Edible Canada (Dine Out 2014) & Earnest Ice Cream

May 28, 2014May 27, 2014Leave a comment

I know I’m months late for my Dine Out 2014 posts, but I’m going to write them anyway! For my first dine out, I went to Edible Canada with J. Edible Canada is located at Granville Island, and is well known for promoting local food. The Dine Out menu was for $28, with some menu items offered at an additional cost. We also chose to get the BC VQA Wine Pairings, which was an additional $16. I can assure that you’ll be pretty filled up by the end of the night!

Bartier Scholefield Sauivignon Blanc 2012, Bartier Bros. Unoaked Chardonnay 2012

The wines that came with our appetizers were white wines. Each dish comes with a specific wine pairing that is supposed to match your dish. I’m not a wine expert, so I won’t comment too much about them, but we did find that all our wines suited the dishes quite well.

Crispy Humboldt Squid – shaved fennel, radishes, squid ink aioli

J got the Crispy Humboldt Squid, which were cut into strips, rather than the typical calamari style we often eat. The squid were very tender and the batter was light and well seasoned. It also came with a bit of squid ink aioli which was a nice touch.

Fried BC Mountain Scallops – lamb offal, brown sugar & bacon, baked beans, cornbread

For myself, I got the Fried BC Mountain Scallops. I had originally thought that they were “typical” scallops, until the waitress warned me while taking my order that they were really lamb offals or testicles. Feeling adventurous that day, I ordered it anyways. Turns out they were quite delicious! They were tender and had a slight chew, and were lightly breaded and fried. It came in a pan of baked beans which accompanied the “scallops” really well.

Bartier Bros. Merlot 2011, Market Red 2012

For our main pairing, we were given red wines. Perfect, since we were both having dishes with meat.

Grilled 6oz Canadian AAA Filet Mignon – bouquetiere of vegetables, bone marrow butter, root vegetable pave

J added an extra $20 for the Grilled 6oz Canadian AAA Filet Mignon. It was cooked to medium-rare as requested with a beautiful pink interior. The meat was tender and juicy.

Seared Lois Lake Steelhead – Fraser Valley winter kale, wild boar bacon, roasted Hazelmere Farm sunchokes

For myself, I chose the Seared Lois Lake Steelhead. I like to order fish when I dine out, since I can never cook fish well. This was absolutely delicious! The steelhead was so moist and the skin was seared beautifully. I normally don’t like to eat the skin on fish, but I devoured this! A must order! It also came with some kale, which was lightly seasoned and made a great side of veggies.

Whiskey Cream a la Zack Shave, Venturi-Schultze Brodenburg #3

Lastly, for our desserts, we also got some dessert wines. For my dessert, I got a Whiskey Cream, which I found extremely strong! It’s like a creamy coffee cream flavour, but the whiskey itself was very strong so I felt like you had to really sip on this.

Canadian Butter Tart – macerated raisins, Chantilly cream

J got the Canadian Butter Tart, which he said was quite good.

Bacon Ice Cream Sundae – ginger brownie, walnut crumble, dulce de leche, whipped cream

I came here looking forward to the Bacon Ice Cream Sundae. Unfortunately, you needed to add an additional $2, but I did it anyways. Edible Canada is known for their bacon ice cream, but I was actually slightly disappointed. It was delicious after the first spoon, but halfway through, I found it too sweet. It’s filled with a lot of dulce de leche, and along with the brownie, it’s just too sweet for my liking! The bacon and ice cream is a nice pairing though, just because you get a bit of saltiness and sweetness. Still, I don’t think I would order this again.

Edible Canada also has a retail store next to the restaurant. They sell a variety of local goods. They essentially sell Canadian gourmet foods here, although they focus mainly on BC goods. One local goodie they sell are Earnest Ice Cream products! So of course I went home with a jar of Whiskey Hazelnut Ice Cream. Quite pricey for ice cream since it came to around $10. That was already after using a 10% coupon that Edible Canada provides you on your receipt after you’ve dined with them. However, the ice cream is pretty damn good. I don’t know if I would pay that price for my every day ice cream though. Probably a nice treat once in a while! For those that don’t want to trek all the way to Earnest Ice Cream, you can now shop at after your meal at Edible Canada!

All in all, Edible Canada was a nice casual restaurant with quality food. I like how they use local ingredients, so you know that you have the freshest ingredients. Service was average, but as usual, you can’t expect much during Dine Out, since it’s always busy. They did their regular check ups, so I was quite pleased with that. To add on, we were late for 30 minutes, and they still took us in and didn’t rush us out, so we were very happy with that. Looking forward to coming back again!

