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.

Salt Spring Island Noodle Bar (at PNE)

September 23, 2012August 21, 20176 Comments

Chicken + Veg + Pad Thai + Thai Chow Mein

Continuation of The Fair at the PNE! We also looked for some actual food instead of just desserts, and we came across this Asian looking booth called Salt Spring Island Noodle Bar. We thought Pad Thai sounded appealing at that time, so we decided to get it, but we soon realized that it wasn’t the Pad Thai noodles, but the Pad Thai sauce! But it wasn’t even really close to that sauce anyways… It was actually some sort of spicy sauce with chow mein noodles. Although it wasn’t what we had expected, it was still pretty good. It’s not even Asian operated, but I have to say it’s probably better than most of the non-Asian operated food places I’ve tried. After searching it up, I also found that the noodle bar is actually from Salt Spring Island in the Gulf Islands! So it actually came all the way from Victoria to attend The Fair. Pretty cool!

Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cakes (at PNE)

September 22, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Deep Fried Pop Tarts… tempting…

Deep Fried Wagon Wheels…?

Deep Fried Oreos!

Almost a month overdue post now..since PNE was at the end of August! But anyways, PNE had tons of good food during the Fair, so this is just the beginning of some of the food I tried! I heard from my colleague back when I was interning about Deep Fried Oreos, and I knew I had to try them when I went to PNE. There were a two stands with them, but this stand also had Deep Fried Pop Tarts and such…so I decided to give it a try. They were surprisingly really good! I usually find oreos too sweet, but for some reason, these weren’t as sweet as normal oreos. The batter also didn’t feel too oily. It was basically a soft dough on the outside, and the oreo inside wasn’t extremely gooey or melty, so it was really good! They were extremely filling too. I still wonder what Deep Fried Pop Tarts would taste like, but I guess I’ll have to try next year!

B.C. Sushi

September 21, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Yam Tempura

Horenso Gomaae

Ebi Sunomono

Massago Cone, Dynamite Roll, Yam Tempura Roll, Kappa Maki, BC Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll

Yakitori

Salmon Sashimi

Agedashi Tofu

Deep Fried Chicken Knee

BBQ Chicken Wings

Tonkatsu

Lemon Chicken

Salmon Sushi, Hokkigai Sushi, Albacore Tuna Sushi, Tamago Sushi

Beef Teriyaki

Gyoza

Chicken Teriyaki

I was craving some late night sushi, so it was either get some cheap late night at Matsuyama, or get all you can eat. I hadn’t had all you can eat for a while, since I never seem to eat my money’s worth. Plus the quality of food is never up to par, so I usually rather pay more for good quality food. And eating all you can eat food with two people is definitely a bad idea. But…we ended up going to try B.C Sushi, since J said that it was pretty good. B.C. Sushi has two all you can eat menus for late night. You can either choose option A, which is $12.95 or choose option A+B which is $17.95. Option B basically includes sashimi and a few other options. We decided to choose option A+B since we wanted sashimi, but we later read that option A also had sashimi if we were to add $1.50 for 6 pieces. We definitely should’ve just gotten option A and added on the sashimi, since the other items in option B weren’t even anything extremely special. We wanted to try so many items but we couldn’t even finish it since we had ordered way too much food! Food quality wasn’t anything amazing, but I would say it’s much better than some of the other all you can eat places I’ve had. The dishes are huge too…which I totally did not expect. I was thinking they would be cheap and give us tiny dishes each time, but not at B.C. Sushi! So much food that we only ordered one round and we were already screaming for help.

Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe

September 17, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Cup of Granville Island White Clam Chowder

Salmon Burger – Pan-fried salmon with cajun spices & homemade tartar sauce

Tony’s Famous Fish & Chips (Cod)

We went boating this summer at Granville Island, which was so much fun! After that, we wanted to grab something to eat, and we ended up at Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe. It’s located right at the entrance to Granville Island, and it’s pretty packed. We had to wait a bit, and even then, we only got to sit by the bar, which was pretty cramped with the number of us. I wasn’t too hungry, so decided to get the Cup of Granville Island Clam Chowder. Funny thing was, I just had the clam chowder at Ceili’s Pub recently, and sadly, I thought the one at the pub was better… Not that this one wasn’t good, but it lacked ingredients and just wasn’t amazing or anything. I’ve had better, and the one at Ceili’s actually had tons of clams and vegetables. I found this one to be overpriced for the portion, and the lack of ingredients. This is definitely a tourist restaurant so it makes sense for their price.

The Chopped Leaf

September 16, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Caesar (full salad) – Romaine, bacon bits, parmesan & croutons with creamy caesar

Chopped Signature (starter salad) – Romaine, onion, cranberries, feta, roasted pecans & croutons with chopped balsamic

African Spiced Lentil

M came down to join me for lunch during my internship a few weeks ago. Okay, yes my posts are becoming older and older! I just haven’t gotten time to get over all my summer posts. But anyways, I urbanspooned around for a place to eat in downtown, and also a place that served soup, since I was sick and also had my wisdom teeth pulled out. We ended up going to check out The Chopped Leaf, which is a salad, soup and sandwich place that is actually much nicer than a regular cafe. It seemed like a pretty new place, and I liked how you could see some of the chefs preparing the food when you line up.

Unfortunately, the daily soups change all the time, and all of the soups that were featured that day seemed to have some sort of spice. I opted for a Caesar Salad instead, which was quite boring I know. It was presented very nicely with bacon bits and all, and it was quite delicious. I wish there was a little more sauce, and I love my salads with sauce. Totally not healthy… M got the combo of soup and salad and he said they were pretty good as well.

Overall, The Chopped Leaf is a nice place to grab either take out, or a quick lunch or snack. It’s close by on Robson, and had quite a lot working people grabbing lunch. I found that their prices were a little high though, compared to what I could get at an actual restaurant. The prices are pretty much the same, yet I lack the service and ambiance. But oh well, it’s good if you don’t have much time.

Bella Gelateria Handcrafted Gelato (revisit)

September 15, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Caramel, Green Tea, Black Sesame, Akbar Mashti – Saffron and Rosewater

Revisit to Bella Gelateria! After Afghan Horsemen, C, K, J and I decided to grab some dessert. We had walked around Granville Island for a bit, and were craving some ice cream on that nice sunny evening. And of course I wanted Bella after my first time there. It’s pretty much my favourite ice cream shop now. We got there pretty late..I can’t recall the time now, but the line up was massive! We couldn’t even see the doorway at the point we lined up at.

We waited around 15-20 minutes, and got inside the shop. I decided to get Black Sesame and Akbar Mashti, which I honestly still have no idea what it is… The black sesame was actually out of stock at my turn, but they had made another batch, and I waited around less than 5 minutes, and they were able to get me some. The black sesame was rich and full of flavour. Really delicious! As for the Akbar Mashti, it was…kind of weird. I mean, the description behind the name was Saffron and Rosewater, so I was expecting something with rose flavour, and it sort of did. But it also had some weird ingredients that I was not expecting. It came with a nut, and even something that tasted like chocolate. I was really confused to be honest. I probably won’t get that again..and I probably should have tried the flavour beforehand. C got Matcha flavour, which is my all time favourite. And J got Caramel flavour, which was actually really good! It was for some reason, pretty melted, and I usually don’t like caramel, but it was really good! It wasn’t too sweet too.

Bella Gelateria is definitely an ice cream shop to check out if you haven’t already!

