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!

Foodie Trip #2: Meat & Bread

Yesterday, Ronald suggested we should have a foodie trip! He picked Meat & Bread in Gastown. I have always wanted to try after seeing so many pictures on Instagram and Facebook!!

Meat & Bread is basically a sub/sandwich store. The store itself is not very big. But they have 4 tables by the menu area, a long table which can probably seat 20-30 people and a long bar table by the kitchen/prep area (Sorry!! Forgot to take pictures :p). If you are going with a friend, I suggest that either you or your friend line up and the other go save seats! We went around 2 p.m. and there were quite a lot of people!

Menu

The menu features 4 different sandwiches. The daily special changes everyday. You can check their website or their twitter (@1meatandbread) to see their daily updates about their special!

Porchetta!!

Porchetta placed on top of the ciabatta bread

While you are lining up to order, you can watch them prepare the porchetta sandwiches! Porchetta is a savoury, boneless, moist pork roast. I think it is quite similar to Chinese roast pork!

First, they cut up the porchetta then the crispy skin. After, the cut up porchetta is placed on the freshly made ciabatta buns. To finish, they drizzle the salsa verde on top of the porchetta.

Wooden serving boards for the sandwiches

I like how they use wooden serving boards; it adds such a unique touch! Also the drop of mustard adds a nice finishing presentation.

Selection of drinks

There were a lot of people getting the apple cider. Perhaps I should give it a try next time ;)

Daily Special
BBQ Beef with Sesame Fennel and Apple Frisee Salad

Porchetta with Salsa Verde

I got the porchetta ($8) while Ronald wanted to try out the daily special ($9). I only finished half of the porchetta so I gave the rest to Ronald. He said the porchetta is definitely better than the beef.

I would definitely recommend trying the porchetta! It's so savoury and tender!!

Go check them out here! They have two locations in Vancouver :)

Hong Kong Trip - From YVR to HKG

My flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong was amazing! The food and service were great! On top of that, there wasn't turbulence at all!!!

Being the hungry foodie that I am, of course I took pictures of what I ate :)

First meal - Lunch

Braised beef with shiitake mushroom sauce, spinach mashed potatoes, green peas and carrots

Haagen-Dazs ice-cream, Prawns with edamame and red pepper salad

 Lunch was great! Usually I can't really eat airplane food due to the off-putting smell, but Cathay's meal are quite delicious for airplane meal standards. Shrimps from the salad were fresh. My favourite was the Haagen-Dazs ice-cream bar! I only ate half because I didn't bring my Lactaid pills :P

Heineken and cup noodles as snack

Dinner - Chicken with hickory barbecue sauce, roasted rosemary potatoes and mixed vegetables

Desserts from dinner - Blueberry cheesecake and seasonal fresh fruits

Overall experience with Cathay was a blast! No motion sickness and didn't feel sick from the plane meal smell. Thank you for the smooth flight :D Definitely will be flying with Cathay next time!

Foodie Trip #1: Hapa Izayaka on Robson

Finally got to try Hapa Izayaka yesterday after seeing so many friends post pictures of the food on Facebook! I bought a Groupon in July ($15 for $30 worth of food, good for 2 to 4 people). So I ended up going with bf and his mom :)

We made a reservation for 6:30 p.m.. and the restaurant was quite full already!

Exterior of Hapa Izakaya

Ebi Mayo
Deep fried shrimp, tossed in a spicy mayonnaise sauce

Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps
Crispy pork belly, apple jam, pickled onion, butter lettuce

Ebi Mayo - This was my absolute favourite! The ebi mayo was the first dish that arrived, so it sort of set a standard for the dishes that were coming along. It was sort of like shrimp tempura but covered with a sauce that resembles the sweet and sour sauce. The batter was on the thick side, but the sweetness of the shrimp was still shown through.

Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps - I thought this was just alright. This reminded me of the Peking duck lettuce wraps. The down side was it did not come with enough lettuce for each pork belly. There were two pieces remaining that was just eaten on its own. But pork itself was seasoned nicely!

