food review Archives - Page 3 of 18

Richmond Night Market 2015 – Part 1/2

June 24, 2015

Hi everyone!

Last year, I wrote a post on the Richmond Night Market so I thought I would do one again this year. That post received quite a few views, so I figured that you readers like to hear what’s good/bad at the nightmarket!

There are two nightmarkets in Richmond, this is the one by River Rock Casino (the more popular one to go to). There is free parking, but the lot was apparently ‘full’ so we drove around the area for a good 15-20 minutes looking for parking. But when we actually walked across the parking lot, half the lot was empty so I’m not sure why they said it was ‘full’. =.=”

Admission to enter the nightmarket is $2.75 per person. You can buy a booklet with 10 entry stamps and skip the long line ups if you think you’ll be coming here often though! Even though the line was long, we waited under ten minutes.

I took a picture of the booth at the top, followed by what we ordered underneath. All the food here is cash only! Although it is street food, it’s not exactly cheap.
The boyfriend loves his takoyaki, and quickly set off looking for a takoyaki stand! While I was in line for squid, he came back with this!

We enjoyed the flavours of the takoyaki. It was well seasoned, tasted fresh, and came with a generous amount of flakes and sauce on top!
While he is obsessed with takoyaki, I am obsessed with squid and a trip to the nightmarket is not complete without some grilled squid.

I ordered the ‘signature’ squid, which had a salty but sweet aftertaste. The squid was nice and crunchy, with a hint of smokiness from the grill.

My friend ordered the ‘garlic lovers’ squid, which I liked more than the signature. The flavours felt more rounded and I liked the strong garlic taste, compared to the sweet aftertaste that I had with the signature. They were both delicious, but my personal preference was the garlic lovers.

My friend, who came here a few weeks before us, said not to get the bubble waffle from the ‘orange stand’, so we went to this place instead LOL.

Although the wait time was pretty long, it was worth it. The bubble waffle was nice and puffy, with a crisp exterior and soft interior.

Thanks for reading! I felt that this would be too long of a post if I included all the food we tried, so stay tuned for part 2 =)

-Carmen

The Bubble Tea Shop – Specialty Bubble Waffle Time!

June 19, 2015

Hi everyone! =)

Maki and I were looking for things to do in Richmond one night, and a trip to Richmond obviously isn’t complete without engaging in over indulgence of Asian food. At least, that’s what I always look forward to when going to Richmond. Maki was craving bubble waffle, so we decided to give this place a try!

This is totally off topic but I just want to tell you guys how cursed the boyfriend and I are with visiting Mango Yummy. We have been wanting to try Mango Yummy since it opened, and have probably tried going there at least FIVE times now. They all failed. Either they were closed, we didn’t have enough time, or it was way too busy to even try attempting to score a table. BUT, we are not giving up yet. WE WILL GET TO YOU, MANGO YUMMY.

After you order, you then proceed to find a table. Since we came on a busy night, it took us awhile to get a table. It would be nice for them to have more seating, but the cafe itself isn’t that big so it probably isn’t possible =(

We shared the ‘triple decker’ bubble waffle, which came with fresh strawberries, banana, and whipped cream. Since it was busy that night, our food was a bit slow to arrive.

The bubble waffle wasn’t as fluffy and thick as I hoped it would be, but not bad either. The strawberries and bananas were nice and fresh.

I’m not sure if this was worth $7.25 (2015 pricing), I’ve had better bubble waffle at the nightmarket for a cheaper price. But I’m glad that we tried this place. The workers were friendly and informative, while the cafe was very clean despite being busy and that customers are expected to put away their dishes.

If I were to come back, I probably would stick to their standard or deluxe bubble waffles, which are cheaper.

Do you like bubble waffles?

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

May 31, 2015

Hi everyone!

After a satisfying brunch a few months ago, Naomi from Constant Cravings and I decided to go grab dessert at Nero! No, we weren’t hungry still… but I told her that Nero has been on my dining list for probably 2 years now, and I still haven’t gotten the opportunity. Since Forage was a mere few blocks away, we decided to walk there after and share a waffle.

Naomi had already been here before, so she led the way. To be honest, I was a bit surprised when we got there as I was not expecting their design and branding to look like this! Judging from the pictures I saw, the place looked a lot brighter and less rustic/wooden than it actually was. Not that I minded though, but that was just my first opinion=)

It’s smart that they have their menu on a chalkboard outside. Naomi told me that it lines up pretty quickly here during the summer, so this is an efficient way to speed up the wait!

