Hanok

This is a late post from visiting this restaurant 2 months ago but what can I say, full time school and work can really kick someone’s ass. But me and my best friend decided to go on a Richmond outing and I remember reading a lot of good reviews about Hanok back in 2014 about their lunch specials so we decided to give this place a try.

Long story short, it sucked.

I mean we should have known by how empty this place was in the afternoon. Me and my friend were the only ones in these despite it being such a big restaurant. But the server sat us down at our table already and brought us tea and we felt bad leaving so we stayed, mostly out of pity.

Side dishes:After the server took our orders, she brought over the side dishes. Long story short, it sucked. Me and my friend have a history of fighting for the sweet potatoes every time we go out for Korean (to be fair though, who doesn’t fight over the sweet potatoes, they are ah-mazing) but we each had a piece, looked at each other and proceeded to try the other dishes hoping they would be better. They were not. The sweet potatoes still felt a little raw with a lack of sweetness, it tasted of mostly soy sauce. The bean sprouts and seaweed were barely seasoned and the kimchi lacked spice as well. We basically left the side dishes untouched. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be bland.

Al Bap: Rice with fish roe ($12.99)Al Bap is my go-to when I go to a Korean restaurant but this was a disappointment. Bland is another great word to describe this dish. There was enough fish roe but the dish was just unimpressive and badly executed. The rice was wet which didn’t help with crisping it up along the sides and there were a lot of chopped up veggies (such as purple lettuce) in it that lent no flavor to the dish. It went overpriced for what it was and every Al Bap I’ve had was cheaper and better than this one.

Grilled Mackerel and Soft Tofu Soup ($13.99)My friend got this because it sounded like it had more value. But just like my dish, this was a disappointment too. The grilled mackerel and soft tofu soup both were small portions. They were both, unsurprisingly, bland for what they were. Most soft tofu soup I’ve eaten were red from the spice and gochujang but you can see how pale the soup is in the picture. My friend likes to crack the egg Korean restaurants give to you in it herself and then swirl it a little to distribute it. They had already done that for her before she got the dish. This resulted in an overcooked lump of an egg which added to the disappointment of the dish. The grilled mackerel had a lot of tiny bones in it. Granted they’re supposed to have bones but the server gave no warning at it and it was an unpleasant surprise to my friend as well.

One of the reasons we chose to go was because Hanok had an amazing lunch special back then where you got a main dish and a side dish for $8.99. But to anyone reading the 2014 reviews, that special is over now which we found out when we were seated and handed the menus. But even if the dishes we had were priced at $8.99, me and my friend would not go back. The food was lacking, the service was bare minimum but seeing that we were the only table at the time, I can see why. Another table did become occupied once me and my friend were beginning to leave but the restaurant was pretty much dead. I really wanted to like this restaurant because I always saw their name pop up in food blogs back in 2014 but this meal was just too big of a disappointment.

 

 

 

Peqish

A quick review on Peqish because I found this in my drafts from 2 months ago, a more detailed one will come up later because I keep going back but this will have to do until then. Peqish is a relatively new restaurant/ food shop located in Downtown near Pacific Centre. They focus a lot on healthy eating and everything is freshly made in small batches at their store. They only make new batches when the item sells out and you can see how fresh their products actually are. This was just a review of a lunch that I bought 2… months… ago…

Ginger Berry Chia H20: organic chia, ginger, berry juice ($2.99)This was a relatively small cup for what it’s worth but I enjoyed drinking it. It wasn’t too sweet and you can taste the ginger very nicely in it. Having the chia seeds in there made it seem like a tinier healthier version of bubble tea and that made the Asian in me very happy.

Festive Chicken Crancherry Lunch Box Classiq: roast chicken breast, cranberries, cherries, PQ greens ($4.99)

This is my new favourite sandwich. The chicken was well seasoned and moist. The cranberry added a hint of sweetness and made the sandwich more moist. The veggies were still fresh, no surprise, and gave that crispy texture that a packed sandwich like so needed. LOOK AT ALL THAT MEAT. And it tasted healthy too which I’m pretty sure it was. The bread had flax seeds in it and it was a very good sandwich.

