HML Seafood Restaurant: Lobster Feast!

October 12, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Located in central Richmond, HML Seafood Restaurant has been here for quite some time now. I’m pretty sure I’ve ate here before in the past too, but my memory of dim sum restaurants are always faint since I’m not a big fan of it. We usually make turkey every year for Thanksgiving, but we were really lazy this year. I mean, it’s literally a whole day in the kitchen preparing for that big day. So lazy of us…but we decided to go out to eat instead. And since my mother is obsessed with Chinese food, of course she chose a Chinese restaurant.

My parents had recently gone to HML Seafood Restaurant with their friends for dinner. My mother told me that their dim sum is definitely no good, and they had only tried their dinner menu for the first time last time. She was surprised that it was actually pretty good, especially at the amazing value and price. They have a few promotions, and when they ate out last time, they had the lobster meal, which included 6lbs of lobster along with 3 dishes for only $98! What a deal! They said that the portions were large and the dishes weren’t too bad, so off we went.

The restaurant was pretty packed, and literally every table had lobster. I’m guessing everyone was taking advantage of this lobster promotion since it’s probably only available for a limited time. This deal is perfect for 4 if you want to be extremely full, or for 5, which is what we did, and we were still pretty full!

Specialty Chicken (half)

We started off with our first dish of Specialty Chicken. I have to say that the dishes seemed to be a little smaller than at other restaurants, but for this deal, it’s still a pretty good value. These dishes are normally $9.99 if you get them separately which is also a promotion they are having. The chicken wasn’t too tough and it was flavourful. Not bad.

Deep Fried Squab

And then we had Deep Fried Squab. This came in 4 pieces, basically the whole squab. It was hot and the skin was fried to perfection. It was crispy and the meat was flavourful.

6lbs of Lobster!

And of course our main dish – the lobster! You can choose to add noodles underneath for an additional price, but we chose not to. It was presented nicely, and each piece was filled with meat. The sauce was also flavourful, but not too strong. I thought it was just right. There’s actually so much lobster that you get pretty filled up. And the service was actually pretty good. They changed my plate at least 3 times, as opposed to some restaurants that only do it once, so I was pretty impressed.

Deep Fried Egg Tofu Topped with 3 Kinds of Mushroom

Last but not least, we had the Deep Fried Egg Tofu Topped with 3 Kinds of Mushroom. This was one of my favourite dishes. I loved the egg tofu, since it’s extra smooth compared to normal tofu. My mom also said that it’s a difficult dish to make at home because of the amount of oil you need to deep fry these tofu. So delicious though and it was great to have some vegetables after all that lobster meat. It was perfect to pair with a bowl of white rice. Yum!

Overall, HML is not bad for dinner. I read many reviews saying that it’s not that great, and I’m pretty sure dim sum isn’t great here, since my mother repeatedly told me that. But if you catch their promotions for the lobster, I think it’s worth it to give it a try. You can’t expect to have anything magnificent here, but you definitely get what you paid for!

Copa Cafe (Cambie)

October 7, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Again, this is like one month late. I really should get all these posts up! Anyways, congrats to our Sunshine Boy, Evan! He decided to treat us for dinner and since part of his reward was a gift card to Copa Cafe, why not use it! Plus, he loves HK style Cafes! Copa Cafe is literally right across from the St. Edwards Canada Line Station, so it’s super convenient. After seeing that little chef cartoon on their signage, I realized that I always see this cafe advertised in Chinese magazines.

7 Up Coffee

This was MP’s 7 Up Coffee. I thought it was so interesting that I took a sip. I normally don’t drink coffee since I can’t take the bitterness, but this was surprisingly so good! It wasn’t too strong in coffee, but instead had more 7 up, and then had a hint of coffee flavour. I actually liked this!

Thai Fried Rice?

