Jang Mo Jib Secret Palace (Coquitlam)

February 8, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve only been to the Jang Mo Jib in Richmond, so I was excited to try the one in Coquitlam. The Jang Mo Jib here is also called Secret Palace, which I have no idea why…

The interior is quite different from the one in Richmond! It’s much more trendy and the high ceilings make the place feel very spacious. They’ve also got TVs playing Korean shows the whole time.

They also have a nice bar and a second floor. I wonder what it’s like at night.

Complimentary Side Dishes – Marinated Radish, Kimchi, Bean Sprouts, Sweet Potatoes

My favourite part about going to Korean restaurants is the complementary appetizers! My favourite is no doubt the Sweet Potatoes! I’m not sure where you can buy these pre-made, but if anyone knows, let me know!!

Gahl Bee Jjim
Korean traditional steamed beef short ribs, vegetables, sweet potato noodles and rice cake stewed in house special sweet and savoury marinade. Boiled at your table in a stone pot. Served with rice.

For the two of us, we shared the Gahl Bee Jim, which J recommended. It came with an actual hot pot stove, which you could turn off the heat at any point. I’ve had Korean hot pots before, but they were usually spicy ones, and I can’t take spice, so they weren’t the best things. This one, however, had a hint of sweetness in their soup base. Loaded with tons of vegetables and sweet potato noodles as well. The beef short ribs were really good! They had a great marinade and were extremely tender. Throughout the pot, there was also some slices of rice cake which were chewy.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the Jang Mo Jib in Coquitlam. I can’t really compare the food since I had different food at each restaurant, but I enjoyed the trendier ambiance in the one in Coquitlam. Not that the one in Richmond is bad, because they give you a homey feeling with the wooden tables and all. Just a different vibe!

Oru (Fairmont Pacific Rim)

February 2, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

Dine Out Vancouver 2013 is about to end soon! 😦 I’m sad since I wish I had tried out more places, but that also means my bank account is going to hurt! For those of you who don’t know about Dine Out Vancouver, it’s basically 200+ restaurants offering set menus that range from $18, $28, to $38. They are usually pretty good deals, but occasionally there are ones where you are paying for basically what you would if you ordered off the regular menu.

Anyways, this year, I decided to try out Oru. I really had not heard much about it, but I had a look at the menu, and it seemed like food I would want. Oru is located inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim, and it is absolutely gorgeous! When you walk through the hotel doors, you are at their lobby and when you continue walking, you see this clean bright white area and stairs leading up to Oru.

Oru has two sides to their restaurant. One side is more of a lounge, where people are mostly drinking. I love the red couches against the white walls. Such a nice contrast! There’s also a mini bar on one side.

They have an open kitchen, where you can basically see all the chefs working. Pretty neat if you sit close to them, but our table was pretty far from the kitchen. I also love how the kitchen area is all white. So classy looking.

Oru is supposed to be a Pan Pacific Asian fusion restaurant, so they actually serve sushi and such in their menu. I guess that’s why they also have chopsticks on their table. Orange chopsticks to be exact.

This is the view we had for our table. Not an ocean view, since we sat by the window that just overlooks the new convention centre. Still pretty nice though.

ORU Salad – sunflower seed butter, quinoa, organic greens, pea shoots, lemongrass dressing

My parents got the ORU Salad, which we stared at for quite a while. We realized that the cabage was literally still fully attached. So you really had to use your knifes and fork to eat this. That also means that they had to buy a cabbage for each dish they made! All fancy huh… Underneath the leaves were quinoa, and on the top, it was topped with sunflower seeds. I took a bite, and it was pretty good. The lemongrass dressing gave it a nice zest.

Yarrow Meadows Duck and Rabbit Terrine – pickled mustard seeds, radish and fennel salad

E had the Yarrow Meadows Duck and Rabbit Terrine. I didn’t try it but he said it was pretty good. Definitely a dainty piece on the large plate though.

Roasted Sunchoke “Mocha” – sunchoke veloute, truffled milk foam, morel cocoa powder

For myself, I had the Roasted Sunchoke “Mocha”. To be honest, I didn’t really know what a veloute was, so I did some quick googling beforehand, and it’s basically a soup. There was some cocoa powder on the top, but I didn’t really taste it. The truffled milk foam however, was powerful, but worked well with the soup. It had an interesting consistency, and was something I hadn’t tried before. Was it something I loved though? Not exactly, but I wouldn’t mind it.

PEI Coldwater Lobster – cold water lobster, isreali cous cous, coconut butter sauce

K had the PEI Coldwater Lobster. I didn’t try it, but apparently it was quite bland. You definitely cannot compare this to how Chinese restaurants prepare lobster. This was definitely just lobster with some butter sauce to go with. She did however mention that the lobster was a little overcooked, so it was a little tough.

Angus Reserve Beef Tenderloin – wild mushrooms, house cured bacon, confit fingerling potato, jus

I was debating between the lobster or the beef tenderloin, and am I ever happy that I ordered the Angus Reserve Beef Tenderloin! At first, I thought the portions would be small, because they usually are at fancy restaurants, but I was totally wrong. Medium-rare prepared, the piece of beef tenderloin was huge, and it was the most tender beef tenderloin I’ve ever had!! You still had to chew on it, but there was no fuss in cutting up the pieces, and it was just oh so tender!!! The sides were slightly crispy, and the meat inside was juicy and full of flavour. The sauce underneath was also delicious. It as a mixture of wild mushrooms, bacon, and potatoes. And I literally finished every bit of the dish. Everything just worked so well together, and I would definitely recommend this. This dish is on their regular menu too, and for $38, so it was definitely a steal for dine out, since you basically get the appetizer and dessert for free. But if I were to come to Oru again, I would highly recommend getting the Beef Tenderloin. So worth your money!

Chocolate Mousse Trifle – single-origin Mexican chocolate, candied banana, coconut foam

Everyone at my table opted for the Chocolate Mousse Trifle. It was presently beautifully like an art piece. The top of the chocolate mousse was a hard chocolate shell. This is definitely for the chocolate lovers. I liked how they had some candied bananas on the side, so you weren’t too overwhelmed with the chocolate flavour, and the banana flavour works well with it.

Lemon Tart – vanilla syrup, meringue crisp, crème fraiche Chantilly

I wanted to try something different, but I didn’t want their third option, which was cheese, so I got the Lemon Tart. The waitress said that was her favourite, so why not! I’m normally not a big fan of lemon tarts, because they can sometimes be too sour and tarty. However, this one was delicious. It was almost like a lemon creme brulee. It had some sugar on the top that was burnt and the lemon filling was smooth and creamy. I also enjoyed the meringue crisps at the top. Everyone at the table got a bite and said that it was surprisingly good. And best of all, it wasn’t super sweet!

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the Dine Out menu for Oru. I can’t comment on how the food is normally, but their food seemed to be consistent. Oh, and I cannot stress how much I loved the Angus Reserve Beef Tenderloin! Beautiful place with great views as well. Servers weren’t annoying and gave us enough space to eat, while occasionally checking up on us.

Toyotomi 豐臣家

February 1, 2013April 28, 20131 Comment

It’s about time I finally tried Toyotomi for their all you can eat hot pot. Toyotomi is located in such a hidden location. There’s basically no other restaurants on Anderson Rd, and they are just offices around there. They used to be a sushi restaurant that was known for their competitive prices and combos at a great deal. However, last year, I was told that they now offer hot pot! What a strange transition. They still make sushi as well though, but hot pot seems to be their selling point.

Once we sat down, we were immediately asked what kind of soup base we wanted. Honestly, we hadn’t even picked up on menu yet! How do you expect your customers to know what they want! We were then asked 3 more times within 10 minutes what we wanted for our soup base. I actually got kind of annoyed. I know there’s a time limit, but that’s my problem for wasting my time. You don’t need to ask 3 times when we clearly aren’t sure yet!

There are two prices for all you can eat hot pot. $14.99 gets you the normal menu, or if you want the deluxe menu, then it’s $20.99. This is on top of the soup base, which ranges from $7.68 to $9.48.

Bonito Clear Soup Base

We finally decided to just go for the Bonito Clear Soup Base, and that waitress finally disappeared. I don’t think she came back to see how things were going again after that. Their soup bases are not what you would normally see at Chinese hot pot restaurants. They are Japanese style soup bases, and have ones such as Sukiyaki.

Seaweed Salad

After handing in our menu list, we immediately got our Seaweed Salad. It was fresh and well seasoned and the portions were just perfect so you had enough of it.

Mix Sashimi Crispy, Salmon Sashimi, Tuna Sashimi, Tai Sashimi, Baby Tako Sashimi

We decided to go for the deluxe menu, which basically comes with more assortment of meat as well as sashimi. The sashimi was really what got us to decide to add on that $6. The sashimi is presented nicely on ice and even comes with seashells! We kind of came to the conclusion that they reused the ice and seashells though, so we really hope they washed it… Anyways, the sashimi was surprisingly quite fresh. It’s weird how the Salmon Sashimi still comes with a thin layer of the silver skin, and at first I thought it would feel disgusting in the mouth, but I really didn’t feel it at all. The slices were also very large for an all you can eat restaurant. I also tried the Tako Sashimi, which were limited to 1 per person.

Beef Sashimi

We were really impressed with the Beef Sashimi, that we ended up ordering 3 more dishes. The beef had great flavour and was seasoned extremely well. Full of flavour and was extremely juicy. This also didn’t have a limit, so we ordered tons!

Snow Beef, Pork Cheek, Sliced Lamb

Then we got our orders of meat. I think we ordered like 30 slices of beef, and then 15 of pork and lamb. But wow, we did not expect the slices to be so large. We still finished it regardless, and we were extremely satisfied with the meat.

Ice Tofu, Fish Tofu, Beef Tripe, Imitation Lobster Ball, Black Wood Ear, Gluten, Tofu Puff, Oyster Mushroom, Squid Ball, Shrimp Wonton, Shrimp Dumpling

They put most of the other items all together in one bowl. It looks pretty nice when presented though. I enjoyed the Squid Balls, as you could actually taste the squid in it. Everything was pretty average, and I didn’t hate any of it.

Veggies

For our second round, we ordered some veggies. You basically get 3 columns to order, so it’s easy to pace yourself.

Mussel, Tiger Prawn

I never tried the tiger prawns, but my parents said that they were large and had full of shrimp flavour to it. The mussels were also great.

Curry Fish Ball, Deep Fried Oysters, Takoyaki, Chili Seafood Ball

Other than hot pot food and sashimi, they also had cooked food, which I found interesting. The Curry Fish Balls were surprisingly pretty good! Up to par with the ones at night markets. They also had Takoyakis, which is kind of strange. These were limited too! They actually had tako in it, so I was quite pleased. The Deep Fried Oysters were also not bad.

Sesame Oil w/ Enoki Mushroom, Salmon Sashimi, Tuna Sashimi

Another order of sashimi! Tons of Salmon Sashimi because it was really good! I feel like we totally ate our money’s worth since we ordered so much sashimi! The Sesame Oil w/ Enoki Mushrooms were pretty weird though. They just tasted of sesame oil, and we didn’t like it.

For the last round, we felt like our items weren’t coming, but they weren’t significant items. They were items we just wanted to try, so we didn’t really care. We did want to get those Iced Pineapples which were part of our deluxe menu though! They don’t have desserts, so that’s pretty much their dessert. They didn’t come until we told the girl who told us it was our last call. Then they immediately came…Like c’mon, we have to ask them for pineapples in order for them to come…

Overall, we were pretty satisfied with the food. For the price, you are getting average or above average food, and especially since it’s an all you can eat place. Don’t expect much from service though, because they just want you to eat and leave so they can get the next round in.

To see the menus:

Top Chiu Chow Cuisine

January 20, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

I didn’t even notice Top Chiu Chow Cuisine until my family decided to go try the restaurant. It’s in the same mall as Richmond Sushi and Bubble World among many others, but it’s literally at the end of all the shops in a corner. The restaurant was quite packed when we got there, but we made reservations beforehand, so we immediately got our seats.

Apparently they also have a second floor, but it seemed a little sketchy…hmm
The decor is surprisingly quite clean and modern for a Chinese restaurant. They started us off with complimentary peanuts and something that reminded me of sour pickles.

Since their menu is all in Chinese, I’m not exactly sure if I’m translating the items correctly in English, but here’s the items we ordered.

So we kind of got lured into getting their Daily Soup…okay fine, maybe they didn’t exactly trick us into it, but the guy told us we should get a soup since most dinners aren’t complete without a soup. He suggested the daily soup, and started listing out the ingredients, and my mom just quickly said sure. We later realized that it cost us $68.80…

Daily Soup

It came in a large cauldron and we learned that we had ordered some soup with expensive ingredients… Shark fin! And now I feel terrible because I was hoping to stop consuming shark fin since everything is about sustainability these days. 😦

They serve the soup to you with just the clear broth. It’s also got goji berries, chicken, and other Chinese ingredients.

The waiter then scoops out all the stock. The shark fin was actually not even that good. The parts of the shark fin were not the best parts, hence the price wasn’t extremely ridiculous. We were surprised that the service was quite good though, since they also offered to reheat our soup after if we decided to eat our other dishes after our first serving of soup.

Oyster Omelet – 煎蠔餅

This is a typical dish in Chiu Chow cuisine. I really enjoyed this dish although I found it a little oily. It was nicely pan fried so that it was crispy on the edges though.

Crab and Shrimp Balls

I’m not sure if I’m translating this correctly, but half of them are basically crab balls and the other half are shrimp balls. They are fried and then you dip them into this sauce for extra flavour. I found them to already have enough flavour alone, and dipping into the sauce just made it too salty.

Chicken with Kale Leaves – 潮式川椒雞

I found these chicken to be a little too salty, but it worked well when accompanied with rice. The kale leaves also gave a nice crunch. They were flaky and almost like seaweed!

Marinated Goose Meat – 滷水鵝肉

We were quite disappointed with the marinated goose meat. It was much more tough and lacked flavour. It felt like these were not done in house, and that they had just reheated store bought ones.

Satay Beef Noodles with Veggies

We were expecting the noodles which to be flavourful with satay, but surprisingly it lacked the satay flavour. It was a sweet flavour instead, which we didn’t mind. Very saucy, and the beef were tender.

Oranges were complimentary and were a refreshing way to cleanse our palettes.

Sweet Red Bean and Lotus Seed Paste Dumplings – 潮式水晶包

For dessert, we ordered sweet dumplings which are famous in Chiu Chow cuisine. Half were filled with red bean paste, and the other half filled with lotus seed paste. I tried both, but my favourite was the red bean paste. They had tons of filling and you could tell the filling was grounded with actual red bean or lotus seed. There were still little bits in it, unlike store bought paste. What was great about these dumplings were that the outer layer was extremely thing. They’re kind of like a mochi gelatin texture and translucent, but the chef was skillful enough to make them extremely thing. The only issue was the folding area which was difficult to keep thin, and therefore there would be a lump of dough at the bottom end.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with Top Chiu Chow Cuisine. The service was extremely tentative and they even switched our plates twice throughout dinner, which doesn’t happen at most restaurants unless you are eating seafood.

Earl’s Restaurant & Bar (Richmond)

January 9, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Warm Gingerbread Cake – brown sugar roasted apples, salted caramel sauce, vanilla bean gelato

I realized I’m half a month late on my posts again… Blame the busy holidays and school starting! But anyways, back in December, the staff at work got together for a mini late night dinner, which was supposedly our Christmas party. We ended up at Earl’s since we get off so late that everywhere else is usually closed on a weekday. I had just grabbed dinner with some friends, so I ended up going for drinks and dessert. Service was not bad, since the restaurant was pretty empty at that time.

I got the Warm Gingerbread Cake, which is on their seasonal menu, and it was such a large piece of cake! It was moist and a little sticky, but surprisingly not too sweet after a few bites. The roasted apples on the side complimented the cake well since whenever I felt like it got too sweet, I would take a bite of apple and the sourness would balance it out. It also came with a vanilla bean gelato, but because the cake was so warm, the gelato was already half melted when it was served. Overall, not bad. But it’s definitely a huge piece to finish on your own. So a great dessert to share with a friend.

Earl’s Restaurant & Bar (Whistler)

November 24, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Last weekend, I went to Whistler for a team building/bonding trip for a school club. It was lots of fun and I also encountered the first snowfall of the year at night! And what’s a trip without some food. We had originally sat down in a nice fine dining restaurant, but they only offered a set menu, and some of us really couldn’t choose anything we liked. So embarrassingly, we told our server we would be looking elsewhere…How awkward. The girls ended up ditching and went off to Earls. Yes – from fine dining to Earls. But oh, comfort food made me so much happier. Earls was located on the second level of a building and was located right inside the village.

Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla – chili, garlic and cumin roasted portobello mushrooms, red peppers and zucchini, avocado, melted jalapeno jack and cheddar, crisp flour tortilla, sour cream and house made roasted tomato salsa

There are always enough choices at Earls for everyone to find a dish. I ended up getting the Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla which came with fries. At first, I felt that the portion was quite small, and it almost seemed like an appetizer, even though it was listed as an entrée. However, I actually got really full and couldn’t even finish my fries. The quesadilla was a vegetarian dish, with no chicken, but it was still really tasty. I’m usually a meat person, but I was still really satisfied with it. The cheese was melted nicely and I enjoyed the peppers and zucchini which gave great flavor. It also came with a dip, which I found quite spicy. It was like a roasted tomato salsa and sour cream, which I mixed it up with. You were supposed to dip your quesadilla in it, but I found that the quesadilla already had enough flavor. So I ended up using the dip for the fries instead. The fries, which I was told to be really really good, were true! They were thinly cut, and somehow, they were just fried to a perfect texture. Overall, I was extremely satisfied with my dinner. Across from me, was my friend’s meal, which was a Cajun Chicken Sandwich with Caesar Salad, which I was told was extremely delicious as well.

Service was also typical and friendly. It wasn’t over the top annoying or ignorant, but just enough to make my experience satisfied. Another note is that when I went to the bathroom, I realized that there were a bunch of empty seats in the back. However, they still made us wait 5 minutes, before we were taken to our seats. They clearly want to make an illusion that they are always packed, so they make you wait a short time.

Mancakes Bakery

July 31, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Night 6 Pack

Buffalo Wing
Breakfast
Tequila Pineapple
Rum & Coke
Whiskey Lime
Chocolate Red Wine

Day 6 Pack

Buffalo Wing
Breakfast
Pink Peppercorn
Apple Brie
Bacon Chili Chocolate
King Kong

Steph knows I’m always up to try new food, and so for my birthday, she ordered some Mancakes! Two boxes…Day and Night. Definitely too much cake for my birthday this year! So what exactly are Mancakes? Well they were created by a few Vancouver guys who decided that cupcakes didn’t have to be all frilly and pretty with cute frosting decorations. They decided to create cupcakes with unique flavours that were catered to men. And although I’m not a guy, I definitely wanted to give these cakes a try! And yes, these bold cupcakes are not restricted for guys! I believe they only have 10 flavours currently, and they are packaged in either the Day or Night box. You have to buy the whole box, and you can order them online. They provide free shipping if you order 3 packs, and I believe there’s a small charge if you order less.

Sadly, I was not able to try all the different flavours, which was what I intended on doing! I left the cakes in the fridge and when I came home, many of them had been devoured by my parents already! They sure seemed to enjoy them! I did however get to try the Chocolate Red Wine, which probably was my favourite (well from the ones I tried). It came with a wine jelly, and the center of the cake had some nice chocolate filling. That was definitely a surprise, since I expected it to just be a full solid cupcake. Other than that, I also tried the Buffalo Wing, which I have to say was….quite interesting. This is their signature cupcake, which is why it’s in both the day and night pack. Honestly, I thought this bad boy was kind of weird. The cake itself was fine, but I didn’t like the flavour of the frosting. Even the bacon on top was fine, but something about the frosting’s flavour wasn’t satisfying. I also tried the Tequila Pineapple, which didn’t taste too special. It had a slight pineapple taste to it, but not strong in alcohol. Not too bad!

Overall, Mancakes are definitely worth a try. It’s something that I’ve never had before, and who would think that savoury cupcakes could taste great too!

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant

June 25, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Pan Fried Oysters – chili lime aïoli, tobiko

Island Club – shrimp & crab salad, bacon, guacamole

Blue Shell Mussels – steamed with coconut red curry sauce

It was finally a nice sunny day in Vancouver last Friday, and a day off for me, so of course I had to go out to enjoy the weather. I hadn’t gone to Granville Island in a very long time, so off I went to look for food. Granville Island’s market itself has tons of food stalls and fresh food, but we ended up at The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant. We chose to sit outside since it was such a nice day out (although it did get gloomy very fast), but they had a fireplace in the outdoor patio, which kept us very warm. They also have little blankets for you if it gets too cold. It was definitely a place with great service and of course, a great view.

We started off with the Pan Fried Oysters, which came with tobiko and an ailoi sauce. I thought it was just decent, and not anything amazing. I found it a little dry. I tried a bit of the Island Club too, which I thought was pretty good. I really liked the shrimp and crab filling and there were quite a lot of it too. And for myself, I had the Blue Shell Mussels. The mussels were tiny, but very fresh and sweet. It had a nice coconut red curry sauce that wasn’t too spicy, but strong in coconut flavour.

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant definitely has got good food, especially if you’re looking for seafood. And of course a wonderful view and service! Highly recommend!