Sushi &

Sushi &, a newly opened Korean owned Japanese cuisine restaurant in Burquitlam. The restaurant is located in the same plaza along with Insadong and Pho 99. Sushi & renovated the whole restaurant and I appreciate that, rather than just changing the name of the restaurant and leaving the interior the same as the previous restaurant's (although the tables and chairs do look similar). On a weeknight, the restaurant was not very busy and we were greeted by the friendly staff. The restaurant's seating arrangements are spacious, comfortable and another row of seating could have been squeezed in, but I am glad they chose not to.

MANGO ROLL, NABEYAKI UDON, DELUXE ASSORTED SASHIMI, UNI, AWESOME ROLL II, PRAWN AND YAM TEMPURA, AND SOFT SHELL CRAB.

Hubbub Sandwiches

My friend wanted to try Hubbub Sandwiches and we met up for lunch. Being bad with directions as well as street names, I would have found this place a lot easier if I knew it was on the same street as Bacchus and Mac Cosmetics.

Hubbub is a small sandwich shop with limited seating, most likely not an issue since most of their cliental probably grabs food to go. The sandwich shop is very welcoming with friendly staff and information about their sandwiches posted around the restaurant. The menu is very straight forward and states the ingredients in every sandwich. For a "healthier" alternative, salads are available rather than a baguette.

CHICKEN WITH QUINOA SOUP, CHICKEN BREAST SANDWICH, PULLED PORK SANDWICH AND CLEAN SLAW.

Orange Julius : Lougheed Mall location

Some people are just so goddarn picky, and not me for once! BF does not like Jugo Juice and wanted something from Orange Julius. PREMIUM FRUIT SMOOTHIE, TRIPLE BERRY - STRAWBERRY, BLUEBERRY AND RASPBERRY ($6.20) + PROTEIN ($0.99). I used to like Orange Julius, until they removed a pretttttty good mango drink. Protein powder? What is wrong with him? I think it is stupid adding protein to fruit drinks. The drink tastes like creamy berries with a bitter aftertaste of protein, blahhh. The drink has more of a strawberry taste than blueberry and raspberry.

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 5/5 (super friendly staff!)

Jugo Juice : Lougheed Mall location

Continuing with the most random day… lunch at Sushi Gen, then had a stomachache (unrelated to lunch), grabbed soup at the Graniery Cafe to feel better, and immediately after I wanted some juice. THE MIGHTY KALE, FRESH SPINACH, MANGO, PINEAPPLE, ORANGE JUICE AND APPLE JUICE ($6.25). The mighty kale is one of my favourites and Jugo Juice has a really good system - pre organized frozen fruit in individual baggies so there are no inconsistencies. Unfortunately the drink tasted oddly extremely sweet (too much "100% juice" from concentrate) and did not taste so good. Do I drink these for health benefits? Naa.. but for those who want to start, this is a pretty good drink because the taste of spinach is never there. Usually the drink tastes refreshing and creamy, with a hint of sweetness.

Food: 2.5/5

Service: 2.5/5

The Grainery Cafe

After having lunch at Sushi Gen, I had a really bad stomachache! Of course unrelated to the food, it was probably from eating too fast. Being in the area, I thought some soup would help. Grainery Cafe is located in Lougheed Mall and serves soup, salad, sandwiches, pies and other homemade goodies.

 CREAM CORN SOUP AND CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP.

Meat & Bread : Cambie Location

Only a piggy needs to grab something to munch on before dinner, and rather than going for the usual boxES of chocolates I have everywhere, or grabbing a Magnum ice-cream from a gas station, or even worse, McDonalds like usual, I made a visit to Meat & Bread. I actually had dinner at Tropika's Lansdowne location and it would have made more sense going to Tropika's Robson location, considering the area I was already in but it was an unplanned dinner. Walking in on a late Friday afternoon around 4:45pm, the sandwich shop was pretty empty. 

Ebi Sushi Japanese Restaurant

All you can eat Japanese restaurants, I am a fan (of certain ones). First, expectations are not that high and if the food tastes above average, it is considered a bonus. Second, AYCE restaurants provides an opportunity to try a variety of items and only order a couple of pieces. Third, it is one of those restaurants for hungry customers who want food asap (me).

I have been to Ebi Sushi (previously E Bei Sushi) many years ago and never liked it (rolls and cooked foods were not that great). Why the sudden interest to visit? Because I like mirugai, amaebi and hamachi which I never did in high school. Coming on a weeknight around 10:00pm, we asked for a booth seat (considering the close to empty looking restaurant) and the manager was a bit hesitant until we persuaded her by saying we would be ordering off the deluxe menu rather than the late night. The restaurant has a variety of seating arrangements to satisfy almost every customer - seats by the sushi bar, tables at the front facing the TV, plenty of booth seating and lots of private rooms for larger parties. By the way, I never had a chance to post my first visit because the revisit was so soon after! That is a good thing right? I think the revisit was actually a couple of days after if not the day after, Sushi by Yuji. On the revisit, it was a weekend evening and I was surprised that we got a booth seat with no hesitations.

