Runny Yolks Review

Wise and Otherwise: Full Metal Rammus and Riot Graves Giveaway!

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:30:24 -0700

Wise and Otherwise: Full Metal Rammus and Riot Graves Giveaway!:

Turns out I have an extra Full Metal Rammus and Riot Graves code card from PAX East, which means I’m holding a giveaway!

Only two reblogs per person, please. No spamming other people’s dashes.

Likes are allowed!

You don’t have to be following me unless you like my blog.

You must…

Cynique ou Romantique?: End of PAX East 2013 Giveaway

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:28:34 -0700

Cynique ou Romantique?: End of PAX East 2013 Giveaway:

disney-derp:

Hello again! Just got back from PAX East 2013 and I have some Metal Rammus and Riot Graves Skin Codes to give away. This time I’m giving away both skins at the same time. I am giving away two skin “packs,” so there will be two winners. All you have to do is follow me, then like and reblog this…

Chapter 12: Ajisai

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 22:44:00 -0800

Sushi to me is more than just raw fish and rice. It’s an art form that requires years of practice to master. Mediocre sushi restaurant are a dime a dozen in Vancouver, but truly authentic sushi is very hard to come by. Based on recommendations from others food blogs, CL and I visited Ajisai sushi located in an ally next to London Drugs on West Blvd and 41st Ave. This little Japanese owned sushi restaurant serves up the freshest fish and had been praised by many others to have the best sushi in GVRD.

The place was packed for a Friday afternoon and luckily we got seated at the sushi bar so I got to witness the sushi chefs making our food. I was amazed at their knife skills and how fresh every piece of fish looked. After looking at the regular menu and the specials, we decided to share the dynamite combo and the spicy maki combo.

First to arrive was the miso soup and salad that was part of the dynamite combo. The miso soup was seasoned perfectly for my taste, being rich and full of depth but not salty at all. The sesame dressing for the salad was a refreshing change from the usual sweet dressing offered at other Japanese restaurants. It was tart and aromatic, which complemented the vegetables well. Just based on the side dishes alone I could tell Ajisai was not an ordinary sushi restaurant.

The sushi combos arrived at the same time and were personally delivered by the sushi chef. I dug into the dynamite combo first which also included 5 nigiris (salmon, tuna, ika, tako and masago). Every piece of fish tasted amazingly fresh and was complemented by the perfectly cooked rice with just the right amount of rice vinegar. My favorite of the bunch was the salmon nigiri. The piece I had was from the belly of the fish which meant it was well marbled, buttery and melt in my mouth tender. Next up was the dynamite roll. Unlike the dynamite rolls I’ve had before, this roll was made with fresh prawns and had tempura bits inside. This small alteration made the roll taste more fresh and less oily. The texture and acidity of the rice was again perfect and the rolls was well made.

I dug into the spicy combo next which included spicy salmon, tuna and scallop rolls. The fish and rice were again perfect, and the spicy sauce they used elevated these rolls to a whole new level. Instead of the spicy and sweet concoction used by other restaurant, Ajisai used an acidic and spicy sauce which didn’t overpower the natural flavors of the fish and brought out its natural sweetness. The chilies they used in the sauce were tasted different, having very pronounced chilli flavors and a smokey after taste. The only imperfection these rolls had was the fact that they were not rolled perfectly. The rice was not formed very tightly and a few fell apart when I tried to pick them up.

As you can tell by now, the combination of fresh ingredients and well balanced rice made Ajisai stand out above the rest. This was possibly the best sushi I’ve ever had and I’m already planning my next visit. Despite being slightly pricier than other similar restaurants, Ajisai more than made up for it in terms of taste and I would recommend this place to anyone wanting to experience real Japanese sushi.

Chapter 11: Prata Man

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:16:00 -0700

For the past little I’ve fallen into the vicious cycle of studying all day in the library and eating at home. One can only stand instant noodles and ham sandwiches for so long. So after finishing up my midterm last Friday, CL and I gathered a couple friends and visited a joint I’ve always wanted to try, Prata Man.

Prata Man is located on Garden City and Capstan Way in Richmond and focuses on Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine. The place doesn’t have the best decor but people go there for the food not the ambiance. They’ve been open for a very long time so they must be doing something right.

The menu was very typical for a Malaysian/Singaporean restaurant so we picked a couple classic dishes that would hopefully show us what Prata Man was all about. The first dish to arrive at the table was the beef rendang which is essentially curry beef brisket. This dish was a winner and it was my favorite of the night. The brisket was fork tender and nicely marbled. The curry flavor was rich but not overpowering. This dish begs for a bowl of rice to soak up all the sauce. We were off to a good start but too bad the rest of the dishes were not as impressive as the first.

Next to arrive was the satay platter which consisted of 12 skewers of chicken, beef and pork (4 each). The skewers were cooked very well, being nicely charred on the outside and still tender on the inside. The problem with this dish was the accompanying peanut sauce. The sauce here is made of crunchy bits of peanuts instead of the usual peanut butter. It was impossible for the sauce to stick to the skewers and the tasted stale and soggy. I applaud them for being different but that sauce didn’t work for me at all.