Yep, I was still surprised at how wooden and cozy it was inside Nero. I honestly thought it would look like a bubble tea or Asian dessert cafe, LOL!

Nonetheless, I did like the interior and here is a picture of a bicycle on their wall. The seating area is quite small and there is no way that all their customers are able to get a seat right away. Which is unfortunate, because their specialty waffles aren’t something that can be easily packed and taken to go.

Since I was the newbie, I let Naomi decide for the both of us. We shared the liege au chocolat waffle, which came with a dark chocolate drizzle, fresh raspberries, and a big ol’ scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The waffle was nice and light, with a sweetness to it and served warm. The dark chocolate and tart raspberries counterbalanced the sweetness of the waffle and vanilla ice cream.

I would love to come back and try more of their different flavours, but I especially hate standing and waiting in lines for restaurants.. that’s a big pet peeve for me and probably one of the biggest reasons I haven’t tried a couple of well known, yummy establishments. I should also mention Nero was empty when we came in around 2pm on a Saturday, but as we got ready to leave, we saw a line that was already out the door!

I saw another customer with a huge fruit assortment on her waffle, I am definitely trying that one next time I come back!

Is Nero worth the hype? For me personally, yes!

-Carmen

Jethro’s Fine Grub – Fraser Street Location

May 18, 2015

Hi all!!

I have driven by this place many times, and always see it completely packed. I’ve also heard it was really good so I decided to finally check this place out for brunch. After reading the reviews, I was prepared on what to order and what not to order.

This place was also featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive Ins, and Drives which automatically gives it a higher rating BUT a lot of people said it was very disappointing and did not meet their expectations. So, I came here with low expectations but somehow we left still feeling disappointed and unsatisfied.

We came after the lunch rush around 1 pm, and luckily did not have to wait. The restaurant is pretty small and cramped with very plain decor. Actually, there’s not much decor than the big chalkboard wall. They could really use some decor to make this place feel more comfortable and welcoming.
Started off with the corned beef hash with poached eggs, served with my choice of rye bread. Nothing in this dish really stood out to me and it was really meh, especially the corned beef. The corned beef also came out in little tiny, dry crumpled pieces.
The second dish was a lot better, though – smoked salmon eggs benedict with potatoes. The eggs benny was flavourful, with a rich hollandaise sauce but the potatoes were lacking in flavour. They were also very dry and starchy, they could have peeled off more of the potato skin as well.

Yes I know that some restaurants leave the potato skin on and I do enjoy potato skin, but all my tongue could taste or feel was potato skin and nothing else.
Continuing on to even more mediocre-ness, was our side of sausages. They were your typically greasy, oily breakfast sausages that you would expect at a free 3 star hotel breakfast. Good if it’s free, but I wouldn’t want to have to pay for these.

But at this point, we finished it all since there wasn’t anything good other than the smoked salmon benny.

Lastly, we ordered a side of pancakes because I read that it was a “must order” and it was their specialty. If this is their “specialty”, then clearly it needs some work because these were really mediocre and disappointing as well.

They had a rich buttermilk flavour to it, but they weren’t fluffy at all. All of the pancakes were also a bit burnt. You would try to cut it up but the burnt bottom part would stick to the plate and it just became a mess. To add to this, the inside looked a bit undercooked so they probably cooked it on too much high heat, resulting in a burnt exterior but raw interior.

Needless to say, our visit was really disappointing and we probably won’t be coming back. There was no sense of quality preparation in any of the dishes except for the smoked salmon benny. We had already braced ourselves that this place wouldn’t be amazing, but I didn’t think it would be THAT disappointing, especially for a restaurant that had been featured on The Food Network.

-Carmen

Nay.

Royal Seoul House – First time trying a Korean set lunch!

May 14, 2015

Hi everyone =)

If you’ve been following me for awhile now, you may have noticed that I’ve never food blogged on Korean cuisine before. I can count the number of times I’ve had Korean food on one hand! It’s not that I hate Korean food, but it’s not really convenient for me to try good Korean restaurants, nor do I know which ones are good.

But, here is my first Korean post and my first time trying a Korean set lunch! Please read this review with a grain of salt… this is probably my third or fourth time eating Korean so I’m not the most knowledgeable in how it tastes, or what authentic Korean tastes like.

Last month, I had plans to eat a Korean set lunch with some old coworkers but unfortunately, I couldn’t make it last minute =( I heard that it was really good and really filling, so I suggested that we try this place out to my friend a few weeks later.
Walking in, I absolutely loved the decor and interior of this place! It felt like I was in an olden day movie set. The restaurant was very spacious and clean as well. You could tell that it was weaning towards being an old restaurant, but they put every effort in making sure everything was clean and robust.

