Raw Canvas (Dine Out 2013)

February 4, 2013April 28, 20132 Comments

I’ve always wanted to try Raw Canvas but looking at the menu, it can be pretty pricey. It’s basically a place where you can eat some meat and cheese, have some drinks, and then you have the choice to go paint! Pretty neat idea, and an awesome place to go for a girls night out. Luckily, Raw Canvas participated in Dine Out Vancouver 2013, so I got to try it out for only $38!

$38 gets you your “appetizer”, which is a choice of cheese sampler or meat sampler. Then your “entree” is a canvas to paint on, with all paint supplied and included. Lastly, your “dessert” is gelato and port! A pretty good deal, since the smallest canvas itself is normally $55. The one for dine out is a bit smaller though, but still a deal regardless since you get food as well.

They have a really nice bar, and at around 9p.m, the place was filled with people having drinks. It definitely feels like a nice place to chat with friends over some drinks.

The place is basically separated so one side is where you eat, and the other half of the place is where the art happens! At first we thought that there weren’t that many easels, but they actually have a lot! It gets a little tight, so if you want lots of space, then I would suggest going earlier or on a weekday night.

I love how the wooden tables and brick walls give the place such an artsy feel to it! Along with the gorgeous paintings on the wall, you can’t help but feel inspired to paint!

The place actually has a decent amount of seats too. Seats for smaller and larger groups as well. The dim lighting totally works in this setting.

Blue – Sake, alize bleu, ginger ale, ginger

K got a mixed cocktail called Blue. Pretty nice!

Karmellet Tripel (Belgium) – abbeys

E got the Karmellet Tripel, which he said wasn’t too bitter. It was recommended by the guy, who we think may be the owner. He was extremely nice and professional. Awesome service!

Peach Italissima Nectar

For myself, I was not feeling like alcohol, so I chose the Peach Italissima Nectar. I really had no idea what it was, but it came in a tiny little bottle.

Then you pour it into a glass with ice, and it is actually pretty good! It’s a little thick, but the ice helps to liquify it. Not bad, and it actually was decent with the meat.

Water comes in a Raw Canvas glass bottle, which they reuse. It’s pretty neat though. You want to check your glasses beforehand though, because some of them have paint on them since people can take their drinks with them when they go paint. The servers were observant enough to let us know and quickly change them though.

Freshly Baked French Baguette

At first, we thought that we would not get full at all, since we’re really just eating meat… but we were wrong! For the 3 of us, they served us two large bowls of Baked French Baguettes. And we were totally full after our meal! I guess the bread really fills you up.

Charcuterie Tasting Plate, served with freshly baked french baguette: Provence Saucisson Sec – southern French sausage flavoured with pastis, Pheasant and Pistachio Terrine – made in Quebec by maison du gibler, Czech Beer Salami – classic Czech style salami flavoured with beer

Accompaniments:Stoneground Mustard, Fire Roasted Tomatoes, Cornichons

All 3 of us got the Charcuterie Tasting Plate, which is basically a plate with 3 types of meat and 3 accompaniments. On the far left, there was the Provence Saucisson Sec. This was basically a sausage, and was my favourite. It was soft and tasted great with the stoneground mustard. In the middle, was the Pheasant and Pistachio Terrine. This was probably my least favourite. It might’ve been the pistachio flavour that threw it off for me. Lastly, on the right was the Czech Beer Salami. Although it was lightly sliced, it was very chewy and hard. It was also extremely strong in pork, but salami is made of pork! They gave a fair amount of the salami, and it was easy to place on the bread.

For the accompaniments, it came with the Stoneground Mustard, which was my favourite! It’s basically mustard seeds that are grounded and made into a paste. It’s definitely strong in mustard flavour, and I could just spread it on the bread and I would be completely happy. So delicious! In the middle, we had the Fire Roasted Tomatoes, which were also really delicious. This can just be put on the bread and there was tons of flavour. And lastly, on the right, were the Cornichons, which are basically pickled cucumbers and are popular in Europe. I’m not a big fan of pickles, but these ones were surprisingly not too sour. I didn’t finish all of them, but they were nice to have in between all the meat.

Gelato and Port – Vanilla Bean Gelato with Sweet Portuguese Wine

For dessert, the item was Gelato and Port. It was a huge scoop of Vanilla Bean Gelato, and you could see the black specks so you knew it wasn’t just vanilla extract. It was served with a glass of sweet Portuguese wine, which when you smell it, smells quite strong in alcohol. I thought it was brandy or whiskey at first, but the server explained that it was a sweet wine. I poured around half the flask in, and it was already plenty to have a taste of alcohol in it. Definitely brings out the sweetness and was a great pairing to the gelato.

