seafood Archives - Page 3 of 8

Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar

August 3, 2018

Maki and Nigiri’s bridal party was meeting up for a venue tour, so we decided to meet up at Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar beforehand for lunch. I have never been here but Maki and Nigiri love this place, so I was quite excited to try it. It is located on the first floor of the Sutton Place Hotel which was very convenient for our group of eight.

This is definitely an upscale place, do not come here dressed in sweatpants or something. However, there was no pretentious vibe and we had good service throughout the lunch.

Corn bread, free: We were given a basket of corn bread to start! It was devoured quickly because corn bread is delicious. This one was nice and buttery too.

Fries, $7: The fries were pretty standard, nothing to complain about.

Smoked tomato pizza, $17: This was a simple pizza with mozzarella cheese, basil, olive oil, and sea salt. It tasted like a healthy pizza and there was a good amount of gooey cheese and fresh basil. You can’t really go wrong with a simple pizza.

Beef carpaccio, $19: I didn’t have any of this but there wasn’t any complaints on it.

House smoked salmon pate, $14: The salmon pate was definitely one of the table’s favourite! We kept passing this around because it was so good. What made it so delicious was the smoky and grilled flavour of the salmon. After running out of the crackers, we used some bread to eat the rest of the pate.

Albacore tuna tartare, $19: I believe this was the tuna tartare?! I don’t remember LOL. However, it was really good. There was a variety of unique elements which complemented each other perfectly.

Seafood tower for 2 people, $65: We ordered the seafood tower for 4 people, but they gave us the tower for 2 by accident which was fine for us. For the ten of us, each of us were able to get a few pieces. The tower came with wild sidestripe shrimp, albacore tuna tataki, read island mussels escabèche dungeness crab louie, snow crab legs, wild shrimp, local oysters. All of the seafood was SO fresh and delicious!

Raw oysters, market price: I can’t remember the price of each oyster. I’ve only had raw oyster once 6 years ago, which did not really sit well with my stomach so I never tried again. So this would have been my second time. Fortunately, it was prepared a LOT better here because it was delicious. We were all happily slurping away and ordered another plate because it was so delicious!

Yum! It was such a delicious lunch. It was nice to go out and try a fancier place. Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster has really great and fresh seafood. If you’re a seafood lover, I would highly recommend it! They also have a happy hour which is cheaper. I would like to try that out one day too!

Yay!

Hart House

July 15, 2018

It was a special occasion and the boyfriend and I decided to celebrate by going out for a nice dinner. After doing some research, we both wanted to go somewhere quiet and intimate. It seems that we are both drawn towards nice restaurants in parks such as Seasons in the Park, and the Fish House which is sadly closed down now.

Hart House is located in a historic mansion that was slightly changed to meet the needs of a restaurant. On the evening that we went, it was a beautiful day and the ambiance was what we were looking for. Since it was a weekday evening, it wasn’t too busy (but the food still took forever).

Bread: Some complimentary bread to start. It was warm and toasted, and kept our starving stomachs somewhat full until our food came.

Mussels and clams, $21: Finally, our appetizer arrived! We got mussels and clams in a garlic, roasted pepper and tomato cream sauce. Everything about this dish was amazing. There was a decent amount of mussels and clams which tasted fresh. The sauce was so delicious and we used some for the leftover bread.

A bonus was the smoked ham hock which was tender and full of savoury flavour. I liked that the ham hock was the lean portion instead of fatty.

Soup, free: After we were done the appetizer, the waitress came by and gave us some complimentary soup. Although it was in a small cup, the flavours were not small at all! There was the same tender ham hock inside, just like the mussels and clams. We noticed outside that there was a wedding rehearsal, so we were thinking perhaps they had some leftovers.

Seafood pasta, $19: I just can’t stay away from seafood, can I? Haha! My pasta came in a garlicky sauce with crab, mussels, and clams. The flavour was a bit flat but after adding some pepper and salt into it, it tasted a lot better! Again, the seafood was very fresh, nothing to complain about here.

Hart house burger, $21: When looking up the menu online, the boyfriend knew that he was ordering this after seeing ‘truffle aioli’ as the sauce. He was not disappointed with his burger at all. Just look at how towering it is! It came with AAA beef AND pork belly. This dish doesn’t seem like something that a fancy restaurant would serve, but it was quite delicious.

