Kamamarui Ramen & Don

August 1, 2014August 1, 20142 Comments

J, S, and K had intended to surprise me with an afternoon of kayaking in the Burnaby Deer Lake, but unfortunately, it began pouring. We ended up going to Metrotown to walk around, and the sun decided to come out… As lunch time passed, we got hungry and began looking for food on our phones. After what seemed forever, we finally decided to go to Kamamarui. There’s barely any parking in the lot, so you may need to park somewhere further away. The restaurant is extremely small. It fits probably under 20 diners. It’s also run by only two young Korean men, so service is definitely much slower. One cooks, while the other serves. However, service is friendly and the decor is simple but clean. We waited roughly 15 minutes, and was able to get a seat.

Tonkotsu Cha-shu Ramen

They basically only have 3 types of ramen. Two pork soup based ramens, with one flavoured with soy sauce and one flavoured with miso. The other is the Veggie Ramen, which is miso soup based. Then you have the option to add cha-shu or sliced pork to it. For myself, I chose the Tonkotsu Cha-Shu Ramen, which was pork soup based and seasoned with soy flavour. It had green onions, bean sprouts and cha-shu (sliced pork). You get quite a lot of cha-shu compared to other ramen shops, but they were quite different. These were more marinated and flavoured. They were also slightly seared or grilled on the sides. I enjoy the traditional cha-shu much more than this modernized version. As for noodles, you get a decent amount, and the texture is chewy, just how I like it. On the table, there are three sauces. There is a chili sauce, a spicy sauce, and a ramen sauce. You can add these sauces as you wish if you find that you want more flavour, saltiness, or spiciness. To be honest, I found that the broth lacked flavour and depth. It wasn’t rich like the ones at Kintaro. I found it rather bland, and had to add quite a bit of the ramen sauce to bring more flavour to the soup.

Miso Cha-shu Ramen

J got the Miso Cha-shu Ramen, which is a miso & pork soup base seasoned with miso flavour. Again, it had green onions, bean sprouts, and cha-shu. Both the miso and tonkotsu ramen come to $11.50 if you choose to add the cha-shu. For each ramen, we also added the Special Nigiri Bomb, so the total became $13 for the set. I’ll speak more about the bomb below.

Vege Ramen

K got the Vege Ramen, which was miso soup based seasoned with miso flavour and topped with green onions, bean sprouts and corn. I actually wish my ramen had come with corn as well, but you had to pay for extra toppings for the non-vegetarian ramens. K said her vege ramen was quite delicious.

Soft Egg

I love soft boiled eggs in my ramen, since I love that runny yolk in the middle. Plus, it’s not something I would spend time making for breakfast in the mornings at home. For an extra $1.50, I chose to add the “Soft Egg“. We were all sad to realize that the soft egg wasn’t what we were hoping for. Instead, it came in it’s own separate dish, and looked like it had been pre-made. It had a runny yolk in the middle, and the whites were also very runny. It was topped with a teriyaki sauce and some green onions. I didn’t really like it and wouldn’t order it again.

Special Nigiri Bomb

Lastly, the Bombs arrived! They were seasoned seaweed with rice and teriyaki sauce and they were my favourite part of the meal! The rice was seasoned so well, and it wasn’t too sticky. Absolutely loved the flavouring!

All in all, the ramens are average, but if you’re in the Burnaby area, it’s not a bad choice. I would still choose the downtown ramen shops as I find the broth more flavourful. I really like the bombs though, so that’s something I would definitely re-order. They also have several donburi choices, so perhaps that would be something to try next time.

Sushi Town (Burnaby)

July 6, 2014Leave a comment

Spicy Salmon Sashimi

Sushi Town is very similar to Sushi Garden, with cheap prices and large portions. They have two locations – one in North Burnaby and one in Coquitlam. We went to the one in Burnaby, and it’s located in a weird area with a lot of residential housing nearby. You’ll probably be able to find free parking just down the streets in front of someone’s house. The place is packed, but since I was half an hour late, my friends were already seated. We shared the Spicy Salmon Sashimi, which is one of their popular dishes. Loads of salmon sashimi cut into cubes with a spicy sauce. I love the mix of cucumber cubes in it as well. A good deal!

Chopped Scallop Roll

I chose the Chopped Scallop Roll. It was filled with lots of scallop, but I wouldn’t say it was that great. The rice was falling apart and the flavour wasn’t the best I’ve had. But for the price, you get filled up if you don’t look at the presentation.

Takoyaki

For the Takoyaki, it came quite nicely presented, with bonito flakes on top. The inside however was more dough than filling. Definitely not a lot of octopus. I would say they are average.

