Scoozi's: Homey and comforting deliciousness but not too friendly for the wallet =/

Since it was way past noon but we had a craving for some brunchy foods, Adorables and I wandered over to Scoozis after seeing their high ratings online.










Restaurant: Scoozis Mediterranean Bar & Grill (visit their website here)

Location: 445 Howe Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Price range: $15+





Date of visit: December 15, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 3.5/5

It wasn't very busy (nearly empty) and we were greeted warmly by a server then seated relatively quickly. We were told that they were very busy earlier and we came at a great time because they just calmed down a bit. Excited, we studied the menu to decide upon a Superb Scoozis Breakfast Deep Dish ($12.95) because we read that they were well known for their deep dishes. I was surprised by how small it was, but the flavors were there. This comfort food was amazing! Loved the creaminess of it and how well the spinach and tomatoes worked together with the cheese and ham. Bread at the bottom was a bit hard to scrape off though (it was stuck on TIGHT!)

Overall, had an enjoyable experience, waiters were all very friendly and this felt like a very homey establishment =) Besides it being a bit pricey, the food itself is delicious!!

Look how cute they were! :D

Sushi &: Hit or miss, glad I hit most of the time =D

Finally finished my finals, so I'm rewarding myself to sushi (of course)!! =D I really wanted to go to Sushi Elephant after my brother went and said it was "ok" (most things are ok to him). Turns out they already closed down and another restaurant had taken its place. Still a Japanese restaurant, so might as well try! The new name is odd to me though-- Sushi & . . . (what?!?!) haha

Restaurant: Sushi &

Location: 205- 403 North Road, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10-20





Date of visit: December 12, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

Ok. I may have ordered too much in my excitement, but packed it up to feed le parents after hehe ^-^ Ordered a Nigiri Sushi Combo B ($11.95). I felt it was a pretty good deal, there were 2 Hokkigai, 2 Tai, 2 Ebi, 3 Tuna, and 3 Salmon nigiri. The tai was very chewy and springy. Besides the difficulty biting the piece in half, it was very fresh. Hokkigai was nothing special, lots of rice for the little pieces of sashimi =/ Fresh though! Now the tuna was the only thing disappointing me a bit, it was still frozen when I bit into it. Little bits of frozen as I chomped down. The tuna was as fresh as flash-frozen could be I suppose. Not too mush and didn't have the odd sour taste I get with some tuna. I packed the salmon home, mom thought the fish was great and the rice was well-cooked.

Also ordered a Sakura Roll ($6.95) because I wanted chopped scallop in some form. Scallops were fresh but the roll itself threatened to fall apart upon picking up. Tuna was nothing special, just chopped up tuna. Liked the spicy though, added some kick to the roll and overall went super well with the creamy chopped scallops ^w^

Volibear got quite a few items, the first was the Chicken Yakisoba ($8.95)-- twas GIANT!! He was surprised by the sheer amount of food on the sizzling hot plate. It smelled pretty good, and he liked it. Not a lot of chicken I saw though.

And a Sushi Pizza ($5.95). The owner(?) was so cute, she offered to clear stuff so I could get a good picture of the dish haha xD Anyways, it was very simple and for the price, fair. Deep fried rice patty topped with smoked salmon, avocado, and copious amounts of imitation crab and some tobiko. Together it was pretty amazing.

Here's me trying to take a bite of this giant! It was really thick so it was difficult to take a bite without disassembling it (I somehow did it though!). The deep fried rice patty with that salmon had me. I loved the combo.

His last item. . . a Dragon Roll ($7.95) which he eventually had to partially pack home because there was just too much food. It looked packed with ingredients though =D

And a rather late RL arrived to order a Volcano Roll ($7.95) and only that. Made me feel like... a super-excited-to-be-done-finals-glutton soIdon'tcaretoomuch. hehe. This was spicy, but not too overwhelming. It was like an awesome roll without the bonito. And spicy. Not a fan of warm/hot rolls, especially if it's Cali-roll-based. The "miss" of the meal.

Attentive servers, the restaurant started to fill up a bit after we sat down (had me worried a little when it was empty). Definitely going to bring le parents here to try more stuff and satisfy cravings on my days of hunger... otherwise back to smaller sushi portion sizes hehe =)

Happy Holidays everyone! Eat awayyyy (that's what my excuse if for the next month or so)

Mega Sushi: An underwhelming experience indeed.