My only complaint about the Hart House is that the service and food was soo0o0o0 sloooo00w. We were there for almost 3 hours because it took so long for the appetizer to come, and then the entrees to come. Other than that, the food itself was really delicious and we left satisfied.

Yay!

The Poke Shop

December 1, 2016

Poke bowls are popping up everywhere in Vancouver now! When they first started to appear, I wasn’t sure what the hype was about. But now, I’ve grown an inkling to poke bowls because they are a healthy and filling alternative.

So far, I’ve only tried two poke places in the city. The second place I tried was The Poke Shop, which opened a few weeks ago. It is located in Gastown, just by the steam clock.

It is a basement suite and you have to walk down some stairs. Once you get in, the decor is very cheerful and artsy, with a big mural on one side of the wall!

The long wooden communal table is also custom made, one of a kind too. I really liked the interior and it was spacious and comfortable to sit and dine.

I haven’t been to enough poke shops to judge the prices, but I would say it’s fairly average? The only other place I’ve been to is The Poke Guy, and The Poke Guy is a bit more expensive because it is ocean-wise.

There are two sizes, large & super large. The large didn’t look filling enough for a meal, so most of us at the media tasting ordered the super large for dinner. But you’ll see soon enough that we were proven wrong!

Pictured above are the proteins! You can pick from ahi tuna, spicy albacore tuna, spicy Atlantic salmon, wild sockeye salmon, spicy baby scallop, unagi, grilled organic chicken, or roasted organic chicken.
After selecting your base (purple rice, white rice, zoodles, spinach, or pick half/half) and protein, it is on to the toppings! I’m not going to list them all here because there are too many! But you can see from the picture above.
Super large bowl w/ unlimited toppings, $15.95: For my two proteins, I got the albacore tuna and wild sockeye salmon. I chose purple rice as the base. Unlimited toppings were pomegranate, mango, watermelon, spinach, cucumber, corn and topped with shoyu dressing.

The proteins come pre-marinated, which seems to be the preferred option for most as it is the authentic method of making poke bowls. I found that there was only a slight marinated taste for the tuna and salmon, it tasted mostly like plain sashimi which is not necessarily a bad thing! Both proteins tasted really fresh.

As for the toppings, I liked the inclusion of both fruits (mango, pomegranate and watermelon) with veggies. It gave the bowl a burst of sweetness!

Even though it doesn’t look filling, there is a LARGE amount of purple rice at the bottom. After all, I did order the super large! I didn’t end up finishing the rice because there was such a big amount, and I wanted to eat the proteins & fruit/veggies first.
Here are other poke bowls that some of the food bloggers ordered!
Left to right: 3 berry & lemon soda, pineapple plantation iced tea, iced matcha green tea w/ honey, all $3 w/ poke bowl, or $4.50 solo.

I ordered the 3 berry & lemon soda, which was basically berry & lemon infused 7-up. My goodness, was it delicious! I was one of the only bloggers who ordered the soda, and received many comments about how good it looked.

I didn’t try the other two, but heard the pineapple plantation iced tea was okay. The iced matcha green tea was a bit disappointing, as we were expecting matcha. It tasted more like a sencha, or regular iced green tea.
Overall, The Poke Shop was good and I would recommend giving it a try! The portions are generous, while the restaurant is spacious with great interior design (a dining experience also includes the ambiance).

I would recommend getting the large bowl, as most of us who ordered the super large bowl couldn’t finish. As well, you are getting the same two scoops of protein in both sizes.

Yay!

Olive & Anchor

September 20, 2016

During the last week of summer, the boyfriend and I went to a bunch of different outdoor places around the Lower Mainland to savour what was left of the season. One of these places was the beautiful Whytecliff Park, which is a bit past West Vancouver and by the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.

After enjoying an afternoon at Whytecliff Park, we decided to venture to Horseshoe Bay. Four minutes drive later, we arrived into the small but lively village and decided to try Olive & Anchor after I found it on Yelp!

I am really glad we tried this place because everything about it was spectacular!
Since we had already quickly looked at the menu on Yelp, we knew we wanted to try their happy hour. I also really wanted to try this place because most of their happy hour items were dairy free! Olive & Anchor has some Asian influences in their dishes, which explains why there wasn’t dairy in a number of their plates.
Ebi mayo, $6: We started off with the ebi mayo, which was a shrimp and green bean tempura. After seeing this at another table, it looked kinda small and we were kinda doubtful that it was worth $6.

