Mimibuloveme

May 21, 2013May 21, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve been seeing everyone posting delicious dessert pictures from Mimibuloveme so I dragged J along to go check it out. Weirdly enough, the outside of their store says Bubble House. We were sort of confused for a second, but I walked closer and saw that they sold the same things I had saw on their Facebook page. I’m guessing they haven’t switched the sign from the previous shop?

The place is fairly small, and is actually the same location where Dots Desserts used to be. Their tables reminded me of what Dots had too. They also have this awesome panda bear sitting on a chair. Totally wanted to hug him.

They also have these paintings around the shop, and they also sell greeting cards with these characters.

Matcha Crepe – red bean, matcha ice cream

I chose the Matcha Crepe to share and it was filled with red bean and a few mochi balls inside and on the top. I wish they put more mochi balls, because those things are my favourite! It was then topped with a scoop of matcha ice cream on the side. Not bad! It’s also decently priced at around $5 compared to many other crepe places which charge at least $8.

Matcha Ice Cream

Because I enjoyed the Matcha Ice Cream so much, I asked for another scoop of it for just $1.50. Not bad at all considering a scoop of ice cream is usually over $3 at most dessert shops!

Overall, Mimibuloveme is a cute little shop to grab some desserts and chat with friends. I’m guessing that it gets really busy on weekends and late nights, and therefore hard to find a seat.

Wings Restaurants and Pubs (Granville)

May 6, 2013Leave a comment

Last Wednesday, I met with my Pre-Law Society for a wrap-up dinner to a great year! It has definitely been one of my favourite clubs I joined throughout my university time. Tons of fun with a great team and I will surely miss them next year! We settled for Wings Restaurants & Pubs at the Granville location. There was a Canucks game on that night, but suprisingly the place wasn’t that packed. We had made reservations prior to secure seats anyways.

House White Wine & Fusilli with Chicken in Garlic White Wine Sauce

Unlike many pubs and bars, Wings does not offer Wings Wednesdays. The wings are regular priced like on any other day. However, they do have Pasta Wednesdays! I decided to get that since I wasn’t exactly in the mood for wings that night. You get to build your pasta for only $7.98! What a deal. I chose Fussili with the Garlic White Wine Sauce and topped it with Chicken. The portion was not as large as many restaurants, but it was enough to fill me up. And for a little under $8, it is definitely worth it. Don’t expect anything amazing though. It’s literally just cooked pasta, with a simple sauce and some chicken. It was topped with some cheese and also came with a slice of garlic bread, which I found a little flavourless. As for my drink, I got the House White Wine, which I forgot what the name was… A little dry for my liking though.

Overall, my experience was alright at Wings. I don’t expect much at a pub, and I wouldn’t say our waitress was extremely friendly, but she got things done. It’s also a great place to catch the games as they have televisions at almost every corner of the wall.

Moxie’s Classic Grill

March 31, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

Earlier in the month, I went to Moxie’s for M’s birthday. It’s located by the Sandman Hotel, but sadly I took forever trying to find the entrance to the parking lot. Silly me.

Surprisingly, it was my first time going to Moxie’s. I guess it’s because it’s located near all the hotels, and not so much Central Richmond. The service and ambiance reminded me of Earl’s and the prices are reasonable.

Meatballs Stuffed with Bocconcini – over linguine in a classic tomato sauce with fresh basil + grana padano

I couldn’t decide what to get for the longest time, but ended up going for a classic spaghetti and meatball. But with a twist! The Meatballs Stuffed with Bocconcini sounded really interesting since meatballs filled with cheese are always better! It was served over a typical linguini covered in the classic tomato sauce. It also came with two slices of garlic bread, which were really good! Sadly, the meatballs weren’t as good as I had imagined. I was hoping for some real stringy cheese oozing out, but the cheese seemed to be a clump in the middle.

Overall, food was alright. Nothing too special, but will definitely fill you up at a decent price. They also catered to our large table really well with more than 20 people. Definitely a good place to go for birthday dinners if you have a large group.

