Strike 破店 (Richmond)

May 25, 2015Leave a comment

Beef Rolls

Strike has been around since forever, but I just never got the chance to try it. There are so many other bubble tea shops to choose from that I always forget to try Strike. Anyways, we decided to head there for an early dinner at around 5:00 pm. There were around two other tables of diners, but lots of staff already. However, the staff were all young teens and were chatting among themselves and completely ignored their customers. You really had to wave around to get the attention of them. Quite unprofessional. We started off with the Beef Rolls, which were probably one of the worst I’ve had. There was way too much dough and the dough wasn’t even crispy. The ratio to meat was also so little and there was barely any hoisin sauce.

Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets

Next up, we got S’s must order item: Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets. These were actually decent. They were crispy on the outside and moist inside. I also liked how they used the basil leaves to season the chicken. A dish I wouldn’t mind ordering again.

Taiwanese Sausage and Veggie Egg Fried Rice

Lastly, we got the Taiwanese Sausage and Veggie Egg Fried Rice. S found the rice to be a bit too moist and I didn’t really like the flavour of the Taiwanese sausage. I wouldn’t be ordering this in the future.

Overall, I was slightly disappointed with the food at Strike. Based on the items we ordered, nothing really wowed me and you could probably find the same quality of food at other restaurants.

Pros:
– Lots of seating

Cons:
– Service is lacking
– Food is just average or below average

Price Range: $10-15

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 2 Service: 2 Ambiance: 2.5 Parking: 3 Overall: 2

Mama’s Fish and Chips

May 23, 2015May 24, 2015Leave a comment

On a sunny Friday, my coworkers and I decided to head down Granville St. in search of lunch. We decided to check out the food trucks, and we found Mama’s Fish and Chips parked at Granville and West 10th. Just look for the black truck with a cartoon fish painted. I’m not sure if they move around or if they’re always at this location.

Their menu is mostly fish and chips of course, but they also have salmon sandwiches and crispy prawns. Prices are quite reasonable for fish and chips. The wait is rather long though at around 15 minutes or so after you place the order. I was hoping a food truck would be a quicker option than at a sit in restaurant, but it’s not really.

2 pcs Fish and Chips

I got the 2 pcs Fish and Chips to share with S and the portion was actually quite large. It comes with a side of coleslaw, fries, and some tartar sauce. The first thing I noticed was how dark the fish was fried. It was an golden orange, which I’m not sure if that means the oil is rather old. I was expecting a lighter yellow. However, the fish was very crispy. It was moist, but I wouldn’t say this is one of the top spots for Fish and Chips. Fries were crispy, but they didn’t wow me. As for the coleslaw, this was actually quite flavourful. Overall, the fish and chips are decent, but I wouldn’t say they are the top in Vancouver.

Pros:
– Decent fish and chips
– Reasonable prices

Cons:
– The wait to get your food is rather long

Price Range: $15-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3 Service: 2.5 Ambiance: N/A Parking: N/A Overall: 3

Rajio

May 13, 2015Leave a comment

Rajio is the third sister company of Suika and Kingyo. Rajio has been on my to visit list for some time now since I love izakaya food and I’ve been pleased with my experiences at its sister restaurants. I gave them a call at around 5:30 asking for a table at 6:00 and the waitress told me yes, but only until 7:00 and that I could come even earlier. No problem since we weren’t going to eat for long anyways, so an hour was perfect.

When we arrived, the restaurant was starting to pick up with the arrival of many other diners. While seating us, the waitress stressed to us again that we would only have the seat until 7:00pm. We get it! She seriously didn’t have to repeat it so many times… Anyways, the interior of the restaurant is quirky with Disney lights and wooden tables. It’s quite a small restaurant, so I would suggest making reservations.

Dinner started off with complimentary salad. The salad used a type of cabbage that I’ve never had before. The texture was quite thick and hard and was quite flavourless. The dressing was quite delicious though, with a bit of sweet and tangy flavour to it. Would much prefer Suika’s salad though.

Black Sweet & Sour Pork Rib

We started off with the Black Sweet & Sour Pork Rib, which came sizzling hot and looking impressive on the plate. The pork ribs were slightly battered and fried and topped with a balsamic vinegar sauce. It had a tangy sweetness to it and was very flavourful. I especially liked the parts which had some fat to it since the meat around those areas were very tender. Some other parts of the meat were rather overcooked and became very dry. I was worried that there would be more bones than meat, but it proved me wrong. Tons of meat for you!