Suika (Revisit #3)

May 24, 20141 Comment

Suika Mojito (watermelon)

Suika Snackbar reminds me of Guu, and is also always packed. We had our girls catch-up dinner here and the food didn’t disappoint. We got a pitcher of the Suika Mojito, which is basically watermelon flavoured. Super refreshing and delicious!

Corn Kakiage – organic corn niblets fried with cilantro batter, soy sauce, and butter

We started off with the Corn Kakiage, which was basically pieces of corn that had been battered up and deep fried. It was seasoned with a soy sauce and butter. Everyone enjoyed this! You get a nice crunchy batter on the outside, but the corn is still soft inside.

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki – with home made chili oil on a bed of sliced onion topped with scallions

Next, we had the Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki. I found the portions to be a bit small, but regardless, it was still extremely fresh with a great texture. It came with a home made chili oil and was placed on top of sliced onions.

Aburi “Shime-Saba” Sushi – seared cured mackerel prsesed sushi served with mustard soy dressing

We also got two dishes of their sushi. Well, they actually only offer two types on their menu. First, was the Aburi “Shime-Saba” Sushi. Essentially, seared saba or mackerel, and this was done as a pressed sushi. Seared meant that it had been lightly torched. It came with a mustard soy dressing, so no extra soy sauce was needed. The fish was fresh and the dressing was extremely flavourful. Sometimes I find that saba has a fishy taste, but the dressing covers that up.

Aburi Toro Battera – lightly seared pressed fatty tuna sushi with avocado, shiso, sesame seeds topped with home made soy dressing & seaweed sauce

The second sushi we ordered was the Aburi Toro Battera, and this was my favourite. Since it was toro, the tuna was so fatty. With the tuna being seared, the tuna’s fatty oils came up so it was extremely smooth in the mouth. Again, it was pressed in a box shaped, and came with a home made soy dressing and seaweed sauce. This time, I didn’t find that the sauce was too overwhelming, so you could taste the freshness of the fish.

Dynamic Steak – “W” Lbs Beef Rib Steak with Wasabi, Soy & Garlic Sauce

Lastly, M suggested we try the Dynamic Steak. It was priced at $38, so I initially felt like it was quite pricey. However, when I saw the steak, I was in awe. It was humongous piece of steak! On the menu, it states that it is “W” Lbs – not exactly sure what that means. I don’t think this picture does it justice. The Rib Eye was enormous! The inside is cooked perfectly to medium-rare, so some of my friends who like their steak well-done were grossed out by how pink it was inside. I, on the other hand, loved the juiciness of the steak and thought it was excellent. I’m surprised they could handle cooking such a huge piece of steak. It was dressed with a wasabi, soy & garlic sauce, which gave it a Japanese flare.

Matcha Brulee – Frozen Matcha Creme Brulee with Fresh Whipped Cream & Red Bean Sauce

Lastly, I had to get my all time favourite dessert from Suika – the Matcha Brulee. It’s basically “frozen” matcha creme brulee, so it almost tastes like you’re eating matcha ice cream. Topped with some whipped ream and a bit of red bean sauce, this was the perfect way to end our meal! Always a fun time at Suika!

Takumi Japanese Restaurant

May 22, 2014Leave a comment

Burdock Root Salad

Located on West 10th, I feel like Takumi is a bit of a hidden gem. I probably would’ve never known about this Japanese restaurant until K suggested we go try. It’s Japanese owned and offers authentic Japanese cuisine. After ordering, we were given a complimentary appetizer. It was a Burdock Root Salad, which I absolutely loved. It was nicely seasoned with some sesames, and had a great crunch to it.

Sockeye Salmon and Albacore Tuna Sashimi

Next, we ordered some sashimi. We chose Sockeye Salmon and Albacore Tuna. Each order came with 5 pieces. They were sliced at a good thickness and was very fresh. I did find that their sashimi was a bit pricey though, but it was well worth it.

Tuna Tataki

Another appetizer we ordered was the Tuna Tataki. The tuna was very fresh and lightly seared on the sides. The dish was topped with carrot, ginger, green onion and the Chef’s original Yuzu sauce.

