Sunday, December 30, 2007

mmm Breakfast

I went to restuarant 62 back in my hometown. The place was d-e-a-d. We were basically the only table there on sunday at 12-1pm. Even so, they had to sit us in a secluded far away spot. I had an omelette (my first time eating one) and my friend had a sandwich. The sandwich tasted like something I could eat at the cafe at school and my friend said it tasted like quiznos. My omlette looked like a pizza. It had a crust! The salad was disgusting, both caesar and mixed greens. Thank god the prices were below 15 or else I would feel ripped off. I had high hopes for this place because the chef used to work for Glowbal I think and another restuarant. But I was disappointed. The only upside were the salt and pepper shakers.. which my friend stole.. i wish I took one now.


I also baked some christmas cookies. I've never baked cookies from scratch before (I am more of a meal making person, not pastry..) It was a little hard, I think the recipe was a little off because I ended up kneading my cookie dough a lot and adding mass amounts of flour just to make sure the dough stayed together. that's already a warning sign. But I recently bought these heart cut outs from Daiso for 2 dollars and I was excited to use them!



Look at the pretty cakes from T&T! They looked better than they tasted though :(

Monday, December 10, 2007

Foodie's guide to Vancouver for Desserts

I LOVE desserts. Everytime I eat out, I must get dessert. Hell sometimes, I get dessert before the main course! or eat main course with dessert at the same time. For someone who loves dessert so much, it's kinda weird I hate strawberries and ice cream.. so I can't comment too much on the best ice cream place in Vancouver.. :( sorry, although I heard marble slab is good..


For cakes, there is true confections that sell delicious large slices of cake (although service can be slow for no reason) and sometimes each customer has to spend a minimum charge, only on busy nights I believe. There's also small cake shops that sell delicious beautiful intricate cakes for a hefty price. Even so, they are worth it because they are such gems. Try Ganache Patisserie, deliciousness! There's also cheesecake etc and the cupcake store downtown. Oh and Beard Papa for large soft cream puffs!

Asian cake shops are a bit more affordable.. there's always Maxims, T&T, Anna's Cake Shop, and etc. but I personally prefer La Patisserie on W 41 I believe. They have cakes with pomelo, mango, coconut, etc.. yumyumyum Japanese cheesecake at Chicco is also very soft and delicious, they also have other yummy desserts.

A really cheap bakery is Valley Bakery on Hastings St. They have a assortment of cakes, petit fours, pies, etc for cheap!!

For crepes, I love La Bretagne Creperie. Really good and quite a big portion too. Forget Cafe Crepe (unless you also want cheap drinks) and go here instead!! If you don't want the calories but still want your sweet fix, qoola is a good choice- selling natural yogurt with a ton of different toppings.

As for restaurants, for never fail desserts, I think Cactus Club is the way to go. Their samplers has delicious traditional chocolate cake, apple pie, and cheesecake. My 3 faves! Moxie's xang'o is also really really good. This is probably one of the only times I will recommend a chain restaurant for something (and they are also good for huge groups I guess).

I've been told that La Terrazza has a delicious filo patrsy dessert, so that's a good try :) Sweet Revenge has mouth watering desserts as well, although there is also a minimum charge there. Oh and I definitely recommend the panna cotta at Campagnolo. Wow.

A Foodie's Guide to Vancouver

Under construction.. there's just so many restaurants!!

Vancouver might not be the best place in the world to eat, but there are definitely a HUGE variety of cuisines (some quite authentic) here! From Kitsilano to downtown to hastings st to burnaby to Richmond, you can find various food you are craving nearby for reasonable prices! I mean, where else can you see a chinese restuarant next to an african next to mexican next to japanese with korean across the street, indian, ukraine, izakaya, italian down the block and french 2 blocks up!??? (Denman St)

Guide to Asian Food
Guide to Desserts
Guide to Cheap Eats
Guide to Lounge/hotels/fine dining
Guide to Brunch
Guide to International
Guide to other aspects besides food
Guide to beyond Vancouver

Sunday, December 9, 2007

A Foodie's Guide to Vancouver (asian food)

Japanese food is extremely prevalent in Vancouver. When you feel like treating yourself or you are just simply ballin, Tojo's might be an option. For authentic sushi, I heard that Toshi is one of the best (although be prepared for a lineup!). Personally for me, I Love creative crazy sushi rolls. A lot of people don't because they find it unauthentic. But watever, they make for a good picture and are delicious! Octopus Garden has some killer rolls but are on the more expensive side. Makoto has cheaper prices and just as creative rolls. Look at the dragon roll! insane. Finally, there are some delicious tapa/izakayas downtown, but for me I Loved Yuji's. Absolutely delicious plates and perfectly rolled sushi rolls. Once again, a little on the expensive side..

