Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Timbre

I reluctantly went to timbre today. haha no not really, but I wanted to stay home and finish a massive report, but my roommate was starving for food. We chose this closeby place. The place is very open and spacey, the waitress is really nice and the place is pretty chill. There were a lot of fruit flies again :S but this was better than abigail's because it was so open, so it wasn't as confined. Well everything was ok.. until.. the spider came down the web towards us, and started swinging like crazy from left to right from the wind :|

I ordered the bruschetta because I wasn't very hungry and she had the BLT. the bruschetta was surprisingly good. The bread was crispy yet soft and there were lots of tomatoes and cheese and etc on it. Apparently the BLT was pretty good too, I had the fries and they were delicious.

The only let down was that it was got SOO cold we were honestly shivering the entire time.

The food was good nonetheless! :) (and I don't say that quite often if you haven't realized from my other blog posts :P )

Timbre on Urbanspoon

Monday, July 28, 2008

Deer Garden

sooo Deer Garden is this homey chinese place in port coquitlam that no one really knows about because it caters to chinese people more. I think it's really really good curry and chicken and etc etc.
So I went there tonight and humm it wasn't as good as I remembered :( I think it's because I've been eating a lot of raw food recently (fruits/salads) and everything we ordered tonight just seemed.. really heavy... (except the hainanese chicken)

We ordered beef brisket curry (obv), hainanese chicken, gai lan + beef (I wanted dou miu but it was too exp), and cod + tomato sauce

Everything was standard. nothing really stood out, and it just seemed really heavy (really saucy/oily) :(:(

Friday, July 25, 2008

Kerrisdale

I had to go to my doctor today which is in Oakridge Center (so far). This is the first time I've ventured in Kerrisdale. it's so .. weird. haha. I don't know, maybe I am not used to it..

We went to Fish Cafe because I've heard such good things about it and shared a fish and chips. The fish was absolutely bland, no taste whatsoever. the fries were ok. The place seemed really clean and fresh, but I didn't really like it.. Once again I am not a good judge because I don't like heavily battered food.

Next door was this really cute Adonia tea house that my friend really wanted to try. It was a nice asian tea house. We just wanted to share one afternoon tea which was allowed. The mini finger foods included chocolate cupcake, chocolate roll, coconut cupcake, egg salad sandwich, tuna salad sandwich, and salami+cheese+scone. It came with a tea. They were all really good, and I think this would be a great place to come with my mother one day.

We also went to Sweet-e's which was a small pastry shop. They didn't have a lot of cakes, but we had the chocolate swirl cheesecake and peanut butter pop. the cheesecake was yummy but the pop was not.

Sushi Hachi was a small japanese place with a really good lunch deal. 2 items + miso for 6.95. We shared the chicken karaage and chicken terriyaki roll which were adequate. Nothing spectacular or anything.

Finest At Sea was a let down. I read about how the crab cakes are really good but they were one of the worst I've ever had (and I eat a lot of crab cakes if you haven't noticed). It was all batter! Very little crab, just batter and some tomato. ugh.

We also went to Secret Garden but the prices were too expensive and they wouldn't let us share like Adonia did so we left.. I felt a little weird inside also..

Monday, July 21, 2008

Section (3) and Joeys

My friend from Victoria came out for an environmental conference, so we met up after to go to Section (3). I felt so bad because her feet were dying from heels and she didn't expect so much walking (from Westin Bayshore). oh well.

We shared a yam fries and prawn linguini. They were both not good. The yam fries reminded me of the ones I had at Hamilton Street Grill (which were the worst ones I've ever had). They were too dark on the outside and not soft enough inside. I don't know how to describe.

The linguini wasn't great. The prawns were over cooked and everything else was pretty plain.

The service was really nice though??

Then we went to joeys on burrard for dessert. We had the apple pie which was really good because I love apple pie :) It was good too because she found the apple pie to be too much so she ate the ice cream and i ate most of the pie :) yay. The ambience of joeys is really nice. I have yet to venture into the bathrooms of joeys (the one on broadway is freaking amazingg).

