Sunday, June 28, 2009

Flying Tiger + Maenam

Flying Tiger on Urbanspoon I went to Flying tiger a couple weeks ago. It is further along West 4th near Milestones and past Topanga Cafe. They specialize in asian street food such as roti canai, satays, duck crepe, noodles,etc. I was real excited to try this place since I've always wanted to come and it definitely met all my expectations.

The room is rather small with only three (?) tables out on the patio. So we sat on the side next to the open kitchen, where only three people cooked all night long. It was cool because I got to see all the dishes that were coming out :)

We ordered the roti, satay, and chaat masala. The roti canai was different from the usual, it was flakier and sweet I believe.. (this is what happens when you blog about a place you tried 2-3 weeks ago, you briefly remember the taste.. but I am so lazy to post it right after i try =[ ) but anyways it was still good, especially with the curry dipping sauce.

Next was Chicken Satay. They were okay. We didn't rave about it but it wasn't disgusting. they were just okay. Finally was the Chaat Masala which I really liked. You take the bread and then you fill it up with all the fillings on the plate. There were raisin chutney (my fave), yogurt cucumber, dhaal, vegetables, and mint chutney (?). It was a little hard to fill everything into it but it was pretty delicious. The various flavors at once. Although, I personally didn't like the mint and vegetables, I loaded it up mostly with dhaal and raisin :) crap I am drooling thinking about it.

Then we ordered the sticky rice dessert that comes with mango jackfruit and ice cream. ewww it was so not good. We couldn't even finish it :(

The prices were a little high (12 for satay, 14 for chaat, and 7 for roti) but the food was very tasty and delicoius that I think van foodies should try it out if they haven't done so yet =) (cept the dessert. blech).


I also went to Maenam last week for a quick dinner. and it sure was quick, because I think we at in record time (because we were thinking we were gonna get ticketed for where we parked. bleh).
Maenam used to be Gastropod, but now has become a thai restaurant. Right when I walked in, I was welcomed by two flies flying in the middle of the restaurant. gross. I know I comment on this a lot,but damn I can't STAND it!!!

We ordered the 3 flavor fish (sweet sour and salty, 17 dollars) and pad thai (13 dollars). I didn't feel like rice but it would most likely have made the meal better. The flavors were overpowering. The fish was quite tasty and it was cooked perfectly but there was almost too much taste.. and the pad thai was just SUPER flavorful. wayy too sweet. If they dialled down the spices and stuff, I think the meal would have been excellent.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Las Margaritas + Sophie's

Las Margaritas Mexican on Urbanspoon After Salsa & Agave, I had been craving mexican food and really wanted to go to Las Margaritas. Most of my friends rave about it and decided I shall try it out as well. We sat on the patio and started looking at their extensiveee menu of food. We wanted to share a nachos and decided to share the cheapest one, without bothering to look at the description. I ordered the enchilada and friend had the vegetarian enchilada and a pina colada.

The nachos come and it was this dinky 8 pieces nachos. For 6 bucks, this isn't worth it. Damn, lesson learned. read the description (I always just scan it and see a word I like like cranberry or duck or apple, and I am sold. yes, it's horrible because I sometimes end up getting something completely not what I had in mind... aka last year- beso- chicken with a ball of cheese on top. ewww). Even though it was small, it was sooo filling since it was loaded with cheese adn guacamole. delicious fatty goodness.

Our food arrived and I was pretty full at this point. Upon scanning the whole patio and my food, it seems like every dish looked just the same. rice, beans, and some sort of tortilla filled thing loaded with cheese guac and sour cream. Maybe this is what Mexican food is? I don't know authentic mexican food, I didn't even like mexican food until 2 years ago.
The rice was really good, I hated the beans. It was weird texture for me and I was too full from the nachos that I got the enchilada packed up. The next day I ate it.. it was a little dry inside (maybe from microwaved). The place has a nice patio to people watch. and if you love cheese, this is a great place to go haha

Then we headed over to Sophie's for apple pie, because I heard it was pretty good. For around 6 dollars, it's hugeee. but umm lets just say we prefer regular apple pie. the crust is not the normal doughy pie crust, it's like pastry like I guess. Gosh I don't know my terms, forgive me. Just look at the picture haha

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cafe Medina + others

Cafe Medina on Urbanspoon I went for brunch at Cafe Medina awhile ago. This place sure is busy and crowded on the weekends. The room isn't very big but it was cozy. I ordered the tortilla and friend had the tagine. I wanted to try everything on the menu, they all sounded delicious!

