Kibo: I prefer my meals without mice around. Thanks.

Adorables got a Groupon ($11 for $30 of food) for this place, so we decided to hit it up before it expired! When I arrived it was empty, I had the restaurant to myself. Oh well, probably because it's a random Wednesday night.

Restaurant: Kibo Restaurant and Lounge (visit their website here)

Location: 1261 Hamilton Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $15+ per person




Date of visit: February 25, 2015
Atmosphere: 0/5 (mice? No thanks)
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 1/5

Server was very friendly and attentive, I was seated promptly and he brought me some water to start. I knew I wanted to try their Salmon Tartare ($8.00) because it sounded amazing online. Presentation was nice, with the tower of salmon tartare in the middle surrounded by four oba tempura pieces. It looked like a flower. 

The tartare was light, refreshing and a bit tart. I liked the cilantro and their use of sockeye salmon. Made it less fatty than others I've had. Oba was great as a chip to scoop the salmon tartare into our mouths. Fresh and crispy! Loved this dish!

As we sat waiting for our other dishes, little critters joined us at the restaurant (besides another couple who also walked in and were seated next to us). I mean mice. YEAH. MICE AT SUCH A NICE ESTABLISHMENT. I was scared for my life. Too bad they were camera-shy. I was tempted to ask if they were pets, but refrained. It was the first time seeing a live mouse for me though. Kinda lost my appetite at this point and was super worried I would die from the food. Our Kibo Roll ($13.00) showed up all pretty. I ate it anyways. It was an avocado and cucumber roll topped with seared tuna and salmon. The Kibo sauce consisted of ginger and radish, but it overwhelmed the whole roll. Far too tangy, gingery, and salty, taking it off, the roll was far more enjoyable. Adorables also mentioned it was too saucy (the bottom was all sauce), which I agreed with.

Finally, the Crazy Roll ($12 online but they charged us $13) arrived. Visually appealing, Adorables was not impressed by the texture of the roll. The deep fried garlic chips on top stuck to our teeth and disrupted the creaminess of the whole roll. The spicy negitoro and avocado went well together as the spiciness cut the sickening feeling of super creamy avocado. I took the roll to go though, the mice kept running around and I just couldn't focus on eating. Nor did I have much of an appetite.

Service was not bad, but sadly, I won't return because of their vermin problem. I hope they'll fix it, but I checked online for their food inspection and it wasn't listed. I guess its a new problem. I'm still breathing, so I guess the mice were just around the store front. First time in my life that there was no tip to the meal. Adorables mentioned that if it were busier we would have never known. Maybe ignorance is bliss sometimes...

Shirakawa: Do I look like I'm 12?!

For CH's birthday, we chose this quaint restaurant nestled in the heart of Gastown. It was a bit difficult to find since it was tucked away in a little alley and their sign outside was dark and small ^^". Anyhow, the exterior looks classy and modern.

Restaurant: Shirakawa by Itoh Dining (visit their website here)

Location: 115-12 Water Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Drinks, Tapas
Price range: $25-$30+ per person





Date of visit: January 10, 2015
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Staff/service: 2/5
Food variety: 2/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 1/5

I did a little research before coming and was ecstatic to try their uni pasta. Sadly, I was informed they had no uni, and had to substitute with kani =( So I didn't get it. SexyNapkins had asked how big the portions were, and the waitress told her that usually 3-4 people share the dishes. I guess we misunderstood what she meant. Either way, BeautyQueen and BigGuns ordered before I could make up my mind.

One of the dishes they ordered was a salada (it was quite large), and this Salmon Nanban ($16.00). The presentation was beautiful, with the skin removed from the fish and fried. It sat on a bed of Shirakawa tartar sauce and aonori roasted potatoes.

LadyH ordered a Gindara ($15.00) which was saikyo miso marinated black cod on a bed of sauteed mushrooms and sundried tomato. There were a two sweet peas in there too. First thing, we were all surprised by how TINY the portion was. Sure, it's known for high quality ingredients, but I didn't hear about how stingy they were with it. It was oily but tasty, the fish was cooked well. LadyH wished there were more on her plate.

Adorables suggested their wagyu beef options, so I chose the Wagyu Tataki ($20.00). It was snake river wagyu beef with garlic soy and walla walla onions. There were some tomatoes too. Sadly, after ordering this (I was indecisive and took longer than everyone else), the waitress snatched the menu out of my hands, stating "It's made of paper and you'll get it dirty". DO I LOOK LIKE I'M TWELVE YEARS OLD?! I still wanted to order one more thing for Adorables (he was late), but she wouldn't give it back until I asserted my need for said menu and I would take GOOD CARE of her paper =.= So rude of her.

It was beautiful plating and beef was nicely marbled. I rolled everything up together and the taste was amazing! The portion definitely was not meant to be shared. There were five pieces of thinly sliced beef on top of about a cup of onions. Too much soy sauce at the end it overwhelmed the beef.

