Hello again! Today I will be reviewing Richmond Sushi (located at #1488-8388 Capstan Way, just in Union Square behind Canadian Tires)! I ate at this restaurant on August 3rd with Tamato, her brother, and a couple of her friends. We happened to be playing badminton earlier at the Olympic Oval in Richmond and, as we were famished, we decided to eat there on Tamato's recommendation (I checked out dinehere and this seemed to be the best option for the most amount of food to choose from for a not too expensive price with a slightly higher rating). Unfortunately, none of us took pictures (we were all starving) so you will just have to use your imagination (things disappeared off the dishes before I could even whip out my camera.. meaning some of the stuff I did not even get to try when we ordered in the first round!).
We all ordered (regular) all you can eat for our meal. It cost $22 each, but there was a wide variety of food to choose from, so I thought it was pretty fair. The food arrived pretty quickly, so that was another plus.
As you might imagine, we ordered a wide variety of food. One of the first dishes to arrive was the california rolls, which were pretty good. The calamari and chicken teriyaki were excellent, too (the calamari, for me, wasnt as great, it was, for a lack of a better word, bland. I did not eat as much of it as I usually would). I would highly recommend their salmon belly, which was exquisite! There was also dessert, in the form of mango pudding, which, although small, was very good as well.
Of course, there were some foods that were a bit weak. The chicken wings we ordered all came out burned. Also, their chicken karage was a bit dry. Furthermore, the beef short ribs were lacking in flavour (I think Leek is a little biased here as the night before we had just dined at Norboo, and of course when we dine at Norboo's we have to order their beef short ribs).
Aside from those that Leek listed, I also recall ordering quite a few garlic butter mussels (would have tasted better if it was served warmer or hot), steak skewer (first round was great, second round was okay, but also VERY pink in the center), seafood broquette (awful, no taste, no sauce, I have no idea who decided it was worth putting on the menu), salmon tempura (great since the salmon inside was not dried out), chiwuka, bbq halibut (very tasty, but to the point that it was too tasty and we felt like we needed some rice to balance it out), and a bunch more that were more or less the standard we expected (nothing worth shouting about or booing about).
Service itself was okish. We were attended to quickly and were given our orders promptly. However, we were seated at a table which was somewhat small for the size of our party, which became a problem once the food started coming. Also, they gave us the wrong dishes at times, and missed a couple of the dishes completely. Interestingly enough, some of the order forms were missing a few choices, so we had to write in part of the order by hand.
Overall, Richmond Sushi is a pretty nice restaurant to go to if you are starving and have some money to spend. There are some noticeable points that the restaurant could improve upon, but for us (at least), they did not detract from the overall meal. Definitely not bad, but next time, I think I will stick to all you can eat lunch time because it is cheaper, I think with tips and tax, we each paid about $25.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Nutella Swirl Cupcakes
Today Leek and I made Nutella Swirl Cupcakes. Boy are they delicious, but unfortunately Leek is allergic to nuts, so he could not try the cupcakes with Nutella in them. I hate the smell anyways. I have like 2 large jars and 1/3 of a container left of Nutella (coming up next year), so I thought I would make some Nutella treats to use them up faster =) Even though Leek does not like Nutella (he dislikes chocolate AND nuts), being the sweetie he is, he still helped me to make them <3 Shocking as it is, I really do not like chocolates or nuts. Thus, foods with chocolates and nuts tend to be nightmarish for me (and can poison me too...).
I got the original recipe from I'm a Glutton, but I changed up the recipe a little. So here is the recipe I used to make mine! This recipe makes 12 muffin pan sized cupcakes.
1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes.
4. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.
7. Scoop batter into muffin cups until 1/2 to 3/4 full.
8. Top each cup of batter with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a butterknife, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
You can add a little more Nutella to each cupcake if you want. Visit I'm a Glutton's link above to read up on her technique on how to swirl the Nutella. It definitely works better than using a flimsy toothpick as the original recipe called for. The hardest part of this recipe is swirling the Nutella, but trust me, in the end, it is all worth it! For Tamato at least. I can't eat it.
P.S. In the second photo, you can see that there is a plain white cupcake, we left that one Nutella free so my honey can have a bit of cupcake too as he loves them =) <3 Yep! I like plain cupcakes. They are far superior to nutella ones (although I am a little biased)!
I got the original recipe from I'm a Glutton, but I changed up the recipe a little. So here is the recipe I used to make mine! This recipe makes 12 muffin pan sized cupcakes.
- 1/2 cup margarine, softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups ifted all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup Nutella (or more =)
1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes.
4. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.
7. Scoop batter into muffin cups until 1/2 to 3/4 full.
8. Top each cup of batter with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a butterknife, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.
9. Bake for 20 minutes.
10. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
You can add a little more Nutella to each cupcake if you want. Visit I'm a Glutton's link above to read up on her technique on how to swirl the Nutella. It definitely works better than using a flimsy toothpick as the original recipe called for. The hardest part of this recipe is swirling the Nutella, but trust me, in the end, it is all worth it! For Tamato at least. I can't eat it.
P.S. In the second photo, you can see that there is a plain white cupcake, we left that one Nutella free so my honey can have a bit of cupcake too as he loves them =) <3 Yep! I like plain cupcakes. They are far superior to nutella ones (although I am a little biased)!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Little India Restaurant
Today, after putting it off for many many months, my friends and I finally went to eat at an Indian restaurant! Unfortunately, the restaurant we were going to eat at, I cannot recall what it is called but it is located on Fraser and East 56th Avenue, is closed on Mondays. So we made our way over to Little India on Main Street and East 49th Avenue. This was Tamato's girls night out, so I did not go! boo hoo...
Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of my food before eating, so I have no pictures to show you =( I will try to remember for next time though!
Anyways, I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Special. This includes a whole chicken leg (the thigh and drumstick) prepared in tandoori style, with masala fries and a choice of a soft drink for only $7.95! This is quite a deal as it was a fairly large portion even though it was listed under the appetizers! The chicken was very tasty. Although the thigh was perfect, I found the drumstick to be a little on the dry side, probably because it was smaller. I was expecting something special for the fries, as I had never had 'masala' fries before. But when the dish came out, I was disappointed as it was just regular fries, it looked and tasted regular (it was still good though!).
When we looked around the restaurant, we noticed that the only person of Indian descent, aside from the employees, was my friend. Everyone else was mostly Caucasian! However, my friend said the food was alright for Indian standard (it is run by Indians after all!), but the restaurant we wanted to go to tastes better and is cheaper! I guess we will have to wait till next time to try that place out!
Oh! One more thing, we noticed that at the back of the restaurant, they had a vegetarian buffet going on. Upon looking above, we saw that the buffet is served all day for only $10.95.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of my food before eating, so I have no pictures to show you =( I will try to remember for next time though!
