Outpost Mini Donut Co.

July 25, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Vancouver weather has finally been more pleasant and a sunny day meant heading over to the Steveston Village for a walk. Everyone has been talking about these donuts at Outpost Mini Donu Co. for a while, but I never even noticed this donut shop although I walk past it almost every time I’m there. The interior is really cute and cozy, and you can see the making of donuts coming fresh out of the oven. I got half a dozen of a variety of donuts, including chocolate, vanilla, pink lemonade and cinnamon to name a few. Although they have all these flavours, my favourites are still the original cinnamon sugar coated donuts. Overall, great fresh donuts in a lovely area!

Jang Mo Jib (Burnaby)

July 24, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Complimentary Assorted Appetizers – Sweet Potato, Kimchi, Bean Sprouts, Spicy Radish

Dol Sot Bee Bim Bahb – Assorted preserved vegetables, beef, sauteed Kimchi, onions and fried egg served on rice in a hot stone bowl, served with homemade hot chili paste on the side

Jab Che – Stir-fried sweet potato noodle with assorted vegetables and beef cooked in a house special marinade sauce

Hae Mool Pah Jun – Assorted seafood pancake with green onions and egg, served with house special soy sauce to dip

Jing Uh Bool Go Gee – Korean Traditional stir-fried squid and vegetables in spicy house special BBQ sauce

After more than probably a year, Steph, Sharmaine, Chris and I finally got together to celebrate our HR paper…well not that we didn’t see each other again, but we kept saying we would get together for dinner to celebrate finishing HR class! And since we all lived in different parts of Vancouver, we had to figure our which would be the closest for all of us. And so we met in between, and ended up in Burnaby, and decided to go for Jang Mo Jib.

I’ve had Jang Mo Jib in Richmond, but never before elsewhere, so I was curious to see what the menu was like here. Sadly, from what I recall, the menu is pretty much the same. We had originally wanted Korean BBQ I think, but we didn’t see the little cooking area built on our table and were a bit confused, so we ended up just ordering some Korean dishes.

Jang Mo Jib always provides complimentary appetizers as our side dishes. This consists of Sweet Potatoes, Kimchi, Bean Sprouts, Spicy Radishes, and a bowl of Rice. I love their sweet potatoes, but to this day, I’m still not sure what kind of sauce it’s in. As for our first dish, we got the Dol Sot Bee Bim BahbDol. It’s basically like a stone bowl, with rice, and you mix all the veggies and eggs that are on top together. Interestingly though, it had an interesting taste to it that we were all aware of. Now that I look back on the menu, I think we ordered the wrong one! This one was a different Bee Bim Bahp from the traditional one, as it included sauteed kimchi in it, hence the unique flavour. I love Jab Che, so I chose to order that. Enormous portion! But I love the texture of those sweet potato noodles. Definitely a lot of carbs too! And then we also got that Hae Mool Pah Jun, which is the popular seafood pancake. It was filled with lots of squid and green onions, and was crispy at the top. And lastly, we decided to try the Jing Uh Bool Go Gee, which was stir-fried squid in a slightly spicy sauce. We found the squid a little tough, but it was still very delicious.

We went on a weekday, so it actually wasn’t too busy. We basically sat there till we were given the bill, since we were catching up and lost track of time. That was probably like 3 hours! So I guess it’s a nice place to sit around for on a weekday. But I hear that it gets really busy on the weekends, especially since it’s located very central, near Metrotown.

Loving Hut

July 24, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Crispy Chick’n Burger

I’ve been interning in downtown these days, and finally met up with Andrew to grab lunch since we actually worked pretty close together! He brought me to Loving Hut, which is located just across the street from the Yaletown Canada Line Station, and in front of the Yaletown Roundhouse Community Centre. Loving Hut actually serves vegan burgers, but I honestly had no idea while I was lining up, until Andrew told me. And even when I took the bite, I still had no idea! I had the Crispy Chick’n Burger and the sauce, which was chipotle mayo was really delicious! It was a bit spicy, but something that I could handle. If I hadn’t known beforehand that the chicken was vegan, I probably would have finished the whole burger thinking I had ate real chicken. But since I knew, I took the bite of chicken more carefully, trying to taste it. It tasted like some sort of soy product I think. But honestly, I think the burger tasted better than some real chicken burgers I’ve had. Definitely a must try, and I would love to try the Grilled Mushroom Cheese Burger next time! They don’t operate everyday, and only during lunch hours I believe, so make sure to check beforehand.

