Cora’s Breakfast & Lunch (Ironwood)

August 13, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Fruit Cocktail

Jo Construction – 3 eggs (easy over), 3 sausages, and bacon

Toast that came along with Jo Construction

Eggs Ben et Dictine – two poached eggs and ham on an English muffin covered with Hollandaise sauce, served with roasted potatoes and fresh fruit

My parents normally don’t go out to eat breakfast, unless it’s dim sum, but we decided to head down to Ironwood to check out Cora’s since it had opened not too long ago. The service there is…interesting. The people are really friendly, but a little overly friendly that it seems almost fake. They seem to just recite these lines, and it’s almost a little awkward.

But anyways, my dad decided to try their Fruit Cocktail of the day, which was supposed to consist of 5 fruits or something like that. I don’t remember which fruits she said, but I took a sip, and it was alright. Just a bunch of fruits blended together I’m guessing, but not a smoothie texture for sure. It was much more light and watery. For myself, I got the Eggs Ben et Dictine. I seem to always get the eggs benedict at breakfast places, but that’s cause I feel like I can’t easily make that at home. Or at least I don’t feel that I’m skilled enough to do so! It was presented really nicely with fruits covering the plate in a nice presentation. Apparently, at Cora’s, their selling point is that their breakfasts are supposed to be extremely healthy because of all the fruits they add to the plate. But the funny thing was that my roasted potatoes were the last thing I would call healthy. They sure were roasted… Some of them were so burnt that you pretty much couldn’t even take a bite from the side. It was just pure black. I swear I had 1/3 of the potatoes left on my plate because they were just clearly inedible.

Other than that, everything was decent. Surprisingly, the portions weren’t as large as I had imagined. I think it’s probably because 1/4 of your plate is full of fruits, so it’s not as filling. So I would say Cora’s definitely has smaller portions compared to places such as IHop. I was also quite surprised that on a weekday morning, there were actually quite a few tables of people eating.

The Crab King

August 3, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

My foodie friends, Steph, Mica and I 🙂

So many crabs in the tank!

Crab Poutine

Seafood Spring Rolls

Deep Fried Mussels with Crunchy Fries – paprika spice, lemon

After watching a video of the construction of Crab King, hearing all the good comments about it, and even walking by a few times and always telling my friends we would try it next time, I finally tried it on a nice sunny day! Crab King is located on the boardwalk of Steveston Village, and is apparently supposed to be floating, but it wasn’t exactly “floating” as I had imagined. Crab King is also sort of a self serve place. You place your order at the front, and then you take a numbered sign with you to the table of your choice. Then, they bring the food to you.

Steph, Mica and I wanted to try a bit of everything, so we decided to share three plates. First up, the Crab Poutine we had all been talking about! It was basically a plate of fries topped with crab pieces and layered with cheese and gravy. Interestingly, the cheese wasn’t like the cheese curd that we usually see in poutines at New York Fries and such, but it was much more stringy and I actually preferred this much more. The amount of crab was also not too shabby, so it was definitely a good dish. Next up, we got the Seafood Spring Rolls. I couldn’t exactly taste the seafood in it, but I thought they tasted better than some of the Vietnamese spring rolls I’ve had. Not bad! And lastly, I wanted to try the Deep Fried Mussels, which came with what they called “Crunchy Fries”. We asked the cashier why they were called crunchy fries since they also had something on the menu just called normal fries, but he just laughed and said “to make it sound more special” or something along those lines. Interesting… Anyways, the mussels were pretty interesting since they were “deep fried”. They tasted pretty much the same as normal mussels, but were a little more crispy on the edges. The paprika gave it a nice flavour, and along with the lemon, had some zesty flavour to it. As for the fries, definitely not anything different than those normal fries. Tasted just like any other fries.

Crab King is definitely a nice place to grab some boardwalk food if you’re in Steveston Village, and is a great option other than the typical Pajos Fish and Chips that we often get. It’s got an amazing view by the water and is breezy on a nice summer day!

Manzo Itamae

August 1, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Takoyaki

Mentaiko Chaahan

I realized that I’ve been getting lazy with food blogging, and now my posts are all from weeks ago! Anyways, a few weeks ago, we had Michelle’s birthday dinner at Manzo Itamae. I’ve actually been here a few times, although I personally think it’s just average. I wasn’t too hungry that day since I ate not long beforehand, so I decided to share some food. We got the Takoyaki, which I thought was pretty good. It came with loads of that fish flake stuff, and the fillings inside weren’t crappy like some places. Mica suggested that I try the Mentaiko Chaahan, which is basically fried rice with marinated roe of pollock. It was quite interesting since I don’t think I’ve really had Japanese fried rice before. You could definitely taste the flavours of the mentaiko, which made the dish great. Service was however terrible with this dish. The takoyakis came promptly, but I swear I waited for almost an hour for my Mentaiko Chaahan to come. I know that we had a large group, so it would take longer, but the fact that everyone else’s food came, but not mine, was a disappointment. Most of my friends had finished their food by the time my fried rice came. So service this time was definitely a disappointment, but food was average as usual.