Ginger Lime Quinoa Salad Booster Cup: red onion, tomato, peppers, quinoa, ginger, lime, sesame oil ($2.99)

This was also a relatively small cup but again, I like the execution. The flavour was on point, it was a bit sour but really complimented the texture of the al-dente quinoa. The shredded carrot added a bit of extra crunch while the fresh greens on top added more crispiness to the wet texture. All in all, I will and have come back for this.

Basically here you just go into the store, pick what you want, pay for it and go. It’s a place for fast quick healthy food. The cashier was nice and the place was very clean. I have gone back several times but I just need to edit the pictures for those and another review will be up. But I like the concept of Peqish, healthy food at typical fast food place prices. Their food is great tasting for what it is too and you don’t get that greasy feeling after eating other rather deep fried foods. Overall, I rather enjoyed this meal and I’m glad a place such as Peqish opened in urban downtown.

http://www.peqish.com/

Hapa Izakaya Robson (Dine Out)

Here’s a late review of Hapa Izakaya Robson Dine Out. I had 3 quizzes and 2 midterms in the past 2 weeks so I didn’t get a chance to post about this until Dine Out was over. But this was their $18 menu for 2 people and Hapa Izakaya’s Dine Out menu was basically a choice of A, B and C. Obviously you can’t get it anymore but it’s still on their regular menu so yay for that!

Beef Tataki: Lightly seared AAA beef, sesame-chili sauceKeeping in mind that this was Dine Out, their dishes were toward the smaller size which was totally understandable given the price point. This dish was definitely one of the smaller ones but it was well done and presentation was very nice too. The sauce could use a bit of work because my friend was confused as to why we had watery ketchup on our beef but the beef worked well with the sesame seeds and the toppings in the middle of the dish.

Bintoro: Lightly seared Albacore tuna sashimi, ponzu sauceI wanted to like this but it was just a bit off. It was a well done dish, albeit smaller than the beef tataki but I would not re-order this just based on personal preference. Even with the sauce, it still tasted bland and the texture was a bit too stringy for me. But again, points for presentation!

Taster Plate: (2pc ea. Ebi Mayo, Karaage, Gyoza) Tempura prawns, spicy mayo sauce, deep-fried boneless chicken, soy ginger sauce, minced pork layered with lotus root, tempura batter)This I really liked. And I mean really. The chicken was crispy and juicy and seaasoned well. The ebi mayo was cooked perfectly and had that snap and the sauce was the right amount of flavour, not too strong was definitely had an impact. The gyoza confused me for a bit because I didn’t read the description and was like WHY IS THE SKIN CRUNCHY. It’s basically 2 sliced pieces of lotus with a layer of meat in between covered in batter and deep fried. Wouldn’t order the gyoza personally but if given, I would eat it.

Gindara: Baked sablefish, sake-miso marinadeHands down, my favourite dish of the night. Keep in mind, this is my first time having sablefish but omg, it was so buttery and smooth and the texture. THE TEXTURE. It was like it was melting in my mouth because of the fat but at the same time, it actually wasn’t so I was able to chew it and taste the fish oils and marinade together. My friend has had sablefish before and commented it was a well done sablefish dish so it wasn’t just my inexperienced taste buds gushing at the perfection of this dish. If you had to get a dish at Hapa, this. THIS.

Spicy Pork Ishiyaki: Rice, minced pork, garlic sprouts, egg, tomato, lettuce, spicy miso, served in a hot stone bowlThis was my friend’s dish, I forgot to get a picture after the server mixed it but it basically looked like fried rice. I had few bites of this and didn’t really want more. To me, it was like a spicy wet friend rice with flavours that didn’t match. The tomato didn’t go with the spicy, the miso didn’t go with the pork and there was no texture despite the addition of lettuce and garlice sprouts. This is my own personal opinion though because I’m not a big fan of rice, or spicy miso, or minced pork… But my friend liked it!

