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Everything posted by makanmakan
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i look forward to seeing you in action! our reso is for 6 for the "deflowering"!! quentina
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Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 2)
makanmakan replied to a topic in Western Canada: Dining
hey, we did almost the same thing on monday night!! except we did guu with garlic then we headed to see death cab! we had the tuna yukke (chopped up tuna sashimi with sesame oil and tamari), ebi yuba (shrimp wrapped in bean curd skin and deep fried goodness), some sort of mushroom rice with salmon roe on top, beef tongue robata, grilled makerel, duck salad, chicken wings, prawn tempura with sweet chili sauce, and more (of which i can't remember!). oh, and lots of sake!! tuesday was lunchtime at kiwi pie company. i eat there way too much as it is next door to me. they now have a "two toonie" tuesday special and soup as well. the soups are very tasty indeed. so far, they've had seafood chowder, cream of tomato with black olive, and lately it was carrot ginger. i had the butter chicken pie and a salad with the star anise dressing...yumm! last night was curry dinner at home before venturing to the port and chocolate tasting. oh yes, gorging on chocolate and sipping port. t'is was a great evening for chocolate fans, there's a new chocolate in town. "michel cluizel" from france has chocolates of anywhere from 45% to 99% cocoa. a very cool thing that they do is that they have a line of plantation chocolates which sees a line from each plantation anywhere from papua new guinea to venezuela. they have a box set of 72% chocolates, from 7 different plantations. got to taste 3 of 7 and they all have distinct flavours depending on soil, what was grown before, etc. the one from papua new guinea (who'd have thought!) had a tobacco and red currant flavour. i believe you can get them from urban fare, choices, meinhardt's, and whole foods. another cool thing about this chocolate is that there's no filler of soy lecithin in it. just pure chocolate goodness favourite libations were the penfolds grandfather port, the broadbent "rainwater" madeira, and the bonny doon framboise. then went to infuze for tea to calm our upset tummies. i had the turkish ginger and he had the moroccan mint. -
we are doing HSG tomorrow night before the playhouse. yayy, i finally get to be deflowered by the hangar steak and the infamous GBP!!
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rime stella's latin quarter marcello's bouzyo's dallas souvlaki wazubees i believe all of these places are open later hours! mind you, most of them are a long walk away, but it's still walkable.
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have fun at arcade fire!! i hear they put on an amazing show! i was going to also suggest c'hi as well. a quick drive away. another suggestion would be the pear tree, not far into burnaby on hastings. if you don't mind a quick drive, there's also commercial drive. countless places there, stella's comes to mind. if you want something more casual, there's a good mexican place on hastings, by nanaimo called la pulgarcito. although i'm not sure what their hours are though.
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chris, those are wonderful ideas! i myself have been turned onto different things at restaurants by passionate servers. my liver and i are always grateful for it! a friend came back from prague a few years ago with a bottle of almond mead for me. what a beautiful sipper and i miss my ritual of having a little glass of it every couple of days. i will definitely be looking for those local meads that have been talked about here. thanks!!
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ok, so i have another question for ye folks. old fashioned (cakey) donuts or yeasty (bready) donuts?!! my vote is for the yeasty/bready ones
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i have to say that krispy kreme does absolutely nothing for me. honey's in deep cove, when they're still warm, the maple glaze....... kurtis, that is a great tip! i'll have to try that the next time i get a donut hankering. thanks!
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i also loved that mac'n'cheese as well. i could probably find out the recipe for you as the chef is a friend of mine! he's now at the galiano inn and spa. i'll be visiting him sometime this month! i also loved his penne with that super garlicky gorgonzola sauce. mmmmmm my other dish would probably be the sea bass and cilantro congee or the salted pork and century egg congee at congee noodle house. and andrey's wild mushroom risotto with that amazing demi glace at parkside
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Guu has okonomyaki on its menu. ← Can't accurately attest to it's authenticity, but the okonomiyaki at Kitanoya Guu in Gastown is pretty damn tasty. The last time I was there for dinner with *Deborah* and snacky_cat, we demolished it in about 45 seconds flat. ← we were at guu with garlic last night and had the okinomiyaki (amongst a host of other dishes) and it was guuuuud!!
