender too.

Noodles Topped with home-made Meat Sauce ($6.50) is similar to the Korean Jajangmyeon. You mix everything together really well and just eat it. The dish was ok, but the sauce was a tad bit salty and needed to be more thick and chunky.

Fried rice with scallop and egg whites ($9.95) I liked it. It had a good mixture of ingredients and it wasn’t too oily.

Steamed shrimp scallop and pork dumpling ($7.50) was definitely not as good as the XLB. Even though I really like seafood, the taste didn’t wow me. It just tasted so fishy. It also comes with 8 dumplings.

Steamed Pork Dumplings ($6.50) we also got more of these because we really really liked them!

Almond Tofu ($2.75) was good, but the picture on the menu was pretty misleading…it had more fruit and when this name out…it seemed like there were only a few pieces.

Overall, the food was great and at good prices. The service was really good as well. I love their menu since it’s so easy to read and has PICTURES! I’ll definitely ba back to eat more steamed pork dumplings!

Words of Wisdom:

Steamed Pork Dumplings (XLB) is a must!
Very busy, so best to make reservations
Most dishes under $10
Good service

We Rate Dinesty Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
8111 Ackroyd Rd
Richmond, BC

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In Cafe

Thomas Haas: Macarons, Cakes and Croissants

March 27, 2012

Thomas Haas Patisserie is known for their decadent pastries and treats. The owner- Thomas Haas has been recognized as one of top 10 chocolatiers in North America and have also won numerous awards.

I’ve been here a few times and it’s always tough to get to the North Shore, but its a treat thats worth the drive. The location is in the middle of nowhere, but it still draws a large crowd on weekdays and weekends. Amy, Angela, Anita, Kathy and I decided to stop by here after our Tomahawk adventure.

This place was super busy and packed!

Macarons are one of their specialties. One of the better macarons in Vancouver. Angela was a bit upset because even though she ordered 4 different flavours, they ran out of one of the flavours. They just give you any other random flavour. Nonetheless, she did enjoy it and you can read more about it on her blog – Muchkie’s Munchies.

The same thing happened to me too. I ordered Pistachio and coffee macarons, but the passionfruit and coffee came instead. I was sad because I didn’t quite like passionfruit but I ate it anyways. The texture and consistancies of the macaroons are top notch.

Lemon Tart ($5.50) has a shortbread crust, lemon cream on top of the light lemon custard.

Milk Chocolate with Passionfruit and Almond ($5.50) has a light milk chocolate mousse, passionfruit cream, soft
almond cake and crispy hazelnut wafer. Check out TheFoodQueen to see what Amy thought of this dessert.

Tiramisu au Chocolat ($5.50) has light mascarpone cream and soft almond cake with amaretto, coffee, and milk chocolate mousse. It was delicious and I love how you can see the whole cross-section of the cake. Tasted awesome too.

Butter Croissant ($2.50) has a lot of flakey layers to the croissant. It was good, but I wishes it was more crispy on the outside.

Look at all those layers.

Double Baked Almond Croissant ($4.45) was so good. There are no words to describe how good this is. *Drools* *DIES* It’s so savory and has so many almonds. Definitely a must get item! Tastes the best when it’s just fresh from the oven too!

Oh like at that. SO good.

Overall, Thomas Haas has some solid treats and even though the locations are so far away, it’s worth the trip.

Words of Wisdom:

Few free parking spots out front
You kinda need a car to get here, unless you like to walk
Recommended: Macarons, Double Baked croissants, and Tiramisu
Can be a bit pricey
Busy with people and might be hard to find a seat for large group
Outdoor seating (great for summer)

We Rate Thomas Haas:

Address:
998 Harbourside Dr
North Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thomashaas.com/

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In 24 hours

Lucy’s Eastside Diner: Awesome MilkShakes!

March 26, 2012

Back to Lucy’s Eastside Diner for late night eats with a few friends! I really like this place since the food is reasonably priced and you know it’s never closed since it’s 24 hours. The food isn’t the best thing you have ever eaten, but it’s good comfort food.

The interior doesn’t have too many seats, but when I come here, there are usually counter space left to sit.

Bottled Dad’s Old Fashioned Root Beer ($3.75) if you like root beer, you’ll love this.

Bottled Dad’s Old Fashioned Cream Soda ($3.75) M thought this was good but he still preferred the root beer over the cream soda.

