Tapas Archives - Page 2 of 3

La Mezcaleria: Mezcal, Tacos and Enchiladas

January 31, 2014

La Mezcaleria was created by the same people as La Taqueria. They are the first mexican restaurant offering the finest small batch mezcal, tequila and cocktails from different regions of Mexico. You will find it as a good drinking place with some Mexican cuisine.

It definitely has a different atmosphere than La Taqueria. It gets darker at night and louder. Not a bad thing as its more of a fun atmosphere at night.

Espadin Mezcal Flight ($26) They have their customized flights served with sangrita and lime. These are strong drinks! The flight I got had Fidencio Unico, Scorpion Silver and Rey Zapoteco mezcal. You’re supposed to be sipping these drinks throughout your meal and chase it down with the sangrita and lime.

Horchata is a traditional non-alcoholic drink made out of almonds, sesame seeds, rice and barley. It’s white, so it totally looks like milk. Tasted great!

Queso Fundido ($16 + Chorizo $2.50) is Mezcaleria’s molten cheese fondue served in a volcanic rock molcajete. You have your choice of either salsa verde or Mexican chorizo.

The dish is very rich and oily. You scoop this onto a corn tortilla and enjoy. I found that it didn’t hold very well in the tortilla because the oil would just be dripping out. The best part of the dish is the cheese on the sides of the bowl. It’s crispy!!

Guacamole ($7) is made to order with fresh avocado, cilantro, lime, onion, jalapeño and tomato. This is a staple dish to have at any Mexican restaurant. Good as an appetizer to nibble on with some drinks.

Enchiladas Clasicas ($14) is filled with spicy chicken, cheese or beans. Topped with green tomatillo or red tomato salsa, onion, cream and Mexican cheese. M went with the green tomatillo sauce. It was a bit spicy but he loved the sauce and the complex flavours.

Tostadas De Pato has Fraser Valley duck confit, guava, fruit mole sauce (manchamanteles), chayote squash and radish. The tortilla on the bottom is fried, so its hard to eat with your hands. I liked eating it with a fork and knife.

They have other taco selections too similar to La Taqueria. They’re all pretty darn good!

You have 4 sauces to choose from at the table – Chipotle, salsa verde, chile de arbol and habanero. My favourite is always the salsa verde.

Overall, if you are familiar with La Taqueria’s tacos and that’s all you want, you are best to probably stick with La Taqueria. The prices are a bit higher but you do have more variety of dishes. I know I keep comparing it to La Taqueria, but that’s what a lot of people are familiar with. People like coming here for the drinks and ambiance.

We Rate La Mezcaleria:

Address:
1622 Commercial Dr
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.lamezcaleria.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1622+Commercial+Dr+Vancouver,+BC&sll=49.2700892,-123.0694994&sspn=0.0053764,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=1622+Commercial+Dr,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5L+3Y4&z=16 “]

In Dineout

Dine Out Vancouver: Chicha

January 24, 2014

Chicha is a fun and casual restaurant serving up Peruvian inspired cuisine. They opened up in May 2013 and located on Broadway near Main.

My coworkers have said amazing things about this eatery and I was very excited to come here for Dine Out Vancouver, Their menu is $28 and you get to choose, 1 entree, 2 mains, and a desserts. I love the tapa style dishes and great for sharing. It gives you an opportunity to try more dishes.

Their menu had lots of options and to be honest, I was very overwhelmed because I didn’t know what to order. Plus, a lot of the names of the dishes sounded very unfamiliar. These are times I wish I had one of those menus with pictures.

Chicha Morada ($3.50) is a traditional Peruvian beverage made of purple corn, spices, pineapple, and citrus. It’s a non-alcoholic drink and its very delicious. It comes with a cute paper straw and beautifully decorated with lime and pineapple.

Fresh Local Seafood Chowder has aji amarillo chili pepper, red nugget, sweet potatoes, corn and cilantro oil. Magz and FierceFeathers both got this as their appetizer and adored the unique combination of flavours.

Palitas de Yuca has cassava root and a huancaina sauce. The yuca was very crunchy and quite different from your usual fries. It’s a good dish but it really doesn’t compare to the seafood chowder.

Rocoto Braised Lamb and Wine Cured Chorizo Fettuccini has black olives, tomato and parmesan cheese, and cilantro oil.

Pollo anticuchos has aji chili marinated chicken breast skewers with brown butter fingerling potato, choclo corn, and trio of aji chili sauces. The chicken was moist and have great flavours that balanced out the aji trio sauces.

Yarrow Meadows Duck Spring Rolls has wild mushroom, five spice duck confit spring rolls served with a peashoot and pickled daikon salad and ginger and Japanese plum wine sauce. There’s a good amount of duck in the spring roll.

Lomo Saltado has flat iron steak, kennebec fries, red onion, peppers, tomato wok fried with soy sauce, garlic, and aji amarillo chili. Image it as like a Peruvian poutine. I actually imagined this dish quite differently. It tasted like an asian stir-fry with fries. We didn’t like this dish.

Spiced Aji Chili Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding with Peruvian dulce de leche, and pisco raspberry sauce.

Lucuma, white chocolate, and lime frozen torte with passion fruit and raspberry sauce. This was a very unique dessert and it really cleanses your palate.

We definitely felt there were dishes that were a hit and some a miss. You really have to read all the ingredients carefully or ask how the dish is presented. The food was ok, but I wasn’t very impressed by the choices of the dishes I chose.

