Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Barefoot Kitchen, Bowl of Stars, the Diamond

BareFoot Kitchen on Urbanspoon Barefoot kitchen is a japanese restaurant situated on Davie Street. Upon entering, we were greeted with smiles and enthusiastic welcomes from the waitress and the chef. We sat down by the window and promptly given our menus filled with pictures of the food. I ordered the hamburg and karaage set and friend had the mackeral set. They both came with a soup. I chose corn and she had miso. I really liked the corn soup, it was very very tasty. The set was very big and filling. It also came with a little potato salad as well. I finished all the food and had no complaints. When we were leaving she hastily ran over to open the door for us. She was so cute and kind! I like this restaurant. It doesn't serve THE best food around, but it sure satisfies.

We went to Bowl of Stars accidentally for dessert. We just kept driving and driving and vetoing various other places for dessert that we landed here.. To get a sweet drink. I got the Lychee slush with coconut jelly ( i was low fat coconut jelly but ran out hahahah who am I kidding with getting low fat), and friend got blueberry slush with pearls. They also say they have free wifi but upon asking, they didn't really know the password.. And the password they gave me didn't work :( (I know,.. How lame am I tryin to use wifi when I am hanging with a friend.. But I just got a new phone and wanted to test it out). The drinks were both really good but gave me massive brain freezes. It got a little too sweet at the end for me and the pearls in his drink were not cooked! The restaurant was very quiet but very bright. I think they are known for noodles here , so I would like to try that out one day.


The Diamond on Urbanspoon We went over to the Diamond one night for dessert and drinks. I would never have known this place existed if I wasn't such a foodie (aka crazy about trying new restaurants...cork and fin anyone?). Yes I looked up and I saw the Diamond, but I had no idea where the door was. oi. Anyways, I wanted to try this place out because of their unique cocktails and drinks, but when I pointed this restaurant out to several friends, they never shared the same enthusiasm as me. I guess from the outside, it doesn't exactly boast the best decor (or even any), but inside is a totally different story. It is a fun room with great music and happy and trendy customers. The menu is just a piece of paper with a few selections of food. We found it too cute (the drawings) and had to order the duck noodles even though we had a pretty large meal beforehand. We also ordered a tapioca dessert. I can't believe we got suckered into ordering food from pictures that aren't even real. I don't recall what drinks we ordered but they were quite good.

The duck noodles was loaded with veggies and not enough duck. It was just adequate. The dessert was actually quite big and tasty..but the top part was just too sour. We ate around the top layer. I like the ambience of the room, the food was just o-k, but the drinks were quite enjoyable. I also found there was quite a wait for the food, especially the dessert. Furthermore, a possible downside might be if you sit in the middle, it could get a little uncomfortable for the person sitting on the inside because there's no back to rest on. The group next to me changed seats because of it.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Waazubee + Seasons

Waazubee Cafe on Urbanspoon Waazubee Cafe is located along Commercial Drive and has a bunch of burgers, sandwiches, and appys to share. The room is pretty large with an open kitchen. We ordered the trio of hummus to share and I had the chicken sandwich and friend had the burger. The hummus was alright..we both enjoyed it but I love hummus. I went through a bag of pita bread + hummus in sweden in one day. I know, disgusting. But i think it's better than eating a whole cheesecake in one sitting like my friend did =P Then she went on a 600 calorie/day diet.. God, insanity.


Our mains came and they both looked delicious but I had NOO idea how to eat it without making an absolute mess. I guess that it was good I was facing the wall or else I would have looked barbaric. The burger was GIGANTIC. I tried it but could barely eat it and instead just took a bite of the bun. Oi. Friend said if there were any "the" perfect burger, he might have found it here.. But then he went on to say, minus the onions, more tomatoes, lettuce back in, and less mayo. LOL so basically, a different burger but this one came close. He was referring to the meat patty mostly and how it wasn't too big that it's dry and meaty but not too small that you feel ripped off for getting a burger. My sandwich was lovely, but I ended up taking most of it home because the fries and hummus filled me up. Overall, we had a lovely time here.


