food & drink Archives - Page 103 of 115

Shishinori

August 22, 2014

There’s a new mini Japanese eatery in town by the name of Shishinori, located along Cambie Street! I was walking along Cambie one day, when their unique menu design caught my eye. I ended up coming back here a week later to try out their dishes.

Unfortunately, Sangria didn’t have time to sit down and eat here so we opted for take out instead. Though our visit was short, it was quite pleasant and the worker that day was very friendly.

They serve Japanese style cooked lunches, so you will not be finding sushi or rolls or anything like that there. Nonetheless, the food was delicious and I would love to come back again!

This is the menu from the outside; I haven’t seen many menus displayed like this before! Definitely a great way for the restaurant to grab attention, as it would be fairly unnoticeable without.

Since we ordered takeout, I’m not too sure if it is the same concept as Basho, where you pay for your dish first and then they deliver it to you at the table.

Shishinori’s interior has a lot of wooden design elements. The tables were wooden, and some of the utensils were as well. The place looked very clean and cute, they had a small tray by the door where customers were able to fill up their own water.

They also had a screen projector that played Anime shows, as you can kind of tell from the picture above. We arrived there around 11am, and we were the only customers so far.

There was a small mix-up with our takeout order, we orderded three dishes but she thought we only had two. But the worker was very nice about it and had our third dish ready to go in less than 5 minutes. My friend and I took that time to snap some cute pictures of the place 🙂

Curry chicken bowl with brown rice and spinach salad ($8? $9? Somewhere around that price). Brown rice is their standard, a plus for all the health conscious peeps out there! The curry was really delicious and flavourful, with a generous amount of chicken in it and the meat was also lean.

The salad was amazing. I’m normally not a fan of salad, but I ate every last leaf. I’m not sure what sauce they used, but it was really good and the fresh peppercorn really enhanced the flavours of the sauce.

The veggies themselves were really crunchy too. Initially, when I looked at the box, I wondered if it would be filling enough since I was pretty hungry that day. I didn’t think it would be, but I was actually really full from it. So yummy!
Sangria’s salmon carpaccio. It came with smoked salmon, the same salad as mine on top of a bed of rice. She didn’t have any complaints about it and thought it was good too. I didn’t get to try hers, but judging from the amount of fresh peppercorn on the salmon, it looks really good!

However, she was really thirsty after her meal and ended up drinking two large ice waters immediately after.

Cinnamon’s wild salmon paradise bowl ($12). She really enjoyed her bowl and noted that there were three different types of seaweed inside her salad. Again, her salad was the same and she found the peppercorn to be pretty spicy, but very delicious.

All in all, I really enjoyed my curry chicken bowl at Shishinori. It was very filling and the flavours were really strong. Everything tasted super fresh in my dish, from the peppercorn to the veggies in the salad.

Apart from their lunch bowls and sets, they also have different flavours of iced tea, which looked good.

They also have matcha yogurt parfaits, which are perfect for a late afternoon treat! They don’t have matcha lattes anymore though, the worker told me that it took too long to make so they opted for the parfaits instead.

Shishinori is very promising and has the potential to be as popular as the other Japanese pastry cafe, Basho except for healthy, full meal sets. I will be back! 🙂

-Carmen

Santouka Ramen

August 15, 2014

I’ve been meaning to take the boyfriend to try the delicious ramen joints in this area for a long time, but we never got the chance to since we aren’t in this area often. He enjoyed Kintaro Ramen when we went back in May, but I wanted to take him to Santouka because they are both really good and authentic ramen joints. The last time I went to Santouka was probably at least four years ago, and I don’t really remember much from that visit except that they were famous for their specialty pork. It was kind of like a new experience for me as well!
After locking our bikes down the street (highly recommend spending your day off and biking around the seawall, btw!), we walked to Santouka. There was a bit of a lineup when we arrived around 1pm. There wasn’t anyone at the cash till or taking names, so we just joined the rest of the customers in line. After 5 minutes, one of the waitresses came and took names. We were promptly seated after that.