Along Robson and near Lougheed (burquitlam?), there are a ton of Korean restaurants. You can try korean bbq at Insadong or get bi bam baps at Jang Mo Jib.

Vietnamese food in Van is very very cheap. Although the decor will most likely be hole in the wall, most pho places are quite adequate.. (watch out for the msg!). I personally like Spices. A little more expensive but great little restaurant with yummy food, and banh mi during lunch time :) A cheap one would be Mui Ngo Gai on Nanaimo. You will be overwhelmed by their crazy amount of food options and colorful mouth watering pictures in their giant size menus.

It's pretty obvious that there are quite a lot of Chinese citizens in BC. which also means pretty good chinese food!! For the good ol cha chan tengs, something quick and reliable is The Boss in Chinatown or Gloucester Cafe. Gloucester is a bit more expensive than average but quite clean and has yummy baked pork chop on rice :)

Another great chinese restaurant that is also opened late is Ho Yuen Kee. Great for dinner or late night snack at good prices, I am drooling. Finally Dim Sum. There are expensive dim sum and cheap dim sum. The expensive ones are the seafood restaurants and most of them usually have crap service due to their favortism towards close clientele. Although Sun Sui Wah is a bigger, more expensive restaurant, they are quite friendly even if you are not a frequent customer. Another one I like is Golden Phoenix They are well priced and have very creative dim sums along with the usual ha gow siu mai. If you want cheap and filling dim sums, King's Chinese Cuisine is definitely another good one.

Famous asian spots you should try are Phnom Penh (one of the more famous restaurants in Van) for their butter chicken and curry with sweet potato. or Kintaro Ramen for their famous cheese ramen (watch out for line ups!) and obviously, the japadog stand outside of the wine shop near IGA. Also Crazy amounts of lineups!! but definitely worth a try.

As for Shanghai food, my pick is definitely Long's Noodle House. Cheap and delicious with an efficient and kind owner. Another one I like is Lin's. Very kind people and pretty good prices. On a sunny day, steer clear of sitting near the window. the sunrays are killer.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

My Favorite Restaurants

Overall: L'abattoir (gastown), Pair Bistro (Point Grey)
Fine Dining: Le Gavroche
Middle Eastern: East is East (Main)
Ambience: Brix (Yaletown)
Indian: House of Dosa (Kingsway)
Brunch: Cafe Medina (Near Stadium)
French: Jules Bistro (Gastown) + Mistral (Kits)
Italian: La Buca (kits) + Campagnolo (Main)
Mexican: Lolitas (Denman)
Greek: Sfinaki Taverna (Hastings)
Meat: Burgers Etc (Hastings)
Korean: Insadong (Coquiltam)
Vietnamese: Mui Ngo Gai (Nanaimo)
Dim Sum: Golden Phoenix (Nanaimo), Western Lake (Victoria Dr)
Chinese: Ho Yuen Kee
Taiwanese: Taiwan Beef Noodle House (Marpole)
Shanghai: Long's Noodle House (Main)
Japanese: Octopus Garden (Kitsilano)
Izakaya: Alpha (Yaletown)
Dessert: La Patisserie
Cafe: Acme Cafe (Gastown)
Hotel:
Food Cart: La Brasserie Cart
Pub:
Drinks: The Diamond (Gastown)

Friday, December 7, 2007

about me

-I am a little girl who eats too much for my own good. My exercise is speed walking around Vancouver. You should try it, it works.

-I love food and I am always up to try new things once. The only thing I hate, though, are onions. and maybe I'll say no to live insects/creatures with a scary face. I really hope to go everywhere in the world and try local authentic dishes.

- I frigging love diner drive ins and dives. I hope to do my own diner road trip one day. heart attack here I come

-I am my own gps system. I remember Vancouver by the location of restaurants. and I usually just stumble around until I find it instead of memorizing the address (89% success rate.. now with my iphone 99% ;) )

-I can only review on how *I* and whoever I am eating with felt about the dish and the ambience of the restaurant. Thus, it is through our perspective and may stir up differences of opinions. I in no way have claimed to be a food connoisseur or critic or some prolific journalist. The main purpose of my site is to showcase some of what Vancouver has to offer and allow other van foodies (and everyone else!) to see some decent photos and what they can expect at restaurants. I am just a normal person who loves to eat .. and take pics

-I've worked foh various positions and admin/corporate in the restaurant industry.. I just can't get enough! I'd like to open my own restaurant one day

-When I don't eat out, I eat so frugually- staples at home: yogurt, spaghetti+sauce+sausage.. from no frills, my fave place ever.