And this was ML’s Thai Fried Rice (I think that’s what it was…). ML is some fried rice fanatic. He literally eats fried rice everyday I swear – well at least I see him eating that every time I have school with him. He seems to also get fried rice whenever he’s at some sort of Chinese restaurant. Oh, and he also makes his own fried rice. Anyways, I asked him what he thought of his fried rice, since he’s such an expert. He said that this one had too much soy sauce and not enough chicken. He also mentioned it wasn’t as good as the one he’s had at Kingspark Steak House in Richmond. He said that he would rate it a 6/10. So serious about his fried rice…

Baked Seafood with Cheese on Rice

For myself, I got the Baked Seafood with Cheese on Rice. I always get this at HK style Cafes! I probably shouldn’t have gotten this by myself though. It was HUGE. And yes, of course I didn’t finish it. I ended up just eating the top layer or rice mixed with the cheese and toppings, since that’s the best part. I’ve definitely had better baked seafood on rice before. The rice was also extremely dry. It was just alright. Nothing amazing.

This is what E got. I’m not too sure what everyone else got to be honest. But it looks like some sort of steak paired with veggies and fries. It also came with a soup and bread.

And what the rest of the boys got. They got the same thing apparently. Some sort of steak again, but this time paired with rice. It also came with soup and bread. I heard the steak wasn’t that great though.

And this was J’s chicken I believe? I think he tried ordering fish but apparently they sold out. This came with soup and also linguine.

And the rest of the girls shared a meal of steak with veggies and crab cakes and some other items? I’m not too sure again. This picture was actually the wrong order though, as it came with sausages, which they hadn’t ordered. So the crab cakes aren’t actually shown here.

So how good was the food? Just average. Nothing special and the prices seemed to be around the same as other HK style cafes. They have quite a large variety of food on their menu though. Convenient location, although I would probably stick around Richmond with so many cafe choices available.

Sushi Bang

October 3, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Sushi Bang was sort of a random discovery. M and I had just gotten off the bus at Cambie and Broadway from school since we had a meeting at Starbucks there with the rest of our team. M was sort of hungry and decided we still had some time to grab some food. He debated on just grabbing a slice of pizza but when we continued to walk along Broadway, I came across this sign. It said 18 pieces of sushi for $5.95! I pointed that out to M and he stared in awe and the next thing I knew, we were inside Sushi Bang.

It’s a tiny little shop with limited seating, but still pretty much half filled. We sat down, thinking that it wouldn’t take too long, but when the food arrived, it was already pretty much time to go for our meeting. Service was quick up into waiting for the food to come. It took probably 15 minutes, but we thought it would be quicker than that for such a convenient looking shop. Anyways, we ended up getting our sushi to go, but I should mention that the sushi was actually presented quite nicely when it had come. Much better than what I had expected.

Sushi Special – 6 pc California Roll, 6 pc Yam Tempura Roll, 6 pc Tuna Roll, Miso Soup ($5.95)

Well this is what attracted M into the restaurant. Clearly their marketing seem to work since many other customers ordered this as well. This is actually quite a lot of sushi for $6. M said that quality-wise, you can’t say it’s anything amazing, but there’s worse sushi out there. You really pay for what you get.

Calamari Tempura Roll & Dynamite Roll

M also decided to get something sort of funky. The Calamari Tempura Roll was surprisingly really delicious. It had a nice chew to it, and although it reminded me of a dynamite roll in some ways, the chewiness of the squid made it really unique. Really delicious! For myself, I wasn’t too hungry, so I just got the boring old Dynamite Roll. Nothing special and just pretty average.

Sushi Bang is a place to get affordable sushi, but the quality is definitely not up to par. You can’t expect much when you’re paying that price!

Acme Cafe

September 27, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Americano

Veggie Sandwich – goat cheese, portobello mushroom, peppers, zucchini, sprouts, sun-dried tomato basil mayo. Ciabatta panini grilled; with cup of Curry Lentil

Chicken Club Sandwich – multi-grain, chicken, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato, arugula, sun-dried tomato may and grainy mustard; with cup of Curry Lentil

Shrimp Melt – shrimp, roasted peppers, and onions open faced and topped with Jack cheese. On a half-Ciabatta; with cup of Curry Lentil

High-faultin’ Grilled Cheese – cheddar, swiss, brie, cranberry-Grand Marnier relish. Ciabatta panini grilled; with cup of Curry Lentil

Close up of the High-faultin’ Grilled Cheese!

