Kyo

January 6, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve gone to Kyo before, but the last time I went I was an hour late to dinner and everyone had pretty much finished eating. I ended up devouring a few pieces of sushi and sashimi and that was about it. When my family suggested Kyo, I was super excited to go try it out again. For $23.99 for all you can eat dinner, it’s a pretty good deal with the quality of food you get! It’s not only all you can eat sushi, but also Korean BBQ, which is always a plus!

They have a grill in the center and the service was actually extremely good. They changed our grill once after it got dirty, which you seldom get at other Korean BBQ places. That’s one reason why I normally dislike going to Korean BBQ since many places do not change the grill and you end up with just black coal on your food.

Miso Soup

First up were some appetizers.

Ebi Sunomono

Gomae

I had the Gomae, which was actually pretty good for all you can eat. You got to mix the peanut sauce yourself, and it was just enough for a tasty and refreshing dish.

Lamb

Next, our BBQ dishes arrived. For meat, we only chose to get Lamb, Chicken, and the Black Pepper Beef Short Ribs. Each dish was supposed to be a serving of 4, but we found that they gave much more chicken than the rest. I guess chicken is supposed to be cheaper… The lamb was quite good. It was tender and the marinade wasn’t too strong or bland. It was just right.

Chicken

The Chicken wasn’t as good as the other two meat. It wasn’t tough or anything, but I found that the marinade was a little too salty for my liking. The first piece was good, and then after that, it was too salty.

Black Pepper Beef Short Ribs

The Black Pepper Beef Short Ribs were my favourite. The meat fell off the bones easily, and we weren’t given a bunch of ribs with no meat on it, like what most all you can eat places do. The marinade was also just right for the short ribs.

Prawn

We also got a few rounds of the prawns for the BBQ. They were small, but fresh and were perfect for the grill. For BBQ, there were also a variety of other meat such as beef and pork, seafood, such as salmon, mussels, and squid, and also vegetables, such as corn, eggplant and mushrooms.

Pork Gyoza

The Pork Gyozas were quite delicious for an all you can eat restaurant. They weren’t burnt and didn’t seem to be strong in MSG like some places.

Dynamite Roll & Alaska Roll

The Dynamite Roll and Alaska Roll were quite typical and average. They were quite well made and the salmon was fresh.

Chopped Scallop and Hokigai Nigiri

The Chopped Scallop was one of my favourite sushis of the night. Well, they are basically my all time favourite choice of sushi. The Sushi was actually filled with chopped scallop and they tasted fresh. The Hokigai Nigiri was also fresh.

Tuna Tataki & Beef Sashimi

The Tuna Tataki was quite good. My dad really enjoyed it, but I found that the thin layer of skin that was still attached to be a little disturbing. It was still good, but I would prefer the ones at Guu. But of course, with the price I’m paying for unlimited tuna tataki, it was pretty good. Not to forget, the pieces were also quite large. I probably had more than what I would get at Guu. The Beef Sashimi however, was a disappointment. It was quite tough and didn’t seem to be too fresh. They seemed to be frozen when they were served.

Salmon Sashimi & Tuna Sashimi

The Salmon Sashimi was excellent. The pieces weren’t exteremely large in size, but they were definitely larger than pieces I’ve had at many all you can eat places. The sashimi was extremely fresh as well, which is an important part of sashimi. I didn’t get a chance to try the Tuna, but I was told it was great as well. I do want to mention that upon placing our second order of sashimi, the sashimi basically never arrived until we asked for it. The server wasn’t rude or anything and quickly told us she would look into it. We still had to wait for quite some time, but in the end, our sashimi came, and it was still fresh. Not sure if they sincerely forgot to place the order, or if they were playing tricks, like many all you can eat places do. The great thing is that they do not have a limit on sashimi, but that’s also when they may choose to play tricks.

Chicken Wings

Lastly, we also had some chicken wings just for the heck of it. They were lightly battered and well seasoned. Not bad!

We also had some other items that I forgot to take pictures of because it’s so difficult to capture pictures of every item at an all you can eat place. Everyone just wants to dig in! The Zaru Soba, which was another item I ordered was excellent and I liked how it came in a small portion so you wouldn’t get all filled up just by ordering that. For desserts, they also had mango pudding and jello. Jello was typical and came in a large plate and the mango pudding was light and refreshing.

