Red Robin

June 30, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

5 Alarm Burger with Yam Fries – Pepper-Jack cheese, jalapeños, fresh tangy salsa layered on a juicy beef burger and topped with crisp lettuce, tomatoes and chipotle mayo

Calamarvelous – lightly seasoned tender calamari fresh-fried golden, topped with red onions and served with tzatziki

I haven’t had Red Robin in quite some time now, so we decided to make a stop for a quick snack while shopping downtown. Red Robin always seems to have people eating no matter what time. I decided to get the Calamarvelous since I was craving some calamari. I thought it was just decent though. The batter wasn’t that amazing, and wasn’t as fluffy as I would have liked it to be. I’ve definitely had better calamari before. I never got a chance to try the burger, but it looked pretty delicious.

Sushi Garden

June 15, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Half Order of Salmon Sashimi

Bill’s Roll (Yam & Smoked Salmon) $3.95, Island Roll (Cooked Tuna, Fish Flake with Fresh Kiwi Sauce) $4.95

Filet-O-Fish Roll (breaded fish fillet, cheese) $3.95, Crab <3s Papaya (Deep Fried Crab Meat) $3.95

Steph and I had been seeing pictures of Sushi Garden all over our Facebook feed, and were determined to try this place out. Everyone was raving about how good it was, but it was all the way in Burnaby, so we set out to try it with a day of shopping at Metrotown after! It’s literally across Metropolis, where a bunch of other restaurants were located on Kingsway. When we entered, there were quite a lot of people waiting. We learned that we had to go to the cashier up in the front to let them know we wanted a seat. We waited for probably around 5 minutes, and quickly got a seat. Mind you, we went at around 1, so it’s probably much more packed earlier. We were seated in a tiny table, which was very cramped and close to the table next to us. All their tables were put together extremely close to cater for the line ups.

We decided to try a bunch of different rolls, especially the ones that sounded more interesting. For a starter, I decided to get the Salmon Sashimi. Steph doesn’t eat sashimi, so I ended up getting half an order for myself. It ended up being 5 fatty pieces of salmon that were extremely fresh. I could not resist not trying them since it seemed like every table ordered it, and it was only around $4 for half an order! What a deal. Next up, I tried the Bill’s Roll. It was basically yam and smoked salmon, and it was difficult to eat everything together since the roll was so big. When I did manage to get the two ingredients together in one bite, the yam’s flavour totally covered the smoked salmon. It was still a pretty interesting combination and I enjoyed the tobiko on the top. The Island Roll was fresh and appetizing. The kiwi gave the tuna a slight tang, but it somehow worked pretty well. Not bad! And then came the Filet-O-Fish Roll. It was very saucy and was such an interesting roll, but it worked. Who knew you could put fried filet-o-fish and cheese in a sushi roll! And lastly, we had the Crab <3s Papaya Roll. To my disappointment, it was just intimation crab, but what can I expect with that price. The papaya also didn’t quite taste like papaya. It wasn’t exactly ripe, so it was still pretty hard. It kind of reminded me of a mango roll actually. I also have to add that all the rolls did not need soy sauce, as they either had a sauce already or all the ingredients already worked well enough to prevent it from lacking flavour.

We definitely had ordered way too much food for the two of us, but it was still very satisfying and the prices were very reasonable for the portions. It kind of reminded us of Banzai in Richmond, with large portions and cheap price. Don’t expect amazing service and a good atmosphere or comfortable seating, but food came prompt and was of quality for the price you pay. Definitely would stop by again if I’m in Burnaby again.

Bengali Fish & Curry

June 14, 2012April 25, 2013Leave a comment

Naan Bread, Chicken Curry, Saffron Rice, Butter Chicken

Off I went to Surrey to try some authentic Indian cuisine. I’m no expert for Indian cuisine, so bear with me, but I felt this was probably pretty authentic. Bengali Fish & Curry is situated near an office area, and isn’t really out on the streets where all the rest of the restaurants are. I read online that it was a hidden gem, so decided to give it a try. I believe lots of people take out here, since when you first enter, you can basically order food there. But we were led to the dining area, which was pretty nice. There was probably around only 2 other tables with us though, but everyone eating there were Indian, so I took a guess that the food would be pretty legit.

I ordered the Butter Chicken, and thought that it would come with rice or something, but to my surprise, it was just the butter chicken. We had ordered some Naan Bread too, but I was craving some rice with my sauce, so we ordered a bowl of Saffron Rice, which was huge. I think we ended up ordering too much food, but it was good to try the rice too, since it tasted quite differently from the rice I normally eat at Chinese or Western places. They had a lot of herbs in the rice, and it smelt pretty good too. I had the butter chicken non-spicy since I can’t take spice, and it came with lots of chicken. Jack had the Chicken Curry, and had it very spicy. I tried a bit of it, and found it too spicy for my liking of course.

Overall, food was really good, and service was also extremely friendly. They played some Indian music videos on the TV too, which gets you into the Indian mood. I honestly can’t say much about the food though, since I haven’t tried many authentic Indian restaurants before, but it was pretty good in my opinion!

Shark Club

June 8, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Oven Roasted Chicken Wings: Golden Shark, Jack Daniels BBQ, Teriyaki, Honey Garlic, and Salt & Pepper

Wednesdays are always a great day to go grab some wings since most pubs or lounges offer Wings Wednesdays where the wings are half price. My friends and I decided to go to Shark Club last week, and it was pretty packed and noisy too since there were a few sports games going on I guess.

We decided to just order a bunch of different flavoured wings and share. We got the Golden Shark, Jack Daniels BBQ, Teriyaki, Honey Garlic, and Salt & Pepper. Honestly, I thought all the wings weren’t good at all. I don’t know if it’s different on a non-wings night, but they were seriously not up to standard. The Golden Shark was supposed to be a mix of BBQ and spicy, but it was really just a fried wing with a little spice to it. Nothing special. I think the Jack Daniels BBQ was probably the most flavourful. It actually had a strong BBQ sauce, but I’ve had better BBQ wings before. As for the Teriyaki, I could not taste a single bit of Teriyaki sauce. It was covered full of “sauce”, but the sauce had no taste at all. Honey Garlic is usually my favourite flavour for wings, but it was really bland, and didn’t taste that great. As for the Salt & Pepper, it wasn’t even peppery or salty. It just tasted like a normal fried wing with little seasoning.

Overall, I was quite disappointed in the wings, and would definitely not go back for their Wings Wednesdays. Shark Club serves their wings in orders of 10 for 9.99, but since it was Wings Wednesday, it was half price. I would still rather go to another pub for the wings though.

Charcoal Sushi & BBQ (Revisit)

May 30, 2012May 17, 2014Leave a comment

Wakame Salad – marinated seaweed

Tokyo Roll – prawn tempura & cucumber topped with salmon & tobiko

Rainbow Roll – imitation crab, avacado, salmon, tuna, snapper, prawns, hokkigai

The Submarine – salmon, avocado & tobiko topped with seaweed salad

Lotus Roll – chopped scallop, imitation crab & avocado topped with tobiko, wrapped in cucumber

My parents were deciding where to have dinner on the long weekend, but realized many smaller sushi shops were closed that day. And so I ended up suggesting to go to Charcoal Sushi & BBQ since they always have some pretty unique rolls.

We waited for quite a while for our orders to appear on the table, and I guess the server/owner saw us getting a little impatient, so he gave us a Wakame Salad for free. Perfect – since we were actually thinking of ordering it before. Refreshing and had a little spice to it. Finally, we got our Tokyo Roll. It had prawn tempura inside, topped with salmon and tobiko and a sauce that was a little spicy, but gave the whole roll a great flavour. Next we had the Rainbow Roll, which consisted of salmon, tuna and hokkigai on the top of the roll. Looked really pretty! The third roll we got was the Submarine Roll. It had salmon inside and was topped with more seaweed salad. The seaweed gave it a great bite, as well as flavour to the whole roll. Lastly, we got the Lotus Roll, which I had already tried before. It was basically imitation crab wrapped with a very thin piece of cucumber. The menu description also claimed that there was chopped scallop inside, but it was the tiniest bit ever. Still, the Lotus Roll was extremely refreshing and had a great crunch with the cucumber slice.