20 Oz. Oreo Milk Shake ($5) is one of my favorite milk shakes from Lucy’s Eastside Diner. Yum!

20 Oz. Peanut Butter Milk Shake ($5) this is my second favorite flavour for a milkshake! I think they just mix peanut butter and ice cream together. It’s a bit fattening, but if you love peanut butter…get this!

Peppercorn Roast Beef Sandwich ($8.50) has roast beef, fried onions, peppercorn cream cheese, and lettuce on toasted sourdough bread.

The roast beef was quite dry and not very flavourful. Very poorly made sandwich and I was not impressed.

The Grant Marshall ($10.50) has double patties, bacon, onions, mushrooms, cheese, fried egg, and chili.

M ordered it because of the crazy amount of meat, but just said the taste was alright. This like is a pile of heart attack.

Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese ($9) has a hoagie bun filled with meatloaf and topped with mac & cheese.

Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwich ($8) has slow roasted pork in root beer and rub served with coleslaw inside and fries outside.

The taste is quite subtle, so it can be a bit hard to taste the root beer. It also tasted decent, but nothing too amazing.

Winner Winner Fried Chicken Dinner ($9) has breaded fried chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and gravy. The fried chicken was so bland and needed some seasoning to the coating. Also, the coating was quite thick.

Overall, the food can be a hit or a miss, but one thing is for sure….the milkshakes are good. Some of the brunch items are pretty good too. With such a large menu, I’m sure you’ll find something that caters to your taste buds.

Words of Wisdom:

Limited seating, not good for large groups
Uncle Grants Eating Challenge
So-so Food
Amazing fries and hash browns….SUPER CRISPY!
My favorite: Milkshakes + Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese or pulled pork and Mac & Cheese
Open 24 hours

We Rate Lucy Eastside Diner:

Address:

2708 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5T

Website:
lucyseastsidediner.com

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In Japanese

Matsuyama: Late Night Specials After 9

March 25, 2012

Matsuyama in Richmond has some great late night specials after 9pm. After hearing so much about this place from Wongers, I had to join her, Mini604, GoMunch and Lensflaaare for some late night nom noms.

The place was packed at night, but I guess everyone was there for the late night menu. Also note that parking here is so bad too. You gotta stalk for a parking space.

Miso Soup ($0.89) was the usual miso soup and nothing too special about it.

Salmon Sashimi ($4.25) was a good size and decent quality. They also have toro and tuna on their late night menu for the same price. Unfortunately, when we got there, there was no more toro.

Chicken Karrage (3.95) was nicely deep-fried but still a bit average. It was a good amount of karrage for the price.

Beer Sashimi ($4.95) is thinly sliced with a bed of lettuce, daikon, and sweet sauce. Yum.

Green Tea Ice Cream was something we all craved at the table. They had other flavours too like mango and coconut. I’m sure they didn’t make it themselves and came in a tub. Still it tasted alright.

Overall, the food is quite average, but the draw to Matsuyama are the late night specials.

Words of Wisdom:

Items from $0.89 to $7.95
Free parking, but lot is usually full
Decent food, some items are hit or miss

We Rate Matsuyama:

Address:
8500 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC

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In BBQ

Damso Modern Korean Cuisine: Yuzu Snowman Sorbet

March 24, 2012

Damso Modern Korean Cuisine is located on Denman street and they serve up some delicious Korean dishes with a modern twist.

Jay of Coma Food Truck invited a few of his loyal customers that supported his food truck to Damso to say thank you. It’s sad to see Coma Food Truck go, but I see a great future for Jay and in his future ventures.

You start off with a trio of little items – spinach, bean sprouts and radish kimchi.

Seafood Waffle ($8.25) has prawns, scallop, squid, bacon, and scallion. This was so good! Imagine the traditional Korean Seafood pancake, but in pancake form. It was really good and probably the best I’ve had so far. Yum! It’s a must order!

Ddok-Kalbee ($6.85) are beef meatballs with king oyster mushroom, scallion salad and jalapeno pickles. The meatballs were really delicious with great flavour and a slightly sweet sauce. I could definitely eat these all day.

Chicken Gizzard contains stir-fried chicken gizzard, roasted garlic, scallion salad, with mustard vinaigrette. Surprisingly the gizzards were not tough at all, but a bit chewy. It can be a strange thing to eat, but it tasted good.

