B.C. Sushi

September 21, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Yam Tempura

Horenso Gomaae

Ebi Sunomono

Massago Cone, Dynamite Roll, Yam Tempura Roll, Kappa Maki, BC Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll

Yakitori

Salmon Sashimi

Agedashi Tofu

Deep Fried Chicken Knee

BBQ Chicken Wings

Tonkatsu

Lemon Chicken

Salmon Sushi, Hokkigai Sushi, Albacore Tuna Sushi, Tamago Sushi

Beef Teriyaki

Gyoza

Chicken Teriyaki

I was craving some late night sushi, so it was either get some cheap late night at Matsuyama, or get all you can eat. I hadn’t had all you can eat for a while, since I never seem to eat my money’s worth. Plus the quality of food is never up to par, so I usually rather pay more for good quality food. And eating all you can eat food with two people is definitely a bad idea. But…we ended up going to try B.C Sushi, since J said that it was pretty good. B.C. Sushi has two all you can eat menus for late night. You can either choose option A, which is $12.95 or choose option A+B which is $17.95. Option B basically includes sashimi and a few other options. We decided to choose option A+B since we wanted sashimi, but we later read that option A also had sashimi if we were to add $1.50 for 6 pieces. We definitely should’ve just gotten option A and added on the sashimi, since the other items in option B weren’t even anything extremely special. We wanted to try so many items but we couldn’t even finish it since we had ordered way too much food! Food quality wasn’t anything amazing, but I would say it’s much better than some of the other all you can eat places I’ve had. The dishes are huge too…which I totally did not expect. I was thinking they would be cheap and give us tiny dishes each time, but not at B.C. Sushi! So much food that we only ordered one round and we were already screaming for help.

Edible Flours

September 8, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Cookie Crumble – chocolate ganache dipped vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbles

Cookie Sandwich

Caramel Donut

Continuation of adventure time with K and J! After grabbing lunch at Tera V Burgers, we continued along Broadway to our next destination – Edible Flours! Edible Flours is claimed to be an organic vegan bakery, and the ratings and comments I have seen are above exceptional. The store was modern and clean-looking and we were greeted by a young man. All the baked goods looked dainty and were presented nicely. Taste wise – we were extremely disappointed…

I got the Cookie Crumble Cupcake, which looked so delicious! After my first bite, I was like, “oh, this is just alright”. But after taking a few more bites, it was too much to take. It was the sweetest cupcake I’ve ever had, and I already have a sweet tooth. But no – this was like SWEET. The icing tasted like I was just eating sugar, and I always thought the icing was sweet at Cupcakes, but no! These were beyond sweet. My cupcake batter also tasted extremely weird, having a weird flour taste to it. I swear the cupcakes I made in foods class were better than this. So I thought to myself that maybe it was because these were vegan cupcakes, and clearly as a non-vegan, I probably had a different liking to the taste of food…Maybe I just wasn’t used to the no egg or dairy baked goods. But K, who is also a vegan, thought her Cookie Sandwich was terrible. The filling between her cookies was also extremely sweet, and she ended up just eating the cookie. If K admitted it wasn’t good, I guess it wasn’t just my own problem! J also didn’t really like his Caramel Donut and thought it was too sweet as well. It was such a disappointment that I barely even finished half my cupcake, and I always finish my desserts! It was so sweet, it made me feel sick. Definitely not going back again.

Tera V Burger

September 5, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Barbecue Tempeh Burger – Organic tempeh, smokey barbecue sauce, fresh veggies and cheese on a whole wheat bun

Barbecue Tofu Wrap – Organic smoked tofu, fresh veggies, cheese, and smoky barbecue sauce in a whole wheat tortilla

Adventure time with K and J! We were originally supposed to try some vegan lasagna at a cafe, but unfortunately it was closed for good when we arrived. We were around the Broadway neighbourhood, so we decided to walk around to find a different place. Problem was, we weren’t exactly in the restaurant populated area of Broadway. We kept walking and started to get hungry and we spotted Tera V Burger. We checked out the menu and learned that it was a vegetarian so we thought it would be perfect. The place is supposed to be like a fast food burger chain and their mission is to try and make a movement for people to start eating vegetarian meals. You order your food first at the counter, and then you take a seat and they will serve it to you on a tray.

Both K and J got the Barbecue Tempeh Burger, which they said was quite delicious. Lots of veggies and an overload of barbecue sauce. For myself, I got the Barbecue Tofu Wrap since I wanted a small snack. It was actually quite filling and I was very full by the end. There were lots of tofu, and again, lots of barbecue sauce. Although the sauce was needed since the tofu was pretty much bland, I thought that it was almost too much, since it got really salty.

