Earls (Broadway)

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015Leave a comment

The Royale with Cheese

Earls is currently having a limited time menu for their new gourmet burgers. For lunch, we decided to head down to Broadway and Fir and most of us ended up giving these burgers a try. StevieD got the Royale with Cheese, which features a freshly baked brioche bun with a certified Angus beef patty topped with dry cured bacon, caramelized onion, lettuce and tomatoes. The cheese is a mix of smoked applewood cheddar, regular cheddar and Monterey and the sauce is a mushroom ketchup. It comes with a side of fries which are very crispy.

Fish and Chips

And of course S got the Fish and Chips, which is always his go to dish. These are beer battered Icelandic cod and comes with a side of house tartar and coleslaw. As always, he says they are delicious.

The Forager

E and I each got the Forager, which is perfect for vegetarians. It features a hand-chopped mushroom burger with crisp red onions, mayonnaise, cheddar, fresh lettuce and pickles. The mushroom patty is tossed in olive oil, parmesan cheese, rolled oats, and oregano. Again, it came with a side of crispy fries.

The Forager was very delicious and a good alternative to the meat patty. The mushroom patty was very well seasoned. The burger was quite messy to eat but was very delicious. Overall, it’s a great time to try out these new gourmet burgers as they are only available for a limited time from April 22 – June 16, 2015. They are also running a social media contest where you can win burgers for four! Check out their website or in store for more information!

Pros:
– Limited time gourmet burgers
– Good service

Cons:
– Food is consistent but average

Price Range: $20-30

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3 Service: 4 Ambiance: 4 Parking: 3 Overall: 3

Rajio

May 13, 2015Leave a comment

Rajio is the third sister company of Suika and Kingyo. Rajio has been on my to visit list for some time now since I love izakaya food and I’ve been pleased with my experiences at its sister restaurants. I gave them a call at around 5:30 asking for a table at 6:00 and the waitress told me yes, but only until 7:00 and that I could come even earlier. No problem since we weren’t going to eat for long anyways, so an hour was perfect.

When we arrived, the restaurant was starting to pick up with the arrival of many other diners. While seating us, the waitress stressed to us again that we would only have the seat until 7:00pm. We get it! She seriously didn’t have to repeat it so many times… Anyways, the interior of the restaurant is quirky with Disney lights and wooden tables. It’s quite a small restaurant, so I would suggest making reservations.

Dinner started off with complimentary salad. The salad used a type of cabbage that I’ve never had before. The texture was quite thick and hard and was quite flavourless. The dressing was quite delicious though, with a bit of sweet and tangy flavour to it. Would much prefer Suika’s salad though.

Black Sweet & Sour Pork Rib

We started off with the Black Sweet & Sour Pork Rib, which came sizzling hot and looking impressive on the plate. The pork ribs were slightly battered and fried and topped with a balsamic vinegar sauce. It had a tangy sweetness to it and was very flavourful. I especially liked the parts which had some fat to it since the meat around those areas were very tender. Some other parts of the meat were rather overcooked and became very dry. I was worried that there would be more bones than meat, but it proved me wrong. Tons of meat for you!

Imperial Kitchen Tested Peking Chicken

Next was the Imperial Kitchen Tested Peking Chicken. This was crispy chicken skin with green onion and Rajio’s original sweet bean glaze wrapped in a warm soft tortilla. S and I were both underwhelmed by this. The portion was so small as well! It only came with 3 small rolls. The chicken skin was crispy, but that was about it. Nothing too special and you really don’t get much value out of it.

Kakuni Bibimbap Stone Bowl

Lastly was the Kakuni Bibimbap Stone Bowl, which featured stewed pork belly, glazed with peppery sweet soy, and placed on top of rice with green onion and savory shrimp. The pork belly was juicy and very tender. The waitress mixed this up for us and the overall dish was very flavourful. You can never go wrong with some juicy pork belly!

And 10 minutes before 7:00, the waitress came by again to make sure we were going to be out by 7:00. Clearing up our plates and letting us know it would be our last call. Like seriously, we get it. No need to be so pushy. Overall, service was pushy and food was just average. Nothing really blew my mind and made me excited to come back and try the rest of their menu. I’d much rather just return to Suika, Kingyo or even Guu.

