Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. (Kitsilano)

February 1, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve heard good things about Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co. and I finally got the chance to try it out. J and I went on the least busiest time ever. A weekday at around 2pm, and we were literally the only ones there.

The place has a bar so I’m guessing it might get lively on weekend nights.

We got to sit in the room with the oven! They literally put the pizza in that oven in the back, so it’s pretty neat. I got to see the pizza getting baked.

Chicken Noodle Soup – Housemade chicken broth loaded with organic pasta, shredded carrots, chicken & topped with three herb pesto

I already ate, so I wasn’t too hungry. I chose to get the Chicken Noodle Soup. I didn’t think it was anything amazing. It was basically just broth with pasta, chicken and some veggies. I thought that the pesto on the top actually threw the soup off a bit. The soup also came with something like pita bread. It was pretty tough, so I had to dip it in the soup, except the soup was really just broth, so it didn’t work so well together.

All Beef Pepperoni Flatbread Pizza – Organic tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, organic beef pepperoni, crimini mushrooms, shaved red onion & sliced roma tomatoes; Topped with fresh chopped herbs

J got the All Beef Pepperoni Flatbread Pizza. They are basically famous for their flatbreads, and they are actually really good! Thin crust and full of toppings. We did find that they were a little burnt at the bottom, but it wasn’t too bad.

I also found out that they were having a special dine out event that night, but we totally missed it! You could make your own pizza and put it in the oven. Sounds so neat! Hopefully, they’ll have these events again even after dine out.

Adonia Tea House

January 29, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

J and I finally met up to have some girl catch up time and we woke up early to go brunch. Well not that early, but we got to Vancouver around 11 and when we got to Jethro’s Fine Grub, we were told we would have to wait 40 minutes. The place was really tiny and 40 minutes is usually an okay wait for me, but I had other plans after. So we decided to go elsewhere. J suggested Adonia, and we called to make sure we could get a seat, and off we went.

I love how the chinaware is super girly at Adonia. All the floral and golden details make you feel like you’re at an actual tea party!

Jasmine Green Tea (back) and Mango Passion Fruit Green Tea (front)

Their teapots however, were not as girly as I had imagined them to be. For myself, I got the Mango Passion Fruit Green Tea. My mini afternoon tea set came with a choice of tea, so I chose this fruity green tea. I usually like floral teas, but this fruity tea was a nice change. A hint of sour and sweet, but not overwhelming.

Seafood Chowder – Crowded with fresh seafood

J got the Seafood Chowder, but I never tried it. It looked appealing though, with an actual large piece of shrimp in it.

Smoked Salmon – Gourmet sandwich with smoked wild sockeye salmon, dill cream cheese, sweet red onion and capers on foccacia bread. Served with a side salad.

For her entree, J got the Smoked Salmon Sandwich. I was so tempted to get this too! It looked delicious with loads of smoked salmon on the foccacia bread, topped with onions and capers.

Mini Afternoon Tea – A sampling of our afternoon tea. It includes 7 pieces of mini sweets and savories accompanied by your choice of tea.

For myself, I got the Mini Afternoon Tea. This was for $18 and included your choice of tea, so an average price for high tea. They also offer just an afternoon tea, which is their deluxe version and I’m guessing includes much more. That one, however, is $27.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich, Cucumber Sandwich, Egg Sandwich, Berry Scone with Devon Cream and Raspberry Jam

On the bottom tier, we have our savories. The sandwiches were all very basic sandwiches, but they were presented nicely and delicious! Simple ingredients, but executed right! The scone had berries in it and top with sugar on the top. It wasn’t my favourite, as I found it a bit too dry, but scones aren’t my favourite.

Brownie, Coconut Lemon Pie, Fruit Tart

The top tier was filled with 3 desserts. I’m always excited to try the dessert section! I didn’t find them any special though. They were all decent, but nothing made me go wow! I did enjoy the Fruit Tart though, but I think it was because of how nicely it was presented. Each piece of fruit, although small, was sliced nicely so it would all fit on the tart.

Overall, Adonia was average. I don’t think it was anything amazing and the service wasn’t exactly the best either. Also, you don’t know what the savouries and sweets are before hand. So you really just get a surprise, whereas many other high tea houses have a menu listing the different items that you will get.

Cheesecake Etc.

January 25, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

After dinner, J and I went to get dessert at Cheesecake Etc. It was probably half full since it was a weekday night, so they told us to just choose a seat wherever we wanted.