Hanok Korean Restaurant

March 28, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

Hanok Korean Restaurant recently took over the Mongolie Grill in Richmond on Alexandra Rd. We decided to check it out since there aren’t that many other Korean restaurants in Richmond. The restaurant seems to be owned by a Korean man, but the servers don’t speak Korean. S and I decided to let J decide what to order, but little did we know that we would be having a feast. J communicated with the owner and we ended up ordering a set menu that included more than 10 dishes…for the three of us.

Green Salad

Each of us were given a small bowl of Green Salad. Actually, it wasn’t that small now that I think about it, given the amount of food we had. This could’ve been downsized by half. Romaine lettuce and cucumbers along with a ranch-like dressy that was sour made it a great appetizer.

Kimchi

There was the typical dish of Kimchi which I did not end up trying since there were so many other dishes to try.

Rice Soup?

I’m not sure what this was actually. But I remember it was really tasty! It was almost like rice with mushrooms in a soup. Kind of like porridge but better. We were each given a bowl of this as well.

I have no idea what this was called, nor do I know exactly what it was. But it was really interesting! It was almost like a jelly. Alone, I don’t think it has any flavour, but it was topped with a spicy sauce. Very interesting, and definitely something I wouldn’t have ordered on its own. I also don’t see this often, but maybe it’s cause I don’t know what it’s called on the menu!

Marinated Seaweed

They also had the typical side dishes of Marinated Seaweed. Quite typical, and nothing too special.

This was also like the jelly dish above! But it was in a different sauce. This one wasn’t spicy, and seemed to be marinated in a soup or something. Honestly, I’m not too sure, but I really enjoyed this dish.

Assorted Deep Fried Tempura

The set menu also included some dishes that weren’t so Korean. I felt like I was eating at a Japanese restaurant for a second. There were Assorted Deep Fried Tempuras, with yam, carrot, and squash. Of course, these weren’t as good as the ones you get at Japanese restaurants.

Salmon Sashimi

Salmon Sashimi was also part of the menu! Kind of weird to be honest. The salmon wasn’t as fresh however. It was a little mushy and didn’t have the bouncy texture that fresh salmon had. Still, it wasn’t the worse I’ve had. The dish was huge for three people as well…

Assorted Pan Fried Delicacies

There was a dish of Assorted Pan Fried Delicacies. The one on the left seemed to be a mixture of meat packed together with veggies. The middle was a fish, and the one on the right was a mushroom. Not bad, and quite interesting.

This dish seemed to be similar to a Chinese dish. They were deep fried chicken in a sweet sauce. This one was just okay.

S loves her Sweet Potatoes at Korean restaurants, but surprisingly, the side dishes didn’t include it! J asked the owner if we could get some, and he happily offered them to us!

I wish I took a clearer picture of this dish because it was presented quite nicely! This was extremely interesting. At the bottom is a piece of lettuce. Then the next layer is a pear that is not quite ripe. Then there was a layer of ginseng mixed with honey. It was such an interesting combination and had a great crunch to it. It also felt very healthy!

This dish reminded me of a Chinese dish once again. It had a light soup with rice crackers in it, which when dipped in the soup became soft with a slight crunch. It was topped with a mixture of seafood including squid, shrimp, and mussels. Not bad.

Jap-Chae

I usually love Jap Chae, but to be honest, I was much more interested in all these new dishes I hadn’t tried. The Jap Chae was just typical, or I was just less impressed by it since I was amazed by all the other dishes. And by the way, our table was literally filled by now. We didn’t have room to move our dishes at all…

This was a fish that J said is filled with bones and not something that everyone likes. I didn’t end up trying it since I’m not a big fan of eating fish with bones in it.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Another dish was the Braised Short Ribs. The sauce was sweet and flavourful and filled with squash and carrots. The short ribs were huge and tender.

This was also a very interesting dish. The bottom was a thin slice of radish. On top was something similar to pork belly. The top had minced garlic. I felt that the minced garlic was too much for me so I brushed most of it off, but other than that, it was really interesting. It was refreshing and had a great crunch. It reminded me of Peking duck dish we eat at Chinese restaurants.