Mentaiko Udon: Udon noodles, spicy cod roe sauceI did not like the addition of tomatoes in this. I actually was at Ebisu the night before and had their Mentaiko Udon and I preferred their version to this. With the sauce being so creamy, the acidity of the tomato just kinda took away from that. But the noodles were al-dente, there was enough sauce and the sauce was still pretty good so I would definitely re-order this in the future.

Matcha White Chocolate Cookie:There were tiny. But free so I’ll take them. They’re no Guu frozen grapes but they weren’t too sweet and it was nice to end the meal on a light sweet note.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Hapa and I’m glad they were my first Dine Out experience. I feel like the whole meal was a good deal and I got to try 6 different items on their menu, more than I usually would have had I come here for a non-Dine Out meal. So they served their Dine Out purpose. The service was good, the server was friendly and checked up on me when I was waiting for my friend (who showed up 30 minutes late…). There was a small waiting issue with our food but it was quickly resolved. I would definitely come back to Hapa in the future.

Here’s their full menu for people who like to look at what they can’t have: http://www.dineoutvancouver.com/listings/Hapa-Izakaya-West-End/21053/0/

My New Year’s Resolution

I didn’t take this picture but it was something I saw on Tumblr a while back, it hit a nerve so I just saved it. Having a conversation with a friend a while back where we were discussing new years resolutions and I started listing all the things I wanted to accomplish for 2015. School stuff, workout stuff, work stuff, blog stuff and a bunch more physical things I wanted to do. But then I realize, underneath it all, I only wanted all of those things because they’ll bring me pride from the achievements. And I’m hoping those doses of temporary happiness will be enough to put me in a better place emotionally.

It’s still hitting me that I’m an adult now and I’m held accountable for my decisions. So whenever I choose to be anything less than happy, it’s on me. Sure, sometimes you can’t help being sad over things but I’m hoping to hit those moments less and less.

I’ve wasted too much of 2014 being being distraught over work and love related issues. I’ve wasted too much of 2014 not being happy over the easy life that I’ve been given seeing that I had a full time job at age 19 and was able to go to school while maintaining that job. I’ve wasted too much of 2014 not being able to enjoy the wonderful moments with my best friends because I was too busy moping over some guy who didn’t deserve me to mope over. I’ve wasted too much of 2014 going to school for something I ended up not liking. I’ve wasted too much of 2014 not being better to people. I’ve wasted too much of 2014 in general not being happy. And that’s time I will never get back.

So for 2015, I’m going to focus on more than just being happy. If I am going to be unhappy this year, I’m going to be unhappy for better reasons. I will stop watering dead flowers in hopes that I can save them. I will learn to leave anything that contributes to any negativity. I will only love the people who showed that they deserve it. This year, I’m going to be more happy for the right reasons and the right people.

The Bubble Tea Shop

You gotta love social media, cause without it, I wouldn’t have even known this place existed.

The Bubble Tea Shop is a bubble tea place specializing in bubble waffles. They just opened last week which is probably why not many people have heard about them yet. But it’s been attracting quite a bit of attention on instagram because they post pictures of their decorative bubble waffles with ice cream, whipped cream and even more toppings! I only found out about the place cause a fellow friend uploaded a picture of the instagram-worthy waffle she ate there and the foodie in me went WHERE IS THAT I MUST HAVE IT. And so I went all the way to Richmond a few days after to try it. And it was so worth it.

Green Tea Frappe ($5.25):Oh I wanted so badly to have liked this. But it was just way too sweet. When I ordered it, the cashier did tell me about how there’s vanilla ice cream in it. Maybe that’s why it was too sweet? The addition of ice cream and syrup? But I could not finish it, I drank half at most then drank my friend’s drink. But because I hate wasting food and I just love matcha so much, I brought the other half home and just blended it with almond milk and spinach. On the bright side, very good base for a matcha spinach smoothie. Next time I order it, I’m going to ask for half sweet.

