Seafood Archives - Page 11 of 14

In Gastown

Guu Gastown: Guu’d Food

September 13, 2011

My goal in life is to go to every single Guu in the world! Hopefully that can be achieved in my lifetime….which may be hard since locations keep popping up around the world. Today, my adventures brought me to Guu Gastown for a friends “catch up” dinner.

Even though I put down reservations, we still had to wait in line. I came prepared and came a bit early to make sure we didn’t have to wait too long.

We got seated at their large window…my this wasn’t too bad of a view but it did get colder once the night rolled in. For the people attending the dinner that didn’t know where it was…its a fun idea to scream out the window so they know where Guu Gastown is. Keep in mind, that would be very embarrassing if others started looking at you.

The menu is similar on most days, but they also have a fresh sheet too.

You know me, Sapporo is a must at Guu. We ordered 2 pitchers and they have the tall Sapporo glasses. Yum!

Tako Wasa ($3.50) is marinated cooked octopus with wasabi and its served with sides of roasted seaweed. This is not a dish for everyone. If you hate wasabi, best to avoid. I love this dish because wasabi give your face a nice kick. I am not a big fan of wasabi, but I quite enjoy it in this form with the octopus.

Ebi Mayo ($7.80) are deep fried prawns in a crispy batter with spicy mayo. I really don’t like ebi mayo battered like this. It’s a bit thick and I think the other Guu’s make it better.

Takoyaki ($4.80) are deep fried battered octopus balls with tonkatsu sauce, wasabi mayo, mustard mayo, bonito flakes and dried seaweeed.

It’s pretty good and comes with 5 pieces. So much better than night market!

Saba with Garlic Herb ($7.20) is soy sauce + olive oil grilled mackerel with garlic chips, bill, peppers, herbs, lemon and onions.

I find the best part about this are the garlic chips! The saba has no bones, so it’s great for children!

Guu Tataki ($6.20) is seared beef sashimi with ponzu sauce, garlic chips and green onions. There’s really nothing I can say about this dish since its so delicious!

Eel Cutlet and Egg ($7.20) is deep fried panko breaded eel with kabayaki sauce, topped with a soft egg and japanese peppers. I’ve never had anything like this and CandiedZen and I just thought this dish was fabulous. The crunchiness of the fried eel matches with the soft gooey egg.

Sashimi Salad ($8.20), I was not very impressed by…but it did still taste good.

Guu Yakiudon ($7.50) is pan fried udon with beef, green onions and mushrooms topped with bonito flakes and dried seaweed. Always one of the most delicious dishes!

Overall, the choices on the menu were pretty good. I like how all the Guu’s have similar items, but are executed a bit differently. You really can’t get bored of the different Guu chains. After trying the Gastown location, I still prefer Guu Garden and Guu Garlic.

Words of Wisdom:

Yakiudon, eel cutlet and egg, beef tataki recommended
Very busy during the evenings
Best to get reservations
Closest Skytrain: Waterfront

We Rate Guu Gastown:
Address:

375 Water St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

www.guu-izakaya.com/gastown.html

Twitter:

@GuuIzakaya

In Coquitlam

Sushi California: Cheap & Affordable

September 11, 2011

After a long day, Monster, ConsultingGirl and I headed to Sushi California to grab some cheap sushi. I’ve been here before, but its still one of those go to places for decent cheap food.

The lines were starting to pile up and they wanted to seat the 3 of us at a 2 person table, but was very very cramped. They were quite hesitant to give us a table of 4 since they know they could seat more people soon. With a little bit of negotiating, the waitress let us sit at a table of 4 instead.

Here is a shot of their menu. They have the usual items and it’s not an overly complicated list.

The combos are pretty well priced too.

Seafood Salad ($5.95) looked very disappointing! it came with a bed of glass noodles, lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots. It is topped with octopus, 2 stick of imitation crab meat, slice of smoked salmon, piece of ebi and wasabi mayo.

This was really not what I was expecting. When did salad come with a bunch of noodles?

The salad also came with a huge side of salad dressing. With the noodles, the salad was a bit soggy to begin with, but the amount of salad dressing was way too much. We only added a little bit to it.

The salad didn’t taste good either. I would never order this again.

Salmon Sashimi (Half Order – $5.50) is a good item to order. It is sliced nice and thick so you get your moneys worth!

Chicken Karrage ($3.95) comes with 6 pieces and was very moist inside.

Spicy Salmon ($2.95) is not on the menu, but Monster didn’t like tuna, so she asked them to substitute and they were able to. It comes with 8 pieces and has enough spice to give your mouth a tingle.

California Roll ($2.95) has the usual imitation crab and avocados. It also comes with 8 pieces.

Chopped Scallop ($3.95) was pretty good and comes with 8 pieces. Similar to most sushi joints.

Spider Roll ($6.95) comes with 6 pieces and has cucumber, lettuce and fried soft shell crab inside.

Overall, this is not the best Japanese restaurant in Coquitlam. It just has cheap affordable sushi. You really get what you pay for. The service is not that great and this place is usually packed.

Words of Wisdom:

Good Prices
Horrible service
Very busy during peak hours
Take Out option

We rate Sushi California:

Address:

501A North Road in Coquitlam, BC

In Japanese

Kimura: Changes in Portion Sizes Makes Me Sad

September 3, 2011

It’s always a good end to a day by having a delicious Japanese dinner with friends. Since Fabo is leaving soon to the east coast, she wanted to come here to eat their crispy rice. I came with her before, but I guess it was time for a revisit since it’s been a few month, who knows what has changed.

2L Asahi ($27) was their only option. They didn’t have any pitchers, so we had to get this. I dont think they have anything on tap, so most of their alcohol is just bought from the store.

Hakutsuru Sake ($21) is a cold bottled sake you would also find at any liquor store. I’m not exactly sure why M chose this sake, but I guess he wanted to try something different since he always just orders the hot sake.

Chicken Curry ($11.50) comes with the side of curry, rice and chicken cutlet. M enjoyed this since it really brought him back to the days when he visited Japan. This dish is pretty large, so don’t order too many dishes.

Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice ($4.50) is much smaller than I remember! It has pureed spicy tuna sit on top of a piece of lettuce and on a circle of fried crunchy flavoured rice. It is also garnished with jalapeno, and various sauces. I think there are now 70% of their original size. It was still good, but it was just so disappointing to see it so big, to being so small.

Oyster shooter ($3.50) usually comes with the omakase, but I didn’t want to spent $30 to just have it in my meal, so I asked for an order of it and it was totally fine! It has quail egg on top, oyster on the bottom with ponzu and soy sauce mixture. I am not exactly sure what was 100% in the shooter, but it didn’t taste too bad. Just remember to mix it before drinking.

Everyone else at my table just stared at me as I drank this. They thought it was the strangest thing in the world.

They had a Black Cod Special ($19.50) that comes with grilled black cod, tempura, sashimi, yakitori, kobachi, rice and miso soup! I thought it was a pretty good deal since you get to try so many different items.

The miso soup is always my favorite since it has more than just the water, paste and green onions, He ads some tofu curds into it the soup so there is more texture.

Kobachi just means little dish. It has cucumbers and conch (I think). I’m not 100% sure, but it kinda tasted like it. It was a refreshing dish.

The Assorted Tempura had a light coating of the tempura batter and was nicely fried. What I like about their ebi is how they salt it a little but before battering. When you bite into it, you can taste more the of ebi and it really stands out.

Yakitori in this special comes with 2 skewers. One with chicken and bits of wasabi and mushroom and peppers. Their yakitori is pretty good! I think there might have been cheese wrapped around both of these. Yum!

The sashimi has salmon and tuna. Very thin sliced delicate pieces. I prefer my sashimi small because you can really taste the quality and favours of it.

Black Cod is the main dish of the combo and I have never had black cod till now! It is the most delicious delicate fish you will ever have. It is so fatty that it literally just melts in your mouth!

Another good experience at Kimura, it’s also good to note that some portions of items have changed. Spicy tuna Crispy rice…why couldn’t you have stayed the same size. I guess thats why revisits are good. Fabo was disappointed by the size too since she expected the size to be the same. Despite that little change, we all had a good time…and they way you can tell that is when the bill is over $200…for 6 people… ouch!

Words of Wisdom:

Grilled Black Cod and yakitori is delicious
They now accept reservation again!
Parking in front or in residential areas
Customizable dishes, order off the menu
Sushi is not very good
Best to stick with combos and special to get the bang out of your buck

We rate Kimura Japanese Restaurant:

Website: http://www.sushikimura.com/

Address:

3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

In Granville Island

Celine’s Fish and Chips: Worst Fish & Chips On Granville Island

August 27, 2011

I’ve been on a Fish & Chips hunt this Summer whenever I happen to pass by a place. While I was on Granville Island, I decided to try out Celine’s Fish & Chips. Its been here for a long long time and I thought it really couldn’t be that bad. I had it many years ago, but I totally forgot what it tasted like.

When I approached this place to order, I was a bit shocked at the way they communicated with customers. They didn’t seem very happy and the only thing they said was “$16 dolla”. The wait for my dish was quite long too, which was funny since there wasn’t a lot of people lining up. A few other people ordered after me and the serve was also cold to them as well.

Sample Platter ($16) was quite expensive. It has a few onion rings, fries, calamari, one small fried oyster, one small fried prawn, and a small piece of cod. I was very disappointed in this platter. The majority of this plate was onion rings and fries. All the seafood items were quite small.

The onion rings were heavily breaded with batter and it felt like you were eating more of the batter than the onion. The fries were also soggy and pretty bland. The cod was pretty good, but it was a small piece and also heavily coated with batter. I had to remove the batter to get a good taste of the cod. The prawn and the oyster were both mediocre and did not seem very fresh. Quite ironic because they are located on Granville Island. The only item that saved this patter was the fried calamari. It had a nicely seasoned light batter that surrounded it, so you can really taste the squid.

Overall, major disappointment. If they can’t get a platter right..I wouldn’t imagine the fish & chips to be good either. The food is quite greasy as well. I will never order from here again.

Words of Wisdom:

Self Serve napkins and condiments
Overpriced
Greasier than normal
Horrible onion rings and fries
Bad service

We Rate Celine’s Fish & Chips:

Address:
109 – 1689 Johnston Street
Vancouver, BC

In Coquitlam

Fuji Sushi: Your Friendly Neighbourhood Japanese Restaurant

August 26, 2011

Since I live near the Lougheed area, I wanted to try something different with M, BusanGirl and PoliceMan. I was tired of the usual Korean and Japanese Restaurants in the area, so I did a bit of research to find Fuji Sushi. I’ve never heard of this place before and it seems like it’s a local favorite for the people in the Burquitlam area.

When we arrived, the place was packed and there were also a few people in line. They have 2 bigger areas in the back for larger groups and everything else seats 1, 2 or 4. If you do come here with a large group of 4+, it’s best to make a reservation just so you don’t have to wait in line, or have awkward seating.

When we arrived, it took us a while to get our seat. As we were waiting, we actually considered perhaps just going elsewhere, but as we began to walk away, our table became available.

The menu has the usual items you would find in a Japanese restaurant. The prices are decent, but they are slightly higher than other places.

Since I found out that I passed my Finance course at SFU, I really needed a drink to relieve all the stress.

I had to get a bottle of Sapporo to celebrate! I thought it was funny how they gave me a Kirin glass to go with it. It boggles your mind when you drink from it.

M got his usual warm house sake. I don’t think we ever know what brand or type of sake we get. He loves sake no matter what brand or type.

Katsudon ($8.50) has a fried pork cutlet with egg, onions, green onions and pickled diakon. M thought it was quite average, but it wasn’t bad or anything like that.

Dinner Box – Sashimi Combo ($14.50) is comes with tuna and salmon sashimi, beef teriyaki, tempura, grilled salmon, fruit, garden salad, rice and miso soup. BusanGirl and PoliceMan shared this since they both weren’t too hungry. They enjoyed everything, but they did not take a liking towards the grilled salmon.

Miso soup that comes with the combo is just normal. Miso soup isn’t complicated since it’s just mixing water with miso paste. It’s just your standard miso soup with green onions.

Fried Oyster ($4) came with 3 pieces. They are medium sized oysters that are breaded and fried. The oysters were pretty good with a crunchy thin crust. It also tasted quite fresh as well.

