food & drink Archives - Page 40 of 115

Nabebugyo

October 11, 2019

It was one of those nights where the fiance and I wanted to go out for dinner, but had no idea where. After an indecisive hour of debating and browsing, we stumbled across Nabebugyo.

Both of us were in the mood for hot pot so we decided to check this place out!

Nabebugyo is located on Cambie and 16th. I’ve driven past this restaurant many times throughout the years and have always wondered if it was good or not.

Nabebugyo specializes in individualized Japanese hot pot, otherwise known as shabu shabu. They only serve hot pot here – no sushi, sashimi, etc.

Shabu shabu: I decided to go with the traditional broth. My hot pot came with beef, mushrooms, cabbage, tofu, udon, and rice. I was told by the waitress that the broth would be plain, and asked if it was okay. I said yes but didn’t realize exactly -how- plain it would be.

The ‘broth’ was just boiled water with a piece of kelp inside. On the menu, it said the kelp was supposed to give the water a slight umami flavour. This was not the case though… It just tasted like boiled water.

To give it more flavour, I tried to cook all the rare beef first. That didn’t really help. The fiance ended up giving me some of his broth which was a lot better. It also came with ponzu and sesame sauce which gave it more flavour.

Sukiyaki hot pot: The fiance made a better choice than I did with the sukiyaki hot pot. His broth actually had flavour and wasn’t just water. It was a sweetened soy sauce broth which was yummy.

His ingredients were the same as mine, but he opted for pork slices instead of beef. He had no complaints about his hot pot.

Ice cream: At dinner time, they offer free ice cream. It was your standard ice cream, nothing special but nice to enjoy. Since I currently can’t have dairy, the fiance happily enjoyed both.

Overall, Nabebugyo was alright. Nothing extremely delicious, but not bad either. The portion was good, but I definitely ordered the wrong broth. It was way too clear for my liking.

But Japanese food is quite clear and healthy, and the waitress did ask if it was okay, so I have no one to blame but myself. I wouldn’t mind coming back, except I would order a different broth next time.

Yay!

Nam Nam Noodle

October 6, 2019

I am always on the lookout for fresh, hand pulled noodles. Noodles are my favourite type of food, hands down.

Thin noodles, thick noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli noodles, egg noodles, spaghetti… ALL noodles, I love em all.

So when I came across Nam Nam Noodle, I knew we had to check it out! While having lunch with my mom at Boiling Point across the street, she recommended it as well so the fiance and I came here for lunch the next day.

When I think of fresh, hand pulled noodles, I think of hole in the wall joints. However, Nam Nam Noodle actually had a nice, woodsy theme going on and seemed to be renovated from whatever it previously was.

It was quite clean inside, you could see the chef hand-pulling the noodles fresh to order and the chopsticks had their logo engraved into it.

Beef noodle soup: I went with the classic beef noodle soup. It was delicious and I found myself savouring every bite. The broth was light yet flavourful. It was not like the Taiwanese beef noodle broth, but a lot lighter with a hint of white pepper.

The sliced beef was very soft as well. But the star of the show was definitely the noodles! The noodles were a doughy, chewy delight. If you’re a fan of hand-pulled noodles like moi, you need to try them.

In addition, the noodles were very long too! It seemed like I was endlessly slurping on one strand of noodle!

Chicken nuggets: The fiance’s noodles didn’t come with meat, but it was okay because he wanted to try the chicken nuggets. They came piping hot, fresh, and crunchy.

The nuggets did not taste like the Taiwanese chicken nuggets with the 5 spice powder and star anise seasoning, but they were still very good.

Spicy oil spill noodle: The fiance went with a spicy, soupless noodle and really enjoyed it as well. At first, we were a bit worried the peppers would be the Szechuan peppers, which people either hate or love due to the intense numbing properties. He was glad to see that was not the case.

The noodles packed a nice, spicy kick. Compared to my thin noodles, these noodles were a lot wider and thicker.

All in all, we left very satisfied and happy. We will definitely be back in the near future when the noodle craving hits!

Yay!

Andamiro Korean Bistro

October 2, 2019

Andamiro Korean Bistro has been on my to try list for awhile now. While looking for a place to have dinner with Sangria and Lager, I suggested this place. It was a delicious meal and we left very full and satisfied.

Andamiro is located in East Van along Kingsway Street. Parking was a bit hard to find because it is all street and residential parking. There are many other restaurants around so you’ll probably have to drive around a couple times during peak hours.

Walking in, the restaurant was cutely decorated and very Korean style. There was also a little play area for kids which I thought was awesome!