Another dish that tasted similar to kimchi. I think it was some sort of radish though. I found this spicier than kimchi.

Spicy Soft Tofu Soup

The Spicy Soft Tofu Soup came in a sizzling pot. It was filled with tofu and was in a tasty broth that had a hint of spice.

Spicy Stir Fried Squid with Rice Cake

The Spicy Stir Fried Squid with Rice Cake was a dish I had at another Korean restaurant. The squid was tender and the rice cakes were chewy. The sauce wasn’t too spicy, so I enjoyed it.

This was an extra dish that the owner also gave us. It was some sort of radish that was sour and reminded me of pickles. It was marinated in a kimchi-type of sauce and J loved it.

Lastly, when our bill came, we were given oranges that had been nicely peeled and cut out already and put back in the skin. How cute!

Overall, I was extremely pleased with Hanok! Look at our table for three! This was only halfway through dinner too, so our table was literally filled with food at all times and we had to eat quickly to clear up room for more food. The meal cost $35 a person, so it’s a tad more expensive than a regular meal, but you get A LOT of food. The meal was definitely enough for 4-5 people. The owner was also really friendly and constantly came to check up on us. At the end of dinner, he also came by to ask for feedback about which dishes we enjoyed and didn’t like. That is definitely a good start to understanding your customers better! I heard they also have good deals for lunch, so I will definitely come back to check it out.

Tubby Dog

March 17, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

Day 2 in Calgary: Shortly after lunch and some presentations, S, H, J and I decided to go explore the city a bit and look for some snacks. S had previously checked out the top places on Urbanspoon, and Tubby Dog was one of them. Since it was quite a far walk, we decided to take a cab instead. Upon arriving, there was a man cleaning the windows, hence the bizarre picture.

They had their menu on their door, and it reminded me of Japadog, but North American style. The prices are quite high for a hot dog, so I was hoping they better be good.

Inside, they have the menu again, but also with some specials. I wish I got a picture of the kitchen area, since you can watch your hot dog get cooked and assembled in the front. You basically order at the counter, and they call your name when it’s ready.

The place is super retro and hipster. If I were still in high school, I would probably think that this would be where the “cool” kids hung out. I love how they had a cabinet full of food items that seemed to be collectibles. They definitely weren’t the typical packaging you could find in a grocery anymore. I’m guessing some of them might’ve been limited editions.

And they even have a mini arcade! I can totally picture some skaters coming here for a hot dog and playing games after school. It’s so old school and almost gives you a “back in the day” vibe. The place has posters hanging around the walls, and they all add to that hip vibe. Even the employees have a retro vibe to them.

Tubby Dog – homemade chili, bacon, cheese, onions, mustard

And now finally onto the food! We decided to share a Tubby Dog since we had just ate lunch. We weren’t sure which hot dog to choose, but I guess you can’t go wrong with the one that’s named after the store! It was layered with tons of chili, onions, cheese and bacon bits along with a mustard sauce. It is definitely quite a large hot dog for one person, and would be decent to be shared between two for a snack. You basically need to eat this with knives and forks though, since there is no way to avoid a mess. I actually found that the bun was a bit soggy though, and wasn’t as crisp and toasted as I would’ve liked it. The onions were also barely cooked so the taste of raw onions were quite pungent. I loved the chili, bacon bits and loads of cheese though!

T-Rings

We also ordered a side of T-Rings. These are essentially double battered onion rings. I can almost be sure to say that they are also double fried… These things are deadly and oily! Because they are double battered, the batter is extremely thick and oily. I actually found that distracting and would’ve liked a thinly battered onion ring instead. It felt so unhealthy eating all that oily batter! The onion rings, however, were huge in circumference! Each order came with 5 onion rings.

Overall, I wasn’t extremely impressed with Tubby Dog’s food. I didn’t think it was as amazing as the reviews said. If I were to pay a price of around $7, I rather buy a Japadog instead. I guess Calgary needs to try some Japadogs, and they may rethink about what a good hot dog is! I do, however, love the atmosphere at Tubby Dog. That retro vibe is difficult to find, and they definitely played it well at this diner. A really cool place to hang out with some friends and devour some greasy food!