Anyways, I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Special. This includes a whole chicken leg (the thigh and drumstick) prepared in tandoori style, with masala fries and a choice of a soft drink for only $7.95! This is quite a deal as it was a fairly large portion even though it was listed under the appetizers! The chicken was very tasty. Although the thigh was perfect, I found the drumstick to be a little on the dry side, probably because it was smaller. I was expecting something special for the fries, as I had never had 'masala' fries before. But when the dish came out, I was disappointed as it was just regular fries, it looked and tasted regular (it was still good though!).
When we looked around the restaurant, we noticed that the only person of Indian descent, aside from the employees, was my friend. Everyone else was mostly Caucasian! However, my friend said the food was alright for Indian standard (it is run by Indians after all!), but the restaurant we wanted to go to tastes better and is cheaper! I guess we will have to wait till next time to try that place out!
Oh! One more thing, we noticed that at the back of the restaurant, they had a vegetarian buffet going on. Upon looking above, we saw that the buffet is served all day for only $10.95.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Norboo Korean Restaurant
Heylo everyone! Leek here with another food post! As a change of pace from the last few postings, this one is about Norboo Korean Restaurant, at 1536 Robson Street. Tamato and I went here about a month ago, along with a few of Tamato's friends. I have been here a couple more times before too, it is just that good and cheap here! It was a bit awkward for me, but oh wells... Anyways, on to the food!
Because Tamato and I are poor university students, we went pretty light on the ordering. Together we ordered two dishes: the Norboo chicken wings (pictured above) and the beef short ribs (pictured below). This ran contrary to Tamato's friends, each of whom ordered more than Tamato and I combined! Still, these two dishes were enough to satisfy both of us. Anyways, The Norboo chicken wings were excellent. The skin was crispy and the meat was very tender. The sauce complemented the meat well. Normally, I would quickly tire of heavily glazed meats, but the sauce was awesome enough to keep me coming back for more! This dish was definitely cheap, it was just under $4 a plate and I think we got like 6-8 wings, I dont remember. For me, I am not a big fan of heavy sauce, so I actually would have liked it if they did not drizzle as much over it. It would have been even better if the sauce came in a little bowl on the side!
The beef short ribs is what I consider to be the main draw of the restaurant. The portion is huge (the picture above does not do it justice). The meat itself is well-cooked and tastes excellent. I found myself giving my jaw a bit of a workout trying to chew off every last bit of meat from the bone! I love this stuff, yumyum, Korean beef short ribs! I can eat this several days in a row, although I do not think it is a good idea for my body. At Norboo, they have a lunch special that runs from sometime in the afternoon to 3:30pm. The lunch special is $7.99 for your choice of a dish on their lunch special menu. This includes the beef short ribs I always order, which is a steal considering that you get the plate of meat, a bowl of rice, as well as the many side dishes!
Also provided were side dishes of sweet potatoes, kimchi, pasta salad and bean sprouts. Of all of them, I preferred the bean sprouts the best. I liked the pasta salad the least (but then again, I'm not really a fan of salads in general). For me, the only thing I eat is the sweet potatoes and maybe a nibble of the kimchi. Norboo's sweet potatoes are overcooked though. They're a little on the mushy side, so if I wanted sweet potatoes, Norboo would definitely not be the place I would go to for it.
The bill for the two of us came out to be about $12. I thought that to be a good price considering the food we ate. Overall, I thought that Norboo Korean Restaurant has excellent food for a reasonable price, I will highly recommend to everyone. As a side note, all of Tamato's friends thought the restaurant was excellent too! I think everytime I have a craving for beef short ribs, I will be coming back to this place. Hopefully they keep their lunch deal on forever too! =)
Because Tamato and I are poor university students, we went pretty light on the ordering. Together we ordered two dishes: the Norboo chicken wings (pictured above) and the beef short ribs (pictured below). This ran contrary to Tamato's friends, each of whom ordered more than Tamato and I combined! Still, these two dishes were enough to satisfy both of us. Anyways, The Norboo chicken wings were excellent. The skin was crispy and the meat was very tender. The sauce complemented the meat well. Normally, I would quickly tire of heavily glazed meats, but the sauce was awesome enough to keep me coming back for more! This dish was definitely cheap, it was just under $4 a plate and I think we got like 6-8 wings, I dont remember. For me, I am not a big fan of heavy sauce, so I actually would have liked it if they did not drizzle as much over it. It would have been even better if the sauce came in a little bowl on the side!
The beef short ribs is what I consider to be the main draw of the restaurant. The portion is huge (the picture above does not do it justice). The meat itself is well-cooked and tastes excellent. I found myself giving my jaw a bit of a workout trying to chew off every last bit of meat from the bone! I love this stuff, yumyum, Korean beef short ribs! I can eat this several days in a row, although I do not think it is a good idea for my body. At Norboo, they have a lunch special that runs from sometime in the afternoon to 3:30pm. The lunch special is $7.99 for your choice of a dish on their lunch special menu. This includes the beef short ribs I always order, which is a steal considering that you get the plate of meat, a bowl of rice, as well as the many side dishes!
Also provided were side dishes of sweet potatoes, kimchi, pasta salad and bean sprouts. Of all of them, I preferred the bean sprouts the best. I liked the pasta salad the least (but then again, I'm not really a fan of salads in general). For me, the only thing I eat is the sweet potatoes and maybe a nibble of the kimchi. Norboo's sweet potatoes are overcooked though. They're a little on the mushy side, so if I wanted sweet potatoes, Norboo would definitely not be the place I would go to for it.
The bill for the two of us came out to be about $12. I thought that to be a good price considering the food we ate. Overall, I thought that Norboo Korean Restaurant has excellent food for a reasonable price, I will highly recommend to everyone. As a side note, all of Tamato's friends thought the restaurant was excellent too! I think everytime I have a craving for beef short ribs, I will be coming back to this place. Hopefully they keep their lunch deal on forever too! =)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Homemade Pizza
Yummy, tonight we had homemade pizza for dinner, so I thought I would share this recipe with you. It is a plain thick crust pizza recipe that is very popular on allrecipes.com. Credit goes to JASON SHARP, although I did alter it a tiny bit. This recipe yields 2 medium-sized pizzas or one large cookie sheet pizza.
Ingredients wise, it is very simple.
I love to top my pizzas with lots of pepperoni, bacon, italian sausages, mushrooms, and lots of mozzarella cheese. After the pizza crust is in the pan, spread tomato sauce over the crust, then place pepperoni slices around evenly. In a bowl, mix together the bacon, italian sausages, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese together. Spread the cheese mixture over the pizza evenly, making sure none is touching the edge of the pan (so it does not burn)!
And tada! Does that not look delicious? Yummy! The crust is a little bland, but it is alright because there is lots of toppings on the pizza and that is why we all love pizzas! You can always add spices to the dough too before/when adding the flour to the yeast mixture. I only have garlic powder on hand, so I only put a teaspoon of that in it.
