Casa das Bifanas – Lisbon

April 28, 2014Leave a comment

Casa das Bifanas is located in Rossio Square, and it doesn’t look fancy at all. We got drawn in because of the lady at the window preparing the bifanas or Portuguese pork cutlets. Don’t expect much service here though as they are extremely busy! Some people come here and sit at the bar and just order a soup or a bifana and then quickly leave, while others actually enjoy their meal here. Regardless, there are not many seats.

First we got the Vegetable Soup. This was very simple with just some typical veggies like carrots in it. Nothing too special, but it still tasted pretty good.

The Fish Soup was much better and our favourite. It came with pieces of bread on top, which were delicious when soaked in the soup.

Underneath there were loads of macaroni and pieces of fish. Very good and most tables had also ordered this!

And then we had the Bifana or the Portuguese Pork Cutlet. This was so good! The bread wasn’t the softest, but the pork cutlet was well marinated and grilled to perfection. So tender and juicy! This is a must try in Portugal and the prices at Casa das Bifanas were very affordable.

Noordzee Mer du Nord – Brussels

March 21, 2014March 20, 20143 Comments

Following a week of school, which was also my last week of school, the weekend came and off I was to another country again! C, a foodie from Hong Kong and I had planned this trip around a month ago. We found flights for 30 euros round trip from Barcelona to Brussels and we couldn’t say no! Belgian waffles, chocolate, fries, beer, mussels… yup no foodie would say no to such a cheap flight! Obviously, it wasn’t a fancy flight with Ryanair, but we’re pretty much used to those early morning, pass out on the plane flights. When we arrived at the airport, which I believe isn’t their international one, we had to take a bus to the city center. Then once there, we took a metro and arrived at our guesthouse which I’ll talk about more in later posts. We dropped off our backpacks and off we went to explore the city. It was a shame that it was raining in Brussels most of the time we were there, but at least it wasn’t pouring rain. We walked by Noordzee Mer du Nord and C pointed out that she had read it was a must visit! With crowds eating there even in the rain, we knew it must’ve been good! The place has no seats, but only a long bar table along the kitchen, or some stand up tables pitched with tents to cover you from rain. No seats though.

Their kitchen is open, so you can watch them prepare the food.

Fish Soup

The famous item that we saw everyone getting was the Fish Soup. This was absolutely delicious since it was a chilly, rainy day and something hot was perfect! However, we did find that the soup was more like a vegetable minestrone soup. There were fish pieces inside, but the vegetable soup was so strong that it covered any fish flavour. The best part was the side of bread that had some sort of mayo and cheese on top. We asked the man how to eat this, and he said do whatever you want! He said he usually threw the whole piece in, so we did too! That was awesome because the cheese would melt right away in the soup, and the mayo gave the soup some creaminess. So good! Another two slices of just plain bread was also complimentary for each soup. A must try!

Grilled Scallops

We also decided to get another dish and chose the Grilled Scallops. Mer du Nord’s menu is basically all seafood since they are known for their fresh fish and seafood. We decided to go for the Grilled Scallops, which are by piece and quite pricey. Sadly, we were a bit disappointed in them. Not that they weren’t fresh or grilled perfectly, but that the flavour of the sauce wasn’t too appealing for us. It was more of a onion based sauce, and we had imagine something like a white wine or garlic sauce. Something was a little odd about the sauce, or we just weren’t too accustomed to this type of flavour. Nevertheless, the scallops were extremely fresh and cooked well.

Overall, Mer du Nord is definitely worth checking out when in Brussels. It’s sort of like a quick place to grab a bite without having to sit down. The food is fresh and of good quality, although I find that the prices are a little pricey. However, other than tourists, you find many locals here. They come here for a glass of wine with their fish soup and select a variety of other seafood dishes. Everything looked delicious!

Coup d’Etat – Paris

January 25, 2014Leave a comment

After a few days back in Barcelona, we were off again to our next destination: Paris! I’ve been to Paris when I was in high school for a penpal exchange, so it was great to be back after several years. I guess Paris didn’t change much, but it was weird that we were off to wander the streets ourselves this time. On my last trip to Paris, I had an Italian teacher who taught us French and knew Paris by heart. She was able to recommend us food at cheap prices, but of good quality. I found it to be a struggle this time without a local. Anyways, we had finished checking out the Louvre and we needed lunch so we wandered the area and ended up near the Rivoli metro stop. Many people were eating outside at Coup d’Etat, but we found it a little chilly and headed inside. The atmosphere is pretty hip and cool.

