restaurant Archives - Page 4 of 4

Chad Thai Restaurant Review

February 20, 2014

Hi readers!

I have heard many great things about this place from my friend, and the perfect opportunity came to finally try it out when one of my best childhood friends came back into town this week. I feel like since it’s such a small place, it often gets overlooked by all the other surrounding restaurants in the neighbourhood. It also has really high ratings on Urbanspoon, which I never knew!

This was the Chad Thai Garden dish. It consists of a fresh rice roll stuffed with vegetarian delights such as tofu, mushroom, carrot, and served with spicy dipping sauce. At first bite, I fell in love with the flavour of this dish. The spicy dipping sauce really highlighted and complimented the flavours well.

The part I loved most though, was the BASIL! The basil was what really made this dish stand out as it kind with its minty flavour, giving this dish a good PoP! The only thing I didn’t like was the way that it was prepared.

The rice wrap was wrapped pretty loosely, and the three of us had a hard time eating this without the wrap breaking and having the contents go on all over our plates.

The second thing we ordered was the Gai Yang. Gai yang is a type of Thai grilled chicken which is marinated in Thai herbs and spices. We picked the sweet chili sauce for the dip, instead of the peanut sauce.

I enjoyed this dish as well. It tasted really similar to lemon grass chicken to me. I would probably have preferred white meat over dark, since it was a bit fatty but overall not bad!
The last thing we ordered was the Yen Ta Fo. This is a thin rice noodle in piquant sweet and sour stock with fermented tofu, calamari, fish balls, prawns, and crisp wonton topping. I found this dish to be definitely more sweet than sour, I wish that it was more balanced.

We also ordered the soup to be medium spice, but we all agreed that it wasn’t really that spicy. It came with a good portion of seafood which I enjoyed. I probably wouldn’t order this dish again because the soup was too sweet for my liking.

Overall, the food at Chad Thai was pretty decent. I wish we ordered more food so I could give a better review, but we weren’t feeling that hungry! The servers were all really friendly and attentive, coming to fill our water constantly and asked us how everything was. Small things like this really are appreciated and come noticed!

At the end of your meal, they give you complimentary Thai candy which was really good- it was a bit sour, kind of like the Chinese dried salted prune candies. I would probably come here again sometime, and try more of their other dishes!

The Keg Steakhouse & Bar – Burnaby location

February 13, 2014

Hi readers!

Going to The Keg is a pleasure and treat for my family and I. It’s a treat that we all enjoy, and we usually have a great experience seeing that all three of us are steak lovers. This time, I surprised the boyfriend and he joined our family as well (he had no idea where we were going until we arrived at the parking lot! my surprise was a success!)

It was also his first time ever at The Keg, which was pretty surprising for me, but I’m glad he finally tried it and was able to share that experience with my family. My parents and I noticed that the dishes this time around were not as great as they were before, it seemed as if The Keg had cut down on their quality and quantity of food. That said, it wasn’t bad, just not as good as we had before.

The location we went to was in Burnaby, right beside the Costco. They have an ample parking lot, and also lots of street parking. We had a reservation at 7:30 and arrived on time, but we had to wait around 15 minutes to actually get seated.

We were seated at a booth at the far end corner of the restaurant. It was a good seat as it was quieter in that area than the rest of the restaurant. Our server was prompt to greet us. Right off the bat, he informed us that they were running low on prime rib that night, and to tell him if we were planning to order that so he could reserve it for us. After about 10 minutes, he returned and told us that he reserved some for us and took our order. Here’s our dinner!
This was the complimentary sourdough bread that came with our order. We were disappointed because last time we came here, there was a variety of bread in a bigger basket. The Keg really cut down on their bread, which is a disappointment.I really liked the quality of their strawberry margarita. I thought it was blended perfectly, and the strawberries tasted really fresh. I enjoyed the texture and the taste of this drink a lot. It was a pretty big glass too!
Granville Island Winter Ale.
Mom’s 12oz prime rib medium rare with twice baked potato & onion rings. It was too big of a portion for her, she regretted ordering a 12oz because she felt too full. Ended up packing the twice baked potato. She thoroughly enjoyed her prime rib though. It was very tender and soft.
Dad’s 12 oz prime rib with stir fried vegetables, medium well. I don’t think he enjoyed this as much as before. Said it wasn’t juicy enough and felt dry. I think he was a bit disappointed, he would have probably liked it done medium or medium rare instead!