After you finish dessert, they ask you if you’re ready to go paint! They don’t push you to, and you can take your time to talk some more if you want to. But of course we were ready to go paint! They provide you with a smock so you can totally get into your artsy spirit. They also have a long wall of paints, and you just squeeze them out onto you palette board. I wish I got a picture of that, because it looks really neat! Then, you go ahead and get all artsy! They also have an artist there to look after you in case you have questions, or need some help getting inspired. And honestly, you don’t need to be an amazing artist to paint. Everyone was just having fun and bringing out their creativity!

So overall, Raw Canvas is an awesome place whether you know how to paint or not. It’s definitely a place to go once in your lifetime, whether it be on a date, to celebrate or to find a place to have food, drinks, and art! It may get quite expensive if you go on their regular nights, but it is something that everyone should try. Instead of having a typical movie night, why not go painting?

Cheesecake Etc.

January 25, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

After dinner, J and I went to get dessert at Cheesecake Etc. It was probably half full since it was a weekday night, so they told us to just choose a seat wherever we wanted.

Original Cheesecake with Strawberries

J got the Original Cheesecake with Straweberries, which I’ve also had in the past. They have actual strawberries on them, and the whip cream is fresh! However, I still like the cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory in the states the most!

Tonight’s Special – Tiramisu

The waitress told me that tonight’s special was the Tiramisu, so I immediately said yes to that. Their cheesecake is basically the same, except you can choose different toppings, so of course I wanted to try something new! I really enjoyed this. It wasn’t too strong in alcohol and the cake itself was soft and crumbly. Perfect when it was mixed in with the whipped cream!

That night, they also had a pianist and jazz singer performing. I’m not usually a jazz person, but jazz and cheesecake in a dimly lit seating area just seems to work so well!

Nicli Antica Pizzeria (revisit)

January 19, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

For K’s birthday, we headed to Nicli Antica Pizzeria since she wanted some thin crust pizza! I’ve gone here once, and the pizza crusts are made from scratch. The place was quite packed when we got there, and it makes sense since it’s a nice place to drink a glass of wine, have some pizza and chat with friends.

Special* – parma prosciutto and arugula

We chose three pizzas to share, and I chose their Today’s Special, which I forgot the name of since it was so long. But it had param prosciutto which is my favourite. The arugula also added some great flavour to it. I guess the funniest part of dinner was our inabilities to cut our pizza. These pizzas are made from scratch, hence their crust is much more tough than normal pizza. Some people like it and some people don’t, but the crust is intended to be like that. Our waitress laughed at us while we took forever cutting our pizzas, and in the end she told us it would be okay to use our hands. How embarrassing, since we looked around and everyone was well-mannered and slowly slicing their pizza. I was hungry, so eating with my hands were the way to go!

Pesto – herb pesto, fior di latte, marinated black olives, capers, roasted red onion, fresh tomato

J chose the Pesto, which was definteily much more interesting than normal pesto pizzas I’ve had. The flavour was much more strong, and the capers and roasted red onions gave it a distinct flavours. The only part was that I don’t like olives, so I had to pick those out.

Margherita – pomodoro, grana padano, fior di latte, basil

Lastly, K got the traditional Margherita, which is a great classic. Their tomato sauce is made from fresh tomatoes too, so it has a distinct flavour.

Tiramisu – classic with Marscapone cream and frangelico syrup

For dessert, we decided to all share a Tiramisu. It was homemade and really good! Just the right about of alcohol in it, and the cake was soft.

Apple Fruit Cake?

I wish I remembered the name of this cake, since it was really good. We got this as a little surprise since we wanted to get a dessert that could support a candle. I guess none of their desserts really did that so they put the candle next to the cake instead…Anyways, this was really good! There were soft apples with a sauce inside the cake, and it also came with a vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Yum!

The downside to Nicli is that they don’t take reservations, so you’ll need to expect some waiting time if you come on their busy nights.

Ebisu (Richmond)

January 17, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

For New Year’s Eve, my parents didn’t feel like doing much celebrating, so I decided to go out and eat with K instead. I had just gotten off work, and since it was really last minute, most of the places were booked up. I was really hungry too, so I wanted to go eat right away! Finally, we found reservations for Ebisu in Richmond, but they said they would be bar seats. It was just the two of us, so we could care less! When we got there, I was surprised that Ebisu has renovated and the interior was much more stylish. The servers also all spoke Japanese giving the restaurant a feel of authenticity. And surprisingly, the bar tables were nothing like what we had thought. They were comfy booth seats that basically only seated two customers. It was extremely comfortable and we still had tons of room to move around.

Thunder Fries – Freshly cut deep fried sweet potato sticks served with a tangy house cajun dip

K decided to try the Thunder Fries and they were basically yam tempuras shaped like fries. At first, I thought it would be more like the Western style yam fries, but they were definitely softer in the inside and the outer batter was crisp and flaky like tempura. The cajun dip gave them some flavour and hint of spice.