California Roll ($2.50) has tobiko, artificial crab meat and avocados. It was alright, but it’s not the best.

Spicy Tuna Roll ($3.75) has a large chunk of tuna sashimi with green onions and spicy sauce. I liked this because even though the spicy sauce isn’t mixed into the tuna, they add enough sauce around it that there is enough spiciness.

Overall, it’s a decent place to go to. It might just be equivalent to California Sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Bento Boxes are good value
Good fresh quality sashimi
Line ups at peak hours, make reservations
Decent Service

We Rate Fuji Sushi:

Address:

526 Clarke Rd
Coquitlam, BC V3J

Website:
www.fujisushi.com

In Richmond

Pajo’s Fish & Chips: Down By The Sea

August 24, 2011

I’ve heard the Pajo’s in Steveston is quite popular for Fish & Chips, so it was time for a visit. Pajo’s is located on a dock, which floats on top of the green murky water and it’s attached to the waterfront by stairs. Since it was a very nice sunny day, there were pretty huge line ups just to order.

All the seats on the dock were taken up already!

They also have additional seating near the waterfront, so there is plenty of seating for all! On the hot sunny days, its best to find seating that has shade or else you my develop a nice tan!

They specialize in Fish & Chips, but they also have a large variety of burgers and hot dogs.

They also have beverages and lots of sides to add to your meal.

The first thing you must do is to is to take a look at the menu and order at the first menu, then line up to pick up your order.

Yep, thats tartar sauce that goes with your fish and chips! Yum Yum! Don’t forget to grab yours when you pick up your order.

M and ScarFace both ordered the “One of Each Fish & Chips” ($14.99), which has one piece of salmon, cod and halibut. The 3 pieces rests on a bed of fries. M thought the best fish was the salmon since he really couldn’t tell the halibut and the cod apart due to their taste and color. The fish nice and delicate with a crunchy layer of batter on the outside. M really hated the chips since they were quite bland and soggy.

Even though Vancouver is known for its fresh fish, M still thinks that the best fish & chips are still found in London. He hasn’t found a place here that has amazing Fish & Chips.

I ordered the Halibut Fish Burger and Chips ($10.79). It comes with the burger and a cone of the chips.

Similar to M, I did not take a liking to the chips. Perhaps they didn’t fry them long enough. The only way I could eat them all would be dipping them into the tartar sauce.

The Halibut pieces were quite small, so there were 2 pieces in the burger with tar tar sauce and lettuce. I was not a fan of the bun since it was not toasted. The bun was quite soft. The halibut had a really nice taste, but I wished it came with one large piece of fish and not just 2 smaller pieces. One of the pieces kept trying to escape. Nonetheless, I did enjoy biting into the fish

Overall, they taste of the fish was alright, but the fries are just horrible. Since it’s called Fish & Chips, both should be exceptionally delicious, but it wasn’t too greasy or anything like that.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking on streets
Decent Fish, Horrible soggy chips
Certain items can get expensive
Get seaside atmosphere
Salmon is good!

We Rate Pajo’s Fish & Chips:

Address:

3500 Bayview St
Richmond, BC V7E

Website:
www.pajos.com

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

Twitter: @pajos_fishchips

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen: Great Addition to The Drive

August 22, 2011

My sister found a new Japanese place on Commercial Drive called Kishimoto that serves up sushi and different izakaya dishes. Since I just adore Japanese food to death, I dragging M to come eat with me.

There are a few other Japanese Restaurants on Commercial Drive and at first we accidentally went to the wrong place. It looked nothing like Kishimoto, but it had a similar name. M thought I took him to a crappy place, but we just went to the wrong place. We felt super bad to be leaving, so we just grabbed our stuff and quickly said “umm errr we have to go”. As we walked infront of Kishimoto, our eyes just lit up.

Their interior is quite dark, so it gives it a bit of a romantic intimate vibe. The servers were really nice!

I can’t live without beer, so I got a bottle of Kirin. Kirin isn’t as good as Sapporo or Asahi.

Ebi Chili Mayo ($9.75) comes with 5 pieces of the battered and fried prawns with chili mayo sauce. The prawns were beautifully butterflied so you can taste more of the natural taste of the prawn . I loved how the mayo is on the side since I really don’t like my ebi mayo doused in the sauce.

What I found was that even though this dish is good, it is quite pricey for just 5 pieces.

Sockeye Salmon Ishinabe ($14) is rice and sockeye salmon sashimi with a bunch of other ingredients in a 450 degree stone bowl. This reminded me of the Korean bibimbap, but with a Japanese twist. You need to leave the ingredients in the bowl until the bottom gets crispy. I love the crispy rice, so I let it sit there for awhile.

For the price, you wont’ get super full from the dish. It also tasted really good, but quite pricey.

My favorite dishes were probably the sushi! It comes with such a lovely presentation! It has a tea light candle in the center with red currants. Red currants are currently in season, so its a perfect garnish.

They do little things on the dish that just impresses me. They even turned bits of carrot into a butterfly!

Kishimoto Roll ($5.95) has scallop, salmon, radish sprouts, wrapped in rice and soy paper. It was really good!!! It’s probably one of the best sushi’s I’ve had in a while. Its the type of sushi that requires no soy sauce and the flavours really just shine through. It was not super dense and it was really just perfect.

Little Princess Roll ($7.95) has oba leaf, cream cheese, unagi, mayo wrapped in rice and inari. This roll even has edamame eyes! The roll just melts in your mouth and you really just fall in love with the combination of unagi and cream cheese.

Overall, M and I fell in love with their sushi! We did like the other items, but they got pretty pricey. You really need to look and choose the items carefully on the menu or else you will break your wallet. The quality of the food is amazing and I will probably come here again for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Kishimoto Roll is a must order!
Prices are slightly high on certain items
dark intimate atmosphere
Great service
Free parking in residential areas

We Rate Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen:

Address:

2054 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Kishimoto…

View Larger Map

Vancouver

In Japanese

Yami Sushi Japanese Restaurant: Served with a Side of Hair

August 20, 2011

The @SFUSMN crew were having a car wash on Granville and we got super hungry after washing cars and ever large trucks. We went to a few other restaurants and discovered a lot of them only take cash. Seeing that we like to rely on plastic, we found this little restaurant called Yami Sushi Japanese Restaurant. They serve up your usual items at a sushi restaurant.

