Barbara's Table

Hapa Izakaya

2008-03-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hapa Izakaya
1479 Robson St, Vancouver

New izakaya places are springing up all over this city and most are just a dime a dozen. But when you mention Hapa Izakaya, there is a certain air of reverence that comes along. This is probably one of the best reviewed izakaya places out there and their popularity has led to an new room opening in Kitsilano. Well with such a great reputation, you know that i'd be hitting this place up sooner or later and so with a fellow foodie, we went to check this place out!

There is a back story to my actually going here tho. I had arranged to go with my friend Alan on a Friday night but given that there seems to always be a line up, we decided to go earlier and make a reservation at 6pm (apparently, you can't make resos anytime after that). Well that night, I was running a bit late and I had called Alan to tell him so. He says okay and hangs up but 2 minutes later, he calls back and says that he's actually still at home and fell asleep! He informs me that he had already called the restaurant and made an excuse to say why he was going to be late...HE HHAD GOTTEN INTO A CAR CRASH! Well i guess you either go big or go home! Well it worked cuz when i got to the restaurant, the host said that Alan is the most considerate person ever, calling a restaurant about a reservation after a car accident. I could only smile and nod. Well I was sitting there on my own for a bit and I ended up ordering some food while waiting....

So the food. Well the menu looked typical of a izakaya restaurant. They had the ebi mayo, beef tataki...etc. Maybe it's my dislike for jap food in general but to me, it's all pretty much the same. I mean the food here was decent but I wasn't blown away by it. The one thing that I thought was good was their korean rice dish. Now I don't usually eat rice but this was pretty interesting. It's presented in a stone bowl and they have to mix it before you can eat it. The mixing definatly adds a dimension of interaction to the meal and it was quite tasty. Alan ordered this seafood salad thing at the end and I have to admit it did not agree with me. I'm sure the problem was that I didn't know what was in it and when I took a bit, I must have gotten a piece of raw fish or something cuz I felt like puking rite then and there. I tried to be discreet about it but I had to find some rice and tea stat! That was not a good feeling....

I think the main appeal of Hapa is the room and their servers. The space is very minimlaist with a black on grey palate. They cooks don't really scream random jap words out and even if they did, it wouldn't have the same effect since the room is quite big. Apparently they have an upstairs too where I guess you can have a private party or a more intimate setting. The servers are all girls with long hair and nice bodies. Not your typical Japanese girls but hey wut do I know?

In all, I would say Hapa was good but again, not outstanding. I would come back again but I don't know if it's a "Barbara Recommended" place....i'll get back to you all after round 2.

Nu

2008-02-26T20:35:00.000-08:00

1661 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC

Brunch is probably my favourite meal of the day. Well I guess it's not technically a meal but a blend of the best from both breakfast and lunch. Take the menu of breakfast, add some sassiness to it and serve it until the afternoon...good food without having to wake up super early! How great is that?

I love breakfast food...omlettes, sausages, GRANOLA!!! And there are plenty of places in Vancouver that serves up a pretty wicked brunch. But if you want a fantastic brunch, in a funky room with a SPECTACULAR VIEW to boot, you can't beat Nu Restaurant. Situated on False Creek right across from Granville Island, this place is a sensory overload for ALL your senses!

I went this past Sunday for brunch (I don't usually get to eat brunch on Sundays cuz i'm usually playing badminton) with Richard. I've been here before and was blown away by the food and the view so since it was such a beautiful day (hurray for sun in February!), we wanted to take full advantage of it.

You'd think that a place like this would charge a ridiculous amount for their food but surprisingly, Nu is a pretty good value. This place has won tons of awards, ranging from Best New Restaurant, Best Lounge..among others, so it can charge high. But they have great price points (their dine out menu was only $25!) but don't skimp on quality.

Lets start off with the room. This place is designed to feel like an alcove right on False Creek. With the floor to ceiling windows all around, you get an amazing view from the Burrard Street Bridge to Granville Island and Science World. It has such an amazing vibe to it and if you go on a beautiful day, you get the sunlight shining in while you enjoy your food! How fantastic is that? To make it even better, they feature a jazz singer for Sunday brunch. Jazz and brunch...such a wonderful combination! It really adds to the ambience of the whole experience. The decor of the room is definalty leaning towards the funky/art deco vibe and it works! They have these really cool swingy/bucket chairs with brass plated custom made tables makes you feel like you're in 70's room minus the tackiness. Everything about the decor has been well thought out and it really shows. Their use of the colour aqua also really gives the restaurant a laid back and relaxed vibe.

One of the things I love about Nu for brunch is that they give you an amuse bushe before you start your meal. Free food...gotta love it! They start you off with a tiny glass of "sipping chocolate" and a mini croissant that is as buttery as can be! It's sooooo decadent but it's so good! It really gets you in the "brunch" mood. For our brunch, Richard ordered the eggs benedict (his favourite) and I had the spinich and mushroom omlette (one of my favourites!). I think Richard really enjoyed his eggs benny and my omlette was cooked to perfection! No browning on the surface of the egg. Now that takes skill (and a really good frying pan). We had also ordered a side of pomme frittes but apparently, our meals were served with friens anyways so our waiter gave us an extra side of fries for free! Their fries were home cut but were of the skinny variety and it was YUMM-O! I had to push my plate away to stop eating them!

The service that day was a bit slow and it wasn't even like they were really busy. They had a large party there for brunch but the tables were not all full. I didn't remember the service being that slow last time but if you're not starving and you want to find a place to just sit and relax this is the place to go. Now that I've been here for brunch twice, I think it's about time I came back for dinner....anyone want to join me?

Eggs Benedict at Nu

Spinach and Mushroom Omlette

Enjoying the glorious sunshine!

Where I want to fill my tummy

2008-02-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

Well I always carry this list with me just in case someone decides to surprise me and take me out to dinner *hint hint nudge nudge* but below are the restaurants that I've been wanting to try out (or in some cases) go to again. It's not all fancy schmancy food so if anyone is interesting in trying some places out, let me know!

East is East
Vij's
Rangoli
Cobre
Trafalgers
Carmichael's (at the airport Hilton)
Cru
The William Tell
Tapastree
Bacchus
Habit
Hapa Izakaya
Henry's Kitchen
Connor Butler
Figmint
Le Crocodile
Nu
Stonegrille
Le Marrakech
La Buca
Bishop's
Pied-a-Terre
C Restaurant
Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts
Globe at YVR

Gastropod - DOV

2008-02-06T13:17:00.000-08:00

Gastropod – DOV
1938 W. 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Well if you’ve been keeping up, you know that I did not have a great experience at Gastropod the last time I went. Yes I know this place won tons of awards; yes I know Angus Ang is like the second coming of Rob Feenie; and yes I know Chef Ang and the entire team at Gastropod has been invited to cook at the James Beard House in Manhattan (http://urbandiner.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/from-the-dept-of-press-releases-4/#more-2067), but I just did not like my food last time!

So this time around, I was determined to make the right choices and see if all the talk is just fluff or if something is seriously wrong with my pallet! I went with Richard and another couple on the last night of dine out and was hoping for some great things. As usual, I was pouring over the menu to see what I was going to order. When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised to see that on top of the menu online, they had some additions available (for some extra $$ of course). I stuck to what I had chosen and went with the Gastropod grilled salad, the sous vide/braised pork, and the ice milks. Richard chose to have one of the additions as a starter, scallops with pancetta, the pork and the chocolate sabayon.

Well the food came and this time, I was defiantly eating with a critical eye, no mouth. And I was pleasantly surprised. The salad was just delicious. I love eggplant and they had grilled eggplant with the salad which just made the dish for me. The dressing was very flavorful but not too heavy and oily. So a good start!

The main course was a pork done sous vide style. Well online it said it was a 36 hour pork shoulder sous vide but on the actual menu, it was just a piece of braised pork. Regardless, it’s almost the same cooking method. The dish looked great and I was excited about this but when I cut into the pork, I knew right away that this was not braised or sous vide. They defiantly pan fried or roasted the meat before platting. Braising is suppose to make the meat very tender but this meat was not. It was still good but it was a bit dry and a bit tough. Richard couldn’t even finish his piece but I finished mine alright. The thing is, if it’s not going to be braised, then don’t advertise it as such. Okay maybe they did braise it first and then roasted it but say so! Plus why would you do that anyways? It just completely takes away from the braising process. Regardless, I though the pork was pretty good. The flavours were all there and I could tell it was a good piece of meat. Maybe someone just forgot it in the oven and left it there for too long…

For dessert, I had the ice milks and it was very refreshing. I would normally order something heavier but after eating out 4 nights in the past week, I thought I should be good. The ice milks came in a trio, with pineapple, grape and banana flavour. My favourite was defiantly the banana but they were all good. Basically it was just sorbet but maybe they did add a touch of milk to it. The chocolate sabayon was pretty good too as was the cheesecake (as I was told). But the portions were pretty small :P

In all, it was a pretty good meal. We had a bottle of Joie reisling and that went with the meal perfectly! Was it the best dine out menu? No…that distinction defiantly goes to Lumiere but it wasn’t the worse (that goes to Aurora). It still wasn’t at the level I expected Gastropod to be but I guess at least it’s getting better. I’ll come back again and hopefully by then I will get blown away. You know…maybe it’s all a build up to the ultimate experience. Well I can’t wait until I get to that!

Aurora Bistro - DOV

2008-02-06T12:46:00.001-08:00

Aurora Bistro – DOV
2420 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5T 3E2

The Main has certainly seen a lot of life pump back into it the past few years. With trendy boutiques and cafes popping up from Broadway all the way up to King Edward, people are realizing that this is the place to be. There are a lot of restaurants too and you can defiantly find some great gems hidden beside some dilapidated looking buildings.

Aurora Bistro has been a Main Street mainstay for a few years now and it’s been getting a lot of notice. Named “Best Regional Restaurant” by Vancouver Magazine last year, Aurora prides itself on using local sources for their foods and being as organic as possible. Owner/Chef Jeff Van Geest has also gotten his fair share of accolades and having gone to VCC and working in the kitchen of Bishop’s, this guy is a Vancouverite through and through.

