Manzo Itamae

May 11, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Sukiyaki Beef Hotpot

Deep Fried Mango Ice Cream

I’ve been to Manzo Itamae a few times now, but this time we came for the Deep Fried Mango Ice Cream my friend was talking about. I started myself off with a Sukiyaki Beef Hotpot just cause I hadn’t tried it before and wanted something that wasn’t sushi. I got the small size, but it was enough for one person. It came with these clear noodles and lots of beef, tofu, and veggies. Not bad! And lastly, for dessert, we got what we came for. The Deep Fried Mango Ice Cream! The server poured the alcohol over the ice cream and lit it on fire. You can still see the flame in the picture. Pretty cool! As for taste, I wouldn’t say it was anything special. It was just mango ice cream that was encrusted. I also found that the alcohol was way too strong, which didn’t work too well with the dessert. I believe it was something like Soho, which has a lychee flavour to it, but the alcohol bitterness was still too strong for me.

Fatburger

May 5, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Old Style Bacon Cheddar Burger – AAA Angus beef patty topped with real Canadian Cheddar and maple bacon, lettuce and tomato
Homestyle Onion Rings

Ultimate Backyard BBQ Bacon Burger -Two onion rings atop a BBQ sauce basted patty, with maple bacon, mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato

Chocolate Milkshake

Fatburger is pretty much like Vera’s since in a way they are the more deluxe version of burgers. I went to the one on Dunsmuir, and the place reminded me of a diner. You basically order at the counter first, and then a server brings you the food. We tried two different burgers – both from the specialty menu since we wanted to be a little more adventurous than the original Fatburger. I especially liked the Old Style Bacon Cheddar Burger, but I do find the burgers a little expensive. I don’t think the quality is very deluxe or anything, but I have to say the portions are quite big. So I guess that makes up for how much I’m paying for a burger. I believe it was around $8-9 for a burger. We also got the Homestyle Onion Rings, which were a little on the oily side, but still very delicious. The Chocolate Milkshake was also pretty good! I think they use hand-scooped ice cream, so it’s quite comparable to Triple O’s milkshake. Come to think of it, they taste quite similar.

Kin Resto Bar

April 26, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Hand-made Lotus & Taro Chips – spiced soft tofu dip

Spicy Tofu & Mushroom – garlic honey, chili & soy sauce

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken – vermicelli noodles & herbs

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, but I’m back! Exams are finally over and now I have two more weeks of summer until summer school starts again… Anyways! Finally got a chance to try Kin Resto Bar after seeing it probably a year ago while wandering around in downtown Vancouver. At first, Steph and I thought it was a restaurant with Caucasian food, but looking closer, we realized it was a Vietnamese restaurant that was of higher class I guess. Not the typical pho places where there’s mediocre decor and service. I think Kin used to be called Chau, and I overheard a customer speaking with the manager, and said that he just became the new manager recently. I love the brick walls on one side of the restaurant, giving a really vintage feeling to it.

We first got the Hand-made Lotus & Taro Chips which were really delicious! I especially liked the lotus chips. The sauce was a little spicy but really light and flavourful. It was also a great portion for $6. Next we got the Spicy Tofu & Mushroom. I thought it was really spicy after a few bites and had to drink lots of water! But the spice was a good spice. It made everything come together and the honey evened out the spice. Lastly, we got the Grilled Lemongrass Chicken. At first, I thought they had given us BBQ Pork at first since I hadn’t seen lemongrass chicken that was red before. The ones I always got at pho places were a light yellow colour. But when I tasted it, it was totally lemongrass! Weird. The chicken was very tender and easy to bite and worked well with the vermicelli at the bottom. I love how all the dishes are so different from traditional pho places, and they have a different flare to it. Service was also prompt and friendly. A great place to go to if you are around the Robson area and want some Vietnamese fusion food.