Ichi Rock [ra:ku]

March 16, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

For dinner, we took a 15 minute walk to an area with more food. S had urbanspooned some popular restaurants, and Ichi Rock [ra:ku] had some pretty good ratings.

The place is essentially run by a young Japanese couple. The man is the one cooking and behind the sushi bar, and the lady does all the serving and order taking. The interior is decorated with a modern twist, with lots of Ikea lights (Don’t ask why I recognize them..). The restaurant itself is quite small and can probably only fit 30 people max. It was still almost half full on a weekday night. Not bad for a small business. Food of course came out a little slower since there is only one chef.

Green Tea

I was surprised that we were actually charged a $1 each for our green tea when I looked at the bill later. However, I was fine with that as the green tea didn’t seem to be too watered down. It also came in fancy little cups!

Risotto Roll – avocado, crab meat, chopped shrimp, cheese, mayo topped with honey mustard sauce (served warm)

S and I decided to share two items. They have a variety of special rolls, but the Risotto Roll especially stood out for us. It said it was served warm! I’ve never had warm sushi, so I was curious what it would be like. It was served on a plate covered in tin foil, and the sushi was covered with sauce, mayo and cheese. It was stringy and definitely reminded me of risotto! Japanese style of course! It was essentially a California roll, but with a twist to it. Quite creative and worth a try!

Okonomiyaki – Japanese style pancake with seafood

The second dish we chose was the Okonomiyaki. I really enjoyed this dish. You can choose from bacon, seafood, or vegetables, but we chose seafood. It was filled with oysters and squid and tons of cabbage. It was then covered with cheese, mayo, fish flakes, and seaweed. I loved how the cheese added a stringy texture to it and it almost felt like there wasn’t any batter to it. Really flavourful and the portion was huge. We ended up sharing it with the other girls.

Overall, I was quite content with the food at Ichi Rock. Although the service was slow, I can understand since they are run by only two people and the friendly service definitely makes up for it. They also have some homemade desserts that looked quite good. The prices are average – not exactly cheap, but not ridiculously expensive. After trying two Japanese restaurants in Calgary, I still find that Vancouver has better restaurants at a better price!

Ebisu (Robson)

February 14, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

Friday night, I went to Ebisu on Robson St. to celebrate a friend’s birthday. The Robson store is not that much different from the one in Richmond, although they seem to have a larger menu as well as drinks.

Chopped Scallop Roll

I got the Chopped Scallop Roll because I pretty much get it at every Japanese restaurant. It was average and nothing too special.

Chicken Karaage – deep fried boneless chicken served with sweet honey-mustard and Cajun mayonnaise

I also got the Chicken Karaage which was a huge portion. They actually have a one person size too, but we got the larger one. The pieces of chicken were much larger than I had expected, but since it was boneless, all was good. The batter was decent, although quite oily. I enjoyed the honey-mustard which tasted a little like plum sauce, and the Cajun mayonnaise was a little spicy.

Hamachi Inferno – yellowtail box pressed in shiso, burdock, shiitake, sesame and sushi rice seared!

Ebisu is famous for their inferno sushi, so I finally decided to try it. They have 3 fishes to choose from: saba, hamachi or toro. I chose the Hamachi Inferno, and it was presented to us raw.

Then the waitress brought over a lighter, and seared the sushi in front of us. Pretty cool to watch the colour turn.

And here’s the final product! The fish was soft and definitely a different texture from raw hamachi. I found that the sushi rice was a little harder than usual though, but it was definitely something different to eat.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the food and service at the Robson Ebisu. They offer a variety of interesting rolls as well, so their menu is quite extensive.

