Sunday, May 31, 2009

Burger Heaven + Estea

I went to Burger Heaven last week. I have read great reviews so I decided it was worthy of a try. Although I am not much of a burger person (I don't know how to eat it without looking like a barbarian) I was tempted to try one of the more unique burgers. Aside from the normal beef burgers, they also provide ostrich, kangaroo, and elk burgers. If I didn't try one of those, I also wanted to try a hawaiian burger (pineapple and some other stuff.. yummy)

The place isn't too big but it seems like it has a long history. With all the pictures around the room, you can tell that they have had a lot of business for a very very long time. While we were there, the tables were constantly filled. I had the elk burger and friend had kangaroo. It comes with a salad and either potato or yam wedges. I think the burger was around 15-16 dollars?

So the meal comes and it looks pretty hearty. The salad seemed very fresh and the yam wedges were very delicious. I didn't find the burger *that* big. Like, it was manageable haha. The elk burger came with a pear and apple chutney. It was nice, but I found the elk patty to be really dry.


Then we went to Estea for drinks. The room is really large and looked pretty comfortable. I saw a lot watermelon and papaya and other fruits lined up.. so the stuff is definitely fresh!. I tried to order a tofu drink.. they had none. then i tried to order the pineapple drink.. they have none. then the papaya drink.. none. omfg. so I settled for a boring watermelon/orange.

friend had this bubble tea drink.. the pearls were still brown!!! they were not even done cooking yet. My drink was ok..
I'd like to come back one day for food, and hopefully they would have the drink I want! although they were rather pricey (5.75?)

*side note, I used my brother's nice camera..omgosh i m missing out on so much. the pictures look so professional. pictures up later. it's been a hectic couple weeks! and it's gonna get worse. bah.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Phnom Penh + Sagano (picture post)

I went to Phnom Penh again because my brother is back and we wanted to take him somewhere that was unique and delicious (since hk is full of cheap good food). I don't really feel like blogging about this place since I already have so I'll just put up the pics and maybe some side notes. enjoyy
yummy 9 layer dessert cake. Homemade and as waitress says : made with care and heart.
Vietnamese spring rolls that I wasn't too fond of
beef luc loc and rice. VERY oily. but delicious.
Curry and bread. not enough sweet potatoes like last time =(

also had pho and chicken wings but I've already taken pics of those so I didn't feel like repeat.

I also went back to my fave jap restaurant a while ago. It was good to see they had more business. Here's wat we had..
Ebi Su ..although I actually ordered ebi gyoza.
Seafood Udon: the seafood not fresh and scarce.
Snow White Roll.. didn't really like the coconut

Paradise Roll. DELICIOUS! I now love gomae

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Slickety Jim's + True Confections

Yesterday was sooo nice, it made me so happy. I was smiling the entire time for no reason haha. It's so true that there's a correlation between the weather and your mood. I remember 4(?) years ago when we had that record setting rainfall in the valley and I was sooo grumpy for no reason. People would ask me wat's wrong and I'd say it's the weather. then they thought I was being dumb and mocked me but it's TRUE!

Slickety Jim's Chat n' Chew on Urbanspoon Anyways.. we went to main to go shopping and stopped by slickety Jim's Chat and Chew. I've read mixed reviews about this place but it was the first place the bus arrived to and we were starving. The decor is really funky with a ton of pictures and clocks, and art, and clowns. it was really cool, but I wasn't fond of them clowns.

There weren't a lot of seats but somehow it still worked out, even when there was a group of 6 waiting behind me. No one had to wait a long time. The menu is pretty long with a ton of various breakfast items. They have quite a lot of eggs benny. So I decided to go for the bomb and a bull. It was eggs benny with proscuitto and gryerye cheese (?). Friend got the daily special which was spinach chorizo sausage and some other cheeses. They were both 9.75 and came with potatoes.
You can have the poached eggs soft medium or hard. We both chose medium

The food came at a good time and was pretty good and satisfying. Although I found mine a little salty due to proscuitto and cheese. The special was very good apparently. The eggs were poached perfectly. I loved the potatoes. They were seasoned lightly (so not salty at all) and they were cooked perfectly. I hate places that undercook potatoes.