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Golden Swan Restaurant

I was looking around at some food bloggies and I couldn't believe how amazing their dim sum pics were. I have never taken a picture of dim sum I eat, because I eat it so much I really didn't think they were much of a visual. They always looked kinda gross and tasted adequate. But the blogs I was reading was describing how the sui mai meat was so tender and delicious and the har gow had a huge juicy shrimp inside blahblahbalhb. i was like dang, I am craving some dim sum now. Maybe they are just as good as people describe.

We decided to go to Golden Swan (weekly family lunch). It was SUPER busy but we got a table quickly. We ordered the usual, because there weren't THAT much stuff being pushed around. Sui mai, egg tarts, baked tapioca pudding, beef balls, wu gok (my fave), jung ju gai (rice wrapped in smth), and shrimp and eggplant. I would have gotten har gow and bbq pork buns but I never saw a cart with them :(

The sui mai, jung ju gai, beef balls, tapioca pudding were good, nothing special. Wu gok was disgustingly dry and tasted like it was old, and not fresh. the egg tarts were ok too, but i don't like it when it so flakey, but apparently that's how authentic egg tarts are spose to be (it's funny I used to not like them..but I am starting to not mind). the shrimp and eggplant was gross, but I am bias because I don't like shrimp.

The place was crazy loud. I felt like we were yelling the entire time to talk, as if we were arguing. gosh.

The food wasn't necessarily cheap either, it was around 3-4 dollars for medium-big plates (apparently nothing we ordered were small... ).

mm.. I've been to better dim sum..

Golden Swan on Urbanspoon

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Fets Bar And Grill

We went to Commercial Drive hoping for tio pepe but it was closed. We ended up goin to Fets Bar and Grill. I had the Dutch Harbor Benny (Crab cake+poached eggs... 2 of my fave things together, must be good!) and my friend had the chicken taco because she wanted some mexican food.

Food came, my eggs were poached fine, but there was soo much sauce and the crab cake was absolutely disgusting mush. The potatoes it came with were bland and oily. No taste watsoever.

The chicken taco was worse. It looked gross and tasted just as gross. I had a taste and it was really sweet.. my friend had one and couldn't have another. She doesn't complain about food a lot usually but she had to admit this was one of the worst times she had eating food in a long long time. (mine was josephines last week).

Both of ours cost 12 dollars, you can get a much more amazing eggs benny at Joe Fortes for 12.50. My friend was so hungry she went to Veras and had a burger after.

Please don't come here, the food was horrible, and the other menu items do not sound that appetizing either. Just go to Havana or Stellas nearby instead.

Fets Pasta Bar & Grill on Urbanspoon

Sanafir


Friday night, me and two friends decided to go to Sanafir for dessert and drinks. I've attempted to come here a couple times but it never worked out. This place is so hard to find because there's absolutely no signs in the front (no clear ones anyways). just this bouncer door opener dude. The place was so packed. we had to wait quite awhile for our table so we had a shooter and then these free champagne cocktails. We finally got a table and our server was so cute, in a nerdy way. We got a dessert of everything. Unfortunately everything wasn't good, except two. The cheese was gross, the torte was dry, the creme brulee was bland, and the baked yogurt was forgettable. The fruit gyoza was so good, but it was the first thing I ate so I stuffed it into my mouth and it was gone too soon :( the baklava was ok too.
We also got another round of shooters with the server and then we left because it was getting too packed and creepy guys kept hitting on us, one right after the other. oi.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Havana + Diva

I hadn't seen a friend of mine in FOREVER. We went to Commercial Drive hoping for Tio Pepe Mexican Food but ended up at Havana instead (I couldn't find tio pepe..).
The place was packed with people, and we chose to sit inside. It was fucking boiling inside so we shared a pitched of champagne sangria. It was pretty good. We also shared some good yam fries. I had the jerk wings after and she had the chicken wrap. She liked her wrap, my jerk wings weren't very good. I think I didn't like the spices. The sangria was yummy but very nonalcoholic?