Overall, Charcoal Sushi & BBQ was quite good with a large assortment of interesting rolls, and I would love to try the BBQ next time.

Izumi-Tei at Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace

May 25, 2012April 25, 2013Leave a comment

After hearing about the crazy buzz about Izumi-Ya’s new all you can eat, I decided to go give it a try. It’s called Izumi-Tei and this was probably just two weeks after it had opened, but it was packed already! I arrived at the marketplace to see that they had sectioned an area off for the buffet. There were already crowds of people waiting for a seat, but luckily we only waited for maybe a short 15 minutes and we were given a seat. The interior was very small, with most tables only fitting probably 4 people max. The workers were also not quite organized, probably because it had just opened.

For dinner or lunch, it was only $9.99 for adults! I heard rumours that they have increased the price now though. My friends who had just went recently were giving me such good reviews about it, so I guess I went in having some high expectations, which was a bad idea. It ended up to be a buffet style all you can eat, but the selection wasn’t too large. Food wasn’t prepared quick enough, so a lot of times, there wasn’t much food left when I went up to get food. And most of the food were just greasy, fried items, which I’m not a huge fan of. They did have an oden section, which was quite different from other Japanese all you can eat places. Sushi selection was limited to dynamite, california, salmon, tamago, and cucumber rolls. There wasn’t sashimi either, but what can I expect with the price I paid. Another interesting item they served were takoyakis! You also got to add the toppings yourself, which was pretty fun. Lastly, they served soft-serve ice cream, which wasn’t anything special again.

They only let you eat for an hour as well, and they stick a little tag on your table with the time you must leave when you’re brought to your table. Overall, was the food anything amazing? I don’t think so, and I would probably choose to pay a few more bucks to eat better all you can eat. But with this price, it is definitely a place to go to if you want to fill up your stomach.

Haroo

May 24, 2012May 5, 2013Leave a comment

Bulgogi Soup and Rice Cake

Bibimbap and Rice Cake

I actually discovered Haroo on Urbanspoon while looking for a Korean place to eat with a friend in Richmond. Finally ended up going, and the place is so cute! It gives you the feeling like you walked into a Korean family’s house. Super homey and comfy! The man who served us, whom I’m guessing is the owner, was so sweet and friendly too. Reminded me of those Korean dads on Korean dramas! Parking at the mall is terrible though, even though it was just a weekday.

But anyways, let’s talk about the food. We ordered the Lunch Sets, since that was really what was only offered during lunch time I think. I found that the food actually tasted quite differently from the dishes I’ve had at places such as Jang Mo Jib and Kyung Bok Palace. The kimchi was slightly more spicy with a different seasoning, and the rice cakes were cooked quite differently. The Rice Cakes weren’t in a spicy sauce, but rather a beef stew type of sauce. I had the Bulgogi Soup which had some potato noodles, beef, veggies and a very sweet and delicious soup. For $10, each dish was in a smaller portion, but everything together made it a filling meal. I didn’t find that the food was anything special or extra delicious in any way though, but I really did like the service and the atmosphere. It felt like home and was a great place to chat with friends.

Boston Pizza

May 18, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Long Island Iced Tea

Nachos – Freshly made, hand-cut tortilla chips layered with cheddar and pizza mozzarella, topped with chicken

This is from a while ago now, but went to Boston Pizza with Jack for some late night casual drinks and some food to chat. The Long Island Iced Tea was pretty watered down so it actually tasted pretty good with less alcohol in it. We shared a plate of Nachos which was a huge portion! So cheesy, and the jalapeno peppers were so spicy! Still really delicious, and a great place for some drinks and snacks!