Foodie Trip #3: Ebi Ten

Chicken craving = SATISFIED!

After reading The Food Queen's blog post about That Barista Thing, I was really excited about it! Knowing Ronald has an interest in latte art, I asked if he wanted to go. Since the event was taking in Vancouver Public Library, I suggested to give Ebi Ten a visit as it has been a while since we went.

Ebi Ten is a Japanese fast food restaurant. The way the restaurant works reminds me of a cafeteria. So first you would pay for your meal. Then you get your receipt with a number on it. When your order is ready, they will call your number!

Menu

Layout of store

I finally remembered to take a picture of the store! As you can tell, there are not much seats available. If you are going with a friend, I suggest you to take turns to purchase your meals.

Sushi and snacks fridge

A) Ebi Ten Bowl ($8.25)

This Ebi Ten bowl was definitely catered to my preference *drools*. I was having a chicken craving (as always), but I also really like tempura shrimps! The amount of batter for the tempura was perfect; they were definitely not drenched in batter before frying. I quite enjoyed the teriyaki sauce. It was not too sweet like some teriyaki sauce I have tried; it was just enough to bring out a savoury taste.

Salmon Sushi Rolls

Ronald's salmon sushi rolls! They were probably made in the morning. So, it didn't taste really fresh.

8) Buta-Mayo
Gingered stir-fried pork on rice with cabbage and mayo

Ronald's again! At first, I thought it was just pork with cabbage because I didn't see the rice. Ronald thought it was just "okay". He said he expected "chunks of meat instead of slices". So this didn't really fill him up.

I wouldn't recommend getting their sushi. But, try the Ebi Ten Bowl!! It was delicious :) 

Ebi Ten is great if you are in a hurry but still want to grab a decent lunch!

Ebi Ten

388 Robson Street 

Vancouver, BC V6B 2B2

Microwaveable meal: Salisbury Steak Meal

After I got off work today, I was hoping to go home and eat some leftovers from today or yesterday's dinner. But, no luck. My parents went out to eat so there wasn't anything to eat at home...except this.

I always try to stay away from microwaveable foods. Well, I did learn the process of how frozen foods are produced, but it is still considered "fast food". 

Banquet - Salisbury Steak Meal

Nutrition Content

Of course, being a nutrition student, I always look at the Nutrition Facts Table! First off, this meal is only 230 Calories. Daily diet for women should be around 2000 Calories/kcal. This being said, I think this meal will only be considered a "snack" or part of a meal. Next thing that caught my attention is the sodium level. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for sodium is ~2000 mg. This meal itself is already 930 mg. And this is the reason why a lot of Canadians and Americans are consuming much higher levels of sodium than recommended. With high levels of sodium in our diet, this will lead to an increased risk of various health concerns such as high blood pressure, kidney disease and stroke.

Another thing that was interesting to point out, was folic acid. From my understanding, folate is the natural form and folic acid is the synthetic form. Does this suggest that external sources of folic acid was added?

Final product after microwaving for 5 minutes

On to the taste of the meal! Well, the steak obviously did not really taste like steak. It tasted plastic-y. The sauce was savoury! The high sodium content can probably be traced back to the sauce. The corn was on the dry side. I had to put add some sauce to mix it up. I guess the best part was the mashed potatoes! It is kind of difficult to mess up mashed potatoes :P

I believe my parents got this at WalMart in the states for around $1.25 USD.

Ikea Restaurant: Swedish Meatballs

First time I ever had Ikea food was when I went to Portland with my family a year or two ago! Of course, the prices were cheaper and portions were bigger.

I have been to the old Ikea probably gazillion times, but have not tried their food. But I suspect all Ikea foods should taste the same. My sister, Kimmie, had a sudden craving for Ikea food (meatballs, to be specific), so we decided to go after I got off work!

Menu

The set up of the "restaurant" is pretty much like a cafeteria. You grab a tray, pass it along the tray line and just take what you want to eat!

Garlic Bread

(Left to Right) Meatballs, Salmon, Ribs

(Left to Right) Haddock, Fries

Swedish meatballs with gravy, lingonberry jam, and fries (top)
Swedish meatballs with gravy, lignonberry jam, and mashed potatoes (bottom)

So we both ended up getting 15 meatballs ($3.99 for Mondays-Fridays; $5.99 for Saturday&Sunday). You get to pick your own choice of sides (fries, mashed potatoes, pasta with tomato sauce, vegetables or salad). I decided to go with the mashed potatoes while Kimmie got the fries. 

The texture of the meatballs was soft and meaty. Don't expect it to be like Chinese fish/beef balls! I wasn't particularly fond of the lingonberry jam. I thought it was an odd complement to the savoury meatballs and gravy. I really enjoyed the mashed potatoes though! The texture is very creamy and smooth; just how I like my mashed potatoes. I took a couple of Kimmie's fries and thought they were just alright (nothing special).

For $3.99, I really couldn't ask for more! I think after Kimmie and I finished up, we didn't eat dinner but instead had a snack later at night.

My mouth is watering as I reminisce on this lovely meal :P Ikea date anyone?

Toshi Teppanyaki @ YVR

This, my friends, is one of my many comfort foods!

I usually get this delicious looking chicken steak yakisoba during my dinner break at the airport! It is sort of a "treat" for myself for working hard (not really...it really is just an excuse for me to satisfy my never-ending chicken craving).