After we headed downtown to meet another friend to go to Diva (We wanted to go to Uva but we were too underdressed and we already messed up our stay at Diva the last time we went so it didn't matter.. long story short, we undertipped by ..a lotttttt. accidentally because we were so drunk). We shared the chocolate souffle cake, I really really didn't want to because I am not a huge fan of chocolate cake, or chocolate desserts (except chocolate bars). I really wanted to have the sifton cheesecake cuz I heard such good reviews about it but noooooo they all thought it would be shit blah. Oh well, I had my baileys on the rocks. I was all set. The cake wasn't very good, I ate more ice cream than the cake and I don't ever eat ice cream anyways! (I don't like it). I think they realized it wasn't very good either because we didn't eat much of it. shoulda listened to meeeee

I'd love to go back to Diva for dinner one day, the place is beautiful and heard such great reviews for it.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Pegasus


When we first got to Seattle, we tried a nearby place called Pegasus. It was a gorgeous day so we decided to sit outside. Although it was a little bit windy, i was really glad because inside looked really hot and couped up!

Our waitress was super nice and quickly got us two large glasses of water (we were real thirsty). We ordered the pegasus special pizza to share. It has bacon, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, and peppers. It was sooo good. I think it was because I was really hungry. but mm my mouth is watering looking at that pic again. The dough was soft and mmm it was delicious!

now i m really hungry haha.. oi.

Pegasus Pizza and Pasta on Urbanspoon

Chambar+Memphis Blues

So for my friend's birthday, I decided to treat her to dinner We were both starving after class because I only had cereal and she only had milk the whole day... I took her to Chambar because I've heard such great reviews about this place. The waitor extensively explained and recommended things to the table next to us. However with us, he doesn't tell us anything or ask if we have any questions. .. Not only this, but he was quite non existent during out meal. UGH. The place is pretty nice, it reminded me of Plan B.

We went there and had the tortellini and mussels (since i've heard amazing reviews about the mussels. That they are so juicy and big and the soup is so good you have to get bread to lap it up).

The tortellini wasn't very good at all. It tasted like the tortellini I get from Safeway with a crunch to it. The duck and greens part made up for it though.. It wasn't worth the 15 dollars..
The mussels were not as amazing as I thought. They were really small and was nothing special. Even my friend agreed, and we eat quite a lot of mussels combined. Maybe it was an off day..
The soup wasn't crazy amazing either.

Then we shared the brie cheese dessert. It tasted kind of weird and apparently the strawberries were super sweet (I don't eat strawberries).. too sweet.

We also had 2 cocktails. I had the fresh figs and it wasn't very good. The table next to us thought the same as well.

We were super hungry when we left. So we headed over to Memphis Blues BBQ on Commercial Drive and shared a rib ends meal. It was not shabby for the price. I could have done without the sides though (didn't like any of them).

It's kinda disheartening that I didn't have a great time at Chambar (which I tried to like a lot). Maybe it was an off day, I don't know. but I don't think I'll be back for awhile. I do want to try cafe medina though. As for Memphis, I would like to try the pulled pork or ribs one day. Without the full meal combo dealio. Maybe the one on Broadway :) Only when I am craving meat and super hungry.

The Melting Pot


We tried out the melting pot for some dessert fondue. Make a reservation or else you'd have to wait awhile :( The hostess took us to a private booth which I didn't like too much because we could never get our waitress' attention unless she came over to check on us. We ordered the banana foster fondue. I love how they light it up in front of you :) It tasted like banana cream pie. My favorite dipper was the rice krispie squares and banana. My least fave were brownie and marshmallow (i don't like strawberry). I didn't even try the cheesecake because it tasted off.. so we just left that on the plate.

I wish there was a melting pot in Vancouver, I would love to try the savory fondues.

Melting Pot on Urbanspoon

Monday, July 14, 2008

Josephines + Pho Tan

My usual weekly dinner with my parents, we chose to go to Pin pin but it was closed! Super Happiness was next block so we went, I passed the back kitchen and was grossed out by the chicken hanging by the sink. We switched to Rekados closed, so we went to Josephine's. Inside, it was like a fast food place. you order and then you sit down and eat.

Everyone there was philipino. None of the servers were helpful, they were just there to take your orders. No one explained anything nor cared to help us out. We even asked one question 3 times and got this mumbled heavily accented answer that we didn't even understand. We ended up getting 2 fish dishes and the pork hocks.

