Yoon's Kitchen: New Korean Fusion in the neighborhood!

Seeing Sushi & Roll close down was disheartening to me, since I did enjoy their food, but seeing a new Korean restaurant in this area was equally exciting (I think it just opened this month, not even Yelp/Zomato official yet!). There aren't many Korean joints around this location, so it's a wonderful addition (I hope they can continue and stay!).



Restaurant:  Yoon's Kitchen

Location: 3017 St. John's Street
Cuisine: Korean, Japanese, Asian fusion
Price range: $20+ per person




Date of visit: November 29, 2017
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

The place was pretty empty when we got there around 6pm, 3 tables of people. We were greeted warmly and seated promptly. The place looked clean and neat. I guess the fusion part is that they still offer some Japanese sushi.

First to arrive was the Bossam ($18.99) which is a boiled pork belly dish with sauce and wrapped in greens. The pork was nicely marbled and seasoned well. The napa cabbage it came with was crisp and contrasted well with the soft, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly. I'm not sure what the spicy dish was but it tasted like radish, and added crunch and flavor to the bite. Side dishes weren't remarkable, there was kimchi, bean sprouts, zucchini slices, and a ball of sweet mashed potato.

I couldn't resist getting a sushi roll and I love scallops so I got Under the Sea ($6.95). This is a torched spicy chopped scallop roll with surprise cream cheese. I say surprise because it wasn't a listed item on the menu. Overall the taste was average, fresh scallops were overwhelmed by the cream cheese and sauce. I wish they had went easy on the spicy sauce, otherwise a well made roll.

Can't forget the Korean style rolls so we settled on the original Gyori Kimbab ($5.25) with fried egg, spinach, crabmeat, fishcake, pickled radish, burdock, and carrot. This was the only dish that was good bang for its buck. The roll was quite large in comparison the the previous and although simple, the flavors went well together and in good proportion. I enjoyed this quite a bit!

Onto hot foods! We got their Soon Dubu Jjigae ($11.99)--otherwise known as soft tofu stew. We chose the mix, which included seafood and beef. Considering how much I'm paying for it, I was disappointed with the quality of this. It wasn't as rich as I'd had at other places and a little on the salty side. No egg went with it either.

The rice that accompanied the dish was really well made though, and they pour cold water (which the waitress leaked all over my jacket and didn't notice, but we'll let that slide) over the hot stone bowl with the remaining rice to make a soft rice stew thing. The pot was so hot it boiled out of the pot!

Silly us, we got another rice dish, the Hot Stone Bibimbab ($12.99) had mixed veggies, beef, and an egg atop rice. Bowl was big but the ingredients only filled half the bowl, which kinda makes it look bad. It tasted good though! The hot stone kept the rice warm for the duration of our meal and we got crispy rice at the end, one of my dad's favorite parts of the meal!

Before we got our bill, the waitress brought us a sweet rice drink (on the house). I hear that rice water brightens and whitens the skin, so maybe this is the secret to how Koreans maintain their beautiful complexions! Anyways, it was a light sweet drink and quite nice to end the meal. My mom thought it was a little too sweet for her liking.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal. The food was above average and flavors were great. Service was friendly and almost the right amount (sometimes it was hard to find anyone since there's only two people running the front). Not that great quantity-to-price-wise because this isn't Vancouver, people will expect more food for the same price since there's a lot of competition around with equal quality and price but more quantity-- people want good food for a good price. Alas, they're still pretty new, I don't even know when they officially opened (or maybe they're not), a good location for them though and I see a lot of potential!

Danbo on 4th: Rich broth, great ramen!

Azota Photography and her husband came up from the States to visit, so what other place to bring them than a ramen place in Vancouver!

Restaurant: Ramen Danbo (visit their website here)

Location: 1833 W. 4th Avenue, Vancvouver
Cuisine: Ramen, Japanese
Price range: $10-$15



Date of visit: August 27, 2016
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 2/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

I ordered the Blazing Hot Rekka Ramen ($10.95) at level 5 spicy (I believe they have 5, 10, 15, 20). You get to customize your noodle thickness and firmness, as well as broth thickness, amount of lard, and spiciness. Like many traditional ramen joints, they offer Kaedama ($1.00 for half order, $2.00 for full order), which is an extra order of noodles. I got the thin noodles firm, and standard broth with a little lard. I like the rich flavor of the broth and how I can customize the amount of lard. The noodles were the perfect firmness I liked them at. The chashu pork had some bite to it but was still tender and so delicious! We even ordered an extra serving on the side ($2.25). I found the spiciness was at a good level for me, but did drown out some of the umame flavor of the broth itself.