-Aside from food, I am a recent bba undergrad who also love fashion, makeup, and travelling. fml. Wish I had the skills to be an extreme couponer.

-I am a slow blogger. so you should just look at my flickr =)

Restaurants I need to go to

hum.. hopefully I'll try them one day..

Pear Tree
Safari Gourmet Pies
Takumi

Seattle: Lunchbox Lab

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Hy's Encore


I went to Hy's Encore one night. Going inside we already had a bad first impression. The hostess helps the people right behind us and completely disregards us. We walk in first, and she goes "hi how are you doing" to the people RIGHT behind us. what the hell. It is not like we were dressed shabby or smelled funny. I have never had this happen. Then the hostess walks down and calls us from afar to go towards her. Um. Am I missing something here? Do you not ask us how many people and if we have reservations? How the bloody fuck do you know how many people is in our group and etc.? She then leads us to this table with half of it seated with asian people. So. Let me get this straight. You automatically assumed we were with this other group because we were all Asian? What THE HELL. I mean if we lived in fucking caucasian place, then Maybe? even then this is not acceptable. But this is a multicultural city. I cannot believe this actually. It's not like a caucasian group can walk into a Chinese restaurant and we'll assume you are with the rest of the caucasians in the restaurant. Seriously. I am usually quite open and joke about my race a lot but the fact that the hostess didn't greet us when we got inside and instead greet the people BEHIND us is already a fucking slap in the face.

ok enough of that rant, thank god the food was really good though. The bread was amazingly delicious and I ordered the steak and lobster (bad cellphone picture). Oh My God. It was SO Good. I don't even like steak that much but this was amazing.

I am disppointed in the treatment from the get go. It definitely put a huge damper on this restaurant to the fact that I don't think I'll be back. It's really sad that one woman can piss me off so much especially since the food was pretty spectacular. I even tell everyone I know not to go here and I will keep telling people not to go here. Maybe Gothams or Morton's have better hostessess who will greet everyone that comes in and do not stereotype.

Hy's Encore on Urbanspoon

Food in Yaletown

I love Yaletown. I am gonna live there once I can afford it.

Went to Coast Restaurant.. The service was great but the food was just o-k. Had the crab cakes, scallops, and spring rolls..


Another day, we went to Blue Water Cafe and the food was soooo good. We had the halibut (cellphone picture). It was so delicious. We also had dynamite rolls (I've had better) and cheesecake. The drink was weak unfortunately.

Before going to Plush one night, we went to Glowbal (which is affiliated with Coast). The service was top notch once again but the food was not. We had the tasting platter for two. None of it was good. Everything was disgusting. ugh.

If anyone ever goes to Moxies. This is THE best dessert EVER. omg. It's called banana caramel xango? It's deep fried banana with ice cream and caramel/chocolate sauce or something like that. It is so good. It's the only reason why I go back to Moxies now (and the ginger pear magarita).

Me and my friend also went to Gastown and tried out Salt Tasting Room. The location is such a turn off. You would never find it if you never knew it was in an alleyway. no not some historical attention grabbing alleyway. It was literally an alley way. Inside, the room is nice and the service was very friendly. We chose our own cheese condiments and meat. It is here that I found my fondness for sparkling wine. mm.
It's definitely not a place to go on an empty stomach. We stopped at Jule's Bistro next.. unfortunately they were closed between lunch and dinner. ugh. so we stopped at Flux Bistro.. We were scared to go in because it was aboslutely dead inside. Then again, we DID go at 3:30pm. who the hell eats at that time. Thinking that they might be closed like Jule's, we scoped outside for 5 minutes before we asked someone who was going inside (a worker). probably thought we were the stupidest people ever. We just had a salad and fries. More wine of course.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Likes/Dislikes

Even though I eat out a lot, I am a picky picky eater. I don't like a lot of things but i m slowly opening up.. I usually order the foods I like, so those are usually my standards at restaurants hah.

Likes
Crab Cake
Yam Fries/Fries+mayo
Salmon/Halibut/any fish really
Fruit Cheesecake
Apple Pie
Panna Cotta
Curry+naan bread/rice
Lamb
roasted pork (siu yoke)
cha siu fan (bbq pork+rice)
eggs benedict
Calamari
Spaghetti+meatballs
Sushi rolls
Duck, Squab
Lemongrass Chicken + rice
roti canai


Dislikes
strawberry/raspberry
ice cream
ham
chocolate desserts (they don't really appeal to me)
meaty steaks (like lots of steak)
Onions
Tempura
Olives, Brussel Sprouts
Noodles (except for occasional udon or ramen)
French Toast+syrup, pancakes+syrup. I guess syrup in general hah
Hashbrowns
Miso Soup
Burgers/sandwiches (Don't appeal to me at restaurants)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Lift ..second time around


Lift is one of my favorite restaurant of all time. The view is beautiful, the ambience is great, and the food is delicious.

