Archive for the 'Reviews' Category
Monday, August 11th, 2008
It was my grandma’s big 80th birthday back in June and we celebrated it the way our family knows best: a big Chinese dinner at Fisherman’s Terrace in Aberdeen Centre. :) My aunt pre-ordered a banquet menu for us so all we needed to do was pretty much show up and chow down.
First came a mixed cold appetizer platter. I found the duck (pictured below on the far left) to be on the oily side but the other items were quite tasty. The roast pork skin was nice and crispy and I also enjoyed the jellyfish.
Next, we had a scallop dish with snow peas and some seaweed strips. Although the seaweed was an interesting twist, it quickly got soggy from the juice created by the scallops and peas.
The deep-fried crab claws weren’t too bad but I felt that it was a bit over-fried because the skin was quite oily. I dabbed some of the excess oil off with a paper napkin. 
The shark fin soup had chunks of crab in it as well. I always like to drizzle a bit of red vinegar in my shark fin soup.
The lobster was obviously a hit with my Uncle Jack, who insisted on being in the picture with the lobster. :) I felt the sauce was too creamy and would have gone nicely with some noodles or something to balance out the sauce.
The abalone and mushrooms were quite tasty. I always like eating whole abalone and then using the juice afterwards with my noodles, rice, or veggies.
Roasted squab is one of my favourite dishes but I found this squab to be on the greasy side and a little too salty. For those of you new to squab, it is young pigeon and has a stronger taste than duck.
The yee mein noodles were overcooked and also somewhat oily. I like my noodles to be slightly al dente and these definitely weren’t.
The lotus leaf flavour came out quite strongly in the lotus leaf-wrapped rice but it was hard to taste the other flavours, even though there were dried scallops and pork. The rice also seemed to be a bit on the mushy side.
As is customary with Chinese birthdays, we had birthday buns shaped in a peach and filled with lotus paste.
The red bean soup was too sweet and watery for my taste.
I hadn’t eaten dinner at Fisherman’s Terrace in quite a while but I was a bit disappointed with the quality of food. There was also a wedding going on at the same time, so it was possible that they neglected us a bit in order to tend to the wedding guests, but then I’m just making excuses. :) Fisherman’s Terrace is also on the pricier side in terms of Cantonese restaurants so they really have no excuse to be skimping on the quality of their food. Service was quite brisk and attentive though so I have no complaints there.
Details:
3580-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
Tel: 604-303-9739
Summary:
Food: 
Service:
Price: $$$
Posted in Cantonese, Richmond, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Despite my less than impressive bubble tea outing at Corner 23, I decided to give it another try and went there for dinner with Ann and Karen. I had noticed from the last time I was there that most people had some food along with their drink, so I figured it would be good.
Ann ordered some deep-fried crispy chicken for the three of us to share. This is always one of my favourite appies to order at Taiwanese restaurants even though it is definitely not the healthiest. :) The chicken was very crispy and had the slightest hint of spiciness.
I decided to go with the three cup chicken with rice meal. Three cup chicken got its name because it is made with three main ingredients: one cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine. I enjoyed this version quite a bit because it was not too oily. The deep fried basil probably was not the healthiest but was very tasty. Several of the meals at Corner 23 also include some side dishes, such as pickled vegetables and broccoli.
I had a blueberry green tea with my meal and surprisingly, this time, it was very good! The blueberry flavour was nice and I think it went well with the green tea base.
Karen was feeling a bit sick so she went healthy with a seafood hot pot with vermicelli noodles. There was quite a variety of seafood included and a swirly egg as well. I’m not sure how good this would be normally but it was quite suitable for a sickish person.
Ann chose the deep-fried pork chop with rice. If I recall, it was about $8 and as you can see below, was enough food to feed a very hungry person.
I must say that this visit to Corner 23 was much better than my first visit. I went back another time after this and the food was still quite tasty. I suppose they’ll have to work on their consistency if anything else, but in general, both the service and food at Corner 23 are a good value for your money.