I got the Classic Tonkotsu Ramen ($9.45) for Adorables, which comes in their signature tonkotsu pork broth. This was amazing! I could fully taste the richness of the pork broth, even though I only ordered standard thickness. It comes with a lot of scallions and two pieces of chashu pork. Thoroughly enjoyable!

AzotaPhotography's husband ordered an extra half order of noodles halfway through the ramen, and it came quickly-- and disappeared just as quickly! It was definitely a wonderful meal, although the wait is usually quite long since it's a small location. A little stuffy inside, especially because we're eating hot noodles!

Cork & Fin: A fine DineOut #2

Onto Dine Out number 2! This time, we find ourselves in Gastown late at night (could only get a reservation at 9:30pm)! And here, introducing NotMooStachio, our newest member/mascot of the team!






Restaurant: Cork and Fin (visit their website here)

Location: 221 Carrall Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Seafood, Asian, French, Latin
Price range: $30/person (Dine Out)



Date of visit: January 22, 2016
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Staff/service: 5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

Their $30 menu caught my eye because it consists of a six course savoury menu with options for oysters ($29.00/dozen) and dessert on top. We were seated promptly and our waitress was very friendly. Also was the option of drink pairings with the meal. MaidKendra opted for the Mocktail Pairings ($12.00/3 pours). First one was a bit bland, but came in a cute cup! Second cup (tall cup) was too bitter, as reported by MaidKendra. Last cup (not pictured) was too sweet.

This was our Burdock Salad consisting of fried tofu, organic greens, and seven spice. The burdock was seasoned and acted like the meat of the dish, quite nice flavors there. Unfortunately all clumped together. Greens were fresh but the major disappointment was the tofu. Coming from a Chinese background, I grew up with deep fried tofu. This was by far the worst I've had, cold, bland, hard, and not even crispy. Those poor soybeans being tarnished.

Their Hamachi Carpaccio in apple-ginger vinaigrette topped with tobiko, on the other hand, was amazing. The hamachi was light and flavorful with the vinaigrette drawing out the fresh fish flavors. I wish there was more!

I mean, look at that beauty!

Crab Croquette arrived next with bechamel, potato on tomato ragout. This was crispy on the outside, fluffy and moist inside. Couldn't quite taste the crab, and we all felt that the tomato ragout was very herby. I didn't mind it, but can see how it can overwhelm the flavors of the dish. The size of the balls was quite uneven, look at NotMooStachio joining the rounds :P

Another favorite of the night was the Seared Scallop on a bed of kabocha puree and braised fennel. These were cooked perfectly, loaded with delicious scallop flavor. MaidKendra's had sand in it, which almost chipped his teeth and he said it was too fishy. Adorables said he didn't taste the kabocha in the puree.

I was lucky, mines was quite delicious, but gotta agree that the puree was lackluster.

We were pleasantly surprised by the size of the Seafood Gratin consisting of prawns, salmon, garganelli, and parmesan crema. First impression was the overwhelming buttery flavor. It was quite rich, but after a few more bites, got to love this creamy rich dish. MaidKendra found the prawns (sliced in half) to be just a wee overcooked, but acceptable. Forgot to mention he's our picky seafood connoisseur of the night xD

The other large dish was the Braised Short Rib with red wine, herb potato, and hot mustard vinaigrette. This was like a mountain of steaming meat drizzled with hot mustard.

I tore the tender mass apart for good portions to feed all three of us. Maybe it got cold when I finally ate it, but it was quite dry. It was a bit underseasoned, but I could taste the flavors in the fat. Potatoes were flattened and soaked up more flavor of the meat juices.

Couldn't stop there, had to have some sweet to end the night, so we ordered a Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse with Blueberry Compote ($8.00). This was very very very decadent, rich, and dense. It was smooth and chocolaty though!

Blueberry compote was too sweet to contrast the mousse. Adorables and MaidKendra ended up eating a couple spoonfuls and left the rest for me. It did get a bit much near the end-- came in such a cute Mason jar that I couldn't stop gushing about it. Too dense to be called a mousse, and couldn't really taste any "cheese". Love/hate relationship with this one =P

We enjoyed our experience here though, the service was great and they never pushed us to leave even though I knew they were closing/closed while we were trying to finish dessert.