The food was nicely presented and sure was filling. My tortilla didn't look that big, but it was filled with a bunch of delicious ingredients.. I can't remember much of it anymore but I vaguely remember eating sausage, shrimp, other vegetables, etc.. The Tagine looked great as well. I saw someone with hard boiled egg and some bread etc, and it looked sooo good. Then the people right next to us saw our food and said they wanted what we ordered. maybe that's why they want everyone to be so close together :P so everyone can order everything :P:)
Afterwards, we ordered a couple waffles. They were around 3 dollars and you can choose from a list of toppings. We chose lavender chocolate and fruit compote. Both were very delicious!
I think I found a new fave brunch place. Although they hurried us out at the end, we were taking our sweet ass time. sorry.

We ventured over to Salsa & Agave hoping to have a margarita before our biking adventures (hey, why not. it'll make it more exciting). They weren't licensed but the owner offered some juices instead. I didn't know which one to choose (between a milky flavored one and a fruity one) so she gave us some samples. Both were delicious so we ordered one of each. We also got free chips and salsa. I really wanted to order food but damn I was full. We had to stall because we were waiting for our country friend to figure her way from stadium skytrain to salsa. which took her about 45 minutes. oi. Even though we didn't really order anything and took up one of their tables, they never once rushed us and was always extremely kind and happy towards us. :D If only I had enough time for repeat restaurants (2 months left..)
Biking was fun, except I ended up with a lot of bruises because I don't know how to start a bike (what the hell is wrong with me).

So we had a crazy big foodie event at our house few weeks ago, a couple pics to show the food =)

Monday, June 22, 2009

Pictures

haven't had internet for awhile.. finally posted a bunch of food piccys from the past 2-3 weeks
check it out on Flickr

posts to follow later :)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Yoshi + Kobe Steakhouse

Yoshi on Urbanspoon Couple weeks ago, I went to Yoshi on Denman for Lunch. I always see this place but never been after hearing it's a bit more on the expensive side.. but since it was lunch, it should be affordable!

You have to walk upstairs, and right when I walked up, two flies were flying like crazy right there. frick it's giving me shivers thinking about it. Normally for a normal person, this is whatever, but my biggest fear are flying gnats/flies or a bunch of those fruitflies flying in one swarm during mating season or watever. UGH . this is probably gonna be the worst post I've done.. thinking about it..

So we sat down by the window, and as we were tryin to have a conversation, I just kept noticing fly after fly flying around.. at one point, we counted there were SEVEN flies. WTF. I am freaking the hell out at this point. Isn't this a health hazard too?? like seven flies already buzzing around where I am sitting... how many are in the kitchen then?

I ordered Combo C (salmon, sushi, miso soup, tofu, and vegetables), and they ordered a grilled fish combo, and a Combo B (sashimi, sushi, udon, and chicken). The food came, and mine.. the tofu was really soggy and the salmon tasted like jerky.. the others were okay apparently. The box sure looked pretty but it was a little expensive i believe (13 bucks if I remember? ).

then when we were leaving, I walked into more flies. you must think i m neurotic but think of it this way, if your biggest fear were clowns.. just think of how next to you were clowns eating dinner, or spiders.. the place crawling with spiders etc. Mine just happens to be flies. it's really the same thing...

I went to Kobe steakhouse for my dad's birthday. A couple of my friends told me this is great.. If there's any bigger tourist trap in vancouver besides Stonegrill, this place must be it. I have passed this place a million times and naive me thought kobe place would serve kobe beef, my dad's favorite. damnit.

I honestly have NO idea how the food or anything can justify the prices for this place. The place has a bar downstairs, that they make you sit in for at least a couple minutes before they take you upstairs. Upstairs is dark and has 4(?) teppanyaki stations. I think there are more, but I am not sure. So for the menu I ordered the chicken and beef combo, mother ordered the shrimp + chicken, and father had the ultimate. Me and my mother's were both 40 something and my fathers was 60.

