tinhead

Love the interior design, the currently non-functional wine rack, beautiful. The bathrooms upstairs a great! The views, stunning. The bar service is great, of course you can't really mess up a Stella, can you? I've eaten there twice now. The first time, appies which were fairly well done. The second time for lunch. The duck confit salad - I found a bit gamey but Crystal the day manager saved the day with kindness and friendliness. I've posted a number of photos on my Flickr site: http://flickr.com/photos/urbanmixer/tags/saltlik/

Some pics of Chungdam in Vancouver: Flickr. Keywords: Chungdam, Vancouver, Robson, Cardero, West End

also posted from the Best restaurants in the West End? thread... I was sad to see FooFaa close. When they originally opened up, I loved the hotpot idea. When I got back from my out-of-country requirement last year, it had changed to a Thai restaurant. The staff was really nice, they gave those in my party hand-made pouches which were like those wallets you hang from your neck. Very touching. I've seen Chungdam come up in the same as of late and have been snapping pics from the inside and out. Ate there for the first time last Friday. The food is good, large servings. It's a Japanese restaurant owned by Koreans. The owner's son, Michael, tells me that they also own the Korean restaurant on Robson 'cross from Capers. Here's some pics: Flickr. The place has been packed eveytime I've been there so far. Looks like they have a good following and will do well. Keywords: Chungdam, Vancouver, Robson, Cardero, West End

The Capstone on Robson has done well. The Chocolate fondue buffet has been through the white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. They settled on dark chocolate being the best choice. The new menu which was released a couple days ago, spiffy. I took some photos of the Robson store some time ago and posted them on my blog and flickr sites respectively: BLOG / Flickr Considering that the Capstone on Denman is practically next door to another tea house (Infuze), I wonder how they'll do. Also wonder if the ownership of the Infuse is a bit rattled by the competition. I do believe they hit different segments tho, I prefer Capstone's Rooibos over Infuze's. We'll find out...

RE: Il Ducato --> The Distillery Haven't been there yet -- anyone? Martini Boys did a review here: http://www.martiniboys.com/stew/main.php?p...he%20Distillery Other note, anyone been to Central (formerly Brass Monkey) on Denman?

Thanks for the tip on the churros! A fun place I genuinely wish them good luck. They have to sell alot of churros to pay the rent, I'm sure. Here's some pics from the grand opening celebration on the 11th :) Churros tasty, people nice, prices reasonable, menu limited. Will go back with friends sometime soon. Just for the novelty. PPS - thanks for the free churro link on their website.

Thanks Gerald - I'll definitely do that next time I'm at Vera's. Perhaps if the Vancouver Club Extravaganza gets boring tonight, I'll pop in for a burger and heckle Neil et. crew. As for Fat, thanks for the tip, what prompted me to say that about the shake was the pointed question to front end staff: "Real Strawberries in your milkshake?" Response was, "Absolutely!". I guess they meant the other strawberry milkshake.. or perhaps they were referring to the chocolate shake ;)

On the same topic of burger club.. how about the Kobe Beef Burger at Diva (Metropolitan Hotel). Do they even still have that on the menu? I recall enjoying it some time ago - it was quite good. I'm going to have to return, however, with the reviewer hat on.. unless someone else has already done that. Also, (the new) Marmalade's burger was good... ate it too fast to get a good pic, tho... <a target="_blank" href="http://people.urbanmixer.com/Members/rtaneja/raj_photo_album/2005/200506/photoalbum_photo_view?b_start=14"><img src="http://people.urbanmixer.com/Members/rtaneja/raj_photo_album/2005/200506/55920016.jpg/variant/medium"></a> <em>The second rule of burger club is you do not talk about burger club!</em>

Mmmm.. onion rings. Anyone ever experiment with red onions to make these delicious treats? Side note, too much beer in the batter makes the rings heavy, I prefer a soda water or sparkling mineral water in the batter. Anyone else got any pointers?

Fatburger does a good job with their burgers - I'm impressed. My only complaint of their immediate competion down the street (Vera's Burger) is that they load it with too much topping. It becomes soggy and messy very quickly and I'm not really a fan of that. My friends keep me coming back tho - they love Vera's so I tend to oblige. Next time, no topping, I guess. Went to Fat for the May 9th opening, and it looks like it's been busy ever since. I like their advance ordering system when the lineups are long - a fellow (presumably the manager) walks down the line and verbally calls out the type of food you want so they start making it right away. Fat burger - very tasty, I do like the bacon topping as well (yes, yes, something about burger club protocol). The bun is toasted just right. Milkshake - have had the strawberry milkshake - it's not bad, no discernable chunks of strawberry, I like the idea of whip cream on top tho. Coney Island hot dog - my favourite at Fatburger - since Johnny's closed down, I've been looking for an alternative in the 'hood. Any of the above with chili on top.... okay, well, chili on my milkshake is something I wouldn't do ... It's not a thick chili, no whole beans in the mixture - it's quite consistent and makes a good topping for the burgers and hot dog. Actually, my last hot dog featured the cheddar and the chili. Very yummy. The staff - they're really really nice and professional! Always smiling... it's like they force the staff to take some prozac before they all start their shift.

Eaten at Enthuze twice now. Small menu, frankly I'm already sick of it. Hope they change the selection soon. I did mention the place in my blog a few days ago... here. The Rama lamb curry is okay, gyoza lacks flavour. Drink selection is good - I enjoyed the cream soda last time I was there. Decor is pretty neat and stylish. Will be back to try the crème brulée in a while as well - I recall hearing they had black sesame as well as green tea varieties but I could be mistaken on that. Was attracted by the cool exterior, but found the contents didn't live up...The housewares selection is sparse with nothing new or unique (can buy some of these products at various mall kiosks); and there wasn't much of a menu or food display to check out. Would like to hear from anyone who's actually eaten there. ←

OT: We're having a dinner party at Coast Restaurant tomorrow night, centre table, good conversation, prix fixe dinner, etc. If anyone would like to join and isn't afraid of meeting new people for interesting, social conversation, give me a ring (604) 313-7690.

A few years ago, he was gracious enough to make a cheeseburger for my then girlfriend. Sent one of his staff to Urban Fare to get the bun. Totally astonished the server - concerned that if there was additional demand for cheeseburgers, she might be forced to wear a paper hat. Best $50 cheeseburger I've ever tasted, washed down nice with Sassicaia.

Sushi Bar Wabi Sabi does a good job with horse sashimi as well. Yummy.

There's always Pino's famous Italian Sausage at Cioppinos. Best I've ever tasted, hands down.

Thus far I'm impressed with LilyKate. I took some photos of the venue with my cellphone - photos are not really great quality but I've posted the menus that one of their staff provided to me upon my initial visit, my comments on the place as well as observations on the opening night party on my blog: Raj Taneja's Blog