Earl Grey Milk Tea ($4.25)This was not too sweet at all. I loved it. It was actually barely sweet at all and you could taste the Earl Grey very nicely. But if you like overly sweet drinks, this is not for you.

Super Matcha Bubble Waffle ($8.95):This actually isn’t on their menu, it’s an “instagram special”. #gottalovesocialmedia When I couldn’t find it on the menu, I was going to pull out the picture on instagram and ask for it but luckily someone in the back was making one at the moment and I just pointed and was like “I want one of those…” The cashier said they’re still updating their menu but because they’ve been showing it off on instagram, they’ll make it for anyone who asks or has a picture of it somewhere. So guys, if you want this, just ask for the super matcha (that was the name on the receipt) or I guess the instagram special? But I really liked this. The green tea waffle was very well made, the whipped cream was fresh and the green tea ice cream was good quality green tea ice cream. I would go back to this now if I could.

Rocky Road Bubble Waffle ($6.95):That devastating moment when you realize you forgot to take a bite of your friend’s dish because you were too busy devouring yours. But she loved it and finished every last bit so I will just have to assume it was good.

Red Velvet Bubble Waffle ($6.00):Because I’m a glutton and I know I won’t have the time to be back for the next little while, against my better judgement, I ordered another bubble waffle. And this is the first time I’ve tried a red velvet bubble waffle and it was so good. It’s like a mild version of a red velvet cupcake with the chewiness of a bubble waffle. Their cream cheese frosting is on point. It taste freshly made and I’m pretty sure it was and it was just the right amount of cream cheese and sweet. Despite my best efforts, I could finish a small half at most so they packed it up for me to go. Brought it home and it got a bit soggy but it was inevitable, still good then though.

I forgot to take a picture but they have a stamp card as well for bubble teas and for waffles and let me tell you, I love stamp cards but I’ll be back regardless. The service was good for a bubble tea place. The cashiers were friendly and brought out the food and everything was made on the spot. For the price point, their bubble tea could use a bit of work with the consistency of their sweetness level. But the novelty of their bubble waffles is definitely worth it in my opinion. The shop was clean and there were rubix cubes around to play with. Finding it was a bit hard though because there were a lot of stores underneath Superstore and I’m not familiar with the area but just walk into the parking lot side and keep going straight and you should find it.

Props to their marketing and social media team though. If you look on top of the Earl Grey bubble tea cover, it’s their logo which pretty much has BBT written in a design on it which is what they call themselves on instragram. TheBBTshop. I was just looking at the logo when I left with my friend and I really liked how simple it is. And bubble waffles have been around for a while. Ice cream has been around for a while. Waffles with ice cream (and other toppings) has been around for a while. But no one thought to do ice cream (and other toppings) on bubble waffles except them and they did a very good job with it! And you can tell from the pictures I took why I find their offerings instagram worthy. Not going to lie, the social media geek in me uploaded a few pictures on instagram and snapchat and I already had friends being like WHERE IS THAT. They’re very active on their instagram account and you can see how much they care about their bubble waffles which is great. You see when new flavors are being developed and the pictures they take are very aesthetically appealing.

So my advice is go, it tastes as good as it looks. 🙂

Mr. Red Cafe

I’ve been hearing a lot of hype about Mr. Red Cafe and their unbelievable homemade pate and crab spring rolls and since it was somewhat near where I live, I had to go.

With it being located in the East Hastings neighborhood where pho restaurants are a dime a dozen, Mr. Red Cafe differs in that they specialize in Northern Vietnamese food and is the only place (as far as I know) to offer said homemade pate with their sticky rice and crab spring rolls!

