food & drink Archives - Page 107 of 115

Sockeye City Grill, Steveston

May 19, 2014

After months of patiently waiting for the weather to get warmer in Vancouver, it has finally come. The boyfriend decided to surprise me and take me to Stevestone for a date, and I could not think of a better day to go. The skies were blue, the water was calm, the air was fresh, and the temperature was hot.

Originally, we were planning to go to Pajos, but the lineup was very long and we wanted somewhere that we could sit comfortably and enjoy the view. So after walking around, we decided on going to Sockeye City Grill because they had nice patio seats and view.
There was another restaurant right beside this one we were going to go to, but after checking our phones, we saw that it had an abysmal 28% with almost 200 user votes. I’ve never seen a rating so low save for Kiwawa in Metrotown, so I’m glad we saw that before we went to that place.
We were seated promptly on the patio. Here is a picture of our lovely view. There was a loud family next to us with a crying baby, so of course, things weren’t 100% perfect but the parents managed to keep the crying controlled for the sake of other customers.
The boyfriend decided on getting the two piece cod fish and chips ($18). Yes, the prices here are going to be a bit pricier because Steveston is a tourist area and the seafood is also fresh, local, and wild. Originally, I wasn’t going to have much because I didn’t want anything oily or greasy that day, but it was so good I ended up having more than one bite. The cod was so juicy and fresh. I’ve never had such fresh fish and chips before!

The batter was also very crispy, and the tartar sauce accentuated the juiciness of the cod even more. I felt like our cod tasted like a higher grade of fish (it’s the cheapest type of fish on the menu) because it was that good! The pieces were also very large. A lot of places have their batter really big so it looks like the fish inside is too, when it actually isn’t but this wasn’t the case. YUM!
As for me, I got their large seafood chowder. I was a bit disappointed because there wasn’t much variety of seafood in it. I only tasted a few pieces of cod inside. At least what small amount of seafood I had in here was juicy and delicious though. There was a lot of vegetables in here. I found the taste to be a bit bland, but improved a lot when I sprinkled some salt and pepper to it.
To add to the semi-disappointing chowder, I added the bread bowl for $3. However, I didn’t realize that the bread bowl meant that it would come in its own baskets. I thought it meant that the actual bowl for the soup would be bread. 🙁 Oh well, the bread was good at least. It was soft and doughy, and tasted good when dipped in the chowder.
Here is a bonus and random picture of Steveston, I just thought it looked very pretty (save for the garbage bin…oops). Overall, our visit to Sockeye City Grill was decent. I would recommend getting their fish and chips rather than the seafood chowder. The service was also nice and attentive.

Our hostess also asked us if we preferred a table with lots of sun, or shade, and then proceeded to give us the best seat available. If you want a to enjoy a nice and comfortable lunch at Steveston, I would recommend this place.

Basho Cafe, East Van

May 18, 2014

I’ve been to Basho Cafe three times now, but wanted to make sure I had a variety of different things to share in this post, rather than make smaller revisit posts. This place is very popular and has been on the top 10 of Urbanspoon for many weeks now, and for good reasons too.

Basho Cafe is a cute, quaint, and lovely cafe owned by a Japanese family. They offer a few full meal sets, Japanese inspired pastries, and drinks. I’ve tried many items and my favourite would have to be the matcha latte.
Upon walking in, you will find a selection of mini pastries. Some of their items are vegetarian or gluten free, if you’re into that. Many of their pastries are made with matcha, as you can see from all the green in the shelf!
This is their menu. They only have three main dishes. You can add a plate of 3 pastries, tea, salad, and a daily soup for only $3, which is a really good deal as I’ll show you below what it looks like! Even though this place is a coffee shop, you can leave the place decently full and satisfied with their food.
The first time I went with my friend, we both decided to order the veggie lunch set ($10ish). Normally, I don’t like eating my veggies but I was surprisingly in the mood! I was pleasantly surprised at how big the plate was.

As for the veggie rice bowl, I enjoyed it very much. It came with avocado, cucumber, broccoli, carrot, cooked sweet apples, and a side of house made tofu mayo. The rice underneath made this dish very filling, and it was also flavoured with some sort of rice vinegar. The daily soup that day was broccoli, which was very flavourful and had a nice puree texture to it. The salad was a standard vinaigrette, as was the green tea.

A close up of my pastry selection. Sesame miso cookie, matcha cake, and chocolate mochi mochi. All three pastries weren’t super sweet, which I liked. The cookie had a toasted sesame, buttery taste to it but it wasn’t greasy at all. The green tea loaf had a very strong matcha taste, and was light and fluffy.