Santouka Ramen is a pretty small restaurant, so seating was a bit tight. It was a bit awkward for me to get to my seat at the booth because the tables were super close together, and I was holding my bike helmet and basket. I barely made it between the two tables.
Yummyyummyyummyyyummyy ramen! Compared to other ramen joints, I found their menu to be a bit bigger and had more pages. They had a page dedicated to their specialty dish, which will be mentioned below.
The boyfriend settled on getting a cha shu ramen with shio broth. He enjoyed the ramen, and had no complaints about it. The broth was creamy, and lightly seasoned with salt. It came with a hard red berry of some sort, we weren’t sure what it was so we didn’t eat it. After looking at their website for the sake of this review, turns out it’s a Japanese pickled plum. Oops, but that gives me more of an excuse to come back here! And I most definitely will after ordering the next item…..
I remembered from my last visit here a few years ago, that they had a specialty pork dish but I couldn’t remember the name of it. Turns out it was called toroniku, and is simmered pork cheek meat. Pork cheek meat is very rare, since only 200-300g can be taken from each pig. MY GOODNESS WAS IT DELICIOUS. The toroniku melted in my mouth, and was very tender and soft. It had a very rich flavour to it, but the meat itself was actually quite lean. It was seriously amazing.

I would come back again, and make the journey here, just for the toroniku ramen even though quantities are limited and it is not guaranteed in stock. I got the shio broth, which was made perfectly just like the toroniku. I am not sure why the pork and toppings are served separately, but I ended up soaking the toroniku in the creamy broth to make the flavour even richer than it already was. SO. DELICIOUS.

All the broth for the ramen at Santouka takes 20 hours to perfect, before serving to customers. The twenty hours allows the pork bones to fully simmer, giving it a full and amazing flavour. Santouka Ramen started in Japan, but now has locations throughout the world. I would highly recommend going to Santouka Ramen and trying their toroniku ramen! You will not regret it (I hope!)

Yay!

Ken’s Chinese Restaurant

August 6, 2014

After my cousin’s high school graduation, we were all hungry and looking for a late restaurant to feed our hungry tummies. We were going to go to Congee Noodle House, but knew it would be busy since all the Chinese families that attended the graduation would probably go there. We drove a bit further into Burnaby, and went to Ken’s Chinese Restaurant. Funny, we went here a few years back for my high school graduation. We also sat at the same table this time as well! Ken’s serves authentic Chinese dishes, and satisfied my craving for late night Chinese food.
(Picture taken from Urbanspoon). Ken’s Chinese Restaurant is located in a small strip mall on Kingsway. There is plenty of free parking in the strip mall.
To start off our da lan, we got the standard plain congee, which came in a huge pot. The congee itself was good and was great quality. It wasn’t too runny and watery, and had a bit of a sweet taste to it. Very warm, and comforting. If your purchase is over a certain amount (my uncle told me this, I didn’t read their menu), you can get unlimited congee refills. We had two refills after this, and the quality and taste of the congee remained delicious. Some restaurants (like my visit to AYCE sushi at Toyotomi) diminish the quality of the orders, but this was not the case.
Stir fried broccoli with garlic. Unfortunately, I forgot the prices of each dish this time so they won’t be included. The broccoli was very crunchy and tasted fresh. There was a definite garlic taste to it, and the tips of the broccoli were smothered in garlic sauce. However, the garlic taste wasn’t unbearably strong, and not enough to give you horrid garlic breath afterwards.
Another late night classic! Clams in black bean sauce. This dish was very tasty as well. The sauce was very flavourful, and came with fresh green onions on top. The clams were also really juicy and there was a generous amount. I’ve been to some Chinese restaurants where they serve a plate of clam shells, where you have to scavenge for what little actual clam meat they have. This tastes really good when you add the shell, which is full of sauce, into the plain congee.
Deep fried tofu with spicy garlic salt. Another classic. Ken’s made this dish perfectly. There was a generous amount of peppers, and the tofu tasted really good with the garlic. The tofu was piping hot and crispy on the outside, while soft inside. I am definitely coming here again when I crave deep fried tofu.
Braised string beans with minced meat. We felt pretty gross after eating the deep fried tofu and clams because they were both such heavy (albeit delicious!) dishes, so we decided to order some veggies. The string beans were very crunchy and flavourful as well. However, this was a bit heavy on the oil so I’m not sure if ordering this dish was the best to “clear” our tummies with. But, it was delicious!

Late night Chinese snack is absolutely delicious, and Ken’s did not disappoint! The servers were also very nice as well. I would definitely come here again when craving late night snacks, but hopefully, that is not for a long time since it’s so unhealthy (minus the plain congee)!

-Carmen

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

August 2, 2014

One of my friends and fellow food blogger raved to me about Famoso, after asking her where I should go for dinner. After going on Urbanspoon and reading the great reviews for this place, I was very excited to try it out.