Another dish that sounded good on paper was the Hainainese chicken. The chicken was deboned and was served with chicken stock rice on the side. The deboned chicken was easy to eat but it was unfortunately overcooked. Hainainese chicken is suppose to be barely cooked to keep the skin chewy but this chicken almost dissolved in my mouth. The chicken rice was also very greasy and lacked chicken flavor.

As you can see, Prata Man didn’t really live up to my expectations. Sure the prices were reasonable and the portions were big, but the dishes lacked proper execution and flavor I don’t think I will be returning anytime soon since there are so many other restaurant I want to try.

Ambiance 5/10

Food 6.5/10

Service 5/10

Overall 5.5/10

Chapter 10: Crab Pot Restaurant (Seattle)

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:39:00 -0700

As you can see tell from my previous posts, I don’t really spend that much time with my family. So last weekend I headed down to Seattle with my parents for some shopping, sight seeing and eating. Having never been to downtown Seattle, I chose the most touristy thing to do, which is to visit the pike place market and have lunch at the famous crab pot.

Pike place is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Seattle and the bustling crowd really proved that. The line up outside the first ever Starbucks was insane and everything being sold at the market was extremely over priced. Despite all this , I really enjoyed the rustic atmosphere of pike place. It was controlled chaos at its finest and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back.

After walking around the market, we headed to the Crab Pot Restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was located right next to the water and was famous for the sea feast. The concept of the sea feast is to steam an assortment of seafood with corn andouille sausage and potatoes, then dump the entire platter onto the table and have the diners disassemble everything with a wooden mallet. Knowing the portions are gonna be big, we ordered two of the Westport feasts ($25.95 each) and a fried clams platter ($8.95).

First to arrive was the fried clam platter and it was not too impressive. Instead of frying the clams whole with a thin layer of batter, the ones here were cut into strips and covered with a thick layer of batter. All I could taste was the salty batter and very little clam flavor. The fries were the generic Costco type but they were pretty crispy and well seasoned, with only a few at the bottom of the platter being soggy.

The Westport sea feast arrived shortly after and as predicted the portion size was enormous. The food filled up half of the table and included dungeness crab, snow crab, mussels, and shrimp, all of which had the shells on. All the seafood tasted fresh except for the shrimp, which had a mushy texture indicating they were previously frozen. Most of the mussels were plump and the clams had no sand in them. The crab legs were full of meat and the natural sweetness of the crab was further accentuated by the clarified butter. I would have liked more seasoning because some of seafood had no flavor other than the natural sweetness from the ingredients themselves. The corn, sausage and potatoes did their job at filling us up.

As you can see, contrary to popular belief, the Crab Pot is acceptable for a tourist restaurant. Other than the fried clams, the food tasted pretty good.The restaurant had a fun family atmosphere and I enjoyed disassembling the food together with my parents. Sure the food isn’t gonna rock your world but the pricing was fair for the location so I recommend you at least give this place a try because the dining experience was definitely unique.

Atmosphere: 8/10

Food: 6/10

Service: 7/10

Overall: 7/10

Chapter 9: Alleluia Cafe

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:08:00 -0700

Like most people out there, I get weird cravings from time to time. A few weeks ago I was dying for some HK style cafe food. For those of you who don’t know, HK style cafe serves chinese interpretations of western dishes such as spaghetti bolognese, baked pork chop etc. One of the best in town is alleluia cafe, which is located across the street from Richmond public market on Westminster highway. What sets alleluia apart from other HK cafes is nice ambiance and refillable drinks.

We ordered one appetizer and 2 entrees. Both entrees came with a free drink, so CL got the lemon iced tea and I got iced “mixed” tea, which is essentially half milk tea and half coffee ( don’t judge until you try it!). The lemon iced tea was good but was nothing special. On the other hand, the mixed tea was rich and creamy. Combined with the free refills it was perfect.

The first item to arrive was the Malay Roti with Curry Sauce. This version of famous malaysian dish was very doughy and dense. There were almost no layers within the pastry and the curry dipping sauce was rather watery. Not the best way to start a meal but we were willing to look past it since HK cafes aren’t known for their south east Asian cuisine.

Next to arrive was my Combination Dinner. I got to choose two meats from a big list of options and the meats were accompanies by spaghetti, veggies and black pepper sauce. I chose the chicken thighs and beef steak. The chicken was cooked very well, being golden on the outside and juicy on the inside. The steaks here were tenderized with baking soda before cooking, which meant the meat had almost no beef flavor. This is a common practice at HK cafes and I didn’t mind it because the meat was extremely tender. The accompanying black pepper sauce had a good kick from the abundance of black pepper and the spaghetti were a bit over cooked.

CL’s Pork Chops with Mushrooms and Onions Sauce arrived shortly after my entree. If you look at the picture, you can see the portion size was huge. The two giant pork chops were tender and juicy, and the accompanying onion gravy was rich and flavorful. At $6.95 (late night), this dish was a bargain.