I’ve been to Aurora a few years ago, probably when it first opened, after a foodie friend of mine made the suggestion. I remembered the small but funky room and the great food I had there. So when I headed there this time around, I was expecting nothing less. Well the room is still small and funky but the food was DEFINATLY not there.

Again, I went for dine out and had been studying the menu posted online religiously. I had already known what I was going to order before I even got there! But when I was presented with the menu, I was surprised to see that a few items had changed. “Well things happened” I thought to myself. So I decided to have the butternut squash soup with pumpkin seeds, the cod with puy lentils and the panna cotta. I heard squash soup has been overdone this dine out season but this was my first time having it and it was defiantly not the type of butternut squash soup I was use to. It lacked flavour and I DID NOT like the pumpkin seeds in the soup. . I kept chewing of them, now knowing if I should spit them out or swallow them whole! The presentation was also very lacking with only the pumpkin seeds strewn on top as garnish. It was very disappointing because butternut squash soup is one of my favourite soups ever.

The second course of the cod with lentils did fair much better. While it wasn’t horrible to say the least, again the flavour was just lacking. It tasted like it could use a dash more salt and herbs on it. The lentils were okay but a bit boring when paired with the cod. I liked how the texture of the cod worked with the texture of the lentils but it was just a bit boring because there was no flavour to either of them.

Finally, it was the panna cotta. I just had panna cotta the night before at Parkside and this panna cotta defiantly did not match up to it. While it was good, the texture was much heavier and you can feel the oil from the dairy in your mouth afterwards.

You can tell it has not been an impressive meal when your dinner companion or you choose NOT to talk about the food at all throughout the entire dinner. Yes, this dinner was suppose to be an opportunity to catch up on each other’s lives outside of the restaurant but the food is suppose to add to the already existing conversation, not make it so that you feel like you should talk about everything else except for the food! I was truly disappointed with this dining experience. Maybe it was because it was a dine out menu. But that doesn’t give the chefs a “get out free card” to cook shitty. Regardless of the occasion or price of food, the product the chefs put out should always be made to the highest quality. It will probably be another few years before I return to Aurora.

The Irish Heather

2008-02-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

The Irish Heather
217 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 2J2

We went here a few weeks ago and I can't believe that I forgot to write about this place! The Heather (as it's affectionately know) has been awhile for quite some time now. The sister restaurant to Salt and The Shebeen, the heather is known for their tradiational irish fair. The Heather is more known as a gastropub and just a pub since they do pride itself on their good grub. The menu offers traditional items such as Beef stew (made with Guinness no less!), bangers and mash, and fish and chips. All the food is actually really really good and I can at least vouch for a few items here. Everytime I come here, the food doesn't disappoint. I've had the fish and chips and the batter on that thing is just great! But the best stuff is obviously the more artery clogging choices-meat loaf and beef stew! I mean you just can't go wrong with either of them. Both are hearty meals that will really satisfy!

But the coolest thing about The Heather is the room itself. It's located on Carrall Stree in Gastown and it looks like a dumpy place in need of furnishing. And indeed it will be getting a facelift with March. With the current building in line for seismic upgrades, Sean Heather (the proprietor) has arranged to moved just a few buildings over and will be completely redoing the room to bring it into the 21st century. The best part is that I don't think The Heather will actually be closed during the move. They are working on the new place now so one day the old Heather will be closed and right away, the next day the new one will open! Talk about efficiency! But it's a shame really cuz the old room has alot of character. Yes the walls are drabby and the wood is scratched but that's wut makes it so unique. There are pictures of famous Irish men lining the wall (no Colin Farrell does not count) and other irish memoribilia on display. The best part of the Heather is the solarium out back. While the seats are super uncomfortable, you are sitting in a glass house enjoying your food and drink. Now how nice is that. Definatly do try to get out to this place before they move. But regardless of it being the new room or the old room, the Heather is definatly the place to go to if you want a hearty meal! Sloncia!!! (that's gaelic for cheers! see? i do have some irish in me!)

hm....meatloaf.....

can't wait to dig into the beef stew!

we left happy! :D

Parkside Restaurant - DOV

2008-01-31T15:57:00.001-08:00

Parkside
1906 Haro StreetVancouver, BC

Parkside is apparently one of those restaurant that you just have to try in Vancouver. It’s not as flashy and well known as the Lumiere’s or the Le Crocodile’s but everyone just raves about it. It’s always ranked as one of the top restaurants in Vancouver and given Andrey Durbach’s reputation and track record (he also opened Pied-a- Terre and La Buca), I just had to try this place out.

Parkside is tucked away beneath the Buchan Hotel on Haro Street, just off Denman and, trust me, if you weren’t looking for it, you’d miss it. It’s a tiny little restaurant with a very intimate feel and cozy setting. But while the room is small, the food packs a big punch! I decided to go there for my birthday on Tuesday with Richard…but it was not without some thought. I had originally wanted to go here but then was teetering between Parkside and Trafalgars. I read the menu to Richard and he thought the menu at Trafalgars sounded more interesting. So we changed the reservation and was on our way. But as the day drew near, I began hearing how fantastic Parkside and now I was in full regret mode. But since I gave up the reso, I couldn’t get back in! AHHHHH!!!! Well luckily, on the actually day of my birthday, I finally found an opening at Parkside and I immediately jumped on it! (I guess that miserable snow day was good for something!) Thank goodness cuz going to Parkside was defiantly the right way to go!

While the menu doesn’t sound like much on paper, when you get your first taste of the food, you immediately understand why people rave about this restaurant. The flavours of all the dishes were wonderful! Richard started with the zuppa di pesce, which is basically a bouillabaisse while I had the Onion and cheddar pie with apple purée, York ham and watercress salad. OMG…both were so tasty and perfect! The soup had so much seafood and the chef was really able to pull out all the flavors from the seafood into the broth. The onion and cheddar pie was the best dish of the night! It was full of onions and the pie crust was baked to perfection! For our mains, I went with the filet of cod and Richard and the Duck pot-au-feu. The portions were very ample and my cod was so tasty! The duck was really good too and it was cool how they prepared the duck in several ways, allowing you to get different sensations from the same protein. For dessert, we had the blood orange panna cotta and the chocolate trio. The panna cotta was such a great pallet cleanser and was so smooth in texture. Is it just me or is blood orange becoming a really popular fruit to work with? The chocolate trio was basically a trio of white, milk and dark chocolate ice cream served with a shortbread sandwich with a hazelnut centre! So rich and delicious!

We topped off our dinner with a cocktail and it was just a perfect dinner. And trust me…I needed a good dinner to make up for the shitty, snowing birthday that I had (car stuck on the side of the road…but I digress…)

So glad I was able to end up at this place and I really hope to come back again, and to try Chef Durbach’s other restaurants! Isn’t this what dine out is all about? Find new gems in the cut throat Vancouver restaurant scene? Hm…..good times!

Edit: Here are some pics!

Lumiere - DOV

2008-01-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

Lumiere
2551 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6K 2E9

Ah…this is what you’ve all been waiting for…the crème de la crème of Dine Out Vancouver…LUMIERE! Hahhaha! Well maybe not all of you were as excited about this as I was but let me tell you, I was counting down the days until I was going to critique Dale Mackay’s handiwork and judge for myself if all the crap he’s been getting is unfair or well deserved.

I went to Lumiere on Sunday night with my mommy as a celebratory dinner for my birthday (quarter century…sigh…but lets not dwell on that :P). We got there a bit early and while it was easy enough to find parking on Broadway, they actually have complimentary valet parking now! Hurray for free stuff! The hostess was extremely pleasant and we were seated right away. Now keep in mind that this is the tasting bar, not the main room of Lumiere, since only the tasting bar was providing the Dine Out menu. I’ve never been to the tasting bar and was surprised by how small it actually is. It’s literally a bar on one side and tables lining the wall on the other. It does get pretty cramped in there but if you’re sitting down at your table, you don’t really seem to notice. The room itself only sits about 20 people or so but it’s very comfortable and intimate.

So we got seated at the table right by the door, which really worried me since I get cold really easily but surprisingly, the way the tables and dividers were positioned, I was pretty comfortable. Our server, Amy, was really great. My cup of hot water was never empty throughout the entire dinner and the entire team was very attentive to our needs.

For dinner, my mom ordered the fois gras parfait to start while I had the onion mushroom veloute. The fois gras parfait was AMAZING! Super smooth and just a great silky texture with no hard aftertaste. It’s pretty mild for people who are not familiar with the dish and honestly, I think I prefer this to an actual piece of fois gras. I’ve had fois gras before at Lumiere (back in RF days) and it was horrible! So defiantly one point for Mackay. My veloute was also very delicious and had ample amounts of mushrooms.

Moving on to the main, my mom had the artic char and I went with the pork belly. Again, just superb! The pork belly is (obviously) very fatty and a bit too much for me, but the flavours were all there and just blended perfectly! My mom said it’s like Chinese “siu yok” and it was…but classier! The char was delicious too and given that my mom doesn’t actually eat red meat fish and she still enjoyed it, I think it’s a good sign.

For dessert, we both went with the apple millefeuille and wow! This is probably the best dessert I’ve had so far. The pastry wasn’t as light as a typical millefeuille but it really worked (and plus I like more buttery pastries) and hazelnut crème in the centre was sooo good!

The only grip I had about Lumiere is that the point of Dine Out Vancouver is to showcase VQA wines but Lumiere didn’t do that. They didn’t have any wine parings and their wine list featured mainly non-BC wines. Both my mom and I ended up ordering German wines with our meals (which, according to their sommelier, was the perfect wine to pair with our dishes-especially mine!). It didn’t really matter to us about the BC wines but it was just something I noticed.

In all, Lumiere was a great success! The food was delicious, the service was attentive and the presentation of everything was just beautiful. Their dine out has actually been extended to February 13th so if you can get in, I highly recommend it. I really think Dale Mackay will come into his own in this kitchen and garner the recognition he deserves. I mean he worked his way up in Gordon Ramsey’s kitchen from dishwasher to sous chef! The guy just got a bad rep from the whole Feenie fiasco…poor guy. But it’s not about the drama or the temper tantrums. Ultimately, it’s about the food and Lumiere’s menu defiantly sings its praises! Hallelujah!

