Munchie Adventure: Jubilant Restaurant 恩榮小館, Richmond

After shopping around Aberdeen Centre, we found ourselves a bit hungry, so we decided to hit up Jubilant Restaurant, since it was close by and had little snack eats.

Restaurant: Jubilant Restaurant 恩榮小館
Location: 4200 No.3 Road, Richmond
Cuisine: Chinese, Snack
Price range: $5-$10

Date of visit: August 29, 2012
Atmosphere: 3/5
Staff/service: 3.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 3.75/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

We ordered an ABC Combo ($14.99) which included congee, noodles, and a snack dish. We chose the Fresh Fish Slices Congee. It was really fresh and "sweet".

Then we had the Rice Noodles with Three Kinds of Meat, which was a bit oily but tasted good. Noodles were a bit broken up though ><

For the snack option, we chose their Pan Fried Rice Rolls in Soy Sauce. It was soft and chewy, but quite oily =/

To go with our congee, we ordered a Deep Fried Chinese Donut ($1.75). Not like the ones in Hong Kong, but it wasn't bad either. Oil was a bit strong.

The special of the day was Squid balls with Flat Rice Noodles in Soup ($3.98). The squid balls were good, and the rice noodles were chewy. The soup was a bit tasteless though.

Excitedly we also ordered Vermicelli in Fish Soup ($5.98), and you get to choose the toppings. We chose fish cake and wontons. The wontons were really big, and full of shrimp! Mom liked it. Vermicelli was chewy too!

Last was the Deep Fried Squid in Peppery Salt ($10.98), we didn't know the price before we ordered, and was quite surprised it cost so much. It was very good though, but not worth the money. Too much for four people, wish they had a smaller snack size.

We got a dessert on the house, it was Ginger milk. I'm not a fan of it, but I guess it was made pretty well.

Overall, good experience, although it felt a bit dirty inside. We were the only people there because it was an odd time (around 4pm) when we went.

Munchie Adventure: Phoenix Garden 鳳凰城, Vancouver

Since I got off work early today, decided to try out Phoenix Garden, since it was fairly new and we usually hit up the restaurant beside it instead. I wish we did that instead of be adventurous. I don't wanna start being all negative, but really, they had overpriced food and small portions. Didn't taste that good either. I guess they can't do anything about their customers, but there was a table where some serious drama was going on... and lots of screaming and yelling resulted.


Restaurant: Phoenix Garden 鳳凰城
Location: 2425 Nanaimo Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Chinese
Price range: $10-20



Date of visit: August 28, 2012
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 2.75/5
Buck worthy? 2/5

There weren't any dinner combos so we ordered each dish by itself. The Shark Fin Soup ($32.80) was on sale, so we decided to give it a try. It was definitely not worth its buck. There were only two pieces of shark fin in there, and one of them was all shattered to begin with. Sure they say there's 4-6 people's worth, but most of it was plain gooey "soup". (The picture is of the piece remaining)

We ordered a Honey Garlic Spareribs ($13.80) and they were a bit dry. Some of the pieces were obviously over-fried or re-fried, the honey sauce was good though.

This was a rather disappointing and sad looking Sauteed Prawns with Scrambled Eggs ($16.80). They should've used a smaller plate, because even before we dug in, it looked like someone already did it before us. It was really watery too, so I was a bit concerned, but since it's our first visit, we didn't say anything.

Last dish was House Special Chow Mein ($12.80) and it was the best dish we ordered. Despite its small size, at least it tasted good, and the ingredients were plentiful. A bit oily though.

Staff were very attentive, but I guess since we're the only table at the restaurant, there's no excuse not to be. The were friendly, but kept asking if we wanted to order rice (but we ordered noodles already), which got a bit redundant. To be fair, flavor was good, just the quality and quantity are a bit lacking.

Munchie Adventure: Miku Restaurant, Downtown Vancouver

Restaurant: Miku Restaurant (visit their website here)
Location: #2-1055 West Hastings Street (Guinness Tower), Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese
Price range: $20+ per person




Date of visit: August 28, 2012
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

Fancy miso soup bowl! Took a bit of
effort to take the lid off though =P

This time me, my friend JC and his brother went for the long-awaited Miku Zen lunch ($24.00) =D We were there pretty early, not the first people there though. Our waiter was really nice, seems like the norm for Miku hehe Nowww onto the food!

Miso soup was miso soup. Just like every other place, I don't know if it counts as a bonus that they didn't mess it up? xD

Anyways, we all got the same thing, so the only difference was...eating speed. I'm a very slow muncher, so pretty much they ended up waiting for me. The problem about slow eating came when some of the foods had to be eaten fresh, but I can't eat it in time ><"

The display was very beautiful and the waiter explained to us in detail what each dish was.

First thing was the tofu salad. I'm sure there were fancy names, but I don't remember them ^^" I liked this, the tofu was cooked then crushed, placed on a bed of various veggies, and topped with some crunchy strips of what seemed like spring roll skins. Pretty good, a bit on the oily side though.