A thing to keep in mind is that when you take it out to cool, make sure the pan is cooling on a high rack. I totally did not do this for one of the pizzas today, and all of the steam that was trying to escape from the bottom of the pan ended up going through the pizza and made the crust all soggy, yucky! Hope you enjoy this recipe too! Definitely easy and very simple to make! Leek loves it =)
Ingredients wise, it is very simple.
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
- Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
- Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.
I love to top my pizzas with lots of pepperoni, bacon, italian sausages, mushrooms, and lots of mozzarella cheese. After the pizza crust is in the pan, spread tomato sauce over the crust, then place pepperoni slices around evenly. In a bowl, mix together the bacon, italian sausages, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese together. Spread the cheese mixture over the pizza evenly, making sure none is touching the edge of the pan (so it does not burn)!
And tada! Does that not look delicious? Yummy! The crust is a little bland, but it is alright because there is lots of toppings on the pizza and that is why we all love pizzas! You can always add spices to the dough too before/when adding the flour to the yeast mixture. I only have garlic powder on hand, so I only put a teaspoon of that in it.
A thing to keep in mind is that when you take it out to cool, make sure the pan is cooling on a high rack. I totally did not do this for one of the pizzas today, and all of the steam that was trying to escape from the bottom of the pan ended up going through the pizza and made the crust all soggy, yucky! Hope you enjoy this recipe too! Definitely easy and very simple to make! Leek loves it =)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Homemade Poutine
Sorry for not having posted anything yesterday. Leek and I were both preoccupied with studying and job applications, I am so sick of writing cover letters! But without further ado, here is today's post, homemade poutine!
Yes yes, I know, it is a no brainer my 10 month old baby cousin could probably do it. But this will be a recipe and product review post! So as we all know, or don't know for some of us, poutine is fries with cheese curds drenched in hot gravy. The gravy must be really hot so that it can melt the cheese curds and make your fries into a gooey stringy mess. Yum, writing about this is making me crave some.
A few weeks back, Buy-Low Foods had their Western Family french fried potatoes on sale (2 packs for $3, what a deal!) So I went and grabbed a pack of their crinkle cut and shoestring fries. I used the package of crincle cut fries to make the poutin the first time around. Since I was making it for lunch for my mom and brother as well, I used the whole package. Following the instructions exactly as per the package, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit, laid out the fries into a single layer on a baking sheet, and stuck them in the oven for 20 minutes.
For the gravy, I actually stumbled upon the No Name brand poutine sauce the other day at Superstore. I was planning to just buy gravy mix and make my own, but since this is specifically for poutine, I decided to get this instead. It is much cheaper too! Gravy mix is usually $1+ but the can of sauce was less than $1. This I just opened up, stuck it into a pan over medium heat with constant stirring until it was really hot.
Cheese curds I find are a little harder to find. I got these at IGA as I read from someone online that they sold them. However, boy are they expensive!! That package there cost me almost $8!! But then I only used up half of the box for 1 kg of fries, so I guess it is alright. But if IGA did not have any or if I am short on money next time, I think I might just stick with regular cheddar or mozzarella cheese.
So to assemble, you scoop some fries into a bowl, sprinkle some cheese curds over top, and drench the whole bowl in gravy making sure to cover all of the cheese bits. Do not over do the gravy though, your fries will be overly soggy then (not to mention you can always add more gravy later, but it will be harder to try to take the gravy out)!
The fries were okay, but I am a little biased here because I am personally not a big fan of thick cut fries. I prefer thin and crispy fries, that is why when I made this with the shoestring fries, I loved it a lot more. Oh another thing is that, for these fries, you definitely need to add your own salt! I did not know that it was unsalted, so the fries were a little bland, good thing we had gravy and cheese to go with it. I did put salt on the shoestring batch though before I stuck it in the oven, and boy did it come out nice and crispy and tasty when it came out.
The cheese curds were lovely. I love melted cheese. It went great with the poutine, yummy!!
And last but not least, the gravy was alright. Just alright though. I actually found the gravy to be a little bland too. Not much of a taste to it. I think next time I will stick with gravy mix or canned gravy instead of the No Name brand poutine sauce.
So there you have it, homemade poutine, definitely does not beat those ones you can get out there, but it will be a temporary fix for your cravings! Enjoy!
Yes yes, I know, it is a no brainer my 10 month old baby cousin could probably do it. But this will be a recipe and product review post! So as we all know, or don't know for some of us, poutine is fries with cheese curds drenched in hot gravy. The gravy must be really hot so that it can melt the cheese curds and make your fries into a gooey stringy mess. Yum, writing about this is making me crave some.
A few weeks back, Buy-Low Foods had their Western Family french fried potatoes on sale (2 packs for $3, what a deal!) So I went and grabbed a pack of their crinkle cut and shoestring fries. I used the package of crincle cut fries to make the poutin the first time around. Since I was making it for lunch for my mom and brother as well, I used the whole package. Following the instructions exactly as per the package, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit, laid out the fries into a single layer on a baking sheet, and stuck them in the oven for 20 minutes.
For the gravy, I actually stumbled upon the No Name brand poutine sauce the other day at Superstore. I was planning to just buy gravy mix and make my own, but since this is specifically for poutine, I decided to get this instead. It is much cheaper too! Gravy mix is usually $1+ but the can of sauce was less than $1. This I just opened up, stuck it into a pan over medium heat with constant stirring until it was really hot.
Cheese curds I find are a little harder to find. I got these at IGA as I read from someone online that they sold them. However, boy are they expensive!! That package there cost me almost $8!! But then I only used up half of the box for 1 kg of fries, so I guess it is alright. But if IGA did not have any or if I am short on money next time, I think I might just stick with regular cheddar or mozzarella cheese.
So to assemble, you scoop some fries into a bowl, sprinkle some cheese curds over top, and drench the whole bowl in gravy making sure to cover all of the cheese bits. Do not over do the gravy though, your fries will be overly soggy then (not to mention you can always add more gravy later, but it will be harder to try to take the gravy out)!
The fries were okay, but I am a little biased here because I am personally not a big fan of thick cut fries. I prefer thin and crispy fries, that is why when I made this with the shoestring fries, I loved it a lot more. Oh another thing is that, for these fries, you definitely need to add your own salt! I did not know that it was unsalted, so the fries were a little bland, good thing we had gravy and cheese to go with it. I did put salt on the shoestring batch though before I stuck it in the oven, and boy did it come out nice and crispy and tasty when it came out.
The cheese curds were lovely. I love melted cheese. It went great with the poutine, yummy!!
And last but not least, the gravy was alright. Just alright though. I actually found the gravy to be a little bland too. Not much of a taste to it. I think next time I will stick with gravy mix or canned gravy instead of the No Name brand poutine sauce.
So there you have it, homemade poutine, definitely does not beat those ones you can get out there, but it will be a temporary fix for your cravings! Enjoy!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Congee Noodle House
So yesterday I talked quite a bit about congee, and how I had an awful experience at Congee Noodle House. Well, I think I would talk about that today since Leek is busy reviewing away for his diagnostic tests. True, but I am also editing this post, so...yeah.