Funny Random Stuff

2008-01-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

I found this on UrbanDiner.ca and it just made me laugh and laugh and laugh! OMG...ppl are sometimes just so ridiculous!

Dine Out Vancouver quote of the day in the forum:

“Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation for tonight”
“Ok, what time is it for?”
“7:00″
“But it’s 7:35.”
“I know. We were running late.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve canceled the reservation already.”
“I know, I just got a no-show email from Open Table.”
“Oh. We mark the reservation as a no-show after 30 minutes.”
“But I’m calling you now to cancel the reservation.”
“Now?”
“Yes now. Why did you no-show me?”
“Because you didn’t show up for your reservation and didn’t call to let us know you’d be canceling.”
“But I am calling you to cancel the reservation.”
“Now?”
“Yes Now.”
“After you got the no-show email from Open Table?”
“Yes! It really effects my status if it says I don’t show up for a reservation.”
“But you didn’t show up for your reservation.”
“But I’m calling you to cancel my reservation!”
“Now?”
“Yes Now?”
“After you got the no-show email from OpenTable?”
“Yes I’m canceling.”

Absolutely brilliant!

La Vallee

2008-01-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

La Vallee
1379 Howe Street
2nd Floor Executive Hotel
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2R5
(604) 696-6980

Yes…this place has seriously turned into my second kitchen. And I SWEAR it’s not only the fact that my bf works there and one of my best friends in the server! Okay maybe a bit…but La Vallee is really a wonderful restaurant. I mean if it wasn’t, would I have taken my ENTIRE family there for dinner the other night????

Well I do eat here a lot so I can really say I know what their food quality is like. Usually, I like to eat off the menu (basically getting Richard to grill me some vegetables) but once in a while, especially during dine out, I get to eat their main courses and the food at this place is just as good as any other place in Vancouver! My favourite/staple item is defiantly their lentil soup. It’s hearty, yummy and DELICIOUS! They add a bit of bacon into the mix and it really adds some great flavour to it.

Okay so many of you maybe wondering about their dine out menu. Well I can safely say that every item on it is great! How do I know? Well I took my entire family there on the first day of dine out…all 8 of us. And we had a sampling of everything they offered and the consensus was that everything tasted great! The appies included a crab bisque and a mushroom ravioli. I had the bisque and it was sensational. I tad on the salty side but no one else had that complaint so maybe it’s just me. The people who had the ravioli really liked it too so the appies are a hit!

Their signature dish is their braised short ribs, courtesy of Greg Short, a celebrity chef from the Masa Grill in San Francisco. This is one of the items on their dineout menu and it is defiantly not to be missed. The meat basically falls off the bone and the sauce is just divine! It’s served with a mashed potato, which I think has some sort of secret ingredient to it cuz my aunt just LOVED it! The game hen was also very very delicious. The meat was tender and the honey balsamic sauce that comes with it is just to die for! The coolest thing was that there was a piece of bak choy served as part of their vegetable medley! Hahhaha! Gotta love the bak choy! I never had the salmon but my step dad had it and he the taste was great. He even liked it more than the salmon he had at Seasons in the Park the day before!

As for dessert, there was a choice between poach pear and the cheese plate. The pear was delicious and a great way to end the meal. But since my whole family came and it was my cousin and my mom’s birthday, they gave us one of their molton chocolate cakes too! A few of use had the wine parings for each course and I had the dessert wine paring and that was just the yummiest wine ever!

For $25, this is a steal! Not only are you getting a great dinner but the restaurant itself is just comfy and beautiful and just makes you want to linger over a glass of wine. The feel of the restaurant is suppose to reflect Napa Valley and I think they really did a good job of it. The servers are all pretty new so sometimes, they may miss a step or two but what they lack in experience, they more than make up for it in personality and attitude. Okay so I know you all may think I’m just being biased to this place and maybe I am. But I know good food and this place does serve great food! Go check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Oh and to make it even more enticing, they provide free valet parking for restaurant guests! Free parking in downtown! It’s totally worth giving it a shot!

Kingyo Izakaya

2008-01-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

Kingyo Izakaya
871 Denman St.,West End
604-608-1677

There seriously are more izakaya restaurants in Vancouver than what we know to do with them. Most of the dishes are pretty standard and similar and rarely do you find a place that makes an impression. They all have their ebi mayo and smoked cod so does it really matter which one you walk into for dinner?

Well Kingyo was supposed to be different. Rated the best casual Japanese restaurant in Vancouver by Vancouver Magazine last year, this relative newcomer to the scene was hailed for its focus and finesse. There defiantly has been a lot of buzz about the place and so I finally went and tried it for myself.

I was told that I should go early to make sure I don’t have to wait that long. Luckily, my date and I got there at about 6:30 on a Saturday night and was seated within 5 minutes at their large common table in the middle of the restaurant. Asian countries tend to have large tables where strangers just have to share, get along and eat. It’s a great idea and I think it’s part of the appeal, especially at a restaurant like Kingyo. The décor is really spectacular…well okay that’s probably the wrong word…more like Zen-inspired for sure. But there is a wonderful Japanese, tranquil quality to the space. From the slate coloured floors, to the traditional tiled roof on the sushi bard and the real bamboos in the centre of the common table, the place just makes you want to chill out and have some sake.

Having forsaken the sake and going straight for the tea menu, we quickly looked over what Kingyo has to offer in terms of sustenance. And quite honestly, nothing REALLY stood out. There were the staples of cod, ebi may, beef tataki and such. Maybe we just were adventurous enough that night. I saw the people beside me enjoying some sort of hot pot concoction, which looked interesting, but our palettes said to stay within the norm. So we ordered the smoked cod, beef tataki, ebi mayo, chicken karage and a few other items (can’t remember so must not have been too memorable). The food tasted good but nothing spectacular. They do put their own little twist on things tho. For example, the chicken karage was served with 3 different kinds of salt that you can dip you chicken in. But I kinda judge izakaya places by their ebi mayo and I’ve had better (Shiru-Bay is still the best by far!). The service was just really really good tho! Our waiter was really attentive and always just a glance away. Water was always in our cups and like any Japanese restaurant, the staff was screaming at anyone who walked in or out of the restaurant.

The cool thing at Kingyo was that when you paid, they have you a few skewers of frozen grapes! Very refreshing and very yummy. Defiantly a nice palate cleanser at the end of the meal. All in all, a great place for you to feel like you are in the Japanese country side. But if I’m not willing to travel to the actual countryside for the food, dunno if I’m willing to trek down to Denman for Kingyo.

smoked cod...my fav at any izakaya!

The bamboo really gives the room a nice feel

Boneta

2008-01-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

Boneta
1 Cordova Street West

The tagline here is “Boneta Loves You. Xoxoxo” Well I certainly felt the love when I went there this past Friday with one of my girlfriends. This place is really just a gem in the Vancouver restaurant scene! With some much heart and soul that went into opening this place up, it’s hard not to love everything about Boneta.

If you don’t already know the back story, Boneta was opened by Mark Brand (former Vancouver Magazine’s Bartender of the Year, ex. Chambar), Andre McGillivray (ex. Chambar, Lumiere, Le Crocodille, Chill Winston) and Neil Ingram (ex. Lumiere, La Buca). Named after Mark Brand’s mother, Boneta was opened with a budget of $89,000, which in the restaurant industry, is peanuts…or less than peanuts – won’t even get you the pack of nuts on an airplane. But with a lot of help from friend in and out of the industry, and plenty of love, heart and soul, this amazing room opened and it’s been non-stop ever since.

The room itself is really nice. After stripping away all the old crap, the guys uncovered some great hardwood flooring and gorgeous brick walls. Add to that a large array or mirrors from the ceiling, some contemporary art pieces and a menu that is directly projected onto the wall above the kitchen, Boneta is defiantly a funky place that makes you just want to sit and stare for awhile.

The menu at Beneta is constantly changing. They often tweak their food during the week and a new menu is brought out every week to keep things fresh and as far from boring as possible. Here’s the good news of the night-the flavours were awesome! Everything just came together perfectly and presentation was great. The bad news of the night-I had ordered duck breast and apparently, they like to cook their duck to medium rare. Now I don’t know about you but when it comes to birds, I liked mine cooked…well. I guess duck is much safer than chicken but still. I just couldn’t finish the center part of the meat. I mean everything else was great and I polished off my plate but the duck was too rare for me. As for my dinner companion who had ordered fish, her fish was a bit overcooked while the bed of beans it was resting on was undercooked. Again, the flavours were great but the temperatures of both our proteins were just not to our liking.

We both really did enjoy our meal and didn’t want to cause trouble but when Mark came to clear our dishes, we both shyly mentioned the problem. Now here is what makes Boneta so great. Mark was super accommodating and asked if we wanted the kitchen to cook us something else. Seeing that we both had nearly finished our plates, we were not looking for a free ride here and so we declined. We felt bad enough telling him but we figured a new restaurant would welcome that kinda input, you know, to learn from it. We told him how much we enjoyed the meal regardless of the misgivings and we just wanted to let the kitchen know. Afterwards, our waitress came up and told us Mark insisted on giving us free dessert. We didn’t even want dessert and was actually going to Salt for some after dinner drinks. However, we stayed for dessert and in the end, ordered one of Mark’s awesome cocktails. Now this is the guy who won the Bartender of the Year award and it certainly showed in his creations. Both our cocktails were just sensational and really original (well at least in my opinion.) So even tho we had some trouble with our food, we ended up staying and spent more than what we were planning on spending.

Boneta is a really great place and I totally plan on coming back. The people are really what makes this place special and I hope they do spectacularly and that they get to open up a few more joints like this! Like they say: Boneta Loves You…xoxoxo

ps. check out this video of a profile on the guys and the restaurant...seriously funny! How can you not love these guys after this???

http://www.cbc.ca/livingvancouver/?page=segment&sid=5913

Dine-out Alert! extended dates!

2008-01-08T11:23:00.000-08:00

Dine out ALERT!

C, Raincity and Nu are extending their dine-out dates from Jan11 - Feb12!!!!!!!!!! Yay! more time to eat! Plus they're offering a 100 mile menu! So now you can get full and feel good about it! Read more below.

