gross Archives - Foodology

In Gastown

Wildebeest: Eating Beef Tongue, Sweetbreads, Skin, and Foie Gras

November 14, 2012

Wildebeest opened up in Gastown earlier in the Summer and has a very darling menu with unusual ingredients. When coming here, you can’t be squeamish of the items you are eating! Have an open mind and enjoy the intricate flavours. Flo took me here for my birthday!

Their kitchen is very open, so you can watch their every move! It’s pretty cool.

We ordered non-alcoholic cocktails. They didn’t have this on their menu, so we asked the waitress to bring us something fruity and sweet. We still never figured out if this drink had a name, but it was pretty good.

Crispy pork skin with spiced salt ($4) was not exactly what we anticipated. It was crispy and puffy, we expected more of a pork crackling. It’s hard to chew and when you start chewing on it, it sticks all over your teeth.

Smoked Castelvetrano olives ($5) was good! The olives were green and had pits inside. Pretty good item to munch on while waiting for the main dishes. It is a bit pricey though.

Grilled beef tongue, wild mushroom consommé, toasted grains, mustard greens ($14) was so good! the beef was very tender and so flavourful! Everything just went so well together! I highly suggest you order this!

Mortadella, pistachio, mutsu apple, arugula salad ($9) was light and refreshing.

Roasted sweetbreads, caramelized buttermilk, wild mushrooms, porchini vinaigrette ($15). If you don’t know what sweetbreads are… you might not want to hear what it really is, but it’s the thymus of an animal. Surprise! The flavour was actually really delicious! Don’t let the unknown ingredients scare you.

Poutine, roasted duck liver ($16) came at the very end of the meal. It has pieces of fois gras, cheese curds, and gravy on fries. It was a very rich dish, so it was quite hard to eat.

Desserts are quite small, so you may want to hog it all to yourself instead of sharing. Their desserts are quite unique. Overall, Flo and I had a great time, but we did find the dishes to be pricey and on the small side. Nonetheless, it was cool trying items I’ve never had before…like sweetbreads. Reservations is a must since the place can get pretty packed during dinner and on weekends.

We Rate Wildebeest:

Address:
120 W Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.wildebeest.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=120+W+Hastings+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=120+W+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+1G8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Four Beakers

Minimani: Eating Raw Octopus (Sannakji) in Seoul, Korea

August 14, 2012

Minimani is a restaurant in Myeong-Dong that specializes in grilled meats. Kirby and I met up to venture out to find some raw octopus to eat. We were passing by and saw they had a tank of live octopus, so we were sure they would sell sannakji!

Since it is a BBQ restaurant, all tables do have gas stoves on top. Depending on what you order here, you may or may not need it.

Since we were here only for the raw octopus, we had our side dishes (banchan) on the grill instead.

We were given diced up cabbage with a mayo sauce and kimchi.

Sannakji was on the menu! Yeah! It looks much better in video format since you can see it squirm. The texture was slimy and yes, the octopus does attach to your tongue, inside of your mouth, and teeth. You just need to chew the octopus several times until you are certain the suction cups aren’t working anymore.

If you have had takowasa before at a Japanese restaurant, it’s like that but not spicy and more alive.

Here is the video above! The octopus is alive! In a sense it is dead, but the nerves are still twitching and squirming.

We were given a mixture of sesame oil, salt and pepper to drip the octopus into. It complimented to raw taste quite nicely.

Here is video proof that I ate it. Its really was fun and tasted good! If you are ever in Korea, give it a try! Have you had Sannakji before?

We Rate Minimani:

Address:
199-44, Euljiro2-ga, Jung-gu,, Seoul, South Korea

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In Fairview

Suika Japanese Snackbar: Stingray, Pig Foot, and Other Odd Dishes

July 17, 2012

Suika Japanese Snackbar is owned by the same people who created Kingyo Izakaya. It is located on Broadway near Fir St. I’ve been to Suika Snackbar a few times and it’s a great place to dine with friends over yummy Japanese food.

The famous chandelier!

Chicken Karaage ($7.80) is deep fried chicken pieces with a side of salt and pepper. Very yummy! I usually order this when I go to any Izakaya restaurant.