We Rate Chicha:

Address:
136 East Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://www.chicharestaurant.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=136+East+Broadway+Vancouver,+BC&sll=49.2628222,-123.1020456&sspn=0.0053772,0.0109864&t=m&hnear=136+Broadway+E,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+1A1&z=16″]

In Dessert

Hapa Izakaya: Japanese Tapas on Robson Street

January 13, 2014

Earlier last month a few of my friends and I were dining at the Hapa Izakaya in Coal Harbour. I’ve been to Hapa several times and had no issues, but that particular dining experience was horrible and I felt bad for my friends. I won’t delve into it, but you can read it all on thefoodqueen.ca. We were invited back to any Hapa Izakaya location to have a re-do of our meal.

Hapa Izakaya has a reputation for delicious Japanese food with pretty waitresses according to some of my Toronto friends. I spend more time staring at food than at people. Thats why I spend more time snapping pictures of food than of my friends. Horrible habit, but hopefully that will change one day.

The Robson location is quite large, so there is tons of room to accommodate large groups. We came on a snowy day, so that’s why this place wasn’t packed. No one wants to brave though the snow for some eats. Vancouverites fear snow, no matter how much there is.

Pint of Sapporo is my drink of choice at a Japanese restaurant. It’s light, crisp and refreshing.

Hello Kitty ($7.50) is a cocktail drink made of strawberry puree, calpis, absolut vodka, and soda. It was a fun drink and it did not taste too alcoholic.

Shigoku Oysters ($2.99) was recommended by our waitress and is OceanWise. It is from Washington and flavour profile is salty, mildly sweet with a water chestnut finish. It tasted pretty darn good.

Hapa has a large selection of fresh oysters with 17 different varieties. Very impressed.

Ahi Tuna ($11.99) is OceanWise and is beautifully cut. Yumm.

Sockeye Salmon ($10.99) is also OceanWise and are good cuts.

Beef Tataki ($9.99) is a very popular dish. It is made of lightly seared AAA beef with a sesame-chili sauce. I didn’t like it because of the sauce, I much prefer it with garlic chips and ponzu sauce. Just a personal preference.

Bintoro ($9.99) is made of OceanWise albacore tuna sashimi that is lightly seared. It also has Ponzu Sauce and fried garlic chips. Delicious!

Cho Wagyu ($12.49) is a fun dish. You get a super hot stone and you get to cool your own kobe beef. It comes with garlic ships, green onion and ponzu sauce.

Beef Short Ribs ($12.99) has grilled AAA beef short ribs with an apple-soy marinade. Its really good! The meat is quite tender and very flavourful.

Karaage ($8.99) has fried boneless chicken, and a soy ginger sauce.

Teriyaki Mochi Gnochi ($5.49) comes with 2 pieces on a stick. It’s a deep fried potato gnocchi with a teriyaki glaze.

Spicy Pork Ishi-Yaki ($9.99) has rice, minced pork, garlic sprouts, egg, tomato, lettuce, and spicy miso in a hot stone bowl.

Ebi Mayo ($8.99) has tempura prawns with a spicy mayo sauce. It was ok, but needs more mayo.

Kaki Fry ($9.99) comes with 6 pieces. It is pan-fried sawmill bay oyster, and panko breaded. It comes with tartar sauce.

Gindara ($11.49) has baked OceanWise sablefish in a sake-miso marinade with some veggies on the side. The skin of the sable fish was crispy.

Polenta Fries ($7.99) has polenta tempura, soy-balsamic reduction and arugula gel. All the fries are piles up in a stack like Jenga. It’s a fun dish to share.

Oyster Risotto ($13.99) is a new item on their menu and it is served in a hot stone bowl. It contains rice, oysters, mozzarella, onion, carrot, mushroom, green beans, and a cream miso broth. It was a filling dish and it really good. I love mushrooms and oysters.

Chocolate Parfait ($5.99) is a mishmash of different ingredients. Blueberries, corn flakes, brownies, cake, and chocolate ice cream.

Creme Brulee ($4.99) is topped with fruits and cookies.

Matcha Roll Cake ($5.49) has matcha cream with the match cake. Good for those green tea lovers out there.

The desserts were all pretty comparable.

Overall, if you are looking for some delicious Japanese tapas and some drinks for a girls night out or a date, this is the place to go. But it can get pricey compared to some of the other izakaya restaurants in town.

We rate Hapa Izakaya:

Address:
1479 Robson St
Vancouver, BC

Website: http://hapaizakaya.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1479+Robson+St+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=1479+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6G+1C1&z=15 “]

In Canadian

Craft Beer Market: Open in Vancouver

November 3, 2013

My coworkers and I have been keeping an eye on the Craft Beer Market opening up in the Olympic Village near Science World. What I love about this area is it’s amazing views and how this neighbourhood is transforming. It was supposed to be open during the Summer of 2013, but due to some delays, it is going to officially open on November 7th, 2013.

Word has spread around the office that they are currently having a soft opening and are open for business. We were bidding a coworker goodbye, so it seemed like the perfect place to have an office lunch.

This place is HUGE! There are even 2 elevated private seating areas. Also, the beautiful bar in the centre with so many different types of Craft Beer.

Wall of beer kegs.

More beer!

Below are images of their food and drink menus.

Fast Food Sushi?! Red Racer IPA Infused Taquitos?!

Their menus are labeled with healthy, vegetarian, ocean-wise and gluten-free options. It really help taking the guess work if you have dietary restrictions. Nice touch!