The boyfriend’s New York Striploin with Keg Fries. His striploin was noticeably more juicier than our prime ribs. You can tell by the second picture how juicy it was! It wasn’t as tender as our prime rib, making it have a tight texture and a bit of chew, but that’s to be expected since it’s a striploin.

He thoroughly enjoyed his dish, except for the fries. The fries were extremely, extremely, salty to the point where I could’t even handle it. It was coated with so much salt that we couldn’t eat it! That was a bit disappointing but overall, the NY striploin itself was great!

My 10 oz prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes. I thought this was pretty delicious. The meat was really tender which is a sign of great preparation and cooking. It was seasoned perfectly as well!

I remember last time we came here, the prime rib came with four different sauces so I was disappointed it only came with two this time. Overall, it was good and I liked that it was soft and tender. The garlic mashed potatoes were done perfectly and delicious!
For dessert, we ordered the mini fudge brownie with a side of vanilla ice cream. I can’t even begin to tell you how delicious this was! For starters, we were really surprised when this came because it looked pretty big. We thought the server accidentally brought us the full size.

The chocolate brownie was delicious. On the top was melted dark chocolate, and the brownie itself was really warm and decadent. What made the vanilla ice cream stand out was the caramel on the top. It brought out all the flavours of the dessert perfectly, and balanced the taste of the brownie. Details like this is what I really appreciate and look for when I write my food reviews. We mixed each bite with the brownie and ice cream, and it was like heaven on earth. It was really the cherry on top of a great meal.

-Carmen

Sawasdee Thai

February 10, 2014

Hi everyone!

Thai cuisine always seems to be lacking in popularity, especially in Vancouver. Indeed, there are just as delicious Thai restaurants as there are with other Asian cuisines, but for some reason, I never really hear anyone talk about going to Thai food, which really is a shame!

We came across Sawasdee Thai on Urbanspoon and we were sold immediately due to its high rating and convenient location. So off we went!

Sawasdee Thai is located on Main Street. We decided to go a bit later, just because we thought it would be super busy on a Friday night and didn’t want to wait in line there. The restaurant really stands out from the rest of the restaurants on the block.

When we got there at 8:30pm, we expected it to be quiet and were worried that it was even closed! We went in and were taken by surprise by the fact that the restaurant was completely full, with 2 parties of 4 still waiting to eat! The host asked us if we had a reservation which we didn’t, and I was worried we wouldn’t get a table. However, after 5 minutes, another lady sat us down. Yay!

The door is completely filled with awards which we took as a great and welcoming sign. We sat down, and impressed at how fast the servers were with getting our water and menu despite it being super busy in there.

When we were ready to order, the sever was quick to come to our aid. I really appreciated this because often, when you go to restaurants, servers ignore you when they’re busy, but these guys were really nice and efficient.

Our food came really fast, which was pleasantly surprising. For our appetizer, we ordered Stuffed Chicken Wings ($8.95). We ordered this because it sounded interesting – “de-boned chicken wings stuffed with bean thread noodles, mushroom, and carrot”. I wondered how a stuffed chicken wing would taste….

I instantly fell in love with the flavour of the chicken wings. The noodles were what made this dish stand out, otherwise it would have tasted like normal chicken wings.

The spices in the noodles were really good. I liked how they were generous with the noodles, but not so much that it ruins the actual chicken itself (see picture on the right-bottom is the chicken, clear stuff on top are the noodles/carrots/etc).

The sauce was also light and mild, which is good for an appetizer. It also tasted super fresh!

Next up, was our green coconut curry with chicken (12.95). We ordered a side of coconut rice since it does not come with any sides. There was an abundance of wonderful exotic Thai spices mixed intricately with rich, creamy, coconut milk and chicken breasts.