Banchan: The banchan was disappointing and I was worried this would set the scene for the rest of our dinner. The sweet potatoes were very bland and flavourless. You could probably tell judging by the colour, usually they are a nice, golden brown.

I haven’t been served lettuce as banchan before and it just seemed cheap to me (or maybe I don’t know banchan well enough). A single piece of lettuce cut up into small pieces. The beansprouts were alright but could have used more flavour. The only good thing was the kimchi, which had a nice kick to it.

Anyways, Sangria, Lager, and the fiance went with a set menu which was a pretty good deal. I wasn’t sure how my stomach would fare, so I ordered my own soup but had a bite bites of their items.

Seafood tofu soup: The first dish in the set menu. Although they ordered a mild spicy level, it still packed a good amount of heat. The broth didn’t look that spicy which was deceiving!

Short ribs & beef bulgolgi: The MEAT! This came sizzling hot and smelled delicious. It did not disappoint either! The meat was juicy and thoroughly marinated with a nice sweetness to it due to the bulgolgi sauce.

Royal seafood japchae: The japchae was delicious as well. I love crystal noodles – actually, all noodles in general, I don’t discriminate 🙂 The noodles soaked up the flavour nicely and it came with a good amount of ingredients.

Seafood pancake: The seafood pancake was a bit on the smaller side compared to other Korean restaurants, but it was a good amount to share. The pancake was crispy on the outside, while the inside had a good amount of ingredients.

Ox bone soup: I love my Korean oxbone soup! I was expecting to have to season this myself with the salt and pepper provided as with most Korean places, but this was already seasoned. The broth was very flavourful and milky due to the ox bone.

There was a very generous amount of sliced beef inside as well. The beef was soft and delectable.

However, near the end, it got a bit too salty for my liking. I kept needing to drink water.

Takoyaki: Lager noticed that you could get a free plate of takoyaki if you posted a photo on Instagram, so obviously we did that! I didn’t have any, but the rest of them had no complaints about it.

Overall, we left Andamiro with leftovers and very full tummies. I did find some of their items to be very salty though so just a heads up on that. Service was friendly and attentive, decent prices, and tasty food – I would come back!

Yay!

Brown Bites – Uncle Fatih’s

September 29, 2019

Brown Bites is a mini series on my blog featuring places the fiance has tried without me, so it wouldn’t be my own review. Why the name Brown, you ask? It is named after the Japanese LINE character, Brown. Brown is a cute, shy, emotionless cartoon bear but secretly full of love, and we adore him to pieces!

The fiance was craving some pizza, so off we went to Uncle Fatih’s. Uncle Fatih’s is a popular pizza joint with a few locations in the city.

I remember thinking it was called Uncle Faith’s and being mindblown when I found out it was Uncle Fatih’s. Anyone else?!

You can order by the slice or a whole pizza. They have quite a few selections, all of which looked like delicious, greasy, unhealthy goodness.

The fiance went with 2 slices that day. Uncle Fatih’s didn’t have the different types of pizza listed on the glass, so we aren’t really sure which he ordered.

As expected, the slices were delicious and filling. Uncle Fatih’s isn’t something you should have often, but it’s good to treat yourself sometimes!

Boiling Point – Main Street

September 25, 2019

After being the last person in the city to try Boiling Point Burnaby earlier this year (okay I may be exaggerating a little!), the fiance and I went to the Boiling Point on Main Street in Vancouver. I usually go to the one by Metrotown which is always crazy busy, so I wanted to see how this location was.

First off, the Main Street location was a lot calmer. Boiling Point replaced a Taiwanese restaurant called Shang Pin which I wrote about, and ended up closing down a mere few months later.

Tea: Since we came at lunch, we each had a free iced tea! You can pick between green or black. Both are really sweetened and reminded me of McDonald’s sweet tea.

Beef hot pot: I ordered my go-to, the beef hot pot. It was delicious! I love the satay broth. It came with a lot of veggies, tofu, tomato, corn, cuttlefish and more.

Tonkotsu miso hot pot: The fiance ordered the tonkotsu miso with level 4/5 spice. He didn’t find it spicy at all though, and neither did I. There was a side of sauces so he ended up using lots of the hot sauce to spice it up.

Lack of spiciness aside, he enjoyed the flavour of the broth. It came with chashu pork, shrimp, fish filet, udon, tomato, corn, raw egg, and more. He was very full from his hot pot at the end of the meal.

We both enjoyed our visit to Boiling Point and would definitely come back. Compared to the Metrotown/Burnaby location, it is a lot less hectic here with a shorter line.

The quality and taste is both the same though, so I would go back to either depending on which location was more convenient that particular day.

Yay!