western Archives - Page 10 of 11

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.

Burgers Etc BBQ House, N. Burnaby

April 27, 2014

Last weekend, a group of friends and I decided to have lunch at Burgers Etc. I haven’t been here for awhile so I was delighted! This is a local and neighbourhood favourite, well known for their pulled pork sandwich specials and alcoholic ice cream milkshakes. Yummmm!

Unfortunately, I am kicking myself in the face for forgetting to take a picture of my own food, but managing to take a picture of all my friend’s plates. So, I regretfully tell you guys that I will not have a picture of my own plate :(.

Burgers Etc has won many restaurant awards in the past. They have certificates lined up against the waiting area to prove it. There was one server working while we were there. Later on, a busser joined her. Both workers were very friendly and attentative.
One thing I really liked about Burgers Etc was their open concept kitchen. On the other side of these tables, was the grill area for the burgers. We got to see them cook our food!

The open concept kitchen speaks volumes about a restaurant’s practices, because it shows that they don’t have anything bad to hide (well, less compared to regular restaurants I guess).
Let’s start with my friend’s BBQ combo platter ($17). You choose two types of BBQ meats, and two sides. My friend got the pulled pork and beef brisket, with potato salad and baked beans.

Both the meats were extremely tender, soft, and juicy. Every bite oozed delicious BBQ goodness and smokiness! I also tried his baked beans, which I was surprised because I didn’t expect them to have a sweet taste to them.
My friend’s grilled chicken burger with macaroni salad. I got the same thing as her, expect I had fries with my burger. Since I forgot to take a picture of mine, I’ll just include it here. Their grilled chicken was grilled perfectly, and slightly charred. It was juicy, perfectly cooked, and seeping with flavour. The toppings in the burger were also really fresh!
My friend’s beef burger! For extra charge, you are able to add additional, fancier toppings such as peppers, cheese, and bacon which is what my friend did. I didn’t try it, but it looked really good and he had no complaints. It also came with an overwhelming amount of jalapeno peppers, which were scattered generously on half his plate. Yum!
Another burger! This one was the pulled pork BBQ sandwich, topped with cole slaw. I would imagine this burger was heavenly as well, since their pulled pork is so flavourful and tender.
My friend ordered the beef dip BBQ sandwich, which came with mushrooms, onions, mayo. Each burger included a dill pickle. She couldn’t finish hers, and I was curious as to what it tasted like. This burger was SO. GOOD. The beef melted in your mouth, along with mushrooms and melted cheese. The beef dip that came of it was really flavourful as well. I believe it was made with beef stock, and it was pretty light. The warm, juicy burger and beef dip are a serious match made in heaven.

All the meats from Burgers ETC were cooked perfectly. They were tender, juicy, and well seasoned- some of the meats practically melt in your mouth! Added with the great service and atmosphere, this is a great place to have a burger.

-Carmen

Tractor Foods

April 14, 2014

My friend and I noticed Tractor Foods while shopping along West 4th one afternoon, and seeing we both felt like having a light meal, we decided to try it out.

As you can tell, their design is very simplistic. We didn’t even realize that Tractor was a restaurant until we crossed the street and took a closer look. When we first walked in, we were overwhelmed with how modern and nice everything looked. (Picture from 604now.com)
You will first see the salads, and other sides, like soup, that they offer. Tractor makes their food in small portions, so that everything is as fresh as possible.

All their salads looked really appetizing, and we both had a hard time choosing which one to get! I love my dark green veggies, and there was such a plethora of them here that I had to select from! Once you pick the side you want, you will then proceed to the sandwich/main course of your choice.
Since we only wanted a light meal, my friend and I settled on getting half a sandwich, with a choice of side. I ordered their grilled chicken sandwich, which came with tomato, basil, and provolone on cranberry bread.

For my salad, I ordered one of their kale salads, which came with potatoes. I absolutely loved my meal, everything was perfect about it. Everything tasted so fresh, from the crunchy kale to the cranberry bread. It was also very light and refreshing too, which was exactly what I wanted on a nice, sunny day.

The portion was perfect and I left feeling satisfied.
My friend ordered their vegetable sandwich, with an addition of grilled chicken like mine. Her side was the tomato salad with basil and bocconcini.

The bocconcini had an elastic texture to it, and had a light taste which complemented the stronger tasting, and more acidic tomatoes. The tomatoes were also very juicy as you can see in this picture! She enjoyed her dish as well!

Overall, Tractor is a great place to go for a light meal if you’re in the neighbourhood. I noticed on their site that they changed parts of the menu since the last time I went (they have different salads now) so I will come here again when I’m in the neighbourhood!

-Carmen

Acme Cafe

April 10, 2014

I love brunch. I even eat brunch for dinner sometimes.! Maybe it’s just me, but having brunch is one of the best starts to a day. This visit was from awhile ago, but I had a lovely time at Acme Cafe.

Acme Cafe is undeniably one of the more popular places to have brunch in Vancouver. It is located in the DTES (Picture taken from www.flavourhunter.com).
I love the interior of Acme Cafe. It is very welcoming, clean, and simple. Acme cafe also offers a huge pastry selection as you can see! I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth, but it still looks very appetizing! Yum!
Baked eggs benny- $10.75. This is their signature dish, and it did not definitely did not disappoint! We were a bit surprised when it came out because we’ve never seen eggs benny done like this before.
Eggs sunny side up- $10.75. Read my blurb on their kitchen grill story below, it will relate to this dish! The eggs were cooked perfectly sunny side up. I love how there were onions on top since I am a huge fan of green onions.

My friend doesn’t like bacon so I was lucky enough to have it! The bacon was cooked well too, it wasn’t super oily or greasy. Underneath was the bed of hash browns which was perfectly seasoned as well. The side of fruit tasted really fresh too.
European breakfast – $9.50. This normally comes with proscuitto, but you were able to substitute it for smoked salmon at no charge. When I first saw this on the menu, I was sold because it had smoked salmon. My friend was going to order this too, but instead ordered the plate above because it sounded more filling and worth the price, which I agree.

The cantaloupe tasted pretty fresh, as did everything else. Overall, I thought that this plate was average. The smoked salmon, of course, was delicious, but I don’t think that it was worth $9.50. Maybe I should try it with the standard prosciutto next time…

One thing I found interesting about Acme is that they do not have a grill. The waitress pointed out their stove, which looked like the one from my own kitchen! I was quite impressed that they were able to run such a successful restaurant without a restaurant-stove top, but hey, they make it work so props to them!

All in all, I enjoyed our visit to Acme Cafe and would definitely come back here. I probably wouldn’t order the European breakfast again, but order the baked eggs benny which is their specialty.

-Carmen