The food at alleluia was nothing to write home about but the value was incredible. The portions were huge and the refillable drinks were a great added bonus. All this combined with friendly service (for a Chinese restaurant) and decent ambiance, we got ourselves one of the best HK style cafes in the GVRD.

Ambiance 7/10

Service 7/10

Food 8.5/10

Overall 7.5/10

Chapter 8: Guu Garden

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:45:00 -0700

After trying the original Guu on Robson and Thurlow, I’ve been craving Japanese izakaya ever since. So when a good friend of mine was leaving for exchange, I suggested we have a farewell dinner at Guu gardens. I’ve heard good things about Guu garden from many friends. From its unique menu to its relatively quiet and spacious dining room, it was a recipe for success. We were also pleasantly surprised when they accepted our reservation for 10 on a Saturday night with no problem at all.

Guu garden is located near the intersection of Nelson and robson, but the restaurant is impossible to spot from the street. It took a while for CL and me to find the restaurant, which was hidden on the second floor balcony of the office building where gyukaku and relish is located.

Since we arrived late, we ordered quickly after skimming through the menu. This Guu is focused on oden but we weren’t really in the mood that. Instead, we ordered a few favorites of ours starting with the ebi mayo. The prawns were perfectly cooked, exhibiting the desired crunchy texture and sweet flavor. I like the ebi mayo here better because the mayo is served as a pile in the middle of the plate instead of being slathered on top of the prawns.

The next dish to arrive was the tuna tataki. I wanted to order beef tataki but unfortunately this Guu didn’t have it. The tuba tataki was served with shaved onions, garlic chips and ponzu sauce on the side for dipping. This dish was solid but didn’t possess any WOW factor. The portion was quite small but the flavors were all there.

The last dish to arrive was the obligatory filler dish, yaki udon. The udon was mildly seasoned and cooked well, being chewy and not mushy at all. The portion was again extremely small and there was next to no beef.

As you can see, portion size is definitely an issue with the food at Guu garden although the flavours were all there. I know izakaya style food isnt suppose to be like that, but the food at Guu original on thurlow was much bigger in portions compared to Guu garden. Another problem I encountered was the availability of menu items. CL and I ordered 2 more items on top of the 3 we had but were told that those items were sold out after we placed our order. How a restaurant can run out of so many regular menu items half way through dinner service is beyond me. So my final verdict is stick with Guu originals on Robson and Thurlow if space is not an issue and, make a reservation at Guu garlic if you have a big group.

Ambiance 8/10

Food 7/10

Service 6/10

Overall 7/10

Chapter 7: Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 23:18:00 -0700

It seems like writing have taken over my life as of late. Reports, essays, letters and emails, you name it, I wrote it. I was pumping out thousands of words a day and I was sick and tired of writing for a while. Every time I looked at my keyboard I felt sick. That’s the reason why this post has been delayed for a week. Anyways, I digress. This week’s post is gonna feature, in my honest opinion, the best ramen shop in the GVRD named Hokkaido Ramen Santouka.CL and I visited Santouka a couple weeks ago because CL was not a fan of ramen and I was attempting to convert her. Santouka is a Japanese chain restaurant that specializes in Hokkaido style ramen. It opened it’s doors on Robson not too long ago and has been the talk of the town ever since. I’m a frequent customer of Kintaro Ramen, which is just a block away from Santouka, but I wanted to try something new.

Despite the relatively warm weather, CL and I made the trek out to Robson one day after work. We were pleasantly surprised at the short line because usually this place has a line up half way up the block. We were seated within 10 minutes and one look at the menu I spotted what I came for, the Toroniku Shio (sea salt) Ramen. Toroniku is the meat from the cheeks of the pig. It is extremely marbled, tender and full of that delicious porky flavour. Many of my friends have been recommending this item and I’ve been dying to try it out. CL went for something more traditional and ordered the regular Shoyu (soy sauce) Ramen.

The Toroniku and other ingredients arrived separate from the noodles for reasons I can not understand. One look at the broth and I could already tell that this was no ordinary ramen. The broth exhibited a milky white color, which is only obtainable when simmered for hours (even days). It tasted so rich that it was almost creamy. Combined with the al dente noodles, it was a beautiful combination of flavour and texture. Compared to the wonderful ramen, the pork cheeks were a little less spectacular. Don’t get me wrong, it was very flavourful and melted in my mouth, but the only flaw was the seasoning on the meat. It was so aggressively seasoned that it was almost as salty as beef jerky. For a price of $14.95, I don’t think I would order this particular ramen again.

CL’s shoyu ramen was very good as well. The shoyu broth had a very light soy flavour and was noticeably lighter than my shio broth. The noodles were perfectly al dente once again and the cha shu (slow cooked fatty pork) was tender and seasoned beautifully, unlike the toroniku.

