Ho Yummy

I needed to buy lunch one weekday and luckily for me, both Craig and Edith were in the same boat. Since it was a cold and rainy day, we decided to go for pho and Edith mentioned that she found a pretty good place downtown called Joyeux Cafe and we wouldn’t have to walk very far.

From the outside, you would never guess that there was pho or Vietnamese food instead. I have actually walked past Joyeux Cafe several times and did not know they served pho! Inside, Joyeux Cafe seems to have an eclectic mix of menu offerings from brunch to sandwiches to Vietnamese food.

I decided to order the special beef noodle, which had a little of everything, including beef brisket, tendon, tripe, and beef balls. There was no option to choose the size of the noodle soup but the bowl that was brought to me was actually quite large. The noodles themselves were pretty good and I was quite impressed with the abundance of meat products in my noodle soup. I had been to another Vietnamese place downtown and they probably had only 1/2 the amount of meat and actually cost slightly more. The soup base itself was pretty standard and not spectacular, but again, was one of the better ones I’ve had downtown.

Edith told me that Joyeux Cafe fills up quite quickly during the busy lunch hour and it can be hard to find a seat at times. Luckily for us, we did not go for lunch until close to 2PM that day so it was easy for us to find a table for 3. Orders are made at the front counter and your dish(es) will be brought to your table.

Details:
551 Howe Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-681-9168

Summary:
Food:
Service: n/a
Price: $

With the coming Olympics, many restaurants have been prone to making Olympic themed foods and beverages. Awhile back, I had the chance to try an Olympic drink at YEW Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, when Jenkins, Gigi and I dropped by for a holiday dinner. We all ordered our regular sized (and delicious) entrees, but I also ordered the most expensive drink I’ve ever had. Some people know, I’m a real sucker for caesars (the drink, not the salad), so when I saw on the YEW drink menu a new type of Caesar, I just had to try it!

In the spirit of the Olympics, the drink is called the “Silver Calgary 1988″, and is made with Crystal Head Vodka, YEW’s own clamato recipe, spices, and topped off with a piece of buffalo jerky. This was most likely one of the best Caesars I’ve ever had. The Caesar was spicy, flavorful, and had a smoke-flavor to it.  Gigi commented that it tasted like a Caesar with BBQ sauce added to it, which might have been one of the secret recipes. If it weren’t for the price of the drink ($19.88), I could have chugged a few more with no problem at all.

gigi’s note – Although not Olympic-themed, I had the caramel apple-tini and I really liked the presentation and the taste. The apple flavour had a hint of caramel and although not super unique, it was still quite tasty. YEW will also be running Olympic-themed promotions throughout the course of the games (Feb 12-28).

Details:
791 West Georgia Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-689-9333

Summary:
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Price: $$$

It was Lucy’s birthday recently and to celebrate, we all congregated at La Terrazza in Yaletown. Even though La Terazza has been a Yaletown fixture for quite a while, I have never been there although I have heard a lot of good things about their tasty Italian food.

After our group was seated, we were served some olive oil and bread. The olive oil was very flavourful and speckled with some pieces of roasted garlic.

I was in the mood for some pasta so I decided on the Strozzapreti Bolognese, which also turned out to be a popular choice with a lot of people. The strozzapretti was very al dente and the hearty bolognese sauce filled in all the nooks and crannies in the strozzapretti. The tomato-based sauce and beef was heavier than I expected and I was only able to finish about 3/4 of my dish since I got full quite quickly.

Jenkins was also in a pasta mood so he decided on the Linguine Crostacei, which is basically a seafood linguine with prawns and clams in a white wine and caper sauce. I liked the fresh flavours of Jenkins dish more than mine since it seemed lighter. There was also so much seafood that you could hardly see the noodles.

I was set on having dessert before I even arrived at the restaurant but since my strozzapreti was so heavy and filling, even I had to decline dessert. However, Lucy was presented with a specially decorated tiramisu for her birthday by the restaurant. She was nice enough to let me have a little taste and the creamy mascarpone with lady fingers actually made for a pretty light dessert. The food at La Terrazza seems to be slightly overpriced for what you get but I wouldn’t mind going back to La Terrazza sometime to try out their other non-pasta dishes to see how they stack up…and of course, their dessert as well.

Details:
1088 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-899-4449

Summary:
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Price: $$$

Chris was back for the holidays so Thu and I met up with him at Charm Modern Thai for lunch. I wasn’t aware that Charm was actually owned by the Thai House chain but I found out when I went to their website to make the reservations.

The lunch specials seemed to be the best value since they also came with Tom Yum soup and fried wontons so the three of us all chose a lunch plate. The Tom Yum soup had a spicy tanginess to it that we all enjoyed very much. The prawn wontons were also quite well done. It was crispy on the outside and stuffed with a lot of minced shrimp, kind of similar to Chinese dim sum shrimp dumplings.

I was in the mood for noodles so I decided to have the Pad Thai with chicken. Unfortunately, this was not one of the better Pad Thais that I’ve experienced. The chicken was dry and the whole dish itself seemed to be slightly burnt as I could see little charcoal bits from the wok that it was cooked in. There was hardly any fish sauce and tamarind flavour and if I wasn’t told that it was Pad Thai, I probably would have thought these were some type of unnamed fried rice noodles.

Chris’s green curry with chicken fared slightly better but he remarked that the curry flavour was a bit weak and he also would have liked for there to be more chicken. I was quite surprised at this because I actually like the green curry chicken at Thai House, which is also in the same chain as Charm.

Thu’s ginger stir fry was probably the most successful dish in our group but she was also unimpressed with her order.