The fish were "sang" (in canto) so I couldn't eat it. The pork hock was ok. My mother couldn't eat anything either. It was too gross.

So we ended up going to Pho Tan instead for Pho and Lemongrass chicken and lamb curry. Not really good, but so must fucking better than josephine's. fuck. I need to go with a flip friend to a flip restaurant but all my flip friends are so whitewashed. gah.

Cactus


On my final day in Seattle, we decided to go somewhere close. Cactus is a mexican restaurant where a friend's friend raved about and told us to try. We went inside and the decor/ambience is really funky and cool. We sat outside since it was a beautiful day.. the patio isn't too big and all the tables are squished side by side.. I was stuck next to a big person and a table of children. ugh

Each table had chips & salsa. it must be really good here or something.. I just ordered the coconut crusted shrimps and my friend had the grilled skirt steak salad.

My shrimps were ok. nothing special.. I don't know whether it was worth 9 bucks or not though. My friend said the salad wasn't very good. Not just wasn't very good, it wasn't good period. I think she left a good 50% of it untouched.

I don't know if it was what we ordered (maybe more authentic mexican food would have been better) but we didn't have a very pleasant time.. Especially since I felt like I was sitting at a communal table. ugh.
Cactus on Urbanspoon

Cafe Campagne




What better way to end the Seattle trip with one of the most beloved restaurants in Seattle for brunch? This was actually an accident stumbling to Cafe Campagne (I couldn't find matt in the market), but I don't regret it :)


The restaurant is really cozy and quaint. It was a beautiful sunny day so we opted to sit outside. Although our table was wobbly, being outside and seeing the people bustling around made up for it. I ordered french toast and my friend got the omelette. My french toast was very delicious with fresh fruits, just a little too sweet for me and the omelette was filling and tasty. The bread wasn't very good but the potatoes and sausages were delicious as well.

Cafe Campagne on Urbanspoon

Seattle!

I needed to get away from Vancouver once again so we headed towards Seattle :)

We had brunch at Cutters. The eggs benny was ok but I don't like ham so the big piece of ham was too overwhelming for me. The potatoes were good though. The place has a beautiful beautiful view of the water.

We had the Crab Pot at night because I had read about it. We had the cove (I don't like crab) and it was ok. Nothing super special. Everything was pretty bland. Shrimp was way overcooked. The corn was really good though, because it was sweet.

We went to cheesecaek factory and shared a cookie dough peanut butter cheesecake. I wasn't too impressed. It was too hard for my liking. The place is really pretty though.

I also had a NYC style mini cheesecake at the Confectional. It was too soft for my liking. and a little expensive for 4 dollars each.

I was happy that the weather was very nice and the beach was beautiful.
I wasn't too happy that the shopping downtown sucks ass. I was very disappointed that there were only 3 stores that I liked out of all of them. I was also disappointed the food I had, nothing stood out very well.
Also, buses came every hour for the one we wanted which was really bad.. especially since the bus we took went downtown on 1st ave and stuff. I don't kno, maybe I am not used to it.
Even though we were only a couple hours away from Vancouver, there was definitely a noticeable difference. I don't know how to describe it. It was very american. Not only this, but I felt less safe in Seattle at night then I do in Vancouver. Given I might be a little bias because I know Van well enough to call it home and know no real danger will happen. (even though Hastings can get a little sketch) But there were a couple of almost fights in Seattle or sketchy people saying things that left me a little nerved.

Nonetheless it was a good change from Van yet I am glad to be back.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Nuba



I finally tried Nuba and unfortunately I was unimpressed. The place is really small and dark. The servers were really nice though. I just had a lamb kafta. The lamb patty was ok but the pita bread tasted and felt like the roti I bought from superstore that I have to heat up and eat. The pickled vegetables weren't very good either. Even though it was around 5 bucks, I don't think it was worth it.. I've had better 5 bucks meals at places like hk cafes.. I don't know. my friend had a falafel and she liked it. hers was huge. I don't think I'll be back.