Mac and Cheese (side)

I barely ever wake up in time for brunch or breakfast, but KT, KC, J and I decided to make that happen. KT suggested to go to Acme Cafe in Gastown, and we tried to get there for their breakfast menu, but of course, we ended up late… So we were only able to order their non-breakfast food. Anyways, Acme Cafe was busy when we got there, but we only waited for perhaps 5 minutes to get a seat. The place is really cute, and reminds me of a vintage diner, yet a little modernized. They also have this seating area which is a semi-circle and you can watch the chefs prepare your food. Pretty cool place in my opinion.

Anyways, everything on the menu sounded delicious, so it was hard for me to choose something. I ended up getting the High-faultin’ Grilled Cheese since I love grilled cheese sandwiches, but this one seemed to be more than just a grilled cheese sandwich. They also had a normal grilled cheese sandwich, but this one was “high-faultin’”. The ciabatta was thin and crispy, with loads of cheese melted so it was stringy, and the unique part of it was that it had a cranberry-Grand Marnier relish. The hint of sourness actually worked really well with it and was a great twist to the normal grilled cheese sandwiches. I also took a bite from the Shrimp Melt, which was really delicious! It was open-faced so a little difficult to eat unless you cut it up, but the shrimp and all the ingredients together made it an excellent light sandwich to eat. Delicious! All the sandwiches also came with your choice of chips, or soup of the day. We all got the soup of the day, which was the Curry Lentil. Surprisingly, it wasn’t super spicy or anything. It just had a hint of curry flavour to it, but it was definitely a hearty soup. I’m not a big fan of lentils, so it was just alright for me. The two boys also got a side of Mac and Cheese, and a I stole a spoon. It was really good! There were loads of cheese. Like LOTS. But it worked well and I loved how the top was baked so it was a little crispy.

Overall, awesome place to grab brunch or even lunch. Service isn’t anything over the top, but was quick and efficient. Check it out!

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.

Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe

September 17, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Cup of Granville Island White Clam Chowder

Salmon Burger – Pan-fried salmon with cajun spices & homemade tartar sauce

Tony’s Famous Fish & Chips (Cod)

We went boating this summer at Granville Island, which was so much fun! After that, we wanted to grab something to eat, and we ended up at Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe. It’s located right at the entrance to Granville Island, and it’s pretty packed. We had to wait a bit, and even then, we only got to sit by the bar, which was pretty cramped with the number of us. I wasn’t too hungry, so decided to get the Cup of Granville Island Clam Chowder. Funny thing was, I just had the clam chowder at Ceili’s Pub recently, and sadly, I thought the one at the pub was better… Not that this one wasn’t good, but it lacked ingredients and just wasn’t amazing or anything. I’ve had better, and the one at Ceili’s actually had tons of clams and vegetables. I found this one to be overpriced for the portion, and the lack of ingredients. This is definitely a tourist restaurant so it makes sense for their price.

Afghan Horsemen

September 14, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Horsemen’s Special Platter (Appetizer) – Hummus & Sabzi Mast, Salata with Feta Cheese, and Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Horsemen’s Special Platter (Main Dish Combination of Meat & Veggie Platter) – Boneless Chicken Shish Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab, Lamb Shoulder, Baked Rice, Baked Eggplat, Dolmah (cabbage roll), Pakawra (batter fried potatoes), & Chaka (sour cream & yogurt dip)

Kabuli Palaw – Baked rice topped with Kabuli (sauteed carrots, raisins & almonds), served with spinach, cauliflower, potato, and your choice of meat

Vegan Plate – plate of baked rice with Kabuli topping (sauteed carrots, raisins & almonds), Dahl (lentil stew), cauliflower, Salata & Pakawra (battered fried potatoes), with a vegetarian sauce dip