From UrbanDiner.ca

100 MILES WITHIN ONE MILE
Vancouver, BC… Vancouver eagerly awaits the start of Dine Out Vancouver, scheduled from January 19 – February 3, 2008. This year Harry Kambolis and his three restaurants, Raincity Grill, C Restaurant and NU Restaurant & Lounge are offering a very special Dine Out opportunity; 100 Mile Menus at all three venues. Based on the success of Vancouver’s original 100 Mile Menu at Raincity Grill, Kambolis and his team of chefs, led by Robert Clark, have teamed up to present Vancouver with the best of our backyard – Dine Out Vancouver style. Running this popular Vancouver dining event for extra days, Kambolis starts his Dine Out January 11th through until February 12th. And putting local dollars to work, a percentage of sales from C Restaurant will be donated to Growing Chefs! Chefs for Children’s Urban Agriculture, a non-profit organization founded by former C Restaurant pastry Chef Merri Schwartz in 2005, teaching children in grades 1 to 4 about the wonderful ways in which food gets from seed to soil to table.
The 100 Mile Menu began at Raincity Grill in January of 2006 and to mark that date Raincity will celebrate Two Years of 100 Miles this winter. Chef de Cuisine Peter Robertson creates a menu working with local products such as Pitt Meadows Lamb, Gulf Island Shellfish and Agassiz hazelnuts. Looking toward the spring Robertson is eagerly anticipating the arrival of Asparagus, local citrus fruit and even 100 Mile flour. Raincity Grill has dedicated its history to promoting Farm to Table fine dining.

Raincity is located at 1193 Denman Street, Vancouver, BC. For reservations please call 604-685-7337 or visit the website at www.raincitygrill.com.

C is located at 1600 Howe Street, one block south of Beach Avenue on False Creek. For reservations please call 604-681-1164 or visit www.crestaurant.com.

NU is located at 1661 Granville Street, under the Granville street Bridge at False Creek, NU opened for regular business September 2, 2005. Reservations can be made by calling 604-646-4668 or visit the website at www.whatisnu.com.

Media Contact:Alexander Ink Public RelationsT. 604-331-0907 / E. info@alexanderink.com

Dine-Out Vancouver

2008-01-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

HERE IS IS!!! THE EVENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! Can you tell i'm excited? Dine out is finally here! running from January 16th to February 3rd, there are over 180 restaurants participating this year to satisfy your taste-buds.
For those of you who are unfamiliary, Dine out Vancouver offers diners prix fix menus at some of the most popular restaurants in the city. You can chose to have a 3 course menu at $15, $25 or $35 and it's a great excuse to get all your friends together to enjoy a good meal.
i'm sure alot of you already have your reservations taken care of...you know I sure have! On the day the menus were released, I was patiently waiting for the Tourism Vancouver website to get back online so I can scour the best possible menu. (Their website always crashes due to the volume of foodies out there wanting a glimps to see who has the best offerings.) And at the same time, I was on OpenTable.com making sure I get the resos I wanted. And my hard work paid off! I have reservations at La Vallee, Gastropod, Auroras, Elixir, Parkside and...the ultimate prize....LUMIERE'S!!! I heard Lumier's was booked all booked up on the first day of the menus being released! Well when it usually costs over $100 per person to eat there, everyone's gonna want in on a good deal. Plus i'm curious as to how Dale Mackay is holding up there. Rumour has it that both Feenie's and Lumier has been suffering from a lack on interest lately (read: empty as a can of beer at a frat house!) so hopefully, Dine out will boost them back up a bit. I'm sure you all know about Mr. Feenie's au revoir to his namesake so i won't dwell on it here....
Back to Dine out! I actually have a few other places that I'd love to check out but honestly, I don't think eating out every day for those 19 days will be good on my wallet or my waistline. But I do have a few extra reservations if anyone is interested. I have extras at Aurora's and Gastropod so if anyone wants to try them out, let me know!
Aside from the ones that i've already booked, I really also want to check out Nu and Trafalgers. There are only $25 menus so they are good eating at a great price!
Well boys and girls, I hope you have as good of a time during Dine out as I will be! I'll be sure to let you all know how mine goes but please leave some feedback on your Dine-out experiences! Just leave a note under this posting!
For those of you who want to look at the restaurant menus, here is the official Dine-Out Vancouver website:
http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/dining/dineout.php

HAPPY EATING!!!

New Years Resolution

2008-01-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

Wow…this is seriously embarrassing. I have no excuse except that I am a lazy ass! I’ve been totally MIA for the past couple of weeks. Blame it on the holidays, the turkey and all the good food out there! I’m so sorry. I totally started out this project all gung-ho about it and wanting to keep it up. But my laziness got the best of me! But no more! I’m back! And I’ve been eating ;)

I don’t have the endurance to write a full-on review of all the restaurants that I’ve been to in the past while but I’ll just write a short blurb of the notables…cuz honestly, I don’t think I can remember all the places I’ve been lately! But as a new years resolution, I RESOLVE TO KEEP THIS BLOG UPDATED AS BEST I CAN!

Joe Fortes:
I think just about everyone knows about Joe Fortes in Vancouver. It’s been around for as long as I can remember. And there’s a reason that it’s been able to stay afloat in the cutthroat Vancouver scene-it’s really damn good! The selection of seafood is wide-ranging, wish a large selction of fresh fish on the menu. They also have a large oyster bar right in the center of the restaurant with a guy manning the station full time. For the blood-hungry carnivores out there, Joe’s also has some great cuts of meat on the menu. Surf and turf anyone?
The service here is also fantastic. The waiters are all very attentive and they just make you feel like a million bucks. No overly perky, in your face servers…just someone who knows to refill your drinks, put in a few nice words and makes sure you’re happy. And believe me…we were! Defiantly going back for more!

Mauyra:
I’ve been to Mauyra a long time ago when they first open. They were featured on the food network on an episode of opening soon and when you see a restaurant on the food network, you wanna go! I remembered having a great experience there with the most attentive service ever and so I was ready to head back for more.
I love Indian food and Mauyra was good. I mean it’s not a spectacular culinary experience but it was good. It’s the typical Indian food-butter chicken, dahl…etc. But the setting is defiantly very nice. High ceilings and gold detailing defiantly makes you feel like you’re in someplace important. However, our server was defiantly not on her game that night. I mean the service was fine but it was just like any old service. And she even got one of our orders wrong too! She asked if we’d like rice or naan with our meals (which, by the way, you had to pay extra for) and we said sure…naan would be good. And she brings out rice instead! The communication was defiantly a bit messy. But other than that, Mauyra is a nice place. I think it’ll be better in the summer when they open the patio and more light gets into the room. If you’re looking for a run-of-the-mill Indian place, Mauyra will defiantly suffice.

Nan-Chu:
Japanese izakayas are all over the place in this city but Nan-Chu in Richmond had defiantly been getting a lot of good buzz. I’ve been there a few times now and I would have to say the buzz is a bit perplexing to me. I mean yeah the food is good but it’s not anything out of the ordinary. They do have quite a wide selection to choose from and the prices are hard to beat but when it comes to creativity and taste, I think they’re just average.

Provence Mediterranean Grill:
This is the older sister to Provence Marinaside down in Yaletown and they both just ooze that French bistro charm. I went the Provence for brunch with a friend of mine and was waiting to be blown away. Provence has, arguably, one of the best brunches in the city and their French toast is supposedly quite legendary. However, given my own desire to be more health conscious, I skipped on the French toast and went with the granola. I know…it’s hard to give a review on a restaurant based on granola and I don’t pretend to be able to. But the atmosphere of the place is defiantly worth going for. My friend had a veggie omelet and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. My oatmeal with quite yummy but at $9 a pop, I think I was kinda taken for a ride. Damn me and my stupid health conscious kick!!!

Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar:
This is probably the most recognized place in Yaletown. Smack dab in the center of it all, Glowbal is the place to see and be seen. You may think that a place like this will just try to squeeze every last penny out of you in quest to be “hip” and “cool” but au contrair! They have a very reasonably price brunch that will keep your stomach and your wallets full. The best part of the meal tho was defiantly the fresh banana bread they give you, along with 3 kinds of spead. So yummy! It’s almost as good as the banana bread I bake!

American Grill at the Marriott Airport Hotel:
This is a place that we sometimes go if we feel like a decent western meal in Richmond. Located at the Marriott hotel on Westminster and Minoru, this place probably gets passed by a lot. But it’s defiantly worth checking out. The dining room is spacious and comfortable and an open kitchen allows you to keep on eye on all the action. The dinner is very good and very reasonably priced while the lunch is also very satisfying. Too bad it’s in a city where people get blindsided by the Asian-ness of it all. But if you want to find a nice quiet retreat from all the chow mien and fried rice, this is defiantly worth checking out.

Mortons Steakhouse:
Mortons is legendary of their steaks. This pricey chain has restaurants all over the world and I’m sure steak lovers everywhere has been to Morton’s. But I never really understood why steakhouses can be so expensive! I mean $50 for a piece of meat????? It’s just meat! And at Morton’s they literally just give you the meat and nothing else. If you want sides, you gotta pay extra. But even if you just want sauce, you gotta pay extra for that too!!! But their service is impeccable. You don’t get a menu perse. The wait staff works as a team and the head waiter will come by your table with a cart of basically the entire menu on a cart. They carefully show you every cut of meat they have (think an entire cow on a table), show you all the other types of food (the salmon and tuna are huge!), explain all the appies and sides and list off everything they have available from memory!! Say that fast 3 times! But before you think you have to have a memory of an elephant to order, they hand you a hard copy of the menu for you to pour over.
Now on to the food. Fine, their steaks are good….really really good…I’m talking tender, succulent pieces of meat. But still. Richard ordered a piece of medium rare porter house (a small portion…at 16oz!) and it was a bit undercooked, while I ordered crab cakes as a main. The crab cakes were crazy! They were literally CRAB cakes! No fillers or anything, just honkin’ chunks of crab. It was pretty good….that is until you hit your 3rd piece and by then, the crab had just gotten to be too much for me. We both weren’t able to finish our dishes but in our defense, we had ordered 2 sides of veggies. But alas, a meal at Morton’s would not be complete without dessert…specifically, the legendary Mortons chocolate lava cake. OMG! This dessert almost made the entire meal worthwhile. It’s a chocolate cake made with Godiva chocolate and it’s crispy on the outside but completely runny and gooey on the inside! Just perfect!
Verdict: maybe skip the pricey cow and go for the dessert.