Then was an albacore tuna on white radish with onions. The onions were the highlight of this dish, sweet and flavorful, it went really well with the radish. Tuna was meh, but then again, I'm not a fan of tuna to begin with, so it might be biased :)

I would just call this deep fried chicken breast nuggets. It had a better name for sure, but that's what it was. Topped with a white sauce that I couldn't really remember anything special about, this chicken didn't stand out to me that much. It was juicy though, so cooking time was perfect. I probably ate it too slow, so it wasn't crispy anymore.

Last in this wooden box was the buckwheat noodles with tempura flakes and flame broiled duck breast. The piece of duck wasn't that big, nor was it that broiled. The noodles were chewy and the soy base was tasty. However, due to me eating slow, the tempura flakes just got all soggy and gross. *sadface*

Onto sushi!! There were five pieces in total, the first two (from right to left) being their infamous aburi salmon sushi, which I was really looking forward to!! Too bad I ate it too slowly, it had become cold and the fat was starting to harden ><" Not as amazing as my first time. Then was the albacore tuna. It was topped with a zesty sauce, which complimented the tuna well. the shrimp, as JC's brother said, was like ranch sauce on a pizza. So... as I ate it, it reminded me of pizza too xD Not bad though! Last piece was the hamachi, it was really fishy ><" The sauce on top was some sort of wasabi sauce, a bit strong if taken all in at once.

Since I was finally done, we decided on dessert, so why not go all out, and try the $10 desserts? That's what we did. We got the Coconut Blueberry Cream, which was like the other ones, all with fancy descriptions of items I didn't know =P Anyways, when it came, it looked AMAZING. The sorbet was the highlight for me, when I put it in my mouth, it was like an explosion of flavors!! There was the blueberry with a hint of lavender, and not too sweet. Loved it. The coconut cookie part was hard to get at, and I didn't like it as much as the sorbet. Maybe if I wasn't so full from the Miku Zen, I would've enjoyed it more. The candy swirl on top was good too =P Added a nice touch.

Then the brothers decided to gorge on more ice cream ($4.50) to end our fantastic adventure. Vanilla and green tea this time. The balls of ice cream actually looked smaller this time =O Are they cheaping out on ICE CREAM?? Anyways, looked like it was very enjoyable since I was too full to fit anything else into me haha.

Last, here's our bill (it ended up to be $110 with tips and everything). A bit pricey IMO, but hey, once in a while, it's nice to spoil ourselves :) A big thanks to my friend who treated ^^ Maybe someday when I have more financial stability, I'll come back and do this again =P

Mini Munchie: Soirette Tea and Macarons, Downtown Vancouver

I've been wanting to get in on the recent rave on macarons, and finally I did :) Thanks to my friend, who encouraged me to go try them, I finally got some! But not from Thierry's since I've been hearing negative things about them, so I decided to try for the next one on my list: Soirette Tea & Macarons. They have a nice little place in downtown, and a good selection of items at their store. All I got were the macarons, which was my main target anyways!

*Anticipation for what waits inside!* :D

Restaurant: Soirette Macarons and Tea (visit their website here)
Location: 1433 West Pender Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Desserts, Tea
Price range: $10-25 (depends how much stuff you get haha)
Date of visit: August 27, 2012

Staff/service: 3/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

The 6 macarons were $11.50, there is also a 12 pack for $22.00.

I almost forgot to take pics of the one I ate first xD I tried pistachio first, which was pretty good, a bit on the sweet side, but I could taste the pistachio. Also a bit grain-ier than I expected it to be.

Next was the cappuccino, the prettiest one in my opinion, even the inside was fancier looking ;) A light coffee taste could be tasted, not bad.

Then there was chocolat chocolat. Sadly, I couldn't really taste the chocolate that well, as it was a bit too sweet.

Rocher didn't look like the one on the website, but there was a slight gold tint to it. Looked cool! Although having that little piece of whatever on top would've looked even cooler =P This one was surprisingly better than the chocolat chocolat one, considering both are chocolate, I feel kinda weird saying there was a difference in taste to the two! Rocher had a slight hazelnut taste to it, just like Ferrero Rochers! (oh surprise surprise eh?) Liked this one a lot! ^^

Then was the matcha, it was just sweet, but creamy. I couldn't really taste the matcha =(

Last was the jasmine, (I know, got two tea flavors like the chocolate story haha), this one, if you had the little bits on top, you could taste the tea flavor slightly.

Overall, not as amazing as I expected, maybe it's time to try making some myself =P Or time to try another place! Hehe

Mini Munchie: PNE Crazy Dogs, Vancouver

Restaurant: PNE Crazy Dogs food stand
Location: 2901 East Hastings Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: American
Price range: $10-25 per hot dog
Date of visit: August 26, 2012

Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 1/5 (There's about 9 items on the menu...)
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

The Fair at the PNE!! Food, fun, and lots of things to see :) Don't have time to try much here, since I work for PNE, but I just had to try out the 2-foot long hot dog (Double Dog Dare Ya)!! Once in a lifetime thing? I felt great holding the monstrosity in my hands though! I shared it with my family, and it fed us for about two meals haha! So lets get into the makeup of this infamous hot dog!