Details:
4008 Cambie St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-709-9788
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Vancouver, Taiwanese, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | No Comments »
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Tricia and I decided to meet up one day for a cookie baking session but first, we had to grab some dinner. We decided to go to Hawker’s Delight by King Edward and Main because it was a cheap and fast option. I had never been to Hawker’s Delight before because I always tried to go on a Sunday afternoon and it is always closed at at time. Speaking of which, if anyone knows what the hours are, please let me know.
The menu for Hawkers is not too large but has a good mix of items. Most items have pictures posted on the walls, which make the ordering process quite easy. If you look closely at the picture below, you’ll see that most items range between $4.50 to $6.50. The portion sizes are enough to feed one medium hungry person, which is generally good enough for most people.
Tricia and I decided to share a couple of dishes. For most dishes, they will ask if you want it to be spicy or non-spicy. We opted for medium-spicy, which was actually fairly spicy. First came the Mee Goreng, which was a vegetarian fried noodle dish. The egg noodles were stir-fried with bok choy, carrots, bean sprouts, and some other veggies.
Next, we had the Nasi Goreng. This was basically the Mee Goreng but with rice instead of noodles. :) What I liked the most about the fried rice was that it had little chunks of potatoes. The potatoes added a nice texture to the rice. Even though we had asked for medium spicy for both dishes, the noodles were definitely spicier than the rice. I guess this place still needs to get its ISO-9001 certification. :p
I enjoyed Hawker’s Delight quite a bit. It’s definitely grungy and there is definitely better Malaysian food at other restaurants. However, it is great value and the food tastes better than what you would expect for the price. :) It’s also an excellent alternative to other fast food cheap eateries around the city.
Details:
4127 Main St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-709-8188
Summary:
Food:
Service: 
Price: $
Posted in Vancouver, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Reviews | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
After my birthday dinner at Bistro Sakana, we decided to continue the evening and go for bubble tea. We were all in the mood for something new so Lucy suggested Corner 23. She had bubble tea there the other day and said that it was pretty good. Corner 23 is a new-ish Taiwanese eatery that opened at the corner of …you guessed it! West 23rd and Cambie in Vancouver.
I decided to try the malt milk tea with pudding chunks. I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with this. It didn’t taste milky at all and had cereal-like chunks floating around. The pudding was actually kind of interesting but since I didn’t like the milk tea itself, I wasn’t able to actually enjoy the pudding. This was the first time in a while but I didn’t even finish my drink!
Lucy had a pudding milk tea with pudding chunks. She had the same thing a few days earlier and said that one tasted way better. The pudding milk tea was overly sweet and also had a strange consistency to it.
Samantha had a strawberry milk tea. She had ordered this initially because she thought it was made with fresh strawberries but it was actually made with strawberry powder. It was too sweet for her taste although she said someone who enjoyed really sweet drinks may have liked it more.
Jenkins had a lychee green tea slush with half coconut jelly and half pearls. He also noted that the lychee slush was quite sweet and the lychee flavour was a bit artificial tasting.
The one saving grace about Corner 23 was that their drink straws are individually wrapped. It drives me nuts when people touch all the straws in a bucket before finally selecting the one they want. I think more places should have individually wrapped straws…although I suppose this may not be as good for the environment. Perhaps they can wrap it with paper similar to what is at MacDonald’s and Starbucks.
The four of us wondered if the spotty quality of the bubble tea was because it was late at night and everyone was just eager to go home. Or perhaps the regular bubble tea maker didn’t work the night shift. For whatever reason, I think it will be quite a while before I try the bubble tea here again. The service was also really slow. It took about half an hour for our drinks to come and the restaurant wasn’t even busy! The servers were quite polite and nice though. I did go back a couple of weeks later to try their food and I have to say that was pretty tasty. Check back later to see my food review on Corner 23.
Details:
4008 Cambie St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-709-9788
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Posted in Vancouver, Lower Mainland Cities, Drinks, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Another year, another birthday! :) This year, I went for dinner with Samantha, Lucy, and Jenkins. I really wasn’t sure where to go for dinner but then I remembered it had been a while since I was last at Bistro Sakana. I’m not sure why there was such a lag since my last visit since my meals at Sakana are always yummy and enjoyable. In any case, here is what we feasted on for my birthday dinner…
We were first served complimentary appetizers. It was a light and refreshing salad with bean sprouts, cucumbers, and diced chicken tossed in a sweet chili vinaigrette.