La Terrazza

2007-11-07T13:12:00.001-08:00

La Terrazza
1088 Cambie Street, Vancouver

You know that place on the corner…right on Pacific and Howe…you know, it’s like right on the edge of Yaletown…yeah you know the one. Well I’ve always seen this place as I make my way onto the Cambie Street Bridge but for some reason, I’ve never been. Maybe I thought the location was bad. Maybe I though it kinda looked gaudy. Nevertheless, it never struck me as a place I’d want to go and to be honest, I’ve never heard much about it. But that began to change recently when I started hearing people talk about this restaurant – a traditional Italian restaurant that isn’t just a pasta bar. The food was supposed to be sensational and the wine list was one of the most comprehensive. I began to grow curious. I mean this place has been in Vancouver for quite awhile now so it must be doing something right. Well luckily, I had the opportunity to go there this week and see for myself what the little rumblings were about.

I went to La Terrazza for a special function, which meant we had a set menu and had a choice for our main course and dessert. Because we have a relatively large group (35ish people) we were seated in one of their 2 private dining rooms. The restaurant is quite stunning, once you step inside. Right when you walk through the doors, you enter into their lounge area with a full service bar. I found it kind of weird that people were actually having dinner in the lounge even though the dining room wasn’t full at all. But I guess that was their choice. Walk around the bar and you can see the dining room, which was beautifully decorated with Italian paintings on the walls and red wood chairs and tables lined with white linen. I headed into our private room, up 2 steps and through a stoned archway and was pleasantly surprised. The room has wines stacked up in shelves on the far wall and was spacious enough to fit at least 6 or 7 tables.

We all mingled with each other and the servers were all very attentive, pouring wine and making sure everyone was comfortable. Before we were told to settle in, 2 plates of appetizers were placed at each table with an assortment of the restaurant’s favorite appies for us to try. But even before we got to dig into that dish of food, our head waiter gave his spheal about our meal that evening. He told us what was on the appetizer plate (there was so much stuff on there but I do remember the duck sausage, the mushrooms, the ratatouille and the tomato and bocconcini…at delicious!), what our choices were for the main and the choices for dessert. As he was reading out our choices, you can hear everyone whispering and discussing what they should get. It was all very exciting and I think they do this simply to stir us up a bit for the food. For my main, I decided on the beef tenderloin and for dessert, I went with their special marscapone cheesecake wrapped in phyllo.

After chowing down on the appies, the servers brought around round 2 of our 5 course meal. We had a mushroom ravioli (they had a fancier name but it was basically ravioli) in a mushroom reduction sauce. Now you know I don’t eat pasta but being in that restaurants just made me throw my diet to the wind and I ate the ravioli. It was good but honestly, I think they can do with more stuffing inside the pasta. I personally found the pasta a bit thick and the filling thin. I mean it was good but probably wasn’t good enuf for me to actually eat pasta. Oh well…

Our next course was just a green salad, which wasn’t anything too special. But then it came. For our main course. I had the beef while my mom went with the duck. Oh boy was I ever happy with this piece of meat! It was made to perfection! I had ordered my steak medium rare and it was cooked exactly to medium rare. The gentleman sitting beside me got his medium well and again, he was so impressed that they actually made it exactly to medium well. The steak was juicy and tender and just plain gorgeous. They duck was really good too and my mom was happy with it. I thought it was good but I was defiantly happy that I ordered the tenderloin!

We all had a latte or cappuccino before our dessert and I was getting kinda full at this point. The portions weren’t huge so it wasn’t like I was stuffed but I guess I didn’t need to eat dessert. But then the dessert came and, again, I threw my diet out the window. This dessert was just heaven! It was a warm piece of cheesecake wrapped in phyllo pastry and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything like it. This dessert is defiantly something you should all try!

The service at this place is top notch and the waiters were all just so nice. They were always there filling our glass with wine and making sure we were okay. They knew how to serve and were very professional. On a side note, the white wine they served that night was a Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris and I think I just found another wine that I can actually enjoy! Very very yummy!

Well I’m sure glad I got to go there and I’ll defiantly be going back again. I guess this is just another lesson not to judge a book by it’s cover, or in this case, it’s frontage on Cambie Street. The little rumblings about this place were all true and hopefully, the rumblings will turn into an earthquake and more people will start checking this place out!

Queen's Cafe

2007-10-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Queen’s Café
6091 No. 3 Road, Richmond

Richmond is a mecca for Asian food. Is it really a wonder though? With the huge Asian immigrants, the market (as well as the appetite) is defiantly there. But what is one to do when they are stuck out in the ‘burbs and feeling for some nice downtown style dining?

Queen’s Café is the answer. A contemporary westcoast style restaurant located right in the heart of Richmond, Queen’s is a nice change from all the rice and noodles you get in the area! Suffering from a bad location (right on No. 3 Road beside the Moores clothing store) and a non-descript awning in the front, Queen’s is one of those places you can be easily missed. But defiantly keep your eye open for this place and check it out because it’s well worth it. The space is quite lovely and calm, with clean linens, warm colours and soft music (my mother thought the lights could be dimmer to create an ambience) and the service was attentive. They really made us feel welcome. Yes it could be because of the fact that it was a quite night (we were the only customers until the end of the night when another table came in) but nonetheless, our waiter was great and very pleasant.

The food is solid, thanks to executive chef Brian Leung and the prices are jaw-dropping to say the least. I went there with my mom last week and we both ordered the 4 course meal for $29.99! That’s like the price of an appie at most fine dining places downtown! I started with the lobster bisque and crab cakes while mom has the corn chowder and the shrimp. The soup was a bit on the salty side but still delicious and both the crab cakes and shrimp was heaven! We both ordered the rack of lamb which was done to perfection! She ordered medium well while I got it done medium rare and it was great when we actually got it cooked the way we ordered it! You know how sometimes you say rare and someone else says well and they look just about the same? Yeah…not cool. And the plating and presentation was done with such attention to detail that it almost seemed like a shame to eat the food on the plate. We both ordered the crème brulee for dessert and that again was just fantastic.

In all, Queen’s is defiantly one worth checking out! And go support the non-Asian restaurants in Richmond! They are a dying breed in the area and we want to promote diversity right????

On a side note, if you don’t think you can handle a 4 course meal, well then you are just weak! But you can also chose from a 3 course menu that is only $19.99. Trust me, the 4 course meal fills you up so bring an appetite!

Shiru Bay Update!!

2007-10-19T13:53:00.001-07:00

Went there again last nite with Viv and Eddy! Yumm-O! Check out the post about Shiru Bay from last week for the update!

Coast Restaurant

2007-10-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

Coast Restaurant
1257 Hamilton StreetVancouver, BC V6B5P9

So I’ve been going on and on about the Taste of Yaletown but have I actually been??? Well now the answer is yes! For my first foray in to the Taste of Yaletown menus, I went to Coast and in all, it was a pretty good experience.
To be honest, I was going to go to Goldfish with 5 of my friends for dinner. The plan was for us to go the Yaletown, looking all pretty and stuff, and dine out at a nice restaurant. However, after looking at the set menus offered, the menu at Goldfish just wasn’t up to snuff. So in a mad rush to find a place that can accommodate 6 of us at the last minute, Coast was chosen. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like this was a “oh-shit-i-can’t-find-anything-better” type of deal. The menu offered for the taste of yaletown was sounded pretty good so we decided to give this place a go!
I did my reso online on OpenTable.com (you all should know how much of a fan I am of this site!) and the day before the reso, the restaurant called to confirm the booking. They told me that I need to be on time since the only hold tables for 15 minutes. It’s always a nice touch for a restaurant to call you to remind you of your booking and I thought the 15 minutes thing was fair. However, on the day of the booking, I was running super late and I was just scrambling to get another one of my friends there on time. Luckily, my non-tardy friends made it but when I got there, they informed me that the server told them that the table was booked for a party after us and that we were on a time limit. Now, Coast is a popular restaurnt but when I got there, it wasn’t like the place was packed! Fine, whatever! We knew what we wanted or order anyways and we got right to it. All of us got the set menu and the funny thing was while we all go the crab and halibut cake for an appie (you don’t make friends with salad!) the boys went with the surf and turf while the girls went with the baja scallops. The boys definatly got the better deal on that one. The surf and turf was quite delicious, with a 5-6 ounce piece of bacon wrapped beef tenderloin and 3 pieces of shrimp. The scallops was kinda disappointing, given that we basically got 5 small pieces of scallops on a bed of risotto. I wouldn’t even call that a scallop dish! It was more a risotto dish with scallops…but I’m not the chef there so whatever! The risotto was also a bit overdone but that’s understandable since they would probably make it in huge batches for the tasting menu. As for desert, instead of giving us 3 choices, the server told us that we’d actually be getting both the chocolate fondue and the german chocolate cake but in smaller sizes! Yay! Less decisions and more food. I quite enjoyed the desert but I did hear some people say that the cake was too sweet. I’m also pretty sure the fondue was made with milk chocolate so that added to the sweet factor.
All in all, Coast is a nice place and we had a good experience. Was it sensational? Not really. And to top it all off, remember how they said we were on a time limit? Well at the end of the meal, they didn’t even ask us to leave, which makes me wonder if they did have a second booking or if they were just trying to clear us out of there quick. Hm…….