The interior is quite small and can seat up to a maximum of 4 per table. They only had about 3 tables, so it really doesn’t fit a lot of people.

Their menu is above so you can check out their full selection.

Sake Don ($9.99) has no sake whatsoever! Sake = Wild salmon sashimi. It comes in a bowl of rice with 6 slices of wild salmon sashimi on top. M loved the texture and taste of the wild salmon and its better than the regular orange one. This dish is very simple, so you may want to add a bit of soy sauce if you want a bit of taste.

Toro Sashimi (5pcs – $6.99) was really good. Melt in your mouth goodness!

Wild Sockeye Salmon Sashimi (5pcs – $7.99) is probably their specialty. It was good on the don and it was good on its own!

You are probably reading this whole article and wondering, where is this hair that she speaks of. It was in their Green salad ($3.50). In the picture above it looks quite innocent…has avocados, cucumbers, apple, tomatoes and mayo.

As you dig further, this hair can be revealed embedded between the lettuce. At first I thought it was mine, but upon further inspection, it was well embedded in the salad and not just fallen on top. I alerted the waitress and they made a fresh bowl without the hair.

The new salad was not very good. I didn’t like the mayo sauce that they had on top. I expected to have a citrus sauce on top instead of a mayo sauce. It’s my pet peeve to see mayo on salads…really not my thing.

Overall, they do have great sashimi, but items like the bento boxes are rather decent. The service was quite slow too, which was funny since it is a small restaurant. There were only 6 of us, so its a manageable size.

Words of Wisdom:

Good Sashimi
Green salad is not good
Slow service
Decent prices
Free parking on road and adjacent roads

We Rate Yami sushi:
Address:

8051 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

In Japanese

Nao Sushi: Disappointing Food and Service

August 11, 2011

It was another sushi adventure with M and Fabo. After our final exam, we wanted some sushi in the Metrotown area and found Nao Sushi. People in the area rave about this place and their good food, so I wanted to see if it is really as good as people say. They sell similar items to other restaurants like Sushi Town, Sushi California and Sushi Garden.

At first glance this place looked really large and all the seats were filled so it must be a popular place.

Indeed, the inside was full of people. It took the servers a while to get us a seat, even though there was an empty table right in front of us. Throughout the night, the service was not that great and our tea cups grew empty.

Sashimi salad ($7.95) has mixed greens, salmon, seared tuna, ebi, and tako with citrus sauce and crispy wonton crisps on top. The top half of the salad was good, but the rest of it was very soggy at the bottom. There was a lot of liquid and it probably came from the excess water from washing the vegetables.

A plus is that there is a good amount of sashimi with this salad.

Gyoza ($3.50) comes with 5 pieces and was very plain. It seems like this was just pre-frozen and just boiled in water. It’s really not worth what you pay and you can get the same quality by buying the frozen gyozas from T&T.

Veggie tempura ($4.20) was disappointing. It wasn’t cooked well enough so some of the vegetables were very tough to eat… especially for the carrots and yams.

Salmon Sashimi ($9.80) has 7 pieces and was uniformly cut. Nothing wrong with this. The salmon sashimi was slightly more expensive than usual places.

Chopped Scallop Roll ($4.25) was alright, nothing too special at all.

Spicy Tuna Roll ($3.25) was a big disappointment, it has a bit of cucumber and tuna, but it lacked the spicy flavour that makes it a spicy tuna roll.

Sound Trap Roll ($8.50) was delicious. M really liked the sesame on top of the roll and it gives it a nice texture. The inside was deep fried eel and cream cheese, since he is a fan of cream cheese, he loved it. I had a few of them and it was really good!

The prices of some items were reasonable. For the dinner time, the bento boxes seemed very very expensive. I wasn’t too impressed by Nao Sushi and we all didn’t have a good impression either.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking on adjacent streets
Well priced
Some items poorly executed
Slow mediocre service
Good Sashimi

We Rate Nao Sushi:

Address:

7060 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Website:
www.naosushi.com

In Hastings-Sunrise

Blowfish Japanese Restaurant: Best Bento Boxes

August 10, 2011

Blowfish Japanese Restaurant is located a few blocks away from PNE/Playland on Hastings. This small little Japanese restaurant is a favourite amongst the residents in the area. They have amazing priced Japanese food that won’t break your wallet.

Seating is quite limited they have about 6 tables that seat either 4 or 2 people. Most people who come in do take out especially during the peak hours.

I started with the House Salad ($4). It is a very simple salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, crispy wonton-like topping with ponzu sauce. It was good a refreshing like how a salad should be.

I’ve been to other japanese restaurants with horrible salads, but this one is good!

Crazy Buster Roll ($11) has crunchy tuna stick wrapped with tuna sashimi and avocado, drizzled with spicy mayo and tobiko. It’s a bit expensive for just a roll.

The roll was pretty good, but I really could not feel the “crunchy” texture of the roll from the tuna. It was probably masked by the rice. The tuna felt a bit dry and it might have been better if it they lightly seared the tuna instead. The spicy mango sauce was nice and it was very subtle and it won’t hurt you. Good roll, but expensive!

Dragon Roll ($12) has 2 prawn tempura & daikon sprouts wrapped with slices of grilled eel & avocado. Yet again, the specialty rolls are expensive!

The taste was also very good! Delicious combination of the eel and tempura. I really like the little tobiko on top since it reminds me of mini dragon balls. They also make crunchy noises when you bite down on them.

Deluxe Bento Box ($12.95) comes with your choice of Chicken, Beef, Salmon or Tofu Teriyaki. Also Ebi, Tako or Vegetable Sunomono Soup with Tempura, Chicken Karaage, California Roll, Green Salad.

This box is super cheap and it worth every penny! It’s equivalent to the specialty rolls, which I found very funny.

The Miso Soup is nothing special. It’s the same stuff you would get anywhere else.

The sunomono we chose was the tako sunomono. It has 2 thick slices of tako, which is octopus. Very good like the ones you would find else where. I like how they give you many choices so you are not just stuck with the ebi sunomono like most restaurants.

The california roll was nicely put together and it did not fall apart. It has imitation crab and avocado inside.