Pros:
– Fun, quirky ambiance
– Decent izakaya items

Cons:
– Service was pushy
– From the items I tried, nothing blew my mind

Price Range: $15-30

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3 Service: 2 Ambiance: 3 Parking: 3 Overall: 3

Chatime (Broadway)

May 12, 20151 Comment

Chatime is a Taiwanese bubble tea chain store and has franchises all around the world. In Vancouver, they have actually been selling their bubble tea inside Chef Hung restaurants, but they never had their own storefront. However, last month, they expanded in several locations around the Greater Vancouver. I believe they have one on Robson, one in Richmond and one on Broadway. Conveniently, the Richmond location is a few blocks away from my house, but the grand opening promotion had already passed for that location. Since Broadway’s location is also extremely close to work, I decided to head down there after work to take advantage of their grand opening promotion.

For the first week, they offered buy one get one free drinks. The free drink was either the Pearl Milk Tea or Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea. A really good deal!

As for your first drink, you can choose from their large assortment of drinks. They specialize in their tea drinks, so of course we tried one from their fresh tea line. They also have small or large sizes. The small is quite small compared to your typical bubble tea, yet the prices are around the same. Chatime definitely is on the pricier side, so the promo was great.

The great thing about Chatime is that they offer customization. They will always ask you for your sugar and ice option. This is great for people who are conscious about their sugar intake and I especially liked the ice option as I usually like my drinks to have less ice.

Service was not the quickest that day, but it can be understandable since they just opened.

Brown Rice Green Milk Tea & Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea

We decided to get the Brown Rice Green Milk Tea, which we opted for less sugar and less ice. This was delicious! You don’t normally see brown rice flavoured milk tea on the menu at other bubble tea shops, so we had to give this a try. Tasted basically like milk tea, but it had a hint of wheat flavour to it. This was a large size, and it came to be the same size as typical bubble teas. As we had purchased a large bubble tea, we got the free bubble tea also in a large size. We chose the Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea, which is a must try. The grass jelly is not super sweet, but was very smooth and soft. The milk tea itself was smooth and had a roasted flavour to it. Way better than your typical milk tea. I also find that their consistency is much more thin, rather than being very thick and milky. I actually prefer this consistency as you don’t get as filled up.

Overall, I’m super happy that there is a new bubble tea shop right by work and also home. They are on the pricey side, at around $5 for a large sized drink, but the quality of the drinks are great! Also a good amount of seating to enjoy your drink.

Pros:
– Roasted Milk Tea is delicious!
– Sugar and ice options

Cons:
– Service was a bit slow
– On the pricier side

Price Range: $5

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4 Service: 2.5 Ambiance: 3 Parking: 3 Overall: 3.5

Wildebeest

May 3, 2015May 11, 2015Leave a comment

This year, the firm’s end of busy season tax party was at Wildebeest and I was extremely excited since has been on the list of restaurants I wanted to visit. Located in Gastown, Wildebeest is known for their meat-centric dishes. Many of their dishes are served family style, and you’ll find some not-so-typical meat dishes here.

Our firm booked up the entire top floor, which featured wooden ambiance with long tables and wooden swivel chairs. They have a bar and an open kitchen so you can watch the chefs in action. Service started very slow in the beginning. We probably sat around for at least 30 minutes with no snacks or drinks being served. It might be because we arrived earlier than they had expected us, but we were all hungry for food. As the first dishes began to roll out though, things picked up and we got our food fairly quickly and there were no further complaints by the end of the night.

Freshly Shucked Oyster

We had a set menu ready for us with canapés to start. First came the Freshly Shucked Oyster, which was topped with a shallot mignonette and black pepper. This was delicious with the oyster being sweet and fresh. The second item was the Albacore Tuna Tataki, but this ran out by the time it got to our table. I was quite disappointed with this as I thought they would have enough to serve each person one. Some people at my table also didn’t get the oysters. You would think they had made enough for each guest to have at least one.

Angus Short Rib

The third item was the Angus Short Rib, which seemed to be the favourite item for most people. This had a brown butter jus and was topped with bonito flakes. The bonito flakes gave it a Japanese flare and the meat was cooked to a medium rare. Extremely tender and we all wanted seconds!

Bjorn Borg

Our cocktails finally came around and I started off with the Bjorn Borg, which is like a slurpee. The ingredients included earl grey, pear, honey, premium Vodka, lemon, and London dry gin. You got that hint of sweetness from the pear and I liked how it was in a slurpee type of form. It reminded me of a Bellini and was very refreshing.