I was extremely hungry that I had to order a burger at this restaurant. Nonetheless, it .was.good.
This on the other hand, was NOT good. It was disgusting and I felt like I was eating rabbit food. not impressed. I actually went a third time hah. This was a late afternoon food. It was yummay.

People have told me they get crap service or cocky service at Lift. But all 3 times I've had extremely nice waitors/waitresses, trying to start a chat or laugh with us. I once dropped a fork underneath my chair, my waitor saw from faraway, came up, got on his knees and crawled below my chair to get it and get me a new one. Wow. talk about good service. added bonus that he was hot


Lift Bar Grill View on Urbanspoon

mmm alcohol




I couldn't help it..
The last one was at milestones..
oh and add about 3 more milestones bellinis with bellini toppers to that.
That was a good night.

So good yet so bad

The combo platter in Boston Pizza at Abbotsford. Too bad the potato chip things in the middle were spicy.. I couldn't eat those :(

Another combo platter at Moxies on Robson.. yumyum! although the avocado rolls were disgusting and the calamari were not fried long enough..
After that we were still hungy so we ordered this chicken pasta with garlic bread.. mmmm!

Did we drink? oh yes! the post will be the one following this one :)

Ebisu


I had lunch at Ebisu on Robson with a friend during the summer. We ordered a boat lunch. It cost about 12 bucks? I think it was very good for what it was worth! It had tempura, eel+rice, and California rolls, and dynamite rolls! mmmm.

Best Restaurant Ever.

I am absolutely in LOVE with Lift by the water in Vancouver.
My friend and I had no idea where to go eat one day so we walked around Vancouver for an HOUR AND A HALF. We walked from Robson, to Denman, Davie, Seymour, Granville, etcetc, and the a huge circle

These are cellphone pictures which turned out Really nice! the chicken I had was soo good and so was the dessert. I love this place! I don't care what people say.

Pastaaaaaa

I m not a big fan of pasta but I really wanted to try this place called Il Nido on Robson. They sat us outside which was a BADDDD idea. I have a huge fear of a lot of mosquitoes/fruit flies/gnats in one place (weird i know).. I actually freak out and usually do not like walking in forests. I guess it was mating season but there were huge swarms of there nearby. I didn't want to be a hassle so I didn't ask to be moved in.. because no one was inside sitting and it was a gorgeous day outside.. blah.
The first plate was mine.. a spaghetti plate.. as you can see I m not adventurous. I have no idea what the other plate was.. didn't look too yummy to me. The food was bland.. especially the calamari we ordered before the pasta (didn't take a picture). They weren't deep fried but they didn't have a taste. :(
It also didn't help that the waitor kept staring at me and touching me everytime he came over.

Cafe Il Nido on Urbanspoon

Little Getaway

For Canada Day, me and two of my friends decided to take the ferry over to Victoria. We became tourists for 3 days . It was soooo much funn. lying in front of parliament, titanic boat seeing, walking to another TOWN at night because we didn't want to take a cab, etcccc
the food was amazing too :D

This was fricking GINORMOUS. it was SOO good. my favorite type of food is Greek food. I LOVE calamari and Lamb souvlaki. man those greeks are so lucky! This was a platter for three people.. DEFINITELY did not finish it

Although I was on a gorgeous island with better air than Vancouver, I had to get my alcohol fix. haha. mmm bellinis. they will be the death of me.

Best Restaurant in Vancouver?

My parents decided to treat me one night to a 3 course dinner to anywhere I wanted. I decided on West on Granville. It has been rated as the best restaurant in Van.. I beg to differ..?

Local morels stuffed with side stripe prawns and basil, lobster essence. It was my first time eating morels. I didn't like the texture of it and what the hell is with the foam.

Honey and clove braised pork cheeks. Nothing special. I would have expected the taste to be better. However, it was kind of bland..

Polderside farms organic pekin duck 2 ways with seared foie gras, caramelized endive, apricot jus. My father had this. He had the most problems with the word pekin. He kept thinking peking and how it was a "chinese" dish. no dad. no.

Desserts were yummy though. I loveee desserts <3

I just wanted to drink..