Dolmah – Cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes & herbs, then baked to perfection, Served with Chaka (sour cream & yogurt), & our special veggie sauce

K introduced me to Afghan Horsemen, which I thought was a pretty funny name to be honest. I didn’t really know what to expect, since I did not know what Afghans really ate. I just assumed it would be something similar to East Mediterranean food, which was pretty true. K wanted to try out eating in the actual “Afghan Room”, so we rounded up a group of friends and reserved the room ahead of time. It’s pretty cool with all the cushions, low tables, afghan decorations, and dim lighting. After eating for a while though, my body got kind of sore though, since sitting cross legged and such isn’t as ideal when you’re trying to eat. A little cramped up too with the amount of people we had.

Anyways, J and I decided to try their platters, since we wanted to try a variety of their food. We got the Horsemen’s Special Platter, which came with appetizers that include Hummus & Sabzi Mast, Salata with Feta Cheese, and Whole Wheat Pita Bread, and a main dish combination of meat & veggie platter, with Boneless Chicken Shish Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab, Lamb Shoulder, Baked Rice, Baked Eggplat, Dolmah (cabbage roll), Pakawra (batter fried potatoes), & Chaka (sour cream & yogurt dip). It’s prepared for two people, and a lot of the servings are divided to serve two, but it was still a lot of food! Should have probably shared it between three people to leave a bit of room for dessert. The Pita Bread was still warm and it was actually really good. It wasn’t too oily and was extremely soft. I really enjoyed the Sabzi Mast, which I’m still quite not too sure what it is, but I think it’s some sort of Spinach dip. The Hummus was good as usual too, but I found the Sabzi Mast to be my favourite dip. Our appetizer also came with a Greek Salad, which I disliked, since it’s got feta cheese, and I’m not a big fan of that. C, however loved it, and she devoured it for us! As for the actual main platter, the meat were all well cooked and delicious. My favourite was the Lamb Shish Kebab, as it was cooked extremely tender. The Chicken Shish Kebab was also pretty good, with lots of flavours. The Lamb Shoulder was tender and it was a huge piece between the two of us! C loved our Baked Eggplant, and since both J and I hated eggplants, that was perfect. The Baked Rice was a lot, and we couldn’t even finish it. It’s for sure a special type of rice, of which I’m not aware of its name, and it also had a special seasoning to it. It smelt good and tasted full of herbs though. The Dolmah, which are basically cabbage rolls, and I’ve tried those at Greek restaurants, was probably one of our least favourites. It just had a funny taste to it (which I beleive were the herbs), and the cabbage was also a little tough for me. Our favourite sides, were probably the Pakawra though. They were potatoes that were deep fried, but they actually didn’t taste too oily! The batter was really thin and it was fried to a very interesting texture. Good stuff! As for the other dishes, I never got a chance to try them, but everyone said that it was pretty good!

Anyways, service was great, with our server coming in to check on us. The room only allows us to stay for around 2 hours though, since everyone seems to want to reserve the room. Apparently, there are also supposed to belly dancers on certain nights and times. That would’ve been really cool. The room is shared with a few other guests though, but the tables are separated so you can still have your own conversations. Would I come back again though? Probably not in a while. I feel like this is a place to go try out for an experience, but it’s not necessarily food that I would enjoy eating often – at least that’s what I think personally. Go check it out if you haven’t though, since it’s a pretty cool experience with some interesting food!

Tokyo Joe’s Sushi Factory

September 9, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Salmon Maki, Chopped Scallop Roll

I wanted a quick snack after work, so off I went to Tokyo Joe’s Sushi Factory. They always have extremely friendly service, with all the employees greeting you with Japanese upon entering and leaving. It’s also extremely busy during lunch and dinner hours, and they are also known as a great place for take out. I got my usual favourite – Salmon Maki and Chopped Scallop Roll. They were both as usual, quite average, but not terrible. They are always consistent with their food, and although they are nothing fancy, they are the right quality for the price of the food. Overall, great place for a quick meal!