The chef was really nice guy, but there were no children at our table so he didn't get as much oohs and ahhs and claps as the tables around. he said it was his first day on the job.. at first I believed him, until I heard the dude next station say it was his first day too. right.

So the ultimate consisted of everything (chicken shrimp scallops beef lobster). nothing stood out. it was bland and boring, and quality wise did not live up to the price. What a rip off. I should have treated him to omakase at tojo's instead.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

La Buca + Aphrodite's

Taking the advantage of someone with a car :P I decided to go to Bistrot Bistro for dinner. Since he is never on time, I cancelled and opted for La Buca instead. Although bistrot is still on my to go list, I am soooo glad I went to la buca.

La Buca on Urbanspoon With the same owners as L'altro buca (formely known as parkside) and pied-a-tierre (also on my list), I knew I was in for a great dinner judging by the reputation these restaurants have in Vancouver. La Buca is a very tiny restuarant situated on Macdonald. Easily missed from the outside (we drove right past it and took major slowing down 2nd try to find it), inside ambience is cozy and filled with frequent and close clientele (only assuming.. since I saw a lot of hugging/greetings going on during my dinner). We were lucky to get a table quickly as more and more ppl bustled in afterwards.

The menu had ample amount of pasta ranging from 17-30 dollars. We were served breadsticks to begin with which was nice to munch on. I ordered the Balzano Tagliatelle and he had the ravioli.

When the food arrived, I was like uh oh because I don't like pasta of this nature, but then one bite and omg. The pasta had the perfect texture and the sauce was sooo delicious and you can definitely tell these were fresh ingredients they were using with it (asparagus and speck). I never really placed too much importance on how fresh ingredients are in my meals, but wow, it really makes a difference!! I almost forgot I was only going to eat half (I try to take out half of everything I eat now..) and almost finished up the whole plate. The ravioli was also very good, but I was in love with my dish more :P :) Only thing I guess is that it was a little oily..

I was reading the website and how the owners believe that every neighborhood should have a perfect place to dine, and that's what la buca exemplies. Now I wish I lived in Kitsilano. I really need to try pied a tierre!!

Afterwards, we went to Aphrodite's Organic Cafe and Pie Shop for pie ( I LOVE PIE. I always crave it haha). They boasts that they have 14 (?) various organic pies each made with organic ingredients.. they cost around 6-7 dollars I believe. We had the apple and blackberry apple.

Apple was delicious! Blackberry apple was good too, but the original apple was the best. I love the crust, it was soft and what a crust on a pie should be like (unlike another place I will blog about later..)

Monday, June 8, 2009

Top Shanghai + Honolulu Cafe + The Boss

My brother left last sunday after a short trip over here. Top Shanghai Cuisine on Urbanspoon For the final meal, I decided to go to Top Shanghai.. I haven't read particularly good critiques about this place but Gingeri was busy and we felt like shanghai cuisine.

When we went there it was around 5, and they said we had to leave by 6:30. The room was rather quiet and thought she was just saying that and didn't really mean it. At 5:30, people began coming in like droves. holy crap, this place gets busy. and is she ever intense when she is booking reservations. wow .

Pictures of various dishes are on the walls so you can just look and choose what you like. We chose the honey beef with buns because it looked good in picture. We also had the beef roll ups, chicken wonton soup, pork cheeks (?), green onion pancake, and xiao long bao. They have a very extensive list of food in the menu.

The beef roll ups (I don't know what it is called so I am just going to keep calling it this), wasn't very good.. not enough filling and too much onions. The best I've ever had is still at Long's. The pork cheeks were apparently bigger than usually served. The green onion pancakes were ok. a little too oily, xiao long bao were mediocore. my favorite was the honey beef and buns. Too bad there weren't enough buns, but you would put the beef in the buns and eat it. They were delicious and juicy with really great sauce. The chicken wonton soup wasn't bad at first nice big wontons and veggies etc. until my brother stopped, and asked if we would stop eating if he had told us there was a bug in his soup. but it wasn't a bug that could be ignored. it was a huge black bug hidden within his vegetable. ... .. Gross.
what a wasted dish. They took it away and told us to order something else..
We ordered two desserts: fried banana and fried sweet potato. They took a while to come out.. probably because the restaurant was jam packed by 6 now.
The fried banana was okay. but the sweet potato was very good. It was soft and tasty. yum.