Mango Roll

We also chose two of their specialty rolls. The specialty rolls are pretty good deals since they’re around $4-$5. Normally, specialty rolls are at least $8 at other restaurants. But then again, they use more expensive ingredients. The Mango Roll came with imitation crab, cucumber, and some mango. It was topped with cooked ebi or shrimp and drizzled with a mayo sauce. Not bad as you get some of the sweet and sour from the mango. I do wish they had put a bit more mango though.

Awesome Roll

Lastly, S recommended the Awesome Roll. I believe this was one of their pricier rolls at around $7. However, it included tons of ingredients. It had imitation crab, cucumber, avocado and masago. On top, there was a slice of salmon sashimi, a sweet teriyaki sauce, and bonito flakes. Great flavours when mixed together!

Overall, I was quite satisfied with Sushi Town. You need to go in knowing that quality is not going to be best. This place is all about value, and you’ll definitely be filled up without breaking your wallet. I know that people say that service is quite bad here, but I actually didn’t really experience it at all. The servers took our orders right away (although they sort of rushed us to get our orders down as quickly as possible), but they also poured us tea very frequently. At the end of our meal, we had probably sat for quite some time too, and they didn’t throw us the bill, like many other places would. Definitely would revisit more often if it wasn’t so far for me.

Tealips Bubble Tea & Coffee

August 23, 2013Leave a comment

J always craves shaved ice, but doing a quick Google search of shaved ice locations in Richmond, I found that most of the best ones seemed to be at food courts. And others, of course being at typical bubble tea shops, which we’ve probably all been to by now. Since most malls close by 9:00pm, the food court wasn’t really an option for me, so I ventured out to look outside of Richmond. I found Tealips, which had pretty good ratings, and although it was a 30 minute drive to Burnaby, I gave it a shot.

The place actually seems to be Korean-owned, and they offer not only shaved ice, but waffles, coffee, tea, and other bubble tea drinks. The place also has wi-fi so you will see many customers with their laptops. The environment actually reminds me of Blenz, except they serve drinks and food other than coffee. It was quite busy the Friday night we went, but we luckily still found a two-seater table.

After placing your order and paying at the cash register, you are given a buzzer, much like the one at the Cheesecake Factory down in the States. I love how Korean restaurants always know how to utilize technology to their fullest. Super convenient and efficient way and customers don’t need to stand around waiting for their orders to be called.

Matcha Shaved Ice

There were only three types of shaved ice to choose from: red bean, match, and cocoa. As usual, I suggested we get the Matcha. They say that their shaved ice is an “Authentic Korean Dessert called Bing Soo”. And they also claim that there is 100% pure Japanese green tea. And it definitely was. Because even the Ice Cream on the top was just vanilla ice cream, but covered with match powder. and the shaved ice was also mixed with matcha powder. You could definitely taste the flavour of the tea and its hint of bitterness. However, it was fine because it was balanced out with the condensed milk and sweetness of the other ingredients. There were red bean, thinly sliced almonds, mochi, and an abundant of fruits. The fruit included chopped up strawberries, bananas, and my pineapples. I really enjoyed the pineapples and it was really sweet. The mochi was green tea mochi that were orginally a big ball and they were cut up into little pieces. They also sold these mochis separately. I wish that they had more mochi in the shaved ice though.

All in all, the shaved ice was quite delicious and refreshing. It is a very large bowl, hence priced at around $9, but is perfect to share with a friend. I hear that their bubble tea is also pretty good, so I would love to come back to try some.

Cold Stone Creamery

May 30, 2013Leave a comment

After dinner at Sushi Garden, SP suggested we go to Cold Stone Creamery. She said she always walks by it, but never had a chance to try it out. I didn’t even know that Metrotown had a Cold Stone Creamery! It’s teamed up with Tim Horton’s too, so it’s literally right next to each other and you order at the same cash register.

Strawberry Blonde – Strawberry Ice Cream with Graham Cracker Pie Crust, Strawberries, Caramel and Whipped Topping

SP shared the Strawberry Blonde with SK. The Strawberry Blonde is one of their signature creations, so you don’t need to think which flavours will go well with what. It reminds me of Marble Slab, since they actually mash up the ice cream on the “cold stone” and form a new flavour essentially. They got theirs in a waffle cone since it was at no extra cost. A pretty good deal since I think it came to be a little under $5 for a medium size. Much more affordable than Marble Slab, although I don’t remember how the quality was at Marble Slab. If you get a waffle cone, the guy who serves your ice cream also throws it up in the air and catches it in the cone. Pretty entertaining!