Shiru-Bay Chopstick Cafe

2007-10-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

Shiru-Bay Chopstick Cafe
1193 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 5P1
http://www.shiru-bay.com/

When most Vancouverites think of Yaletown, it’s usually one of 2 reactions: “Oh Gawd! Love Yaletown! It’s like so chic and it’s where all the hot and beautiful people hang out now, like, you know!” or “You can cut the pretentiousness with a knife…excuse me Mr. Ferrari, are you trying to advertise you’re going through a mid-life crisis???” But whatever the reaction, you can’t deny that Yaletown boasts some good eating! But the choice of restaurants down there also seems to cater to either crowd 1 or crowd 2. Well fear not! Finally there is a restaurant in Yaletown that will make you feel special without all the Paris Hilton wannabes hanging around.
With the recent growth spurt of izakaya places all over Vancouver, one might overlook this joint. But with an awesome reputation (they have won Best Casual Japanese Dining Silver for the past 2 years in Vancouver Magazine) and amazing food, Shiru-Bay Chopstick Cafe is defiantly a “must eat!” Shiru-Bay is actually part of a chain of restaurants owned by the Uno family back in Japan. This Yaletown location is the first Shiru-Bay outside of Japan and is run by Kodai Uno, the youngest chef in the family. Now I’m sure you all know wut izakaya is about and have been to a few izakaya restaurants. They all have their own take on how izakaya should be done since there really isn’t any formula to it-it’s basically what the chef creates. The really great thing about Shiru-Bay is that while it’s still traditional izakaya, there are defiantly some western influences on the food. Aside from the regular smoked fish and sashimi, there are also crab croquettes and ceviche on the menu. I heard some great things about this place from my friend Peter so I just had to give it a try.
I went there last Thursdaywith Martine and was ready for a great izakaya experience. The restaurant itself looks like any other Japanese restaurant, with wooden furniture and beams, a sashimi bar and dark lighting. We were seating by our super friendly server, who was actually the only non-Japanese person working there. She was east Indian but I’m sure she speaks fluent Japanese and/or studies Japanese history or something! She did sorta stand out but her great attitude more than made up for it. Martine and I didn’t really know what to order or how to even start and our server was really helpful in pointing out our options. They had two set menu available but in the end, we decided to do a la carte.
We ordered about 4 dishes between the 2 of us and we were just stuffed! We had the smoked halibut, which was juicy and delicious and we tried their “famous ebi-chilli mayo” which was a cool take on the traditional tempura. We also had the crab croquette and salmon sashimi. Everything was just delicious...except for the sashimi. Now you all know I don’t eat raw fish but the server insisted that I should try it here because they only use the best. Well I decided to try it and now I can confirm that I don’t like raw fish AT ALL! This is nothing against Shiru-Bay’s sashimi!!! Martine liked it and said it was good but I felt like puking after eating it! *sigh….well I gave it a shot!
Anyways, we were so stuffed after our meal that we actually had to cancel one of our orders! But that didn’t stop us from ordering desert! The deserts here are actually very very good…and when I say very very good, I mean orgasmic! We each ordered 1 desert (screw sharing!) and I ordered the Match cheesecake while Martine got the banana macchiato. They were both sublime! MmmMmmm! But while we were eating our desert, we noticed 2 ladies at the bar eating some sort of gooey grey concoction. There server was literally standing there for 5 minutes mixing the thing. We asked our server what it was they were eating and apparently, it was natto ice-cream. For those of you who don’t know, natto is the Japanese fermented beans. Sounds gross eh? But apparently, it’s mixed with vanilla ice cream and syrup and it’s quite yummy! Very interesting and defiantly worth trying out next time!
So if you’re in the neighborhood and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg in Yaletown for dinner, this is defiantly the place to go! I’m defiantly going back soon so if anyone wants to join me, let me know! But you better be ready for some natto ice-cream! ;)

UPDATE!!!

Well I just went again tonite and tried the natto ice-cream. It was soooo good!!!!!!!!! Don't let the whole "fermented beans" thing scare you off! I'm definately a fan and it's worth a try! The icecream just gets gooey-er and yummier!!! Try it!!! Thanks to Viv and Eddy for coming with me!

As for the food...again top notch! Had the ebi prawns and the smoked cod again but this time, we also go the beef tongue and the shabu shabu. hmmmMMMmmMMMMmm....very good! But the service this time was kinda weird. The servers kept trying to collect our plates even when there was food on the plates! Hello!!! We paid for the food and we want to eat it! but aside from that, it's was just perfection!!!!!! This might be one of my fav restaurants in Vancouver!! But stay tuned! I'm gonna keep my taste buds guessing and asking for more! so who wants to take me out to dinner???? :D

Metro Dining

2007-10-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

Metro Restaurant
2A-200 Burrard StreetVancouver, BC, Canada

You know when we go out to eat, we always want to try everything. And if you’re Chinese, you have absolutely no shame in reaching over and just picking something off your dinner companion’s plate! Hey…sharing is caring right? But at Metro, they make it easy for you. You get to chose how much of each portion you want of each dish and therefore, you can order as many different dishes as your hearts desire!
Metro is brought to you by Brian Fowke and Tim Keller, the same guys who brought Rare onto the scene. The whole concept of Metro is decidedly more Westcoast-from the minimalist and clean décor to the type of food they serve. On their website, they talk about how Metro is all about sustainability and ecology and what steps the restaurant is taking to be environmentally friendly. But these aren’t a bunch of tree huggers..nonono…Metro is also all about being upscale, sophisticated and classy. I guess if you think about it, Metro does embody what Vancouver stands for: classy, sophisticated, a bit snooty, granola munchers! :D And that’s not a bad thing people!
So I went to Metro with my new-to-Vancouver friend, Mike and his sister. Both of them just very recently moved to Vancouver to study (him at VFS and her at Blanche Macdonald). Well I figured that since they are from out east (Ottawa to be exact), I should take them to a place where they can really experience west coast cuisine.
I really liked the décor at Metro. Like I said, it’s minimalist and clean but not too bare. You can tell it’s a new restaurant since the kitchen is still pretty spotless. They have a huge bar and lounge on one end with wood paneling and a big screen TV and the other side is the restaurants. They have these really cool leather bucket chairs which at first glance will make you think that maybe you should have brought your own seating but once you settle in, they’re actually really comfortable. Penny really did like the chairs! While you probably won’t be getting a nice view from the restaurant for the next six months (hell you won’t get a nice view from anywhere in this city for the next 6 months!), you’re actually rite by Canada Place so there is the POTENTIAL for a nice view! :D
There has been a lot of new “west coast cuisine” style restaurants opening up in Vancouver but what makes Metro different is the way that you can order their food! Like I said, they price their items buy the ounce. It’s a really really great concept and it really allows you to get a taste of everything! For example, if you can’t decide between the striploin, tenderloin or the duck breast, you can have all 3! Basically, what you would do is order a small cut of each (say 2-3 ounces of each type of meat) and then you’ll be presented with something like a tasting menu! And the best part is that each of the meat comes with their own garnish so it’s not like you’re just getting the meat-you’re getting the accompaniments too! Think tapas but your own way! Mind you, if you know what you want, you can order that on its’ own too. Just order a larger cut, say 5-6 ounces and you’ll have a full sized main course ready to go.
The three of us started off sharing the smoked duck sausage served on a brioche hoagie round with slow cooked onion corn chutney. It’s kinda like a duck sausage hotdog! The sausage was really good but when meat is in a sausage form, you can really taste the difference I guess. But it was quite yummy and a great way to start the meal. For our main, I chose to go with a full-sized order of the sablefish with oyster mushroom risotto while Penny got bison and the pork tenderloin and his sister go the Dungeness crab and the blade steak. My sablefish was excellent (as sablefish usually is!) but I did get a bit of the fish taste with it. However, the risotto was delicious! It was cooked perfectly and even though I don’t usually eat carbs or rice, this was some good stuff. From what I heard about the other twos main courses, they seemed really happy with it. The pork was a bit dry and giant cous couse that came with the crab was a bit wet but in all, I think the meal was quite a success!
I’m defiantly going back there and trying all the other types of food. And I guess I won’t have to bring an army of people to try everything there!

Taste of Yaletown - Price Fix Menus

2007-09-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

Taste of YaletownGourmet Prix-Fixe MenusOctober 12 - 28, 2007
Enjoy special three-course, prix-fixe meals at some of Yaletown's best restaurants.
Duration: Friday, October 12 through Sunday, October 28, 2007
Pricing: $25 - $45 lunches and dinners; prices are per person and do not include beverage, tax or gratuity

You guys must LOVE me!!! :D Heheheh! Okay so maybe that's reaching a bit too far but I have found ANOTHER price fix meals event for you to enjoy! The Taste of Yaletown is happening in the second half of October, which means that you all have another chance to get some good eats for great deals. Yay to not having to wait until Dine-Out in January! The participating restaurants are listed below and if you follow the link, you should be taken to the menu each restaurant is offering! I'm giving you plenty of time to prepare for this folks so don't miss out!
And if you do go, please let us know wut you think by leaving a comment! We can all benefit! Well at least our stomachs can! ;)
ENJOY AND HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Participating Restaurants:
Click on the links below to view the participating restaurant's menus. Then call your favourites to make a reservation.
Amarcord Ristorante Italiano
Bardot Waterfront & Grille
Brix Restaurant & Wine Bar
Browns Restaurant & Bar
Cactus Club Cafe
Capones Restaurant & Live Jazz Club
Chopstick Café Shiru Bay
Coast Restaurant
Elixir
Fuse Pan Asian Express
George
Glowbal Grill & Satay Bar
GoldFish Pacific Kitchen
Hamilton Street Grill
La Terrazza
Milestones Yaletown
Provence Marinaside
Rodney's Oyster House
Section (3) Restaurant
Urban Thai Bistro
The Yaletown Brewing Company

Bridges Restaurant

2007-09-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

1696 Duranleau Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Granville Island

Sorry to break it to you all but City Dine is officially over (boo)…Well I guess we’ll have to console ourselves with the fact that Dine Out is just a few short months away. But amidst my super, duper, busy schedule (yeah right!), I was able to fit one of those special dinner menus in this past week. And the lucky restaurant? Bridges in Granville Island! *ding ding ding ding ding*
Bridges is nestled at the end of Granville Island, right on False Creek between the Burrard and the Granville Street bridge (duh! Bridges…) and it offers 2 very different dining experiences. The bottom floor is a casual bar/dinner room setting, great for grabbing a bite and throwing back a few beers. But walk upstairs and you are brought into a world of mahogany wood, chandeliers and oak furniture. It’s a really classy joint but it’s a bit weird to enter a casual place and then be brought upstairs to a fancy dining establishment. :P
I went this past Tuesday with Richard and we dined upstairs in the formal dining room with a beautiful view of False Creek. When you’re sitting there in this beautiful dining room with a view of Vancouver out in front of you on a beautiful day, it really is just a wonderful experience. We both ordered the off the $35 city dine menu. As part of this San Pellingrino City Dine, we got a bottle of the water for free. I started off with a thai green curry prawn, while Richard got the scallops. We also ordered a “lettuce wrap” to start. Oh before I forget, the bread they give you there is just delicious! I don’t usually eat bread but when they brought it to our table, you can just tell that it was fresh and soft and…well I just had to try a bite. And it was well worth it! Flavored with rosemary and sea salt, the bread was just perfect! But on to the actual meal.
Well the 2 starters we got as part of the Dine Out menu was sensational!!! The scallops were huge and seared to perfection! The thai curry prawns that I got was just great too! Hmm hmm delicious! Well like I said, we ordered the dine out menu plus a starter of a ahi tuna lettuce wrap. Well funnily enough, the most disappointing part of the meal came from the item NOT on the cheap menu! First off, it wasn’t really a lettuce wrap. It’s more like a shredded lettuce wrapped in a rice sheet with a piece of ahi tuna inside. Like I said, not very sensational.