Pork Skin ($6.75) has sautéed with chive, onion and spicy Korean chili sauce. It wasn’t too spicy, but I really didn’t like the texture of the pork skin. It was limp and tasted like fatty jelly. I much prefer my pork skin crispy.

Kalbee – Korean BBQ Short Ribs ($15.95) is their signature dish. It has grilled AAA beef ribs marinated in housemade Korean BBQ sauce. It comes with rice too. This is an amazing dish! The meat is so tender and just falls off the bone. Wongers just wanted to steal this sauce since it was so good. Highly recommended!

Chicken Kalbee Ddok-Bokki has sautéed chicken, rice cake, and sweet Gochujang sauce. It was a bit spicy, but not my favorite dish. It was still a bit traditional.

Meat Party Platter ($34.95) comes with 24 hr slow cooked pork & medium rare grilled marinated AAA beef steak. I wasn’t a fan of the slow cooked pork, but the medium rare beef was so delicious. Meat!

Yuzu Snowman Sorbet is super cute and tastes really good. It tasted like citrus. It was a great way to end the meal. We felt kinda bad eating this little guy.

Overall, I was quite impressed by the quality of the dishes. I never expected to see modern Korean cuisine done well until now.

Words of Wisdom:

Seafood Waffle, Korean BBQ Short Ribs and Yuzu Snowman Sorbet
Free parking on street after 6pm but super limited
Multigrain rice options

We Rate Damso Modern Korean Cuisine:

Address:
867 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.damso.ca/

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In Aboriginal

Tomahawk Restaurant: Established in North Van Since 1920s

March 23, 2012

The Tomahawk Restaurant has been around since the 1920’s. It’s been featured on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’ and also ‘You Gotta Eat Here’, which are both shows on the Food Network.

With so much buzz going on about this place, Amy, Angela, Anita, Kathy and I decided to trek all the way to North Vancouver to check it out. It was an interesting drive to this place as I kept trolling Angela by not putting my hands on the wheel as we drove on the Highway. Was she ever freaked out. hahaha.

As you walk in, there is a mini gift shop where you can buy souvenirs and other sweet treats. The wait was quite long for a table for 5 people. I think it was about 35 – 40 minutes. Seeing that there were so many awards won by this restaurant, we knew that this place was something special.

Near the couches, you will be able to spot Guy Fieri’s trademark emblem when he visits restaurants.

There’s also a mini pond with rubber duckies.

The inside was actually quite small. From the videos from the show, it seemed so much large for some reason.

Their placemats are quite interesting too. Theres a whole map of Canada and a few things that are fun facts about each province.

Coffee is a must for me when you make me wake up before noon. Free refills too!

Tomahawk Style Beep Dip has slow-roasted organic Baron of Beef, shaved on toasted French baguette with a homemade au jus in a cup. Amy chose fries as her side. Check out The Food Queen to find out what she thought about it.

Chief Dominic Charlie Burger has Lettuce, organic ground beef patty, grilled Yukon-style bacon, aged cheddar cheese, tomato and Tomahawk special sauce. Angela chose fries as her side.

Check out Muchkie’s Munchies to find out what she thought about it.

Organic Roast Beef Dinner has slow-roasted Baron of Beef, hand-carved and served with a thick gravy, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and thier world famous Yorkshire pudding.

The beef has a nice thick cut, but at time it was a bit bland and tough. It’s just a personal preference since I like my beef a bit rare. The gravy did make it taste so much better. The yorkshire pudding was also ok. I found this dish to be a bit expensive. Probably a bit too hyped up from the TV show.

Side of Fries thats a lot of fries for just a side order.

Side of Onion Rings

Overall, the Tomahawk Restaurant was ok. The prices are a bit steep for certain items and the food is so-so. I think it really depends on this dish that you order. It has a lot of rich history in this establishment .

Words of Wisdom:

Long waits during peak hours
Decent food
Around $10 – $18 dollars for lunch
Lots of free parking around

We Rate Tomahawk Restaurant:
Address:
1550 Philip Ave
North Vancouver District, BC

Website:
http://www.tomahawkrestaurant.com/

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In Dessert

Fleuri: Worlds Best Chocolate Buffet

March 20, 2012

Fleuri is inside the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard Street. According to National Geographic, they have the World’s Best Chocolate Buffet. The buffet is $28 per person and you can reserve for either 6pm -8:30pm or 8:30pm- 10pm. If you have dinner here, you can add the chocolate buffet on for $18. You get access to a crepe station, chocolate fondue, cakes and other pastries.