However, the tempura was fried really nicely and had a lovely crunch to it. It came with Japanese mayo, which we both love a lot. If you haven’t tried Japanese mayo before, I urge you to try it out!
KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) Wings, $6: The chicken wings came in a delicious sweet chili glaze, topped with crunchy cashews and sesame seeds.

The wings were juicy and full of flavour. Just like the ebi mayo, the fried batter on these wings tasted really fresh as well.
Crispy cod taco, $6: I am normally not a fan of tacos (cue GASPS) but I was feeling adventurous that day and ordered this. BOY, am I GLAD I did because this was delicious. This taco right here is starting to convert me into a taco person!

The cod was fried perfectly, while the fish was juicy and flaked off nicely. The taco came with a generous amount of fresh veggies and a slice of avocado. I was seriously considering ordering another one but stopped myself.
Fish poppers, $6: These were like mini fish fillets. Again, the fish was juicy and flaky with a very fresh and crunchy batter. So good!

Olive & Anchor really wowed us not only with their food, but with their service as well. Our server was really friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. I wish that all servers were this amazing.
I have nothing but good words to say about Olive & Anchor. I wish we discovered this place at the beginning of summer, so we could take advantage of the outdoor seating and ferry view more. But, I know that we will definitely be back!

Yay!

Coast Restaurant

March 6, 2016

Note: I wrote this review a year ago, last March. I came back here in May 2015 and didn’t really have a good experience, so I hesitated to put this review up. The service was really slow and un-attentive, while the food didn’t taste as good as the review I have written here below.

——

Back when I used to work in downtown, I had the pleasure of going to Coast for lunch. It was my second time here, and I suggested this place because I had a wonderful experience the first time I went. From the atmosphere to service to food, everything was exceptionally done (the second time I came which is what the review is based on, the third time was not good).

Originally, my cousin and I had plans to eat at Black & Blue for lunch, and I decided to read up on the menu before we went since I had a limited lunch break. I was a bit shocked at how abysmal the Zomato ratings were for that restaurant – I thought it was a good restaurant!

Since the Glowbal Group restaurants aren’t particularly cheap, we decided to be safe and go back to Coast, since it was good the last time we went. I was able to make a last minute reservation online without any problems.

The circular oyster bar in the middle of the restaurant. I love the interior and ambiance of Coast. Some of the seating is a bit squishy and uncomfortable, especially during peak hours. You could be sitting almost shoulder to shoulder with the next table.
Sorry, I forgot what drink this was but it was one of their non-alcoholic cocktails. I tried to read their menu online, but none of the drinks there seemed to ring a bell so perhaps the menu changed.

I thought it was really refreshing, and wasn’t too sweet but had some strawberry pulp in it. If I was going to be picky, I would have liked it with less ice because I found that 1/2 the drink was ice.
My cousin and I decided to split all of our lunch items. We both weren’t that hungry since we had some light snacks before meeting up, so decided to split some items.

You can’t go to Coast without ordering their seafood.

First up on the left, was the spicy ahi tuna roll. For $12.95, it is a bit overpriced considering a lot of Japanese restaurants can serve this for half the price, but there is no denying that the quality was definitely there. The tuna was extremely fresh and melted in your mouth. It came flavoured with a mouth watering sesame yuzu sauce, and a hint of spice. There were small crunchy flakes on top which topped the cherry off in an amazing roll.
On the right, were the fish and chip cones. It came with cod tempura, greens, fresh tobiko, and rice wrapped in some sort of soy paper (???). Again, everything tasted delightfully fresh and the tempura was perfectly crunchy. I loved biting into the crunchy tobiko as well, which popped with flavour! The rice bed did a good job in filling me up as well.
Our last dish was the smoked salmon flatbread. Give me almost anything with smoked salmon and arugula, and I will eat it. Smoked salmon and arugula is probably one of my favourite combinations of food.

The flatbread was thicker than I expected, I was expecting some sort of thin crust pizza-variation for some reason.

I came back here last May (see note above), and ordered this as well. Unfortunately, it was not as good as the flatbread was drenched in so much mayo that it we couldn’t taste anything else. This place isn’t as consistent as it used to be, so I’m unsure if I would come back especially since it’s not cheap dining.

Would have been a yay! but because of the second experience, it is a meh…

Thanks for reading!

Carmen