The chicken karrage was good as well. Moist inside and not over cooked. I love this fatty addition to any bento box!

The green salad is different than the house salad. It is mostly lettuce with a citrus sauce.

We chose the salmon teriyaki since its different than the usual chicken or beef. M did not take a liking to this since it was very very salty. Perhaps it was just the way they cooked it..or they accidentally added too much salt.

The tempura was assorted, so you get a few vegetables and ebi.

Overall, pretty good items and large selection on their menu. The best deal from Blowfish are the bento boxes! All the ingredients seem pretty fresh and we were quite impressed by our visit.

Words of Wisdom:

Take Out + Delivery
Very affordable Bento boxes
Expensive specialty sushi rolls
Free parking in parking lot of adjacent roads

We Rate Blowfish:

Address:

Suite 107-2828 E. Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.blowfish101.com

In Downtown

Fresh Local Wild: Awesome Sandwiches and Fish & Chips

August 9, 2011

Fresh Local Wild is a food truck brought to us by Chef Wolfe. The truck is located on Hastings and Burrard. They are open for weekday lunch serving up different types of fish and chips as well as sandwiches.

Even though there are long lines, Chef Wolfe always finds a way to entertain the crowds.

Their menu is located on a chalkboard on the side of the truck. A lot of their items run out quickly, so be sure to not come too late. When I was there the Cod Fish and Chips was all sold out by 1pm.

Near the tires of the truck are utensils, napkins, ketchup and I think it’s balsamic vinegar. You can add this to your fries/ fish & chips / whatever you want.

Since the patio seating only fits 4, it’s always full. The few times I went, I spent it sitting on these stairs along with the many other strangers.

Albacore Tuna Melt ($8.50) comes on whole grain bread with cookied albacore tuna and smoked cheddar cheese. It was really good and it was like a well cooked grilled cheese with tuna. Ooey gooey yumminess!

The best part was the crispy cheese the oozes outside of the sandwich and gets grilled! The sandwich is toasted on the outside, so bits of it are dark and burnt. Nonetheless, it’s still very good.

Grain Fed Chicken Club ($8) it has grilled chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, bacon on toasted whole grain bread. The smokiness of the bacon can be tasted throughout the sandwich and it makes it so delicious! The chicken isn’t too dry and the bacon blends so well with the chicken. The bread is toasted on the outside as well, so you get a nice crunch every time you sink your teeth into this.

This item is one of the most popular items at the truck. Highly recommended.

Sockeye Salmon Fish and Chip ($12 – 1 piece) comes with tartar sauce and a bed of rustic fries. The fries are one of the best fries I have ever eaten!! Really crispy and full of flavour. Some may not like it since it can taste burnt… but I lurve burnt crispy fries!

The salmon was good, you can really taste the natural flavour of the salmon and it is not over powered by the batter. The most popular fish was the Cod and the Halibut during the times that I was there.

Overall, pretty good selection of fresh items from Fresh Local Wild.

Words of Wisdom:

Best Fries!
Grain Fed Chicken Club is a must!
Small Patio seating

We Rate Fresh Local Wild:

Location:

Burrard St & W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.freshlocalwild.com/

Twitter:

@freshlocalwild

In Japanese

Makoto Japanese Restaurant: South Burnaby Sushi Joint

July 31, 2011

Makoto is a Japanese restaurant in the Burnaby South area on Royal Oak and Rumble. I don’t normally go close to this area, but M wanted a short dinner meeting with ScarFace, ChinaHat and AwkwardGirl.

They are one of the top Japanese restaurants in the Burnaby South area, so I wanted to see if it was as good as people say. They sell the usual Japanese dishes you would see at any other restaurant.

The interior is not too big but they can configure the tables so they can sit 10 people. If you are doing this, you probably want to call ahead of time.

They have sashimi, nigiri, rice, soup salads, donburi, noodles, agemono, teriyaki, rolls and other combos.

M ordered the Chicken Yakisoba ($8.50). Yakisoba is fried Japanese noodles and their version includes snap peas, eggs, carrots, and onions. Topped with pickled red ginger and dried seaweed.

ScarFace ordered the Beef Yakisoba ($8.50), which is exactly the same but with different meat. They came way way later than all our meals. Tasted really good, but took way too long to arrive at the table.

AwkwardGirl and I shared the Dinner Combo A ($25.95) It comes with tempura, california roll, salmon roll, nigiri and beef teriyaki. You also get 2 of sunomono, miso soup and rice.

The miso soup is just the regular you would find at other places, they don’t add much to it.

The Sunomono has plenty of shrimp, which I like! Otherwise, nothing else is different about this dish.

The Tempura, which is the appetizer size was really good. It has the usual vegetables and 2 ebi and had a good amount of batter and crispiness.

The salmon and the california rolls were pretty good and well put together.

The 4 pieces of nigiri – salmon, tuna, ebi and tamago. They were quite decent, but the pieces on top are not as large as other places such as Sushi Town.

The beef teriyaki was really really good! It was thinly sized and has a very delicious sauce. The downside is that it was pretty small. The green salad on the side had a nice light citrus sauce and it was also good.

Overall, the food was pretty good. We found that the service was a bit slow and it would have been better if some peoples dishes arrived closer together rather than 10 or even 15 minutes apart.

Words of Wisdom:

Cash Only
Slow and mediocre service
Yakisoba is good!

We Rate Makoto Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

5213 Rumble St
Burnaby, BC

In Downtown

TacoFino Cantina Food Truck: Taco, Taco, Taco

July 29, 2011

Tacofino is another new food truck hitting the streets of Downtown Vancouver. Located on Howe Street and Robson Street. Tacofino originated from Tofino, BC thus their name Taco”fino”. They have spent the past 2 years operating on the island, but has finally made their way here.

When you are strolling around the Vancouver Art Gallery, try spotting this large orange truck. There will also be a huge line up during at lunch, so you really can’t miss it.

Tacofino specializes in fresh fish baja-style tacos. All you need to do is go up to the window to order. They also have daily specials as well, which as located near the cashier.

Their usual menu features the Fish Taco, Tuna Ta Taco, Pork Gringa/Bean Gringa, Black Bean Taco, Chocolate Diablo Cookie and their Lime Mint Freshie. All for under $10.