Another crappy night of classes (During summer, I had a day where I had classes from 4:30pm-10:30pm)
We went to Moxies for some drinks.. I have now tried everything on that menu (except martinis.. I hate martinis). My friend got hungry, I was not.. so we ordered a bite of brownies.. to share.
It was surprisingly fulling :)


Another night, we went to Cin Cin on Robson for more desserts. We ordered the dessert sampler.. It was good, but I was definitely not impressed by the presentation..especially by such a top rated restaurant.

California Roll invented in ..Vancouver?

Tojo's is among one of the more famous restaurants in Vancouver. When they talk about the best sushi, many various sources would name Tojo as the top contender. Well if it that good, I have to try it! My friend also told me the California roll was created by Tojo.. I am so intrigued

The restaurant is situated on W Broadway with very minimal decoration and signs outside. Walking inside, the restaurant is very classy and upscale. There is a bar where Tojo and his fellow sushi chefs are hard at work. The restaurant was extremely busy and we didn't make a reservation so they asked us to sit at the bar. We obliged, although I wish I sat at the booths to get a better feel of the ambience.

The service was extremely top notch. We were like fresh palettes ready and willing to try anything and everything (except the omasake. we aren't made of money now). We ordered the Tojo Roll (cali roll), Northern Light Roll, Spider Roll, Golden Rolls, beef terriyaki, sablefish, and also 4 different cones (not pictured below) they were geoduck/shrimp/crab, lobster, eel, and dynamite.

The Northern light Roll is wild prawn tempura, avocado and seasonal fruit rolled in a cucumber crepe (14), the spider roll is deep-fried soft shell crab, asparagus and avocado rolled in a cucumber crepe (14), golden roll is crab, scallop, salmon, and sweet shrimp rolled in an egg crepe (24) and the tojo roll was 12 dollars. The hand cones ranged from 7-8.5

They were all amazingly delicious! The beef terriyaki was more like steak than the normal ones from japanese restaurants. The sablefish (27) was soooo good. It was cooked perfectly with amazing marinade. yummmm.

The tojo roll tasted like a normal cali roll, except with fresher ingredients. All the rolls had a ton of filling and they were all fresh and tasty. Even though my friend insist the cali roll was created here, I have read other sources that it originated in California (which would make sense) created by some sushi chef in 1970 in a place called Little Tokyo.

Even though we sat at the bar, we were never once ignored and they came over to check on us many many times. This place was very delicious and if you have the money, it is definitely a place to try. I have some friends who have friends that know Tojo and they told me he is actually extremely arrogant and an ass or smth. Like one time he was was sayin how the restaurant was opened using his pocket money and that the money was just crap change . and when my friends' friend worked there, he got really small tip like he got paid 8-9/hour and got 15 dollar tip. but I don't know, sushi restaurants get crap tip (from exp) but then again Tojo's is diff and probably have a bigger tip. ehhh.. this is just what I've heard

Tojo's on Urbanspoon

Night Market =)

My friend took me to the Richmond Night Market. I don't really like it but I do Love the food!

Teponaki? I dno. I wasn't a big fan of these. They tasted funny. I'd rather have curry fish balls anyday.

oh Burnaby Mountain..

We went to Horizons in Burnaby for dinner. It was probably my first time eating a 3 course meal at a fancy restaurant in BC.. my fam usually goes to chinese places, never places like Horizons.
As beautiful as the picture looks, it was not very good :( The desserts on the other hand was goooodd

Late Night Dessert

After a crappy thursday night class, we headed downtown to O'Douls on Robson for some dessert... It was amazing.. I would like to come back one day for dinner

Ok, so another time we went downtown to Horizons for some dinner.. I must say it was just Dinner(no s). ... we shared a meal.. the meal was a salad.
oh the life of poor university students..

Tasty Delights

haha.. the place is actually called True Confections on Denman St. For the longest time my friend thought it was tasty delights and that is now what we call it. We have tried about 90% of the cakes. Most of their business is us.

So Pretty

So pretty from T&T.. they never taste as good as they look though :(

California Dreamin'

Looking back at my pics from my trip, I can't believe how healthy I was! haha. That's orange juice, fruit salad, and a piece of banana bread yumyum.. .. oh ..wait.. guess it was just once i was healthy..
..at least it was a tea drink!

I miss you Hong Kong

I miss the bustling streets. I miss the cheapness of everything. I miss the air conditioned buses. I miss the huge malls with weird store names (a+b.. i.t..???). I miss being in a place where my parents speak the language better than me. I miss all you can drink and the nightlife (wait I don't miss that yet because I haven't experienced it *sad but hearing about it excessively from friends make me miss it).. but most of all I miss..

First Post!

Lots of food I made and food around Vancouver to come!
I might backtrack a bit first to get this started.....