We all left Charm a bit disappointed with our experience. The service we received was spotty at best and it was a bit difficult trying to get the attention of our server. The food was also not what we expected and I have to say that Thai House is better and cheaper than what we had. I’m not sure if this was a one-off poor experience that we had but it’ll probably be a while before I make a second visit to Charm Modern Thai.

Details:
1269 Hamilton Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-688-9339

Summary:
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Price: $$

I hadn’t seen Juanita in a while so when she suggested meeting up for lunch one day, I readily agreed. I didn’t feel like making a decision on where to eat so Juanita gave me a couple of choices. I don’t remember what all the choices were but one of them was Miku and since it had been quite a while since my last visit, I chose Miku. The restaurant itself is located at the bottom of an office building in the financial district of downtown Vancouver so it may be a bit hard to spot if it is your first time there.

After Juanita and I settled in at our table, we both ordered some tea as we perused the menu.

We were both about to order the Miku Zen for lunch, which is a selection of Miku’s seasonal and specialty items when we decided to check with the server to see what she would recommend. She told us that the Miku Zen is especially good for first time visitors to the restaurant but if we didn’t mind, she would recommend something different for us. We both ended up nixing the Miku Zen and went with her suggestions instead.

I ordered the Miku Aburi Sushi Select ($15), which had a selection of 9 different aburi, roll, and oshi sushi. I don’t remember what the roll on the far right was called but it had cucumber and tuna. The tuna itself was very fresh although it had a tad too much mayo for my taste. The aburi salmon (bottom middle) was just as good as I remembered it from my last visit. The salmon was lightly seared, which really brought out the rich fattiness of the fish and went very well with the creamy Miku sauce drizzled on top. On its own, this may have been too rich and creamy but the thinly sliced jalapeño pepper cut through the richness and added a spicy kick. I’m a huge saba (mackerel) fan so I also really liked the aburi saba (bottom left). Saba is a naturally fatty fish and the searing combined with a light miso sauce really accentuated its delicious flavour.

The Select platter was finished off with 3 pieces of nigiri sushi (left to right): hamachi (yellowtail), ebi, and albacore tuna. Hamachi is naturally very flavourful and fatty so there wasn’t much added to the nigiri. It was lightly dressed in a miso sauce and topped with a dollop of wasabi. The ebi nigiri was also lightly grilled and had a charcoally flavoured to it. Unlike some ebi nigiri that I’ve had before, the shrimp was very juicy and not overcooked at all. The tuna was also very fresh and slightly seared on top.

Juanita decided on the sushi tart ($18), which I think is basically a fancy chirashi don. I didn’t feel like my lunch choice could be beat but I think Juanita’s choice was even better! Between the layers of rice was a layer of avocado and spicy tuna and on top was a mound of aburi salmon, ebi, hotate (scallop), and tobiko. The salmon and other sashimi was all very fresh and the different sauces actually complemented rather than competed with one another. I would have liked the spicy tuna to be a bit spicier but that may have overwhelmed the delicate flavours of the sashimi. This is one of the tastiest things I’ve had at Miku so far and I highly recommend it!

Juanita and I had a great time at Miku catching up and enjoying some delicious food. We both really liked how Miku was different from most Japanese/sushi restaurants around the city and everything was so well presented and fresh tasting. As with my previous visits, service was top notch and we never felt rushed even though we were there during the busy week day lunch hour. Dinner can get a bit expensive so if you are looking to try the same delicious food at a cheaper price point, do try their lunch.

Details:
1055 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-568-3900

Summary:
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Price: $$ (for lunch)

I just realised that I have been going out to brunch quite a lot lately, but what can I say, it is one of my favourite meals!  Karen and I hadn’t met up in quite a few months and brunch always seems to work out well for us as that’s when we usually have our catch up sessions. Karen left the location choice to me and I decided on Provence Marinaside because I had heard that their French toasted baguettes were on the 2009 Vancouver list of the best things to eat in Vancouver Magazine.

Provence Marinaside doesn’t take reservations for small parties for brunch because they are almost always packed during brunch hours on the weekends. Luckily for us, we did not have to wait for a table and were seated at a small table with big comfy couches.

I decided to stray from my usual black/green tea choices that day and went for a Mountain Berry tea. The tea was slightly tangy from the berry infusion and went really well with a small dab of honey.

I knew what I was going to have before I even entered the restaurant and was prepared to immediately order the French toasted baguettes. Our server told me that I had the option of adding a strawberry compote to the dish but said she preferred it on its own with some whipped cream and maple syrup. I decided to heed her advice and passed on the compote.

The baguettes turned out to be much more filling that I expected. They were sugary and crispy on the outside and the baguettes themselves appeared to be stuffed with a light custard filling. I really enjoyed this twist on traditional French toast and since it was already sweet from the brown sugar crust, I only dipped the toast in a little bit of the maple syrup. If you like sweet things for brunch, this is definitely something for you to try.

Karen decided to have the Croque Monsieur Eggs Benny. Instead of an english muffin, it was served on a slice of toast and there was some Black Forest ham and mozarella cheese to make this Croque Monsieur-ish. The eggs were poached just right and the Hollandaise sauce along with the cheese made this quite a rich dish but the flavours all went quite well together.

It had been quite some time since my last visit (brunch or otherwise) to Provence Marinaside and I’m glad to report that their brunch is still quite tasty. It has quite a bustling atmosphere in the mornings and is a fun place to meet up with friends. I’m not sure how often they rotate their brunch options but the items we had were definitely things that I wouldn’t mind trying again.

Details:
1177 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver
Tel: 604-681-4144

Summary:
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Service:
Price: $$