It was too busy of a night so they couldn't make us Buta Don, so we settled with Kakuni ($15.00). It was braised pork belly, sweet slow cooked gala apple, crisp onions, soy reduction with karashi mustard. Honestly, the pork itself was delicious. It melted in my mouth with the layers of fat and tender meat.

The apple tasted more like pear, the wasabi was very strong, and the onions were out of place. There were six pieces of 1" x 1" x 1.5" pork cubes. Needless to say, this was a tiny portion size.

Everyone left hungry, because as poor starving students, we couldn't afford any more. I guess it's just not our kind of place to hang. The ambiance and environment was nice though. Service could use some upgrading. I can see the effort and care put into each of their dishes though, the flavors just made me want more... or was it the portion size? xD 

Salt Tasting Room: Getting classy and cheesy!

To celebrate EM and DC's joint birthday party, we arrived at a classy hipster joint in scary scary Blood Alley.

Restaurant: Salt Tasting Room (visit their website here)

Location: 45 Blood Alley, Vancouver
Cuisine: Wine bar, tapas, dessert
Price range: $20+ per person





Date of visit: November 28, 2014
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 2/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 2/5

Indecisive on what to order, Adorables and I shared their Three Course Menu ($29 per set) which included salad, meat/cheese/BC plate, and dessert. We ordered the Seasonal salad which was spinach with goat cheese and nuts. It was fresh-- basically spinach in a dish topped with goat cheese.

For our meats and cheeses we got Bresaola with Cipollini Onions, Salchichon Iberico with Mostarda, and Ossau-Iraty with Fig & Nut Bread. The Ossau-Iraty was a medium cheese which was creamy and I quite liked the texture and aroma. Went well with the fig and nut bread which was a bit more dry, sweet, and some grit. Salchichon Iberico was a little fatty, but balanced out with the mostarda (sweet, honey-like) nicely. Finally, the Bresaola was chewy and meaty. I didn't like the cipollini onions much because they tasted like plastic to me.

Finally, dessert was a Hazelnut Mousse. It was airy, rich, and smooth. Simple but delicious.

I don't know how I got full on this, but I did. Maybe it was the bread they gave us to go with our meats and cheese? Who knows =P Either way, this isn't quite my fancy since I'm not a wine drinker, others got wine flights to pair with their dishes, which seemed more interesting!

The Factory: Great quality for $4.95!

Planned to go somewhere for dinner before a movie, turned out they didn't have their specials anymore and The Factory was closer than The Famous Warehouse, so I walked in to grab seats!

Restaurant: The Factory

Location: 1017 Granville Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Pub food, international, tapas
Price range: $10-15





Date of visit: October 28, 2014
Atmosphere: 3/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

Not very busy for 5pm on a Tuesday night but the staff were attentive and helpful. I remember they used to have all food items for $5.95, guess they changed it? It's now $4.95! I sat alone eating three dishes (thinking others would arrive earlier), looked like a girl who just got dumped and was binge eating haha =P Anyhow! I got their Pesto Linguine ($4.95) which was quite large. I enjoyed the creamy pesto they chose to use topped with some fresh tomatoes, bacon, and Parmesan cheese. It was nice and herby but didn't feel oily. Pasta was al dente too!

Next on my table was their Poutine ($4.95). Basically a lot of fries topped with gravy, cheese, and bacon (bacon makes everything better). The fries were crispy and hot, moist on the inside. Cheese was softer than I like (not the squeaky eraser cheese in traditional poutines) and the bacon was just there. However the gravy was nice and light, complimented the dish well.

Finally, as I continued to eat alone with my table of food, their Factory Burger ($4.95) arrived. Waiter was totally understanding and actually informed me I could get them to reheat the food when others arrived and didn't discriminate that loner girl in the corner was binging on three dishes. The burger patty was all beef, thickness of a quarter-pounder at McDonald's. Typical burger with lettuce, cheese, bun, and tomato (plus sauce), it was quite wholesome. Came with a side of fries.




Overall I enjoyed my visit, I feel the food is at par or even better than The Famous Warehouse down the street, more variety and yummier fries =P So if you're looking for cheap eats, this is a good option!

Guu Garden: Mayo everywhere!

First off, Happy Birthday to SexyNapkins! She decided upon Guu Garden for her dinner party, and besides this being hard to find, the atmosphere was great, like the other Guu locations. I hoped that inconvenience would be the only downside to this location, and right I was!

Restaurant: Guu Garden (visit their website here)

Location: M101-888, Nelson Street
Cuisine: Japanese, Izakaya, Tapas
Price range: $15-25 per person





Date of visit: October 10, 2014
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

Since there were so many of us, we ordered separately. Adorables and I shared the food and were quite satisfied. We shared our food with others too, goodness we ordered too much for the two of us to eat haha!