Pepper Lunch: Simple meat, rice, sizzle-- but salty.

After a whole afternoon of AYCS (all-you-can-sing), we were famished! We found our way over to Pepper Lunch as I've been super excited to try it and TheVoice approved.

Restaurant: Pepper Lunch Canada (visit their website here)

Location: 5951 No. 3 Road, Richmond
Cuisine: Teppanyaki
Price range: $15 (on average)




Date of visit: May 4, 2015
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

TheVoice recommended Kobe Beef Burger and Sliced Angus Steak ($12.95), and Adorables ordered it (and didn't take a picture, shame on him). It was actually quite a good portion, the beef burger was moist and full of umami. The sliced Angus steak was similarly tender and juicy, went super well with the rice.

I got their Pork Pepper Rice ($8.50) and combo'd it up to get miso soup and pop for $2.75. The pork was raw and cooking, when i flipped it over, it was a nice golden color. Sizzle sizzle! Deliciously juicy, but I added extra garlic sauce (came in a bottle) which was a bad idea. The whole thing became too salty =/ It came with rice in the middle, corn, some beige paste, and pepper. Tasty where I didn't over sauce =P It was big enough that I couldn't finish it myself.

I would say it's good food for the price, with some fun to it. They come really quickly too, so the longest part was waiting for a table! TheVoice said that the crazy expensive dishes aren't worth it though, heard something similar from another friend too, so I would say, stick to the basics! It's solid. Sizzle on!

M Cafe: Brand new but cutting corners already?!

Been eyeing this place for a while now, it's been "Opening soon" for some time, and every time I go to Sushi Town next door, I peek in to see if they're open yet. Finally, BlackBab00n mentions to me that they had just opened (finally!). Rounded up my family to go try it!

Restaurant: M Cafe

Location: 2773 Barnet Highway, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, Hong Kong-style
Price range: $15-20 per entree





Date of visit: March 5, 2015
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 3/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 2/5
Buck worthy? 2/5

Saw the manager (?) from Copa Cafe, I guess he transferred over here? Anyhow, Elephant noted that the menu was all words and no pictures, which was true and made it difficult to decide what to order. Finally we decided to order something from each section. First we ordered from their Signature Double Boiled Soup set ($14.95) for Fish and Tofu pot. It came with rice and of course, the soup. Soup came first and it was rather salty, but tasted ok. Had pork and shark cartilage in it... like what you'd get from a soup package at T&T.

The fish and tofu pot came sizzling hot with some rice to accompany it. Portion was decent and the fish was ok. I liked the tofu. It was rather oily though. After a while the fish stuck to the pot, we had to scrape it off ^^"

Next was a Western Style dish, Baked Seafood with Cheese on Rice ($9.95 mini size) and it came with a drink, I ordered Honey Lemon (add $0.50 that I didn't know about). Let's talk about the drink first, normally at Hong Kong-style cafes like this, you get two slices of lemons around 0.7cm thick. They managed, with great skill, to cut that in half and serve two slices of lemons that were 0.2-0.3cm thick. Very stingy. Needless to say, my honey lemon water had little lemon taste.

Now the rice, this was interesting since the presentation was quite nice, the cheese was golden and the sauce covered the rice well without much leakage. First spoonful in, I already knew something was off. The sauce looked overly creamy and thick, which came off in the flavors. It wasn't very salty but super creamy. Not what I expected, but the fried rice under was great. Seafood included imitation crab, sparse pieces of tiny fish, one mussel, some small scallops and some shrimp.

I ordered a Japanese Tonkotsu Combo ($8.95). You get a choice of soup, noodle, and two toppings. I chose original soup, flat rice noodle, pork rind, and deep fried egg. The soup base was very condensed and Old Bean felt it was way too salty. I liked the soup, it was a rich pork bone base, with a hint of creaminess. The flat rice noodle was al dente, pork rind was plentiful, but the highlight was the deep fried egg. It was literally a soft-boiled egg that was deep fried. I cut it in half to show the center in the picture it came as a whole egg. The outside became soggy and chewy.

Elephant ordered a Sizzlers Special Set ($14.95) with steak, fish filet, linguine, with lobster and shrimp roe sauce. He got the steak medium-rare, but it came pretty cooked-- and tough. Portion size was pretty decent and the plate was hot. He didn't like the sauce and I found the flavors odd too. Fish had a weird baking soda taste to it, not fish-tasting at all. Crispy though.