In the past, I have frequented Congee Noodle House on 141 E Broadway with my family, Leek, friends, etc. But I think it was around the end of last year when I had a sudden craving for congee and Leek for wonton noodles that we stopped by. Unfortunately, at that time the windows and door were all taped up with newspapers and a note saying that they were renovating and should be open again by the end of the month. The funny thing was that it was wayyy past the end of the month they had written on the note and was already well into the following month -.-" Tamato forgot to take into account that most things never go by the plan.
Anyways, some time near the beginning of this year, Leek and I paid a visit to them again after busing by one day and noticing that they were finally done renovating! So in we went, when we should have turned around to go to Kwong Chow instead.
Right when we stepped into the restaurant, we noticed several waitresses, some serving, others just standing by the kitchen window. No one bothered to greet us or even turn around when we arrived. Fine, I can help myself to a table. But right when we moved to a table, they finally decided to pay attention to us, directing us to the table a few feet in front of the kitchen window and next to some other customers. The restaurant only had a few tables occupied at that time so I do not understand why I could not get a little more privacy.
"Shortly" after being seated, we were given the menus and cups of tea, as customary with Chinese restaurants. Not one minute after being given the menus, a waitress came back to take our order, when we barely had a chance to figure out what dishes we wanted to share between us. If only they were this quick to greet us and to serve us. Because after this, no one paid attention to us again.
I flagged down a waitress when we were ready to order, and she said she'd be back in a second. The second dragged to minutes before she came back. But that was not it, she decided to come back without a pad of paper to take our order. It was then I knew everything about this meal was about to go wrong. She figured she could memorize the few dishes we were going to order and just run to the window and write it down and tada, that is all there is to it! We ordered their Wonton with Noodle Soup (of course), BBQ Duck with Noodle Soup, and Beef Rice Rolls. She repeated it exactly back to me, very good, and then I watched as she walked to the window, hunch over to scribble a few words, hesitate in between writing something, scribbled some more, and then passed the papers over to the kitchen.
So began the long wait for our food. Minutes and minutes passed before we got our noodles, separately. I do not know what took the two chefs in the kitchen so long, but Leek got his noodles and finished them before I got my noodles. It was good wonton noodles! Seriously, both of them should have taken only 5 minutes to come out from the kitchen.
But wait, get this, even till after I finished eating my noodles, our third dish still had not come. Thus I flagged another waitress down, and told her we were still missing a dish. She later came back with a dish of some kind of fried rice which we did NOT order. I told her again what we ordered, and she ran back told the kitchen, and guess what? The plate came out in a jiffy! The rice rolls was pretty good too! Of course, Tamato was too focused on the service (or lack thereof) to rate the food.
While we polished off the last dish, some waitress plunked down a tray of change and the receipt at our table. Leek and I stared at it for a while until the waitress took it back, apologized and plunked it on our neighbour's table. At this time I asked her to bring our bill as well, and she said 'okay'. 'Okay' turned out to be a waitress's way of refusing to do so. We waited and waited, flagged another waitress an asked for the bill, received another 'okay', and continued to wait. Eventually we resorted to staring down the manager and another employee at the cash register. Manager took the hint after a minute, and instead of asking US if we wanted our bill, asked one of the waitress who we flagged for the bill if we wanted the bill. And guess what this waitress said? "NO." Wow, just wow. I was so in awe at their desire to give us the world's worst customer service ever that I was actually turning red and heating up. Meanwhile I was trying to calm Tamato down. So again, for the third time, and thankfully, the last time, I asked them for the bill.
The bill came, and, not wanting to wait another 10 minutes for some waitress to take our money and refuse to give us back change, I went up to the cash register to pay. Ding, cash register opened, in went our money, out came our change, and my hands went ALL of the change AND the receipt, and out the store we went. This was the first time ever (and only time so far) that I had NOT tipped a single penny after receiving service. Since I was paying, that saved me a bit of change. Still, I was a bit shocked. This was absolutely the worst service I can imagine and had me soo mad it took me a while to cool off even after we were out of the restaurant. So since that experience, I refuse to step foot inside that restaurant again. I agreed that the service was horrible, but the wonton noodles was excellent! Good food and crappy service pretty much sums this place up.
In the past, I have frequented Congee Noodle House on 141 E Broadway with my family, Leek, friends, etc. But I think it was around the end of last year when I had a sudden craving for congee and Leek for wonton noodles that we stopped by. Unfortunately, at that time the windows and door were all taped up with newspapers and a note saying that they were renovating and should be open again by the end of the month. The funny thing was that it was wayyy past the end of the month they had written on the note and was already well into the following month -.-" Tamato forgot to take into account that most things never go by the plan.
Anyways, some time near the beginning of this year, Leek and I paid a visit to them again after busing by one day and noticing that they were finally done renovating! So in we went, when we should have turned around to go to Kwong Chow instead.
Right when we stepped into the restaurant, we noticed several waitresses, some serving, others just standing by the kitchen window. No one bothered to greet us or even turn around when we arrived. Fine, I can help myself to a table. But right when we moved to a table, they finally decided to pay attention to us, directing us to the table a few feet in front of the kitchen window and next to some other customers. The restaurant only had a few tables occupied at that time so I do not understand why I could not get a little more privacy.
"Shortly" after being seated, we were given the menus and cups of tea, as customary with Chinese restaurants. Not one minute after being given the menus, a waitress came back to take our order, when we barely had a chance to figure out what dishes we wanted to share between us. If only they were this quick to greet us and to serve us. Because after this, no one paid attention to us again.
I flagged down a waitress when we were ready to order, and she said she'd be back in a second. The second dragged to minutes before she came back. But that was not it, she decided to come back without a pad of paper to take our order. It was then I knew everything about this meal was about to go wrong. She figured she could memorize the few dishes we were going to order and just run to the window and write it down and tada, that is all there is to it! We ordered their Wonton with Noodle Soup (of course), BBQ Duck with Noodle Soup, and Beef Rice Rolls. She repeated it exactly back to me, very good, and then I watched as she walked to the window, hunch over to scribble a few words, hesitate in between writing something, scribbled some more, and then passed the papers over to the kitchen.
So began the long wait for our food. Minutes and minutes passed before we got our noodles, separately. I do not know what took the two chefs in the kitchen so long, but Leek got his noodles and finished them before I got my noodles. It was good wonton noodles! Seriously, both of them should have taken only 5 minutes to come out from the kitchen.
But wait, get this, even till after I finished eating my noodles, our third dish still had not come. Thus I flagged another waitress down, and told her we were still missing a dish. She later came back with a dish of some kind of fried rice which we did NOT order. I told her again what we ordered, and she ran back told the kitchen, and guess what? The plate came out in a jiffy! The rice rolls was pretty good too! Of course, Tamato was too focused on the service (or lack thereof) to rate the food.