Dark beer braised beef brisket?! Phillips Beer Can Chicken?!

20 Napkin Burger?! Earnest Ice Cream!!

Looks like there are some amazing sounding items on the menu.

SO much beer!

Too many to choose from.

Hawaiian Ahi Poke ($14) has chopped sashimi-grade tuna, cucumber, fresh ginger, garlic, and a sesame soy vinaigrette with crispy wonton skins. Magz said it tasted alright, but is lacking a few ingredients. Perhaps avocados.

Craft House Soup (Bowl – $8) has cheddar, jalapeno, and their Village House Ale.

Wings ($13) 1lb of crispy Rossdown Farms chicken wings tossed in Canadian sauce (bacon and maple syrup). The Canadian flavour was surprisingly good. It was subtle, but it just worked so well. For some reason we imagined it to be a thick sauce, but we were glad it wasn’t like that.

Fast Food Sushi ($12) cheeseburger and fries wrapped in bacon. It is dressed with jalapeño cream cheese and BBQ sauce. This was a very interesting item on the menu that JP just had to order. It was sinfully delicious and would be a great combination with some beer.

Thai Lettuce Wraps ($12 + Chicken $5) has crispy noodles and veggies sautéed with sweet ginger and lemongrass served with julienne vegetables, rice and a trio of house made sauces. It’s a great interactive dish where you can build your lettuce wraps yourself. One thing my coworkers said was that they wished the lettuce would be larger so it could hold more of the filling.

Waldorf chicken salad ($16) has parmesan and walnut crusted Rossdown Farms chicken, sun-dried cranberries, mixed greens, grapes, blue cheese, celery, and honey mustard vinaigrette. It was a big salad with a lot of ingredients.

Brewmaster’s Chicken Sandwich ($15) has Rossdown Farms chicken breast, avocado, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato lettuce, and red onion in a ciabatta bun. You have your choice of either Kennebec fries, mixed greens, caesar salad, spinach salad or soup. My coworker went with the spinach salad.

Craft Mac & Cheese ($16) has a blend of cheddar, gouda, mozzarella and fontina cheese tossed with bacon and poblano peppers topped with parsley and garlic breadcrumbs. It is also served with grilled garlic bread. The portion was huge, but I really wish the mac and cheese was a bit more gooier.

Overall, the food was pretty good, but there are a few kinks to work out. Prices are a tad high, but its ok considering the area that it’s located in. Their menu is large and you can always find something to eat and plus, their beverage menu is massive. I can see it as a great place to come after work to chill with coworkers or friends. It’s a great addition to the Olympic Village area and definitely adds some competition in the area.

We Rate Craft Beer Market:

Address:
85 West 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.craftbeermarket.ca/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CRAFT-Beer-Market-Vancouver/306941952714764

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=85+West+1st+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&t=m&hnear=85+W+1st+Ave,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5Y+3K8&z=16″]

In American

The Purple Pig: Ears, Bone Marrow and Shoulders in Chicago

September 16, 2013

The Purple Pig is one of Chicago’s most talked about restaurants. It’s located right on the Magnificent Mile and has won 3 consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmands Chicago awards. It basically means they are quality restaurants at an affordable price.

Even at 5:30pm, the place was packed. They don’t take reservations, so you gotta get there early if you have a big party. They do have indoor and outdoor seating.

There weren’t any tables left so we sat at the bar, which looks into their little kitchen behind the bar. Fun to see them put our dishes together.

Pig’s Ear with Crispy Kale, Pickled Cherry Peppers & Fried Egg. This item is very popular and its’ really good. It’s quite greasy, so its nice to have a drink to go with this. Highly recommended.

Milk Braised Pork Shoulder with Mashed Potatoes. The shoulder was very tender and lots of flavours It was slightly on the salty side, but still yummy.

Roasted Bone Marrow with Herbs has some rustic toasted bread on the side. If you’ve never had bone marrow before, it just tastes like fat and oil. Some people like it, but it’s more of

Overall, it was pretty tasty food and a nice meal before heading to Second City to watch a comedy show. Our bellies were full of pork. We didn’t have a full meal here since we weren’t that hungry, but some of their other dishes looked amazing.

We Rate The Purple Pig:

Address:
500 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.thepurplepigchicago.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=500+N+Michigan+Ave,+Chicago,+IL+60016,+USA&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=500+N+Michigan+Ave,+Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois+60016,+United+States&z=16 “]

In Downtown

Ten Ten Tapas: West Coast Tapas

August 27, 2013

Ten Ten Tapas is a new restaurant in Downtown on Beach Avenue right below the Burrard street bridge. They specialize in West Coast Tapas made by Executive Chef Nourdine Majdoubi.

If you are sitting on the patio, you can view false creek, the Granville Street bridge, Granville Island, and lots of boats.

They also have indoor seating, which looks much nicer than the furniture on the patio. But, with the nice Summer and heat, we opted to sit on the patio to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.

While having a variety of tapas, alcohol is needed to really relax after work. For Cruzpresso, he enjoys relaxing with a nice glass of white wine.

M and Scarface settled for Hoegaarden as it is light and has a nice citrus aftertaste.

I am a fanatic for Japanese beer, so I got Sapporo. It’s light and crispy, which goes will with some tapas. With all our drink set, it’s time to dig in.

As I was invited by the restaurant to dine here, portion-sizes may not be exactly the same as depicted in the images.