Not a bad place to go for some vegetarian burgers and wraps. The place was pretty empty, but I guess it’s pretty new. They also offer a variety of salads, sandwiches, and drinks.

Hime Sushi

August 13, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Complimentary Edamame – cooked green soy beans

Red Dragon Roll – inside: crunch, prawn tempura, cucumber; top: salmon & avocado with house sauce

Oshinko Roll

Ankake Tofu – deep-fried tofu with mixed vegetable topping

Ebi Mayo – deep fried prawns & yam with house mayo sauce

Crunch Munch – inside: prawn tempura, crunch, tobiko, cucumber; top: grilled unagi, avocado with house sauce

J’s birthday was a while back, so yes this is from a while back too. Anyways, S and I had a whole day of fun planned and of course that included some delicious food! We had a beer tasting fundraiser for Sauder Africa Intiative (which by the way is something everyone should check out!), which was on Main Street, so we had to look for something nearby since we had to go set up as well. We remembered J liked Japanese food, so I did some urbanspooning and off we went to Hime Sushi. It’s a tiny little Japanese shop with pretty much all seats occupied during dinner hours, which is a good sign.

After placing our orders, they offered us a small plate of Edamame beans, which was great to munch on while waiting for our food. We ordered the Ankake Tofu after peering over at the table next to ours, and it was a good choice. It was a great alternative to Agedashi Tofu, as it was sill fried, but felt much more healthy. The vegetables and sauce covered the tofu and was a good change to the usual. S had her Oshinko Roll as always. I chose to get the Red Dragon Roll. I really enjoyed it as there was a crunch to it and it also had my favourite salmon sashimi. Yum! J chose to get the Crunch Munch. I found it to be sort of similar to the Red Dragon Roll, actually just because they both had that crunchy texture. It had grilled unagi on top, so I wasn’t as fond of it. We also got the Ebi Mayo, which I really enjoyed. The batter was light and not oily, which is always a plus. I also liked the crunchy noodles that the shrimps lay on.

Overall, Hime Sushi was not bad. They have some pretty interesting rolls and their food seems to be quite consistent. Not bad!

Loving Hut

July 24, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Crispy Chick’n Burger

I’ve been interning in downtown these days, and finally met up with Andrew to grab lunch since we actually worked pretty close together! He brought me to Loving Hut, which is located just across the street from the Yaletown Canada Line Station, and in front of the Yaletown Roundhouse Community Centre. Loving Hut actually serves vegan burgers, but I honestly had no idea while I was lining up, until Andrew told me. And even when I took the bite, I still had no idea! I had the Crispy Chick’n Burger and the sauce, which was chipotle mayo was really delicious! It was a bit spicy, but something that I could handle. If I hadn’t known beforehand that the chicken was vegan, I probably would have finished the whole burger thinking I had ate real chicken. But since I knew, I took the bite of chicken more carefully, trying to taste it. It tasted like some sort of soy product I think. But honestly, I think the burger tasted better than some real chicken burgers I’ve had. Definitely a must try, and I would love to try the Grilled Mushroom Cheese Burger next time! They don’t operate everyday, and only during lunch hours I believe, so make sure to check beforehand.

Phnom Penh

July 18, 2012May 3, 20131 Comment

Mango Moo Moo Shake

Iced Rainbow Drink

Butter Beef

Special Combo A – Deep Fried Spring Roll, Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane

Filet Beef on Rice with Egg

Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth)

Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot

Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings

I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally try Phnom Penh. It’s been on my wishlist ever since I heard it was one of the top restaurants in Vancouver on Urbanspoon. The only thing really stopping me was where it was located. It’s in the Chinatown neighborhood, which can be a little sketchy at night, but luckily, Phnom Penh is located in a smaller street. The street is mostly small groceries, and is actually pretty quiet, other than the line ups at Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh doesn’t take reservations unless you have a table of 6, but luckily, we got our seat quite quick. We did however have to share a table with another group of 4, but it wasn’t too awkward as it was a long rectangular table.