Imperial Kitchen Tested Peking Chicken

Next was the Imperial Kitchen Tested Peking Chicken. This was crispy chicken skin with green onion and Rajio’s original sweet bean glaze wrapped in a warm soft tortilla. S and I were both underwhelmed by this. The portion was so small as well! It only came with 3 small rolls. The chicken skin was crispy, but that was about it. Nothing too special and you really don’t get much value out of it.

Kakuni Bibimbap Stone Bowl

Lastly was the Kakuni Bibimbap Stone Bowl, which featured stewed pork belly, glazed with peppery sweet soy, and placed on top of rice with green onion and savory shrimp. The pork belly was juicy and very tender. The waitress mixed this up for us and the overall dish was very flavourful. You can never go wrong with some juicy pork belly!

And 10 minutes before 7:00, the waitress came by again to make sure we were going to be out by 7:00. Clearing up our plates and letting us know it would be our last call. Like seriously, we get it. No need to be so pushy. Overall, service was pushy and food was just average. Nothing really blew my mind and made me excited to come back and try the rest of their menu. I’d much rather just return to Suika, Kingyo or even Guu.

Pros:
– Fun, quirky ambiance
– Decent izakaya items

Cons:
– Service was pushy
– From the items I tried, nothing blew my mind

Price Range: $15-30

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3 Service: 2 Ambiance: 3 Parking: 3 Overall: 3

Chatime (Broadway)

May 12, 20151 Comment

Chatime is a Taiwanese bubble tea chain store and has franchises all around the world. In Vancouver, they have actually been selling their bubble tea inside Chef Hung restaurants, but they never had their own storefront. However, last month, they expanded in several locations around the Greater Vancouver. I believe they have one on Robson, one in Richmond and one on Broadway. Conveniently, the Richmond location is a few blocks away from my house, but the grand opening promotion had already passed for that location. Since Broadway’s location is also extremely close to work, I decided to head down there after work to take advantage of their grand opening promotion.

For the first week, they offered buy one get one free drinks. The free drink was either the Pearl Milk Tea or Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea. A really good deal!

As for your first drink, you can choose from their large assortment of drinks. They specialize in their tea drinks, so of course we tried one from their fresh tea line. They also have small or large sizes. The small is quite small compared to your typical bubble tea, yet the prices are around the same. Chatime definitely is on the pricier side, so the promo was great.

The great thing about Chatime is that they offer customization. They will always ask you for your sugar and ice option. This is great for people who are conscious about their sugar intake and I especially liked the ice option as I usually like my drinks to have less ice.

Service was not the quickest that day, but it can be understandable since they just opened.

Brown Rice Green Milk Tea & Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea

We decided to get the Brown Rice Green Milk Tea, which we opted for less sugar and less ice. This was delicious! You don’t normally see brown rice flavoured milk tea on the menu at other bubble tea shops, so we had to give this a try. Tasted basically like milk tea, but it had a hint of wheat flavour to it. This was a large size, and it came to be the same size as typical bubble teas. As we had purchased a large bubble tea, we got the free bubble tea also in a large size. We chose the Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea, which is a must try. The grass jelly is not super sweet, but was very smooth and soft. The milk tea itself was smooth and had a roasted flavour to it. Way better than your typical milk tea. I also find that their consistency is much more thin, rather than being very thick and milky. I actually prefer this consistency as you don’t get as filled up.

Overall, I’m super happy that there is a new bubble tea shop right by work and also home. They are on the pricey side, at around $5 for a large sized drink, but the quality of the drinks are great! Also a good amount of seating to enjoy your drink.

Pros:
– Roasted Milk Tea is delicious!
– Sugar and ice options

Cons:
– Service was a bit slow
– On the pricier side

Price Range: $5

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4 Service: 2.5 Ambiance: 3 Parking: 3 Overall: 3.5

Wildebeest

May 3, 2015May 11, 2015Leave a comment

This year, the firm’s end of busy season tax party was at Wildebeest and I was extremely excited since has been on the list of restaurants I wanted to visit. Located in Gastown, Wildebeest is known for their meat-centric dishes. Many of their dishes are served family style, and you’ll find some not-so-typical meat dishes here.

Our firm booked up the entire top floor, which featured wooden ambiance with long tables and wooden swivel chairs. They have a bar and an open kitchen so you can watch the chefs in action. Service started very slow in the beginning. We probably sat around for at least 30 minutes with no snacks or drinks being served. It might be because we arrived earlier than they had expected us, but we were all hungry for food. As the first dishes began to roll out though, things picked up and we got our food fairly quickly and there were no further complaints by the end of the night.