Duo of Hummus and Guacamole served with baked pita bread. The hummus was amazing with the right amount of garlic. As for the guacamole, we really wanted to like it, but it fell a bit flat. It was hard to figure out what it was but perhaps it was some salt or more acidity.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls is packed with onions, cabbage, tofu, bean sprouts and mushrooms and served with a sweet chilli and plum sauce. It was good and very enjoyable as little bites to go with drinks.

Wasabi Sui Mai was a very interesting item on the menu and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Who would be daring enough to make that pairing. As we are all adventurers, we were not afraid to chow down on these little bombs of pain.

We popped it into our mouths, chewed a bit, and BAM…the sensation of wasabi travels up your nose and makes your eyes water a bit. These are definitely something to order if you want to make your friends squirm.

Pan Seared Crab Cakes is served with a harissa mayo and a pineapple tomato salsa. There is also balsamic reduction on the bottom. I found the crab inside to be nice and sweet but the coating of the crab cake was a bit thick.

Stuffed Organic Beef Meatballs is stuffed with emmental cheese, fennel, cinnamon onion chutney and red pepper coulis. It had a nice soft texture and the pepper coulis wasn’t hot either.

Pipita Shrimp are pan-seared with a pumpkin seed crust, citrus vinaigrette and a balsamic reduction. The shrimp was cooked till it had a nice firm texture.

Pipita Scallops are pan-seared with a pumpkin seed crust, citrus vinaigrette and a balsamic reduction. Same treatment as the shrimp. The scallops were cooked to the right texture. But, I started noticing this trend where most dishes did have that balsamic reduction sauce, which leaves a dark color to the food.

Poached Saffron Salmon is made with wild west coast salmon, grilled fennel and a saffron sauce. The saffron taste was very subtle. It took us a while to pick up on that taste until the manager told us. The salmon was cook nicely and it was still yummy and moist on the inside.

Stuffed Portabellini Mushroom is stuffed with spinach, jalapeno, red onions, blue cheese and finished with a basil vinaigrette. I felt like there was a lot of conflicting flavoures on the mushroom that it drowned out the taste. You can really taste the dominate flavour of the blue cheese.

Duck Breast is pan-seared with bok choy, jicama, and the sweet balsamic vinaigrette. The duck was delicious and tender. Quite enjoyable.

Broccolini Almondine is sauteed almonds and broccolini. It was really good.

Grilled Fluffy Polenta was delicious as well.

Chocolate Mousse Cake is topped with gooseberry, strawberries and has a blueberry sauce on the side.

Overall, the restaurant is a great place to chill in the Summer over some drinks and bites. Certain dishes were lacking and definitely needed to showcase more of west coast’s delicate seafood.

We Rate Ten Ten Tapas:

Address:
1010 Beach Ave
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.tententapas.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1010+Beach+Ave,+Vancouver,+BC+V6E+1T7&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=1010+Beach+Ave,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6E+1T7&z=16″]

In Chinatown

The Keefer Bar: 2 for 1 Tapas in Chinatown

August 22, 2013

My coworkers were looking for a place to hang out after work over some drinks and small bites. A few block away from the office was The Keefer Bar and people told us there were some amazing cocktails here. They even have 2 for 1 special on food Sunday to Thursday from 5pm to 8pm.

They have patio seating and indoor seating. It was a hot and bright day outside, so we opted to sit indoors. We didn’t want to develop a tan since there wasn’t any shade outside.

Their menu is pretty cool, and after a long day, the Keefer Bar has the prescription we needed – alcohol and food.

SIngha Beer ($5) was my choice. It was on special for $5 and it has a nice clean crisp taste.

Some of my coworkers shared a pitcher of Komodo Dragon ($7 glass || $30 Pitcher). It looked like a pretty awesome drink and they said it tasted fantastic. It has pimms, giffard lychee, lemon, yuzu marmalade, ginko biloba, royal jelly & soda.

Meat and Cheese Plate ($16) came with 3 types of meat and cheeses, crackers, olives, and mustard. It was really good. Perfect item to nibble on and they chose to tasty cheese and meats. This item was not part of the 2 for 1 deal.

Dim sum ($7) came in a little bamboo steamer with 6 pieces. At first I was a bit skeptical about the quality of these little dumplings, but they were pretty good. It’s up to par with dim sum restaurants, but the size is a bit smaller.

Keefer Pizza ($10) was ok, It was thin crust with marinara sauce, gruyere, mozzarella,roasted garlic, steamed gailan leaves. Yummy! Depending on how many people you are with, they can cut the slices smaller or larger depending on how you want it.

Peking Duck Sliders ($9) was sandwiched between 2 fluffy buns. Once you bite into it, you can taste the butter from the bun and the savouriness from the duck. It’s really good. There is also cucumber, cilantro, pineapple, and plum sauce.

Spring Rolls ($7) come with 3 on a plate with plum sauce. It was really good too! You can choose from either vegetarian and shrimp options. We chose it with shrimp.

Peking Duck Tacos ($10) come with 2 on a plate. It’s a double layered soft taco shell housing the delicious duck meat, Keefer slaw, Thai basil and plum sauce. Yummy!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cocktails of food. They do both really well and you won’t be disappointed. The best time to come is during the happy hour for 2 for 1 food. We ordered a ton of food and paid under $20 per person. The only problem is that the service is a bit slow and not super friendly.