It was a pouring Monday around 5:30PM when we went (typical Raincouver) so maybe because of that, there was only one other table when we went in. However by the time we left (when I took the store picture), there were 3 other tables so hopefully they filled up later on!

Bun Nem Cua Be – Deep fried crab meat rolls serve with vermicelli, mixed herbs and sweet & sour sauce ($11.50) This was my friend’s dish and I was jealous and wished I had ordered it. The crab meat spring rolls were deep fried very well (if I’m right, they used rice paper) and although the crab flavour wasn’t prominent, the flavour of the roll was still very good. I didn’t get a picture of it but at every table, there’s a jar of oil with chili peppers and garlic in it that I believe this restaurant made itself. I didn’t have any but my friend had it with the vermicelli and really liked it! If there was anything about this dish that could use improvement, it would be that it was hard to mix but to be fair, we weren’t sure were we supposed to mix this so…

Xoi xeo Pate oa – Special sticky rice with Pate & Chicken to serve with pickled daikon ($7.00)
Ah, the famous pate sticky rice dish. Despite the picture, this dish was actually rather small, like appetizer size which is understandable with the price tag. (Which made me all the more jealous of my friend’s dish cause it was pretty big). The textures were great, it wasn’t too mushy and still had some chew to it. The rice is yellow and from being on their Facebook page, it’s apparently because they flavour the rice with tumeric! But nonetheless, I still liked it.

I didn’t get a picture of it because I’m still new to this whole blogging thing but I also got a durian milkshake which I was not the biggest fan of. I believe it was $4 but it was very milky and the durian flavour was not strong and the size wasn’t impressive either. I would say stick with their tea, it’s pandan tea apparently and has a subtle sweetness that is very enjoyable. I didn’t even know such a thing existed!

The service was great as well, the staff was welcoming and obviously genuinely loved the restaurant. As me and my friend were preparing to go, the couple at the table beside us had some questions about the menu, and the server (I believe is the owner Rose) patiently and passionately explained to them the flavors of various dishes. I gotta say, I was impressed throughout my meal, food-wise and environment-wise. Needless to say, there will be return visits in the future as I have heard good things about their pho too!

Jethro’s Fine Grub

Having heard about Jethro’s Fine Grub’s famous big portions, a trip was definitely needed to see how a big eater like me would do. And I eat a lot, I have finished a bowl of noodles at Deer Garden and Cattle Cafe and eaten my friends’ food as well so I was a bit skeptical about the hype of the huge pancakes when I was reading about it.

With warning from other food blogs that there’ll be long wait times during peak hours, me and my friend planned to go right before the lunch rush hour hit and go a table right upon entering the restaurant. Tea and menu was given to us immediately by the sole server in the restaurant, definitely good first impression.

The Gold Rush – Our banana pancakes stuffed with caramel, pecans and streusel. Topped with more caramel, pecans and streusel and whipped butter ($12)I stand corrected. These pancakes were HUGE! But they were so good. It could have been because the wait time was a little longer than normal (but the server came and warn us so it was fine) but me and my friend were exceptionally hungry. But this was good. The pancakes were fluffy, not too sweet and plenty of the filling that was described. If. IF I had to pick one thing, the bananas could have been more ripe but this was amazing.

Apple Cobbler French Toast – Jethro’s French toast coated in cinnamon crunch batter. Served with cinnamon apples and whipped butter ($12)This was my friend’s choice, I was leaning toward Nutella but she insisted on this one so we went with apple. That being said, I didn’t eat much of this but felt like it was just average, nothing memorable, but that’s just my biased view.

THE AFTERMATH:With 2 originally very hungry girls bloated, we were only able to finish 1/3 of the pancakes and 1/4 of the french toast. The leftovers were enough for 2 meals each for the each of us too. Each table had it’s own bottle of syrup to be used to the eaters’ content and we definitely did. The server gave us little packages of syrup to take home too with our leftovers as well, bravo for her attention to detail since she was the only one handling the front of the house.