Freshly Shucked Oyster

We had a set menu ready for us with canapés to start. First came the Freshly Shucked Oyster, which was topped with a shallot mignonette and black pepper. This was delicious with the oyster being sweet and fresh. The second item was the Albacore Tuna Tataki, but this ran out by the time it got to our table. I was quite disappointed with this as I thought they would have enough to serve each person one. Some people at my table also didn’t get the oysters. You would think they had made enough for each guest to have at least one.

Angus Short Rib

The third item was the Angus Short Rib, which seemed to be the favourite item for most people. This had a brown butter jus and was topped with bonito flakes. The bonito flakes gave it a Japanese flare and the meat was cooked to a medium rare. Extremely tender and we all wanted seconds!

Bjorn Borg

Our cocktails finally came around and I started off with the Bjorn Borg, which is like a slurpee. The ingredients included earl grey, pear, honey, premium Vodka, lemon, and London dry gin. You got that hint of sweetness from the pear and I liked how it was in a slurpee type of form. It reminded me of a Bellini and was very refreshing.

Pork Rinds

Our set menu also included some snacks to share between around 4 guests. The first were the Pork Rinds. These were crispy and slightly seasoned. StevieD said that they were quite average and tasted like the ones you get off the shelf at the supermarket. Nothing too special. I also agreed and also disliked the fact that the rinds stuck to your teeth.

Pork Schnitzel

Next were the Pork Schnitzels, which were a favourite at my table. The pork were deep fried to golden brown and the batter was very crispy. It came with a caraway-spiced beer mustard.

Spiced Hazelnuts

The last snack was the Spiced Hazelnut. These were roasted and seasoned with spices. I didn’t find these too special. They were nice to snack on while waiting for our food, but they didn’t wow me.

Gaston Collins

Since we were still waiting for our food, we went for another cocktail. This time we chose the Gastown Collins, which has London Dry Gin, Amaro Montenegro, lemon, honey, and IPA. This was a very bitter drink mostly due to the Indian pale ale. None of us really enjoyed this drink.

Spring Beet Salad

Then our appetizers came. BG got the Spring Beet Salad, which he commented had endless beets. There were both red and yellow beets, along with shaved cucumber, compressed apple, a ricotta salata, miner’s lettuce and a beetroot sorbet.

Bison Carpaccio

Most guests at my table got the Bison Carpaccio, which featured kalamata olive and soy vinaigrette, pickled shimieji mushrooms, puffed wild rice, and micro arugula. I tasted this as well, and really enjoyed it! You can roll the ingredients with the thin layer of bison, which I thought was a great concept. The bison had a more gamey flavour than your typical beef carpaccio, but all the ingredients worked well together. StevieD commented that he didn’t really like the puffed wild rice as you got that unexpected crunch. S on the other hand like that pop of crunch.

Bone Marrow

For myself, I decided to try the Bone Marrow. It came with butter leeks and oyster mushrooms on top. It was topped with a crimini mushroom vinaigrette. Grilled country bread accompanied the dish and I was told to spread the bone marrow onto the bread. The bone marrow was very jelly and oily like. It’s definitely not a dish for everyone, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Pan-Seared Halibut

Onto the main course. S got the Pan-Seared Halibut, which came with butter braised potato in a wild mushroom broth. It also came with some Shanghai bok choy and grilled scallions. The halibut was moist and the broth was very flavourful. A dish with many Asian flavours.

Angus Striploin

For myself, I got the Angus Striploin, which came with roasted fingerling potatoes and cipollini onions, smoked salt, and hay jus. This was served medium rare and you could see it was cooked perfectly with the pink meat. I liked how it was served all cut up already, making it easy to eat. The meat was tender, although I got a piece with a huge piece of fat still stuck on. The potatoes were great and the sauce was addicting. Everyone cleaned up their dish!

Wildebeest Cheesecake

For dessert, StevieD didn’t want his dessert, so I ended up getting to try two! First was the Wildebeest Cheesecake, which came as sort of a deconstructed cheesecake. It was a whipped cheesecake, with strawberry sorbet and pastry crumble on top. As it was a whipped cheesecake, it was very mousse-like. Definitely not in a cake form. Many of my coworkers enjoyed this, but I could taste that hint of blue cheese in it, which I’m not a fan of.

Anjou Pear

The second dessert was the Anjou Pear, which I enjoyed much more. It had dark chocolate honeycomb and chocolate ice cream. I loved the honeycomb as it gave it a nice crunch. The pears were candied and I loved this texture.