While we polished off the last dish, some waitress plunked down a tray of change and the receipt at our table. Leek and I stared at it for a while until the waitress took it back, apologized and plunked it on our neighbour's table. At this time I asked her to bring our bill as well, and she said 'okay'. 'Okay' turned out to be a waitress's way of refusing to do so. We waited and waited, flagged another waitress an asked for the bill, received another 'okay', and continued to wait. Eventually we resorted to staring down the manager and another employee at the cash register. Manager took the hint after a minute, and instead of asking US if we wanted our bill, asked one of the waitress who we flagged for the bill if we wanted the bill. And guess what this waitress said? "NO." Wow, just wow. I was so in awe at their desire to give us the world's worst customer service ever that I was actually turning red and heating up. Meanwhile I was trying to calm Tamato down. So again, for the third time, and thankfully, the last time, I asked them for the bill.
The bill came, and, not wanting to wait another 10 minutes for some waitress to take our money and refuse to give us back change, I went up to the cash register to pay. Ding, cash register opened, in went our money, out came our change, and my hands went ALL of the change AND the receipt, and out the store we went. This was the first time ever (and only time so far) that I had NOT tipped a single penny after receiving service. Since I was paying, that saved me a bit of change. Still, I was a bit shocked. This was absolutely the worst service I can imagine and had me soo mad it took me a while to cool off even after we were out of the restaurant. So since that experience, I refuse to step foot inside that restaurant again. I agreed that the service was horrible, but the wonton noodles was excellent! Good food and crappy service pretty much sums this place up.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Ken's Restaurant
Earlier before, in our first post I believe, I mentioned how I had my wisdom teeth pulled out and thus we did not go all out to celebrate our 1.5 years together. Well, because of that and that I had to work that day. But nonetheless, we decided to do at least something, and ended up just planning to have a simple dinner of congee and wonton noodles.
I actually do not know of many congee and noodle restaurants in Vancouver. Whenever I want congee, I instantly think of Hon's, Kwong Chow, and Congee Noodle House (never going back, after a really bad experience there... I will tell another day). Aside from those, I really have to scratch my brain to remember where they would serve congee and what type of restaurants would. My friend had recommended me to try Congee Noodle King, but it was way too out of the way for us, it being all the way along Joyce Street. After some minimal research, I found out that Ken's Restaurant serves both congee and noodles and is very close to home as they are located at 1097 Kingsway.
I have eaten at Ken's several times before due to the convenience of the location. However, I have never had their congee before, so this was a new experience. Ken's Restaurant is a Hong Kong style restaurant with a lot of Chinese people eating there throughout the day. Auntie prefers this place over Sun Fat's, which is just across the street, because of the high turnover of customers, and thus conclude they have fresh ingredients all the time even though it is a little more expensive. To me, it would not have made much of a difference because a restaurant with a higher number of customers means that they just order in much larger quantities. So overall, it is the same thing if they do not end up using all of their ingredients "in time." I usually don't consider this at all...way too much thinking.
Anyways, on to the food. Leek ordered the Wonton with Noodle Soup. I think the dish was $5.50. The dish came in a really large bowl, but it was just full of soup. There were maybe about 6 pieces of regular sized wontons and just a handful of noodles. The rest of the bowl was laddled high with soup. I do not think this was worth $5.50, and Leek agrees, he still prefers the wonton noodles at Nancy's (his favorite restaurant for wonton so far). Actually, I prefer the noodles at Nancy's more. The wonton is about the same. Oh, Leek LOVES wonton noodles. Whenever we go out to eat, and wonton noodles is on the menu, there is a 99% chance he will be ordering that dish! True, very true, but its more like 99.9999%.
I, on the other hand, the one with only half a jaw, ordered their Minced Beef Congee for $4.50 a bowl. This came in the same size bowl as the noodles did and there were actually quite a few pieces of beef in it. But because they did not mince up the beef evenly, there were still some rather large pieces in it, so I just gave those to Leek to polish off. The taste of the congee was alright at the beginning, but as I ate more and more of it, it started getting more and more bland! That was weird, first time I have experienced that before. I found the congee a bit watery, and the beef was ok. Overall, it was pretty decent. Definitely, it wasn't the best congee I ever had.
Overall, I think we paid $11.00 with tax and tips. The food was just okay, nothing to wow about, but I will definitely continue to come here out of convenience. Some of their other dishes are fairly nice though, and their restaurant is fairly clean with a nice ambience.
I actually do not know of many congee and noodle restaurants in Vancouver. Whenever I want congee, I instantly think of Hon's, Kwong Chow, and Congee Noodle House (never going back, after a really bad experience there... I will tell another day). Aside from those, I really have to scratch my brain to remember where they would serve congee and what type of restaurants would. My friend had recommended me to try Congee Noodle King, but it was way too out of the way for us, it being all the way along Joyce Street. After some minimal research, I found out that Ken's Restaurant serves both congee and noodles and is very close to home as they are located at 1097 Kingsway.
I have eaten at Ken's several times before due to the convenience of the location. However, I have never had their congee before, so this was a new experience. Ken's Restaurant is a Hong Kong style restaurant with a lot of Chinese people eating there throughout the day. Auntie prefers this place over Sun Fat's, which is just across the street, because of the high turnover of customers, and thus conclude they have fresh ingredients all the time even though it is a little more expensive. To me, it would not have made much of a difference because a restaurant with a higher number of customers means that they just order in much larger quantities. So overall, it is the same thing if they do not end up using all of their ingredients "in time." I usually don't consider this at all...way too much thinking.
Anyways, on to the food. Leek ordered the Wonton with Noodle Soup. I think the dish was $5.50. The dish came in a really large bowl, but it was just full of soup. There were maybe about 6 pieces of regular sized wontons and just a handful of noodles. The rest of the bowl was laddled high with soup. I do not think this was worth $5.50, and Leek agrees, he still prefers the wonton noodles at Nancy's (his favorite restaurant for wonton so far). Actually, I prefer the noodles at Nancy's more. The wonton is about the same. Oh, Leek LOVES wonton noodles. Whenever we go out to eat, and wonton noodles is on the menu, there is a 99% chance he will be ordering that dish! True, very true, but its more like 99.9999%.
I, on the other hand, the one with only half a jaw, ordered their Minced Beef Congee for $4.50 a bowl. This came in the same size bowl as the noodles did and there were actually quite a few pieces of beef in it. But because they did not mince up the beef evenly, there were still some rather large pieces in it, so I just gave those to Leek to polish off. The taste of the congee was alright at the beginning, but as I ate more and more of it, it started getting more and more bland! That was weird, first time I have experienced that before. I found the congee a bit watery, and the beef was ok. Overall, it was pretty decent. Definitely, it wasn't the best congee I ever had.
Overall, I think we paid $11.00 with tax and tips. The food was just okay, nothing to wow about, but I will definitely continue to come here out of convenience. Some of their other dishes are fairly nice though, and their restaurant is fairly clean with a nice ambience.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Oatmeal Cookies
Today we are finally going to post our first recipe! Whenever I bake and ask Leek what he wants, he always asks for either cupcakes or cookies. Whenever it is cookies, he always asks for oatmeal cookies, nothing else will do. So over the time I have been with him, I have actually tried out a few oatmeal cookies. So far all of them are alright, but none of them made me want to keep the recipe except for this last one I tried two days ago!