We Rate the Keefer Bar:

Address:
135 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thekeeferbar.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=135+Keefer+St,+Vancouver,+BC+V6A+1X4&sll=49.2399859,-122.95816940000002&sspn=0.1721632379598321,0.3516140337636478&t=m&dg=opt&hnear=135+Keefer+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6A+1X4&z=16 “]

In Mount Pleasant/Main Street

Burdock & Co : Farm to Table Concept

May 19, 2013

Burdock & Co has open up in the former location of Cafeteria. This restaurant is headed by Chef Andrea Carlson. Her menu reflects the locavore philosophy with using local organic produce throughout the menu. The interior is quite cozy with a communal table and a few separate tables on the side.

My coworkers and I came here after work one day just to chill over some delicious food. The plates are best shared with a group. The 3 of us shared 4 dishes and a dessert.

Burdock & Beer ($11) is a mixture of saison, gingerbeer, burdock root & sour, ginger, plum & rootbeer bitters.

Seasonal Garden-Slug ($11) contains vodka, lemon, apple & fenugreek, western elderberry bitters, and moondog bitters. I chose this cocktail for its name since ‘garden-slug’ sounded adventurous. There’s no garden slug in this, but it tasted good and went well with the intricate dishes.

Urban Digs Egg ($9), wild cress, hazelnut & blue cheese granola, browned butter and potato vinaigrette. It’s a vegetarian dish. The quality of ingredients was great and the items did blend nicely together. Portions are on the smaller side.

Fresh Oysters ($15) comes with finger lime caviar, french breakfast radish, chickweed,apple & verbena sorbet, and a kasu emulsion. Beautiful presentation of the ingredients and tasted good but as you can tell, it won’t fill you up if you just order this item.

Pickled humpback shrimp ($14) also has house made tofu, wild ginger, charred spring onion, and fiddleheads. It’s yet another beautiful dish, but it’s not enough to fill a person up.

Harvest Oxtail Ramen ($13) also has swiss chard and kimchi. This item is best to order as it has more substance to it. If you have been to Harvest Community Foods and tried this ramen, you’ll be a fan of this. Before opening up Burdock & Co, the Chef Andrea Carlson was at Harvest Community Foods, so you can see how aspects are infused into her menu. It tasted good and I would recommend this dish.

Salted Caramel Apple Pot Pie ($8) topped with Elderflower Ice Cream. When we saw the salted caramel words, we gravitated towards this dessert. The elderflower ice cream was very subtle in flavour that balanced the butteriness of the crust. The crust was crispy and under it laid the piping hot apple mixture.

Overall, Burdock and Co isn’t for everyone. It’s a bit pricey than other places in town, but if you consider the ingredients that goes into their items, you know it’s not processed or frozen. They care about the ingredients and have built strong relationships with local farmers. It’s best to share the dishes as they are a bit of a tapa style.

We Rate Burdock and Co:

Address:
2702 Main St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.burdockandco.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2702+Main+St.+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2702+Main+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+3E8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In American

Sip Resto Lounge: Dine Out Vancouver

January 31, 2013

Sip Resto Lounge on Granville Street is participating in Dine Out Vancouver again! What is unique about Sip is that every dish is made of alcohol or at least used to be. Even though most of the alcohol is burned off in the cooking process, its a cool concept. For $18, you get a 3 course meal. I came here about 7 years ago for Dine Out and remembered it was good. CandiedZen and I came here since the menu looked OK and the price seemed right.

Beef Carpaccio is topped with Arugula, Garlic Aioli, and Aged Parmigianno. Delicious and the aioli worked nicely.

Tuna Tower has Sherry Marinated Albacore Tuna, Cool Coleslaw, and Tropical Pineapple. It tasted more like spicy tuna sashimi. You have the tuna on the first layer, and then layer 2 and 3 is the cracker.

Guinness Grilled Chicken has Free Range Organic Chicken, Roasted Garlic Mashed potatoes, Seasonal Veggies, and Guinness Gravy. The chicken was plenty moist, but the Guinness Gravy didn’t mad must taste to the chicken.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin is Bacon Wrapped with an Apple and Caramelized Onion Filling. It also has Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Season Veggies, and a Mushroom Strongbow Cider Pan Sauce. The pork was tender and plenty flavourful.

Frangelico Chocolate Cake was very thick with the chocolate ganache. It wasn’t that good.

New York Style Cheesecake was probably the best of the 2 desserts. It has a nice smooth texture and the fruity sauce worked well.

Overall, the food was just average, but paying $18 for 3 courses was acceptable. The staff was nice and attentive, but the tables were not as clean. It wasn’t as pretty as I remember from all those years ago.

We Rate Sip Resto Lounge:

Address:
1117 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.siplounge.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1117+Granville+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=1117+Granville+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+2G6&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Coquitlam

Sushi K Kamizato: Crazy Addictive Sushi

January 27, 2013

One of my favorite restaurants in 2012 and probably 2013 is Sushi K Kamizato in Port Coquitlam. Sushi K Kamizato is run by Chef Keith and his wife Chika in Port Coquitlam.

Salmon and Tuna Karaage comes complementary. It’s really addictive and a great start to the meal. My sister loves these, so every time we are here, she steals half of mine.

Seared Toro Nigiri is my favorite item on their menu. The toro just melts in your mouth! You don’t need any sauce for it, eating it in 2 bites is just perfection. You must order this!!!

Tuna Tataki Salad has spinach, peppers, carrots, and the chunks of tuna tataki on the centre. It’s really good too.