They also have a cooler filled with water and different varieties of Jarritos Mexican Soda. These are some really really good oh so addicting sodas.

I stick with my usual Pineapple Jarritos. It has an amazing flavour that no other soda company can capture. I find it funny how the bottle says “Naturally/ Artificially Flavoured Soda”, so what is it really? or is it a combination of both?

If you are also wondering how you are going to open the cap of the drink, they have a bottle opener to the left of the cashier.

Tuna Ta Taco ($6.50 each) is my FAVORITE taco from the truck. Be warned, this is a messy messy taco to eat. If you are wearing white, beware!!

This taco has seared sesame albacore tuna with a subtle wasabi ginger mayo, cabbage, mango, salsa and seaweed salad on top. The ingredients are very flavourful and the tuna is just so fresh! All the elements blend together nicely to create the ultimate taco.

I do find this taco a bit pricey, but once you take a bite, its so addictive!

The Pork Gringa ($4.50 each) is another treat as well! It has spicy braised pork, sour cream and salsa in a quesadilla tortilla. Depending how crisp they can get the quesadilla, it can also get quite messy. Remember, white shirts be scared!!

Their pork is very flavourful and not too spicy. I would definitely order this again!

On another lunch here, I ordered the Fish Taco ($4.50 each). It has tempura cover ling cod with chipotle mayo, cabbage, and salsa. I personally did not take a liking to this taco since the pieces of fish had too much tempura batter. It was very hard to fully enjoy the flavour of the fish. Everything overpowered the fish and the main ingredient did not shine through.

Overall, I really love this food truck for their taco offerings! Such amazing quality and it’s something you need to try!

Words of Wisdom:

Tuna Ta Taco + Pork Gringa + Jarritos = Best meal!!
Really busy during lunch
Can get messy
If you get 2 tacos, you will be paying close to $10
Closest Skytrain: Granville Skytrain

We Rate Tacofino Cantina:

Website:

www.tacofino.com

Twitter: @TacoFinoCantina

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/TacoFino-Vancouver/157314964322202

Vancouver

In Four Beakers

Guu with Garlic: Great Place to Eat + Drink

July 5, 2011

KoreanGirl and I just finished our intersession course at SFU, so we decided to meet up Mandu and head over to Guu with Garlic. We had a great girls night at Guu Garden last time, so we headed to my other favorite Guu – Guu with Garlic.

This Guu is cool because it has the usual dining area, a patio and also a Japanese style upper area. Since it was a very busy day, we were put in the Japanese style area. It was super cool but I had the hardest time sitting down. My pants proved to be a bit problematic as well as the part where my legs kept getting numb. I totally prefer real chairs.

They have a regular menu and a fresh sheet.

We started off with a pitcher of Asahi ($21). It’s something that KoreanGirl and I must have! Japanese beer is the perfect thing to order when you are going to dig into a lot of izakaya dishes. What we noticed about this pitcher was how bad the pour job was… there was way too much head.

Mandu decided she didn’t want to pack on the pounds so she got a large bottle of cold sake ($7.80) and a diet coke ($2). She just mixed those two slowly together throughout the night.

Mandu loves her Saba Grill ($7.80). I was a bit skeptical about it since last time but I am really starting to like the dish. The Saba meat is flaky and goes perfectly with the garlic chips and lemon. It is grilled very nicely and the soy sauce works hand in hand with the garlic chip taste.

No meal can be done without Ebi Mayo ($7.80) at Guu. It comes with 6 pieces in a chili mayo dip. It’s still not the best Ebi Mayo I have ever had, but it’s not too bad.

I actually love enjoy eating the crunchy tail! A lot of people find it weird and just leave the shell, but it is edible if it is fried.

I am a huge fan of Sashimi salad ($6.80). The salad is mixed greens with a plum dressing and wasabi mayo. The sashimi was part of this dish was prawns, and some other types of fish that I couldn’t identify. It was pretty good and was a nice refreshing dish that did not have a heavy taste. The wasabi mayo adds a little kick to the dish as well!

By now, the Assorted oden ($6.50) is a must have! You can choose six items in it and we chose daikon, deep fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, puffed fish cake, beef tendon and fish cake.

The broth is very amazing and light. The addition of the yellow type of wasabi added a lot of strong sharp spicy taste to it. We accidentally added it into the broth and it was SO good!

The Maguro steak ($8.50) is a slab of ahi tuna sashimi steak marinated in garlic, soy sauce and sake. We felt that it was really just a slab of ahi tuna, which needed more flavor. We thought there would be a more unique taste, but it wasn’t there.

2 kinds of chicken cartilage ($5.50) was something quite interesting and very different! They batter and deep-fry the different parts of cartilage from the chicken. The have lemon and salt + pepper to add for more taste. Clearly, they don’t waste any parts of the chicken.

From the fresh sheet, we got the Curry croquette ($4.00). Golden brown and crispy on the outside, but the inside was just very smooth and had a good balance of curry taste.

We then ventured into trying the Gyu Tan/Beef tongue ($4.80). This is grilled beef tongue with an awesome salt green onion mixture. The beef tongue was tender and was seasoned very nicely and the onion mixture accompanied it well.

The Yaki Udon ($7.80) is something more standard. It I span fried udon, beef, mushrooms, green onion, and then seasoned with soy sauce and butter.

It was all right, but nothing special.

The Okonomiyaki ($5.80) is a deep fried squid & cabbage pancake with tonkatsu sauce and a mustard mayo sauce. I thought this was all right and kinda reminded me of the Korean seafood pancake but smaller and with more sauce.

I love Ramune ($2.50). It is just a Japanese soda, which has a marble, as it’s “lid”.

At this point of the night, we need more beer, so we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s a huge glass and it has about a liter.

We then had the Ochazuke ($4.30). It’s rice in a dashi broth with tuna. It was light and subtle and ended the meal very nicely.

Lastly, we had the Tako Wasa ($3.50). It is marinated octopus and wasabi sauce with seaweed. You take the seaweed and put some taco wasa onto the seaweed, roll it up and eat.

I liked it because of the sharp wasabi sting.

Overall, we all had a great time! We ordered way too much and drank too much. Eventually we racked up the bill and it came to $150 after tips. I like the atmosphere and it’s a good place to unwind at the end of the day.