Yaki Udon
Thick udon noodles, stir-fried chicken, vegetables
(vegetarian version available upon request)

Ishi-Yaki (already mixed)
Rice, minced pork, flower chives, egg, tomato, lettuce, spicy miso, served in a hot stone bowl

Yaki Udon - Second favourite! :) The portion was quite small. It was enough for around 4-5 bowls. The only down side to the udon was I thought it was sort of wet for fried noodles.

Ishi-Yaki - Before heading to Hapa Izakaya, I read on various blogs that this was one of their best dish. So, we decided to give it a try! It was very similar to the Korean stone bowl rice. When it arrived at our table, it wasn't thoroughly mixed. All the ingredients were laid on top of the rice (just like the Korean style ones). The waitress helped us mix it...for some reason she had to flatten out the rice after all the mixing (not sure why :P)

Renkon Gyoza Tempura
Minced pork layered with lotus root, tempura

Crab Croquette
Dungeness crab, corn, Japanese BBQ sauce

Renkon Gyoza Tempura - We ordered this and the crab croquette after we finished the rice! This was definitely an interesting dish...that being said, it was something you can probably make at home if you are willing to invest in the time. There was lotus root between the gyoza wrapper and the batter. It added an extra "crunch" in addition to the fried batter.

Crab Croquette - This was probably the most disappointing dish we ordered. My first reaction was: "what?! only 3 pieces?!". But after finishing one piece, I was SO full. Inside has a thick creamy filling. I couldn't really taste the crab though. 

Rating: 3.5/5

We thought the portions were on the small side but we were kind of expecting it to be a light dinner! Though I have not tried other Japanese Tapas, Hapa Izakaya has definitely got me interested in the whole Japanese Tapas experience! But if it wasn't for the Groupon, I probably wouldn't have tried out the restaurant due to its price.

Location: 1479 Robson Street      Vancouver, BC V6G 1C1

World Wrap Place

I decided to take a stroll in Gastown after my volunteer shift in North Van. I came across this wrap place on Water Street! It isn't exactly a restaurant but a booth on the street with two tables and a couple plastic chairs. I actually wanted to sit down in a restaurant and have a quick lunch...but I thought I would give this a try ;)

World Wrap Place Menu

World Wrap Place - info sign

Small Mexican Chicken Wrap (without red onions)
Chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, fresh hot Jalapenos, sliced mushrooms, salsa and lots of Mozzarella

Half eaten small Mexican chicken wrap

I ordered the small Mexican chicken wrap because most likely I won't be able to finish a large...I wasn't sure of their portions. I opted out of the red onions...the raw onion taste is so displeasing :( Then the man (probably owner) who was making my wrap asked if I want medium or very spicy; I ended up getting medium! He popped the pita bread in the microwave to warm it up. While it was heating up, he went to the rotating spin to cut the donair meat (first time trying this :D!)

I was quite shocked about how generous they were with their portions. I thought the wrap that I got was probably considered "large". The chicken was marinated very nicely. The spices were quite different...never tried anything like this before. I had to take out the Jalapeno peppers after eating half of the wrap...it was too spicy!

Rating: 3/5
Definitely something interesting to try! I wish they had more seats outside the booth though. But if you are in the area and looking for a quick lunch, give this a try!

Location: 68 Water St  Ste 101         Vancouver, BC V6B 1A7

Benkei Ramen on Broadway

YAY for another ramen post!!

After volunteering in North Van, I wanted a quick ramen fix before my night class at UBC. The only ramen restaurant I could think that was on the way to UBC was Benkei on Broadway. It is easily accessible from Broadway City Hall station of the Canada Line.

I was quickly greeted by the waitress and was seated immediately. The restaurant was pretty empty (around 2 more tables were seated). I was seated at the bench table; I believe the bench table is for single or two diners.

Interior of Benkei Ramen (1)

Interior of Benkei Ramen - bench table (2)

Shoyu Ramen with extra noodles

I ordered extra noodles this time because last time I went here, the portions were quite small compared to Kintaro. I was quite disappointed when I received my ramen. Basically as you can see from the picture, you can barely see any ramen. It felt like they took half of what was originally in the bowl and put it on a separate plate and counted that as the "extra noodles". The soup base was pretty much flavour-less. And I thought it was kind of odd to put spinach in the noodles. Lastly, the pork was too dry for my liking. Note to self: never order shoyu ramen at Benkei again!

Rating: ♥ ♥ 

Location: 545 West Broadway   Vancouver, B.C.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Miso Ramen

After I finished volunteering in North Van a couple weeks later, I decided to give Benkei another try (mainly due to my ramen craving...I wish there are Kintaros everywhere!!).

This time I ordered miso ramen with no extra noodles (bad experience last time). Surprisingly, there were more noodles than the shoyu ramen and extra noodles combined! The miso soup was definitely a lot richer than shoyu. The pork was still very dry and not tender. But boy did I like the soup! I ended up drinking almost all of it (bad choice for such a hot day :'( ).

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

I gave it one more heart than last time because of the soup! The soup makes a big difference :)

Location: 545 West Broadway   Vancouver, B.C.

Kintaro Ramen

This is hands down the best restaurant for ramen! I have been having a ramen craving for the longest time, so I nagged my boyfriend to go with me :P

I have been reluctant to try other ramen restaurants because I believe nothing can beat Kintaro! The restaurant is very very small (probably fit 30-35 people max), so there is always a long line up! There used to be a Kintaro in Richmond across from Richmond Public Market...why did it close down :( I am kind of glad it did actually, otherwise I will have ramen everyday!

Outside Kintaro - line up

Inside Kintaro - open kitchen

Menu 

Shio Ramen (fat pork with rich soup base)With onions, bean sprouts, eggs, and bamboo shoots

The soup base comes in rich, medium and light. The pork is available in fat or lean. My favourite combination  of all time is Shio ramen with fat pork and rich soup base. Words cannot describe how good it tastes. I believe the soup is made from broiling pork bones. I always pick rich soup base because it has so much more flavour compared to medium or light bases. 

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

All in all, Kintaro never disappoints me. If you are in the downtown area and craving for ramen, go to Kintaro!! The wait is definitely worth it! You will know what I mean :D

Location: 788 Denman Street  Vancouver, BC V6G 2L5

Twisted Fork Bistro

My friends and I decided to go here for a gathering after our night class! We decided on French cuisine since we usually just settle for sushi or pho noodles. I was told the restaurant was really small so we might have to wait a bit for a table. Surprisingly, when we got there, only two tables were seated. Maybe perhaps we went on a Monday night :P

Interior - Bar

I didn't get to take a picture of other parts of the restaurant. But, they do have an open kitchen!

Cute "twisted fork" on the menu

Complimentary bread 

Definitely one of the better complimentary bread I have had! We were told by the waitress that the bread was fresh made. The butter was really soft; it sat on the bread very nicely. It melted in my mouth...so good!!

Duck Confit
Crisp confit duck leg served with bacon braised savoy cabbage, duck jus finished with house canned fruit ketchup

This is my favourite dish of all! There were some sort of veggies in the duck. It reminded me of Chinese preserved cabbage, which has a bit of tart flavour to it. I think the flavours of this dish blended together very well. 

Beef Shortribs (1) - beef and green beans on the crouton
Braised beef shortribs, off the bone served with sherry vinaigrette green beans, canned pears, house made BBQ sauce and baguette croutons

The beef shortribs wasn't really what we expected. It was definitely something different from the regular beef shortribs we normally eat. The beef was well marinated in the BBQ sauce; very juicy. But the beef is a bit stringy.

Fresh Mussels
One pound, with cream, herbs and fresh tomatoes, served with fries

My friends loved this dish! I thought it was kind of odd to serve mussels with fries. The fries were heavily salted. But the cream sauce was very delicious! It wasn't too heavy for cream sauce. The mussels did not have a fresh ocean taste, which was what I preferred. But, in general, the dish was not too spectacular.

Pan seared BC Halibut
Served with quinoa, swiss chard and grilled asparagus finished with a carrot chervil sauce and corn relish

I thought the highlight of this dish was the grilled asparagus. The halibut was a bit overcooked on the outside, which made it a bit rough. Definitely an interesting choice to serve it with quinoa though!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 
Overall, I thought the food was just alright. I think the biggest problem was the dishes were not hot enough. We should have went with the waitress' suggestion of serving the dishes one by one.

Location: 1147 Granville Street  Vancouver, BC V6Z 1M1
http://www.twistedforkbistro.ca/