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what a great idea!! we were just there (denman st location) last week and i had the lamb burger for the first time, with blue cheese and mushrooms (yum!!) and he had the three cheese burger. both were delicious and the onion rings were good too! i'll have to revisit this thread with a burger idea!
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i actually just signed up fot that class yesterday! soooo, anyone else here going? i'll be in the oct 25-26 class.
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hey, this class sounds like fun to me. i'm thinking about signing up for it. anyone else interested?? mmmm.....chocolate......
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i'm so excited about this thread! this is a course i've thought about taking for a while. i think that following this thread will finally get my butt in gear!! thanks for sharing! looking forward to the rest of the course!
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i'm dragging this thread out of the depths becuase i had a thought today. my friend and i went for dim sum today at garden city hot pot in richmond (my first time) and it was great! no cart, but the a la carte menu is good albeit short. so i got thinking, the traditional days for dim sum pig out are saturdays and sundays. any other thoughts for weekday dim sum haunts? my favourite places are pink pearl, imperial, and sun sui wah on main street.
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umm....maybe we should have a group tasting to try and break this tie! btw, kudos to you for knocking back 14 dumplings and the soup and the sesame cake!!
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we've tried to go there a couple of times. always very hungry when we show up and huge line ups. as far as i know, he was sushi village in whistler and came out of retirement to open toshi's. all reviews that we've heard have all been good. so we will keep trying.....
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Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 2)
makanmakan replied to a topic in Western Canada: Dining
insomnia is kicking in..... last wednesday night, we decided to try out central bistro since it's around the corner from me. it was also a night that they have the $19 set menu. unfortunately, the prix fixe menu didn't excite us, so we decided to do starters there. each had a glass of wine, i had the cono sure, can't remember what he had. the beet salad was tasty and very enjoyable except for a few of the beet slices were slightly under cooked. the other starter we shared was the lamb chops atop a vegetable stew. the lamb was cooked perfectly, medium rare, and very flavourful. the vegetable stew was alright, perhaps a little too heavy handed with the cumin or cinammon and it was lukewarm. we then wandered off and discovered a little place on denman, right in between delaney's and fatburger, that is all about the phyllo! it's a warm little spot, with a nice owner, and offering sweet and savoury phyllo treats. we can never resist crispy light pockets of goodness, so we shared the lamb and spinach pie. it took a few minutes to warm up (not in a microwave!!!) and it came with a nice simple salad. it was delicious. filled generously with thinly sliced roast lamb that was surrounded by spinach and phyllo pastry. yummy! must return to try the baklava. hope they take off, nice couple and interesting concept, and not another gelato/cheap sushi joint!! so, up davie we went, heading to lolita's for our final stop. a montezuma's revenge (drink, not illness) for me, and a paraiso for him. my drink kicked ass, muddled pineapple with rum and housemade ginger beer. need i say more?!! we shared the taco plate piled high with a halibut taco topped with a mango salsa and a pulled chicken with salsa verde and crema. real corn tortillas, double layered and with very generous toppings on both. delicious! and very full by this time, so sadly, no room for desert. thursday