Corn Kakiage ($4.80) are corn niblets fried in cilantro batter, soy sauce and butter. It’s one of my favorite items! It comes with 3 pieces and the butter definitely enhances the flavour!

Tonsoku ($6.80) is a sauteed pig foot until it’s crispy. It is flavoured with soy butter. On the menu it says “Don’t try, if you never had”. Just because of that line, it made CandiedZen and I eat it! When it arrived at the table, it was indeed a pig foot. It tasted good, but it’s not for everyone. There’s not much meat on it, so you are basically eating skin, fat and cartilage.

Sweet Balsamic Sauteed Portabella Mushroom ($6.80) was a very interesting dish. It looked really weird, but with the balsamic vinegar, it was sweet.

Eihire – Dried Sting Ray ($4.20) was something that caught our eye on the menu. CandiedZen and I were so curious about how this would taste! It is also accompanied by a chili sauce and mayo. The look of it was quite weird as I commented saying it looked like very thick feet skin. I think I ruined M and CandiedZen’s appetite. hahaha. The taste was like dried squid, so it tasted totally fine.

Ahi Tuna Carpaccio ($9.20) had lots of slices of tuna with mayo, onions, tobiko, and pea shoots. It’s a pretty solid dish to order at any izakaya restaurant and Suika does a good job at making this. Yum.

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on Street
No refills on pop (M accidently spent $7.50 on 3 cups of coke)
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Suika Snackbar:

Address:
1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.suika-snackbar.com/

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In Fairview

Suika Snackbar: Suika Punch Dining Package Review

June 21, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Suika Punch” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along M and CandiedZen to keep the review as unbiased as I could.

Suika Snackbar is owned by the same people who bring us Kingyo Izakaya. It is located on Broadway near Fir St. I’ve been to Suika Snackbar a few times and it’s a great place to dine with friends over yummy Japanese food.

The guys at VANEATS.ca is offering a new dining package called Suika Punch for $25, where you get 6 courses consisting of:

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki
Tomato Kimchi
Yellowtail Carpaccio
The Hellz Chicken
Chinese Poutine
Pitcher of Sapporo

I always end up taking a picture of this because it’s so pretty.

Pitcher of Sapporo is an awesome addition to this package because everyone wants to relax and have a drink with friends. CandiedZen and I shared the pitcher since M was the driver for the night. Sapporo is one of my favorite beers since it’s light and pairs really well with Japanese food. No joke, I actually prefer Sapporo over Asahi.

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki, Tomato Kimchi, and Yellowtail Carpaccio come on one plate. It’s not 3 full courses, but it’s more of a sampler.

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki is topped with chili oil and scallions. M really liked it since it’s nicely seared on all sides. It was a nice change to have the chili oil on top of this instead of the usual ponzu sauce. It’s not spicy! There are 4 pieces that come with it, so if you come with an odd amount of people, someone is gonna fight for the last piece.

Tomato Kimchi has kimchi marinated tomato with chinese chives & cilantro oil. I loved this since the taste just tickles your tongue. It’s not spicy at all. I am not sure if I was crazy, but it seemed like there was a bit of sesame oil to this dish as well.

Yellowtail Carpaccio has thinly sliced yellowtail topped with sesame soy dressing, tobiko and mayo. I thought the mayo was a bit too much since it just killed the light delicate taste of the fish.

Chinese Poutine has french fries topped with spicy ground pork sauce, mozzarella, chili oil, sansho and minced cilantro. It’s actually not spicy either. It’s a really weird spin on poutine. It tasted good, but it seemed a bit peculiar for the menu.

The Hellz Chicken has 4 balls of deep-fried chicken tossed the most most evil sauce imaginable. (It’s a lie, but it’s spicy! Wing’s Bobby wings are hotter.) The sauce is made with a combination of jalapeno, hot sauce, lemon, garlic, vinegar & tabasco. Since I knew this was coming, I had to bring a Korean to see how intense the spice really was.

M loves his spicy food, but he did not feel like there was a yummy spicy taste to this dish. I had to agree with him since it just burns your mouth. I ate 2 of the pieces and I drank a glass of beer and a glass of water to quench the burn. I can usually handle my spice since I eat jars and jars of spicy kimchi at home.