Phnom Penh

July 18, 2012May 3, 20131 Comment

Mango Moo Moo Shake

Iced Rainbow Drink

Butter Beef

Special Combo A – Deep Fried Spring Roll, Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane

Filet Beef on Rice with Egg

Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth)

Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot

Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings

I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally try Phnom Penh. It’s been on my wishlist ever since I heard it was one of the top restaurants in Vancouver on Urbanspoon. The only thing really stopping me was where it was located. It’s in the Chinatown neighborhood, which can be a little sketchy at night, but luckily, Phnom Penh is located in a smaller street. The street is mostly small groceries, and is actually pretty quiet, other than the line ups at Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh doesn’t take reservations unless you have a table of 6, but luckily, we got our seat quite quick. We did however have to share a table with another group of 4, but it wasn’t too awkward as it was a long rectangular table.

We decided to grab some drinks, and I got the Iced Rainbow Drink. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the drink since I don’t like bits of red beans in my food, but my mom said it was the drink for Vietnamese cuisine so she wanted to take a sip from it. It was alright, and I liked the green jelly bits in it. Next up, we got the Butter Beef. This is one of their most popular dishes, and it was really good! It is basically half cooked meat, topped with a lot of cilantro and a special sauce. I really dislike cilantro, so I picked it all out, but the meat was still really good. I loved the sauce and the meat was not tough at all. We also got the Special Combo A, which included Deep Fried Spring Rolls, a Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, and a Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane. They were all very delicious and I especially liked the Beef Brochette. The beef was extremely tender and flavourful. We also got the Filet Beef on Rice with Egg, which seemed pretty typical, but their sauce was quite distinct. It had an interesting taste that I cannot describe! Next, we got the Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth). I found it a little dry, but I guess it’s supposed to be like that since it said no broth! They have one with broth too, so maybe that one is better. It also had a very unique flavour again. I think the sauce had garlic or something, but I’m not quite sure. This one was just alright. We also wanted to try their curry, so we got the Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot. I really enjoyed the curry, but I found it quite different from the usual Vietnamese curry I get back in Richmond. The curry wasn’t as thick, but rather very thin and was perfect to pour onto vermicelli to add some flavour. They also didn’t use potatoes, but instead yams, which was an interesting change to the usual. And lastly, we got the famous Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings. People tell me they’re the best wings around, but maybe because I had such high expectations for them, they didn’t really live up to my expectations. They were still really delicious and I loved the dipping sauce that came with it. I have to say my favourite wings around the town are these, and the ones at Wo Fung Dessert in Aberdeen Mall.

Overall, Phnom Penh lived up to their high ranking on Urbanspoon. They definitely have great food. I’m still however confused what exactly is authentic Cambodian and Vietnamese food. Maybe I ordered the wrong dishes. But I’ll definitely come back again for more. The prices are however more expensive than I had expected, but it’s decent. Oh and to add, the interior was newly renovated, so it was actually really clean with brand new furniture.

Sushi House

July 12, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Half Order of Salmon Sashimi

Chopped Scallop Roll

Nabeyaki Udon

Crazy Boy Roll – Fried California Roll with Tobiko and Home Sauce

A few weeks ago, I finally met up with Natalie for lunch after saying this for probably half a year. Yes! I mentioned you Natalie 🙂 She treated me to lunch since my birthday was coming up soon and she suggested Sushi House. I didn’t really know of this place, but now I’ll probably come here again. It’s fairly small, with limited seats, but the food is pretty fresh at a decent price. We sat at the bar since we only had two people, and we were able to watch the sushi chefs do their thing.