The chocolate table is just one long table. I expected a bit more than one table, but there is a good selection.

There are tuxedo cakes, nanaimo bars, mousse, and profiteroles.

There’s more cakes, brownies, pecan pie, and macarons.

There’s also warm apple crumble too. You must try this, it’s really good!

In the middle of it all is a 3-tiered fondue machine with cantaloupe, honey dew, pineapples, strawberries and grapes to dip.

The best way to tackle all the cakes is to grab a few varieties for your table and split it all. Our group did the opposite and started eating whole slices of cake until we decided to share amongst each other.

The crepe station is located on the lower level of the restaurant near the entrance.

The chef makes the crepes fresh to order right in front of your eyes. You can add many topping to it or even ice cream.

I decided to add some raspberry sorbet which was delicious! Then I added whipped cream, chocolate sauce and raspberry sauce. The crepes were good.

The cakes were alright, but you get too much of a chocolate dose.

The profiterole on the left was so good and it had a chocolate mousse filling on the inside. I don’t know what was on the right, but it was good .

The fruits were fresh and quite plump for the fondue. I kinda wish they had dark chocolate to dip into, but they only had milk chocolate.

The chocolate mousse cup was also good, but after eating all that cake and then this, it didn’t taste as good. Clearly I was starting to have chocolate overload.

The macaron wasn’t good at all since it was too hollow on the inside. The pecan pie, apple crumble, profiterole, and fondue was also good.

At this point I was so chocolated-out that I needed tea. My mouth felt so much better! We sat there looking at other tables and their delicious entrees…streak has never looked so delicious in my life. I also had a craving for salty McDonalds fries too.

To end it all, I got some passion fruit sorbet, it was also good, but it was a bit sweet compared to the raspberry sorbet.

While we were dining here, we caught a few glimpses of the ‘Once Upon a Time’ cast. We know for sure we saw ‘Grumpy’ and ‘Snow White’ (Ginnifer Goodwin). I don’t have pictures since we were too busy guessing if it was them. Plus, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be disturbed during dinner by a mob of asian girls. We also asked the waitress what other famous people have dined here recently and she said that Justin Bieber was here too but had to leave because a bunch of fan girls were creeping outside.

Overall, the chocolate buffet is okay and a bit hyped up. Since the chocolate was so rich and sweet, it really made us full fast. I would have liked to see more varieties of chocolates than those usual items. We probably got super full after 1 hr of eating, so we sat and chit chatted till 9pm. Service was good.

Words of Wisdom:

$28 per person, $14 per child, or $18 with a dinner
Thursday, Friday and Saturday Only
Available during dinner time 6pm – 8:30 pm or 8:30pm – 10pm
Can get full quickly off the rich chocolate

We Rate Fleuri’s Chocolate Buffet:
Website:
http://www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Chocoholic_Buffet.htm

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Vancouver

In Fast Food

A&W: Chubby Chicken Strips and Onion Rings

March 20, 2012

It was a busy day in the office and I needed something quick to devour for lunch. I just popped downstairs to the A&W and got a 3 piece chubby chicken strip combo with onion rings and a coke. It cost me about $10, which was super expensive!

The 3 chicken strips were of uneven sizes. From the picture, you can see that the middle piece is considerable smaller than the others. The chicken strips also seem burnt and over cooked. This made me a bit sad, but I ate it anyways since I already paid for it. Make sure you get some honey mustard to go along with this.

I always enjoy the onion rings! Its always perfectly seasoned on the outside and has real onions. My only complaint is that sometimes the batter does fall off.

All in all, it was a decent, quick, unhealthy lunch.

In Japanese

Sushiyama: Caterpillar Roll, Sushi Pizza, and Huge Sashimi

March 19, 2012

Sushiyama is a popular Japanese Restaurant near Kingsway and Broadway. They serve up affordable Japanese dishes. Since we knew they were busy, we decided to make reservations so MedicalGiraffe and I didn’t have to wait in the long line ups. Apparently they can do reservations for very large groups too.

Kamikaze Roll has spicy tuna, cucumbers, avocados, tobiki, and crab meat. The roll was alright, but not too amazing.