Before Bonnishii's photoshoot, we met up for some yummies to fill out tummies ;) Was studying with Adorables before this around the area, so we came here! High ratings, should be safe.









Restaurant: Mega Sushi (visit their website here)

Location: 100-3131 Chatham Street, Richmond
Cuisine: Japanese
Price range: $15+





Date of visit: December 8, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

Looked at their lunch box menu and it looked really random. Bonnishii ordered a Nigiri Sushi Set ($11.95) which piqued my interest at once point, but decided against it. She rated it to be "underwhelming" and she would "give it a 3".

Adorables ordered the Chirashi don and Udon set ($12.95). So loaded with carby items, but joking about it being "trashy" was too fun to give up =P The Chirashi don was actually pretty good, had some radish in it and lots of sashimi on top. I had the hamachi and it was fresh, rice was nicely cooked.

Now this udon on the other hand was subpar. Perhaps I hold higher expectations for moderate-expensive Japanese restaurants because packaged udon is unacceptable in my books. Even some lower quality Japanese restaurants I've been at had frozen udon. The major difference is the texture and taste of the udon. Packaged udon lacks chewiness and has a slight sour taste to it (due to the preservation process I believe).

BunnyG (our photographer) ordered a Sakura set ($14.95)-- also captured my attention for a little while, but again, had some items I didn't want to eat, hence not picked. He noted his box wasn't enough to fill him up, and tbh, unless you eat very little like I do, you'd probably need to order something on top of the bento to fill yourself.

Finally my items, which came from many minutes of indecision and choices. Got me overly excited only to be... grounded. HARD. Anyways. Ordered three nigiri: Hamachi ($2.95), Uni ($2.95), and Chopped Scallop ($2.25). They didn't have Ika =( Hamachi was fresh and was crunchy (loved it). Uni was what I classify as "semi-fresh" because I did taste some unfresh bits-- if that's even possible. Otherwise very creamy and delicious. The balance of rice : topping was well done. The chopped scallop was good too, very fresh and large pieces of scallop (not overly chopped up).

Also ordered a Rainbow Roll ($11.95) and it was utterly disappointing. Where's the rainbow in this?! Not too impressed. At least the roll didn't fall apart? At least the fish was fresh and there wasn't too much rice in it =) Avocados inside were delicious!

Perhaps Adorable's picture makes it look better =/

Overall the servers were attentive and kept asking how everything was. However, with the lack of consistent quality, I'm not sure if I'll be back. Might go for that Froyo nearby instead =P Or other Japanese restaurants littered in the area!

Linked cranes courtesy of Adorables--is that even allowed?!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Shanghai River 滬江海派料理: Great XLB, "fried rice tastes very normal"

Belated birthday dinner for Adorables! Wanted Shanghainese and this was the closest one! Also came here many years ago, reminiscing about their xiao loong bao =D

Restaurant: Shanghai River 滬江海派料理

Location: 7831 Westminster Highway, Richmond
Cuisine: Shanghai, Dim Sum, Seafood
Price range: $25+ per person





Date of visit: November 16, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

There were only two of us, so instead of only ordering two dishes and be bored with the lack of variety, I opted for a two person set dinner. Ordered the first one (which had XLB hehehehehehe) which was $52. Took a while for the food to arrive, but the Braised Vegetable Ham soup eventually made its way to our table. It was cabbage with a piece of chicken and Chinese cured ham. It was very hot, and the first few sips were quite delicious. Eventually it just became really salty (it was salty to begin with but I finally felt it hit me).

Next was the Steamed Shanghai Pork Buns with crab meat (Xiao Loong Bao). These were delicious! A bit cooler than I expected, but at least I didn't burn myself =P The crab meat was just a bit on top which was nice. It was very juicy and the wrapping was chewy and thin. On a side note, it said we were only supposed to get 4 on the menu, but we ended up with 5! *happy* hehe

Dishes started arriving very quickly now, the fried rice (very curious order of arrival btw) arrived next. Now Adorables' first impression of this fried rice was that it was very "normal". I didn't understand-- until I tasted it. It tasted like rice. Just rice. Nothing else. Not your typical fried rice for sure... since there were no flavors and the ingredients were super sparse. Super disappointing. On the bright side, it wasn't oily at all?