I loved that it was equal parts spicy, yet creamy, rich, and sweet at the same time. They also give you a LOT of quality, white meat chicken in the curry as well. With every spoonful of goodness you scoop, comes at least 3 pieces of chicken on your small spoon, until the very end of the dish (usually the first couple of spoonfuls the chicken would be gone).

The bamboo shoots that came with the dish were also really soft and sweet. The basil leaf that came on top of the dish was also a really nice addition and detail to our curry. The side of coconut rice (2.95) was also steamed perfectly, and had a generous amount of coconut milk with it.

Our final dish was their pad thai with tamarind sauce (11.95). I am not a big fan of pad thai to be honest, but I thought it tasted pretty good. The flavours were really accentuated and lively, you could really taste the tamarind sauce. There was also a generous portion of prawns that came with the dish. I was really hoping to try dessert but there was no way I could have eaten more there!

Conclusion: Overall, we had an excellent experience at Sawasdee Thai. The staff was very accommodating and managed to fit us in even though the restaurant was packed and we had no reservation. Service was friendly, quick, and efficient. I would highly recommend coming here as long as you make a reservation.

What are some delicious Thai places that you’ve been to in the Lower Mainland? Any thoughts? Let me know!

-Carmen

Hapa Izakaya (Kitsilano) Review

January 30, 2014

EDIT: This was my first post on this Hapa location, but it has since gone downhill. You can compare this post with my second visit here.

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Hi everyone!

I have seen many posts on social media during the last couple of weeks on Dine Out Vancouver (#DOVF). However, for whatever reason, I was not that excited to check it out this year, probably because I had a lot on my plate already (pun intended). Anyways, I was bored one day and decided to browse through the restaurants. I ended up making a reservation for 2 at Hapa Izakaya for Friday, Jan 24th.

There were a few other Hapa Izakayas in Vancouver, but my boyfriend wanted to go to this one because parking in downtown can be stressful and expensive. We arrived, and overheard some customers asking for the approximate wait time without reservation, which was roughly one hour. We told the server my name but she said we didn’t have a reservation. Turns out we failed and accidentally made a reservation for the wrong night!

After hearing that, we were both pretty bummed out as we did not want to wait a hour like the customer before us that asked her. However, much to our surprise, she was really accommodating and asked us if we wanted to walk about the neighbourhood for a bit, and that she’ll give us a call when the next table is ready.

I guess since we actually made a reservation (just on the wrong day), she was willing to help us out which I really appreciate! We waited roughly around 15 minutes. The waitresses themselves were really friendly and answered questions that we had. Our food was delicious, I have no complaints about it and neither does my boyfriend. Here is the dine out menu for Hapa Izakaya Kitsilano: (Bolded are the ones we chose)

First Course 最初のコース (Choice of one)
Sesame cucumbers
Gomaae
Edamame
Kimchi

Second Course 第2クール (Choice of one)
Karaage
Ebi Mayo
Corn Croquette Corn
Popcorn Pork Panko

Third Course 第三のコース (Choice of one)
Spicy Tuna Roll
Dynamite Roll
Fish n’ Chips Roll
Veggie Roll Daily

Fourth Course 第四のコース (Choice of one)
Spicy Pork Ishiyaki Rice
Kinoko Ishiyaki Rice
Chipotle Beef Curry Ishiyaki Rice
Teriyaki Ishiyaki Rice

I would highly recommend trying Hapa Izakaya during Dine Out festival. I honestly have no complaints for this restaurant For what you are served, it is truly a great value as we would probably have spent $20-$30 MORE if we ordered each item during regular season.

Despite this being a generic menu, in the sense that the kitchen probably prepares all the Dine Out dishes ahead of time, they all the dishes tasted really fresh and delicious. The ishiyaki rice is essentially “cooked” in front of you, individually by your server- the rice, meat, veggies, and raw egg are put in a hot stone bowl, but the server is the one who mixes it in front of you and tells you to wait few minutes so that your rice is crispy and egg is thoroughly cooked. Effort is put into each dish and it really shows.

Thank you for reading!

-Carmen