Caterpillar Roll ($6.95) contains cucumber, avocado, mayo, crab meat, eel and BBQ sauce. It is probably the best thing to get! It is covered in a lot of thin slices of avocado. Highly recommended! It’s something I get every time I come here.

Grilled Black Cod is also something to get here. It is delicate and the pieces of meat just slide off.

Sushi Pizza has a base layer of deep-fried rice with mayo, crab meat, avocado, tuna, salmon, masago, and BBQ sauce.

MedicalGiraffe and I were quite disappointed by the dish. The rice could have been more crunchy to make this dish more enjoyable. It just seemed like a deconstructed sushi roll.

Salmon Sashimi have very thick slices and will make you smile. Good quality too.

Overall, some of the items are a hit and a miss. If you stick with a few key dishes, you won’t be disappointed. The service is quite fast and some of the dishes literally come out in seconds. I don’t really know how this is possible, but it was really really fast. Since they are also quite busy, sometimes the servers seem like they want to rush you out of the restaurant.

Words of Wisdom:

Very cheap and affordable
Mediocre service
Long Lines
Best to go in 2′s if you hate to wait. the larger the group, the long it will take ..during peak hours
Or make reservations
Caterpillar roll and sashimi!!!!
Bento boxes are of great value if you want to try a bit of everything

We Rate Sushiyama:

Address:
371 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Bakery

Creme de la Crumb Bakeshop: Cinnamon Bun and Sandwiches

March 17, 2012

Creme de la Crumb is a bake shop that serves up pastries and sandwiches. Everything is made fresh and brings in a busy crowd during lunch. The interior is quite small and everything is take-out. There are no chairs inside either. So, if you have an office near by, you probably should bring the food back and eat there.

My co-worker and I came here to try out their sandwiches. It was a block away from our office, so it was a quick walk. We arrived at 12:30pm and most of the items were already sold out. I guess you gotta arrive early if you want a particular item.

Cinnamon Bun ($3.25) was freshly made and I really couldn’t resist getting this little treat. It was a tad expensive for just a cinnamon bun, but it was good! The vanilla bean cream cheese frosting was not overly sweet and went well with the moist layers of the bun.

Oven Roasted Turkey Breast with Havarti Sandwich has a fig marmalade and greens between cranberry pecan bread. It was nicely toasted on the outside. It was a good sandwich, but I wish there was a bit more filling inside. I gobbled up this sandwich so fast. It was a good sandwich, but I don’t think I was too amazed by it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich is what HispterGirl had. It is also toasted on the outside. She said it was good but I forgot to ask more questions to her since we were so busy in the lunch room watching cat videos. Just go on Youtube and search up ‘Maru’. Cutest Cat in the world!!

Overall, the food from Creme de la Crumb was good, but can be a tad expensive. It’s still an option if you really hate line ups at the other restaurants.

We Rate Creme de la Crumb:

Address:
466 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.cremedelacrumb.com/

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In Cafe

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant: Wonton Noodle Soup

March 17, 2012

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant is located in the plaza where T&T is on 1st Ave. They sell the usual HK style food at decent prices. They are open quite late, which is awesome but they are cash only. The prices are quite affordable, so you will probably only spend about $7 or $8 on lunch.

My parents and I just came here for a quick bite since we were in a bit of a rush. It was en route to where we needed to go.

I feel like this place has changed so many times that I can’t keep track of what restaurant this is. It’s been many years since I’ve been here, but I did notice the interior has had a face lift.

Steamed Rice Roll with Beef was quite decent. It was around $3, which isn’t too bad and the flavour was so-so.

Hot & Sour Soup was about $5 for a bowl and it tasted good. I’ve just been having a craving for hot and sour soup for some odd reason. The soup here wasn’t as intense but it had a good amount of ingredients in the soup, so every bite had something interesting in it.

Wonton Noodle Soup is very good. My mother swears that this is the only item that is good here. The wontons are quite large and plump with good flavour. Definitely recommended.

Roasted Duck Leg in Noodle Soup is probably like a bowl of fat, or at least that’s what my mom tells my dad. He obviously loved the duck leg, but he found the dish to be a bit salty.

Overall, the food is quite average, but some items do stand out. The service was quite lacking. There seemed to be only one person working the floor, which was super odd. It took them a while to give us menus and tea. They had a good amount of customers, but really needs more staff. I guess the price makes up for the horrible service since each item is quite affordable.

Words of Wisdom: