Sun Sui Wah 新瑞華海鮮酒家

February 26, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

I haven’t gone to Sun Sui Wah in a long time. It was decently busy on a weekday around 11a.m.

Congee

The congee was a decent size and I loved the little crisps at the top. It was filled with meat and wasn’t too salty.

Pan Fried Radish Cake

The Radish Cakes were lightly pan fried and were decent. Nothing too special.

Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves

I didn’t try the sticky rice but they seemed to be a decent size for three of them.

Steamed Rice Rolls with Chinese Donut

I found the Chinese donuts to be quite tough. They didn’t seem too fresh. I’ve definitely had better.

Siu-mai

The Siu-Mais were filled with lots of pork and topped with tobiko. Quite average as well.

Egg Tarts

Lastly, for dessert, we got some egg tarts. They had the flaky tart but it was quite thick. I think I’ve had better egg tarts before too.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed by Sun Sui Wah. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything amazing. Everything was quite typical. The bill ended up being around $16 per person with tons of leftovers, so I guess the prices are not bad.

The Boathouse (Port Moody)

February 25, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

The Boathouse in Port Moody is in an isolated area right by the water. It’s got a really nice view and is much nicer and larger than the one in Richmond.

Oyster Bay – Sauvignon Blanc — New Zealand

This was quite sweet and I enjoyed it.

Thai Crab Cakes – lemon aioli & mango salsa

The crab cakes were crunchy on the outside and moist in the inside. The mango salsa gave it a little zest and along with the lemon aioli, they made a great appetizer.

The lobster came with a lemon hot drawn butter, but I found that the butter kept condensing really quickly. It became too thick and wasn’t that great for dipping.

1.5 lb. Live Atlantic Lobster Dinner – simply steamed, served with lemon hot drawn butter

The lobster was steamed and came with some veggies and potatoes. It was extremely difficult to eat though, because they literally just steamed the whole lobster and served it to us without cutting it apart. We had so much trouble eating it that we had to get our server to take it back to the chef to cut it open.

Mocha Ice Cream Pie – chocolate ganache & maple almonds

Lastly for dessert, we got the mocha ice cream pie, which reminded me of a fancier dairy queen ice cream cake. The top was ice cream, and the bottom was a cookie crust that was similar to oreos. It was then topped with whipping cream and maple almonds with a chocolate and raspberry sauce at the bottom. I enjoyed the ice cream a lot, but I wasn’t a big fan of the cookie crust since I found it too sweet.

Overall, the restaurant and service is great at the Port Moody location. However, I didn’t think that the food was anything spectacular. It is a great place to have a nice, relaxing dinner though.

Top Gun J&C Restaurant 尖東新派食館

February 20, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

Parents decided to go for some dim sum to celebrate Chinese News Years last weekend. We went to Top Gun J&C Restaurant. Top Gun owns a variety of other restaurants as well. For dim sum, you each individual gets their own choice of tea, which is pretty different. Above is the heater for the shared teapot of water, and then the bowl is to pour your tea out. Apparently, you are supposed to pour out the tea after you pour water in the first time since the leaves are dirty.

You get a little cup with a lid on top to steam your tea.

I don’t remember all the tea names..but you essentially get a small cup of leaves for each individual. Pretty neat!

Steamed Rice Roll with Chinese Donut

The Steamed Rice Roll with Chinese Donut is one of my favourite dim sum items to eat. These were quite delicious. The Chinese donut wasn’t too soggy or hard, and the rice rolls were soft and smooth.

Steamed Rice Roll with Wood Ear

I’m not sure if that’s the exact name, but the steamed rice roll is essentially filled with wood ear, which is also known as black fungus. It’s crunchy and has a great bite to it. Quite good when dipped in soy sauce!

Deep Fried Cuttlefish with Mayo

We also got some Deep Fried Cuttlefish, which was suprisingly really good! It wasn’t oily and the cuttlefish was soft to bite. The batter wasn’t thick, so it was a great dish that I wouldn’t normally get at dim sum. Dipped in the mayo, it added some extra flavour.

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings

The typical Shrimp Dumplings at dim sum! These were average and quite typical.

Fried Bean Curd with Shrimp

This was a tasty dish. It was bean curd that was filled with shrimp and then deep fried. It was a little crunchy and crispy on the outside, but the thin layers of bean curd allowed you to have tons of shrimp in each bite.

Chicken and Chinese Sausages on Rice in Clay Pot

My parents enjoy rice in clay pots as they are difficult to make at home. This one was topped with chicken, Chinese sausages, and veggies. You pour some soy sauce on top and mix it all together for a filling dish.

Radish Cakes

Whenever it’s Chinese New Year, Radish Cakes are seen everywhere. You can still order these during the whole year, but they are festive item to eat during this time. These were soft and the tops were fried to perfection. A little crispy and golden yellow. Yum!

Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf

Usually, each order has 3 at other restaurants, but the ones here come with only 2. However, the portions are much larger, so it makes up for it. They were filled with many ingredients and were quite delicious.

Marinated Steamed Chicken Feet

Lastly, we got the Marinated Steamed Chicken Feet. We found that this dish lacked flavour. They did not even have the fermented black beans that are commonly topped on this dish to bring some salty flavour. It was bland and in a way, we thought it would probably be healthy then.