Afghan Horsemen

September 14, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Horsemen’s Special Platter (Appetizer) – Hummus & Sabzi Mast, Salata with Feta Cheese, and Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Horsemen’s Special Platter (Main Dish Combination of Meat & Veggie Platter) – Boneless Chicken Shish Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab, Lamb Shoulder, Baked Rice, Baked Eggplat, Dolmah (cabbage roll), Pakawra (batter fried potatoes), & Chaka (sour cream & yogurt dip)

Kabuli Palaw – Baked rice topped with Kabuli (sauteed carrots, raisins & almonds), served with spinach, cauliflower, potato, and your choice of meat

Vegan Plate – plate of baked rice with Kabuli topping (sauteed carrots, raisins & almonds), Dahl (lentil stew), cauliflower, Salata & Pakawra (battered fried potatoes), with a vegetarian sauce dip

Dolmah – Cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes & herbs, then baked to perfection, Served with Chaka (sour cream & yogurt), & our special veggie sauce

K introduced me to Afghan Horsemen, which I thought was a pretty funny name to be honest. I didn’t really know what to expect, since I did not know what Afghans really ate. I just assumed it would be something similar to East Mediterranean food, which was pretty true. K wanted to try out eating in the actual “Afghan Room”, so we rounded up a group of friends and reserved the room ahead of time. It’s pretty cool with all the cushions, low tables, afghan decorations, and dim lighting. After eating for a while though, my body got kind of sore though, since sitting cross legged and such isn’t as ideal when you’re trying to eat. A little cramped up too with the amount of people we had.

Anyways, J and I decided to try their platters, since we wanted to try a variety of their food. We got the Horsemen’s Special Platter, which came with appetizers that include Hummus & Sabzi Mast, Salata with Feta Cheese, and Whole Wheat Pita Bread, and a main dish combination of meat & veggie platter, with Boneless Chicken Shish Kebab, Lamb Shish Kebab, Lamb Shoulder, Baked Rice, Baked Eggplat, Dolmah (cabbage roll), Pakawra (batter fried potatoes), & Chaka (sour cream & yogurt dip). It’s prepared for two people, and a lot of the servings are divided to serve two, but it was still a lot of food! Should have probably shared it between three people to leave a bit of room for dessert. The Pita Bread was still warm and it was actually really good. It wasn’t too oily and was extremely soft. I really enjoyed the Sabzi Mast, which I’m still quite not too sure what it is, but I think it’s some sort of Spinach dip. The Hummus was good as usual too, but I found the Sabzi Mast to be my favourite dip. Our appetizer also came with a Greek Salad, which I disliked, since it’s got feta cheese, and I’m not a big fan of that. C, however loved it, and she devoured it for us! As for the actual main platter, the meat were all well cooked and delicious. My favourite was the Lamb Shish Kebab, as it was cooked extremely tender. The Chicken Shish Kebab was also pretty good, with lots of flavours. The Lamb Shoulder was tender and it was a huge piece between the two of us! C loved our Baked Eggplant, and since both J and I hated eggplants, that was perfect. The Baked Rice was a lot, and we couldn’t even finish it. It’s for sure a special type of rice, of which I’m not aware of its name, and it also had a special seasoning to it. It smelt good and tasted full of herbs though. The Dolmah, which are basically cabbage rolls, and I’ve tried those at Greek restaurants, was probably one of our least favourites. It just had a funny taste to it (which I beleive were the herbs), and the cabbage was also a little tough for me. Our favourite sides, were probably the Pakawra though. They were potatoes that were deep fried, but they actually didn’t taste too oily! The batter was really thin and it was fried to a very interesting texture. Good stuff! As for the other dishes, I never got a chance to try them, but everyone said that it was pretty good!

Anyways, service was great, with our server coming in to check on us. The room only allows us to stay for around 2 hours though, since everyone seems to want to reserve the room. Apparently, there are also supposed to belly dancers on certain nights and times. That would’ve been really cool. The room is shared with a few other guests though, but the tables are separated so you can still have your own conversations. Would I come back again though? Probably not in a while. I feel like this is a place to go try out for an experience, but it’s not necessarily food that I would enjoy eating often – at least that’s what I think personally. Go check it out if you haven’t though, since it’s a pretty cool experience with some interesting food!