Second favorite dish of the night were the Snow Pea Tips with Crab. The snow pea tips were cooked just right and the crab on top was surprisingly generous. Flavors were balanced and a decent portion. A close second to the XLB =)

Finally, there was a Malt Vinegar Pork Spareribs. My first impression was that they were way overfried. It was dry and hard. I had a second piece which was a bit better, so I guess I just got unlucky on my first piece =P Overall the flavors were good, I liked the sauce, but the actual pork was honestly too dry and overfried. *sadface*

Moving along, this was dessert, Glutinous Rice Balls with Sesame Filling This was really good! Very fresh, the glutinous rice was chewy and the sesame filling wasn't too sweet, plus it was "smooth". Not your generic sweet soup base either, this was a clear eggy base (no ginger at all). Complimented the rice balls nicely. Well done. Good finish.

My fond memories of this restaurant as a child were semi-crushed. Not to mention I felt somewhat disappointed this wasn't an amazing meal for Adorables' belated birthday dinner. *double fail* The XLB I'll be back for, but not much else will lure me here again. Especially the price I paid =/ Sometimes I wonder if I'm abnormal or a food snob haha! *contemplating*

La Notte: Gelati is plural for Gelato?!

Finally have a chance to come here on another fine Tuesday for $8.99 pasta! =D Really close to UBC (aka far away for me) but cheap pasta, why not give it a try?

Restaurant: La Notte (visit their website here)

Location: 3307 Dunbar Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Italian
Price range: $10-$20





Date of visit: November 5, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

Started off with some focaccia bread, it was a bit cold by the time we got down to nom nom on it, since KW and LZ arrived earlier (I was a WEE late). Still quite good, a bit hard by the time I got to it =(

Moving on, KW ordered a Proscuitto E Melone ($9.00), which was interesting because I've usually had it paired with melon and not cantaloupe. The cantaloupe wasn't very fresh, had a wine-y taste to it but the proscuitto was decent. Together it wasn't a memorable dish. But YES. Those grape-looking things at the end were full olives! Very strong taste, but interesting.

The main attraction, pasta! Bonnishii and LZ both ordered Fettuccine Alla Veneziana ($8.99- Regularly $15.00). It was deliciously rich and creamy (I sneaked a bite), with a few decently sized prawns. Bonnishii said it was a bit much near the end because it was so rich, but otherwise delish!

KW wanted to try their basics and ordered a Spaghetti Bolognese ($8.99- Regular $14.00). Very tomatoey, and had nice chunks of ground beef. Pasta was al dente and overall I liked how the flavors worked out. But then again, it WAS just your typical spaghetti bolognese. They just didn't' mess it up xD

I've been on this clam-addiction lately, and just can't get enough! Ordered a Linguine Alle Vongole ($8.99- Regularly $15.00). There were indeed whole and baby clams, which weren't very flavorful at all. They were rather chewy and bland =/ Definitely a disappointment for me. Not much wine taste in the sauce either, although it was far less rich than Bonnishii and LZ's pasta. I managed to stuff it all in me, which says something about the portion size. Either way, pasta was great, clams not so much, and it wasn't overly oily (not too light either!).

To finish off the night, there's desserts of course! We were confused about the "Gelati" ($6.00 I believe... forgot the price), turns out it was PLURAL for Gelato!! (Learn something new every day!) Anyways, there were a few options, and we decided on the one with three flavors. Pistachio (tasted like medicine), Vanilla (Had dried fruits and nuts in it which diminished the experience), and Hazelnut (which was surprisingly not like Nutella, and was the best part of the Gelati). Oh! Our servers were very friendly and helpful, brownie points for them! ^-^

LZ went with tradition and ordered a piece of Tiramisu ($7.00). She felt the cake layer was overly soaked in coffee and negatively impacted her overall experience. Otherwise your typical Tiramisu.