For the main, I got a braised lamb shank and Richard on the spinach ricotta cannelloni. Richard was sure that his cannelloni was gonna be pretty small and that he’d only get like 1 or 2 piece. Well was he wrong! In a good way! He got 3 pieces of cannelloni and it was delicious! My braised lamb shank was actually quite dry…I mean it was good but definitely dry…some parts were just kinda hard. L Pretty disappointing I must say but the taste was good. I think they used a chocolate reduction sauce and it added a really cool taste to the lamb.
For dessert, I got a tiramisu and Richard got the New York cheesecake. Yummo! It was the perfect way to end the meal. The portion we got was just amazing! But honestly, the portions we got for every dish was great! Totally worth the $35 we paid! Bridges is usually a pretty expensive high end place so this was a great treat!

Let me just say, I was very very happy with this meal! Not only was the food delicious, but the portions were amazing! Okay…so the “lettuce wrap” was a bit disappointing but that was our own fault…ordering off the normal a la carte menu…pffttt!!! Wutever! Definitely gonna go back to this place…but maybe only for Dine Out! ;)

Ps. Pictures of the food to come!

PPS. Pics are here!

Thomass Hass....orgasmic!

2007-09-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Thomas Haas Patisserie and Cappuccino Bar
Unit 128, 998 Harbourside Drive, North Vancouver, BC, V7P 3T2

Opening Hours:Tuesday - Saturday: 8am-5:30pm Sunday & Monday: Closed

I use to be a chocolate fiend. I am a woman! But in the past few years, I have really started to lose my interest. It all started when I was in Ireland and I decided to give up alcohol and chocolate for lent. I’m not even religious but I thought it’d be fun because every Irish person does it! Well I finished lent that year without cracking (and I was even in Belgium during Lent and I didn’t touch any chocolate!!!) and I was just really proud of myself. Anyways, ever since then, I was never hugely into chocolate.
But the tide might be turning. Tucked into a secluded corner in the middle of a non-descript industrial park in North Vancouver is Thomas Hass’s Patisserie and Cappuccino Bar! Oh thank heavens!!! If you haven’t heard about Thomas Hass, well you are missing out. This guy is a legend in the pastry world! In 2001, Thomas Hass won FIRST Prize in ALL categories (Best in Chocolate, Best in Sugar, Best in Table Design and Best Overall) at the Valrhona National (North American) Pastry Team Championships. In 2002, The Vancouver Sun Restaurant Awards awarded Thomas/Senses (RIP) with BEST Chocolates, BEST Desserts, BEST Croissant and BEST French Pastries. The Vancouver Magazine awarded Thomas/Diva at the Met with BEST LAST COURSE for the years 2001, 02, 03, 04, 05 & 06. Thomas Haas Chocolates & Patisserie was awarded BEST LAST COURSE for 2007. AND Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates was named one of the TOP 20 Artisan Chocolatiers in Chocolatier Magazine’s 20th anniversary issue (Feb/March 2004). Woah is right! So he knows a little something-something about desserts!
Well with all the accolades, I just had to try this place out and luckily, with work, I was in North Vancouver on Wednesday and made the trip to his little café. It really is in the most unassuming place. Right across from Bodwell High School (lucky kids!) and in some sort of business/industrial park, you can totally overlook it. Once you step inside of the place, though, it’s like heaven. I honestly felt like I was a kid in a candy store (duh! I was in a candy store!). I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. It was just pure excitement! In front of me was a glass display of all the chocolates they hand make right in the back of the store. It was pretty full on this Tuesday afternoon and right away, you get a sense that these people come here often. I walked up to the counter, bright eyed and all and the girl who helped me was super helpful. It was obvious I was too overcome by anticipation and so she made a few suggestions and I ended up with 8 pieces of chocolate (at 95cents each), a non-fat latte and an almond sablee. As I was waiting for my items, the girl informs me that the merlot infused caramel chocolate was made fresh that day! She didn’t have to say anymore. Although I had bought one in my choice of 8, I decided that I just had to have one right then and there. She directed me to the wall on the side and said that they sometimes leave samples in the drawers and told me to check it out. The wall as actually just a thin divider between the café and the production line and behind there, I saw all the chocolate being delivered on a belt to be packaged!!!! It was soooo cool! Kinda like that “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy and Ethel were working in some candy place! But these guys are professionals. If it was me in there tho, I’d defiantly be stuffing my face and shirt with as much chocolate as I can. So I didn’t get my free sample from the wall but I was just going to buy a piece separately, but the girl could see how much I wanted it so she just gave it to me for free! Amazing chocolate and for free?!?!? Yes…pure heaven. And so here goes, right then and there, I put the chocolate in my mouth and…well it was just perfect! The chocolate melts in your mouth and you can taste a hint of merlot in the soft, gooey caramel in the center. I must have had the look of pure ecstasy because this guy at the counter just stared smiling and said “It’s so nice to see someone just enjoy their chocolate.” Hahahha! Did I ever enjoy it! I collected my coffee and cookie and, with the sun shining in my face, I just thought to myself “boy it’s good to be alive!”
All the other pieces of chocolate was just as sensational too! Everyone I gave it to (yes..I actually did share!) said it was just perfectly made. The almond sable was full of buttery goodness and it was the perfect compliment with my coffee.
It is a bit of a trek to get out to Thomas’s patisserie but I wouldn’t think of it as a trek…more like a pilgrimage to the holy place…that is if you belong to the church of sweets like me! It’s defiantly worth it! Honestly though, with the discovery of this place, I don’t know if I can ever really give up chocolate again…kinda glad it’s so far from my house! But next time it’s on to the croissants and sandwiches. Oh here’s to counting down the days until I meet with Thomas Hass again!

PS. He was actually there! I saw Thomas Hass and he said hi to me! :D oh he’s soooo dreamy…..

CinCin

2007-09-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

1154 Robson StreetVancouver, BC V6E 1B5

Vancouver sure does have its fair share of italian places. And you know I'm not the biggest fan of italian. (carbs! NO you evil doers!!! BACK!) But ever since I can remember, I've heard about CinCin's and for some reason, I've never been there to eat before...could have been because of the high price range but i digress...

I've heard good and bad about this celebrity magnet (yes...apprently, this is the place to go to, to get your famous-faces-fix) but I thought it was all hype. I never did have an urge to go there, thinking (and hearing) that it was overrated. But after years of shunning the place, curiosity finally got the best of me and I was able to con a friend from out of town to take me there (Thanks Pat! ;) and get my mom to take me and Richard out for a "simple" dinner . I did have high expectations though, even if my preconceived notion was that this place is overrated. I mean this place has become an institution in the Vancouver culinary scene. It's been around for like...FOREVER and...well it's famous! So i was hoping not to be disappointed.

Tuck between Zefferelli's and a currency exchange place, the entrance to CinCin is pretty unassuming. But once you make your way up the stairs, it's like you're transported from the busy street of Robson into an Italian villa. The room just oozes old world medditerranean flavour. The decor definatly wants to remind people they are in an italian restaurant...but not just Mario's pizzaria or anything...you have entered the world of Cristiano's tuscan vinyard! You know that movie "Under the Tuscan Sun?" with Diane Lane? Yeah...this place looks like that! A curved marble bar and stone walls adorned with art makes CinCin just a really comfortable place to enjoy a nice meal. The restaurant has a heated patio so you can people watch while you're enjoying your meal, but what I really liked was the open kitchen. You can see exactly what the cooks are doing in there and you can watch as they but their food into their great big wood fire oven.
From the greeters at the door to the wait staff, the service is pretty spot on. I mean it's not the warmest, greatest servers but definatly not bad. And the food....well...i am very glad to say, that I was very wrong in thinking that it's overrated! It was delicious! On my first visit, we started off with a shared anti-pasto plate, which was definatly good for the two of us. I had this fish (Halibut i think) and it was just perfect! I love fish and I always order it at a restaurant and this was really really good! CinCin received an honorable mention from the 18th Annual Vancouver Magazine Restaurant awards and so I just had to see what they had to offer. So I ordered an apple tart dessert served with house-made gelato and it was divine!!! Anything with apples and tart is good for me but this was just really really really good! :D
During my second visit, we started off with 2 appies-the scallops and....oh something else. But it was soooooo yummy! We clared both our plates! For the mains, I'm pretty sure I got the fish again but maybe a sablefish? My mom got the lamb and Richard ordered the risotto. No one had any complaints! The lamb was superb and it was a good sized portion too!!! Richard's risotto was cheesy and creamy and he said he enjoyed it very much!
Now the down side of CinCin is that it is EXPENSIVE!!! yeah...quite expensive! Main courses run from about $22 for a pizza to $43 for a tenderloin. So definatly try to scam the parents (or anyone else!) to take you or save it for a special occasion. But the food is definatly worth it and if you live in Vancouver, I would say you definatly have to try this place out. It is just a great dining experience and i promise you your taste buds will not be disappointed!

Gastropod

2007-09-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

1938 W. 4th Avenue Vancouver

I've heard so much about this place before I actually got there: Vancouver Magazine's Gold Medal winner for Best New Fine Dining, Silver award for Best Design..etc etc. And the buzz generated by Angus An...well you get the picture. I had high hopes for this place and was able to convince Mik to take me there (thanks hun!) on a sunny summer evening.