Our meal at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka was pretty good overall. I don’t think I’ve converted CL to a ramen lover, but at least she doesn’t mind it as much now. The shio broth and noodles were the best I’ve ever had and the toroniku is something other ramen shops doesn’t offer. But in my opinion, it is not worth the 15 dollar price tag, even if the pork was seasoned better. At $9.95, the regular ramens with cha shu has great value compared to the toroniku and is a much better choice. I can’t wait to come back on a cold day and have a bowl of shio ramen.

Ambiance 8/10

Food 9.5/10

Service 8/10

Overall 8.5/10

Chapter 6: Portland, Oregon

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 00:03:00 -0700

For the B.C. day long weekend CL and I headed down to Portland for 3 days with a couple friends. The drive down to Oregon was long and tedious but I wasn’t the one driving so I didn’t complain too much. The weather was extremely hot and the shopping was disappointing to say the least, but I cheered myself up by doing the one thing I’m good at, eating! We stayed at a hotel near the airport and found a couple restaurants nearby to try. Sort of like a mini food tour. To make it fair, we all chose one restaurant each and we focused mostly on American comfort food since this kind of cuisine isn’t readily available in Vancouver. Despite the one restaurant each rule, I still got to choose three restaurants for this trip because CL and another friend let me choose their restaurants for them!

There were a few dishes we had that were memorable to me, with the first being the double-down at The Original in downtown Portland. The Original is an upscale diner located in the heart of downtown Portland that serves up American comfort food with a modern twist. We made our way to the restaurant late Saturday evening after checking into our hotel and thanks to an earlier reservation, we got a table in no time. One glance at the menu and the double-down immediate captured my attention. CL and I decided to share the dish with a garden salad and a side of mac and cheese.

Arriving piping hot, fresh out of the fryer, this double-down looked nothing like the KFC version. Layers of sliced ham and melted Gruyère cheese was sandwiched between two GIANT breaded chicken breasts. All of us were shocked by the monstrous portions and my friends all eagerly whipped out their phones to take pictures of my food. As with most food, bigger portions usually means mediocre flavour, but this double-down was not short in the flavour department. The ham was salty and sweet and the melted cheese added a creamy richness to the dish. The chicken was fried perfect, being tender and juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The breading of the chicken breasts was not perfectly even but the flavours were good. The seasoning of the chicken was pretty mild which is perfect when eaten together with the ham and cheese because nothing overpowered another. The dish was not heavy at all and the side salad had a nice and tangy vinegrette that acted as a pallet cleanser.

The side order of mac and cheese was very well executed as well, being creamy and cheesy throughout. Coupled with the home made ketchup, this dish was savoury and sweet at the same time. The macaroni were still al dente and the sprinkle of bread crumbs added some good texture. CL and I struggled to finish this at the end because it was really rich. The food at The Original was way past my expectations and we left full and satisfied. Be sure to ask the server about the portion size because some items seem to be A LOT bigger than the others (especially the double-down).

The next morning we woke up tired and hungry again. I chose Pine State Biscuits as our destination for breakfast but we faced an hour long wait when we arrived. Damn you Guy Fieri for making this place a tourist trap…. (just kidding I love Triple D passionately) Hungry and discontent, we made our way to The Waffle Window a couple blocks away. Waffle Window serves up Belgian waffles with a variety of savoury and sweet topping at an affordable price, and this is the place where I discovered my next memorable dish, The Whole Farm breakfast waffle.

The Whole Farm is a clever name for a sweet Belgian waffle topped with spinach, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, bacon and goat cheese. The ingredient were all fresh and came together really well to make an amazing and cohesive dish. The vegetables were fresh and vibrant, the mushrooms were savoury and earthy, the bacon was crispy and salty, and the goat cheese was creamy and tangy. All these things on top of a golden brown waffle made for the best breakfast dish I’ve had in a long time. The “kickers” of the dish (for you Guy Fieri fans out there) are the nuggets of sugar embedded inside the waffle. These little nuggets of sugar added another dimension of texture and provided a few bursts of sweetness. The discovery of The Waffle Window was purely accidental but the food blew me away. They have a few locations throughout Portland and I encourage you to pay them a visit.

After a day of shopping at Woodburns, Saks off 5th and Nordstrom rack, we were all hungry again…. Instead of going to Huber’s restaurant for dinner as planned, we made a detour and ended up at The Screen Door for their famous Southern Fried Chicken! I’ve been drooling over this fried chicken ever since I first read about it on Sherman’s Food Blog but after trying it I was a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the chicken was good, but it didn’t wow me. Maybe it’s my heightened expectations or maybe they were just having an off day.

I digress, the reason I’m telling you about the Screen Door is because of their delicious shrimp and grits, which more than made up for their ordinary fried chicken. The creamy grits were topped with eight jumbo sized prawns in a crawfish seafood sauce. The seafood sauce was rich and savoury with a hint of tomato and lots of seafood flavour from the crawfish. Eaten together with the grits, the dish reminded me of Chinese seafood congee a little bit, except it was much more creamy and rich in flavour. The prawns were cooked just right, possessing the necessary snap. A generous drizzle of basil oil added another layer of flavour and made the whole dish pop. This dish is my favourite out of everything we had in Portland.