Overall, Wildebeest was great and I would highly recommend it if you are adventurous and ready to try some exotic meats. Their regular menu even has horse tartare! Everyone agreed that the food tasted great. Service was a bit slow in the beginning, but it definitely picked up by the end of the night. Jason, who was our table’s server for most of the night was also very friendly and knew all his drinks and food very well. Perfect one to ask for suggestions. As food was comped by the firm, I cannot comment too much on the prices. I can say that you do get full from a three course meal, and the portions aren’t as small as you’d expect.

Pros:
– Lots of exotic meats
– All dishes were executed very well

Cons:
– Service was very slow in the beginning

Price Range: N/A (~$30+ per the regular menu)

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 2.5
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 4

Ebisu (Richmond) – revisit

April 20, 2015April 20, 2015Leave a comment

Party Salmon Sashimi

The last time I blogged about Ebisu at the Richmond location was around 2 years ago. Since I ended up giong to Ebisu two times in a week, I thought it would be a good time to do a revisit post. The first revisit was during a weekday dinner time with J, S, and M. We started with the Party Salmon Sashimi, which comes with 12 pieces of sashimi. The sashimi is fresh and each piece was cut to a good size.

Tiger Mayo

Next was the Tiger Mayo, which featured deep fried Black Tiger prawns with mayonnaise sauce. The prawns came on top of a crispy wonton cracker. The prawns were large, but I didn’t find the batter to be light or crispy enough. These were just sub par.

Chicken Karaage

Another appetizer we ordered was the Chicken Karaage. These boneless chicken were marinated with sake and soy sauce, then deep fried. Again, I found them to be just average. Nothing mind blowing.

B.C. Blazer

We also ordered the B.C. Blazer, which was California roll topped with salmon and a special combination of teriyaki sauce and spicy mayo. This was pretty good for a modern style roll, with the roll having lots of sauce and flavours.

Inferno Toro Sushi

We also ordered one of their signature dishes, which is the Inferno Toro Sushi. This is box pressed with sesame and sushi rice and the toro is seared at the table by the waitress. Hidden inside the rice is a shiso leaf, which gives it a distinct flavour. The toro melted in your mouth and this was probably my favourite dish of the night.

Royal Miyagi Oysters

On a second visit, S and I decided to visit during Happy Hour, which is daily from 3pm to 6pm. During happy hour, they have a couple of deals going on. One of them were the Royal Miyagi Oysters, which go for a special deal for $0.99 per piece with a minimum of 3 pieces per order. Since S doesn’t eat raw oysters, I ordered half a dozen for myself. These are tiny oysters and come from the Cortes Island in B.C. They were fresh and sweet. Great with a dash of Tabasco sauce.

Thunder Fries

We also ordered an appie of Thunder Fries, which were discounted to $4.95. These are freshly cut deep fried sweet potato sticks and are served with a tangy house cajun dip. I like the use of sweet potatoes, but I find that the tempura batter is too oily and thick. The dip is pretty good though.

Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings

During happy hour, they also have chicken wings for 49 cents each. We decided to have an early dinner, so went all out with the wings. The minimum order is 10 pieces per flavour, so we chose three different flavours. We started off with the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, but this was underwhelming. I felt like they barely even put any salt or pepper on it. It just tasted like regular wings, but the wings were way overcooked. They ended up being very dry. Almost felt like eating dry ribs.

Japanese Miso Chicken Wings

The second flavour we chose was the Japanese Miso. This was probably one of the better flavours, but it still fell short. They literally just pour some sauce on top of the salt and pepper wings. They aren’t actually marinated and some of the wings aren’t even covered with sauce. Again, super dry meat. The wings are also extremely small.

Traditional Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Lastly, we had the Traditional Teriyaki Chicken Wings. These were probably the worst. This didn’t even taste like teriyaki. They were slightly spicy with an odd flavour. Very disappointed with their wings and I wouldn’t be returning for wings for sure.

Overall, Ebisu is your typical Japanese chain restaurant. I find the dishes to be pricey for the quality of food you get. If you’re looking for izakaya food, I would much rather visit Guu, which I find executes the dishes much better.

Pros:
– Modern sushi rolls are decent
– Ambiance is pretty nice with a bar in the middle

Cons:
– Terrible chicken wings
– Regular menu is pricey for the quality of food

Price Range: $20-30

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 2
Service: 3
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 3

Kongee Dinesty 金津粥品專門店

April 11, 2015Leave a comment

Kongee Dinesty opened up earlier this year in the complex on Garden City. It offers congee and limited dim sum items during breakfast and lunch, but becomes a typical Chinese restaurant during dinner time.