Seasons in the Park on Urbanspoon What better way to spend family christmas brunch then at Seasons in the Park. It is a beautiful restaurant situated in Queen E Park. Valet parking is 3.50 but if you park yourself, it's only a dollar for 2 hours I think. So don't be lazy and just park yourself. The restaurant reminded me a lot of Horizons on Burnaby Mountain Park. The view is nice.. But I just came back from Europe, so I wasn't as stunned by it as I could have been half a year ago. They have a nice selection of omlettes, benedicts, french toast, crab cakes, etc etc. I ordered the sweet potato hash, mother had eggs benedict with salmon, and father had steak and eggs. Everything was great. Steak was cooked perfectly, the scrambled eggs with that was okay. The Sweet potato hash was really good, I enjoyed it and it was a nice brunch. Prices are a bit expensive but it's a lovely place for special occasions.

Happy olympics everyone! party hardy.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Joeys + Riz

Joey's (Burrard & Pender) on Urbanspoon I met up with a friend downtown for dinner at Joey's at Bentall Center. I am not a major fan of chain restaurants, but I wanted to watch the game and it was between Joeys or cactus and friend liked Joeys more. There's nothing wrong with Joeys. It is always a fancy room with ample seating and various menu choices. Also the most beautiful bathroom in their Broadway location. But I've never had a good meal here except maybe a dessert encounter.

We sat down at the bar and ordered the calamari to share and I had the lobster grilled cheese. .. Once the game started, my friend moved over to sit next to me and we began to find it SUPER difficult to watch.. Because the bar has about 5 TVs all playing the game and we realized we couldn't stay focused on one screen without looking at the other. "why does the one on the left of the one I am watching look brighter and livelier? When they are all playing the SAME GODDAMN GAME. My friend ended up watching the farthest left TV even though there's a perfectly good one right in front of him. OI. Then friend informs there's a larger projector playing the game in the other room. So we quickly upped and moved there.. Only that he forgot to Mention/realize that yes the screen is bigger and theres just one screen, but there's NO SOUND. We watched the rest of the game with loud pumping music in the background. UGH

The food was a huge let down. Calamari was absolutely disgusting with the fried parts falling right off. The Lobster grilled cheese was hella buttery and greasy and too rich for me. And we also lost badly to a crap team (cbj), which just pissed us off even more. No more Joeys, unless I have to pee and I am on Broadway.. Just kidding, :P


Now that I moved again (I am somewhat a nomad), I get to try new places in my neighbourhood! Riz Sushi Bar on Urbanspoon I went to Riz on Broadway and Renfrew located in a small plaza with mr sub and a mexican restaurant (which seemed fairly busy so I just might have to try it one day)l. We ordered the unagi roll, cheese roll, and a lunch box. The owners are cantonese and they have a good amount of customers for a Monday Afternoon which included both sit in and take out. The menu had a bunch of different things as well.

Food came out pretty fast which was good because I thought I was gonna be late. The unagi roll was alright, nothing spectacular.. The lunch box was also normal, quite solid for a lunch box because everything was adequate. But the cheese roll was just gross. Then again what the hell was I thinking ordering sushi with MELTED CHEESE on TOP. Inside was beef teriyaki and it came with salsa sauce.. So it was like a mexican sushi roll.. Except gross as hell. OI. I ended up eating HELLA fast because I thought I was gonna be late (like.. Stuffing everything in my face.. others staring at me) only to be early by 45 min so ended up playing toobz on my iphone. I love that game, and unblock me.. But I am currently stuck on puzzle 9. ugh. Riz is a great sushi place alternative to Bentei nearby which has such a bad rating on urbanspoon (I always see so many people there so I don't know why it is rated 43%.. I'll take one for the team and find out one day).