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 =)

Munchie Adventure: Professor Mugs (BCIT), Burnaby

Having a long lunch break today, decided to pop in here to try their lunch =) Also brought my shadow student, PK, along, hopefully she enjoyed the tour of BCIT =D

Restaurant: Professor Mugs Pub (visit their website here)
Location: 3700 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby (in the Grand Hall building of BCIT)
Cuisine: Pub food, burgers, salads, pasta
Price range: $15+

Date of visit: March 28, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 3/5
Food quality: 3/5
Buck worthy? 2/5

Not being a bread person, I veered away from the burgers and ordered a Mediterranean Linguini ($10.75). This is what PK ordered too ^^ The linguini itself was al dente, and the sauce was nicely seasoned, a good portion size to boot =) Too many olives for my liking, but they're good for me, so I finished them off. However, that chicken WAS SO DRY. I felt like I was eating cardboard, literally. Thankfully there was so much sauce I dipped the chicken to help moisten it a bit. Chicken was definitely disappointing, too charred as well =(
Garlic bread was very good, not too buttery/oily =D

AL got a half order of Caesar Salad ($4.50) with the dressing on the side, and it was big! Wonder what the size of the normal is =O Looked fresh and had the right ingredients, good choice to have the dressing on the side, so it's not overwhelming and to your personal taste!

She also ordered a 1/2 lbs of sweet chili wings ($5.00). These looked like a decent size, but sadly I was too full to stuff any in me to try =(

Overall my experience was good, but I'm not quite satisfied with their quality of food. Or perhaps its just not to my tastes. I'd come here for games of pool, but no more of that dry chicken please xD

Munchie Adventure: St. James' Well, Port Moody

After an early morning shift at the hospital with my lovely clinical mates, we decided to go out for a fannncy nice lunch =) When we got there it was around 2, not many people inside...

Restaurant: St. James' Well (visit their website here)
Location: 248 Newport Drive, Port Moody
Cuisine: Pub, Western
Price range: $10+




Date of visit: March 26, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 4.5/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

I was  excited to try their ginormous platter of food that AL and KS mentioned  about sharing during their last visit! Glad I split this with DM and ADi, cuz I was really stuffed after =)

It was called the St. James' Well Platter ($28.00). Although it looks small in the picture, the diameter of that platter was around 16 inches! Just gonna break down this platter into smaller bits (except for the carrot and celery sticks, those were just cut up and put on the platter):

Chicken wings (1 lbs): We got the sweet chili, and it was quite chili! But delicious =) Although I must say, these wings are quite average, they've just met the standard.

Lamb sliders (x3): Quite good, sauces were too overwhelming, ruined the texture. Otherwise good bun-to-patty ratio. Props for the nice assembly, I was happy =)

Chicken strips (x3): These were pretty good, very fresh for sure. Tender, but average juiciness levels. Accompanied by honey mustard sauce (which had some curry in it) and a ranch sauce I think? (I don't like sauces, so I just skipped out on them)

Stuffed potato skins (x4): Not bad, 5mm of potato on the skin, so it wasn't all skin, which I like. Topped with bacon and cheese, they were a bit cold and dry though.

Yorkshire pudding (x4) with dipping sauce: I've never had yorkshire pudding before, so nothing to compare it to. Just gotta say, don't like it that much. It was topped with this mustardy sauce, beef slices inside didn't seem to go well with the whole pastry, which in itself was sickening after the first few bites. But me being me, of course I finished it. The dipping sauce didn't help much either =(

KS ordered their St. James' Wells burger ($13.00) which came with yam fries. He said the burger was average, nothing special. The yam fries weren't bad, I had a few, again, just average.

Actually AL and KS ordered the platter and Poutine ($7.00), which ADe also ordered. The fries were soggy and the cheese was too melted, which isn't how we liked it. We like the cheese curds to be slightly melted with the gravy, not re-baked, which made the fries too overcooked and dry =(

Overall, the prices are decent, considering many pubs charge much more for their food. I didn't expect too much from them, so I wasn't that disappointed. I paid $13 for lunch-- and since it's a pub, that's not too bad. On the bright side, at least the food didn't taste too greasy (although I know it's just fat-loaded). I was full for the rest of the day! Probably won't see me back here again. Until next time!

Munchie Adventure: Sushi Nanaimo, Vancouver

Was around the area and my friend highly recommended coming here, so we came. Inside, it reminded me somewhat of Sushi town or something of similar setting. Greeted by a friendly waitress who was VERY LOUD, we were seated :)

Restaurant: Sushi Nanaimo
Location: 350 Nanaimo Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10-15




Date of visit: March 13, 2013
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 2.75/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

First off, EC did NOT warn me about the portion sizes. So of course I ordered way too much ><" Anyways, saw Takoyaki ($3.95) and ordered it of course! Very fresh and crispy, sauce wasn't tangy enough though. I would've liked a bit of seaweed to top it, but I guess it's different for every store.

On top of this I ordered an Assorted Sushi Combo ($11.95), which included salad and miso soup.

The 8 ginormous pieces of sushi consisted of: Tako, Ebi, Tuna, Salmon, Ika, Hokkigai, Chopped Scallop, and Amaebi (which I swapped to Chopped Scallop). Rice was way too large for a nice piece of sushi, but at least the ingredient on top matched the bottom. There was also 1/2 a tuna and salmon maki each. Ingredients were fresh, must say the Ika was nicely done, it wasn't too slimy or chewy, just melted in my mouth almost =) For me, quality > quantity (reasonably).

EC ordered a Salmon Don ($9.50) and it had loads of salmon on it! I never understood sashimi on plain rice though, just doesn't make sense in my mind. Sashimi itself does have some flavor to it, but in the end, you just have rice with soy sauce because the sashimi got too overwhelming (or so I've observed)

He also got a Dynamite Roll ($3.95) and California Roll ($2.95). Nothing special about these rolls, just big. VERY BIG. The dynamite roll was a bit soggy when I tried a piece (soggy as in the shrimp tempura were no longer crispy), but otherwise, your typical giant-sushi-joint-quality food.

All in all, not sure if I'll go specifically here for food again, maybe if I'm in the area, otherwise, I'm sticking with my good ol' Sushi Oyama (super biased =P)