We ordered a half order of Salmon Sashimi which was extremely fresh. We also ordered the Chopped Scallop Roll, which is one of my favourites. It wasn’t anything special, and was average like at any other restaurant. The Nabeyaki Udon was delicious and came with two prawn tempuras. I think my favourite item we ordered was the Crazy Boy Roll. It was something I had never tried before, and was really interesting. It almost looked like pizza when it was presented to us! It was basically california roll which was fried, and sliced up. It was then topped with tobiko, and a home made sauce, which was pretty spicy. The batter was like the tempura batter, and it wasn’t too thick. It gave a good crunch to it and was definitely the highlight of our meal.

I think Sushi House also does take out, since they have a great selection of party trays. Perhaps I’ll try that next time when I’m craving some sushi!

L.A. Chicken

July 10, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

8 piece Family Meal (1/2 regular, 1/2 spicy)

Everyone has been talking about L.A. Chicken and raving that their chicken is better than KFC’s and Church’s. I finally tried it and was surprised to see that the location wasn’t as sketch as I had imagined it to be. I was also greeted by an Asian lady at the counter who knew how to speak Cantonese. We first got the first tray of gravy, fries, and 4 pieces of regular chicken. I have to agree that the chicken was actually so much better than KFC’s or Church’s. The batter was pretty thin and I didn’t find it to be too oily. The seasoning also wasn’t too salty. The fries were just alright, and I think I prefer KFC’s more, since I like their fries with the potato skin. Then, the lady brought us out the other 4 pieces of spicy chicken, except she gave us one extra piece for free! No idea why, but that was very kind of her. Way too much food for us though! The spicy one had a different batter, and it reminded me of the KFC chicken when you ask for “crispy”. So it was basically crispy and spicy together, which made really good chicken! I brought the leftovers home for my parents, and they loved them too. I should mention that I went around 5pm, and people were all lining up to get take out, as well. Definitely will go there for some fried chicken again, although it’s a little far for me compared to Church’s.

Red Robin

June 30, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

5 Alarm Burger with Yam Fries – Pepper-Jack cheese, jalapeños, fresh tangy salsa layered on a juicy beef burger and topped with crisp lettuce, tomatoes and chipotle mayo

Calamarvelous – lightly seasoned tender calamari fresh-fried golden, topped with red onions and served with tzatziki

I haven’t had Red Robin in quite some time now, so we decided to make a stop for a quick snack while shopping downtown. Red Robin always seems to have people eating no matter what time. I decided to get the Calamarvelous since I was craving some calamari. I thought it was just decent though. The batter wasn’t that amazing, and wasn’t as fluffy as I would have liked it to be. I’ve definitely had better calamari before. I never got a chance to try the burger, but it looked pretty delicious.

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant

June 25, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Pan Fried Oysters – chili lime aïoli, tobiko

Island Club – shrimp & crab salad, bacon, guacamole

Blue Shell Mussels – steamed with coconut red curry sauce

It was finally a nice sunny day in Vancouver last Friday, and a day off for me, so of course I had to go out to enjoy the weather. I hadn’t gone to Granville Island in a very long time, so off I went to look for food. Granville Island’s market itself has tons of food stalls and fresh food, but we ended up at The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant. We chose to sit outside since it was such a nice day out (although it did get gloomy very fast), but they had a fireplace in the outdoor patio, which kept us very warm. They also have little blankets for you if it gets too cold. It was definitely a place with great service and of course, a great view.

We started off with the Pan Fried Oysters, which came with tobiko and an ailoi sauce. I thought it was just decent, and not anything amazing. I found it a little dry. I tried a bit of the Island Club too, which I thought was pretty good. I really liked the shrimp and crab filling and there were quite a lot of it too. And for myself, I had the Blue Shell Mussels. The mussels were tiny, but very fresh and sweet. It had a nice coconut red curry sauce that wasn’t too spicy, but strong in coconut flavour.

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant definitely has got good food, especially if you’re looking for seafood. And of course a wonderful view and service! Highly recommend!