Monday, July 7, 2008

HK

my brother is getting married (finally.. after 10 bloody years) which means I get to go back to Hk next year :) When I left, I was so happy and vowed never to return but I miss it now :(


We went for afternoon tea one day and had this platter of creme brulee, chocolate cake, and some apple strudel thing. There's this Afternoon tea at the Fish House in Stanley Park that I have to go to, they have three tiers of sandwiches, desserts, and finger foods. I actually did mean to go one time but we got lost in stanley park, got frustrated as hell and went to savory coast.

There's a bunch of dessert shops in HK. They sell various different desserts.. unlike Vancouver where it's just cakes and bubble tea.. if that counts. Anyways, this is grass jelly with mango at Tai Koo (where I grew up when I was little). People usually eat grass jelly with ice cream, since I don't like ice cream, mango is a great substitute :) The food court in Tai Koo is so cute. It's like different restaurants but they are open so it looks they are part of food court too. I don't kno, I remember eating at a tapas place and there was a hot pot place, and etc .. ahh I love tai koo :)

One night, my whole family was walking around hungry and we stumbled onto this japanese restaurant. They had spicy hotpot (i don't do spicy) so I had this japanese meal. It was pretty good, I ate everything I think.. except all of the udon (I don't eat a lot of udon/noodle person)
on New years Eve, we went to this portugese restaurant for dinner. I think this picture is beautiful. Everything looks delicious .

I don't remember too much from my trip to Hk (which was 2 years ago). I remember the individual hot pots I wanted to try, amazing different buns/pastries, and oh I remember there was a hello kitty restaurant, and everything was hello kitty like hahaha. Lots of dim sum and chinese dinners.

I can't wait to go back, even if it is a year from now!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Che Lung Bao

Ok, I don't know if that's how you spell it but they are these little round things like wheels and inside you can get cheese, peanut, custard, red bean, or coconut. I've tried all of them and I only like peanut and cheese. I LOVE these things. They are from Richmond Public Market and sometimes night markets. I think they also sell them in some T&T (Yaohan one? maybe?? or I am thinking Hk?). They are sooo good. I always get them when I go to Richmond .. unfortunately I don't go often :(



We also went to Kelong Singapore Cuisine. I had Roti Prita (yum!), hainese chicken with vermicelli (chicken was so gross), and seafood rice in banana leaf (lots of flavor but not super special). I don't think I'll be back..

Friday, July 4, 2008

Friday

Today, we went to players chophouse for lunch. Inside, the place was really nice and spacey. We had the canadian pizza and seafood chowder. The bread came with the pizza at the same time. That was kinda gay because we were so hungry. The chowder tasted microwaved (my friend said, I didn't have it). the salad that came with it tasted weird. but the pizza wasn't that bad. I was sooo full after. The place is ..nice.. but it was a little uncomfortable. I don't know, it wasn't bad, it wasn't good. it was .. eh.


Then we went to Boulangerie la parisienne for raspberry cheesecake. I didn't like it. It was too moussy for me. The bottom is sponge cake which I don't like. The sandwiches didn't look very appealing either..

After we went to Yew for a drink. The place is beautiful. I love the high ceilings and open kitchens.I didn't feel like alcohol so I had this forget me not. Gross. The tea in the drink was horrible and my friend tried it as well. After we had a sip, we made a cringing face. It's not even like I m trying to, it's just the drink makes us make the face haha i don't know. She had a great long island iced tea which turned out to be 50 cents more than my gross non alcoholic drink. fuck.
I think I'll be back for food one day

all in all i spent 15 dollars yay :)


Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Stephos!

I've always meant to go here but the lineup makes me not want to wait around. I've tried Takis and Characters on Davie, and they both sucked. I was really happy when my friend got a table in 10 min at Stephos. I was at SFU so when I got there, I didn't have to wait around :) Although the food took a long time, the table behind us got there later than us and got there food first :(

We ordered the Tiropitas. It was ok. I only ate a bit of it, I am not a huge cheese fan. We shared a lamb chop platter and it was delicious. The lamb chops were so good and so were the rice and potatoes. I didn't like the salad too much though. We also got the tzatziki with pita. It was too garlicy for my liking.


It was really cheap. It came to around 25 dollars + tip. I'll probably come back one day but I don't know if I would line up for it. It wasn't That amazing.

Stepho's Greek Taverna on Urbanspoon