Pork Rinds

Our set menu also included some snacks to share between around 4 guests. The first were the Pork Rinds. These were crispy and slightly seasoned. StevieD said that they were quite average and tasted like the ones you get off the shelf at the supermarket. Nothing too special. I also agreed and also disliked the fact that the rinds stuck to your teeth.

Pork Schnitzel

Next were the Pork Schnitzels, which were a favourite at my table. The pork were deep fried to golden brown and the batter was very crispy. It came with a caraway-spiced beer mustard.

Spiced Hazelnuts

The last snack was the Spiced Hazelnut. These were roasted and seasoned with spices. I didn’t find these too special. They were nice to snack on while waiting for our food, but they didn’t wow me.

Gaston Collins

Since we were still waiting for our food, we went for another cocktail. This time we chose the Gastown Collins, which has London Dry Gin, Amaro Montenegro, lemon, honey, and IPA. This was a very bitter drink mostly due to the Indian pale ale. None of us really enjoyed this drink.

Spring Beet Salad

Then our appetizers came. BG got the Spring Beet Salad, which he commented had endless beets. There were both red and yellow beets, along with shaved cucumber, compressed apple, a ricotta salata, miner’s lettuce and a beetroot sorbet.

Bison Carpaccio

Most guests at my table got the Bison Carpaccio, which featured kalamata olive and soy vinaigrette, pickled shimieji mushrooms, puffed wild rice, and micro arugula. I tasted this as well, and really enjoyed it! You can roll the ingredients with the thin layer of bison, which I thought was a great concept. The bison had a more gamey flavour than your typical beef carpaccio, but all the ingredients worked well together. StevieD commented that he didn’t really like the puffed wild rice as you got that unexpected crunch. S on the other hand like that pop of crunch.

Bone Marrow

For myself, I decided to try the Bone Marrow. It came with butter leeks and oyster mushrooms on top. It was topped with a crimini mushroom vinaigrette. Grilled country bread accompanied the dish and I was told to spread the bone marrow onto the bread. The bone marrow was very jelly and oily like. It’s definitely not a dish for everyone, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Pan-Seared Halibut

Onto the main course. S got the Pan-Seared Halibut, which came with butter braised potato in a wild mushroom broth. It also came with some Shanghai bok choy and grilled scallions. The halibut was moist and the broth was very flavourful. A dish with many Asian flavours.

Angus Striploin

For myself, I got the Angus Striploin, which came with roasted fingerling potatoes and cipollini onions, smoked salt, and hay jus. This was served medium rare and you could see it was cooked perfectly with the pink meat. I liked how it was served all cut up already, making it easy to eat. The meat was tender, although I got a piece with a huge piece of fat still stuck on. The potatoes were great and the sauce was addicting. Everyone cleaned up their dish!

Wildebeest Cheesecake

For dessert, StevieD didn’t want his dessert, so I ended up getting to try two! First was the Wildebeest Cheesecake, which came as sort of a deconstructed cheesecake. It was a whipped cheesecake, with strawberry sorbet and pastry crumble on top. As it was a whipped cheesecake, it was very mousse-like. Definitely not in a cake form. Many of my coworkers enjoyed this, but I could taste that hint of blue cheese in it, which I’m not a fan of.

Anjou Pear

The second dessert was the Anjou Pear, which I enjoyed much more. It had dark chocolate honeycomb and chocolate ice cream. I loved the honeycomb as it gave it a nice crunch. The pears were candied and I loved this texture.

Overall, Wildebeest was great and I would highly recommend it if you are adventurous and ready to try some exotic meats. Their regular menu even has horse tartare! Everyone agreed that the food tasted great. Service was a bit slow in the beginning, but it definitely picked up by the end of the night. Jason, who was our table’s server for most of the night was also very friendly and knew all his drinks and food very well. Perfect one to ask for suggestions. As food was comped by the firm, I cannot comment too much on the prices. I can say that you do get full from a three course meal, and the portions aren’t as small as you’d expect.