Overall, Kyo is a great all you can eat place for the price you pay. It’s almost impossible to find all around good quality food at all you can eat places, but I think Kyo is pretty good for the most part. If you’re looking for some decent sashimi, sushi, and BBQ food, Kyo would be worth the visit.

Prairie Smoke & Spice BBQ (at PNE Vancouver)

September 24, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Rib n’ Meat Combo – 1/3 rack of Ribs & Pulled Pork

The Fair at the PNE was also having a Rib Fest! Pretty much all of the participants had tons of awards, so it was hard to really choose which one was the best. I ended up going to the Prairie Smoke & Spice BBQ, which originates from Regina. We got the Rib n’ Meat Combo so we could try more than just the ribs. The ribs were flavourful and they weren’t too dry. The pulled pork was also quite delicious. It would’ve made a great pulled pork sandwich, which they also sold. I kind of wish I got the platter so I could try the brisket as well, but I didn’t really want a side dish.

Richmond Night Market

June 1, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

The Richmond Night Market opened around 2 weeks ago, and I’ve already gone twice! There isn’t much to do in Richmond, so what better than to go take a stroll and grab some food. I ended up going again the second week it opened, and went there on a mission to fill myself up for dinner. Admission is $1, but there’s free parking and quite a huge lot, compared to the $5 parking at the Summer Night Market by Vulcan Way. It gets quite trafficky along the River Rock Casino area though, but they have people patrolling, so it’s not too bad.

Chef James Xin Jiang Man BBQ – Chicken and Lamb Skewers

Any 3 skewers for $6.75 or 5 for $11
We saw that the line up was long, but decided it must’ve been good for it to be so long, so we lined up. Waited for probably at least 15 minutes before we got called for our order, but the girl told us that there weren’t any beef skewers left, and we could either wait a little longer, or just choose another skewer. We ended up choosing another chicken skewer, but I was still pretty disappointed with not getting what I had ordered!
Both Chicken and Lamb Skewers were still really delicious though, with tender meat, and a great flavour. This was probably one of the better stands of the night.

Takoyaki

$5 for 6 mini takoyakis
Probably one of the worse takoyakis I’ve had! It was all dough, with one tiny piece of octopus. The dough felt as though it wasn’t even cooked properly. It was all mushy as you can see from the above picture.

Bakudanyaki – Original Giant Takoyaki

$5 each
Since we were so disappointed with the takoyakis at the last stand, we ended up going to Bakudanyaki to get a Giant Takoyaki. Their poster claimed that there would be squid, cabbage, corn, red ginger, shrimp, rice cake, quail egg, and green onion, which were no lies. The Giant Takoyaki was filled with all these ingredients and the dough was thin and crispy on the outside. Wasn’t mushy like the last stand. I thought the quail egg inside was pretty interesting too!
They had 4 flavours: Original, Curry, Chili, Wasabi

Dim Sum Express

What’s night market without my favourite Curry Fish Balls? There were quite a few Dim Sum stands, but we just ended up at Dim Sum Express since it was close by and there seemed to be quite a crowd too.

Curry Fish Balls

6 for $3.00
Wasn’t anything amazing, and have had better ones before. Not very saucy, and not as spicy as most stands would serve. Spice was just right for me though, since I can’t take spice, but I wish it were a little more saucy.

Shrimp Dumplings

4 for $3.50
Didn’t try this so can’t comment 🙂

I ❤ Tofu – Sweet Taro Cold Tofu Pudding

$3.50 for just Tofu Pudding; add $0.50 for each topping
Smooth tofu and the sweet taro was a good compliment with a bit of chewiness to it. Perfect dessert after all the greasy food.

BBQ Squid

$6 a bowl
Last item I really wanted was the BBQ Squid. We looked around different aisles to find a good place for it, and many had large line ups. We ended up at the stand named BBQ Squid, which seemed to only sell BBQ Squid, and there was quite a large line up, so we assumed it would be good.
This had to be the worse item we had of the night. After waiting around 5 minutes, we got our Squid, which was freshly grilled in front of us. It tasted full of this curry powder that I had saw them sprinkle while grilling, but that was probably the only seasoning they used. The squids were also not cooked properly or not to the type I had wanted. I wanted the squid to be crispy at the ends, but they were totally not. So disappointed and definitely not going back here again. We even ended up throwing more than half of it away since it was so bad!