Takumi’s House Special, Chopped Scallop Roll, Natto Maki

And then came our rolls. In the front were K’s favourite Natto Maki. Behind, we have Takumi’s House Special. This was filled with salmon, tuna, crab, egg, tobiko & avocado. It was then topped with more tobiko. These were huge rolls and they definitely didn’t cheap out on the fillings. I really liked this roll! Also, we ordered my favourite Chopped Scallop. Also very fresh and filled with lots of scallops.

Yaki-Udon

Lastly, we got the Yaki-Udon. We had it without pork since K is vegetarian. It was filled with lots of veggies and very flavourful. I wouldn’t say it’s the best though. My favourite is still the one at Guu.

Overall, Takumi offers authentic Japanese food with high quality ingredients. Prices are higher than average, but around the same as any high quality authentic Japanese restaurant. Since they are in the Point Grey area, it also makes sense to price it higher. Will definitely return if I’m in that area again!

Vancuver Food Cart Festival 2013

October 10, 2013Leave a comment

Ever since I left for Europe, I have been traveling so much or so busy with school that I have totally neglected this blog. I feel terrible and now that I have finally settled down and won’t be traveling as frequently, I am going to promise that I post at least once a week or more frequently! I am already more than a month behind, hence I am still posting about Vancouver food I ate before I left…

Anyways, in August, I finally went to the Vancouver Food Cart Festival by Olympic Village. I had wanted to go the previous year, but because they only operate on Sundays from around end of June to end of August, I never was able to attend due to my work schedule on Sundays. Every Sunday, over 20 food cart vendors meet at this area along with other craft food, art, and community vendors. There’s music and also kids activities, so perfect for some family fun. I was here, obviously because of food! There were many that I could find right in the hot spots of downtown, but also some that I had never heard of.

Mogu Japanese Street Eats

First up, we decided to try Mogu Japanese Street Eats. I always see this when I go shopping in downtown, but have never came to try it. They are also featured at the Richmond Summer Night Market this year, so it is actually quite easy to try it. I did find that the pricing is quite high for a burger, but to be honest, most of the food trucks price their food relatively high.

Pork Miso Katsu – breaded deep fried pork cutlet, housemade red miso sauce, Asian hot mustard coleslaw

We got the Pork Miso Katsu Menu, so it also came with two pieces of Chicken Karage and a small drink. People have raved that Mogu has one of the best Chicken Karage, and I did enjoy it a lot. It is sweet and spicy because it comes with a house made sweet chili sauce. Definitely enjoyed it and I would put it as one of my top favourites for chicken karage.

This was the Pork Miso Katsu Burger, and the pork was cooked tender and moist. The bread was also soft and the sauce really made the burger stand out. I didn’t necessarily taste much miso flavour, but you could get the Asian feel to the burger.

PazzaRella

Next, we tried PazzaRella which is famous for the Napoletana Wood Fired Pizza. It takes a little while since they actually make the pizza on spot and fire it in the oven. Pretty cool and one pizza will fill you up. So it’s best to share it with a friend if you want to try other food at the festival.

Prosciutto Pizza

We got 2 Prosciutto Pizzas to share between four, and it was more than enough. They are around $11 each, so you can imagine they are quite large. Extremely thin crust and easy to bite and topped with fresh tomato sauce, arugula and prosciutto. I did find that they burnt the edges a bit, so it was a little bitter tasting at the edges, but other than that, it was fine.

Dougie Dog Diner

Dougie Dog Diner seemed to be a crowd pleaser, so E decided to try it as well. They are famous for their innovative hot dogs and they also have their own root beer. Apparently they were on Dragon’s Den, so I thought that was pretty neat.

Charlie Mac Dog – bacon, Mac and cheese, melted cheddar

E got the Charlie Mac Dog which is loaded with mac and cheese and topped with more cheese. He thought that it was alright, but definitely not worth the price though. It’s something you can make at home if you really want to.

Overall, the Vancouver Food Cart Festival is pretty nice if you want to have a collection of food cart vendors in one area. However, to be honest, it’s hard to try every food cart because each item on the menu is fairly large. It’s basically one whole meal, and it’s also quite hard to share the food. There was also an entrance fee, but you got a discount if you went in a large family. Cool place to check out, but probably just once a year. Parking was also extremely difficult to find, and was mostly paid parking.