You only need a handful of ingredients from your cupboards, so it is convenient in that there is no need for an extra trip out to the grocery store (unless of course you are out of something). I halved this recipe and had a yield of about 24 small cookies, so the amount of ingredients called for here should make about 24 regular to large sized cookies!
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Combine together the flour, baking soda, and salt. (I did this in a separate bowl)
5. Pour the flour mixture into the margarine mixture and mix until there are no more traces of flour.
6. Mix in the quick cooking oats.
7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for at least one hour. (Mine stayed in the fridge overnight)
8. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).
9. Lightly grease cookie sheets. (I greased one of my batches and not the other, both came out fine, so next time I think I will skip this step)
10. Roll the dough into the desired size. (Mine were about 1.5-2 inches in diameter)
11. Place the dough 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
12. Using a fork, slightly flatten each ball.
13. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack. (Important to do this because it is still cooking a little on the hot pan even after it is out of the oven!)
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Leek and I. Delicious~
I actually got the recipe from BITTERSWEET1 at allrecipes.com, but tweaked it a teeny bit to fit what I had on hand. I like this recipe because they stay in the form of cute little cookies instead of flattening out into huge disks. It stays chewy even after a few days too, and they are definitely a tasty treat. Yummy. After taking it out of the oven, I couldn't help it but to eat half a dozen of them myself! Talk about spoiling lunch!
You only need a handful of ingredients from your cupboards, so it is convenient in that there is no need for an extra trip out to the grocery store (unless of course you are out of something). I halved this recipe and had a yield of about 24 small cookies, so the amount of ingredients called for here should make about 24 regular to large sized cookies!
- 1 cup butter, softened (I used margarine cooled to room temperature)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups quick cooking oats
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Combine together the flour, baking soda, and salt. (I did this in a separate bowl)
5. Pour the flour mixture into the margarine mixture and mix until there are no more traces of flour.
6. Mix in the quick cooking oats.
7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough in the fridge for at least one hour. (Mine stayed in the fridge overnight)
8. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).
9. Lightly grease cookie sheets. (I greased one of my batches and not the other, both came out fine, so next time I think I will skip this step)
10. Roll the dough into the desired size. (Mine were about 1.5-2 inches in diameter)
11. Place the dough 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
12. Using a fork, slightly flatten each ball.
13. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack. (Important to do this because it is still cooking a little on the hot pan even after it is out of the oven!)
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Leek and I. Delicious~
Friday, August 7, 2009
Oui oui, introductions!
Its time for my introduction too! Sorry for the late post, I was preoccupied yesterday. I am Leek! I am the more silly of the two, and sometimes (or often, depending on your interpretation), what I say may not make sense at all. Still, I joined Tamato in this blog due to our love of food and to each other!
I do like to eat, but certainly not to the degree that Tamato does. She is far more willing to try new things than I do, but I usually go along with what she tries. However, I am allergic to nuts, so it may bias my ratings toward nut-containing foods. More or less, as long as the food does not contain nuts, and my friends aren't dropping dead from eating it, I will try it out as well.
My favourite foods are virtually anything containing noodles (unless it has nuts in it, then blah). I also like Transformers and the game Halo, but I won't recommend you try eating those.
As both of us are poor university students, we really can't afford very expensive meals. Also, we tend to spend more time with our studies than going out to eat (in theory). Nonetheless, we will still attempt to review decently-looking stuff. So, for any readers out there, Tamato and I hope you will enjoy reading our blog!
I do like to eat, but certainly not to the degree that Tamato does. She is far more willing to try new things than I do, but I usually go along with what she tries. However, I am allergic to nuts, so it may bias my ratings toward nut-containing foods. More or less, as long as the food does not contain nuts, and my friends aren't dropping dead from eating it, I will try it out as well.
My favourite foods are virtually anything containing noodles (unless it has nuts in it, then blah). I also like Transformers and the game Halo, but I won't recommend you try eating those.
As both of us are poor university students, we really can't afford very expensive meals. Also, we tend to spend more time with our studies than going out to eat (in theory). Nonetheless, we will still attempt to review decently-looking stuff. So, for any readers out there, Tamato and I hope you will enjoy reading our blog!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Introductions, now where to begin?
Hmm, it seems we are little due for an introduction of the people behind this tiny blog, Tamato and Leek! Since this was all of my fantastic idea anyways, I guess I will do the honor of introducing myself, Tamato, to you first.
As one can probably tell from the blog, I love food (almost as much as I love Leek)! However, despite my love for it, I am a fairly picky eater too (which I think is fairly contradicting... welps, that's Tamato for you)! I do try to force myself to try new things at times, but I am always scared that I would try it and end up not liking it and then having wasted $___! This is a problem because I like to watch my wallet as much as possible, squeezing as many pennies out of it as I can! Oh boy, you should see me when I hit a deal! I rave on and on about them for the longest time ever, you can confirm that with Leek =P
But yes, money aside, I really like to eat, and at times when I am feeling not too lazy or feel like I want to please some people, I like to cook too! This blog will soon be filled with many more food reviews and recipes! We have yet to post up the first recipe, but hopefully that will come soon, when Leek and I get together on what recipe to first post!
Just for this blog, Leek and I have decided to venture more! Meaning instead of eating just what we like best at the restaurants we frequent the most, we have decided to try a variety of foods at different places! We also need to get into the habit of snapping the photos of the food before we dig in! We get super hungry at times staring at the food staring back at us!
Speaking of photos, I do sincerely apologize for the quality of the pictures on this blog! I try, but I am just not built as a photographer! I guess it does not help that my camera is of a low quality one, so please bear with the pictures and just imagine them a little less blurred and slightly more yummy and such =)
Anyways, I guess that is it for my little blurb today, feeling a bit tired after a long day. I will add more maybe in a future posting, but hopefully this has helped you to learn a teeny tiny bit about me! Looking forward to Leek's post tomorrow ^_____^ <3
As one can probably tell from the blog, I love food (almost as much as I love Leek)! However, despite my love for it, I am a fairly picky eater too (which I think is fairly contradicting... welps, that's Tamato for you)! I do try to force myself to try new things at times, but I am always scared that I would try it and end up not liking it and then having wasted $___! This is a problem because I like to watch my wallet as much as possible, squeezing as many pennies out of it as I can! Oh boy, you should see me when I hit a deal! I rave on and on about them for the longest time ever, you can confirm that with Leek =P
But yes, money aside, I really like to eat, and at times when I am feeling not too lazy or feel like I want to please some people, I like to cook too! This blog will soon be filled with many more food reviews and recipes! We have yet to post up the first recipe, but hopefully that will come soon, when Leek and I get together on what recipe to first post!