Portland was a lot of fun this time around. Not only did I get to spend some time with CL and friends, I also got to sample American cuisine like never before. The shopping kinda sucked but our little food tour made the trip more interesting and exciting because we are always looking forward to the next meal. There are many more restaurants in Portland that I wanna visit but I would definitely return to these restaurants for the three dishes mentioned above.

Chapter 5: Dai Jang Kum

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 21:42:00 -0700

The BC day long weekend passed in the blink of an eye and it’s back to work for CL and I on this gorgeous Wednesday Tuesday. We drove down to Portland for shopping last weekend with a couple friends and managed to sample some delicious American cuisine along the way. My next post is going to be a compilation of all the memorable dishes we had in Portland so please stay tuned. In the mean time, here’s a review of Dai Jang Kum in Richmond, the last restaurant we visited right before we left for Portland.

Dai Jang Kum is one of the few Korean restaurants located in Richmond, where Chinese food is king. You may ask then why am I eating Korean food in Richmond? Simply because CL has been raving about this place for it’s delicious salads and I was craving Korean food very badly last week. Dai Jang Kum is a strange name to say the least… (hehehe), but it’s actually based on a popular Korean drama about a girl who cooked for the Korean royal family hundreds of years ago.

The restaurant was deserted when we arrived at 11:30am but that was expected since we were having an early lunch. We ordered the BBQ Beef Ribs and Tofu Soup lunch combo to share because CL had a big breakfast. At $10.95, this combo was a great deal in my opinion. Our food arrived pretty quickly and was accompanied by an array of Banchan (side dishes). Everything tasted pretty good, with our favorites being the potatoes and the fish cakes.

The beef ribs arrived sizzling hot on a cast iron skillet on top of a bed of sliced onions. Overall, the ribs were pretty tender except the few pieces attached to the large bones. The meat was under seasoned in my opinion and the marinade didn’t penetrate the meat enough.

The tofu soup on the other hand was delicious! Arriving in a heated bowl, the tofu soup was bubbling furiously when we dug our spoons in. The broth tasted very rich and flavorful, and the addition of a little spice elevated the soup to a higher level. Even though there was no seafood in the soup, I tasted a deep seafood flavor in the broth itself with little to no MSG. The tofu pieces were silky and smooth and the veggies were crunchy and sweet. This soup completely satisfied my craving and validated Dai Jang Kum as a legitimate Korean restaurant.

Dai Jang Kum is a pretty good place for Korean food considering it’s location, but it’s not up to par compared to the more established Korean restaurants I’ve been to in Vancouver and Coquitlam. Their lunch combos are fabulous in terms of value and the tofu soup is pretty tasty. Their BBQ on the other hand is lacking in flavor and is not worth the dinner price. You should give this place a shot at lunch if you were in the neighborhood.

Atmosphere 6/10

Service 6/10

Food 7.5/10

Overall 6.5/10

Chapter 4: Zeffirelli's Spaghetti Joint

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 23:28:00 -0700

Last Friday night, my quest for delicious and affordable pasta took me to Zeffirelli’s Spaghetti Joint. Located on the heart of Robson street, Zeffirelli’s is hidden above Cactus Club cafe, only accessible through a long flight of stairs. Like me, you probably walked by this place countless times without acknowledging its existence. This restaurant was recommended to me by a friend and I was skeptical at first, but upon looking at the reviews and menu I realized this restaurant is not the same as the other rip off mediocore restaurants on Robson.

I invited CL and my friends to join me on Friday night and upon entering the restaurant, the first thing that impressed me was the tasteful décor. The walls of the restaurant were covered in wine bottles which gave it a very wine-cellar-like ambiance and the piano shaped salad/antipasto bar added a touch of class to the restaurant. Another thing I noticed was how noisy the restaurant was. There was no open kitchen but for some reason the restaurant was really LOUD, and I mean loud as in louder than a Dim Sum restaurant on a Saturday morning. Didn’t really bother me that much but it made for some awkward and broken conversations during dinner.

We decided to open a bottle of their house red wine to shared amongst the whole table. At $25/bottle, the wine was “strong” (according to everyone else) and affordable. CL and I shared food because she wasn’t that hungry. For appetizer we got the Polpette ($8.50), which was meatballs with ricotta in tomato sauce. The meatballs were big and tender but lacked any strong flavours. I would have preferred more aggressive seasoning but CL liked it the way it was. I also tried the Steamed Mussels my friend ordered and that was absolutely amazing. The muscle was plump, juicy and cooked perfectly. The complimentary bread and tomato sauce were good, but they were both served cold and I prefer my dinner bread served warm.

CL and I shared the spaghetti von congole ($17.50) for our entrée (Picture is only half of the order). The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and the white wine and olive oil sauce was rich and full of clams. Unlike most places, Zeffirelli’s used canned and fresh clams for this dish which gave it a good clam to pasta ratio without over crowding the dish with clam shells. My only complaint is that the sauce had a little too much olive oil.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Zeffirelli’s. The ambiance was nice, the service was attentive, and most importantly the food was affordable and delicious. This is the perfect place to celebrate a special occasion or just unwind after a day of shopping.