Overall, the food was average. We didn’t think it was anything special, and the place was surprisingly quite empty on a Sunday morning. It’s a great place to go if you enjoy drinking tea though, since they have a large variety and you can experience having your own tea.

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!

La Bocca

November 26, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

The next morning at Whistler, we decided to go for our team breakfast before we headed home. This time, we finally got the whole team sitting together. We ended up at La Bocca, which is next to La Brasserie, and they look basically the same. It was confusing to find it when a couple of us were late and were looking for the rest of the group. The place looks pretty diner style, but they don’t just serve breakfast food. It’s also located right in the heart of Whistler Village, so extremely accessible.

Sunrise Breakfast – 2 eggs served any style (sunny-side up) with hashbrowns, strip bacon, breakfast sausage and whole wheat toast

M got the Sunrise Breakfast. He said that it was pretty decent and that he would rate his meal 7/10. That’s pretty good! It looked like a pretty good breakfast since you get a variety of your favourite breakfast foods. I believe he mentioned that the toast wasn’t that great though…

Traditional Benedict – sliced black forest ham, soft poached eggs and homemade citrus hollaindaise on an English muffin, served with hasbrowns

I got the Traditional Bennedict, which was surprisingly really good. I think I had low expectations coming in because I saw that the ratings were terrible on Urbanspoon. The only bad thing about it was the English muffin, because I swear it was so difficult to cut into. If it takes me so much effort to cut into my eggs benny, it doesn’t make me happy! But, other than that, the eggs were poached nicely, and I liked the hollandaise sauce. The hash browns, which were really tater tots, were the best part. They were crispy on the outside and surprisingly weren’t super salty. They were perfect with the ketchup on the side. Overall, it was a pretty good breakfast. And the portion was actually good since I was able to finish all my food and be full, but not overly full. However, I felt that service wasn’t extremely good. The server wasn’t too friendly, and actually seemed a little annoyed by our large group. After getting home and reading the reviews again, I realized that most of the dissatisfaction was based on their dinner or lunch menus. So I’m guessing their actual entree food is probably not too good, but as for breakfast, I thought it was quite decent! Not so much like a tourist trap, like many said.

White Spot (Oakridge Mall)

October 14, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

After a late morning hike up the Grouse Grind, we decided it was time to grab some food. Well basically our super late lunch. We decided to head back to Vancouver since we didn’t really know where to go in North Van. And we ended up at Oakridge Mall – more specifically, White Spot. I hadn’t ate here in a while actually, other than those random days at UBC’s Triple O’s, but that’s different.

Baked Potato Inspired Poutine

Signature fries with cheese curds and gravy loaded with classic baked potato toppings – bacon, sour cream and green onion

I decided to share two dishes with K. First up, we got the Baked Potato Inspired Poutine. It was new on their menu, and it sounded like something amazing. And let me tell you, I LOVE poutine. I used to eat it almost every week during my breaks in the mall at New York Fries, but the mall’s renovating so I’ve had to resort to other food 😦 This was a large plate, but I didn’t think it was that great. It was lacking cheese curds, although I liked the bacon, and surprisingly the green onion on it (just because I typically arent’ a big fan of green onion). I would’ve rather gotten the Butter Chicken Poutine at New York Fries. Oh, how much I miss it…

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Spaghetti tossed in our signature marinara sauce and topped with three house-made meatballs and Parmesan. Garlic Panini bread.

E got the Spaghetti and Meatballs. It looked pretty good, and he said it was decent. I took a bite from the Garlic Panini bread and felt it lacking flavour though.

Toasted Shrimp Sandwich

Shrimp, lettuce, mayo & our chili sauce on toasted white

And the second dish I shared with K was the Toasted Shrimp Sandwich. It came with more fries and a coleslaw. I didn’t like the salad since it came with something like flax seeds. I know those are healthy, but I just don’t like the taste of them!

Here’s a closer view of the Toasted Shrimp Sandiwch. The sandwich was actaully pretty small compared to what I had imagined, but it was filled with lots of shrimp. I really enjoyed the mayo mixture combined with the shrimp and it definitely made it a light and fresh lunch. It could have had a bit more of the mayo as I found it to be lacking a little of the sauce, but good thing the shrimp was moist so it didn’t make the sandwich too dry.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal, but I have to say the service was lacking. I’m surprised that White Spot has so many people around the 3pm time, but even so, the wait to get seated and food was too long. I saw seats available inside, but the hostess still had to take at least 5 minutes to be ready for us. And remember, we were starving by that time after the hike. Perhaps we should have just gone to the food court instead… The server also took forever to take our orders. We had sat down, read our menus and were ready in no time, and our server kept walking by us saying give me one more minute. No! It’s been like 10 minutes! And then we wanted to make use of our time, so K and I went to a shop to look for something she wanted to get, hoping that our food would arrive by the time we got back, but nope. Food took way too long to arrive, and our dishes weren’t even difficult to make. Our server pretty much only had a real conversation with us when she was waiting for us to pay. So service was definitely poor! Food-wise, it was typical White Spot food.

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!

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!