Just for this blog, Leek and I have decided to venture more! Meaning instead of eating just what we like best at the restaurants we frequent the most, we have decided to try a variety of foods at different places! We also need to get into the habit of snapping the photos of the food before we dig in! We get super hungry at times staring at the food staring back at us!
Speaking of photos, I do sincerely apologize for the quality of the pictures on this blog! I try, but I am just not built as a photographer! I guess it does not help that my camera is of a low quality one, so please bear with the pictures and just imagine them a little less blurred and slightly more yummy and such =)
Anyways, I guess that is it for my little blurb today, feeling a bit tired after a long day. I will add more maybe in a future posting, but hopefully this has helped you to learn a teeny tiny bit about me! Looking forward to Leek's post tomorrow ^_____^ <3
Monday, August 3, 2009
Bakudanyaki Tenku
Heylo everyone! Today, I Leek (and I Tamato in the red fonts) will review this bakudanyaki place (sorry Tamato forgot the name) (Bakudanyaki Tenku). Interestingly enough, it is located virtually in the middle of nowhere - in a parking lot beside a vase place (even weirder) just off some road in Richmond (7100 Elmbridge Way). They are like a block, or so, North of the Richmond Hospital.
On the other hand, they apparently sell their bakudanyakis at the Richmond Night Market, or whatever its called nowadays... (Richmond Summer Market).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, their entire menu consists of, you guessed it, variations of bakudanyaki! I am not really the adventuous type, so I stuck with plain old original. Of course, there are other flavours you can choose from (like curry, chili mayo, wasabi mayo, mustard mayo, and pizza).
It comes as a huge ball in a rather nice-looking (Chinese) take out box. I think it is pretty cute, and simple. It even comes with a napkin and chopstick holder with a little handle to carry it if you decide to wrap it up to eat or finish later on!
However, since it is located in a parking lot, you are pretty much stuck to eating it in the comforts (or discomforts) of your own car. Leek forgot, but they do have a little tent hiked up to fit maybe a couple of people if you really insist on not going back into your car.
The bakudanyaki was quite nice. It was a pretty huge portion - enough to fill me (and I tend to eat a lot!). They certainly didn't go light on the ingredients either; it was filled up with seafood and other stuff....(tamato help me out here...). Cabbage, shrimp, calamari, squid, rice cake, fish cake, and quail egg. I wasn't too fond of the sauce though, and it took some getting used to. The sauce was actually alright for me since I love takoyaki, but I did find that they put a squirt too many of the mayo (I am not a fan of mayo be it Western or Japanese mayo). I actually found the insides of the bakudanyaki to be a little bland, it definitely could have used some more salt or something. Yuckily enough, it is also through this experience that I discovered I do not like the taste of quail eggs. It seems I may be fairly picky when it comes to eating eggs (although I adore chicken eggs, yummy)!
Overall, I recommend trying this place out, if you can find it. Talk about visibility... Well, come on, it is only $5 for a ball about the size of your hands clasped together! And once you google map it, it is fairly simple to find! It is just not very accessible for the two of us since we rarely step into Richmond together and we rely on public transport. On this particular day, my daddy was nice enough to chauffer us around Richmond since I had the day off work! So lucky of us! I had been craving to try one of these since I read about them! Hehehe.
Oh! The guy who served us was nice enough to ask us if we had a stamp card too! According to the stamp card, for every 7 bakudanyakis you buy from them, you get 1 free! Just like those stamp cards you receive from bubble tea places. And I know that we all love free stuff!
On the other hand, they apparently sell their bakudanyakis at the Richmond Night Market, or whatever its called nowadays... (Richmond Summer Market).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, their entire menu consists of, you guessed it, variations of bakudanyaki! I am not really the adventuous type, so I stuck with plain old original. Of course, there are other flavours you can choose from (like curry, chili mayo, wasabi mayo, mustard mayo, and pizza).
It comes as a huge ball in a rather nice-looking (Chinese) take out box. I think it is pretty cute, and simple. It even comes with a napkin and chopstick holder with a little handle to carry it if you decide to wrap it up to eat or finish later on!
However, since it is located in a parking lot, you are pretty much stuck to eating it in the comforts (or discomforts) of your own car. Leek forgot, but they do have a little tent hiked up to fit maybe a couple of people if you really insist on not going back into your car.
The bakudanyaki was quite nice. It was a pretty huge portion - enough to fill me (and I tend to eat a lot!). They certainly didn't go light on the ingredients either; it was filled up with seafood and other stuff....(tamato help me out here...). Cabbage, shrimp, calamari, squid, rice cake, fish cake, and quail egg. I wasn't too fond of the sauce though, and it took some getting used to. The sauce was actually alright for me since I love takoyaki, but I did find that they put a squirt too many of the mayo (I am not a fan of mayo be it Western or Japanese mayo). I actually found the insides of the bakudanyaki to be a little bland, it definitely could have used some more salt or something. Yuckily enough, it is also through this experience that I discovered I do not like the taste of quail eggs. It seems I may be fairly picky when it comes to eating eggs (although I adore chicken eggs, yummy)!
Overall, I recommend trying this place out, if you can find it. Talk about visibility... Well, come on, it is only $5 for a ball about the size of your hands clasped together! And once you google map it, it is fairly simple to find! It is just not very accessible for the two of us since we rarely step into Richmond together and we rely on public transport. On this particular day, my daddy was nice enough to chauffer us around Richmond since I had the day off work! So lucky of us! I had been craving to try one of these since I read about them! Hehehe.
Oh! The guy who served us was nice enough to ask us if we had a stamp card too! According to the stamp card, for every 7 bakudanyakis you buy from them, you get 1 free! Just like those stamp cards you receive from bubble tea places. And I know that we all love free stuff!
McDonald's Teriyaki McChicken
Heylo everyone! Leek here with a review - this time on the Teriyaki McChicken currently offered by a McDonald's near you! Normally I would not order food like this (plus I'm notoriously bad at ordering stuff at McD) but Tamato generously offered me one while on break between classes. To say the least, it was a change from what I usually eat during lunch.
When I first learned about the burger, I had high hopes. I am quite fond of teriyaki sauce, and combined with McChicken, I felt there was something awesome in the making. Unfortunately, I found out otherwise.
On the whole the burger was....ok at best (perhaps I had too high an expectation). My greatest grievance was that the teriyaki sauce failed to mix with the mayonnaise. Pretty disappointing when the key ingredient that you pretty much bought the burger for fails to mix with the rest. The chicken was nothing spectacular, but then, it is McDonald's. More or less, it was simply an overpriced McChicken burger with a random sauce thrown in.
Overall, I won't recommend this burger unless you are feeling particularly adventuous. Stick with what works McDonald's! I agree with Leek, it was definitely overpriced at a little over $4 for a single burger when I can get a whole Junior Chicken meal for just a few cents more! I think I will stick with the Junior Chicken or the original McChicken. However, for me, eating at McDonald's means eating a super cheap meal, so unless I have those buy one get one free burger coupons they so sparingly mail to you these days, I usually stick with the Value Meals! (Although I have cravings for their chicken nuggets every now and then, hehehe).
When I first learned about the burger, I had high hopes. I am quite fond of teriyaki sauce, and combined with McChicken, I felt there was something awesome in the making. Unfortunately, I found out otherwise.
On the whole the burger was....ok at best (perhaps I had too high an expectation). My greatest grievance was that the teriyaki sauce failed to mix with the mayonnaise. Pretty disappointing when the key ingredient that you pretty much bought the burger for fails to mix with the rest. The chicken was nothing spectacular, but then, it is McDonald's. More or less, it was simply an overpriced McChicken burger with a random sauce thrown in.
Overall, I won't recommend this burger unless you are feeling particularly adventuous. Stick with what works McDonald's! I agree with Leek, it was definitely overpriced at a little over $4 for a single burger when I can get a whole Junior Chicken meal for just a few cents more! I think I will stick with the Junior Chicken or the original McChicken. However, for me, eating at McDonald's means eating a super cheap meal, so unless I have those buy one get one free burger coupons they so sparingly mail to you these days, I usually stick with the Value Meals! (Although I have cravings for their chicken nuggets every now and then, hehehe).
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Seasons in the Park
Hello,
Leek and I decided to start a food (and everything else) blog in lieu of celebrating our 1.5 years together <3 Unfortunately I had the wisdom teeth on the left side of my mouth taken out on Friday, so my meals as of the last couple of days includes mush and we did not have the opportunity to go eat out. Instead our first blog post will be of my birthday dinner which my sweetie Leek had planned so nicely for me~!
Seasons in the Park is located in Queen Elizabeth Park (Main Street and West 33rd Avenue), near The Bloedel Conservatory and the fountains. We made reservations for 5:30 that evening as we wanted to take advantage of their Sunset menu which is only available Monday to Thursday from 5:30-6:00pm.
When we arrived, we were greeted, then told to wait for our server in the lobby. I thought this was an unnecessary overlay considering the restaurant was practically empty (except for a few patrons on the patio and many employees). After being seated outside, we were given menus and ordered drinks. Boyfriend and I are easy to please, we do not drink alcohol so we stuck to Coke and Sprite.
Soon after our drinks came, we were served bread and butter. No, we were not only served two slices of bread, we just so happened to forget to take a picture of it before munching down (we were starving)! The bread was warm so it was easy to spread the butter over it and watch it melt. Delicious.
The Sunset menu ($25) starts off with a Mixed Seasonal Greens appetizer. However, because neither Leek or I eat salads, we had the salad packed to go (for my family) and instead ordered the Grilled Calamari Steak on the side ($13). The steak was absolutely yummy. But, I did find the warm Sicilian caponata stuffing to be a little too sweet. Even though we ordered it to share, the chef was nice enough to split the dish into two plates so we did not have to make a mess of ourselves!
Next came the entree. For the choice of entrees on the Sunset menu, you can choose between the Seafood Bouillabaisse (which I had, above) or the Grilled 7 oz Sirlion Steak (which boyfriend had, below). The bouillabaisse definitely had quite a few pieces of seafood and potatoes, and an abundance of onions. By the time I finished the dish, it still looked half full because of the amount of onions piled up in the broth (I do not like onions, so I tend not to eat them).
Boyfriends dish looks very meaty, however, when I tasted the glaze, yuck. To me, the glaze tasted like thick burnt soy sauce! I guess that means I should stay away from bourbon green peppercorn demi-glace upon all future meetings. Leek liked it quite a bit though, and managed to finish the whole plate by himself!
Last but not least, our dessert came! We were served their Double Belgian Chocolate Truffle and Fudge Cake. It tasted as rich as it looked. Even though boyfriend does not like chocolate, he managed to polish off the whole slice of cake himself! I do not know if he did it for me, but either way it made me so proud of him! It was the first time I have seen him taking in such a large amount of chocolate without me having to force him!
Overall the dinner was very nice. Plus, we had a very pretty view of the park and the city. I think overall including tax and tips and our pop and bottled water, we paid about $85. It was a very nice dinner, thank you honey ~<3
Leek and I decided to start a food (and everything else) blog in lieu of celebrating our 1.5 years together <3 Unfortunately I had the wisdom teeth on the left side of my mouth taken out on Friday, so my meals as of the last couple of days includes mush and we did not have the opportunity to go eat out. Instead our first blog post will be of my birthday dinner which my sweetie Leek had planned so nicely for me~!
Seasons in the Park is located in Queen Elizabeth Park (Main Street and West 33rd Avenue), near The Bloedel Conservatory and the fountains. We made reservations for 5:30 that evening as we wanted to take advantage of their Sunset menu which is only available Monday to Thursday from 5:30-6:00pm.
When we arrived, we were greeted, then told to wait for our server in the lobby. I thought this was an unnecessary overlay considering the restaurant was practically empty (except for a few patrons on the patio and many employees). After being seated outside, we were given menus and ordered drinks. Boyfriend and I are easy to please, we do not drink alcohol so we stuck to Coke and Sprite.
Soon after our drinks came, we were served bread and butter. No, we were not only served two slices of bread, we just so happened to forget to take a picture of it before munching down (we were starving)! The bread was warm so it was easy to spread the butter over it and watch it melt. Delicious.
The Sunset menu ($25) starts off with a Mixed Seasonal Greens appetizer. However, because neither Leek or I eat salads, we had the salad packed to go (for my family) and instead ordered the Grilled Calamari Steak on the side ($13). The steak was absolutely yummy. But, I did find the warm Sicilian caponata stuffing to be a little too sweet. Even though we ordered it to share, the chef was nice enough to split the dish into two plates so we did not have to make a mess of ourselves!
Next came the entree. For the choice of entrees on the Sunset menu, you can choose between the Seafood Bouillabaisse (which I had, above) or the Grilled 7 oz Sirlion Steak (which boyfriend had, below). The bouillabaisse definitely had quite a few pieces of seafood and potatoes, and an abundance of onions. By the time I finished the dish, it still looked half full because of the amount of onions piled up in the broth (I do not like onions, so I tend not to eat them).
Boyfriends dish looks very meaty, however, when I tasted the glaze, yuck. To me, the glaze tasted like thick burnt soy sauce! I guess that means I should stay away from bourbon green peppercorn demi-glace upon all future meetings. Leek liked it quite a bit though, and managed to finish the whole plate by himself!
Last but not least, our dessert came! We were served their Double Belgian Chocolate Truffle and Fudge Cake. It tasted as rich as it looked. Even though boyfriend does not like chocolate, he managed to polish off the whole slice of cake himself! I do not know if he did it for me, but either way it made me so proud of him! It was the first time I have seen him taking in such a large amount of chocolate without me having to force him!
Overall the dinner was very nice. Plus, we had a very pretty view of the park and the city. I think overall including tax and tips and our pop and bottled water, we paid about $85. It was a very nice dinner, thank you honey ~<3
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