It came with a drink, soup, bun, and dessert. The soup was average. I found the bun quite good, chewy and moist.

We decided to upgrade the dessert to a Belgian Waffle ($4.95, original price $8.95). It took forever to come after we told them we were ready for it... sat around for at least another half an hour before it arrived, and it wasn't freshly made anyways. They had toasted pre-made waffles, cut it in half, and decorated it.

At least the presentation was nice! They also only gave us a spoon to eat it with... =.= LOGIC. Thankfully I still had my knife and fork from the meal, so we could cut it up a bit to share. Ice cream was good, waffle mediocre-- definitely not worth paying the full price for.

Since I had so much time to observe them as we waited, I noticed that although there were about four servers walking around, there was only one guy doing actual work. Everyone was looking and walking around doing minimal tasks. Our table was cluttered with empty plates and bowls, other tables were not cleaned or emptied, and I felt like I couldn't ask any other waiter for assistance. They gotta get their act together!

Global Gala: Confusion, food, and great fun!

Super excited to be invited to this event through being a food blogger! (such a noob, I was super s) Global Gala was a dinner with six competing restaurants for the title of "Best Asian Food in Vancouver", as voted by guests. Greeted at the door by models in various traditional wear.

Brought along my parents for this exciting event! It was held at The Portside Pub in Gastown. We were there early and had to wait in the car for them to be ready before entering. Anyhow, it was a nice place with two levels, they had separated seating (not many seats btw) downstairs with food and stage upstairs.

Although the ticket told us it would start at 7pm, it didn't mention when we'd be eating, so we sat around until after 8 before someone ventured upstairs to find out people were already eating and it was self-serve. Or so we thought. Turns out it wasn't really ready but everyone rushed up there for food anyways. Either way, confusion ensued, food was obtained. First we tried Sala Thai (Thai). Look at their pretty carving!

They offered Sala Thai Fried Rice, Green Curry, and Pad Thai. I quite liked their curry, it was fragrant, milky, and loaded with ingredients. The pad thai was a bit off though, I think they used a lot of ketchup and made it too sweet. Texture was good. Fried rice went well with the curry.

Then I tried Hand-Shredded Chicken with Cucumbers and Spicy Peanut Sauce from The Original Chongqing Bistro Bar & Grill at Tinseltown (Chinese). The chicken was average, the sauce was super spicy x.x At least they plated it nicely for everyone.

Then was from Siddhartha's Indian Kitchen (Indian) with Butter Chicken, Rice, Naan Bread, and Sweet Lassi. They were very impressive with the setup and super friendly service. I must say, the naan bread was the highlight for me, it was chewy and soft. AMAZING. Butter chicken was too sweet for my liking, lassi confused me, and rice was...rice.

There were Spring Rolls and Vermicelli with curry dip from Pho Tan Vietnamese Restaurant (Vietnamese). The spring rolls tasted great, but the wrapping was way too hard, might've been good when it was fresh =( The curry dip was super spicy but the vermicelli was nicely cooked. Too bad.

Either way, Umeda Japanese Cuisine (Japanese) brought in a lot of sushi which was gone quickly. I wanted to try one of each roll and ended up with a whole plate full of food! Looked like such a glutton x.x The rice was seasoned well, chewy and delicious. Most of the rolls were up to par except the odd tofu roll. It was tasteless and.... unique.

I didn't even know what it was, but it was the least popular dish of the night and I felt it was utterly underwhelming and not representative of true Korean cuisine. From Chamnamoo Korean Restaurant, there was Kimchi Fried Rice. Loads and loads of undercooked fried rice. The rice was hard in the middle and soggy on the outside. Taste was just salt and not memorable. To add salt to the injury, they didn't even label it and took most of us a long time to figure out who this dish belonged to =/

After the food, the evening ended with the raffle draw for a plane ticket and announcement of the winning restaurants, presented by none other than the special guest Miss. Canada, Cäsar Jacobson.

In third place was... The Original Chongqing Bistro Bar & Grill at Tinseltown! Coming in second (my fav of the night) was... Sala Thai! And *drumroll* first place went to Siddhartha's Indian Kitchen. Congrats!

Fun evening, quite the experience! Super thankful for the free tickets and the surprise mention during introductions, just totally made my day.