At the end of the meal, you get some awesome frozen grapes. I always look forward to these since it’s very yummy.

Overall, we felt that the ‘Suika Punch’ is not for everyone. If you can’t handle your spice…or have weak friends, someone is gonna end up crying because of the Hellz Chicken. For $25 for the dining pass, it’s a good price since the pitcher of Sapporo does come with it. It’s a good package for 2 people. If you have 3 people, you would be ok ordering a few more additional dishes.

You can purchase the Suika Punch Dining Package at VANEATS.ca for $25!

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on Street
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Suika Snackbar:

Address:
1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.suika-snackbar.com/

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In Bar and Grill

Fat Dragon BBQ: Dining on Pig head

April 22, 2012

A new restaurant has popped up on the Downtown East Side called Fat Dragon BBQ. The location is quite remote and nothing very pretty is around this place.Even though it is a Chinese restaurant, its more of Chinese x Southern US fusion. You won’t be able to find any fried rice here or anything traditional. You’re going to the wrong place if you want Chinese food.

Ange of FoodPunk and I headed to try out Fat Dragon BBQ since I heard from my sister they have an amazing pig head. Pig head on a menu isn’t regular and I’ve never heard of people eating pig head.

Once you walk inside, you’ll enter a pink tunnel and you will be transported into the restaurant where you will find a very rustic interior.

The interior is quite cool since there are lots of small dim light around. It kinda reminds me of lanterns and fireflies. Also, there are huge scales running across to the back of the restaurant like a dragon’s tail.

You get chopsticks for your meal and the best part is the bad grammar on the packaging! Clearly it is a product of China.

Yanjing Beer ($5) is a light beer and does not have a strong hop taste to it. Its refreshing especially with BBQ.

Junmai Sour ($8.50) has fruit tea sake, gin, lemon, orange blossom and egg white.

Crunchy Squid Bao Buns ($2.50) is a unique twist on the steamed buns. It has calamari, scallions, coriander, chili salt and hot sauce. The batter of the squid was light and well seasoned. I enjoyed it.

Slow-Smoked Beef Deckie Bao Buns ($2.50) has minced meat, cabbage and candied peanuts. The filling inside would easily fall out, so be a bit careful when eating. I thought the beef was a bit on the dry side, but there was hints of a smokey flavour. The texture of the cabbage and the meat contrasted nicely.

Smoked and Roasted Half Pigs Head ($45) it is served with lemon, bacon bits, herb sauce as well as bean sprout kimchi and lettuce. This is meant to serve 4 -6 people. It does take a while to prepare, so it is best to get a few drinks or appies to not get bored waiting.

The cheeks were quite fatty, but it was so delicious and tender. It was like pork belly but on its face. Ange and I both devoured this without trouble! While we were eating it, several people did have to come to our table to check out 2 small Asian girls eating a pig’s head. It’s really not that big, but we were able to survive through it.

Don’t spend too long eating this because when it gets cold, the fat does solidify. We didn’t run into any issues since it stayed warm for a long time.

We took a little bit of everything and put it into the lettuce. I found that the lettuce and the bean sprout kimchi is needed to enjoy the meat! It gives it a refreshing crunch, plus the taste of fat will not overwhelm your tastebuds.

Jasmine Hot Tea ($2.75 per pot) was definitely needed after the pig head to aid digestion. I always have a habit of drinking tea after fatty meals. Ange ordered the Vanilla Oolong tea ($2.75 per pot) and it did smell very fragrant and sweet, but it did not taste sweet.

Fat Dragon Chocolate Bars ($7.50 each) was a bit disappointing when it arrived at the table. We did not expect it would actually be just chocolate bars. It seemed ordinary, but the 2 kinds do have interesting flavours.

Milk chocolate with crispy rice, toasted coconut and ceylon cinnamon.

Dark Chocolate with smoked peanuts, candied ginger and sea salt.

Overall, nothing too Chinese here, but the BBQ is pretty good. I saw lots of people ordering ribs. We didn’t ordering too many variety of items, but the pig head was fun to devour.

Words of Wisdom: