Time for some no frills good old Chinese food!
Beef Rice Rolls! I didn’t know they served these here since I always thought it was a dim sum thing. Not sure why they used this dish to serve it if they were going to leave the other side empty.
Since this was Congee Noodle House we had to get some congee. Even though I don’t really like congee that much I liked this! This was the Century Egg and Pork Congee. They state on their menu that all their congees come with peanuts and green onion. The congee was well flavoured as in salty and didn’t taste plain like what my mom makes haha I think that’s why I don’t like congee at home…
Finally we had the Stir Fried Beef Rice Noodles which is like a staple for Chinese comfort food. The beef was tender and there was a decent amount in the noodles along with some crunchy bean sprouts. As far as greasiness goes I’ve had worse.
Food came really fast and there was no service but that’s fine as long as the food is good!
When the Ramen Butcher had their grand opening special week ($5/bowl!), I tried to go but the line up was waaay too long, we are talking about at least 30 people or more… totally not worth lining up so we just went the week after!
This was the Red Ramen which is their spicy ramen. The broth was not overly thick and rich but still creamy. It actually wasn’t very spicy to me though. I wish it came with another piece of chashu! The chashu was a good balance between fatty and lean. The weirdest thing was the noodles because they were really thin and more like soba noodles so I wasn’t used to it. The portions aren’t too big but they do give you complimentary noodles after you are finished if you still want more!
This was the Orange Ramen which came with miso marinated ground pork and also a piece of chashu. It didn’t really taste that much different than my Red ramen though but I only had some of the soup so I can’t really say.
This was the Original Ramen.
We also had to order some of their gyozas to share! On the left we have the Cheese Gyozas and on the right we have the Okonomi Gyozas covered in bonito flakes. The wrappers were thin and the fillings were juicy and flavourful. The cheese and okonomi toppings were good additions to make it more interesting but they’re not like a must order item to me. I kind of feel like I can add my own toppings or I’m just really cheap.
I think the ramen was good but nothing too exciting? It wouldn’t be my favourite ramen joint… I don’t think I have one yet since I haven’t tried them all.
I decided to grab lunch at Miura Waffle and Milk Bar since it was conveniently close to work.
I settled on the Garlic Fried Chicken which was served with lettuce, teriyaki sauce and mayo. The portion is large and very filling. I was really looking forward to the garlic fried chicken since you know I love fried chicken! However, the chicken seemed to be under seasoned and there really wasn’t any garlic flavour which was disappointing.
The waffles are American style and they are quite soft so the last piece tends to get a bit soggy if you eat slow. I think it was alright but didn’t quite hit the mark this time for me.
Their restaurant seems to be quite empty though no matter what time it is. Read about my last visit here and here.
The Flying Pig opened up their third location in Olympic Village recently which is right in ma hood. So of course we had to go for lunch on Friday! The interior looks really nice with a wood theme going on and the wall behind our booth was lined with wine bottles.
We started off with some Complimentary Bread served with EVOO on a large plate convenient for dipping. Probably a little too convenient since I accidentally drenched my slice of bread. Not sure what kind of bread this was but it was really soft and served at room temperature.
We shared the Devilled Jumbo Chicken Drumettes served with a side of parmesan basil sour cream. As you can see, they gave us two huge celery stalks for the garnish which was really weird. Usually they cut it up into pieces for you! Not sure why they didn’t do it here… The drumettes were glazed with a sweet sriracha BBQ sauce and there was suppose to be sriracha sauce in there but I couldn’t taste any. The meat was very tender though but besides the BBQ sauce on top the meat had no other flavour so it felt like it wasn’t seasoned/marinated enough. The parmesan basil sour cream helped though!
This was one of the specials of the day. Jumbo Macaroni with cheesy garlic bread, chicken breast, bacon and a 3 cheese cream sauce. I was debating between this or the braised short rib jumbo macaroni. Despite how good it sounded on paper (or their chalkboard), we felt that the dish fell short of our expectations. It wasn’t bad per se but it could’ve been a bit cheesier or more flavourful. The chicken breast wasn’t dry though and the cheesy garlic bread was really good!
For our side dish, we ordered the Truffled Cauliflower Gratin. When we received it, we complained that it was too watery and our server overheard us and offered to replace it for us! My foodie friend suspects that it was frozen before so that’s why there was so much water.
This was the replacement and it looked much better. It was less watery and more cheesy but we still thought the 4 cheese cream sauce could’ve been creamier and thicker in consistency but it was an improvement. The service was great! They even took it off the bill for us.
Maybe my expectations were too high since I’ve been wanting to try the Flying Pig for a while but our experience wasn’t as exciting as we hoped for. I would still like to try them again for dinner or happy hour though.
I organized a meet up with Carmen (CuriouslyCarmen) and David (PickyDiners) and we decided to go for brunch at Forage! Unfortunately Meg (MsElephantHeart) and Cynthia (Eatmunchlove) couldn’t make it this time =(
None of us have been to Forage so we were excited to see what they had in store for us.
The special of the day was the Pork Belly Eggs Benedict. Crispy potatoes with an addictive house made ketchup were served side. Not sure what else was in the ketchup but it was probably some sort of spice. The pork belly was fatty but not overly so and there was a good amount of it too. My eggs were poached to a medium as per my request. I found that the hollandaise sauce was quite buttery and rich as but a tad salty as well especially when eating with the pork belly. David also said that he could taste the tarragon in this dish but since I’m not sure what that tastes like we’ll take his word for it!
This was the Classic Benny served with back bacon and the same crispy potatoes and ketchup as above.
This was the Corned Bison Hash with sunny side up eggs, kale, house made sauerkraut and IPA mustard hollandaise with lots of multigrain toast on the side. This dish was bigger than the eggs benny dishes! It will definitely fill you up. I tried a bit of the bison and it was good… can’t really describe it since I haven’t had much bison before!
There was also house made blueberry and strawberry jam available for the toast as well and they were both fruity but not too sweet.
We had an enjoyable brunch together and I was surprised that the restaurant wasn’t busier for brunch but maybe it was because it was pouring earlier.
The Sandbar actually extended their Dine Out menu to Feb. 8th which was when I went with my friends. Yeah it’s a little late to be posting it but you can always check it out next year! The restaurant actually has three floors and they also had a live pianist sing and play after a certain time that night which was really nice. It really added to the ambiance which was the dark and candle lit kind.
We started off with some warm Complimentary Bread. It looks like a lot but it was for five people.
This was the House Made Clam Chowder, a popular starter dish at the table. I tried some of this and it was rich and creamy! Not that much clam though.
I had the Wok Charred Albacore Tuna with wasabi aioli, crispy wontons and pickled ginger. The tuna was lightly seared and crusted with sesame on the sides which gave it a slight nutty flavour. The tuna was really soft and almost melted in your mouth but the wasabi aioli could’ve had more of a kick to it. I avoided the crispy wontons though since they don’t usually taste like much. Wish there was more tuna though!
This was the Raspberry Lemonade (not part of the dine out menu). Actually not very sour despite the ingredients in this! I thought it was well balanced and tasty.
This was the Seafood Hot Pot with salmon, snapper, clams, mussels, prawns, scallop, and red coconut curry. Didn’t try this but we ordered extra complimentary bread so my friend could dip it in the sauce!
This was the Wood Grilled Steelhead Salmon with tomato fennel broth, coconut jasmine rice and bok choy. Whenever I see bok choy, it makes the dish feel a lot more Asian! I could really taste the wood flavour in the skin of the salmon and it was a pleasant interesting flavour. The salmon was also not over cooked! It was moist and flaky and I could taste the wood flavour occasionally. I felt that the tomato fennel broth was a bit weak though and the rice felt too broken up.
The more popular entree was the Braised Lamb Shank with rosemary, red wine, garlic mashed potatoes, and market vegetables. The lamb was very tender and fell off the bone easily while the mashed potatoes were creamy and buttery. I wish I had ordered this instead! But I was trying to be different…
For dessert, here we have the Lemon Cheesecake with raspberry coulis. There was just enough lemon flavour present and you can taste the creaminess of the cheesecake. The cheesecake didn’t actually feel that heavy.
This was the Chocolate Oatmeal Brownie served with a creme anglaise. The brownie was chocolatey and moist but may be too sweet for some.
For Valentine’s day, I decided to go all out with my boyfriend by having dinner at Yew Seafood and Bar. They had a 4 course set dinner for $89. Yes that’s an exorbitant amount to me too. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD!!! (I’m a crazy person…) Read on to find out more (or just look at the pictures)!
Here was the menu! It was a 4 course menu but we both get the milk bun and then for the other 3 courses you get to choose what you want. I like how they named each course! Very appropriate.
I’ve heard a lot about L.A. Chicken and I finally got the chance to try it last week! I actually tried some leftover chicken before that my brother brought home and it was still delicious so I knew that the freshly deep fried chicken would be amazing. You know how much I love chicken kaarage!
The place is quite small and there are only 3 tables but we managed to snag the last one! It’s located on No. 5 road near Cambie and across from a park. It would be nice to get chicken and eat it in the park in the summer! Like a picnic where you don’t have to cook.
There was a family special for 8 pieces of chicken (mix of breast and thigh) with medium fries and gravy and 2 drinks. All for $23. Sounds like a deal to me!
You can choose to get a mix of spicy chicken and regular chicken. This was the Spicy Chicken and the batter looks different than the regular batter. It was more crispy? It had a very mild spicy flavour. If you didn’t tell me it was spicy I might not be able to tell.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
In case you didn’t already know, I have a love affair with waffles :3 Naturally I fell in love with Nero’s after my first visit and I got the chance to visit again last weekend! It was a dreary rainy day and after my brunch with Carmen (check out her blog CuriouslyCarmen!), we went to Nero’s! Yes I always have room for dessert. =)
Luckily nobody was there and there was no line up! Woot! Seriously it’s like a small victory to me everytime I go somewhere with no line up haha The space is tiny inside and you can expect line ups during peak hours for sure so if you’re reading this, it’s probably not a good idea to rush there for Valentine’s day…
The special of the day was the Liege au Chocolat which we decided to try. The waffle comes with raspberries, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and plenty of dark chocolate drizzle. It just looked so beautiful! <3 Waffle will you be my valentine?
The waffle was crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and the toppings went really well together. I like how the warm chocolate solidified on the cold ice cream. The raspberries were plump and offset the sweetness from the chocolate and of course ice cream goes well with any dessert!
You really must come here at least once if you love waffles! Read about my first visit here!
I have been going through a doughnut phase lately so I dropped by Lucky’s Doughnuts!
I managed to snag the Matcha Bismarck on my visit! I’ve seen pictures of it and boy was I excited to eat it! Matcha everything ftw! =D
Constant Cravings 