Salmon Sashimi has about 8 pieces and it’s really good quality salmon!

Grilled Aburi Saba comes with some sauteed cabbage and lemon on the side. The lemon definitely goes really well with it, so remember to squeeze it.

Torched Dynamite Roll isn’t on the menu, but having it torched adds a nice taste and texture to the roll.

OceanWiser Roll is a must try when you come here. It has raw ebi, salmon belly and cucumbers on the inside. It is topped with more salmon and avocado. It has its own sauce, so you don’t need to dip it in soy sauce.

PoCo Gunner was shrimp tempura and cucumber in the middle and topped with seared inari. Another popular roll.

Tuna Four-Ways isn’t on the menu, but it’s sometimes on their specials. It’s really good! He prepares tuna four different ways and extends the flavour and texture in each item. It must be eaten in order too. Definitely ask for this!

Pretty in Pink Roll is a special roll created to support anti-bullying. It has seared Japanese scallop in a bed of fresh spinach, brown rice, homemade salsa and garlic sauce. All held together with a pink soybean wrap and raspberry puree drizzle.$1 from each roll sold went towards the Boy & Girls Club of Greater Vancouver.

This is definitely a very healthy roll and it didn’t taste very good at all.

Chopped Scallop comes with 8 pieces and the scallops are large! You really get your moneys worth!

Saba Battera comes in 8 pieces and has mackerel and rice pressed into a box shape. Really good roll as well.

Green Tea Ice Cream is the same as anywhere else that would have green tea ice cream.

Overall, good service and food every time I come here. When the place is busy, expect your food to take a while longer. The strongest items on their menu are definitely anything from the sushi bar that’s raw. The cooked food is slightly lacking the saba is really good.

Words of Wisdom:

Small restaurant
Decently priced, but some items can be a bit expensive
All sushi comes with 8 pieces
Fresh ingredients
Grilled Aburi Saba, Seared Toro Nigiri, OceanWiser Roll, Tuna Tataki Salad, Agedashi Tofu, Salmon Sashimi, Tuna 4 ways, and Spicy & Shout Rolls is recommended!

We Rate Sushi Kamizato:

Address:
2850 Shaughnessy St, suite 2105

Website:
http://www.sushikkamizato.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2850+Shaughnessy+St,+suite+2105&hnear=2850+Shaughnessy+St+%232105,+Port+Coquitlam,+British+Columbia+V3C+6K5&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Cambodian

Indochine Kitchen + Bar: Wings and Import Beer Specials

September 22, 2012

Indochine is located on Broadway and Ontario St. They have menu items influence by South Asian countries such as Thai, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. After heading from Science World, we drove a few minutes and decided to come here for the Wednesday special of half price wings and $4.99 import beers. Past visitors have remarked a few items are similar to popular restaurant – Phnom Penh. It is indeed related to Indochine! Same family of restaurants, but Indochine is higher end.

They have some good specials on other nights too! Notably Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The interior has a large bar with lots of TVs surrounding the room. It’s a great place to see the game or just kick back for a few drinks.

Heineken ($4.99)

Vietnamese Iced Coffee took a long time to arrive at the table. M finished half his beer before my drink even arrived. The taste was good, but the wait was long.

Indochine Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($4.75) comes with garlic chips and lemon pepper dipping sauce. It was delicious and the most popular item in Indochine. Hands down, awesome! It is also similar to Phnom Penh but its in smaller portions.

Sriracha Buffalo Wings ($4.75) has traditional buffalo wings marinated with Sriracha hot sauce. It wasn’t too spicy either.

Honey Garlic Wings ($4.75) has deep-fried wings glazed with a honey garlic sauce. We enjoyed these and had a good balance of sauce ratio.

Butter Beef Carpaccio ($12) has buttery slices of raw beef in a citrus Vietnamese vinaigrette, garlic chips and cilantro. It’s a very popular item and people order this because it’s a popular item found at Phnom Penh. During our visit at Indochine, when our butter beef carpaccio arrived, the meat was warm and threw off the entire taste and texture of the dish.

Singaporean Laksa ($8.75) has rice vermicelli noodles in a spicy seafood coconut curry broth with prawns, tofu puffs, fish balls, Fish slices, a hardboiled egg and bean sprouts. It was a decent size, but it was definitely a hard dish to share. The flavours of the broth was very good and not too spicy. We enjoyed it.

Overall, the food was good during the 1/2 priced Wings on Wednesday, but I felt the regular prices are a bit expensive. A lot of people compare Phnom Penh and Indochine, but they have different target demographics, so if you have Phnom Penh expectations, you may be disappointed. Portion sizes and prices are different.

We Rate Indochine:

Address:
1 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.indochinekitchen.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1+E+Broadway+Vancouver,+BC+V5T&hnear=1+E+Broadway,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+1W1&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Downtown

ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro: Lunch Rush

May 2, 2012

ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro is on Granville street and Robson near the “clubbing district” in Downtown Vancouver. They serve Japanese Tapas and are open for lunch and dinner.

During lunch, they have a special lunch menu with a good array of items available. A few coworkers and I decided to head down and grab some lunch from here. It was the closest Izakaya-like place to our office, so we headed here.

It gets a bit busy during lunch, but you should be able to find a spot. They also have a small patio out in front as well.

Katsu Don ($8.25) has Pork cutlet and onions are cooked with egg and sweet soy sauce and placed on top of rice. Topped with green onions. HipsterGirl got quite full from this, but did enjoy it.