Words of Wisdom:

Hard to find parking
All tapas below $10 and well priced
Great place to casually eat and drink

We Rate Guu with Garlic:

Address:

1698 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com

In Downtown

Guu Garden: Amazing Dinner with the Girls

June 5, 2011

Nothing says fun like heading to dinner after a long day of work and school.

Mandu, KoreanGirl and I decided to head over to Guu Garden to check out their dinner menu.

The interior is nice!

We started with a huge Sapporo Pitcher ($18).

Mandu likes mixing her beer and sake, so we ordered the Large Cold Sake ($6.50). I don’t like the taste of sake, so I just stuck to the beer…until they sneakily poured some sake into my beer.

We started off with the Tuna Tataku ($6.50). It has lightly seared tuna sashimi on sliced onions dressed with ponzu sauce, topped with scallion and garlic chips. The garlic chips and the sliced onion make this dish so much better! I usually eat this by putting a bit of everything on top of the tuna, roll it up and eat it.

Mandy loves her saba, so we got the Saba Grill ($6.50). It is a Grilled mackerel on sliced onions, herbs and garlic. I’ve never had this before, but I found it to be a alright. The sauce on the bottom was a bit too salty for me.

Not trip to any Izakaya restaurant can be with out ebi, so we ordered His Ebi Mayo ($7.80). It is Deep-fried prawns served w/ chili mayo and cilantro. Not really sure why it was called His Ebi Mayo, but I wonder if they ever have Her Ebi Mayo. (Ok, sorry lame joke).

I love fried chicken, so we ordered the Chicken Karrage (5.80), which is deep fried chicken thigh with garlic mayo. It was really good since it was boneless! Very moist inside and well seasoned!

We then had the Cream Korokke ($6.50). This is deep-fried panko breaded cream korokke topped with bisque mousse and tonkatsu sauce. This was SO good! SO GOOD!

At this point, the beer was getting to me, so we ordered the Green Tea ($1.50). Ya, tea isn’t free. Since we still had more sake, we ordered a Mega Sapporo ($9.00). It’s just a HUGE cup of beer.

To be a bit healthy from all the fried food, we got the Prawn & Avocado Salad with Wasabi Dressing ($6.80). This was really good as well! The wasabi dressing added a little kick to the salad which we all loved.

We got the Sea Salt Grilled Pork Cheek with Yuzu Ponzu($5.80). Very delicious tender meat with amazing flavour!

Mandu loves oden, so we first had the Assorted Oden ($6.80). It came with daikon radish, fried tofu, mocha tofu bag, taro jelly and chikuwa fish cake. The broth that we chose with this is Kanto -daki oden soup base. Mandu dubbed this the BEST oden she has ever eaten in her life. The wasabi-like paste that comes with it is SPICY. Adding it to the oden is a must, just make sure you don’t add too much.

Since we carved way more oden, we got an extra on with Fried tofu ($1.50) and Mochi Tofu Bag ($2). The mocha tofu bag has a really cool texture…similar to the gluten balls for hot pot. So addictive!

Overall, we had an amazing time at Guu Garden. This is probably my favorite branch of their chain. We ate and drank so much but after looking at the bill, it was a bit steep, but we thought it was worth it.

Words of Wisdom:

Great place to go with friends for small bites and drinks
Amazing Oden
Decent prices

We Rate Guu Garden:

Address:

M101-888 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.guu-izakaya.com

In Four Beakers

Toshi Sushi: Amazing Sushi

May 20, 2011

I ventured out to eat since the Canucks were playing. This is prime opportunity to go to the popular restaurants without waiting! I always wanted to try Toshi Sushi but was always turned off by the long long waits. ScienceNerd and I went to catch up on good ol times and of course take the insults that he throws at me.

Vancouver

ScienceNerd is not one to make many choices, so he just got the Dinner Box ($16.95). This huge box includes fried oysters, tempura, sunomono, 6 pieces of sashimi, 2 pieces of nigiri, miso soup, and 6 pieces of their specialty rolls. The items in the dinner box do change often, so it is best to ask them what is in it. ScienceNerd really enjoyed it! It has a bit of everything from Toshi Sushi, so you can’t really be too disappointed in it. Great quality, fresh ingredients!

I on the other had decided to go with the individual rolls. I started off with the dragon roll. What makes this roll so appealing is the amount of beautifully cut slices of avocado with the trail of tobiko on top. Inside the roll are cucumbers, shrimp and eel. This was a really good roll and I would definitely recommend this!

Next up was the famous Box Roll. It has a very unique look that resembles a box. On top, there are salmon, prawns, scallops, and a lemon. In the center of the rice, there is avocado. I really liked the taste of this roll except the lemon was cut a little bit too thick, so I got the taste of the bitter rind. This is still pretty good and unique.

Next I got a piece of Ikura with quail egg. I am use to ordering the tobiko with quail egg but when I saw ikura with quail egg, I thought it would be cool to try something different. Chewing on this for a bit, it has a very liquid-like texture as the little ikura burst. It was a bit strange at first, but it was good. This nigiri is not for everyone, so you might hate it.

At this point, we were quite stuffed, but it felt like the waitress was pressuring us to get dessert, so ScienceNerd got the apple crumble. As you can tell, this is a very filling dessert! It has some good pieces of apple inside. The apple crumble is topped with a caramel sauce.

I ordered their strawberry cheesecake. I wanted their green tea cheesecake instead, but the waitress kept on telling me to order this one. I was not disappointed! The strawberry cheesecake was very very fresh and you can really taste the essence of the strawberries!

Overall, it was a great dinner. Not too expensive and we got some quality food. I would come again and wait in line just for their sushi.

Words of Wisdom:

Decently priced
Free parking on streets
All the sushi is pretty good!

We Rate Toshi Sushi:

Address:

181 E 16th Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Four Beakers

Pike Place Chowder: Award Winning Chowder

April 26, 2011

As we were around Pike Place, there was one place I had to check out – Pike Place Chowder. Nicolb highly recommended this place, so we were basically anticipating their Clam Chowder all day.