Original Cheesecake with Strawberries

J got the Original Cheesecake with Straweberries, which I’ve also had in the past. They have actual strawberries on them, and the whip cream is fresh! However, I still like the cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory in the states the most!

Tonight’s Special – Tiramisu

The waitress told me that tonight’s special was the Tiramisu, so I immediately said yes to that. Their cheesecake is basically the same, except you can choose different toppings, so of course I wanted to try something new! I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t too strong in alcohol and the cake itself was soft and crumbly. Perfect when it was mixed in with the whipped cream!

That night, they also had a pianist and jazz singer performing. I’m not usually a jazz person, but jazz and cheesecake in a dimly lit seating area just seems to work so well!

Kitanoya Guu (Richmond) (revisit)

January 24, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

I feel like I just recently went to Guu in Richmond, but come to think of it, it was actually a month ago. J and I wanted some Japanese food though, so off we went. It was a Thursday night and the place was pretty empty. The vibe and ambiance was totally missing, although they still screamed Japanese words at you when you enter and leave! Since there weren’t many customers, the service was especially tentative, and I feel like our tea cups were always full.

Salmon Skin Salad (on the house)

Within minutes of taking down our order, we were given a complimentary appetizer. It was a Salmon Skin Salad, and although I usually don’t like to eat salmon skin, this one was not bad. The lemon gave it some zesty flavours, and worked well with the rest of the salad.

Beef Tataki – thin sliced seared beef w/ ponzu sauce

I chose to get the Beef Tataki, since I love the way Guu flavours it. However, I was extremely disappointed with tonight’s! Beef tataki is supposed to be seared, but this one was overdone. It still looks red on the picture, but I should have taken a snapshot of the other side, because it was completely cooked and brown. J and I both agreed this was not up to their usual standards.

Tuna Tataki – seared tuna w/ ponzu sauce

The Tuna Tataki was also a disappointment. It seemed like the chefs weren’t making their tatakis correctly tonight!! They are usually really delicious, so I’m not sure what went wrong, especially since they had plenty of time to perfect it since there were barely any customers.

Steamed Mussels

Somehow, we ended up with Steamed Mussels too! We didn’t order them, but I took a picture of them before we told them to send them back. They looked delicious though, and we were tempted to eat them anyways…The mussels looked fatty!

Unagi Moshi – BBQ eel & poached egg on rice in hot stone bowl w/ teriyaki sauce (without egg)

J wanted to get something like a unagi don, so the waitress recommended us the Unagi Moshi. It’s colourful and comes in a stone bowl. It totally reminded me of a bimbimbap!

The waitress then helped us mix it all together. I’m not a big fan of eel, but I liked how the bits were all mixed into the rice, so you could still taste the eel, but the texture wasn’t as apparent. It was strong in ginger flavours, and the teriyaki sauce worked well with everything. At the bottom, the rice started to dry up, and you could get the crunchy rice texture just like in any stone bowls.

Yakiudon – pan fried udon w/ beef, mushroom, green onion, & soy sauce + butter

I also love Guu’s Yakiudon, so I had to get that! But I was disappointed with it! When it was served, it just didn’t look appetizing. The udon was a bit soggy, and just wasn’t up to par! I felt like everything that I always enjoy at Guu were such a disappointment tonight!! What was wrong with the chefs 😦

Beef Tongue – 3 styles (Daily Specials)

Finally, J wanted to try something interesting, so we got the Beef Tongue which was prepared in 3 different ways. I have to say I was hesistant to try it first, just because I get a little iffy when I try new organs, or weird body parts… Who doesn’t?! The first one on the right of the plate was cooked and chilled. We found that it was quite salty and reminded us of ham. The texture is definitely chewy though. The one in the middle confused us a little. It had a sunny-side-up egg on top and underneath was a meatball! It was a meatball with beef tongue in it. This is a good choice for starters who have not tried tongue before, since you wouldn’t even realize what’s in it. It’s literally like a meatball! The last one on the left was crispy on the outside, and wasn’t as salty as the first. It was flavourful and I liked it much more compared to the first.

Overall, I was quite disappointed with my visit at Guu this time. I remember a friend saying that the Guu in Richmond is always either a hit or miss. Their consistency is a problem, but this was the first time I experienced this. Weird how it was a weekday and the chefs had plenty of time to perfect their dishes since there were few customers, yet they did not.