The Refinery (Dine Out)

February 10, 2013April 28, 20133 Comments

Last Thursday, I went to my last Dine Out! It was a spontaneous one, and we pretty much planned it the night before. We wanted a girls night out, and was looking for somewhere on Granville and was from the fixed price of either $18 or $28. SP suggested we go to The Refinery and off we went! A poor picture of the place, but The Refinery is basically next to Sip Resto Lounge, and you have to go up a flight of stairs. So really, it is on top of Sip Resto Lounge! It was a Thursday night, and the place was around 3/4 full. Not bad I guess.

Complementary Amuse Bouche – Salted Cucumber Sorbet

Shortly after placing our orders, our server brought us a complementary amuse bouche. She explained a bunch of stuff, but from what I remember, it was basically a cucumber sorbet that was salted. When I took a little nibble of it, I thought it was really salty! But I decided to take the whole spoon, and it became a mixture of salty and sour. It was supposed to cleanse our palettes before we ate, but we all felt that it just left our palettes salty and sour! It was definitely refreshing though, since it was an ice cold sorbet. Let’s just say it was interesting…

Albacore Tuna – confit tomato sauce, cannellini beans, basil oil, parsley

For my appetizer, I chose the Albacore Tuna. The portions were actually quite generous. There were probably around 7 slices, and each slice was quite thick. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of the sauces. I’m not a parsley person, so the flavours didn’t really work for me. I have to say that the tuna was fresh, and seared well though. The cannellini beans reminded me of chickpeas, which also aren’t my favourite. I guess I’m just a picky eater…

Poached Pear Salad – white wine poached, arugula, goat cheese, walnuts, yellow beets, honey-dijon vinaigrette

SP and SK got the Poached Pear Salad. It was a large plate of arugula, and they felt that it was way too much. There was also parsley in it, which they weren’t too fond of.

Sablefish – roasted red pepper and potato stew

For their entree, they both got the Sablefish. I was tempted to get it too, but I wanted to try their other dishes too. I tried some of the fish, and it was delicious. Cooked perfectly and the fish was smooth. It’s definitely a small piece of fish though!

Stuffed Mushroom – a refinery classic, stuffed with our special house mixture

For myself, I decided to try the Stuffed Mushroom. I’m glad I got this since it was full of surprises! It was one large mushroom filled with their special house stuffing mixture. The top was something that I believe was similar to bread crumbs, but the inside had cashews in it! At first, I found it weird, but for some reason, when you keep eating it, it becomes highly addictive. The nutty flavour just worked so well with the rest of the mixture.On the side, there was also some pesto sauce which added some flavour to the mushroom. On the right was more salad, which was similar to the appetizer. Lots of arugula and parsley! So I didn’t really eat much of it.

Tiramisu – espresso soaked lady fingers, whipped marscapone, cocoa dust

My favourite part of the meal were the desserts! I got the Tiramisu which came with a biscotti. This was extremely delicious! They had a thick layer of whipped marscapone, and it was dusted with cocoa powder on the top. The lady fingers weren’t soaked with a lot of alcohol, or I barely even tasted it, but I didn’t mind it. Because of that, it ended up being on the sweeter side, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake – chocolate ganache, raspberry compote, balsamic reduction coconut cream

The girls got the Flourless Chocolate Cake which had a raspberry compote underneath. It was full of chocolate goodness and my one bite satisfied my sudden chocolate cravings. The girls both agreed that it was way too much chocolate and therefore very sweet, but that’s how a flourless chocolate cake is supposed to be like!

When we got our bill, we were also given complementary Chili Truffles, which I forgot to snap a picture of. The truffles were not spicy at first, but once the outer cocoa powder dissolved, the spice hit! It was acutally quite spicy and the server explained that she felt that this batch was a lot spicier.

Overall, The Refinery was average. I don’t know if I would come here again, but this is soley based on their dine out menu. Service was great when our server checked up on us, but where we were seated was difficult to get her attention. It literally took us 10 minutes to get a different servers attention when we wanted a picture because our own server still didn’t notice us. I don’t think the food is bad, but it might be just a personal taste preference and the ingredients aren’t items I normally enjoy. However, I enjoyed their desserts, and the place also seems like a cool place to grab some drinks. Their bar looks really nice!