Bistro Sakana
An underrated Yaletown gem. Sushi places in Vancouver is a dime a dozen, I seriously ate more sushi in Van city than in Japan. So in a city of raw fish on rice, it’s hard to find one that stands out, enter Bistro Sakana. I …
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Captain’s Boil
The test of a good restaurant is if it is consistent in pushing out good dishes and if it improves in the stuff they need to work on based on customer reviews or well just based on their experience. I’ve been to Captain’s Boil five …
Japadog
a Japanese street food take on the usual hotdog.
I’m not really much of a hotdog sandwich fan, I mean I like hotdogs on a stick but the bun is a killer for me, I’m not a bread person so I usually discard this part, it does serve as a nice holder for your hotdogs when sticks aren’t available so I guess it has some uses.
Japadog started out as a food cart a few years back and I remember the infamous lineups at Burrard just to try these kurobota pork goodness. My favourite is the terimayo (with teriyaki, mayo and seaweed toppings) and the oroshi (with grated radish and soy sauce). I also tried the okonomi (with bonito flakes) but it was a bit too plain for me.
So far I’ve visited two sit down branches, one at Robson and the other one at McArthur Glenn outlets, I liked the latter one better because it’s more airy and spacious. You can also sample all their hotdogs on a platter, without the bun, which I should like theoretically but somehow it’s nothing special without all those toppings.
All in all, a Vancouver visit is never complete without trying out this hotdog, it’s an east meets west concoction that defines the culture of this city. It’s almost like a signature dish like the Chicago dogs although not quite yet.
Verdict: 3/5
The Holy Crab
Louisiana inspired seafood boil I’ve been waiting for the opening of this restaurant since winter last year, mostly because I wanted to try the lobster roll! We visited this place a couple of times and as much as I like their lobster rolls, there’s a …
Linguini FIni
Linguini Fini is an Italian restaurant hailing from New York (what, not Italy?) that boasts of homemade pasta (and I’m a sucker for fresh pasta). But for now, I have to pass because we’re trying out this new diet of no carbs and sugar, so far it has worked, 5lbs less in more or less a week after I started. Haha on to the review.
I ordered Eggplant Parm which is a medley of breaded eggplant slices, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. So it’s like lasagna really, pasta being replaced by eggplant haha! They had to check the kitchens if that’s available and I was like O_O. (And because of that we developed this new rule that if our first and second choices are not available, we will walk out) Good thing it was.
First look, it’s quite rich and appetizing. The chopped basil was a nice contrast on the melted mozzarella (and is that some grated bits too?) and the crispy looking batter of the eggplant. Cutting through the plate however, almost all the tomato sauce has been absorbed by the eggplant slices and because it looked fried to me, oil has already seeped in the eggplant making it soggy. So imagine that being baked.
Verdict: 1/5
I know this isn’t a pasta dish, but if those eggplant slices were prepared properly (salted and rested), baked nstead of being fried, it would have made a difference. Oh and they gave me a disappointing bread, not focaccia (what happened to Italian?)! Maybe next trip here, we should try their fresh pasta so we can properly rate this resto.
Red Fish Blue Fish
arguably the best fish and chips in the island Sitting on wooden stools by the harbour and watching kayaks and seagulls while devouring your crispy fish and chips is a quintessential Victoria scene that is similar to drinking ice cold beer on a patio on …
Feria
Last pitstop for ReiMart’s special day (looks like a week to me now), is Feria. A restaurant in Radisson Blu hotel serving international cuisine (more on Asian and Mediterranean) to their patrons, they have a promo during Tuesdays, for 800Php/head. Perfect for celebrations like this one! We were joined by Gladys, Kuya Nik, and Teresa.
We immediately went to the sushi section and were greeted with sashimi slices and maki rolls. I had a plateful of sashimi for the first round. I had lots of salmon sashimi, some tuna sashimi, and an unidentified maki. The salmon sashimi had some hard parts when I ate them, not bones, maybe just a little frozen than it should be. None of that melt in your mouth goodness, times like this I miss being in Vancouver.
For my second plate, I took a more diverse route, getting paella, lechon slices, pork menudo (ikr?), pizza, and made my own Mexican chicken shawarma. I should cut down on carbs, I know, but it’s a buffet! Haha
Third plate, I’m pretty much getting ready for dessert, I got some elusive xiao long bao’s (yay!) and some more of that chicken shawarma hehe. Paired it with a very refershing basil infused cucumber lemonade! Waaa I should have taken more of this drink, if I only knew!
I think I got the prettiest dessert plate, and I mean just look at that beauty! 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream topped with rice crisps and chocolate drizzle, meringue, macarons, and chocolate coated marshmallows! Whaaaaat??
Verdict: 2/5
When I go to buffets, I usually just concentrate on one section, but here, I found myself circling about. Looking for other stuff to try, there’s not a lot of choices, maybe they toned it down for the promo, but they do have a nice desserts section. Bottomline, I’ve had better.
Sushi Bar Maumi
Jiro wannabe Ever since I watched Jiro dreams of sushi, I’ve always wanted to try that authentic and intimate sushi experience. Short of flying to Tokyo and spending thousands of yen, Maumi is just that place in Vancouver. This sushi bar is a small place …
Phnom Penh
aka the restaurant that fried chicken wings built? I’m not really a fried chicken wing connoisseur nor do I like fried food in general but when I heard about this place, I felt like I had to give it a visit. Phnom Penh sits right …
Kayu
Still on our special day bingeing, ReiMart and I met with Sandy at Kayu for another round of dessert (yes we had dessert back at ICAAC but so what?!). The restaurant is located inside a subdivision so it’s tucked away from the usual hustle and bustle of the metro.
Seated on a booth while waiting for our party, the a/c was directed at us or maybe it’s just because I was so full from the previous meal not an hour ago. We looked at the menu, found nothing light we could try consuming, so I asked for the desserts menu. We asked the server which is the bestsellers and we ordered those.
I got the Sizzling Caramel Bar and it did not disappoint with the sizzling part. The waiter had to call our attention before he poured the caramel onto the sizzling plate. We watched it with awe as it produced that crackling sound and the caramel hugged the ice cream, bananas, and the pudding. It’s a dessert channelling the sisig plate that we all so love. After that, dissecting the dish, I found it a little underwhelming. Because that’s that, pudding with ice cream on top and banana slices around the plate. But among the 3 (yes, 3) dishes we had, this was the first to go. Am I just too technical about this dish? LOL
Drei got the Chocolate Fix for his dessert. It’s got chocolate n-ways! Crunch, crémeux, gelée, and the non-chocolate stuff in there, vanilla ice cream and milk crumbs. Well, if you ask me, this is more complicated than my dish. It’s also better looking! But I don’t know, maybe you get more than a fix with the amount of chocolate there, and I can’t believe I’m saying that because I am such a sweet tooth, but Drei had to finish his plate alone haha!
Sandy got a Nutella Cheesecake, the only best seller left that’s not on our table. So this is the hazelnut galore dish, from Nutella truffle, candied hazelnuts, and hazelnut flavored granola crumbs, the works! We also had a hard time finishing this one because of the sweetness level haha!
Oh, Sandy and I got the Strawberry Lemongrass mocktail because I’m the designated driver! And well, I haven’t been exactly putting down crates and barrels of liquor haha so yeah mocktail it is!
Verdict: 2/5
Just went here for desserts, I heard they have this tapas menu you can order and a few tables around a fire pit. Would have been nice to dine there, when you’re cold, but it wasn’t available when we arrived.