It took us 15 minutes to find parking in the Commercial Drive area, and we ended up going to a pay parking lot because finding a free spot was impossible.

Anyways, I tried to make a reservation for four at Famoso but unfortunately, they only accept reservations with parties of six and up. Fair enough, they told me that it shouldn’t be a problem to walk in past 7:30 on a Saturday night, so off we went!

We waited around 5 minutes for a table for four. I immediately liked the lively atmosphere, and the hostess was very friendly from the beginning. We were seated in the back, where we were able to see all of the restaurant. A server came promptly, and asked us if it was our first time here as their ordering system is a bit unique from other places.
Basically, they have menus, order sheets, and pencils on each table. To order, you write down what you want on the notepad (if you want), and then walk down to the pizza counter, where they place your order for you. From there, a server will bring the pizza to your table and they take care of your needs from then on. You pay for the pizza at the end of the meal, with your server.

After settling on our pizzas, my friend went down to the counter to place our order. Customers are able to see the pizzas being prepared, but there is a semi-wall between the ordering/prep station and the tables, which is good because it gives both parties some privacy.

Funghi pizza (14.75). This was one of their specialty pizzas and came with parmesan crema, roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, caramelized onions, and more! Cream and mushroom lovers would absolutely bask over this pizza! It was very creamy, and there were a lot of mushrooms on it.
Italian ham and crushed pineapple ($13.75). I thought this pizza was average, nothing really stood out to me. I wished that the ham would be spread out more, or that there was more quantity of it. The pizzas themselves were very thin, which is what Neopolitan pizza is supposed to be like, so I expected it. Since they are thin, they aren’t super filling.
Since the pizzas weren’t that filling, we decided to order some dessert to share. The affogato was $1 off and I have been wanting affogato for so long! After making a trip to the gelato counter, we decided on getting the mint stracciatella and another flavour below ($4 each after $1 off special).

Ordering dessert follows the same process as the food, servers will bring you your dessert after ordering it at the counter. I fell in love with the mint stracciatella at first bite. Mixed with the espresso, it was super creamy, heavenly, and delicious. The mint chips from the gelato became melted from the espresso, which made it taste even better!
The other affocato that we got was with the coconut gelato. This one was delicious as well, and we savoured every little bite down to the last drop of espresso. The quality of the espresso itself was very rich and dark. So good!

-Carmen

Red Robins

July 30, 2014

I suddenly had a craving for Red Robins one afternoon before school. I really wanted their freckled lemonade and chicken tenders! Unfortunately, both the locations I used to go to shut down, so I haven’t been in awhile 🙁 . We ended up going to the Red Robins in North Vancouver, which was closer to my house than I thought!

At first, we were seated at the patio but for some reason, our table had no umbrella or shade and it got wayy too hot to comfortably enjoy lunch. We ended up moving back to the a/c filled restaurant, right in front of a tv playing the World Cup!

Of course, I had to get my freckled lemonade ($4.29)! A freckled lemonade is a fruity lemonade with strawberry syrup, with real strawberries inside. Granted, the strawberries inside are like the syrup-saturated ones you would find in a McDonalds sundae but I enjoyed it anyways.

Freckled lemonade also comes with bottomless refills and the staff do a great job in ensuring your cup is never empty. We had different staff come by to ask for a refill, which I greatly appreciated.

I mentioned in my Elephant and Castle post that I love chicken tenders. I especially LOVE the chicken tenders at Red Robins because they’re always piping hot, crispy on the outside but tender in the inside, and seasoned well. I am also addicted to the Red Robins seasoning, and over loaded on it. #Sorrynotsorry 🙂

Anyways, since it was our first time at this location, I was a bit hesitant but it had the familiar, delicious taste I was used to. The chicken tenders were perfect. As well, fries are unlimited and our server did a great job in making sure we had enough. We didn’t take advantage on the fry refill though, cause our portions of food were so big.

Also, I could tell the server was busy and a bit flustered, but he was really nice and tried his hardest to check up on all the tables.

Next up was our shrimp and chips platter. It was a pretty big portion and we didn’t end up finishing all the fries. The batter on the shrimp was very crispy and the shrimp inside was very juicy and tasty as well. It didn’t taste over fried or re-fried either.

All in all, my craving for Red Robins was satisfied and I am very glad I gave this location a chance. The food was up to par, and our server was probably the nicest server I have had at Red Robins.

-Carmen