They offer a kitchen with glass windows so you can watch the chefs prepare your food. The restaurant itself is pretty nice with your typical dim sum restaurant decor. The restaurant itself is quite small though. We were lucky to score a spot at around 11:30 am, but it soon became packed by the time we left. The waitress basically put our bill down before we asked to shoo us out, since there was a line forming at the door.

Sampan Congee

Of course we had to try their congee, so we went for the Sampan Congee. We ordered this off their pre-customized congee menu, but you can actually customize your congee for $8.95. With this option, you can choose two toppings of your choice, the congee base and garnish. If you order from 8:00am to 11:30 am, you can also choose an extra side, like Chinese donuts, free of charge. Anyways, we ordered the Sampan Congee and added preserved eggs in addition. Sampan Congee comes with just about everything and it definitely had a lot of toppings. We shared this between four people, and everyone had at least one bowl or more. Quite delicious!

Gingko Nuts and Bean Curd Sheets with Baby Bak Choy

Next, we got some veggies, so we went for the Gingko Nuts and Bean Curd Sheets with Baby Bak Choy. This was a healthy choice and the bak choy was very fresh.

Chinese Donut Wrapped with Rice Roll

Then we went for a dim sum item, with the Chinese Donut Wrapped with Rice Roll. The Chinese donuts were fresh and crispy with the rice roll being relatively thin.

Yee-Fu Noodles with Golden Chives

Lastly, we got the Yee-Fu Noodles with Golden Chives. The noodles were chewy and were not too oily. It came with baby scallops and vegetables, so pretty good for the price you pay.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with Kongee Dinesty. Prices are reasonable, but the restaurant is quite small, so I can see it being packed very quickly. Great place to go if you want to get congee. I especially like how you can customize it.

Pros:
– You can customize your congee
– Items other than congee are pretty good too

Cons:
– Not a place to have long chats – they tend to kick you out
– Not a lot of seats

Price Range: $10-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3.5

Midam Cafe

April 6, 2015Leave a comment

Midam Cafe is hidden in a complex just off North Road. It’s been a year since I’ve visited, and K was desperate to get some shikye (a Korean rice drink). So desperate that we drove almost an hour to get here to find out they didn’t offer it right now. Probably because it’s more of a summer drink. Anyways, Midam is famous for their rice cakes, and I have to say they are pretty good! The spot is filled with diners at night for drinks and food, but we were surprised to be the first diners here during your typical lunch time on a weekend.

We were served the complimentary ban-chan or Korean side dishes. These were all very good, consisting of kimchi, sweet potatoes and marinated kelp. The kimchi was a lot spicier than your typical, but was still delicious.

Korean Traditional Rice Cake Soup

I chose the Korean Traditional Rice Cake Soup, which was surprisingly a very large bowl of soup. The broth was flavoured well, but definitely not salty. The rice cakes were cooked perfectly, so they were slightly chewy. It was filled with green onions, egg and seaweed. I put some of the kimchi in to give it some spice, which complemented the dish very well.

Fresh Vegetable Porridge Set

K got the Fresh Vegetable Porridge Set, which again was a very large bowl. It had chopped vegetables and the porridge was flavoured just right. Very delicious!

Grilled Mochi with Red Bean

We finished off our meal with dessert, which oddly came at the same time as our food. I would’ve appreciated it more if the dessert was served after we finished our meals. The Grilled Mochi with Red Bean came on a hot plate and didn’t look too appetizing, but was actually quite delicious. The mochi was soft with a slight chew, and the sweetness from the red beans and roasted almonds worked well with the dish. The only concern was that the mochi was slightly burnt, so you could taste the charcoal.

Overall, Midam has solid Korean dishes and is great for desserts and drinks. I would suggest you try their rice cakes as they are probably some of the best in town. Service is just average, and there honestly isn’t much since you need to press the button to get the attention of your server. Parking is pretty good as well, although I can imagine the complex getting busy with the Korean supermarket also located in the complex.

Pros:
– Delicious home-made rice cakes – both savoury and sweet
– Great selection of desserts and drinks

Cons:
– Lack of service

Price Range: $10-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 2
Ambiance: 3
Parking: 3
Overall: 3

Every Day is a Food Day

Category: Type

Strike 破店 (Richmond)

Mama’s Fish and Chips

Rajio

Chatime (Broadway)

Wildebeest

Ebisu (Richmond) – revisit

Kongee Dinesty 金津粥品專門店

Midam Cafe