Bonnishii's impression of me while I was nibbling on that focaccia bread xD

For this price I was ok with coming here, although for a bit more at La Trattoria, I feel I would pay the extra bit for better quality food. La Notte give a very homey feel and is more casual though. So depending on what environment you're looking for, its a decent pasta place. Me? I don't see myself returning. #notafoodsnob #Ijusthavehigherexpectations Toodles~ <3

Hog Shack Cook House: Why are my ribs so dry?!

Craving some MEAT today, and Adorables managed to find a coupon, so here we are!! =)

Restaurant: Hog Shack Cook House (visit their website here)

Location: 160-3900 Bayview Street, Richmond
Cuisine: American, Barbecue
Price range: $20-25





Date of visit: October 18, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 3.5/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

A very family-cozy-feel establishment, we were at first ignored by the waitress, but eventually were seated. Their menu selection was limited and we just looked for items recommended by online reviewers. Since I'm staying away from beef, we decided on the Hog Shack St. Louis Style Side Ribs- Half Rack ($17.00). They noted that it was meatier than the back ribs, so I'm glad we got this. The flavors were smokey, BBQ sauce, and meat. I found it rather dry though, not very juicy-- perhaps that's how it's made St. Louis Style? Anyways, the sides were good though. Veggies were varied and cooked properly. And YAM FRIES. They were pretty amazing-- very fresh, crisp, soft and fluffy on the inside.

We also ordered 2-Piece Fish and Chips ($14.00), where the pieces of fish were decently sized, should have just got one (but it was a $3 difference I believe). Anyways, this was really fresh and your typical good fried fish. The fries on the other hand were mediocre, sorta dead and old =/

Of course, we couldn't finish all this food, but either way, it was an enjoyable visit-- will I be back? Maybe. The waitresses were very friendly though!

Trattoria Italian Kitchen: Pasta craving satisfied-- deliciously!

Had a craving for pasta and Adorables suggested this! Bonus that it was their Tuesday pasta special, so all pastas were only $11! =D So. . . why not? ^-^

Restaurant: Trattoria Italian Kitchen (visit their website here)

Location: 1850 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver
Cuisine: Italian, Pasta
Price range: $15-25





Date of visit: October 15, 2013
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

Luckily for us, there was a table quickly available, it was super busy for a Tuesday night! (as compared to many other restaurants). Ordered some drinks to start the evening. Adorables ordered a Citrus tea ($3.50) for me to try, and it was decent. Came in a nice package, the tea itself was fragrant and tart-- none of the bitter tea taste, not bad to accompany our meal.

He ordered a Trattoria Lemonade Passionfruit flavor ($3.50) and I tried some-- it was amazing! So many flavors exploded in my mouth. First it was just tart and bubbly, then came the sweet and fragrant tastes of fruit (passionfruit, pear, and I couldn't figure out what else-- those are guesses too haha).

I was rather torn between a few pasta options, but finally decided on the Tagliatelle Nero Vongole ($11.00-- regularly $17.95). Basically it was a squid ink pasta with clams and tomatoes. The pasta itself was al dente and flavorful. But the highlight of the dish was the clams. They were so fresh and full of clam flavor-- it was amazing. I couldn't stop myself from picking them out and munching on all of them first (I refrained after a while). A bit on the oily side, but the dish itself was overall very satisfying.

Adorables decided on the Truffled Spaghetti and Signature Meatballs ($11.00-- regularly $22.95). Simple as this dish may seem (spaghetti and meatballs, pretty much), I loved the creaminess of the sauce after the cream and tomato sauces were mixed. I thought it would be too saucy and thick, but it wasn't overwhelming at all. It came with three pretty giant meatballs, which were not bad, there was some texture to the meat and the flavors weren't too overwhelming-- matched well with the whole dish.

Finally, to finish our wonderful meal, a Tiramisu ($7.95) was ordered. I felt the chocolate on top did little to enhance the flavors, rather it was too grainy and affected the texture negatively. Otherwise the display and taste was well executed. The quality just didn't justify the price charged. However, the biscotti on the side was beautifully delicious.

Friendly service, delicious food, pasta specials, amazing company-- a very memorable and awesome evening indeed. I shall be back on another Tuesday to try their other delectable pastas! Adorables also ordered a lasagna (only available on Tuesdays) to go, which he said was average-- it came with a side salad though! ^w^