Atmosphere 8/10

Service 7.5/10

Food 8.5/10

Overall 8/10

Recipe 3: Spicy Chicken Udon

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:02:43 -0700

I’ve been having a craving for spicy foods lately, but unlike SY, I have a low spicy tolerance. So I decided to cook my own dish so I could adjust how spicy I wanted it to be :D You can substitute chicken for beef or pork but I’m not a big fan of red meat so here you go!

Spicy Chicken Udon

Ingredients:

1 piece chicken breast
1/3 medium onion, sliced
1-2 scallion, chopped
1 cup spinach
1 pack udon

Marinade:

1 ½ tablespoon Korean red chili pepper paste
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/16 tablespoon black pepper

Directions:

Mix all marinade ingredients together.
Cut chicken breast into thin slices and combine with marinade, scallions and onions. Marinate for at least one hour.
Heat skillet over medium heat and add the meat. When the chicken is almost cooked, add the udon and add 1/4 cup of water. When the udon is cooked, add the spinach and mix well. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Zakkushi Charcoal Grill - Denman

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:26:00 -0700

Freshly recovered from the heavy drinking on Friday night, I headed out to English Bay on Saturday afternoon with CL and some friends. After tanning and playing frisbee for a couple hours, we headed to Zakkushi on Denman for dinner. Zakkushi is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in BBQ skewers and the decor was traditional Japanese with an open kitchen so you can see the cooks grilling up your order.

Zakkushi offers set meals which combined booze and appetizers together. CL and I shared the sake combo ($9.99) while the others ordered the beer combo. Our combo consisted of a small bottle of sake (4 cups of Gekkikan) and 3 small appetizer samplers including spicy tuna, fried squid legs and fried black cod. All the dishes tasted nice and fresh with the spicy tuna being my favourite. The fried items were under seasoned for my taste but were perfectly cooked and crunchy.

After our combo, we ordered the Zakkushi set ($8.50) and Negi P-Toro Don ($7.20). The Zakkushi set consisted of 5 skewers that are considered their specialties. The set arrived in two batches, the first three being umeshiso yaki (bacon wrapped asparagus), p-toro (pork belly) and oropon beef and the last two being momo (chicken thigh with teriyaki sauce) and me maki (chicken thigh). The oropon beef was my favourite because the grated daikon added a much needed punch of flavour. The other skewers tasted really mild and were not memorable. Another problem I had was the extremely small portions. I could eat a skewer in two bites and at $8.50 per set, I expected slightly bigger portions.

The Negi P-Toro Don came with grilled pork belly, green onion sauce, seaweed and a poached egg. The combination of the fatty pork and the runny egg made this dish extremely rich and flavourful. CL and I devoured it before I remembered to take a picture.

Since we were still hungry after the rice filler dish, we decided to order a couple more items that I thought was interesting. The first being the grilled chicken wing. This chicken wing was cut open and flattened to decrease its cooking time. The skin was perfectly charred and crispy but flavour wise it was lacking just like the previous skewers. The other skewer we ordered was the grilled quail eggs wrapped in pork belly. This skewer was my favourite of the night because the textures were balanced perfectly. The egg on the inside was smooth and soft while the crispy charred pork belly added crunch and juiciness to the dish.

Last but not least, we ordered some fried chicken to finish off. This is no ordinary chicken karage though. This dish is called Nankotsu and it’s deep fried chicken knees. The fried chicken pieces were very crispy while the cartilage in the chicken knee provided even more crunch. This dish was good but tasted exactly the same as the Chinese version.

Although we weren’t really satisfied with our dinner at Zakkushi, it was still an eye opening experience because we got to taste another form of Japanese cuisine. The food was a little bland for my heavy taste buds and the small portions does not reflect the high prices. Needless to say we won’t be returning to Zakkushi in the near future.

service: 6/10
atmosphere: 7/10
food: 5/10
overall: 6/10

Chapter 2: The Keg Steakhouse and Bar - Yaletown

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:55:00 -0700

Time really flies when you are out enjoying the sun and eating delicious food with friends. The weather has been amazing this past week and I hope you’re all enjoying the sun as well!. After getting off work last Friday, my coworkers and I headed to The Keg in Yaletown to unwind and have a little get together before they leave for a trade show in Los Angeles. This was my first time going to their Yaletown location and I was extremely impressed with the ambiance of the place. The decor inside is very bright and modern compared to the dark and old school feel of the Coquitlam Keg that I usually go to. The top floor of the restaurant features a beautiful open air patio that is seated on a first come first serve basis.