I would definitely come back. The server, despite being the only person on the floor, filled cups for everyone, made sure everything was okay with all the tables and was great in general. The food was obviously very plentiful and good in terms of taste and value. Fine grub at it’s best.

Home

Aree Thai

Well this is new to me. Let’s see what’s up!

Yesterday I met up with my best friend around 7PM with the intention of going to Seoul Doogbaegi but once we got there, there was a sign saying they were closed just for that day. I know, what a stroke of bad luck. But because we were starving and really wanted food, we remembered we saw Aree Thai along the way to Seoul Doogbaegi and thought “why not?!”

A few reasons why not actually.

We looked up the menu online before we went in (us being the technology generation yep) and saw that the dishes were about $10 and thought again “hey why not?!”

Went inside and was welcomed by soft Thai music and an inviting atmosphere. However though, the restaurant had one table that was paying which eventually left the restaurant empty. Why not #1. But we were cold and hungry and Aree Thai was warm and had food. So we stayed.

The empty booth seats.

Remember when I said we looked at the menu online and the dishes were about $10? I forgot to take a picture of this but when we got the actual menu, about 75% of the items were increased by $1. I know $1 isn’t that big of a deal but when you order a few dishes, it adds up. And it’s the principle of the whole thing, if they had fixed their menu online, we wouldn’t have felt as jipped. Why not #2.

But the server was attentive (well given we were the only table in the restaurant) and brought us tea so me and my friend decided to stay.
We ordered a small Tom Kah, a pineapple fried rice and Pad Thai.

Tom Kah, Chicken – Traditional Thai coconut soup with mushroom. Flavored with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal. (S: $5.96, L: $9.96)

This was actually really good. Unfortunately the portion was small and not worth the $6 price tag. But out of all the items we ordered, this was our favourite. There wasn’t too less chicken and the mushroom though which was nice. But the soup did have a lot of filler with the cabbage and the herbs that they used. My friend had to spit some out because they were hard and it was difficult for her to swallow. But great flavour and the coconut milk and the spices worked really well together.

Pineapple Fried Rice, Pork – Fried rice with egg, pineapple, cashew nuts, tomato and onion. ($10.96)

Prominent black pepper flavour. Very greasy. I’ll show you what our spoons looked like at the end of the post. But again, not lacking in protein but the small portions trend still going strong, why not #3. The pineapples were canned and didn’t lend as much flavour to a dish that was named for it should. The texture of the rice was fluffy and the right amount of dry. Points for the rice and protein but that’s about it.

Pad Thai Original, Pork – Stir-fired rice noodle with tamarind sauce, eggs, tofu, bean sprouts and ground peanut. ($10.96)

Way too salty. I’ve had Pad Thai with tamarind before so I realize the flavour is different and more sour than the westernized version with ketchup but I felt the need to dilute this dish with the fried rice. There was either way too much tamarind sauce or not enough of everything else because again, small portion as well. Not lacking in the protein again but I would rather they gave us a little less meat and more of the filler. Also an abundant amount of oil which made me and my friend feel gross after eating this.

DAT GREASE DOE. Why not #4.

And that’s just the spoons, I forgot to take a picture of the plate but let me tell you, if I die young, these dishes might be why.

Overall, I wouldn’t come back, which is a shame because I wanted to like this restaurant. I get that inflation happens and price increases are inevitable but you should be honest about that. The prices I paid were what I paid for them and if you go on their website, you will see otherwise. Small portions, overuse of oil, flavour (except for the Tom Kah) was average at best. I can see why the restaurant would be empty. But the host/ server was attentive and welcoming which made our experience a lot better.

 

And sorry for the quality of the pictures, I was just going to instagram these but then was like “MAYBE I SHOULD TRY WRITING A FOOD BLOG” and this is my first effort. Please try to understand I am trying something new and I’ll learn as I go! Thanks for reading ^_^