My favourite was the chocolate mochi mochi. I loved the chewy texture to it, and how the chocolate wasn’t super sweet! Out of the three, I would probably buy the chocolate mochi mochi again because the other two don’t feel as if it would be worth their separate price.
I really enjoyed my first visit, and wanted to show the boyfriend this place, so off we went the next day! Unfortunately, we went 30 minutes prior to closing and they were sold out of many pastries. We ordered the matcha brownie and matcha coconut cookie. The matcha brownie had a nice, chewy texture to it while the top had a toasted sugary taste. The matcha cookie wasn’t too sweet, and the coconut flakes added a light coconut flavour to it, which wasn’t too overpowering.
I told my friend about this place, and she really wanted to try it, so I went again! She ordered the veggie lunch set, which I talked about above. I wanted to try something different this time, and decided on the teri pulled pork lunch set.

The pulled pork was very tender and soft, and full of flavour. Just like the veggie bowl, it came with Japanese rice that was cooked with some sort of rice vinegar which I loved! The soup of the day was yam, which had a puree texture to it. The pastries I recieved were the green tea mochi mochi, sesame miso cookie, and another mochi pastry. I really liked the green tea mochi mochi because it was very chewy and squishy, and full of matcha flavour! I wasn’t a big fan of the other mochi square (forgot the exact name, sorry), because it was filled with different types of nuts, I would have preferred it without the nuts.
We also wanted to try the matcha latte, since the last two times I came here, I saw that it came in a pretty big bowl-cup and it looked very good. Turns out, if you order a lunch set, they will take off $1 off the matcha latte so that it only comes to $2.75! They also did not charge us for soy, which is a plus.

I also didn’t know that it came with a free pastry. I fell in love with the matcha latte at first sip. It comes unsweetened, so you can really taste the pure matcha flavour. It also wasn’t too hot, so I didn’t burn my tongue. I liked how it came with no foam.

It was very smooth,and full of matcha flavour. Delicious!
Overall, I think that Basho Cafe is worth the hype. They have very delicious matcha pastries, as well as matcha lattes. My friend mentioned to me that this place looks like a perfectly crafted Pintrest space, with all the eclectic decorations and focus on quilts and tea cozies.

It has a very welcoming atmosphere. The family that runs this place is also really friendly. Although the lady doesn’t speak much English, she is very friendly, and always has a smile on her face. I’m glad that Basho has opened up, I will come here again when I’m craving matcha goodies.

Roundel Cafe, East Van

May 15, 2014

I have driven by Roundel Cafe many times, but haven’t really noticed it among all the other merchants by Hastings and Nanaimo. This area has a lot of restaurants- from Sushi Nanaimo, East Cafe, The Red Wagon, Basho, Platform 7, and many, many more!

My friend and I planned to go here during the Easter weekend, but there was a really long wait so we decided to go to Basho. I came back here two weeks after, because I was really interested and wanted to see if they had good brunch.

The Red Wagon is pretty much across the street from them, so they do have lots of competition because that place is really famous for their brunch. I wanted to see if they held up as a good brunch diner.
It was a lot quieter when we went this time around, only about three other tables were seated. Service was very friendly, informative and efficient. We both had questions to ask about the menu, and our server happily answered them.
I finally decided on ordering their corned beef hash, served with eggs and salad. I thought the beef was very flavourful and cooked well. It was also mixed with onions and peppers which gave it a sweeter flavour.

Underneath the beef was the roasted potatoes. They served the usual white potatoes, but there was also a mix of sweet orange potatoes. I appreciated the mix, as the sweet potatoes were less starchy and dry. Some of the potatoes were really burnt though.

The salad and eggs were average, I think the star of this dish was the corned beef.
My friend ordered the free range eggs any style combo, which came with salad, roasted potatoes, and a choice of either ham/bacon/farmers sausage.

She thought that her dish was really delicious, especially the farmers sausage which was very juicy and had a hint of smokiness to it. Her roasted potatoes were a bit burnt as well.

For both our dishes, you can request for toast if you’d like. Their jam is house made, and we both found it to be very tart and not sweet. It had a very strong rhubarb taste. We would have preferred a sweeter strawberry jam!

It was a lovely afternoon, and we decided to indulge in a strawberry ice cream milkshake! It was smooth, rich, creamy, and thick. We also asked for soy milk since I didn’t want that much dairy, and she also did not charge us for that which was nice!
To end the meal, we recieved a fortune cookie. This fortune cookie was not true for me. I was about to start school the following week and was nervous for one of my courses! Haha 🙂

Overall, we had a satisfying and enjoyable visit to Roundel Cafe. Nothing really stands out to me, but it’s not bad either. I would come back if I was in the neighbourhood and it was convenient, but wouldn’t specifically plan another visit here.

I’ve read some other reviews on Urbanspoon where people mentioned their pancakes weren’t that good, so if you are craving pancakes, I would suggest crossing the street to The Red Wagon.

JOEY Bentall One, Downtown Van

May 15, 2014

I apologize for the lack of restaurant reviews lately. My summer semester started a week ago, and the assignments are already piling up! The good news is that one of my courses will be done in half the normal time, since it’s an intersession course, so I will have a lot more time once it is over. But for now, I am swamped with course assignments, starting my application process for co-op, work, and trying to squeeze in a social life still.