All in all it was a good start to our day. The service was really nice and laid back. cool

Then it was so sunny we changed our plans to go lie on the beach at english bay. We stopped by true confections first for a piece of cake. We shared a pina colada cheesecake that took FOREVER to come. I saw it sitting there on the counter for 20 minutes. I have no idea where the service was. So I went and was about to take it and then she came out and apologized and changed the piece for a new one because she also realized it's been sittin out for awhile. ugh.
It was really rich and it was just okay.

More Sun TODAY! I'll actually be genuinely smiling today at work.. although I will be inside... .. :(

Monday, May 18, 2009

Greek Islands + the Keg (abby)

Greek islands on Urbanspoon the last time I went to greek islands, I was in elementary school and it was for a birthday party. I just recall not liking greek food so I decided to order the lobster. and the birthday girl's dad was paying for us. Yes, now I feel bad.

A couple weeks ago, we had tried to go there for lunch.. but we walked in and realized they weren't open (why were the doors unlocked?? ) oops, we ran back out.

Last night we tried once more, although I wanted to go to Restaurant 62. It was very busy but we got a table quickly. Their entrees range from 15-30 dollars... with the most expensive dishes being steaks or lobsters. I ordered the greek ribs for 19 dollars and my friend had the beef souvlaki for 16. They came with a soup (lemon rice soup that was not very good), caesar salad (too much dressing), pita bread (warm, soft, and delicious), potatoes, veggies, and rice. It was actually a lot of food!

the beef souvlaki was pretty normal. beef was cooked nicely. The ribs were very tender, however it was too salty. I wasn't a huge fan of it.. and thought I should have stuck with my normal lamb souvlaki instead.. Oh, we also ordered a kalamari appetizer to share for 8 dollars. It was rather small though, but the pieces were fried quite nicely.

Afterwards, we went to the Keg for desserts. This is another place I hadn't been to since elementary school. It has changed a lot! I ordered the apple crumble and friend had the billy miner pie (some chocolate ice cream pie). The desserts were very delicious! the pie was hugeee. my apple crumble was very warm and tasted great with the ice cream. The apples were a little sour but no biggy. the pie was moussey and light. yumm..

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Diva at the Met + Au Wing Kee

I had to work on Mother's day so instead, I decided to have brunch with my mother at Diva because the food sounded good and I've always wanted to eat here. The other times I've been here were for drinks and dessert.. where we accidentally undertipped the super nice bartender.. so we went again to over tip to compensate. haha

Diva at the Met on Urbanspoon When we walked in, I felt ignored,the bartender saw me (also a server) but after she looked at me, she didn't even say hi, she just went on to serve others. Yes she saw me, because I smiled at her and was about to be taken to our table, but she just turned away after. leaving me feeling like an idiot for smiling. We stood for a good 3 minutes before she finally spoke to us again. not a hi, but just "are you here for brunch". great service..?

When we finally sat down, I ordered the french toast and my mother ordered the salmon omelette. When he asked me what version I wanted (blueberry or banana), I asked him which one was better . and he just histitantly said the banana one. For such an award winning dish, I would have thought there would be more enthusiam or preference. Gee I don't know, a "oh the banana/blueberry is very delicious." etc. would have been nice.

We got our food, and he just left without much else and no we never saw him much again. Instead of french toast, I received pancakes. wtf. I didn't feel like waiting around to get my real order, nor was my server anywhere to be seen anways, so I didn't say anything, and since these were 'award winning', I might as well try it. I have no idea how it was award winning. The batter was still a little mushy, and you can probably get the same, if not better pancakes, elsewhere. The omelette was apparently okay, except the salmon was dry.
The egg part was really pretty.

When we got our bill, I decided to sit for a little longer, but right when I opened the thing to look at the bill, 5 seconds he was back to take my credit card. So... we don't see you much for our whole meal, yet you are so hurried to take our bill and get us on our way? The room wasn't even full! there were what, 4 other tables?

god.

Au Wing Kee (Burnaby) on Urbanspoon I went to Au Wing Kee in Burnaby for a quick dinner. The room is typical chinese restaurant.. not overly clean but sufficient. They have lunch time specials and normal chinese food like congee, noodles, and rice. I saw curry fish ball and I had to get it. As well, we got tang jai congee + chinese donut, beef brisket curry + rice, and wonton mein. One of them was a special and came with a soup.