We decided to grab some drinks, and I got the Iced Rainbow Drink. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the drink since I don’t like bits of red beans in my food, but my mom said it was the drink for Vietnamese cuisine so she wanted to take a sip from it. It was alright, and I liked the green jelly bits in it. Next up, we got the Butter Beef. This is one of their most popular dishes, and it was really good! It is basically half cooked meat, topped with a lot of cilantro and a special sauce. I really dislike cilantro, so I picked it all out, but the meat was still really good. I loved the sauce and the meat was not tough at all. We also got the Special Combo A, which included Deep Fried Spring Rolls, a Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, and a Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane. They were all very delicious and I especially liked the Beef Brochette. The beef was extremely tender and flavourful. We also got the Filet Beef on Rice with Egg, which seemed pretty typical, but their sauce was quite distinct. It had an interesting taste that I cannot describe! Next, we got the Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth). I found it a little dry, but I guess it’s supposed to be like that since it said no broth! They have one with broth too, so maybe that one is better. It also had a very unique flavour again. I think the sauce had garlic or something, but I’m not quite sure. This one was just alright. We also wanted to try their curry, so we got the Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot. I really enjoyed the curry, but I found it quite different from the usual Vietnamese curry I get back in Richmond. The curry wasn’t as thick, but rather very thin and was perfect to pour onto vermicelli to add some flavour. They also didn’t use potatoes, but instead yams, which was an interesting change to the usual. And lastly, we got the famous Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings. People tell me they’re the best wings around, but maybe because I had such high expectations for them, they didn’t really live up to my expectations. They were still really delicious and I loved the dipping sauce that came with it. I have to say my favourite wings around the town are these, and the ones at Wo Fung Dessert in Aberdeen Mall.

Overall, Phnom Penh lived up to their high ranking on Urbanspoon. They definitely have great food. I’m still however confused what exactly is authentic Cambodian and Vietnamese food. Maybe I ordered the wrong dishes. But I’ll definitely come back again for more. The prices are however more expensive than I had expected, but it’s decent. Oh and to add, the interior was newly renovated, so it was actually really clean with brand new furniture.

Thomas Haas

March 17, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Caramel & Chocolate Brownie Cake
Chocolate pecan brownie, caramel cremeux and caramel Bavarian

Totally haven’t been updating since I’ve been so busy with school and exams! But I’m back! I’m guessing they usually have specials that they have for a certain time, since they had a chalkboard with specials written on it. And of course I decided to try something new and special! Here’s a Caramel & Chocolate Brownie Cake. It’s supposed to look much nicer than this, but unfortunately I had probably swayed the box around too much, which I guess wasn’t the best idea… But hey, it still tasted great! The caramel made it a little more special than just regular chocolate cake, although I found it a little sweet for my personal liking.There were also pecans at the bottom which gave the cake a great crunch. Be sure to try it out before they aren’t on the menu anymore!

If you want to read about my first experience at Thomas Haas, check out the previous post: http://everydayisafoodday.tumblr.com/post/16270765615/thomas-haas

Kitsilano Daily Kitchen

February 20, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Sweet Potato Bread with Olive Oil & Vinegar, Kimchi, and Sea Salt

Scallop

Roasted Cream of Winter Cauliflower Soup

Butter poached king crab leg, trout caviar, truffle oil

Short Ribs

West Coast Seafood Cioppino

Yes, it’s my long overdue posts from Dine Out Vancouver 2012 that should’ve been uploaded long time ago! Well they are coming along! Here’s another dine out I went to. This one was a $38 set menu at the Kitsilano Daily Kitchen. This restaurant is so interesting because they change their menu everyday! I believe they post the menu up at a certain time, but if you don’t have a look beforehand, then you are going in for a surprise! Pretty cool twist, I personally think! Upon waiting for our food to arrive, we were given a jump fried squid as our amuse bouche. It was delicious as it was cooked in just the right amount of time, so it wasn’t hard to chew at all. We were also given complementary bread, which was a sweet potato bread with some complements to go with. We only used the olive oil though, as we thought kimchi and bread would taste funny..Maybe should’ve given it a try! The bread was alright, but it was a little on the mushy side. I’ll give props for it being different from bread that we are usually given though! Since the restaurant changes menus all the time, I couldn’t go online afterwards to look up the menu names, so I can’t quite remember the full names of the food. The scallops were cooked perfectly, and overall, I think they do a really good job with their seafood. The cioppino had very large pieces of fish in it, and they were very fresh. I found that the scallops in the cioppino weren’t cooked as well as the ones for the appetizer though. Perhaps it is because of the way it is cooked! The cioppino was cooked in a tomato base and had three types of sausages in it, which were all very spicy! For dessert, I did not get a picture of it, as we had it to go, but it was a chocolate tart, which we found to not be anything extraordinary. I know that most chocolates are paired with some sort of salt, like “salted chocolate”, but this was had a very strong salty taste to it, that became unpleasant. I have to say the dessert was my least favourite part of the meal, especially because it was nothing special. The place is kind of hidden as there are no large signages, so it was quite hard to find. You probably would’t notice the restaurant if you were walking by. However, the inside is very classy, like fine dining, but not as fancy as the downtown restaurants. Still has a very modern vibe to it though! Not bad and a great place to go if you want a surprise!