La Casa Gelato

May 9, 2013Leave a comment

After dinner, I dragged J along with me to visit La Casa Gelato. I’ve heard that the place has over 200 flavours of gelato and some pretty exotic ones too, and I’ve been dying to visit the shop. To my surprise, the place is painted bright pink, and even their parking lot across the street is pink…

The place is pretty huge for a gelato shop, but it’s got to be that size to store all the flavours! Some weird flavours included wasabi, curry, and garlic. They also had more normal flavours such as vanilla and chocolate.Sorbet is also an option if you don’t want gelato.

Your gelato can be scooped in either a waffle cone or cup, which were seen all around the shop.

Before purchasing your gelato, you are welcome to try the flavours. There are many employees behind each fridge, and they were extremely friendly and helpful. I didn’t dare try the exotic tasting flavours, such as curry or garlic, but I did try one of the alcoholic ones. I believe it was called Tequila Sunrise, and they definitely put some alcohol in it! However, I felt like it was too strong, and it just didn’t taste good. After trying several flavours, I found that most of the flavours didn’t actually work. They were creative, but the it was either too strong or lacking some flavour. The recipes definitely need work!

Green Tea Gelato

In the end, I ended up with the Green Tea Gelato, which is my all time favourite ice cream flavour. However, I didn’t think it was the best gelato I’ve had. The green tea wasn’t strong enough, and the gelato wasn’t exactly smooth. They did, however, give me a pretty large scoop which I think was around $5. Overall, don’t expect any quality ice cream. It’s definitely a shop of quantity over quality. If you’re looking to try some crazy flavours, then you’re at the right place.

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 →

Book Kyung Ban Jeom

April 5, 2013April 27, 2013Leave a comment

Book Kyung Ban Jeom is located on Robson St. where the rest of the Korean restaurants are located. It seems that there is this one little strip that is just filled with Koreans!

The restaurant is filled with mostly Korean families and young diners. The promotions on the wall are also all in Korean, so you basically don’t know what they are unless you’re Korean. The menu, however, has both English and Korean.

Side Dishes

The side dishes aren’t exactly the ones I prefer. They included yellow daikon and radish in a kimchi-like sauce.

Tang Suyuk

We ordered the Tang Suyuk, which reminded me of the Chinese sweet and sour prok. I believe this actually beef though. The outer layer is thin and crispy and not too greasy. It’s quite a large dish, so great to share. The sauce is thick and gooey, but not more on the sweet side than sour.

Ja Jang Myeon

We each got a Ja Jang Myeon, which is essentially the Ja Jiang Mian that Chinese people eat. However, the sauce and fillings are completely different! It’s a very gooey sauce and filled with lots of onions. I’m not a big fan of onions, so I actually prefer the Chinese style much more. The sauce is also much more focused on the sweet side, rather than the spicy side. An interesting variation!

Suika

March 2, 2013April 28, 2013Leave a comment

For our school club’s team dinner, I chose to have it at Suika. It’s located conveniently on Broadway and offers a selection of Japanese tapas, similar to the ones you can find at Guu.

We ordered a bunch of dishes to share, but it was difficult to share with such a large group. I suggest going here with smaller groups since each dish cannot be shared with probably not more than 4 people. Above was something similar to a tartar I’m guessing? I don’t really know since I didn’t order or try it.

Plum Wine

We all got some plum wine and this was sweet and easy to drink. It was really good served over ice.

Deluxe Suika Box – nine kinds of appetizers

I chose to order the Deluxe Suika Box, but unfortantely it is extremely difficult to share. H and I ended up being the only ones who devoured it… It was an assortment of 9 appetizers and was presently really nicely in a box. Some items were marinated lotus root, eggplant, spicy tofu, a few types of fish, something that tasted similar to beef tongue, and also something similar to a cracker with something like cream cheese. I’m not exactly sure what each dish was, but it was exciting to try a bit of everything!

Kakuni Bibimbap – stewed pork belly, sweet dried shrimp & scallions on rice served in a hot stone bowl

We also got the Kakuni Bibimbap, which was full of flavour. The pork belly was an interesting choice for a bibimbap.

Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio – thinly sliced sockeye salmon with sesame soy dressing, yuzu zest, garlic chips & wasabi mayo

I’ve heard great things about the Sockeye Salmon Carpaccio, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. This was really good! The dressing complemented the salmon really well and I would definitely order this again next time.

Chinese Poutine – french fries topped with spicy ground pork sauce, mozzarella, chili oil, sansho and minced cilantro

The name Chinese Poutine really got us curious about what it was and so we ordered it. I don’t really know why it’s called Chinese poutine, but I guess they used some Asian ingredients in it. I’m a fan of poutine, so this was definitely something I enjoyed. It’s got more of a sauce than say the typical cheese curds though. They basically melted mozzarella on the ground pork sauce, but it was very flavourful, and had a hint of spice.

Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki – with home made chili oil on a bed of sliced onion topped with scallions

I ordered the Lightly Smoked Tuna Tataki and enjoyed this quite a lot. It was lightly seared on the sides and the sauce was different from other restaurants I have tried. It worked well with the fish!

Beef Filet Fried Rice – cured beef & garlic fried rice

The Beef Filet Fried Rice didn’t look like anything special, but it was surprisingly really good. The beef filet was extremely tender and the garlic in the fried rice definitely gave the dish some flavour. Great variation to the typical Chinese fried rice.

Grilled Duck – grilled duck breast with tomato, granny smith apple slices and special sauce (balsamic, soy, butter & Japanese pepper)

I didn’t try the Grilled Duck, but it looked quite delicious. I found that the accompaniments on the side were also quite interesting. Granny smith apples and tomatoes along with duck? I’m actually quite curious now to know what it tasted like.

Asari Yaki Udon – pan fried thick noodles with manila clams & citron pepper

I love a good dish of yaki udon, so I ordered the Asari Yaki Udon. It wasn’t a large portion, but there were a decent amount of manila clams for the portion of noodles we were given. It was extremely flavourful, and the udon were covered evenly with a bit of sauce.

Chicken Kara-age – famous Japanese “o-sho” style deep fried chicken served with sansho jio (Japanese salt & pepper)

I also ordered the Chicken Kara-age, and they were such large pieces of chicken! I would’ve preferred them to be cut into smaller portions so more of us could try it. It also came with a salt and pepper for dipping instead of the typical mayo.I felt like the chicken was covered with more batter than it needed, so it felt like you were eating batter instead of chicken for the most part.

I’m not sure what this was called, but it looks like a Japanese pizza. I never tried it either, so I’m not sure what ingredients are in it.

Someone at the table also ordered some sashimi, which I believe both are some sort of tuna. I tried the one on the right, and it was extremely fresh. I loved how it was topped with some tobiko too.

Tokyo Oxtail Ramen – slowly braised oxtail & noodles in soy broth topped with dried fish powder & scallions

Someone also ordered the Tokyo Oxtail Ramen, which actually looks really delicious! I didn’t try it though, but it looks like it would be full of flavour.

Yukimi Daifuku – green tea & red bean gelato wrapped in sticky rice cake

And onto the desserts! We ordered pretty much every dessert on their menu and decided to share them all. First up was the Yukimi Daifuku. I actually really wanted to try this, but it was extremely difficult to share. It’s like the perfect combination of my two favourites: gelato and sticky rice cake, better known as mochi! I am definitely going to come back here for this.

Almond Tofu – served with blueberry sauce

The Almond Tofu was extremely smooth and delicious. It was like having tofu dessert but with almond flavour! It was also served with a blueberry sauce, but none of us ended up using it since the dessert was already great on its own.

Earl Grey Tea-Creme Brulee

The Earl Grey Tea-Creme Brulee was so delicious! It was basically a creme brulee but infused with earl grey flavour in it. I love variations of typical creme brulees and this one definitely worked!

Japanese Legendary Matcha Tiramisu

The Japanese Legendary Matcha Tiramisu was also delicious. The cake was so fluffy and light, and the matcha was strong in flavour so I loved it. Along with the whipping cream, it was just perfect! I love the Japanese twist they add to these French desserts!

Matcha Brulee – frozen matcha creme brulee with fresh whipped cream & red bean sauce

And then we also got the Matcha Brulee. Okay, so we had an earl grey creme brulee and now a matcha one? Nope! This was a frozen creme brulee! It felt like I was eating matcha ice cream or something! So smooth but icy at the same time. The top was lightly caramelized just as a creme brulee would be. Such an interesting but delicious dessert!

Souffle Cheese Cake – fluffily baked cheese cake w/ brown sugar sauce

Lastly, we had the Souffle Cheese Cake. This was extremely fluffy and light. It reminded me of Japanese cheesecakes as opposed to the typical cheesecakes because of how light it was.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the food at Suika. They have a normal menu that they have every night, but they also have a menu where they change it up every night. Definitely a great place to share some plates with friends, but probably not in too large of a group. I’m definitely coming back again, whether it be just for the food, or the desserts…Definitely for the desserts though!

Every Day is a Food Day

Tag: Vancouver