Ice Cream Churros

$5
Didn’t get a picture of the stand, but it’s the only stand that sells Ice Cream Churros
I had this the first week I went to the night market, and thought that it would be pretty cool. I mean ice cream and churros? I had imagined the ice cream to be inside the churro, but clearly I was thinking too much.
It’s basically 4 churros with a scoop of ice cream, which you can choose the flavour of. I ended up with vanilla ice cream. I have to say it was a disappointment, as I felt that the churros weren’t even cooked fresh. They were pretty hard and seemed like they had sat there for a while. The ice cream just tasted like cheap Safeway ice cream, but I have to say the ice cream was probably the best part of it, which is pretty sad.
Nothing special, and definitely not worth $5!

Fatburger

May 5, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Old Style Bacon Cheddar Burger – AAA Angus beef patty topped with real Canadian Cheddar and maple bacon, lettuce and tomato
Homestyle Onion Rings

Ultimate Backyard BBQ Bacon Burger -Two onion rings atop a BBQ sauce basted patty, with maple bacon, mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato

Chocolate Milkshake

Fatburger is pretty much like Vera’s since in a way they are the more deluxe version of burgers. I went to the one on Dunsmuir, and the place reminded me of a diner. You basically order at the counter first, and then a server brings you the food. We tried two different burgers – both from the specialty menu since we wanted to be a little more adventurous than the original Fatburger. I especially liked the Old Style Bacon Cheddar Burger, but I do find the burgers a little expensive. I don’t think the quality is very deluxe or anything, but I have to say the portions are quite big. So I guess that makes up for how much I’m paying for a burger. I believe it was around $8-9 for a burger. We also got the Homestyle Onion Rings, which were a little on the oily side, but still very delicious. The Chocolate Milkshake was also pretty good! I think they use hand-scooped ice cream, so it’s quite comparable to Triple O’s milkshake. Come to think of it, they taste quite similar.

Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot

September 23, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Korean Style BBQ with Rice

Seafood and Tofu Hot Pot

Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot is one of my favourite korean places to go! I don’t especially think of it as a Korean place though, since they only offer a few types of Tofu Hot Pots, and the rice. So, basically people come here to eat these few dishes. They do offer a few snacks and bubble tea drinks, which I find a little bizarre. I love their seafood hot pot though! It’s got these clear noodles inside the hot pot along with rice, so it’s really filling. You can also choose how spicy you want it. This one is mild. I have yet to try their Korean Style BBQ with Rice though! My friends always get it and say it’s their must have here! Their prices ranger from $5.95 to $6.95, so quite reasonable for a good portion. Don’t expect any fancy furniture or service though, as even their serving board is just similar to a fast food plastic one. Also gets quite busy during dinner time, so get there early!

Kumare

August 25, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

BBQ Pork Skewer

Pad Thai

Beef on Green Curry

So I discovered Kumare on another food blog and was really interested as it was close by home but I had never seen this restaurant. I also learned it served Philippine cuisine and I had never had it before, so I decided to try it out. It is located in Richmond, near Richmond Centre on Park Road. I believe this is an authentic Filipino restaurant as every diner in there seemed to be Filipino. We opened the menu and seriously had no idea what to order. Maybe we should’ve asked for some recommendations, but we looked over and saw other diners with skewers so we decided to try them too. They were really delicious and I am going to get them for sure again when I go back. The Pad Thai was surprisingly not as flavourful as the ones I’ve had at Thai and Malaysian restaurants. I’m guessing most people don’t order that dish at Filipino restaurants. I found the Beef on Green Curry a little too salty, but it went well with a bowl of rice. It seemed that most people ordered a lot of dishes and had it accompanied with rice. I asked my Filipino friend the next day, and she told me that was usually the way it was eaten. Quite the same as the Chinese cuisine I guess. Overall, it was a very interesting experience and I think I might go there again. I would love to try their Ube Ice Cream or Chiffon Cake, which is taro flavoured. Apparently, it is their famous dessert!

Charcoal Sushi & BBQ Restaurant

March 28, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Lotus Roll – chopped scallop, imitation crab & avocado topped with tobiko, wrapped in cucumber

Went to Charcoal Sushi the other day and my friend recommended me to try the Lotus Roll. It is so refreshing and has a unique twist to normal sushi. No rice at all, so it feels like eating a salad almost! The cucumber is thinly sliced as well. There were a lot of other unique rolls here as well. They also have a barbecue option.

Check out their menu at: www.charcoalrestaurant.ca

Every Day is a Food Day

Tag: bbq

Kyo