Iced Cappuccino with Gummy Bears

For myself, I didn’t want to mix and match my flavours, but I noticed that they had an Iced Cappuccino flavour! Ice Caps are already good by themselves, but as a flavour for ice cream?! I had to give this a try! I got a small cup which I believe was around $3. You could have it in a waffle cone for no extra charge as well, and also one choice of topping. I went for the gummy bears, which they would normally mix it in your ice cream, but I asked for it just on the top. The Ice Cap ice cream was literally what it was. I’m guessing they just add more cream to the ice cap and freeze it. Pretty good if you are a fan of ice caps! However, the gummy bears seemed to be old and had sat in the glass jar for too long. They were hard and difficult to chew on, so I definitely won’t be getting that next time.

Overall, ice cream at a fraction of price compared to Marble Slab, but you essentially get the same experience. I can’t quite say how the quality is compared to Marble Slab, since I haven’t had Marble Slab in a long time, but it’s good enough if you’re just craving some ice cream and you’re in the Metrotown area. Plus, you can get other Tim Horton’s goodies while you’re at it.

Sushi Garden (Revisit)

May 28, 2013Leave a comment

Spicy Salmon Sashimi (1/2 order)

With my friends living in Vancouver or Coquitlam and myself in Richmond, we needed to find a meeting point right in the middle! And Burnaby seems to do the job! However, I’m not familiar with the restaurants in Burnaby, so I never know where to go… We ended up going to Sushi Garden since the food is cheap. Don’t expect amazing quality, but the price does it justice. SP and I shared half an order of Spicy Salmon Sashimi. I usually don’t order spicy sashimi because I can’t take much spice, but decided to give this a try. It didn’t end up to be too spicy and I loved the cucumbers that came along with it. Zesty flavour and I enjoyed the sauce. Definitely a good variation to typical salmon sashimi I always get.

Alaska Roll & Chopped Scallop Roll

We also ordered two rolls. I didn’t go for the unique rolls this time, but opted for the Chopped Scallop Roll. The rolls are a little on the smaller side, but it was decent. I wouldn’t say the scallops were too fresh. SP recommended the Alaska Roll, which had avocado, tobiko and was topped with salmon sashimi and a special sauce. This was quite good as the sauce was delicious, but I found that it was a little on the mushy side.

Takoyaki

SK ordered an udon as well as the Takoyaki. I took a piece of the Takoyaki and it was decent. Not a lot of filling, but at least the batter wasn’t mushy. Not bad for the price I guess.

Yaki Udon (Udon noodles stir fried with beef and veggies)

Lastly, SP and I shared the Yaki Udon with beef and veggies. It was topped with a large amount of shredded seaweed as well. The beef was definitely overcooked, and therefore extremely tough. The udon was decent although I wish it has a bit more sauce. Portion-wise, it was huge for only $7. Definitely not the best udon I’ve had though.

If you’re near the Metrotown area and looking for cheap sushi, then Sushi Garden is the place to go. Don’t expect outstanding service or quality, and you’ll be happy. The wait is quite long as they don’t take reservations, so we had to wait around 15 minutes for a table for 3. Oh, and let me remind you that the place is extremely cramped! So privacy isn’t the top priority here. I would suggest take-out if you want to eat comfortably!

BG Urban Cafe

April 2, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

Santa Fe Smoked Turkey Wrap

I’ve actually never ate at BG Urban Cafe but this chain cafe is everywhere. I didn’t know what was good so decided to grab a wrap. I got the Santa Fe Smoked Turkey Wrap which they grilled for me. I found that it was way too soggy after a bit though, and the sauce which was watery kept dripping everywhere. I’ve never had so much difficult eating a wrap! The flavour was a little bland which I was fine with since the sour cream helped it a bit.

Jang Mo Jib (Burnaby)

July 24, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Complimentary Assorted Appetizers – Sweet Potato, Kimchi, Bean Sprouts, Spicy Radish

Dol Sot Bee Bim Bahb – Assorted preserved vegetables, beef, sauteed Kimchi, onions and fried egg served on rice in a hot stone bowl, served with homemade hot chili paste on the side

Jab Che – Stir-fried sweet potato noodle with assorted vegetables and beef cooked in a house special marinade sauce

Hae Mool Pah Jun – Assorted seafood pancake with green onions and egg, served with house special soy sauce to dip

Jing Uh Bool Go Gee – Korean Traditional stir-fried squid and vegetables in spicy house special BBQ sauce

After more than probably a year, Steph, Sharmaine, Chris and I finally got together to celebrate our HR paper…well not that we didn’t see each other again, but we kept saying we would get together for dinner to celebrate finishing HR class! And since we all lived in different parts of Vancouver, we had to figure our which would be the closest for all of us. And so we met in between, and ended up in Burnaby, and decided to go for Jang Mo Jib.