Lunch Box B ($10.95) has BBQ Beef Rib, Assorted Tempura, Green Salad, Rice & Miso Soup. The beef ribs were really tender and flavourful. Since there was so much rice, I took some of the beef rib sauce and put it onto the rice. It makes it more enjoyable. The tempura was crisp of the outside and the item inside was nicely cooked.

Lunch Box C ($9.95) has chicken Teriyaki, assorted Tempura, Green Salad, Rice & Miso Soup. MeatLover thought it was a well put together bento box.

Miso Soup comes with the 2 bento boxes. It is good and full of thinly slices green onions.

Overall, good lunch sets, but the wait took a long time! We spent a majority of our lunch hour waiting for the food to arrive. When it did arrive, we didn’t have much long to eat. If you do not have a long lunch break, don’t come here as you will be late.

Words of Wisdom:

Great atmosphere
Lunch sets
Lots of variety of alcohol
Closest Skytrain: Granville

We Rate ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro:

Address:
833 Granville St
Vancouver, BC
Website:
www.shuraku.net

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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 Japanese

Aki Japanese: Oldest & Most Authentic Japanese Restaurant

October 29, 2011

A bunch of the SFU Food Bloggers – FoodQueen, ImBusyEating and GoodEat decided to get together and have dinner at Aki Japanese Restaurant. It’s one of the oldest and most authentic Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. Since none of the other bloggers have visited here, I thought it would be a great place to go.

There’s lots of space inside the restaurant, but it usually gets packed during peak hours. It’s definitely more busy during lunch on the weekdays.

Steamed clams in sake sauce ($8.50). It has a very nice broth and it does not taste alcoholic at all.

Assorted sashimi (3 kinds – $13.50). It has snapper, tuna and salmon. They tasted really fresh, but I found that it was quite expensive for just 9 pieces.

Chicken Karrage ($8.95) is Japanese fried chicken. It is nicely battered and has a nice crunch when you bite into it. The chicken was also quite moist.

Black Cod ($11.50) was alright. I didn’t find it as “melt in your mouth deliciousness” compared to other places I’ve been too. There were also bones, which kinda confused me a bit.

Yakitori ($4.25) was really good! delicious!

Spicy Tuna ($4.50) has minced tuna with a good amount of spice.

Yakisoba was not on the menu, which I found super strange since it’s one of those items that are usually on the menu. It was good, but not as good as Guu.

Overall, we really enjoyed our experience! I still find that going here at lunch is still a better bang for your buck.

Words of Wisdom:

Closest Skytrain: Burrard
Decent pricing
Good quality
Reservations are recommended since it can get busy
Lunch Boxes best for lunch

We Rate Aki Japanese Restaurant:

Address:

745 Thurlow St
Vancouver, BC

In Japanese

Ebisu: Cheers Ebisu Dining Package

October 28, 2011

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Cheers Ebisu” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along 2 of my friends to keep the review as unbiased as I could. This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

Ebisu is a great place for drinks and tapas. I remember going here a lot before when people would hold birthday parties here. It’s actually a very popular place for people to dine at before they head off to the club.

There is lots of room in the restaurant. Good for large groups or small groups. The weekdays are not that busy, but when it’s Friday and Saturday, it does get busy, so best to make reservations.

When you arrive at the table you are given the hot towels to wipe your hands. Great idea since it’s cold and flu season!

For the Cheers Ebisu dining package ($25) from VANEATS.ca , you get:

4 pcs of Chikuwa Cheese
2 Cajun Tuna Tacos
2 pcs of Tiger Mayo
2 Kansai Steak Sliders
5 pcs of Chicken Karaage
Thunder Fries
1 pitcher of Sapporo

Pitcher of Sapporo

It’s really good to drink beer with the whole meal since there is quite a bit of fried foods with the meal. In the pitcher, you can get about 4 glasses from the pitcher.

Thunder Fries, fresh house-cut fried sweet potato sticks served with our popular house cajun dip

We were quite impressed by the thunder fries since they seemed like fries with steroids. They were really big and thick and had a good taste of the sweet potato. The cajun dip went well with this nicely!

Chikuwa Cheese, deep fried fish cake stuffed with melted mozzarella cheese

I’ve never had anything like this fish cake with cheese?! It had a chewy texture and then the ooey gooeyness. Yum.

Chicken Karaage, deep fried boneless chicken

I also liked the chicken karaage, there are no bones, so you don’t need to get your hands dirty. It was moist and had a good flavour.

Kansai Steak Sliders, sauteed sliced beef marinated in yakiniku sauce sandwiched with avocado, onions, mushrooms & mayo

I didn’t really like the sliders since they were on the salty side. There could have been a bit more avocado to cut through the saltiness. M had no problems with it, but maybe thats because he’s a man. I don’t know, probably a thing of personal preference.

Tiger Mayo, deep fried Black Tiger prawns complete with our chefs sweet chili mayonnaise dip

The tiger mayo did not have very much flavour on it’s own. I also think we didn’t get the sweet chili mayo dip, so we just dipped it the thunder fries sauce.

Cajun Tuna Tacos, seared fresh tuna & shredded mixed salad dressed with our tantalizing house ginger sauce

The tuna taco was good, but it was very hard to eat without the shell breaking. I’ve had this years ago and it’s still tasty, but make sure you have a plate in front of you to catch everything when it breaks.