night, we finally got to try out chilli pepper house on rupert and kingsway. wow, very reasonable and cheerful but very impressive food. indian style chinese food. we shared the hakka noodles, which were very similar to what my grandma used to make when we were wee little girls. the prawns and veggies in manchurian sauce was nice, but the weakest of the bunch. next up was the mongolian beef, oh so so good. we will definitely be back. the wife chatted with us for a few minutes, very sweet woman, chinese born in sweden and her husband and cook is also chinese, but from india. must bring parents here! friday night, four of us went to a newish greek restaurant on the drive called dallas souvlaki. i think it's such an odd name for a greek restaurant. anyways, our food was great and it's actually quite charming in there! started with saganaki and the mussel special. two of us had the roast lamb, the other two had lamb and chicken souvlakis. all were huge portions and came with the usual sides. shared a bottle of red, of which the name escapes me. sunday, we decided on an adventure! hopped on the motorbike and cruised on over to the tomahawk! it was my first time there and definitely not my last! i love the time warp when you walk in! i had the chuck wagon, pancakes, yukon bacon and egg. he had the huge bacon, cheese, mushroom omellete. sunday night was a fringe play on granville island. sadly, we only had a short time for a bite so we went to the closest place which was sammy j pepper. sigh, very mediocre food for too much money. i had the jamaican seafood and veggie saute on rice. he had a cajun chicken burger and we shared a small spinach salad. monday was dimsum with a friend in richmond. she took me to garden city hot pot, but don't ask me where it is because she drove and richmond confuses me! i think it's one of my favourite dim sum in this city, so far. not greasy at all, fresh seafood and interesting choices. i love eating out with her because we can shamelessly pig out! siu mai, har gow, steamed rice rolls with preserved vegetable, steamed turnip cake, deep fried prawn in tofu skin, and scallop congee. i must come back (if i can find it) to try out the hot pot. tonight was a quick meet up with a friend at the templeton. i love going there on mondays as a good friend is working and they show movies! lemonade and soup. that's all i had room for! so, i guess it's been a while since i've cooked...lol! -
decor looks good and the menu sounds good! will definitely add to my very long list!
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I totally agree. Especially the chef who makes the "ebi mayo" oh my lord I could eat 100 of those things. Speaking of Ebi Mayo, Shiro Bay makes a pretty mean one too but i have to admit that Gyoza King reigns supreme. Gyoza King also makes a mean Chicken Karaage (boneless). mmm. ← WHAAAAT?!! Gyoza King has ebi mayo that's BETTER than the ones from Shiru-Bay? This I gotta try. I love, LOVE, LOVE the ebi mayo from Shiru-Bay!! Hmm...I don't know too many Vancouver chefs. I find Sada (Octopus Garden) entertaining. Neil gave me free GBP before, so I guess I gotta like him. I really enjoy Chef Hawksworth's food. I like how Chef Jeff talked to us about the food after our dinner at Aurora. I think chefs who interact with their patrons really complete the dining experience. ← I know!!! we have to form an Ebi Mayo Posse!!!! ← can i join this posse too?!!! i just have one rule....i don't share my ebi mayo!!! my top three would be andrey durbach - never been disappointed. big, bold, rich and comforting food. my favourite wild mushroom risotto in the city, by far. the crew at guu with garlic - just watching them make the kim chi fried rice is so fun! we've had many a sake fuelled, full belly nights here! (although gyoza king is a very close tie here!!) thirdly, a tie between vikram vij and robert clark. vikram took indian cuisine to the next level. dreams of lamb popsicle tonight! robert clark has an imagination that i envy, but at least i can enjoy it!