We arrived at 6:45pm and the place was packed and busy. Thank goodness I made a reservation in advance or the wait would have been at least an hour. So if you decide to go on a Friday night, I’d definitely recommend making reservations. We were seated on the second floor and ordered appetizers and drinks while waiting for a couple more people to arrive. One interesting thing I noticed is that every item on the menu is $1 higher than other Kegs. Given the better ambiance and environment, I don’t mind the extra difference in price.

CL and I shared the crab cakes ($12.95) for appetizer. The crab cakes were smaller than I expected but it was filled with chunks of crab meat and tasted very fresh with a little squeeze of lemon. The seasoning was right on and the addition of celery gave the dish some much needed crunch. We both enjoyed this dish but it’d be nice if the portions were slightly bigger.

For my entree, I ordered the 12 oz prime rib ($26.95) with seasonal vegetables, au jus and horseradish. Prime rib has always been my favourite ever since I was little and this one did not disappoint me at all. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was so tender that I didn’t really need to use a knife. The crust on the outside tasted amazing with The Keg’s secret rub and the flavours were further intensified when I dipped the meat into the delicious au jus. The only complaint I have is the piece of meat I received was kind of fatty, but I have to admit that the fat does contribute to the flavour and juiciness of the final product.

CL ordered the creole chicken ($24.95) at the recommendation from my friend at the table. CL enjoyed her dish and the portions were big enough for me to get a couple bites too. The chicken breast was grilled and topped with a shrimp and scallop seafood sauce with cajun seasoning. The chicken was charred on the outside with beautiful grill marks while staying tender and juicy on the inside. The seafood sauce was a little sweet for me but it tasted fresh and complimented the chicken well.

We were all too full from our mains to have any dessert and decided to call it a night and headed over to my co-worker’s condo for some drinks. After chatting with my party, we all agreed that we had a good time at The Keg in Yaletown. The atmosphere was exceptional and the food was good with only a few flaws. We will definitely return and maybe try the lobster summer menu next time.

service: 7/10
atmosphere: 8.5/10
food: 7/10
overall: 7.5/10

Recipe 1/2: Ferrero Rocher and Nutella Cookies

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:22:00 -0700

Today is quite a special day, it’s SY’s birthday! So since he loves his foods, I decided to whip up something for him. I remember him telling me his favourite chocolate was Ferrero Rocher, so after some ‘research’, I decided to make Ferrero Rocher cookies. It’s my first time making them, so I was worried that they wouldn’t turn out that well. Since I was in a baking mood, I decided to also make Nutella cookies. So for you hazelnut lovers out there, I definitely recommend the following recipes.

Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cookies (adapted from the Happy Baker)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces (I didn’t add more chocolate because I thought the dough was sweet enough)
12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates; frozen over night and smashed into small/medium sized pieces (I used 16 to bring out the hazelnut flavour)
¼ cup Nutella (optional; I wanted to have a stronger hazelnut flavour in the cookies)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Add dry ingredients to the batter and stir until combined evenly. Stir in chocolate and Ferrero Rocher’s.
Optional step: Scoop 1/4 to 1/3 cup of Nutella (depending on how much you want) and add to batter and mix well.
Cool the dough in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Roll dough into 1-inch sized balls and flatten using a spoon. Leave 2 inches between each cookies and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Let cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

I don’t like eating super sweet cookies so I omitted the chocolate chips but I found that adding nutella gives a stronger hazelnut/chocolate taste. The dough was much easier to handle as it was less sticky and gooey. I definitely recommend this recipe but do not over smash the Ferrero Rocher chocolates! I smashed mine into very small pieces and I think the cookie would have tasted better if there were medium sized pieces of chocolate in there.

Chocolate Nutella Cookies (adapted from two peas and their pod)

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cocoa powder
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (softened)
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
1-½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon hazelnut extract (I didn’t have any so I replaced it with more vanilla extract and added slightly more Nutella)
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa.
In a separate bowl cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract (and hazelnut if you have). Add Nutella and mix until batter is smooth.
Add half of flour mixture to the batter. Mix well and add milk and the remaining flour mixture.
Chill dough for at least 15 minutes before baking. (I wasn’t sure about the consistency of the dough because it was very sticky and gooey so I scooped 3 spoons of dough and made three cookies to test it out first before making the rest of the batch. It took around 20-30 minutes for the dough to become more viscous and less sticky.)
Take a tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball and place onto baking pan. Gently press down on dough and leave two inches between cookies.
Bake for 10 minutes or until soft. The cookies should rise quite a bit but sink down after cooling. Remove cookies from oven and cool for about 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

If I make this again next time, I would try adding the hazelnut extract and not as much nutella. It’s definitely not too sweet and it has a very strong chocolate taste to it. It’s a bit dense, fudge-y like and super soft. Between the two recipes, I’d recommend the Ferrero Rocher cookies one, and to add more chocolate to it.

Oh, and happy birthday, SY. :)

Chapter 1: Guu Original

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 22:23:00 -0700

Hello everyone, I’m SY and this post marks the beginning of an amazing chapter of my life. I’ve been contemplating about starting a blog for years but only recently have I convinced myself that I’ll be able to keep this blog running. I also persuaded my lovely girlfriend CL to join me because I wanted to use this blog as our platform to share the food adventures that we go on and post all the recipes that CL whips up from time to time.