The curry fish ball were not the ones that are usually used :( I don't like this kind.. it was too smooth. The curry was okay tasting. It had flavor and a kick of spiciness. but I prefer deer garden/mui garden's curry much more. The beef brisket curry was cold and tasted funny.
I ate mostly the congee because I ordered it, even though it was probably one of the worst teng jai congee's I've ever eaten. It was extremely liquidy ('hei') like barely any rice, and the various ingredients inside were a little weird tasting at times. The chinese donut was fine. We took most things to go.

Even so, there were many people still coming in for dinner. My parents love the au wing kee in vancouver, so I don't know. Maybe it was an off night. I need to go to a place with decent service and great food soon.. ugh.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Blowfish

Blowfish Sushi & Japanese Food on Urbanspoon Blowfish is a relatively new japanese restaurant by playland. I've seen it sooo many times on the bus dt and it really caught my eye. The orange sign and the name and hte fish logo. I knew I had to try it one day.. We went there a couple days ago and I think I had too high of expectations.

I was SOO excited to go here, I don't know why. I think it's because I looked at their website and their pictures and the blog posts gave me an impression that this place would be dedicated, excited about their business, and mixed with delicious food.

The room is very very small. It seems more like a take out place with the minimal decoration and cramped room.. We sat down and there was another table there as well. The service was in my opinion pretty awful. She wasn't rude, but she was hella rushed and didn't seem to want to serve us. She never smiled and she gave one word answers to us the entire time. Didn't look at us when she talked either.

We ordered the saba shiro roll (mint leaf and fish), house roll (crab meat, shrimp, salmon, etc), U&T roll (unagi avocado), and the chicken curry dish. We waited for a bit, and then before we got our first roll order, she then tells us they had no chicken curry left .. gee that took a while. and she began telling me at least 5 steps away. so before she even got to our table, she was spewing "sorry we have no more chicken curry left" I didn't even know she was talking to me in the beginning!

so we ordered the dragon roll instead.. another unagi avocado type roll..
The rolls were nice with sufficient filling. Although the saba one was really really disgusting, neither of us could finish it. It was like salty and minty at once.. weird taste. The two special rolls (U&T and dragon) had great sauce and were delicious.. but I usually love everything with unagi in it!

oh and lastly, I had the 1.75 mango cheesecake... it was okay.

I guess I should have tried other food such as udon or teriyaki or rice bowls, but mehh I felt like sushi. but to me, it is just mediocore, and service just made it worse =( Oh and also, I saw on their website that if you spend over 10 dollars, you get a stamp. and with 10 stamps, you get a free dinner box. For 30 dollars worth of food I didn't even get one stamp =(


oh I went to irish heather yesterday.. my friend's phone ran out of batteries so she waited 15 minutes for me =S but the owner was really nice and gave her a glass of water to wait and when I was only a few steps away, he even opened the door for me and knew I was the friend waiting. Too bad the room was full, so he took us to Whiskey Shebeen (?) place. It was a little stuffy but it was okay after. The place is smaller and more casual barsy like. We sat at the bar and had a couple drinks and fries. Our friend was also meeting us so the owner said he'll tell her to come here when she gets here. She didn't get here until half an hour after and she couldn't find it, so she walked back and forth over and over again until he went outside and asked her if she was our friend. lol. he was really nice, he came over after awhile and asked us how everything was. I would love to come back one day for food at irish heather =)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

i m missing so much (misc post)

have you ever seen diners drive ins and dives?
I recently got tv and channels up to 60 so all i've been doing is watching foodtv when I have time. and that show is amazing. Maybe I am just hungry right now but I mean, homemade bagels! famous cheese skirt burger! yumm!

I need to do some type of american road trip and hit up all these diners.. ahhhh.

to make this post semi vancouver related- everyone should hit up pinkys on Mondays for 50% off their entire food menu!! also Db is presenting a 20 dollar burger combo on game days

I haven't eaten out much recently. it's just been work/school/foodtv/sleep haha. but here's a picture of some lovely coconut cupcakes I made a while back