Take sake ($9.50) comes in a cool bamboo container. M didn’t want any of the beer since it makes him full, so he decided to get himself the sake. He dubbed this sake, the sake that kept on giving because it seemed pretty endless. Until…well it ended after many many shots. He liked the crisp taste too.

Jalapeno Shrimp ($6.95) is shrimp seasoned with jalapeno flakes, battered and fries. It sits on a bed of fries too. We thought it would have been spicier, but it’s not too bad. everything was nice and crispy.

They also give you ketchup and hot sauce so it went well with the Jalapeno shrimp.

Overall, we found the the dining package was worth the $25 since a pitcher of beer can come to $15. There is quite a bit of fried foods, but the beer will cut right through all of that. I grabbed 2 other friends to eat this with me and it filled us up. This package is supposed to feed 2 people, but I think it can be feed 3 if you add an extra dish to it.

You can purchase the Cheers Ebisu Dining Package at VANEATS.ca for $25, there’s only 150 available, so get it fast! Starts November 1st and is redeemable till the end of the month!

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking in the rear end
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Ebisu:

Address:

827 Bute St.
Vancouver, BC

In Japanese

Suika: Suika Me Silly Dining Package

September 29, 2011

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “Suika Me Silly” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and bought an additional one for a friend to keep the review as unbiased as I could. This review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

I’ve been to Suika before and its always seems so busy, even for a weekday! Suika is a Japanese Snack Bar on Broadway. They are similar to the other Izakaya restaurants in Vancouver. VANEATS.ca is offering a “Suika Me Silly” Dining Package in October, which has 6 different items for $16. I came with InsecureGirl to see if the dining package lives up to expectations.

The first thing I noticed was that almost all the tables had reservations! I felt bad since I didn’t make a reservation beforehand, but they were nice enough to find a table for us. (If I accidentally took your table, I am very very sorry!!!!)

I love their lights! It’s made from old Japanese glass bottles. Seems pretty cool and makes good photos.

Before InsecureGirl and I dug into the dining package, we needed our fix of Japanese beer! The dining package does not come with drinks, so you have to order it on top of the dining package.

Asahi Black ($6.40) is InsecureGirls pick of beer. Asahi Black is a dark lager made with barley, maize and rice. Even though it is called “black”, it is in no way like Guiness! It’s not very heavy or bitter. Just like the normal Asahi, it is still crisp and light, but with a strong nutty taste.

Sapporo Pint ($5.80) is my favorite beer of all time. The taste is light and crisp, but not as heavy as the Asahi Black. Its great with raw food and doesn’t leave a strange taste lingering in my mouth.

“Beef Tataki”, smoked AAA beef filet tataki.

This is the first dish that will arrive at your table. It is thinly sliced beef filet with the accompaniment of crisp garnishes. InsecureGirl and I both liked it, but I found the slices to be a little bit too thick for my liking. InsecureGirl didn’t think it was too thick, but it is a bit thicker than the beef tataki at Guu. It’s just personal preferences. If you just focus on the quality, it’s pretty good. The beef is nicely marbled with fat, so it is tender.

“Ma-Po Rice Cake” and “Corn Kakiage”

This will be the second plate that will arrive at your table. It has 2 different items.

“Corn Kakiage”, organic corn niblets fried with cilantro batter, soy sauce and butter

We really really loved this dish. Its something different that most restaurant. Plus, corn is just delicious! The cilantro batter holds all the niblets together and doesn’t fall apart too easily. The addition of the butter complements the corn nicely…thus thats why butter and corn is so popular.

“Ma-Po Rice Cake”, deep fried rice cake w/spicy ground pork sauce dusted w/Japanese pepper

InsecureGirl and I did not really like this dish. The sauce tasted nice, but we didn’t think it matched well with the rice cake. If they had fried tofu instead, it would have been good. It was just so hard to eat the rice cake since it’s so sticky and had to chew.

I personally find that rice cakes are a korean thing and the ma-po sauce is a Chinese or Taiwanese thing. It was just weird mixing the two. Some people may disagree.

“Negitoro Battera”, pressed sushi with tuna belly, scallions, avocado & sesame topped with home made soy dressing & seaweed sauce

InsecureGirl was not really impressed by this dish since she’s had it during a previous dinner here. She finds that there is too much rice and the flavour of the negitoro does not shine through.

I found that this pressed sushi falls apart quite easily, but the seaweed sauce was a good accompaniment to the negitoro. I also agreed that it can be hard to taste the flavour of the negitoro with all the rice.

Not that many restaurants offer the “pressed-sushi”, so it is something new to try.

“Aburi Shime-Saba Sushi”, seared cured mackerel pressed sushi served with mustard soy dressing

Yet again we both found that is also fell apart easily and had a lot of rice. The mackerel on top tasted very nice. It does have a fishier taste than salmon, but some people like that.

“Matcha Brulee”, frozen matcha creme brulee with fresh whipped cream & red bean sauce

This was really good. I have never had frozen matcha creme brulee before. It was like eating ice cream.

Overall, we felt that the ‘Silly Me Suika’ provides a good value for $16. To a newcomer to Suika, it’s a good way to get a sense of their menu offerings. Usual dishes are priced at $7ish, so you do save money.

You can purchase the Silly Me Suika Dining Package at VANEATS.ca for $16, there’s only 50 available, so get it fast! Starts October 1st and is redeemable till the end of the month!

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on Street
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Suika:

Address:

1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, 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!