CL and I are students from UBC and are both self-confessed food aficionados. While I like to try out new restaurants, CL enjoys trying out new recipes. Our blog posts will focus mainly on more ethnic/asian cuisine with the occasional local flare inserted here and there.

To start it off with a BANG, our first review is going to be about the Guu Original, located near the intersection of Robson and Thurlow. There are currently 8 Guus in Vancouver and Toronto, with the restaurant on Thurlow being the first of the bunch. In Vancouver, Guu is seen as the pioneers and masters of Japanese Izakaya style dining, and their reputation is reflected by the long lineups outside the restaurant

It was our first time visiting Guu but I had a rough idea of what to order (since I always catch up on other food blogs). The wait was not too bad; we were offered to share tables but refused to. After a half hour wait, we were seated at the bar and greeted very energetically by the staff. The atmosphere was very loud and casual. Our first round of orders comprised of beef tataki ($5.20), sashimi salad ($6.50), ebi mayo ($7.80), and uni sashimi ($9.80). As for drinks, I ordered a glass of Sapporo ($5.00) and CL went for the ramune cocktail Snow White ($5.80).

First to arrive was the ebi mayo, piping hot, right out of the deep fryer and smothered in their house made chilli mayo. This dish is a very traditional for izakaya dish and a must have at Guu. The prawns were fried to perfection; crispy on the outside while maintaining the soft and tender texture on the inside. There was an excessive amount of spicy chilli mayo on the prawns, but being the rich food lovers that we are, we didn’t complain. This dish was CL’s favourite.

The next course to arrive was the uni (sea urchin) sashimi from the weekly specials menu. The uni was served with sea weed for wrappping and soy sauce and wasabi for dipping. The first piece I tried melted immediately in my mouth, almost like ice cream. The texture was so rich and smooth, it made chewing obsolete. The uni flavour was not fishy at all but rather sweet and a little briny, and left a fresh taste in my mouth which reminded me of the ocean. I do not recommend wrapping uni with the seaweed because the seaweed takes away the fresh uni taste. Uni sashimi is definitely an acquired taste because CL didn’t like it at all. This was my first time trying uni sashimi and this dish turned out to be my favourite of the night.

Next up was sashimi salad, but being a first time blogger, I was half way through the salad before remembering that I haven’t taken a picture yet. The salad came with three types of sashimi: amaebi, tuna and hamachi. The salad was dressed with an asian vinegrette and drizzled lightly with wasabi mayo. The sashimi tasted really fresh in combination with the greens and at $6.50 it was steal, but the thing is it wasn’t that different from the other sashmi salads I’ve had. You can ask them to fry the shrimp head afterwards for a crunchy savoury snack.

After we devoured the salad, we ordered the second round of food while waiting for the beef tataki to arrive. This time we ordered the gin dara ($8.50), okonomiyaki ($5.80) and a bottle of cold sake ($7.80). The gin dara (grilled black cod) arrived in no time at all, covered in a thick layer of mayo like the ebi mayo. The fish was marinaded in a soy sauce and miso based mixture and was grilled to a tender flaky perfection. We found the mayo to be a bit heavy so we scraped off the mayo before eating it. At $8.50, it’s one of the more expensive items on the menu but I would definitely order it again.

The okonomiyaki, which arrived next, was the least interesting dish of the night. But this dish had all the right components and flavours but was just poorly executed. When I tried to pick up a piece it just fell apart on the plate.

As we were picking away at the broken okonomiyaki, our long awaited beef tataki finally arrived and it was worth the wait. The beef was arranged neatly on top of a salad of onion, daikon and greens. The whole dish is drizzled in a tangy ponzu sauce and sprinkled with fried garlic chips. The perfect bite is to get a little bit of everything on the plate and experience the flavours all at once. The acidity from the ponzu sauces cuts through the richness of the beef, while the greens and garlic chips provided that extra crunch. CL usually doesn’t enjoy eating beef tataki but she really enjoyed this dish as well. However, I wouldn’t recommend ordering this dish if you are on a first date (or important date for that matter), because of the strong garlic flavour.

To finish off the night, we ordered the cheesecake, which happened to be jasmine flavoured on the night of our visit. The cheesecake was creamy and not too sweet, but the addition of actual jasmine tea leaves gave the dish a weird texture and a bitter aftertaste, but we still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Guu Original is highly rated on urbanspon and I can see why. Guu was very impressive with its great food and atmosphere and it’s a great place to unwind after a rough week while enjoying a beer and a couple of dishes with friends. The restaurant is priced fairly due to the high quality of the ingredients. We will definitely be returning in the near future.

What would we rate it?
service: 9/10
atmosphere: 9/10
food: 9/10
overall: 9/10

Of course, there aren’t other reviews to compare the ratings with but please check back soon! I’ll try to keep up with weekly updates and feel free to comment and follow me on tumblr. :)