Maybe it was the hype...maybe it was my choices...but honestly, I wasn't all too impressed. Lets reminice shall we...?

Lets start off with the good. Gastropod is located right in the heart of Kits and falls comfortably into the whole gist of the area-it's simple, comfortable, and not overbearing at all. It's quite a small space but it definatly doesn't make you feel cramped. The use of neutral colours as their palate allows patrons to just fall into the place and settle in nicely. It definatly exudes a confident, but no-need-to-be-flashy type of feel. Our waitress was wearing a uniform that was the same colour scheme as the restaurant, which I thought was kind of amusing but we're here for the food, not a fashion show rite?

We began looking at the menu and the first thing that struck me was that the menu on the website did not match what was on the menu given to us. Now, you know I like eating out so I always do my homework. I had the entire meals planned out and now all of a sudden, I was thrown for a loop. This I did not appreciate! On top of that, the "new menu" didn't have anything I was too crazy for. Yes, it was small and I understand that at restaurants like this, the menus are usually small. But shouldn't they at least cover their basis and have at least a dish for every genre? Anyways, don't ask my why but I decided to get the salmon tartar as a starter and prbably a fish as my main (i'm really sorry people but I went a few months back and my old age is getting to me). So I don't eat raw fish and I'm not a big fan of salmon so why i ordered the tartar i don't know. But I was willing to give it a shot. I've had raw salmon before and there were times I enjoyed it. But not this time. It just had that harsh raw salmon taste to it. Bleh.... Okay you can blame it on my own stupidity but hell, I've definalty had better raw salmon! As for the main course, all I can say is that I didn't remember disliking it...but I dind't remember finding it fantastic either :
We did end the meal with a dessert and I believe Mik decided on a chocolate concoction and it was okay. Yes...even the dessert did not win me over! i'm sad to say that my whole experience at Gastropod was not the epicurial sensation that everyone seems to make it out to be. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I should give this joint another chance. I will...I'll go back...but I'm definatly in no rush......

2007 San Pellegrino City Dine

2007-09-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if you all know about this but the 2007 San Pellegrino City Dine benefitting the Canadian Association of Food Banks is currently taking place. The follwing restaurants are offering special three-course prix fixe meals from Sunday, September 16 - Thursday 20, 2007 and Sunday, September 23 - Thursday, September 27, 2007. Take advantage! I know you all all salivating for when Dine Out rolls around so this should tie you over until then! Bon Appetit!
a kettle of fish
aurora bistro
bardot
bistro pastis
bistrot bistro
bogart's chophouse & bar
bridges restaurant
caffé dé medici ristorante italiano
capones restaurant & live jazz club
chow
cru restaurant
delilah’s restaurant & martini bar
deuce restaurant
flux bistro
hamilton street grill
la terrazza
maurya indian cuisine
metro restaurant
ocean 6 seventeen
one 12 restaurant & lounge
provence marinaside
provence mediterranean grill on 10th
quattro on fourth
rare restaurant
savory coast cucina mediterranea
so.cial at le magasin
stonegrill
the hart house restaurant on deer lake
the transcontinental
watermark on kits beach
whine o's
wild rice restaurant

Watermark on Kits Beach

2007-09-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

1350 Arbutus Street (at Cornwall)

I often ask myself "Why did I move back to Vancouver???" The rain, the commute, the lack of culture...THE RAIN! Sure we really do have good food here (awesome selction, excellent quality and good prices) but is that enough to make you want to live here? To be honest, I was beginning to lose faith in the city. What does the UN know about quality of living? Ranking Vancouver as the most livable place on earth! Bah! But in one evening, I was re-introduced to all the beauty that was Vancouver. Okay, a bit melodramatic I know but Watermark at Kits Beach has that effect on you!
Watermark is located rite on Kits Beach at the end of Arbutus Street. Now when I say righ on Kits beach, i mean RIGH ON KITS BEACH! Spit off the patio and you will hit sand! It's a modern building, with concrete walls, huge dining area and floor to ceiling glass windows giving patrons a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. It's a modern/minimalist decore design, which is fitting for the Kits area crowd. Don't think you have to dress up for this place either. It's really cazh and I think it's because they're really just trying to draw on the beach crowd. I really don't know how that's working for them tho. One one hand, the whole casual thing is great cuz it's right on the beach and people can go to the restaurant after a hard day laying out in the sand. But the menu and the prices are all more in line with a high end restaurant and personally, I was a bit confused by it all.
The view offered by this place is just spectacular...breath-taking, gorgeous...just take any superlative and insert it here folks! You are completely surrounded by the beauty of this city and this alone is worth the visit to this restaurant. I don't think you can find a nicer view at any other restaurant in the city!
We had made reservations earlier that day and I think that was a smart idea. While the place wasn't full when we got there at 6:30 on a Sunday, it was quickly filling up and I heard the hostess tell some people there was going to be a wait. I though that was odd since there was a few empty tables and this place was pretty huge! We sat out on the patio since it was a beautiful day and we had a fantastic view of the sunset! But bring your sunglasses cuz it gets pretty bright out there! Our server was nice enough but I don't think she was too enthralled with us-just mains, no drinks :P The main complaint I have here tho...the food took a long time. Now I understand that this is a large restaurant but they had plenty of servers. I even saw a few of them hanging out. And their kitchen was not as big as some others I've seen. But there was at least 5 guys in there cooking! You'd think they'd be able to get your food out in time. I think we waited about 40 minutes from when we ordered to when we actually got our food. And no bread people. So if you're hungry, you may want to reconsider
But how does the food fair? Well, I had high expectations for this place given that the executive chef here is Lynda Larouche, the former chef at Seasons in the Park. Heck if she's good enough to cook for Bill Clinton, she good enough to cook for me. And while I wasn't blown away by the cooking, I have to say it was up to par with similar restaurants of this calaber. My mom and I had the sablefish while my stepdad Ron had the rack of lamb. the portions were really good and we all left with a full stomach. In general, no one had any complaints about their food, but no one was raving either.
To be fair, we didn't have any appies or desserts and both my mom and I had the same dish. I think we came on a bit of an off night. But truly folks, you are coming here for the setting! This place is second to none in terms of the view and if you have people visiting, be sure to take them here so they can enjoy that world-famous Vancouver scenery! I'm definatly willing to give this place a second chance. Maybe those UN ranking people really do know what they are talking about....

CRAVE on Main and 23rd

2007-09-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well I guess I'll make my first post about the most recent dining experience I had. And it's not a bad way to start a blog about restaurants by writing about the hip-little-restaurant-that-could opened by the Former Four Seasons Vancouver Hotel Executive Chef Wayne Martin.
The restaurant is located on Main and 23rd and if you don't look, you could very well drive right past it! But with it's hightening reputation, this place will not be overlooked for that much longer. You might miss the sign but I doubt you'll miss the line-up of people waiting outside for a table.
Well my first (but definatly not the last) experience with this place was on Saturday with dear ol' mom. Actually, she was the one who suggested it since her friend was raving to her about it. And I've heard good things about this place so why not. I had actually called before to make sure we can get a table (6:30pm on a Saturday...you better be safe than sorry) but was a bit disappointed to find out that they don't take resos. They said they were pretty open but it was filling up fast so I hightailed it out there but once on Main, parking became a problem...a big problem! It took me quite awhile to finally find a spot and I can see this turning into quite a problem for this place. Nonetheless, we got to the restaurant and luckily, was able to get a table right away. Now if you are planning on a get together for a group of friends, this is probably not the place to hit up. This place is small...i mean small. They have a patio in the front and a patio in the back but if you're talking about just the inside, they can probably sit about 25 people. But it does make the space more intimate. The decor is very simple-dark walls, a few photographs and dim lighting but it really suits the style of the place.
As soon as we got comfortable (not as soon as we sat down mind you!) our server was there with a warm smile. My mom and I didn't order any drinks but their drink menu is pretty small. They had the traditional mojitos and stuff and an average selection of wine (no Reislings! Damn!) but for a restaurant that size, you can't be too choosy.
As for the food. They had a starter as well as a main course special. My mom settled on the corn chower (special) and the lamb while I went for the Alaskan smoked cod. The corn chowder was pretty good. I liked the fact that you can tell they didn't add alot of salt and stuff to it. However, I guess that was why it was lacking a bit in the taste department. But it was very chowder-y with a good amount of corn. As for the main course, the lamb was GREAT! Very tender and juicy and the potatoes that came with it was out of this world! I thought it tasted great but my mom thought it could be a little tastier. My cod was very good too! But bewarned, there was 2 small pices of corn with a LARGE salad beside it. It definatly looked more like a salad dish than a fish dish. But nonetheless, the cod was smooth and the texture was great. It did have quite a strong smoked taste to it but i guess that was what i ordered rite??? My bad! I topped off my dinner with a non-fat latte and it was the perfect way to end my dinner.
The best thing about this place is the price. We're talking under $20 for the main courses! This is from the former executive chef at the Four Seasons!!!! Trust me, that's a great deal! The food is definatly comparable to those restaurants in the $30 range. You are getting a good deal here folks! With such a trendy location, good pricing and great vibe of the restaurant, Crave is definatly a place to check out. But be careful, the waiting lines here will definatly be getting longer and longer!

Finally! It's here! Welcome to a full stomach :D

2007-09-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally done it! If you guys know me, i'm a total foodie! I LOVE FOOD! And I love going out and trying new places. If you know me, you know that I'm all about trying new restaurants in Vancouver and putting in my two cents worth on the place! Well with people always asking me about new restauratns and stuff, I figured i might as well make it (semi) official! So here it is folks! My very own blog about the great eats in Vancouver! Now keep in mind that this is just my own opinion and this is just for fun! Plus it's a good way for me to remember where I've actually been to! I'll try to update this as much as I can with any new place I go to-be if restaurants, lounges, cafes...etc.
I hope this will be as enjoyable for you as it is for me. Feel free to put your two cents in also and hopefully, if you guys are facing a dilemma on where to go for food, this can help point you in the right direction! Happy Eating! :D