First we got the Tako Uni Wasabi ($4.80). I was disappointed by how little uni there was, and how watery the piece was (maybe it was intended to be like that though haha). The uni complimented the tako wasabi, I quite enjoyed it. The wasabi was far too strong for me though. Nothing better than starting your night with some slimey, gooey, nose-clearing appie! ;)

Nothing new, but we ordered a small Ebi Mayo ($9.00). I was surprised at the size. There was a half dozen shrimp lined up nicely on a THICK bed of spicy mayo topped with some garnish and shrimp chip. Happy with the amount because my previous experiences with Guu has been.... expensive, pretty, but not filling. The shrimp were fresh and crunchy, nice size too. Flavors were your normal ebi mayo, but man, they sure did have a LOT of mayo on that plate.

Then arrived a Unagi Nuku-Sushi ($7.80). I'm a sucker for cute setups, and this just got me. Loved it! On the side there was some pickled veggies, they were sweet and a little tart, quite nice to cut the fatty feeling of unagi!

There was nice big piece of unagi on a bed of rice in a traditional steamer topped with some seaweed and underlined with a bamboo leaf. It was a bit difficult getting all the rice from the steamer because it wasn't lined fully and stuck to the steamer, but delicious nonetheless. The rice was steamed al dente and perfectly mixed with the fatty unagi. Yum!

I forgot what this was called, but it was something like Fish and Veggie Chips ($~9) from their special menu. It arrived on a bed of home-made tartar sauce (more mayo!). Although it looked like a lot, it was probably one piece of fried fish cut up into 5 pieces. The fish fell apart from the fried batter and became a mess. However, it was very crispy and light. The veggies included potatoes and lotus root. Some of the veggie chips were over-fried and burnt though :( The bed of tartar sauce was delicious, there was some egg white in it! :3

Finally, we also ordered large Green Bean Fries ($9.00). These were crispy, battered green beans. Quite interesting, but some of them fell apart as the batter didn't stick well to the beans. More mayo with this dish haha! I dipped some of mine into the ebi mayo's spicy mayo and it brought out more flavors ^-^

On the side, we nibbled some of HK's Saba Shima-Sushi, the rice was an odd brown color but overall tasted good! I normally don't like saba, but this one wasn't crazy sour like the other places. Good! It was topped with wasabi and a shisho leaf (I think).

Someone ordered a dish with deep fried bread-crumb crusted zuchinni and it was awesomeee. I loved the soft juicy zuchinni and the zesty tomato sauce with Parmesan cheese made it taste a bit italian, but still be able to taste the zuchinni. Also saw others order the Chicken Kaarage ($12.00 for large), and it was paired with mayo and looked really juicy and delicious!

Overall, enjoyed my meal. The staff were friendly but service was a bit slow. I like how they put in the effort to plate nicely with their delicious food. Portions were reasonable at this location, so I may be back to try more (their menu isn't very extensive though, not much selection). Either way, it was a great party for our wonderful foodie friend!!

Suika: Tea costs money xD *derp moment*

Interesting and useful light of the night xD

*late post!!* Date night!! And the fact I've been wanting to come here for... years. Seriously. Ok maybe a bit exaggerated, but anyways, excited to be here, they were super full even for such a late time we arrived (around 8:30/9pm).














Restaurant: Suika (visit their website here)

Location: 1626 West Broadway, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Tapas
Price range: $25+

Date of visit: October 11, 2013
Atmosphere: 5/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

We started the meal with some oysters (3 for $5.40) and they were scrumptious. I really liked the jelly, scallions and lemon juice on it. The oysters were fresh too! nom nom =D

Next was their Ebiten Agedashi Tofu ($6.40). I don't know if the tofu was supposed to be crunchy or not, but it wasn't. The shrimp on top was a nice size and the tofu was... tofu in special soy sauce. The batter ended up being a bit mushy, but mainly chewy. I prefer a bit of crunch to it xD

Decided upon some sushi, a Toro Battera ($12.80) which was a pressed toro sushi topped with a pureed seaweed sauce on top and something else I don't recall. I didn't like it that much. The sushi itself did not stand out to me nor did the flavors work well together. The seaweed sauce was too slimey and the other sauce made the sushi fall apart ><"

I enjoyed their Chirashi-don ($9.80), where the flavors and rice mixed together perfectly. I believe it was salmon and tuna, which were fresh and melted with the rice.

Now the Pork Feet ($6.80) was interesting. It was literally a pork hock on a sizzling plate. The skin was nice and chewy, not much meat in this part, so it was mainly tendon and skin. A little bit of fat, but otherwise a delicious combination. Lemon helped cut out a bit of the fatty flavor of this dish. It was a bit difficult to eat though!

I couldn't resist a dessert and thus talked Adorables into ordering a Yukimi Daifuku ($4.80) which was basically ice cream wrapped with a mochi layer (glutinous rice). This was delicious. The mochi covering was soft and chewy while the ice cream was smooth and rich. There was red bean and green tea. A bit hard to eat though because it threatened to fall apart and melt ^^"

And typical frozen grapes!

A super friendly atmosphere, I had a great time here! Most entertaining must have been the Ultraman that was playing via projector in front of us, such nostalgia!