food & drink Archives - Page 57 of 115

Phnom Penh Restaurant

February 14, 2019

Oops, this post is from over one year ago! I came here with Smores after the Vancouver Tea Festival back in November 2017… I was going to publish it then, but we didn’t order that much so I was going to save the post for when I came back again in the future.

Well, that never happened and I don’t have plans to visit anytime soon, so let’s just post this now and do a re-visit next time! Hehe.

We came at 4pm which was a bit of a strange time, but we were a bit hungry after checking out the Vancouver Tea Festival. But coming at non-peak times means that you won’t have to wait! I really enjoy Phnom Penh, but the long waits deter me from coming more often.

At 4pm, we took one of the last tables and I remember people were starting to line up around 5pm already. Craziness!

Free soup: The was the soup that came with our beef luc lac. It was your typical free soup that you’d get at Vietnamese restaurants, aka MSG water with some onions thrown in. There wasn’t anything too memorable about it and made me a bit thirsty afterwards, probably due to the MSG.

Beef luc lac: One of the classic dishes at Phnom Penh! The beef was very saucy, and delicious. It was slightly sweet, garlicky, and oniony. The beef luc lac was also accompanied with a fried egg, rice, and some fresh greens. With everything combined, you are sure to be full and satisfied.

Chicken wings: Smores ordered this to go, because his family really enjoys these. It’s been awhile since I had their chicken wings, but OMG are they ever delicious. They have a little hint of sugar which adds a bit more dimension to it. The chicken wings are one of their most popular items, so I would definitely recommend trying them!

If you’re willing to brace the long lineups, you will be rewarded with delicious and cheap Cambodian/Vietnamese food! Or just come at non-peak times like we did (3pm or 4pm ish, gets busy around 5pm).

Yu Xiang Yuan – Revisit

February 11, 2019

The boyfriend discovered Yu Xiang Yuan on Fraser Street about two years ago, when I wrote my first review! We have been back a couple of times since, so I thought I’d write an updated review.

If we are craving handmade, doughy, chewy noodles, this is our go to place. It is a bit of a hidden gem and run down in here, but it hasn’t disappointed us yet! The only annoying part is that parking is hard to find around this area, unless you’re willing to walk a few blocks from the free parking lots on before 41st avenue.

Dan dan noodles (dragging noodle option): The boyfriend’s go-to noodles here! They pack a spicy punch, and also contain a lot of crunchy peanuts. The portion of noodles are quite huge, as you can tell!

Beef noodle soup (cutting noodle): The beef noodle soup here is a lot more clear and lighter compared to the Taiwanese-style beef noodle soups. I enjoy both! It also contains a good amount of fresh green vegetables.

There is a lot of tendon in here, which is not my favourite, so I usually give it to the boyfriend. The noodle portion is huge and I’m always full after having it.

Beef roll: We knew we would be super stuffed from our noodles, yet we wanted to try their beef rolls too. At least beef rolls are easy to pack home for later!

The beef roll here was delicious! There was a generous amount of sliced beef inside, which seemed like the same beef in my noodle soup. The exterior of the roll was crunchy, while the inside also contained fresh green onion and sauce.

Overall, I feel like Yu Xiang Yuan doesn’t get as much recognition as other similar restaurants such as the Peaceful Restaurant chain. The place could use a bit of a facelift, but the food is delicious and consistent!

Got Pho Thein Kim Vietnamese

February 8, 2019

It’s been awhile since I’ve tried a new Vietnamese restaurant, usually sticking with my current favourite, and trusted, Basil Garden. When I suggested Basil Garden to my mom, she said she’s been before and didn’t like it. I was shocked! I guess everyone has different taste buds, which is why I’m hesitant to recommend restaurants to people sometimes.

Anyway, since Basil Garden was out of the question, I suggested Got Pho Thein Kim which was only about 4 blocks away. It’s been on my to-try list for over a year ever since Maki recommended it to me.

It’s a pretty small, no frills hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant. However, there was always a healthy amount of customers so you knew it was not sketchy!

House pho, large: We were pleasantly surprised at how cheap the pho was! My parents both ordered the house pho which came with all the usual meat. Normally, my dad complains that there’s not enough noodles and he is still hungry… But this time, he was really full.

Pho, small: I ordered the brisket, rare beef, tendon and tripe pho. There was a very generous portion of meat underneath the noodles which surprised me! For $7 in 2019, you really can’t complain about it!

Because I love food, I did some reading on pho. According to chef Chi Le, who was on Masterchef Vietnam and the owner of Chi Vietnamese Kitchen in Kitsilano, different regions have different styles. Northern Vietnam pho tends to be lighter. The south tends to be sweeter, and the central part tends to have more depth.

Based on this knowledge, I would say Got Pho is more Northern style. The flavour does not have much depth as Basil Garden. The more you learn!!!

Pho with lemongrass chicken: The boyfriend enjoyed his plain pho as well. The star of the show was the lemongrass chicken though. It was extremely fragrant and full of delicious lemongrass flavour. The chicken thigh was cooked perfectly and super juicy.

All in all, we left very satisfied. It was only $40 including tip for 4 people, and we were all super full! I’m glad that we finally tried this place out and found another Vietnamese spot in this area.

So Hyang Korean Cuisine

February 5, 2019

It’s been awhile since the boyfriend and I have tried a different Korean restaurant! So Hyang Korean Cuisine has been on our radar for awhile now, and we finally went to check it out for lunch one weekend.

So Hyang is located on Fraser Street. The storefront is a bit small and easy to miss. But once you get inside, the restaurant is a lot bigger than it seems because it is long and narrow.