I asked for a private booth, where we had to take our shoes off before entering. You could slide the doors closed if you wanted to as well. I haven’t eaten in one of these private booths for awhile, but I do enjoy dining like this =)
For the set lunch meals, there are two that you can pick from. After looking at the pictures and description, we decided to go with the $15 menu because we wanted to try the grilled fish, and it wasn’t offered in the $20 menu.

Mul kimchi – This was described on the menu as “watery plain kimchi”. Couldn’t have described it better than that! The kimchi flavour was really diluted due to the water, but the veggies were still very fresh and crunchy.

Porridge – I imagined the porridge to be different, perhaps like a congee? This was a sweet potato/pumpkin porridge. It was delicious, very sweet and had a thick consistency to it.
Clockwise from top right:
Tangsooyeuk – This was my first time trying Korean style sweet and sour pork, I’m more accustomed to the Chinese style. When comparing the two, the Korean style one was crispier, since the pork pieces weren’t entirely covered in the wet sauce. Talking about sweet and sour, this one was more sour and tangy.

Tangyungchae – Chilled mung bean jelly mixed with vegetables. It had a thick, crunchy texture – kind of like eating cartilage. This dish was nice, light, and refreshing.

Jogi-gui – I didn’t even know this it was fish on the plate until my friend pointed it out, it looked like some sort of yam tempura to me. I absolutely loved this dish! The fish flaked perfectly off, and it had some sort of delicious marinated mayo on the top. I wished we had more of this!

Green salad – Honestly, I didn’t touch the green salad until the end because I wanted to try all the new foods in front of me. I was actually so glad that we saved this, because the crunchy vegetables were really refreshing and helped with cool down the spicy foods afterwards. All the veggies were really fresh and came with a vinaigrette sauce.
Three kinds of mini pancakes – Nothing too special about the taste here, but they weren’t bad, either. The one in the back was a fish pancake, followed by seaweed and zucchini. The fish and seaweed one were more doughy and wet, while the zucchini one resembled tempura.

So Bulgogi – The beef bulgogi was very sweet and full of flavour. There was a generous amount of beef and we loved how juicy the meat was.

Cuttlefish with veggies in spicy sauce – I am a big fan of seafood, so naturally, I loved this dish as well! The cuttlefish was fresh and crunchy, and served with veggies in what tasted like a kimchi sauce base. This dish was also served cold.

Steamed soft pork bacon – The pork was amazingly tender. It was cooked so well – simple, yet delicious. We savoured each bite of this dish, which had a hint of smokiness to it.
Soy bean paste soup – Okay, the name of this dish doesn’t sound too enticing in English, but it was delicious. Perfect on a rainy day when you want a nice warm bowl of spicy soup. Not for the faint of heart, this bowl packed a generous amount of spice so proceed with caution! We ate this with a bowl of steamed rice and cold salad (see above) to keep ourselves from getting too hot.

I loved the soup so much that the next day, I told the boyfriend and we made a spicy soup stew at home because I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

Jogi gui – We chose to order the $15 menu because of this pan fried fish, the $20 did not offer it. I love fish, but unfortunately this dish was a tad disappointing. We expected two pieces since that’s what the picture in the menu showed =(

It had a very strong fishy taste to it – yes, I know that a fish is supposed to have a fishy taste, but this was too strong. In Cantonese, we call that taste “sang”. There also wasn’t much meat and a lot of sharp bones to unpick, which took a lot of effort!
Nearing the end of our meal, our service was a lot slower as they were just starting to clean up from the lunch rush (we were done around 1:30-2 pm). Since my friend and I weren’t in a rush, we just sat and talked for a bit, letting our food digest.

After about twenty minutes, we agreed that they had forgotten our dessert drink. We rang the bell on the table and the waitress seemed confused because she thought we got it already.

The dessert ginger drink was very sweet and served chilled. It literally just tasted like ginger with a lot of sugar. I know that ginger is really good for digestion, which is probably why it’s served. Since I don’t really like super sweet drinks, I only drank 1/4 of mine because I still wanted to try it out =)

All in all, I really enjoyed my first Korean set lunch experience! The food was great, friendly service, and I loved the decor of the place. I’m glad that I got the chance to try a lot of new dishes that day!

What are some good Korean places in Vancouver? Let me know in the comments down below!

Thanks for reading!

-Carmen