Munchie Adventure: Ruby Chinese Restaurant 紅寶石大酒家, Port Coquitlam

New dinner menu! Ruby now offers a set dinner menu option, which is not bad, but honestly doesn't compare to Deer Garden. Good for the area and price though!

Restaurant: Ruby Chinese Restaurant 紅寶石大酒家
Location: 2228 McAllister Ave, Port Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, Western Chinese
Price range: $10-20 per person for dinner




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

Besides their new deal for a New York Steak meal for $8.95, their new set dinners range from 4 person to 10 person meals. We ordered their 6 person meal tonight which cost us around $106 in total (with tips and tax). This wasn't bad at all since we had lots left over for another meal xD

Here is the soup, which was a kabocha with pork soup, the kabocha was boiled to the point that it melted into the soup (not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I liked it)

The chicken is a highlight of the meal because it was very nicely done, it's a cold plate, but the chicken was seasoned very well, all the flavors were infused into the meat and the meat was cooked nicely. However, I still prefer the chicken from Deer Garden.

This is the beef slices in a gravy-like sauce. Tasted a bit like the New York steak we got for lunch last time. Tender beef slices smothered in sauce. Pretty good, but nothing to go crazy over.

Perhaps this was because we know the owner, but it seems like this buttery pork chops was not oily at all. I really liked it because it was so fresh and juicy. The shrimp crackers on the side were very fresh too, so crispy!!

Another highlight of the meal, their prawn in special sauce. The prawns were very large and fresh, the shells were lightly fried, so I could just ingest the whole shrimp without de-shelling (except for the tail part of course) I like how it's not too salty either.

The steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaf could use some work. It's a bit too solid and broken, flavors are good though. It's also GINORMOUS.

There's a snippet of the veggies that also came with the meal, on the top right corner =P It's veggies in soup with bean curd, literally oil-less and quite healthy.

Finally, the steamed fish that was something I've never had before. Looks like a tropical fish! But man, that fish has some solid "teeth" (more like a beak!). Nicely steamed, just right so it was flaky and smooth. So good!

Lastly, dessert. Purple yam sweet soup was way too sweet and the yam was all dissolved =( Also very purple to the point it felt a bit...abnormal. Although I believe her that she just bought it and cooked it (no added color-- by her anyways)

The red bean pancake was the usual that you can order during dim sum, amazing and fresh as usual.

Overall I was satisfied with my meal, they definitely have room for improvement, but that potential for greatness is there!

Munchie Adventure: Sushi S Japanese Restaurant, Burnaby

Last exam, couldn't resist so I came back for more after exams as a treat for myself :D

Restaurant: Sushi S Japanese Restaurant (visit their website here)
Location: 4739 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi, Tapas
Price range: $10+




Date of visit: May 8, 2013
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Staff/service: 2.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

I've gotta say, their service was worse this time. Don't get me wrong, it's not the way staff treat us, it's the TIMELINESS of their service. Lunch took us around 2 hrs when the actual eating was less than half of that. Anyways.

KS ordered their Tako Sunomono ($4.00) and it looked quite pretty. She said it was decent.

Also got some very orderly Sake (salmon) maki ($2.50). Very fresh and not too much rice, just as we like it :) This is one of the few places I've been to that have actual salmon pieces (not the chopped up salmon!!)-- so that's a plus for me!

AL got an Asparagus roll ($2.00) which she said was to die for. Definitely worth trying next time! On the same plate is a Spicy Salmon roll ($4.00). Lots of fresh salmon but the sauce wasn't very spicy.

As for myself, I tried their S combo ($9.50) which included salmon, ebi, and tuna nigiri with 1/2 order of S roll. I swapped the ebi nigiri into chopped scallop nigiri =P

The display was beautiful as usual, and the ingredients were very fresh. I'm not much of a fan of tempura shrimp in rolls, but this was done nicely, the tempura batter wasn't too thick so the roll was alright. The light crispy tempura bits on top weren't oily at all and complimented the roll nicely.

Being the pig I am, I also ordered an Oji roll ($7.00), which I regretted afterwards. I thought I could stand the ikura (salmon roe), but nope. Did not like the fishy taste at all =( The roll itself was nicely done, fresh and very palatable (perfect mouth size), but I felt the ikura ruined my experience. Perhaps for those who enjoy ikura, this would be a good choice for them!

No regrets coming here though! My wallet usually takes a good beating from this place, but it shall recover =) Until next time!

Munchine Adventure: Sushi S Japanese Restaurant, Burnaby

Exam crunch time! Couldn't resist coming out for lunch with a few classmates, I heard "sushi" and was in already =D Glad I tagged along!

Restaurant: Sushi S Japanese Restaurant (visit their website here)
Location: 4739 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi, Tapas
Price range: $10+




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

The first thing I remember reading is something along the lines of the authenticity of their sushi, and how one can opt to have a bigger rice portion size like the other sushi restaurants at no added cost (just need to ask the waiter) =P

Ordered a Takoyaki ($5.00) of course, but it wasn't very fresh =( The display was quite beautiful but the food itself was unsatisfactory. Too much mayo, not enough nori and bonito.