Service throughout our visit was really friendly, we had different serves refill our cups and ask if we needed anything!

Banchan: We were given four different types of banchan. The beancurd was sweet and delicious. The beansprouts had a strong, yummy sesame taste. I didn’t like the sweet potato as much because there was an overpowering amount of ginger taste. The kimchi had a nice, spicy kick to it.

Remember how I said the service was really good? A couple of servers came by throughout our meal, asking if we wanted refills.

Seafood pancake: We knew that we wouldn’t be able to finish this, but we wanted to give it a try and pack the rest back for a later meal.

It was delicious! For my first few bites, all I could taste was the red and green peppers. There was a lot more vegetables than seafood. The pancake was crunchy outside while the inside was doughy and packed with ingredients.

It came with a sweet, garlicky sauce that was absolutely delicious. I usually eat my seafood pancakes without sauce, but I used a lot of the sauce this time because it was so delicious.

Bulgolgi tuk baegi: My soup bowl came piping hot! I wasn’t really sure what to expect as the menu just said ‘marinated beef stew in chef’s special sauce’, but the photo looked good!

It was delicious! It was sweet and garlicky, with many slices of seasoned boiled beef inside. There was also some enoki mushrooms, red peppers, and rice cakes. The soup came with a small bowl of rice too so I was quite full.

Beef bulgolgi hot plate: The boyfriend went with his one of his Korean favourites, beef bulgolgi. This dish also came with a side of rice. The beef was delicious, and he really enjoyed it. It was richly marinated and saucy.

We left the restaurant very satisfied with our meal. The food was delicious, and service was friendly as well. There’s no doubt that we will be back!

The General Public

February 2, 2019

Instead of our usual hangouts, we traded in board games and bubble tea for rockclimbing and trying out a restaurant nearby after, The General Public. I have mixed feelings about this place and am not sure whether to give it a good review or not.

I usually don’t write such long intros… but the stories below, prior to our dinner, is why I wouldn’t come back.

The General Public is a funky, eccentric restaurant similar to their sister restaurant, The Eatery in Kitsilano. The restaurant was unlike any sushi restaurant I’ve been to in terms of atmosphere. It reminded us of a nightclub or a pub… definitely not a sushi restaurant.

We made reservations for 7:15, but ended up finishing our activity earlier than expected, so I asked if we could come in at 6:20/6:30ish instead. Usually, restaurants are a lot busier at 7pm than 6:30pm, so I thought it would be better for both us and the restaurant to start and finish early. The lady on the phone seemed annoyed when I called and asked, and said they were fully booked until our reservation. We found that a bit odd and also a lie considering her tone… I know that sounds a bit weird, but we just had a feeling she was lying.

So, we decided to go early anyways to see if we could just get a walk-in table. Sure enough, the restaurant was half empty. When we got in, it took a long time for the hostess to acknowledge us… and even then, they said they were full and ‘only the patio’ was available.

At this point, I was getting really snobby vibes from the restaurant and soured my taste of the restaurant before even sitting down. We contemplated going across the street to another Japanese restaurant but my friend preferred to go here, so we killed a hour before our reservation.

Again, it took about 5 minutes for the hostess to acknowledge us, and it was not that busy still.

While we were standing at the table, I saw the book of reservations… you know how earlier I said we had a feeling she was lying about not having an earlier seat? We were right. In the book, there were no reservations from 6:15pm-7:00pm. Wtf?

What was the point of lying about that?

We were seated in a tight cramped table but once the customers beside us have left, it was a lot more comfortable.

Cocoa’s stomach wasn’t feeling well, so she asked for hot water. The server just gave her a blank look and said, ‘uh… sure… oh wait.. the hot water machine is broken…’ again, her tone felt like she was lying about it and just didn’t want to make the effort. So she asked for water without ice… yeah, it never came.

While waiting for our food, there was a DJ which for the most part, was okay. But there was a 5 minute period in which she played this terrible, high pitched, screechy dubstep thing. It was a horrible noise….ugh.

Ugh. Finally on to the food.

Chicken curry: The boyfriend was missing his Japanese curry, so he ordered this. Unfortunately, it reminded him more of Indian style curry, which is spicier and more fragrant. Japanese style curry is more sweet with subdued spices. It was decent, but he was just craving Japanese curry more than Indian curry.

Tunacado: Both Cocoa and I ordered this, they had a section of only tuna so we thought it would be pretty good! It came with nice, fresh chunks of tuna, ripe mango, and avocado. I found that the sauce didn’t go really well with it, there were hints of paprika? or something but overall, it was decent.

Tuna don: Again, they had a lot of tuna dishes so Cheese decided to get this! There were large tuna chunks and it was fresh. It also came with some minced tuna belly and onions.

Chirashi don: My chirashi don was delicious! It made up (not really) for the sour taste in my mouth with the stuff that happened above. There was a generous portion of thick, fresh sashimi. I was quite impressed. A bed of fresh greens separated the sashimi and rice. The rice was drizzled with some sort of sweet teriyaki sauce which was delicious.

Tataki attack roll: This roll came with crab, scallop, avocado, mayo wrapped with seared tuna. It was decent, although probably best described as a California roll with tuna tataki on top.

Alaska roll: Cheese ended off our meal with an Alaska roll. He had no complaints about it!

As you can see, the food was delicious and we didn’t really have complaints about it. However, the servers gave off a pretentious, snobby vibe in the beginning (see above paragraphs) and service was quite slow throughout.

Perhaps we didn’t quite fit their hipster clientele, but I wouldn’t come back because of the snobby staff. It’s a shame because the food was good. But there are plenty of other Japanese restaurants in Vancouver where they would treat their customers better and not lie.