Pros:
– Lots of exotic meats
– All dishes were executed very well

Cons:
– Service was very slow in the beginning

Price Range: N/A (~$30+ per the regular menu)

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 2.5
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 4

Go Fish

April 28, 2015April 28, 2015Leave a comment

It was a sunny day after work and with the extended summer hours in place, we finally got to try Go Fish. Go Fish is located just off Granville Island in a little wooden shack. It’s quite the hidden gem, since it’s not in your typical tourist area of Granville Island. I had no idea that this area even existed! They have some seating at the shack as well as some long wooden tables near the parking lot.

You order at the shack and they will call your name when your dish is ready. Service was hip and friendly.

Fish & Chips – cod

Of course we came here for what they are famous for, so we got the Fish & Chips. The best part is that the fish come in dim sum boxes! I am a sucker for these gimmicky details.They have various portions, and we chose two pieces with coleslaw and fries and added an additional piece. You can also choose from cod, salmon, or halibut. We went for cod and the fish was moist. The fish is battered with their homemade Granville Island beer batter and I found it crispy without being oily. It is served with tartar sauce, as well as a Pacific Rim coleslaw, which was seasoned very well. I normally hate coleslaw, but I found myself eating this up! As for the fries, they were crispy and I liked these much more than Pajo’s.

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with Go Fish. Prices are comparable to Pajo’s and other fish and chips spots. It may be one of my favourite fish and chips spots now! I found the fish less oily than Pajo’s. Plus, you get a beautiful view of Granville Island’s fisherman’s wharf while eating here. Definitely a hidden gem!

Pros:
– One of the best fish and chips spots in Vancouver
– Great scenery

Cons:
– Line ups when it’s sunny and closer to dinner time

Price Range: $10-15

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 4

Kaneda Japanese Restaurant 金田 – revisit

April 24, 2015April 24, 2015Leave a comment

Green Salad and Miso Soup

Kaneda is located just a short walk from work, and I actually visited the restaurant a few years back when it had opened. During that last visit, we had gone for their all you can eat dinner menu. Reading the post I had written back then, I commented that I wouldn’t be returning since the service and quality of food was pretty bad. However, since SD said his last visit was pretty good, we decided to take his word and give it a try. During lunch, they also have the all you can eat menu, but we ordered a la carte. We all went for their lunch bento boxes, which were priced at a great value of $9.00. All bento boxes start with a green salad and miso soup. This was very average. Tasted just like your typical all you can eat soup and salad.

Lunch Box C

For myself, I got Lunch Box C, which featured Chicken Teriyaki, Assorted Tempura, Assorted Sushi and Rice. The chicken teriyaki was very average and I found it quite oily. The assorted tempura had way too much batter, hence very oily. I felt like I was just eating fried oil after a few bites. You do get two ebi tempuras, but it’s coated heavily in batter. The assorted sushi ended up being 3 nigiris. You get salmon, tuna and ebi. I found that the seafood wasn’t too fresh. I guess you get what you pay for. This will fill you up, but the quality isn’t great.

Lunch Box A

SS got Lunch Box A, which featured Chicken Teriyaki, Assorted Tempura, California Roll, and Rice. S also agreed that there was way too much batter on the tempura. He felt the California rolls were mediocre and not memorable.

The lunch boxes also end with a mango pudding, but this was also quite sub par. E and I both agreed that it lacked any flavour and the consistency wasn’t very smooth. There were bits of the batter that didn’t seem to be mixed thoroughly or sifted. Will I be returning again? Probably not. Good value, but quality is below average.

Pros:
– Lots of seating
– Inexpensive

Cons:
– Poor quality sushi

Price Range: $10-15

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 2
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 2

Ebisu (Richmond) – revisit

April 20, 2015April 20, 2015Leave a comment

Party Salmon Sashimi

The last time I blogged about Ebisu at the Richmond location was around 2 years ago. Since I ended up giong to Ebisu two times in a week, I thought it would be a good time to do a revisit post. The first revisit was during a weekday dinner time with J, S, and M. We started with the Party Salmon Sashimi, which comes with 12 pieces of sashimi. The sashimi is fresh and each piece was cut to a good size.

Tiger Mayo

Next was the Tiger Mayo, which featured deep fried Black Tiger prawns with mayonnaise sauce. The prawns came on top of a crispy wonton cracker. The prawns were large, but I didn’t find the batter to be light or crispy enough. These were just sub par.

Chicken Karaage

Another appetizer we ordered was the Chicken Karaage. These boneless chicken were marinated with sake and soy sauce, then deep fried. Again, I found them to be just average. Nothing mind blowing.

B.C. Blazer

We also ordered the B.C. Blazer, which was California roll topped with salmon and a special combination of teriyaki sauce and spicy mayo. This was pretty good for a modern style roll, with the roll having lots of sauce and flavours.

Inferno Toro Sushi

We also ordered one of their signature dishes, which is the Inferno Toro Sushi. This is box pressed with sesame and sushi rice and the toro is seared at the table by the waitress. Hidden inside the rice is a shiso leaf, which gives it a distinct flavour. The toro melted in your mouth and this was probably my favourite dish of the night.

Royal Miyagi Oysters

On a second visit, S and I decided to visit during Happy Hour, which is daily from 3pm to 6pm. During happy hour, they have a couple of deals going on. One of them were the Royal Miyagi Oysters, which go for a special deal for $0.99 per piece with a minimum of 3 pieces per order. Since S doesn’t eat raw oysters, I ordered half a dozen for myself. These are tiny oysters and come from the Cortes Island in B.C. They were fresh and sweet. Great with a dash of Tabasco sauce.

Thunder Fries

We also ordered an appie of Thunder Fries, which were discounted to $4.95. These are freshly cut deep fried sweet potato sticks and are served with a tangy house cajun dip. I like the use of sweet potatoes, but I find that the tempura batter is too oily and thick. The dip is pretty good though.

Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings

During happy hour, they also have chicken wings for 49 cents each. We decided to have an early dinner, so went all out with the wings. The minimum order is 10 pieces per flavour, so we chose three different flavours. We started off with the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but this was underwhelming. I felt like they barely even put any salt or pepper on it. It just tasted like regular wings, but the wings were way overcooked. They ended up being very dry. Almost felt like eating dry ribs.

Japanese Miso Chicken Wings

The second flavour we chose was the Japanese Miso. This was probably one of the better flavours, but it still fell short. They literally just pour some sauce on top of the salt and pepper wings. They aren’t actually marinated and some of the wings aren’t even covered with sauce. Again, super dry meat. The wings are also extremely small.

Traditional Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Lastly, we had the Traditional Teriyaki Chicken Wings. These were probably the worst. This didn’t even taste like teriyaki. They were slightly spicy with an odd flavour. Very disappointed with their wings and I wouldn’t be returning for wings for sure.

Overall, Ebisu is your typical Japanese chain restaurant. I find the dishes to be pricey for the quality of food you get. If you’re looking for izakaya food, I would much rather visit Guu, which I find executes the dishes much better.

Pros:
– Modern sushi rolls are decent
– Ambiance is pretty nice with a bar in the middle

Cons:
– Terrible chicken wings
– Regular menu is pricey for the quality of food

Price Range: $20-30

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 2
Service: 3
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 3

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka 山頭火

April 19, 2015April 20, 2015Leave a comment

It’s about time I visited Santouka, since it’s known as one of the top ramen shops in Vancouver. The last time I tried to visit, they were under renovation. I made sure this time that the shop was open. Luckily, we arrived early at around 4:30 pm on a Saturday and only needed to wait around 5 minutes. When we left, this was the line that had formed. The good thing is that the turnover is usually pretty fast at these ramen shops, so the wait is probably not that long. We got seated at the bar and we got to see the chefs in action. Shoyu Ramen S chose the Shoyu Ramen, which has a pork broth seasoned with soy sauce. All ramens come with two slices of pork, but you can add extra pork for an additional cost. The ramen itself is $10.95, but S decided to upsize it to a large by adding $1. I liked how the broth wasn’t very salty. Shio Ramen For myself, I got the Shio Ramen, which is their signature ramen. The pork broth is seasoned with salt and the soup is mild and creamy. I went for the regular size and when the ramen came, I definitely thought it looked really small. However, I was actually contently filled up. I think the soup is very creamy so you actually get full from it. The noodles were cooked to al dente and the broth was very flavourful. We also added an order of Aji-tama, or soft-boiled flavoured egg, which finished the dish perfectly. The yolks were runny and the egg was marinated well. I wish the ramen itself already came with the eggs. Overall, Santouka is definitely on the top of the list for ramen in Vancouver. I can see why people will wait for this. It’s definitely on the pricey side for ramen, especially for the small portions, but it’s well worth it. Service is average and seating is quite cramped.