I also got an Assorted Sushi Combo ($13.00) and they allow changes with no extra charge, which made my day =D Instead of the ebi and amaebi, I got another salmon and chopped scallop <3 Notable was the salmon nigiri because it melted in my mouth and was delicious. I don't know how to describe it, but it was flavorful and fresh. And their makis aren't made of chopped up fish, it was a nice strip of fish =D Finally found a place that still does that! *happy*

RL ordered this Gomae ($3.50) and it looked very saucy! TOO SAUCY!

The Rainbow Roll ($10.00) was stunning, and RL noted it was very good!

This is SK's California Roll ($3.00) and Chopped Scallop Roll ($4.00). Notice how little rice is on there, which I liked, but for most people it'd probably not be a good deal since it makes the portion size much smaller for the same price elsewhere =P Again, beautiful display but the lack of rice made the rolls look a bit... weak and distorted ><"

CK ordered a Croquette ($3.50) and Dynamite Roll ($4.00), both looked pretty good! Maybe I'll venture a try some day ^-^

Oranges and candies for dessert~

All in all I enjoyed my meal, but ended up paying $20 to just fill me up, which isn't good on my student budget xD Maybe I'll ask for the big rice sushi next time!

Munchie Adventure: Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen 岸本, Vancouver

I discovered Kishimoto by pure luck I suppose, since I just went on urbanspoon and looked up the first nearest Japanese restaurant in the area xD Very hard to spot and no parking either except for a few metered spots in front =(

Restaurant: Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen 岸本 (visit their website here)
Location: 2054 Commercial Drive, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10+ per person for lunch




Date of visit: April 13, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4.5/5
Food quality: 4.75/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

Not having done much "research" about this restaurant, I decided to get a lunch box instead of a roll because I wanted to try more variety =) I ordered their Sushi and Sashimi Lunch Special ($12.95). Started off with your typical bowl of miso soup.

Onto the box (Sorry about the picture quality, it was quite dark in there and my phone wasn't cooperating ><) I really liked the salad, not your typical iceberg lettuce salad with radish dressing, don't know how to describe the dressing they used, but it was less tart and had more flavor to it. The sashimi was very fresh, the tuna melted in my mouth and I liked it =) I'm not sure if the other sashimi I suspected to be hamachi was supposed to be there, but this was a very "crunchy" piece of fish and was delicious. Not a fan of wild salmon but it was fresh and flavorful. Same thing about the sushi, very well done because it was proportional and the rice was compacted perfectly. I didn't like the BC roll-- too burnt so the bitter charcoal-y taste remained and had a bad aftertaste. California roll was California roll xD

EC ordered their Tempura Lunch Special ($8.75) which also came with a miso soup. The portion was generous for the shrimp tempura (there were three pieces :o), but the yam looked like they used old oil for frying =(

All in all, I enjoyed my experience here and I may come back to try their rolls because of the beautiful display =) One of the rare Japanese-run Japanese restaurants, so I may come back, but the lack of parking spaces is a HUGE deterrent for me >w< Someday my curiosity will get the better of me and you'll see me come back =)

Munchie Adventure: The NorthHouse Restaurant 鄉香小館, Coquitlam

I remember coming here when it first opened and found the food not up to par, so never returned. Came with a friend for dinner a few years after and found some improvement, so here I am, another few years later, giving it another trial run =) This is located right before you enter the Henderson shopping centre parking lot =)

Restaurant: The NorthHouse Restaurant 鄉香小館
Location: 1200-1163 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Chinese, Northern Chinese
Price range: <$10 for lunch specials




Date of visit: April 2, 2013
Atmosphere: 3/5
Staff/service: 3.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 4.5/5

After ordering, we were given soup, I guess it's on the house because I don't remember reading anywhere about soups with what we ordered. It was a clear egg white soup with random veggies, not bad to start off our meal with.

The first thing to arrive was their infamous Ground Pork Sauce on Rice ($4.99). Rice was overcooked and the meat was too tough. I expected it to be oily, but because the rice was so soft, the oil didn't coat nicely and ended up being a mess =( Flavors were good though.

The Stick Rice Set ($7.99) was one of their lunch special specials (because it's normally $8.99, but on sale today =D). It included pork hock with beans in braised sauce. There were only three pieces, which worked out for us, but I felt it was too salty on its own. Loaded with beans though!

With the combo there was a soup, and mystery balls (before I found out). I was pleasantly surprised, they were fishballs with pork inside. Pork tasted fresh, fishball wasn't as chewy as I like, but love the idea. Soup base was a light seaweed soup.

I suppose this is the highlight of the set, Sticky Rice! This was by far the best thing in the meal. I loved how they steamed it in the bamboo steamer, the rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned well. I didn't notice a lot of oil either, and the amount of meat in there was perfect. Too bad I couldn't fit more in me!

Their Salty Pepper Chicken ($5.75) was very fresh and not too salty, which we liked. I found the pieces of chicken to be too big, they were all attached to each other in large clusters, which made some parts under-fried and not crispy =( However, nothing different from other stores offering this dish.

I'm glad we gave them a second chance, I will definitely revisit if I have time again, maybe to try their dinner menu =) Some items weren't done as well, but the ones that were well done, were pleasant surprises. I felt bad when I was getting the bill though, since they had just started eating lunch ><" It looks family-run, since there's only one waitress up front =)