It looked quite appealing, and the most dominating thing I saw, was the BACON, BACON ON EVERYTHING!!! :D *ahem* Continuing on, it was on a special bun, kinda like a baguette style bun? I liked it, it was chewy and not as dry as normal hot dog buns. The sausage was actually a 2-foot long pork sausage!! I was a bit surprised, but like the pork, since my dad is allergic to beef :)

For toppings, there was lots of bacon bits, chili, cheddar cheese, green peppers, and onions. Doesn't seem like a lot, but when all put together, it was pretty good! Flavors were a bit overwhelming though, probably not meant for one person, otherwise someone is going to overdose on salt alone!

All in all, good experience, but again? Maybe not :) Definitely picture worthy though! hehe

Munchie Adventure: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家, Burnaby

After many times of visiting here for dim sum, we decided to give their dinner menu a try. Actually, my parents came here with my aunt and were very happy with their experience, so we came as a family to have dinner again. And I was surprised they had improved their dinner so much. The food was actually pretty good, and the free dish (marinated duck) which came with our meal was decently sized!

Restaurant: Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant 華麟海鮮酒家 (visit their site here)
Location: 4524 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Cuisine: Chinese
Price range: $10-15 per person





Date of visit: August 24, 2012
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4.5/5

We ordered the four dish dinner combo ($49.95), which comes with free rice (1 bucket), soup, dessert, and either House Special Steamed Chicken or Marinated Duck. For the free dish, we decided to get the Marinated Duck, since we usually have chicken. It was not disappointing! =)

The first dish we got was the Sauteed Spicy Sea Whelks (which came with string beans as well). It was decent. A bit spicy for me, but the sea whelks were a good size, not too big, not too small. Medium is best actually, so you get some meat and not have it too hard to chew.

Then there was Sweet and Sour Boneless Pork, but somehow my photo file got corrupted, so no pic for it =( It was fresh and juicy, and the pork wasn't fat. Only good when its fresh though, and sadly we didn't finish it, so we had not-so-good pork the next day xD

Here's the fish dish (oh it rhymed!): Deep Fried Cod in Creamy Corn Sauce. It's so yummy! Crispy outside, tender fish inside smothered with creamy corn sauce-- so good with rice! =)

Last dish was Sauteed Bean Curd with Two Kinds of Mushroom. It's really crispy bean curd with a glaze sauce and mushrooms. I like my bean curd soft, so I have to soak it in the sauce for a while before I eat it. Like the taste though!

Mmm!! Sweet soup =) This was black sticky rice with red bean and tapioca (my guess), and it was good! Not sickly sweet, but good sweet!

Liked the experience, will revisit! ^^

Munchie Adventure: Lucky Gate Chinese Restaurant 前門飯店, Coquitlam

We haven't been here in a while, and after hearing my friend talk about it, I suddenly had a craving for their food. I remember their delicious dumplings, noodles which were made right before your eyes, and the fresh quality ingredients they used. However, that was quite a while ago, probably more than a year ago. I was SO disappointed when I finished my meal. Sad to say, they changed owners and the quality has declined dramatically =(

Restaurant: Lucky Gate Chinese Restaurant 前門飯店
Location: 1139 Austin Avenue, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, Shanghai, Beijing
Price range: $10-20



Date of visit: August 21, 2012
Atmosphere: 2.5/5
Staff/service: 2/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 2/5
Buck worthy? 1/5

This was the Tan Tan Noodles. I don't really like the soupless version, and this was soupless and salty. Noodles were chewy though, so it doesn't fail all the way?

This was on special, Marinated Pork Bones, and the pork was so tender it fell right off the bone. Again, very salty. We brought it home and added more pork and had it for a few more meals xD

Only dish that wasn't as salty was the Pork Dumplings in Soup. However, they didn't use the traditional wrapping, and it was more like a wonton than pork dumplings =S Taste was mediocre.

Annnd Steamed Xiao Loong Bao (Shanghai pork dumplings)!! I used to love it here cuz it was so juicy and the skin was so chewy. Yeah, they've kept it juicy, but OH MY GOSH. It was SO SALTY. I know it takes some skill to keep these things intact, and they did a good job on that, they just need to go easy on the salt.

So after all that, I was looking forward to my favorite dish at this restaurant-- lamb dumplings! Sadly, I didn't get them. The waitress goofed up and thought I said FISH DUMPLINGS, which I must say, are very different, PLUS I pointed to what I wanted and it was far away from fish dumplings. T-T I was sad. (Yang Yoo and Yui Yoo, pretty diff??) But we didn't wanna be mean, and ate these instead. I was even more disappointed because this was terrible. Besides it being salty, the fish was really mushy and didn't go well with the skin at all. Skin was chewy and good though, only bonus? Does it even count?

All in all, I was so disappointed by this visit. Food was way too salty, and the service wasn't good either. I actually had to wait for her to notice I was waiting to get back into my seat cuz she was too busy socializing with the cashier and was blocking my seat ==; The rest of the restaurant was empty btw, dunno why they gave us that table ><