Nicli Antica Pizzeria (revisit)

January 19, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

For K’s birthday, we headed to Nicli Antica Pizzeria since she wanted some thin crust pizza! I’ve gone here once, and the pizza crusts are made from scratch. The place was quite packed when we got there, and it makes sense since it’s a nice place to drink a glass of wine, have some pizza and chat with friends.

Special* – parma prosciutto and arugula

We chose three pizzas to share, and I chose their Today’s Special, which I forgot the name of since it was so long. But it had param prosciutto which is my favourite. The arugula also added some great flavour to it. I guess the funniest part of dinner was our inabilities to cut our pizza. These pizzas are made from scratch, hence their crust is much more tough than normal pizza. Some people like it and some people don’t, but the crust is intended to be like that. Our waitress laughed at us while we took forever cutting our pizzas, and in the end she told us it would be okay to use our hands. How embarrassing, since we looked around and everyone was well-mannered and slowly slicing their pizza. I was hungry, so eating with my hands were the way to go!

Pesto – herb pesto, fior di latte, marinated black olives, capers, roasted red onion, fresh tomato

J chose the Pesto, which was definteily much more interesting than normal pesto pizzas I’ve had. The flavour was much more strong, and the capers and roasted red onions gave it a distinct flavours. The only part was that I don’t like olives, so I had to pick those out.

Margherita – pomodoro, grana padano, fior di latte, basil

Lastly, K got the traditional Margherita, which is a great classic. Their tomato sauce is made from fresh tomatoes too, so it has a distinct flavour.

Tiramisu – classic with Marscapone cream and frangelico syrup

For dessert, we decided to all share a Tiramisu. It was homemade and really good! Just the right about of alcohol in it, and the cake was soft.

Apple Fruit Cake?

I wish I remembered the name of this cake, since it was really good. We got this as a little surprise since we wanted to get a dessert that could support a candle. I guess none of their desserts really did that so they put the candle next to the cake instead…Anyways, this was really good! There were soft apples with a sauce inside the cake, and it also came with a vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Yum!

The downside to Nicli is that they don’t take reservations, so you’ll need to expect some waiting time if you come on their busy nights.

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.

Floyd’s Diner

January 12, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

During my winter break, I headed over to Victoria. We were told by a local to try out Floyd’s Diner, and so we did. They have an extremely small parking lot, so be prepared for pay parking on the streets.

The place is quite diner like, with simple furniture, and even couches for some tables. It’s unique and a little hipster at the same time. It’s decorated with art and bright colours. The restaurant was quite packed on a weekday as well. We looked around and realized that the portions were huge. Most of us ended up sharing a plate.

I went the bathroom and to my surprise found a chalkboard behind my stall’s door! Apparently it was only in that one stall and also only in the girl’s washroom! I left Victoria 2012 on it for fun 🙂

BC Hash – Potato, green onion, salsa, sausage, bacon, egg, cheddar & jack mixed together served with toast

This was only HALF the serving. So imagine double of this for one person. I don’t know who would order this by themselves, cause the portions are ridiculously large! M and Y shared the BC Hash, and they both had trouble finishing it. I took a bite from the dish, and it was pretty good. Lots of flavour, and it’s pretty much everything mixed together. The sausages were pretty good and with everything being bite size, you didn’t need to fuss with the knives.

Cajun Club served with fries – Caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce, Cajun spice, mayo, bacon, chicken, cheddar, swiss, & chipotle

This is also half of the full order of the Cajun Club. It was quite filling for the guys as well.

Eggs Ben-Hur served with pan fries – Spinach, sun-dried tomato & mushrooms topped with herb pesto hollandaise & feta

C and I shared the Eggs Ben-Hur. This is also only half it. The portion was this was much more normal I guess. It was basically two eggs benny along with hash fries, which is a typical amount in most breakfast chains. I found that the pan fries, which are really hash fries, were way too burnt. They included the potato skin, which is noramlly fine, but most of them were black and just unhealthy to eat. They also weren’t served warm, so those weren’t that great.

Here’s a closer look at the eggs benny. This was actually delicious! Eggs were cooked perfectly with the yolk being runny as you cut in. The sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach made you feel extra healthy and the flavours worked well together. The pesto hollaindaise sauce was my favourite, as it was just a little different than original hollaindaise sauce, yet it worked. The english muffin wasn’t tough so cutting through it wasn’t a problem.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with Floyd’s Diner. Service could’ve been more friendly but I guess we had quite a large group. I felt our server was just a little too cool though. Prices are also extremely affordable for the portions you get. Cool place to grab some quick breakfast and conveniently located in Downtown Victoria!