DELUXE $31.95 CHILDREN (4-9) $23.95, ADULT $24.95 CHILDREN (4-9) $16.95

LATE NIGHT $12.95, WEEKENDS/HOLIDAYS + $1.00, POP $1.95

Toe Dam Korean Fusion BBQ (2nd visit)

FIRST POST ON TOE DAM KOREAN FUSION BBQ [HERE]

A revisit so soon?! Well, a month is a long enough time considering that I make revisits more often, but isn't that the whole point... finding new regular restaurants to go to?! After the dinner at Potter's Garden, I craved for some better tasting Korean food and of course headed to Toe Dam Korean. When we walked in, the restaurant was busy and all the tatami rooms along the left side were booked for a company party. The party was loud and every few minutes there would be some clapping as well as chanting in Korean, which I found quite heartwarming rather than annoying. 

Sushi Gen Restaurant

The replacement of the previous Japanese restaurant Hukuya Sushi, is now Sushi Gen. I was surprised at the high ratings for Hukuya Sushi... considering that most of my visits were not so great with below average tasting food and not so fresh sashimi. Sushi Gen is located next to Red Robin's, near Lougheed Mall in Burnaby. The restaurant's interior has comfortable as well as spacious seating arrangements and one of the reasons the only reason for visiting is because I saw a photo of their lobster roll on Urbanspoon.

LOBSTER ROLL, SALMON TERIYAKI BOX WITH A SALMON AVOCADO ROLL, SASHIMI AND SUSHI BOX, NEW YORK STEAK TERIYAKI, AND MISO SOUP.

Excellent Tofu & Snack 好好豆品專門店

Another delayed post has been Excellent Tofu & Snack. I forgot where I had dinner before dropping by, possibly Shanghai House? Excellent Tofu & Snack has been here for many years and has always been my go to for tofu pudding, until I started making my own. The tofu shop is a small family owned business with friendly owners.

Golden Oscar Cafe & Restaurant

I can choose anywhere to eat and I chose Oscar's, honestly. There are a few fine dining restaurants I have wanted to try for a while but I am not really in the mood to be disappointed these days. I only know of Golden Oscar because I came here in Grade.11 and it was my first official Hong Kong style cafe experience. I remember thinking, really? People just order one dish? You come here to eat fried rice and that's it? Why not go to the food court and get rice with a side of meat? Ughh baked rice or Chinese style pasta? What the…

I have tried baked rice dishes before and it is not my thing. I love cheese and can eat any amount of cheese in one sitting (except swiss, I hate swiss cheese), but there is just something about rice baked with cheese that I do not like. Ever since I started blogging however, I have tried a lot of restaurants that I normally would not ("dirty" Chinese restaurants, noodle shops, pubs, BBT food, tapas) and actually enjoy most experiences, so I decided to try Oscar's willingly. Well… confession, I came here because it was a weekend and to avoid a busy restaurant.

After bickering back and forth to my friend numerous times about how I hate HK style cafes, he explained this type of restaurant to me in the most simplest way. A HK style cafe is like McDonalds, you get a drink, soup and a meat dish.. like a drink, fries and a burger. Why does the second option sound so much better? So when I told him I wanted to come here, he thought I was joking. Oscar's is a clean restaurant, where there are booth seating arrangements and plenty of tables. I like that the waitresses seat everyone at the larger booths too, no matter if you are here with two or more people.

Potter's Garden Korean BBQ 香辣里

Potter's Garden is located on Kingsway Street in Burnaby, and is close to another Korean restaurant, Jang Mo Jib. Walking in on a Thursday evening, the restaurant was a quarter full and we were seated at a small coffee size table. Doing the usual if I think the table is a bit too small for our order, asked if we could move to a larger table. But, the waiter looked at us like it was a silly request and said no. After being rejected and looking around, I found it odd that a few tables of two with only an order of one hot pot, had a larger table than us!

After we finished ordering, the waiter constantly suggested for us to pass on table top barbecue, in hopes of saving some table space which I found even more odd. Regardless, table top barbecue or not, the amount of food we ordered would not fit at any coffee sized table. So, fortunately after insisting numerous times that we wanted to cook our own meats, he finally moved us to a regular sized table! As for the restaurant, it stayed a quarter full for the rest of the evening.

Potter's Garden has two sides, one for larger parties and the other for groups of less than four. The restaurant is fairly spacious, has comfortable seating arrangements, and a very strong aroma of BBQ meat along with hot pot. As for the service, there was only one waiter on the floor and despite his slow service, he tried to be somewhat as efficient as he could (after a few tables complained to him).