I’ve had Jang Mo Jib in Richmond, but never before elsewhere, so I was curious to see what the menu was like here. Sadly, from what I recall, the menu is pretty much the same. We had originally wanted Korean BBQ I think, but we didn’t see the little cooking area built on our table and were a bit confused, so we ended up just ordering some Korean dishes.

Jang Mo Jib always provides complimentary appetizers as our side dishes. This consists of Sweet Potatoes, Kimchi, Bean Sprouts, Spicy Radishes, and a bowl of Rice. I love their sweet potatoes, but to this day, I’m still not sure what kind of sauce it’s in. As for our first dish, we got the Dol Sot Bee Bim BahbDol. It’s basically like a stone bowl, with rice, and you mix all the veggies and eggs that are on top together. Interestingly though, it had an interesting taste to it that we were all aware of. Now that I look back on the menu, I think we ordered the wrong one! This one was a different Bee Bim Bahp from the traditional one, as it included sauteed kimchi in it, hence the unique flavour. I love Jab Che, so I chose to order that. Enormous portion! But I love the texture of those sweet potato noodles. Definitely a lot of carbs too! And then we also got that Hae Mool Pah Jun, which is the popular seafood pancake. It was filled with lots of squid and green onions, and was crispy at the top. And lastly, we decided to try the Jing Uh Bool Go Gee, which was stir-fried squid in a slightly spicy sauce. We found the squid a little tough, but it was still very delicious.

We went on a weekday, so it actually wasn’t too busy. We basically sat there till we were given the bill, since we were catching up and lost track of time. That was probably like 3 hours! So I guess it’s a nice place to sit around for on a weekday. But I hear that it gets really busy on the weekends, especially since it’s located very central, near Metrotown.

Sushi Garden

June 15, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Half Order of Salmon Sashimi

Bill’s Roll (Yam & Smoked Salmon) $3.95, Island Roll (Cooked Tuna, Fish Flake with Fresh Kiwi Sauce) $4.95

Filet-O-Fish Roll (breaded fish fillet, cheese) $3.95, Crab <3s Papaya (Deep Fried Crab Meat) $3.95

Steph and I had been seeing pictures of Sushi Garden all over our Facebook feed, and were determined to try this place out. Everyone was raving about how good it was, but it was all the way in Burnaby, so we set out to try it with a day of shopping at Metrotown after! It’s literally across Metropolis, where a bunch of other restaurants were located on Kingsway. When we entered, there were quite a lot of people waiting. We learned that we had to go to the cashier up in the front to let them know we wanted a seat. We waited for probably around 5 minutes, and quickly got a seat. Mind you, we went at around 1, so it’s probably much more packed earlier. We were seated in a tiny table, which was very cramped and close to the table next to us. All their tables were put together extremely close to cater for the line ups.

We decided to try a bunch of different rolls, especially the ones that sounded more interesting. For a starter, I decided to get the Salmon Sashimi. Steph doesn’t eat sashimi, so I ended up getting half an order for myself. It ended up being 5 fatty pieces of salmon that were extremely fresh. I could not resist not trying them since it seemed like every table ordered it, and it was only around $4 for half an order! What a deal. Next up, I tried the Bill’s Roll. It was basically yam and smoked salmon, and it was difficult to eat everything together since the roll was so big. When I did manage to get the two ingredients together in one bite, the yam’s flavour totally covered the smoked salmon. It was still a pretty interesting combination and I enjoyed the tobiko on the top. The Island Roll was fresh and appetizing. The kiwi gave the tuna a slight tang, but it somehow worked pretty well. Not bad! And then came the Filet-O-Fish Roll. It was very saucy and was such an interesting roll, but it worked. Who knew you could put fried filet-o-fish and cheese in a sushi roll! And lastly, we had the Crab <3s Papaya Roll. To my disappointment, it was just intimation crab, but what can I expect with that price. The papaya also didn’t quite taste like papaya. It wasn’t exactly ripe, so it was still pretty hard. It kind of reminded me of a mango roll actually. I also have to add that all the rolls did not need soy sauce, as they either had a sauce already or all the ingredients already worked well enough to prevent it from lacking flavour.

We definitely had ordered way too much food for the two of us, but it was still very satisfying and the prices were very reasonable for the portions. It kind of reminded us of Banzai in Richmond, with large portions and cheap price. Don’t expect amazing service and a good atmosphere or comfortable seating, but food came prompt and was of quality for the price you pay. Definitely would stop by again if I’m in Burnaby again.

Every Day is a Food Day

Category: Burnaby