Healthy Veggie Roll – Red & green pepper, avocado, cucumber, carrot, Kaiware with rice & salsa sauce on top wrapped in color soy been paper

K also got the Healthy Veggie Roll. Sounded super healthy and it came in soy bean paper. I didn’t try it out so I can’t comment on it, but it looked pretty!

Miso Soup

I got the Chicken Teriyaki Boat since I was starving! It came with a Miso Soup, which was nothing special.

Ebi Sunomono

The Boat also came with the Ebi Sunomono which I thought was better than what I had expected. Usually complementary sunomonos are quite sour and the appearance is usually not that appealing. However, they presented theirs nicely and it had shrimp and nicely sliced cucumbers. It wasn’t too sour too which I liked.

Chicken Teriyaki Boat (includes the Miso Soup & Ebi Sunomono) – Chicken Teriyaki, Dynamite & California Roll, Salmon & Tuna Sushi, Assorted Tempura

And here is the Chicken Teriyaki Boat. At the end of my meal, I realized I had eaten a lot! I found the sushi to just be average. The salmon wasn’t anything spectacular either. It wasn’t amazingly fresh or anything, but it was decent. The tempuras really filled me up with all the fried oil. Food was average, but it was a pretty good deal. I think it was around $14 for the whole set.

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.

Leisure Tea & Coffee (Revisit)

December 27, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Crispy Chicken Sandwich

I’ve revisited Leisure way too many times by now. But there still seems to be items that I haven’t tried. I always tend to go for my favourites, but this time I decided to try some other menu items. These are actually two separate visits, but I’ll just put it in one post. The first item was the Crispy Chicken Sandwich. I’ve heard great things about their Club Sandwich, but I was curious to see what a Crispy Chicken Sandwich was. So glad I got this because it was really delicious! They come in a plate of four triangular sandwiches in white bread. Each sandwich has three layers of bread, so it makes it quite large in size. With the crispy chicken inside, which is really their famous Taiwanese chicken, the sandwiches are too big to take a whole bite of. But I didn’t mind that. Inside was also tomatoes, cucumbers and mayo. I would definitely recommend this.

Crispy Chicken Waffle

Then, on Christmas night after my Christmas potluck, I joined some friends to go to Leisure again… Only Asian restaurants are open on Christmas, so the place was surprisingly quite packed. With all Asians of course. Sadly, I wasn’t too satisfied with my potluck dinner, so I was actually craving some more food by then. I’ve had their Ice Cream Waffle before, but what was a Crispy Chicken Waffle?! I decided to give that a try and it was oh so delicious! It’s really the same thing as the Crispy Chicken Sandwich but in a waffle form. The waffle also had a lot more chicken than the sandwiches. It wasn’t too salty and all the ingredients just worked well together with the vegetables giving a refreshing feel.

Overall, extremely satisfied with both visits again. The food never seem to disappoint!

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.

Sweet Revenge

November 22, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

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I’ve wanted to use my gift card for Sweet Revenge for a while, but I never really go to that area of Vancouver. Finally, I decided to head over there to get some desserts for my friend and I. I read reviews that the place is always packed with people since it’s only open at night, and indeed it was. People were lining up at the doors. I ended up getting take out and ate at my friend’s instead.

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The interior of the place is really cute though. It’s quite dim inside, but the red walls give it an interesting ambiance. They put framed pictures around, and the décor is quite vintage. I only waited around 5 minutes and my take out was ready.

Chocolate Mousse Cake – semi-sweet chocolate mousse, with cream cheese & a crunchy curst & White Chocolate Cheesecake – flourless cheesecake with home-made sauce

I got the Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was surprisingly not too sweet. It was smooth and had a really nice crunch at the bottom of the cake. There were also pieces of chocolate flakes on the top, which made a nice touch to it. The second dessert I got was the White Chocolate Cheesecake. It was recommended to me by the cashier. I really enjoyed this. It came with a raspberry sauce in a container. It wasn’t too sweet, and I love white chocolate and cheesecake, so it was the perfect pairing. Too bad I couldn’t see what it would look like presented on a plate with the sauce drizzled over it. My take-out box pictures clearly did not look as nice as the ones I saw in the store. Other desserts I really wanted to try were the tiramisu, and crème brulee, which were both recommended to me by the cashier as well. However, these had a $2 deposit that needed to be paid for the cups for take-out. I don’t live near that area so I wasn’t prepared to go back to return the cups, but I didn’t feel like paying that extra $2 either. I guess I’ll just have to try those desserts next time when I actually sit in. The place looks pretty cool with a variety of drinks as well. Check it out!