Samantha enjoyed the green tea immensely and requested that I take a picture. :) It was quite strong and had a very nice green tea taste.
Sakana always has a list of daily specials. On the day that we went, they had a bunch of fresh oysters. We all decided to try a Kusshi oyster with ponzu sauce. The oysters were very fresh and slightly sweet.
The yaki-spaghetti with chicken was an interesting spin on yakisoba. The spaghetti was cooked al dente and had a nice texture to it. It also served as a great “filler” dish for us.
The miso black cod came with a small bed of wild rice and a drizzling of balsamic vinegar and cranberry sauce. Although it was quite a small dish, this was very tasty. Then again, how can you really fail with black cod? :) The cranberry sauce added a nice tanginess to the rich fattiness of the cod.
We also ordered quite a few rolls. I can’t really remember the names of everything that we tried, but I can assure you that they all tasted great.
The spicy tuna roll was a regular tuna roll with spicy sauce drizzled on top. It was different from what we were used to but very tasty. The spicy sauce was also slightly sweet, which I think added to the overall taste. The crunchy California rolls are always my favourite here. Regular California rolls are rolled in some crunch panko bread crumbs. It was so good that we ordered a second serving! The Negitoro rolls were more commonplace but still very good.
The chopped scallop rolls were probably the most mundane dish out of everything we ordered. It just didn’t seem to have much taste to it.
The okonomiyaki took a while to make (about 20 minutes) so when it arrived, we were actually quite full. It was much thicker than the okonomiyaki I was accustomed to although I’m not sure which version is more authentic. It was packed with veggies, spaghetti, and some seafood. I have to admit though that I was not too fond of this dish. Because it was so thick, it seemed like the middle parts were not well cooked and had a cakey/thick texture to it.
Although it had been a while since I was last at Sakana, I was quickly reminded why I used to go there so much. The food is always fresh and tasty with a nice mix of sushi and izakaya items. I also like that they have a list of daily specials so you can always try something new. My only peeve is that the service is quite slow so make sure you are not in a rush when you go there for your meal. They are friendly enough to make up for the slowness though. :p
Details:
1120 Hamilton St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-633-1280
Summary:
Food: (I would have given it a 4 had it not been for the scallop roll & okonomiyaki mini-busts)
Service:
Price: $$
Posted in Vancouver, Lower Mainland Cities, Japanese, Asian, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 21st, 2008
It was my birthday a few weeks ago and my team decided to take me out for lunch. :) Christina suggested Riddim & Spice over on Commercial Drive. It is a small Caribbean restaurant that also does quite a bit of take-out. Christina has been going there for years and highly recommended it.
The restaurant was about half full when we got there so even though there were about seven of us, we didn’t need to wait for a table. The menu is pretty small and basic, making it easy to navigate.
I decided to have the jerk chicken with coco bread. It was quite popular with several people in our party. :) It also came with a small serving of green salad with an onion dressing. The chicken wasn’t very spicy and was cooked very nicely. The meat fell off the bone and had a nice helping of jerk sauce drizzled over top. Christina recommended that we stuff the meat into the coco bread, creating a jerk chicken sandwich. The serving size was quite generous and I wasn’t able to finish my dish even though I was quite hungry. My only complaint was that I was used to the fried coco bread at The Reef on Main Street. I’m not sure which version was more authentic but I liked the taste of the version at The Reef more.
Jay ordered basically the same thing as me except with roti bread instead.
Christina ordered a curry chicken in a roti roll wrap. I think her dish was the biggest out of all of ours. She was only able to finish half and ended up taking the other half home.
Lorie ordered the curry chicken with roti bread. It was spicier than she anticipated and she had to be careful to pick out the chicken bones from her dish.
Overall, the meal was quite good. I wouldn’t mind coming back here to try their other items. Even though it was a Friday afternoon, the restaurant was quite empty so I can only assume it gets busier during the dinner hour. Service is a bit laid back so it does take a while for your food to come so if you are in a rush, be sure to let them know.
Details:
1945 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Tel: 604-215-9252
Summary:
Food:
Service:
Price: $
Posted in Caribbean, Vancouver, Lower Mainland Cities | 2 Comments »
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