This costs $8.95, which is quite a bit for food court standards. But, airport food is always expensive!
The chicken has a crisp outer layer, which I love. But the noodles on the other hand, I don't like as much. Sometimes I find it too soggy. I figured it was probably due to the fact that I go around 7 p.m. and their store closes at 8 p.m. so the noodles have been sitting around for a day (?). Once, I went earlier, at around 6 p.m. and it was better! The sauce for me is a hit or miss thing. At times it may be a bit on the salty side.

Chicken Steak Yakisoba

Overall, I think it is not bad for food court standards. But, it is a bit on the pricey side! I can't help it...I love chicken a lot!

Location: Domestic Departures Food Court (Level 3) at YVR

Birthday Snack: La Belle Patate (super belated post)

I didn't have time to blog about La Belle Patate before I left for Hong Kong. So here it is now!

My birthday was actually back in August, so this post is really belated.

La Belle Patate was somewhere Ronald suggested we should try...probably way back when summer started. We never had the chance to go due to school and work. So he suggested we should go for my birthday!

Outside of La Belle Patate

Tuesday Special

Not sure if the banner is always there...but yes, we went on a Tuesday!

Menu

There were a lot of choices on the menu. We couldn't really decide on one, so we settled for the Tuesday special! There was all you can eat for $19.50. But really, all you can eat poutine?! That sounds really awesome but kind of nasty at the same time.

Coca Cola in glass bottles

I was quite excited to see Coca Cola in glass bottles! Is it me or we don't have them around in Vancouver?

Tuesday Special - 2 small traditional poutines $8.49

CHEESE CURDS!

The size of the poutine looks quite small, but it was SO filling. I was glad the cheese curds didn't all melt, otherwise I can't test whether they are squeaky or not! So with the whole "squeaky" cheese curd business, when you bite into the cheese curds and if they "squeak", this means they are fresh curds. I thought it was the best poutine I ever had; though at the end, the fries were drenched in gravy which was too salty to consume.

Try it out if you are a poutine lover! There is a bus stop right in front of the restaurant, so it is quite convenient to get there. If you are looking for parking, there is an underground pay parking lot nearby.

Thank you for bringing me there :)

1215 Davie Street

Vancouver, BC V6E 1N4

王記台灣牛肉麵 Wang's Taiwan Beef Noodle House

Today I went out for dinner with my parents. My dad suggested to go to Wang's Taiwan Beef Noodle House because he was got really tired of the Chinese food in Richmond. Since Wang's located on Granville Street, it's pretty convenient for us.

Cute teacup

I thought their choice of teacup was quite cute; well, for a noodles house :P

Fried Wonton
炸雲吞

I am not a fan of fried food, but my sister insisted me to try it. I guess this is the "Taiwanese" style fried wonton. Inside is minced beef with a glutinous texture. The fried texture on the outside contrasts with the sticky interior which made it quite interesting!

Marinated Pork Hooves 

My parents ordered this. I am not a fan of pork hooves, so I didn't try it. But my parents enjoyed it. I believe it was only around $3.75 (another reason why my dad got it!).

Chicken Noodles

Minced pork on rice with marinated hard-boiled egg
肉燥飯

For their noodles soup, you get to choose your choice of noodles (thick, thin, or vermicelli). I was told by my parents that their thick noodles are the best, so I decided to go with that! I was really glad they didn't serve the chicken on the noodles, otherwise the fried chicken would be all soggy. I thought the chicken noodles wasn't anything spectacular. But since I love chicken so much, I had two small bowls of this!

Beef Noodles
牛肉麵

This was the highlight of the meal! I love how the beef briskets had a little bit of tendons in it. This made it extra chewy! I would definitely prefer this over Chef Hung's beef noodles due to the portion size of the noodles. This was around $8 whereas Chef Hung's is around $10 but with smaller portions. The soup base was very rich, but too oily for me to drink.

Give Wang's a try if you are a beef noodles fan :) Though I have not tried authentic Taiwanese beef noodles, I was told this comes really close to it!

8390 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC V6P 4Z7

Foodie List for October

Can't believe it has been a month since I came back from Hong Kong! With so many assignments/quizzes/midterms coming up, I came up with a foodie list (basically a list of restaurants/cafes I want to try) as my motivation :P

So, here it is!

1. 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters Cafe

http://www.49thparallelroasters.com

I wanted to try this after seeing my friend's cup of latte on Instagram. The latte art was probably the most beautiful one I have ever seen. Apparently, it is owned by the same people who founded Caffé Artigiano!! So astounded when I found this out! 

I am a big fan of Starbucks but sometimes I find their coffee to have a sour aftertaste. I am no coffee connoisseur but the sour aftertaste is so displeasing! I prefer Artigiano's coffee as it doesn't have a sour aftertaste. Too bad they don't have any stores in Richmond!

2. Jethro's Fine Grub

http://www.jethrosfinegrub.com/

Jethro's have been on my list for the longest time (probably since April)! Their Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread French Toast sounds amazing! Scratch that, actually everything sounds good on their menu!!

Jethro's Fine Grub was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. And I trust Guy Fieri's recommendation after trying out Meat & Bread!

3. Miku Restaurant

http://mikurestaurant.com/

I found out about Miku while browsing on Urbanspoon. Their Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi caught my attention right away. They are firmly pressed into a rectangular shape! Some bloggers say it is the best salmon sushi they ever had! 

But, I probably won't get to Miku in October...if not, I will definitely go in November or during Christmas break.

That's all on my October Foodie List!