French Onion Soup

We decided to share two appetizers and one entree. First, we got the French Onion Soup, since we were in France! This was so delicious and filling! Their appetizers are huge! The soup was really thick, with loads of onions, bread soaked in the soup and topped off with lots and lots of cheese. If you love cheesy food, this is the perfect item for you.

Caprese Salad

My sister was still craving her Caprese Salads, so of course we ordered one. This was presented beautifully with tomatoes layered at the bottom. A few greens on top, and the buffalo mozzarella in the middle. It was topped with a chip that seemed to be a vegetable. Not quite sure what it was, but not bad! The mozzarella was fresh and another cheese dish meant we were completely filled up!

Croque Madame

Last but not least, when in France, order a Croque Madame (or Monsieur). It took us a while to figure out what the difference was between a madame and monsieur, but apparently a madame is the same as a monsieur but topped with a sunny side up egg. Both sandwiches have ham and cheese. There was so much cheese on this that we didn’t end up finishing it. Three dishes of cheese. Not exactly sure what we were thinking. However, it tasted wonderful and came with a side of salad to lighten things up.

And here was our lunch! Overloaded with cheesiness! Also to note is that in Paris, tap water is quite drinkable. Therefore, when you ask for water, just let them know you want tap water. Finally a city where water is free again!

And we’ll finish the post with a view of the Louvre!

Old Speghetti Factory (Gastown)

May 8, 2013Leave a comment

Since it was dinner time and we were in downtown, J suggested we go to The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown. I’m not a big fan of the family chain restaurant since I’ve had some pretty bad experiences with the food, but J insisted that they had some great salad, so I decided to give it another shot. The place is definitely a family restaurant, and since we went for an early dinner, we were seated immediately. The Gastown location is said to be haunted too which makes everything a little more spooky! In the middle of the restaurant is an electric trolley. It is said that a train conductor died in a crash years ago and that people have seen his ghostly figure in pictures. Kind of creepy, since we were seated right next to the trolley.

Classic Sourdough Bread with Whipped Garlic and Plain Butter

All items that you order that are under the “It’s all included” menu include some bread, soup or salad and dessert. To start off, we were given the Classic Sourdough Bread with Whipped Garlic and Plain Butter. This was decent and I especially liked the Whipped Garlic.

Crisp Green Salad with Low-Fat Sesame Dressing

J chose the Crisp Green Salad with Low-Fat Sesame Dressing, since he said the dressing was really good the last time he had it. I took a bite and it definitely was pretty good. The dressing was sort of a vinaigrette based dressing with a hint of sesame flavour.

Clam Chowder

As for myself, I chose a soup isntead of the salad. You normally get a Minestrone Soup, but I chose to add $2.25 to substitute for a Clam Chowder. It was thick and creamy, but I’ve definitely had better Clam Chowder. It was just alright.

Pot-Pourri Spaghetti with Meat, Mushroom and Clam Sauce

And onto our entrees, we got of course some spaghetti! Since I couldn’t decide which sauce to get, I ended up getting the Pot-Pourri Spaghetti, which included all three of their most popular sauces. The last time I had spaghetti here, it was just watery and disgusting. This time, it wasn’t watery, but it still wasn’t any better. The meat sauce wasn’t anything special and I swear I could just buy the sauce off the shelf. The mushroom sauce tasted pretty much like the meat sauce except with mushrooms. The only sauce that I thought was decent was the clam sauce which actually had many pieces of clams in it.

Spaghetti with Spicy Meat Sauce

As for J, he got the Spaghetti with Spicy Meat Sauce. This too, wasn’t any good. The sauce wasn’t flavourful and you could just taste the spaghetti with a hint of spice to it. Anyone could have made this dish.

Spumoni Ice Cream

For dessert, J got the Spunomi Ice Cream, which was a mixture of pistachio, chocolate and vanilla. I thought it tasted extremely weird and wasn’t a big fan of it.

Vanilla Ice Cream

For myself, I got the Vanilla Ice Cream. I’m usually a big fan of ice cream, and will literally eat any ice cream no matter how full I am, but I only took a few spoons of this. I was just dissatisfied with my meal and the ice cream wasn’t even good.

Overall, we were pretty disappointed with our meal. The food is decently priced with all the items that are included in your meal, but the quality just isn’t up to par. We left with half our dishes finished cause it was that bad.