The One Restaurant

April 9, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Matcha Slush

Cheesecake

I’ve been seeing these pictures of gigantic slushes on Facebook everywhere and now I finally got to see it in real life! The One Restaurant is famous for their gigantic slushes, and I’m guessing their gigantic plates of food too… Although I never got to try their actual food, I saw the other tables’ with enormous portions of food! The Matcha Slush was huge! And I believe it was only $5.50, which is the price of normal sized bubble teas at other shops. So definitely a good deal! And the slush is so tall that it starts to fall when it melts, so the waitress brought another cup for us to take the top portion off for us. The matcha was actually surprisingly not too sweet which was good, and for some reason, it actually tasted even better when it was melted. It was almost like matcha milk or something and it was really good! As for the Cheesecake, it was a total disappointment as I believe it was just a store bought frozen cheesecake. The blueberries were still frozen, and the cake was just of bad quality. We were also quite unsatisfied with the service. We had come here for just the matcha slush to share, but we knew that most bubble tea restaurants probably would have a minimum charge. We looked around their menus and they didn’t have it written, so we just decided to order the slush for now. We totally understood that it is acceptable to have a minimum charge, but we weren’t sure if this was the case. Minutes later, the waitress came back and kept asking if we wanted to order more, but she never mentioned a minimum charge. What felt like 2 minutes more, she came back interrupting our conversation, finally stating that we had a minimum charge of one order per person. We told her we would take a look and order in a bit, but we were in deep conversation so thought we could wait for a bit. But she came back literally 2 minutes later to ask if we were ready again. Totally annoyed us as we were planning to get more drinks and food but she wouldn’t even give us time. So service is definitely not so great, but food was decent for the price and portions.

Shanghai Fusion Restaurant

April 3, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

We had originally wanted to go to Sunway Restaurant for some Taiwanese food again, but it wasn’t opened yet at 11 am and we were in a hurry. We looked around Empire mall, and ended up trying Shanghai Fusion Restaurant. It was empty except for us and and another table, but it was a little early I guess. We decided to get a “build your own combo” for 4 people, with two appetizers, two dim sums, one soup noodle, and one fried noodle or rice. Unfortunately, I was only able to get 3 pictures of the food since I got caught up in a phone call, and my family ended up eating all the food before I could snap some pictures. Don’t exactly remember all the names of the food as well…Food was decent, nothing too special, and portions were alright. Price was quite reasonable as well, so not bad.

Bel Cafe

March 26, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Crispy Choux, Orange & Milk Chocolate Ganache

Rose and Raspberry Macaron & Cookies and Cream Macaron

Happy belated International Macaron Day!! And yes, it’s macaron, not macaroon. Honestly, I didn’t really know the difference until sometime late last year after getting all confused and deciding to do some research into it. But what I’m talking about here aren’t the coconut macaroons, but those colourful Parisian desserts that are made with almond flour. And I believe there is a difference in pronunciation too, but I guess most people don’t realize. So yes, International Macaron Day was on March 20th, and honestly, I did not know about this big day until Steph told me. She is clearly the bigger foodie here! So yes, of course we had to celebrate and get some macarons! We wanted to go to Soirette but it was kind of far from where we were, so I did a little googling, and off we went to Bel Cafe. And we discovered it was actually right next to Hawksworth, and is the sister cafe to it! So they are both situated in the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. Honestly, I’m not a crazy fan of macarons as I think there are tons of other desserts that are more worthy, but Vancouver has been on a macaron craze these past few years. Everyone talks about them, and I’m no expert to judge which ones are better. The rose and raspberry macaron definitely had a very strong rose taste to it, but I actually didn’t really taste any raspberry flavour. I did like the strong rose flavour though, as I love rose flavoured desserts! The cookies and cream macaron was really good too. You could totally taste the cookies and cream flavour with a strong vanilla flavour as well. Almost tasted like a chewy Oreo! Overall, they had a consistent smooth texture with a little chewiness inside which I like! Next, we also got the Crispy Choux, Orange & Milk Chocolate Ganache. It was basically a cream puff with a strong orange flavour to it. Not bad, but I found the puff a little tough, but I think it was supposed to be the “crispy” part of it. Service was exceptional, and the cafe is extremely busy! We almost couldn’t find a seat and had to go for take out. Busy busy cafe with exceptional desserts and savoury items as well!

Aoyama Cafe

March 20, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Seafood Curry Japanese Spaghetti

Seafood Salad

Went to Aoyama Cafe at Aberdeen Centre to have a small little birthday dinner with the girls, and the restaurant was surprisingly quite empty on a Saturday night. I’ve been here a few times when it had just opened and I think they had more customers back then. I had the Seafood Curry Japanese Spaghetti and it was alright. Had a good portion of seafood and had a hint of curry flavour that wasn’t too strong. Nothing too special though, and I’ve had better spaghetti. My friend had the Seafood Salad, which actually looked quite appetizing amongst all the greens. Overall, I think it’s decent for some unique Japanese fusion food, but I think it is a little overpriced for the portions and overall taste. I think I’ve had better pasta, but I have to say, I am always pleased with their service since it’s quick and friendly. They also have awesome desserts and drinks, so I would definitely recommend going for that. It’s worth a try if you haven’t been, but definitely isn’t my go-to place.

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