Tropika at Lansdowne 星馬印

POST ON TROPIKA AT CAMBIE [HERE]

POST ON TROPIKA AT ROBSON [HERE]

REVISIT POST ON TROPIKA AT ROBSON [HERE]

The original Tropika restaurant in Richmond was previously located at Aberdeen Center and closed in the beginning of the year to relocate to Lansdowne (unfortunately with the same owners). Tropika in Richmond has never been a first choice and is not even on my list of restaurants to visit. Every prior visit to Tropika at Aberdeen was never positive (below average food and unfriendly staff, including the managers), however, due to my impatience and that Little Sheep Mongolian had a thirty minute wait, I decided to try the new location. 

One of the good things about trying a new restaurant is that the staff is usually friendly, so no problems there. Walking in, the restaurant had a strong aroma of shrimp paste, odd. Ususally every Tropika restaurant including the previous Aberdeen location smells like nothing, but the restaurant had a really heavy smell of shrimp paste. The interior of the restaurant looks more casual as well as laid back compared to the Robson location and Tropika correctly maximizes their seating arrangements and has plenty of booth seating. 

PORK, LAMB AND CHICKEN SATAYS WITH PEANUT SAUCE, MALACCAN CURRY CRAB, HAINANESE CHICKEN, LOBSTER TUNG YAM KUNG, ROTI CANAI, PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE WITH HAM AND CHICKEN, AND SAYUR KARI.

Congee Noodle King 粥麵軒 (2nd visit)

FIRST POST ON CONGEE NOODLE KING [HERE]

FOUR REVISIT POSTS ON CONGEE NOODLE KING [HERE]

A revisit to the popular Congee Noodle King on Kingsway in Vancouver. Why the revisit? With only three to five other late night Chinese restaurants available on Kingsway, the choice was CNK. I used to visit CNK weekly and even more than once a week, however, after finding other late night restaurants, I slowly stopped visiting. CNK is known for their delicious tasting congee and spicy salt n' chilli deep fried goods. The interior of the restaurant is spacious and has comfortable seating arrangements. However, the restaurant does get busy, to the point when sometimes shared tables are a must.

Taiwan Beef Noodle King

So… it seems like I have been craving for noodles in the last couple of months. I am pretty much a poser when it comes to eating noodles and only eat around five to ten strands, literally. However, lately I have been wanting to eat noodles and can finish a whole bowl, probably because it is nice for a change and something different for me. Taiwan Beef Noodle King is a small family owned restaurant with the husband working at the back of the house and the wife overseeing the front. Despite the somewhat small restaurant, the interior is well ventilated and has a high ceiling as well as spacious comfortable seating arrangements.

NOODLE SOUP WITH STEWED BEEF AND BEEF TENDON, BEEF IN CHINESE PANCAKE, PAN FRIED PORK DUMPLINGS, MARINATED EGG, MARINATED DRIED TOFU AND MARINATED BEEF TRIPE, STEAMED JUICY DUMPLING, XIAO LONG BAO, AND STEWED BEEF NOODLE IN SOUP.

Jambo Grill & Good Morning Paan

Jambo Grill is another one of those "hey look at the reviews on Urbanspoon, let's try the restaurant" for me. The restaurant offers daily specials which greatly influenced the night I chose to visit. My options were between Tuesday's jungle ribs or Thursday's Thali buffet (the menu may have changed a week ago because the Thursday special is pili pili wings now).

After waiting ten minutes at the door, the waiter was kind and mentioned we can sit anywhere, except by or across from the door because a cold draft constantly comes in whenever the door opens. The cold draft was true because we sat far from the door and it was definitely chilly, which can easily be prevented by placing a panel by the door.  Jambo Grill has a relaxing atmosphere and the restaurant properly maximizes their seating arrangements, emphasize on properly. The seating arrangements are comfortable and not cramped one bit.

Sushi by Yuji

With such a high rating and many positive posts on Urbanspoon, Sushi by Yuji caught my attention. The restaurant is located in Vancouver on Kingsway Street, along with 75% of the Asian restaurants. When walking in, the restaurant was almost silent; with two seated tables and a couple sitting at the sushi bar.

Sushi by Yuji is a very small restaurant with only five tables and four sushi bar seats. Also, I presume the location was a previous retail store because the restaurant only has a homestyle stove, rather than a kitchen.

Empire Seafood Restaurant 帝苑皇宴海鮮酒家

So… attempt #3 for dining at Koon Bo failed and we ended up at Empire Seafood in Richmond. Empire Seafood can be considered a higher end Chinese restaurant with higher prices as well as above average service, for dinner. I have been here for dim sum a few times and the restaurant is a favourite for some of my friends. However, even though I consider the dim sum here slightly above average with not so great service (as expected at most Chinese restaurants regardless of the class), it is not my first choice. Dinner on the other hand, is different. I do not mind coming here for dinner, although again, not a first choice.

Empire Seafood is located on the second floor of London Plaza. The restaurant has a high ceiling, nice chandeliers, large windows, and the interior follows a neutral colour scheme of brown and ivory. The seating arrangements are spacious and comfortable, and the staff is attentive as well as professional during dinner services (not so much for dim sum, depending on who you get). For a Monday evening, there were two company Christmas parties and one private birthday party.