I don't think I'll be back though. The meal had some highlights, but the bug kinda killed it for me.

I went to honolulu cafe for breakfast before class one day. They have these combos for 5.95 with a tea/coffee (or one dish for 4.95). They have a western side and a chinese side. Western being eggs, omeletes, toast, spaghetti, noodles, etc. and chinese being congee.

I chose the chicken spaghetti in soup and french toast, eggs, and ham. friend had the fish congee with chinese donut.

The spaghetti was clear and had a good taste. chicken was weird, but I didn't expect much. I had this taken to go because the toast et al was enough for me! the ham was really oily.. so were the eggs. The french toast is not like the usual western style, it's asian style. I think they take two pieces of bread with butter (or condensed milk in between) and then deep fry it. I haven't had this version in a LONG time but it was tasty and yummy. not something I can eat a lot but good nonetheless.

The congee was tasteless. The restaurant is pretty big with usual cha chan teng service etc.

I also went to The Boss in Chinatown for breakfast last weekend. They have a more extensive menu with a breakfast combo as well. I had the luncheon meat+ egg macaroni and they had the breakfast combo. It was sausage, eggs, a bun, and beef noodles. Also comes with tea/coffee.

Maybe I don't know enough about cha chan tengs, but I personally prefer The Boss over many others I have been to. Although some ppl find the prices more expensive, but you usually can't go wrong with the food they serve. They aren't particularly amazing, but they can satisfy.

If you have any recommendations on cha chan tengs, I would love to hear as I am slowly craving these type of restaurants once again.. (and mexican restaurants but I already have an extensive to go list for those atm :D)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Makoto + Sushi Town

today was such a sunny day. so I was wearing my sunglasses, but they were so tinted that I walked right into a sprinkler... on a busy street. omg. fml I was wearing a white dress today.

anyways.
Makoto on UrbanspoonMakoto is a small japanese restaurant that is close to where I live. I've seen great reviews and even better pictures of sushi from this place. Since I am a sucker for crazy weird rolls (I know it's not authentic, but they make for a good picture!!), I knew I had to go here one day.

We got there pretty early, the room is small with a sushi bar at the back. There's a huge plant on the right of the entrance. I had to side step the plant to get to where I sat. unless they didn't want people to walk that side.. oops. (random but that reminds me of the time I saw a construction sign at coal harbour saying no walking and I disregarded it because I thought the 'construction man' was a homeless and he was walking there . oops. no one said anythin!)

Anyways, the menu was pretty sufficient with rolls, teriyaki, tempura, appys, combos, etc etc. Nothing was extremely expensive. I believe the most expensive was only 13 dollars. We decided to order just rolls- so we got the volcano roll (spicy scallops?), dragon roll (unagi), and the paradise roll (mango).

The paradise roll came and it was just cali with mango on top. the mango was very sweet so I really liked it. The volcano roll came next and wow. pretty! It tasted like what I would assume a volcano roll tasted like (wow what a weird description..) I mean that like it wasn't refreshing, it was warm and had a bit of kick from the spicy scallops. different, not my fave, but still good.

The last roll took a while to come but the chef was probably busy creating this masterpiece. Although the rolls itself were small (the middle one was hollowed out!), it sure was pretty! but I've had better dragon rolls. but for the price (i believe 9.75?) it wasn't too bad.

If I ever have time or if I don't feel like walking a mile (I am exaggerating.. sort of) to elsewhere, I will definitely come back =) also, they do not accept credit card..


I also went to Sushi Town in Coquitlam last week. They have a sushi town on Hastings that I have ventured last semester. This sushi town, I believe, used to be a noodle shop. The room is very very big and it sure filled up fast! During the time we were there, people were bustling in very quickly and every table were ordering at large amounts! This place must be a bang for your buck (is that the saying? I don't even know haha). We ordered a potato croquette, double dragon roll (I think that's what it was called), the spider roll, and a seafood udon.

The potato croquette was very yummy. It had a thin crunchy outer and soft warm inner filled with potatoey goodness. The rolls weren't very good though... I found the dragon roll to be extremely mushy .. both the avocado and unagi was really mushy.. The spider roll had lack of crab. or it was there but it was very chewy. The seafood udon was pretty good. Lots of seafood! :)