Pike Place Chowder is in Post Alley – perpendicular to Pike St. On a nice sunny Friday, this place was packed for lunch. All the tables were taken up and there was a long line up. Pike Place Chowder was voted to have the best Clam Chowder in Seattle, so there really wasn’t any surprise.

They sell more than just Chowder. They also sell sandwiches and salads. Since it is called Pike Place Chowder, can you guess which item is most popular? Of course, Chowders! Since it was their specialty, we all ordered their famous chowders.

You can have their chowder in a cup or add $3 to have it served in a sourdough bowl.

Since the area where they sell their chowder is quite small, they make their chowder elsewhere. If you walk a few more steps into the building, you can find their kitchen. You can see them in action making their delicious chowder.

M ordered the Clam Chowder ($10). He got it in the Sourdough bowl. The Clam Chowder was very delicious and the only words that came out of M’s mouth was “Epic”. Thats how he would describe this soup. There was lots of clams in this! The sour dough bread definitely accentuated the deliciousness of the creamy chowder. M loved dipping the top bread and when there was only a bit of soup left, M made a Chowder mini sandwich.

I ordered the Seafood Bisque ($7). I also got it in a bowl since you really can’t enjoy this without the bowl. It had a lot of shrimp, cod and salmon. The soup is made up of their creamy tomato basil broth. It was very good and flavourful! One of the best I have ever had! I even devoured most of the bowl since it worked really well together. If you ate the bread by itself, it really would not be as good. The combination of the sourdough and the chowder makes this dish amazing. I highly recommend getting the bread bowl with this dish!

Words of Wisdom:

Get the Bread Bowl, best extra 3 dollars spent!
Go there in unorthodox times such as 2-4 for lunch/dinner to avoid standing!
Buy to go, if possible.

We Rate Pike Place Chowder:

Address:

1530 Post Alley
Seattle, WA

Website:
www.pikeplacechowder.com

In Fairview

Suika: Japanese Snack Bar

April 19, 2011

I’ve wanted to try Suika out after my coworker highly recommended this place. Since M, ConsultingGirl, and LabRat wanted to have dinner, I decided to make a reservation and drive down.

We originally wanted to get here by 6pm to get a seat at the tables rather than the bar, but ConsultingGirl’s phone went crazy and did not wake her up. As we waited for her to put on her face, I called the restaurant to see if they could still hold our table, but since it was fully booked, they would only offer us seats at the bar at 6:30pm.

We were not very happy since sitting at the bar for 4 people is quite hard to converse. Since our belly’s were rumbling, we still went ahead with the plan and made our way there.

Suika is a Japanese Snack Bar on Broadway. They are similar to the other Izakaya restaurants in Vancouver. What we found super cool about Suika was their open kitchen. You can look into their whole kitchen and see the chefs busy at work.

The interior decor is super super cool as well. Their main chandelier is made out of sake bottles. At their bar, you can see they made use of industrial materials like pipes and cement blocks to give it a nice asian flair.

2 things which we enjoyed looking at were the cool handles for their Sapporo on tap; it’s a samurai sword! Also above the bar, they show old episodes of Kamen Rider. Since there is no sound, you get to read the most outrageous subtitles. We didn’t exactly understand the show, but it was hilarious watching the weird costumes.

We started off the night getting a pot of Genmai Cha ($1.80). This is one of their more popular teas.

ConsultingGirl and I both shared the Deluxe “Suika” Box ($10). It comes with 9 little appetizers served in little sake cups. It is very cute and has nice presentation. I’ll try to explain them row by row. Tomatoes, lotus root, pickled vegetables, chicken, tuna tataki, chawan mushi, spicy tofu, crackers with spread, and beef tongue. If you intend to share this box, it is best with 2 people.

We both found the tastes pretty average, some really good, some ok, but overall great concept and you do get a chance to try a bit of everything.

M, ConsultingGirl and I got 2 orders of the Ebi Mayo ($7.80). It comes with about 6 pieces of battered tiger prawns with chilli mayo sauce. These were ok, but it still does not beat the ones we had at Toratatsu. When you first take a bite of it, there is a bit too much mayo near the head of the ebi.

LabRat ordered the Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio. Raw pieces of sockeye salmon garnished with garlic chips, scallions, onions and lemon.

We got the Gyu Yukke Don ($8.80), this has marinated beef sashimi, garlic, and sesame seeds on steamed rice. It is also topped off with sweet pea shoots and a raw egg.

A cool thing about this dish is that you get to grind up your own sesame seeds with a rod and a textured bowl. ConsultingGirl had a fun time grinding it all up. As she did that, I proceeded to mix up the ingredients with the rice. Fun!

I thought this dish was just ok since it felt very strange eating the beef sashimi warm. ConsultingGirl on the other hand loved it. The flavours nonetheless were very well combined!

M ordered the Tuna and Miso Pizza. This is a thin pizza with tuna, miso, tomato and cheese. M couldn’t make up his mind about what he thought about the pizza. The pizza was well prepared, but he felt the cooked tuna was super weird on pizza. It was just something he was not use to.

LabRat ordered the Tokyo Oxtail Ramen ($9.80). This has braised oxtail in a soy sauce broth. It is topped with fish flakes and scallions. She did not take a particular liking to the ramen. It was ok, but I think the ramen at the ramen shops are way better.

Next, ConsultingGirl and I shared the Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki ($6.00). It had a semi mild chili sauce sauce covering the tuna tataki. The tuna tataki rested on top of onions and scallions. Very good twist to the usual tuna tataki.

Then ConsultingGirl and I had the Sashimi “Shake” Salad ($7.80).

The reason why it has the word “shake” because they come up to your tables with this jar full of salad and start shaking it infront of you, then pour it all into a large bowl. It makes for a little show. The salad is composed of mixed greens, sashimi, tobiko and shrimp +sesame oil dressing.

It was a large salad for a good price. Very fresh and clean salad to end the meal.

At the end of the meal, you are given frozen grapes. They are perfect at the end of the meal since they also act as pallet cleansers to rid your mouth of the old tastes.

Overall, good experience, good ambiance, and great food. What I found interesting was how all 4 of us had different thoughts on Suika. ConsultingGirl loved it, LabRat thought it was ok and M was indifferent.

I would probably go again! Next time, we will probably make reservations a few days before to get a table rather than sit at the bar.

Words of Wisdom: