Ebisu (Richmond)

January 17, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

For New Year’s Eve, my parents didn’t feel like doing much celebrating, so I decided to go out and eat with K instead. I had just gotten off work, and since it was really last minute, most of the places were booked up. I was really hungry too, so I wanted to go eat right away! Finally, we found reservations for Ebisu in Richmond, but they said they would be bar seats. It was just the two of us, so we could care less! When we got there, I was surprised that Ebisu has renovated and the interior was much more stylish. The servers also all spoke Japanese giving the restaurant a feel of authenticity. And surprisingly, the bar tables were nothing like what we had thought. They were comfy booth seats that basically only seated two customers. It was extremely comfortable and we still had tons of room to move around.

Thunder Fries – Freshly cut deep fried sweet potato sticks served with a tangy house cajun dip

K decided to try the Thunder Fries and they were basically yam tempuras shaped like fries. At first, I thought it would be more like the Western style yam fries, but they were definitely softer in the inside and the outer batter was crisp and flaky like tempura. The cajun dip gave them some flavour and hint of spice.

Healthy Veggie Roll – Red & green pepper, avocado, cucumber, carrot, Kaiware with rice & salsa sauce on top wrapped in color soy been paper

K also got the Healthy Veggie Roll. Sounded super healthy and it came in soy bean paper. I didn’t try it out so I can’t comment on it, but it looked pretty!

Miso Soup

I got the Chicken Teriyaki Boat since I was starving! It came with a Miso Soup, which was nothing special.

Ebi Sunomono

The Boat also came with the Ebi Sunomono which I thought was better than what I had expected. Usually complementary sunomonos are quite sour and the appearance is usually not that appealing. However, they presented theirs nicely and it had shrimp and nicely sliced cucumbers. It wasn’t too sour too which I liked.

Chicken Teriyaki Boat (includes the Miso Soup & Ebi Sunomono) – Chicken Teriyaki, Dynamite & California Roll, Salmon & Tuna Sushi, Assorted Tempura

And here is the Chicken Teriyaki Boat. At the end of my meal, I realized I had eaten a lot! I found the sushi to just be average. The salmon wasn’t anything spectacular either. It wasn’t amazingly fresh or anything, but it was decent. The tempuras really filled me up with all the fried oil. Food was average, but it was a pretty good deal. I think it was around $14 for the whole set.

Chef Hung

January 13, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Looking for food on Christmas is always a headache! Pretty much every restaurant is closed on Christmas Day…well except for Asian restaurants! And so we headed over to Aberdeen, and the parking lot was just a mess. Aberdeen Centre is the only mall open on Christmas in Richmond I think…so I guess everyone just crowds there. After long waits stuck in traffic in the parking lot, I met up with K, JW, and JZ for some Taiwanese food at Chef Hung.

Pan-fried Crispy Pancake with Green Onion

I didn’t try these, but they looked nicely pan-fried. At least they weren’t burnt!

Braised Beef Shank & Tripe with Thin Noodle in Soup

I’ve tried their noodles a few times before, and their Champion Beef Shank is always popular. This time I chose the Braised Beef Shank & Tripe. As always, the soup broth was tasty and wasn’t overwhelming in flavours. The soup is supposed to be MSG-free. The tripe is basically the cow’s stomach, and had great texture. It wasn’t too tough which is always good.

Overall, not bad! I always seem to go back whenever I want Taiwanese noodles. It also won 2012’s Vancouver Restaurant Award for being the Best Noodle House, so I guess that says something. Worth giving it a try.

Earl’s Restaurant & Bar (Richmond)

January 9, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Warm Gingerbread Cake – brown sugar roasted apples, salted caramel sauce, vanilla bean gelato

I realized I’m half a month late on my posts again… Blame the busy holidays and school starting! But anyways, back in December, the staff at work got together for a mini late night dinner, which was supposedly our Christmas party. We ended up at Earl’s since we get off so late that everywhere else is usually closed on a weekday. I had just grabbed dinner with some friends, so I ended up going for drinks and dessert. Service was not bad, since the restaurant was pretty empty at that time.

I got the Warm Gingerbread Cake, which is on their seasonal menu, and it was such a large piece of cake! It was moist and a little sticky, but surprisingly not too sweet after a few bites. The roasted apples on the side complimented the cake well since whenever I felt like it got too sweet, I would take a bite of apple and the sourness would balance it out. It also came with a vanilla bean gelato, but because the cake was so warm, the gelato was already half melted when it was served. Overall, not bad. But it’s definitely a huge piece to finish on your own. So a great dessert to share with a friend.

Kitanoya Guu (Richmond)

January 4, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Tuna Tataki – seared tuna w/ ponzu sauce

Guu is always such a fun place to go for some izakaya food. The ambiance is awesome with the servers and cooks greeting you as you enter and leave. First up, we got some Tuna Tataki which is always delicious at Guu! Fresh and tasty with the ponzu sauce. Their beef tataki is always one of my favourites.

Oden

We also got some oden, but I only tried the Chikuwa. Typical stuff but I was just really craving it.

Chikuwa Cheese – deep fried breaded fish cake & mozzarella cheese w/ tonkatsu sauce & mayo

More Chikuwa! But this one is Chikuwa Cheese, so it was basically Chikuwa which had cheese oozing out of it. The chikuwa was also lightly breaded and fried and then topped with a tonkatsu sauce and mayo. I found that this was just decent. It was a little on the hard side because it was fried.

Kabocha Korokke – pumpkin & boiled egg croquette

The Kabocha Korokke was delicious! It was a pumpkin croquette with a boiled egg in the center. It was also topped with what I believe were pumpkin chips.

Agedashi Mochi

We decided to be a little adventurous and try out some of the items on their special menu. We got the Agedashi Mochi, which was literally mochi that was fried! I love mochi, but usually as a dessert. This was more of a savoury dish. You really had to dip the mochi into the sauce or else it was pretty bland. It was also a lot more sticky than mochi in desserts. It was interesting!

Diced Beef Tenderloin Steak and Mushroom w/ Garlic Onion Sauce – Special*

The Diced Beef Tenderloin Steak and Mushroom w/ Garlic Onion Sauce was on their Today’s Special item. The beef tenderloin was extremely tender and the dish came sizzling hot. Full of flavour and would definitely recommend if you love meat.

Yakiudon (beef on side) – pan fried udon w/ beef, mushroom, green onion, soy sauce & butter

Lastly, we got the Yakiudon because Guu makes one of my favourite yakiudons! The picture doesn’t have the meat in it since we had it on the side. The meat was still extremely flavourful and tender. I love the fish flakes on the top, and it’s always fun to watch them move when the dish is served hot.

Overall, Guu always lives up to expectations. Great place to grab lunch or have a night out with friends. The service is always cheerful and the quality of food is great!

Starbucks – Caramel Brulée Frappuccino

December 30, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Caramel Brulee Frappuccino

Finally decided to try the frappuccino version of the Caramel Brulée Latte. For some reason, it just wasn’t that great. I felt that the flavour was not as strong and I would much rather get a Green Tea Frappuccino instead. It was either that the flavour was not strong enough or my barrista put too much ice in it. I still enjoyed the caramel sprinkles at the top which added some sweetness to the coffee taste.

New York Fries – Butter Chicken Poutine

December 29, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Butter Chicken Poutine

Ever since Richmond Center’s food court began renovating, I never got my dose of poutine from New York Fries. But now that they are back in the new dining terrace, I get to devour that fatty goodness again! Always so delicious!

Leisure Tea & Coffee (Revisit)

December 27, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Crispy Chicken Sandwich

I’ve revisited Leisure way too many times by now. But there still seems to be items that I haven’t tried. I always tend to go for my favourites, but this time I decided to try some other menu items. These are actually two separate visits, but I’ll just put it in one post. The first item was the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I’ve heard great things about their Club Sandwich, but I was curious to see what a Crispy Chicken Sandwich was. So glad I got this because it was really delicious! They come in a plate of four triangular sandwiches in white bread. Each sandwich has three layers of bread, so it makes it quite large in size. With the crispy chicken inside, which is really their famous Taiwanese chicken, the sandwiches are too big to take a whole bite of. But I didn’t mind that. Inside was also tomatoes, cucumbers and mayo. I would definitely recommend this.

Crispy Chicken Waffle

Then, on Christmas night after my Christmas potluck, I joined some friends to go to Leisure again… Only Asian restaurants are open on Christmas, so the place was surprisingly quite packed. With all Asians of course. Sadly, I wasn’t too satisfied with my potluck dinner, so I was actually craving some more food by then. I’ve had their Ice Cream Waffle before, but what was a Crispy Chicken Waffle?! I decided to give that a try and it was oh so delicious! It’s really the same thing as the Crispy Chicken Sandwich but in a waffle form. The waffle also had a lot more chicken than the sandwiches. It wasn’t too salty and all the ingredients just worked well together with the vegetables giving a refreshing feel.

Overall, extremely satisfied with both visits again. The food never seem to disappoint!

Curry Express

December 10, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Butter Chicken and Rice Combo

Dining Terrace has been open for around a month now! I was quite late in actually going to try out their food. I went a week after to check it out while doing some shopping, but never actually tried out any of the food. So finally, during my break at work, I decided to head upstairs and look for a small dinner. The dining terrace is huge, and for someone who is always so indecisive, it’s terrible. I swear I could’ve walked around five times and my break would’ve ended by then. So I decided to head straight to Curry Express. I mean, with work every week, I’m sure to try out every place sooner or later.

Curry Express is also at Lansdowne Centre, but I seldom go there so I’m guessing the last time I had it was when I was a kid. I decided to get a curry and rice combo. There were so many different types of curries in the heating trays, so I asked the cashier what was the most recommended. She immediately said Butter Chicken, so that’s what I went with! I found that the butter chicken was a little more on the watery side, and I would have probably preferred it to be a little thicker. The chicken however, was extremely tender. The sauce was good – quite typical, but I felt it lacked some spices that would be present when you eat at an Indian restaurant. The portion was also less than I had imagined, but I guess that’s food court portions. Overall, I would just say it was average.