Burgoo (West 4th)

April 25, 2013April 26, 2013Leave a comment

My 3rd year of school is officially done! For now at least… until summer school begins again. This called for a celebration dinner! Since N and I finished our exams at the same time, we decided to meet up for dinner and J joined along. We went to Burgoo on West 4th since I’ve been craving some comfort food and have been seeing too many of their delicious pictures on Instagram these days. Continue reading →

House of Tofu Soup

November 8, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

I know I am totally guilty of not posting in a very long time…It’s probably been literally a whole month since I’ve last posted, but early October was midterms for me, and then I got sick. And now I’m still sick, so I’ve been eating at home pretty much every day. I pretty much got sick two times in the month, and while I was sort of recovering from my first cold, I decided I should finally go out to eat! But that also meant limited choices since I shouldn’t be eating oily, greasy food. I ended up looking some places offering soup and came across House of Tofu Soup. I’ve actually driven by the the restaurant multiple times on Garden City, and I was always curious if it were good. Looking at the reviews, it had pretty good ratings, but those can be deceptive sometimes.

J and I got there at around 8 for dinner and the place was pretty packed! It wasn’t fully occupied, but pretty full compared to what I had imagined. The place looked really small from the outside, but it was actually quite large and could fit many tables. I felt like there was a lot of the young crowd here, although there were families as well.

After taking down our orders, we were served appetizers just like any other Korean restaurant. However, their appetizers were a little different from the usual ones I see. What was really interesting was the Pumpkin Soup. It was funny because J did not believe me when I said it was soup, and refused to drink it. We asked the waitress after, and she confirmed that it was pumpkin soup. I actually thought it tasted a little like cream of corn, but I guess my taste buds were acting a little funny since I was still sick. I actually really enjoyed the soup though. It was quite thick, but the amount they gave you was perfect so that you wouldn’t get sick of that thickness. It also had a hint of sweetness, which I really enjoyed. Another interesting appetizer was the Mashed Potato. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it was. It was a tiny scoop with beans and corn mixed inside. It was smooth and creamy, and was pretty good as well. And then there was the typical Kimchi and Marinated Seaweed, which I both enjoyed. The last appetizer was the Radish, which I took a bite out of, but did not enjoy due to personal taste preferences. What I really wanted as part of the appetizers were sweet potatoes! But guess they don’t serve them here… Oh and they also brought an egg as well, which I assumed was to be thrown into my soup.

J got the JapChae, which apparently wasn’t that great. I only took a few strands to try, but I wasn’t exactly able to get a good taste of it. The appearance of it didn’t look as flavourful as some of the other ones I’ve seen before though. It also seemed to lack some of the usual veggies that other Korean restaurants use. It looked as though there were more potato noodles than the accompaniments, which might be the reason why it wasn’t as tasty. It was a huge portion however.

And for myself, I got the Tofu Soup, where you get to choose your toppings and soup base. I chose to get a Mix, which basically means there’s both seafood and beef. As for the soup base, I had to go with “White” since my throat definitely would not be able to take the spice. I kind of regret getting the mixture of toppings, because most of the seafood portion were shrimp that were so tiny that it was pretty impossible to rip off the outer shell. I already hate making a mess with seafood in public, and the fact that the shrimps were so tiny, I just completely gave up on doing so. So it was pretty much a waste for me. They did however have mussels in it too, but they didn’t come with the shell and were extremely tiny as well. The beef was limited as I got the mixture, so I should have probably just gotten all beef instead. However, I really enjoyed the tofu and the soup was full of it. I liked how they weren’t cubes of tofu, but they were the ones that were extremely soft. It mixed in well with the rice. I have to say the soup lacked flavour though, but I’m guessing that most people normally order the soup with spice, so that should probably help.

What was really interesting about this tofu soup was that, the waitress would come with a trolley and there would be your tofu soup as pictured above, and then there would be a stone bowl with your rice in it. Then she would scrape the rice and put it in the metal container that was beside the soup in the previous picture. There would be a little leftover rice sticking to this stone bowl, and she would pour this tea in it. She told me that it was for cleansing at the end of my meal. Pretty interesting! I’m guessing if she didn’t pour the tea in it, then it would be like the crunchy rice in bibimbaps! I tried the rice with the tea at the end of my meal, and indeed it was quite cleansing! It was like rice tea… well that was literally what it was. The most interesting part of my meal for sure.

Overall, I wouldn’t say House of Tofu Soup is anything amazing. I actually prefer the Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot, which is pretty much the same thing, although I heard they changed names. House of Tofu Soup would definitely be able to fit larger parties though. Prices were decent, but nothing too special. It might be a place I would go again if I ran out of choices and was around the neighborhood.

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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.