Hence, my attempt at squeezing in a social life results in this restaurant review. It was one of my childhood best friend’s birthday last week, so a small group of us converged over great food at Joey!
There are actually two JOEY restaurants on Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver. One is the actual JOEY Burrard, while the other is JOEY Bentall One. Bentall One is located a block away from Burrard skytrain.

I was a bit confused at first since my friend told me it was the Burrard location, but when I got there, it said Bentall One. Thankfully, I was at the right location! As always, the decor and ambiance was very fancy and lively.
Since I was running late due to my class, they decided to order an appy while waiting for me to arrive. They were also nice enough to save me a piece of the pesto shrimp flatbread, $14.50.

It was very doughy and loaded with a lot of ingredients on the top. They were also generous with the amount of shrimp. I was really considering ordering this as my main dish, but decided on getting something else.
I ordered the chicken souvlaki served with skinny fries, $14.50. I was surprised when the dish came out, because I was expecting it to be on a bed of rice, with a chicken skewer.

However, this wrap was really filling and delicious nonetheless. The chicken was grilled and had a hint of smokiness to it, while the other veggies and cheese inside tasted really fresh. The pita bread wrap was also very soft.
Friend’s lobster grilled cheese, with brie, cheddar, and and cocktail sauce $15. I had a bite of the sandwich, and really enjoyed the strong flavour of cheddar in it. The lobster was mixed inside with the warm cheddar and brie cheese.
Some of these I didn’t get a chance to taste, so I will unfortunately just have to give you guys the name and price. Ahi tuna tacos – $12.
Bacon cheddar burger, sub yam fries $15.25.
The 500 salad – organic quinoa, barley, watermelon radish, mint, tomatoes, avocado $13.50.
If the birthday girl wants to indulge in dessert, she is allowed to. She decided to order the molten lava chocolate souffle, $8.25. Yes, it looks and sounds as good as it tastes! Thick, warm dark chocolate slowly oozes out of the molten lava cake after you dig in. The chocolate was very creamy and smooth. Paired with the raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream, it is seriously a match made in heaven.

As always, service was attentive despite the restaurant being relatively busy.

Le Petite Saigon, East Van

May 14, 2014

When I am in this neighbourhood, my go-to spot for authentic Vietnamese food is definitely Petite Saigon. I have been here numerous times, and always have great food here.

Petite Saigon is also well known for their spring rolls, which myself and my coworkers normally order to share. I’ve been here well over twenty times, but decided to finally create a post on it!
I used to not be a fan of their pho, but it has definitely grown on me or improved in the past two years that I’ve came here. I used to find their noodles clumped and hardened together, so that when you try to separate them with your chopsticks, it breaks into small chunks that don’t resemble noodles anymore.

However, their noodle texture has gotten a lot better and I love ordering their pho now! I normally get their pho beef noodles with rare beef, beef brisket, and tripe (small- $7.25). Their broth is bursting with flavour, which explains why their restaurant always smells so damn good. They give a decent amount of meat.I really like their beef brisket because there isn’t much fat to it.

This is my coworker’s bowl of pho with rare beef and beef balls.
I usually stick with pho or rice bowls when I come here, so I was intrigued with my coworker’s seafood with egg noodle soup. You can get this dish with or without soup, which my coworker had without.

The dish was full of flavour, and from what I remember, it was a bit sweet. I enjoyed the sauce that came on the noodles as well. It comes with a decent amount of seafood and I think it’s a good alternate for those hot summer days, where you don’t feel like having warm soup!

This was the grilled pork chop on rice with shredded pork. Each of their rice dishes come with a side of vegetable salad and fish sauce. I had a bite of the pork chop, and it was really juicy and sweet. There was also a hint of smokiness to it. The fish sauce that they have is amazing. For those who have not tried fish sauce before, you are missing out! It’s a Vietnamese staple, used as a dipping sauce for many dishes.
I usually order their salad roll to go. It comes with shrimp, Vietnamese ham, vermicelli noodles, and lettuce. It is a great, healthy tasting light snack that is packed with flavour. There are a few thin slices of ham in it which give it a light salty flavour, and the prawns are pretty juicy and big so it fills you up. The lettuce it also very crunchy.

This dish is complete with their peanut butter and chili dipping sauce! The peanut butter sauce is a mix of a soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar, and of course peanut butter which complements the flavour of the spring rolls really well!
Their deep fried spring roll is a must-order! I’ve ordered this many times, but I can’t seem to find the picture on my computer so I took this from Urbanspoon. Their deep fried spring rolls are really crispy, and bursting with flavour and ingredients. It comes with a mix of vegetables, noodles, and meat inside and is absolutely delightful! My coworkers and I love ordering these to share, and they are always gone in the back within 15 minutes.

I also often order take out from Le Petite Saigon as well, as you can tell with the salad roll. They are pretty efficient with cooking time, usually done in within 10 minutes of your call. Service there is also really friendly and attentive.

-Carmen