Takifugu Japanese Dining

July 30, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Salmon Tororo-Ae – Atlantic Salmon with Grated Japanese Yam Potato

Assorted Oshinko – Assorted Japanese Pickles

Kawahaki Mirin Boshi – Grilled Dry Kawahaki Fish

Teba Shio Yaki – Grilled Chicken Wing with Salt

Fresh Clams

Niku Tataki – Seared AAA Beef Sliced with Special Sauce

Nabayaki Udon – Tempura Prawns, Chicken and Egg with udon in soup served in a Hot Pot

Kani Uni Roll (Fresh Sea Urchin with Real Crab) and Chopped Scallop Tobiko Roll

Long overdue, but a few weeks ago, it was my birthday! I went to Takifugu which is hidden in the inner corner of the same mall that West Lake moved to. The interior is really nice, and looks almost like it is fine dining, but when you look at the prices, it isn’t as expensive as you would think. It was also pretty quiet, with just one or two tables, but maybe because it was a weekday, and also because the location is quite hidden.

We ordered the Salmon Tororo-Ae to begin. I was so confused what the outer white stuff was for the longest time, until I looked at the menu again now, and realized that it was grated yam potato! I wasn’t even sure if I was supposed to eat it before, since it kind of just slid off the sashimi when I picked it up. Not bad, but I would probably stick with the typical salmon sashimi, without the potato around it. Steph got the Assorted Oshinko since she is always crazy for oshinko. I swear everytime I eat at a Japanese restaurant with her, she orders something to do with oshinko… But anyways, I never tried it, since I’m not a big fan of oshinko, but she told me that they were some interesting oshinko, and that she probably would prefer the typical yellow ones we see in sushi normally. Next up was the Kawahaki Mirin Boshi, which was basically grilled fish. It reminded me of those grilled squid I used to always get when I was little. It was chewy, and was accompanied with a nice mayo sauce. I wanted the Teba Shio Yaki, which were basically grilled chicken wings. I thought they were grilled very nicely, with a thin crispy layer of skin. They were also having some seasonal items, and so we got tried the Fresh Clams. They were juicy, but I found them a little tough. Not tough to the point that I couldn’t chew, but I’ve had more tender clams.I really wanted something like beef tataki, so I ordered the Niku Tataki. It was presented really nicely on a bowl on ice, and they were tiny little strips of meat. I’m not sure if I ordered the right thing, but what I really wanted was something like Guu’s Beef Tataki. It was decent, but it could’ve been more juicy, and the sauce wasn’t any special.We also got the Nabayaki Udon, which had a very flavourful soup, and was actually very delicious. Lastly we got some sushi rolls, and we got the Kani Uni Roll, as well as theChopped Scallop Roll. I have to say, I was kind of disappointed in them, as they weren’t presented as nicely as the other dishes. They were also just alright, and weren’t too impressive. I’ve definitely had better chopped scallop rolls elsewhere.

Overall, Takifugu is a nice place to have dinner, with a variety of dishes to choose from. I like how they have a wide assortment of grilled items, similar to Zakkushi. I think their hidden location is the cause to their lack of customers.

Calipops!

July 26, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

I was feeling thirsty at Steveston after the donuts, and walked by Timothy’s, but wasn’t exactly craving ice cream. I ended up trying a Calipop instead since it reminded me of something similar I had back in the day. It’s pretty smooth and strong in strawberry flavour, but wasn’t as icy as I had hoped it to be. It was more like a smooth, creamy texture rather than icy. Not bad as an alternative to ice cream, but didn’t really work as a thirst quencher!

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!

Matsuyama

July 13, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Deep Fried Gyoza, Salmon Maki, Chicken Teriyaki, California Roll w/ Miso Soup

Salmon Maki, California Roll, Chopped Scallop Roll

Matsuyama Roll

I keep seeing people’s picture of Matsuyama all over my Facebook news feed, so I finally decided to go check it out. I think people usually go during their late night dinner since it’s supposed to be of very good value. However, I went for lunch instead, and they had a lot of sushi boxes and combos. I honestly don’t remember what the combo names were called since I didn’t take a picture of the menu. I had the second combo which had salmon maki, california roll, and chopped scallop roll. I didn’t think the fish were too fresh, and the chopped scallop roll had a weird fishy smell to it. It was a good price from what I remember, but the quality is definitely below average. The late night special would probably be of same quality but with a low price, it probably would attract a lot of customers. I would probably give the late night dinner a try, but most likely wouldn’t come back for their lunch or normal dinner.

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!