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Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 2)
makanmakan replied to a topic in Western Canada: Dining
so far, the weekend has been an outstanding one for eating out! friday night, 5 friends and i decided to do a little bit of a progressive dinner. started off at C for drinks and appies. i started with the most delicious lemon drop (certainly rivals my other favourite one at Parkside!) and between all of us, we ordered 2 of the appy tasting boxes. oh my god, my tastebuds were singing all night! it all came in a cool tiered box and they generously divided the soup into little individual cups for us. it was a chilled sweet english pea soup, with a dollop of organic yoghurt and a huge chunk of lobster. the soup was sweet, but not too sweet, definitely hilited the taste of fresh english peas. loved it! the next part was the dungeness crab salad atop sliced watermelons and a dollop of coconut cream. the watermelon was the perfect accompaniment to the richness of the crab, also very delicious. next tier was the bc spot prawn salad in a sweet chilli sauce. the sauce was so good i started to sop it up with my bread. perfect heat and sweetness, the prawns were so fresh and cooked to perfection. next up was the smoked salmon terrine, i think that it had layers of herbed goat cheese between the salmon and cucumber jelly strewn over it. by this time, we were on our second bottle of wine and i couldn't remember what exactly was in the terrine! a sunny evening, great table outside, great service and food. this was my first time to C and i am looking very forward to having another special evening there. next up was taking the group to NU, just across the way. i didn't realize how close the 2 restos were, and apparently, they share the same wine cellar! wow, what a cool looking resto. the decor is very different from anything else we have in this city. i kind of felt like i was in a very cool retro uber yacht! loved the chairs inside, even though i didn't get to try it out, apparently, they're very comfy! anyways, onto the rest of the evening. i loved the menu, it's interesting and very intriguing. we finally decided on a few starters and we all ordered our own entrees. after reading some of jamie's and others' reviews, there were a couple of things i had to try out. the oyster....crispy fried oyster with a shot of granville island lager. i thought i was fun and very tasty. the oyster was fresh and full of flavour and the little bit of beer was a good match to it. i could have definitely had some more of this! next was the goat cheese stuffed chicken wings. these were definitely a hit! they were like little chicken wing popsicles. crispy, very juicy and tender inside and sitting on a sweet chilli sauce. i think i could bathe in this sauce. it was definitely my favourite flavour for the whole night. i love that it's also a mess free way of eating wings too. my main was the halibut, sitting on swiss chard, with sliced chorizo and clams. it was good, very clean flavours, very simple. the halibut was cooked to perfection, often i find halibut to be overcooked but this was done medium rare, i believe and it was perfect. the chorizo was yummy too. we also had some little cheese gourgieres (i think) brought to us and they were little puffy, light, cheesy treats! thank you! someone ordered the chicken ballotine on mashed potatoes and it looked amazing, as did the ravioli. the service was wonderful, again, like C, and we had a great evening. you also can't beat the view from our table, granville island, all lit up, the sunset, and the boats going by. thank you, leonard, our guests had a great time, and i can't wait to go back and try out more of the menu. last night, we had a late night at the media club, and were starving after. went to an old haunt, samurai sushi and had a little feast. i love this place, a great value and the food is so good. we shared the spicy tuna sashimi, agedashi tofu, nabeyaki udon and the prawn gyoza. all were very tasty and perfect way to end the evening. next up, today at the pne!! i think i need the stretchy waisted pants today -
i will second tapastree. we love that place and the bonus is that it's around the corner from my humble abode! another one i will add is the ordinary cafe on 4th. went there a little while ago on the suggestion of chris, from parkside and he was bang on! how about chiyoda (on alberni, just below the tokyo lounge), for old school sushi and great robata? i love this place as it's usually japanese businessmen at the bar and japanese tourists at the tables. packed in the summer and quiet in the winter as few locals seem to know about it. if they aren't sold out of the miso black cod, it's a must have.
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Please introduce yourself to me when you arrive at NU. Sincerely, Leonard J Nakonechny NU & C General Manager ← will do, leonard. see you on friday!
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we went a couple of weeks ago and had a blast at the bar! ordered a lime margarita (shaken, perfect with a salty tangy sweetness), and the raspberry mojito (tart and yummy). yes, the drinks are a tad on the pricey side, but sometimes, ya just gotta! we shared the chicken flautas and the mushroom, goat cheese quesedillas, and guacamole with chips. the flautas were my favourite of the night. the quesedillas were not what i expected, but very tasty, nevertheless, and the salsa verde that came with it was delicious. the guacamole, was a little disappointing, lacked a zing or a kick that i was craving, as was the side of salsa that we ordered. the chips were a bit of a surprise though, definitely not what i was expecting. i didn't mind it at all, although, some of our chips were a little damp/soggy. dessert was a delicious mexican chocolate cake on top of a rum creme anglais sort of sauce. the girl at the bar was so passionate about this dessert that we had to order it.....glad we did! all in all, the vibe is great and i think the bar is the perfect place for us to sit. lila and her crew were very attentive and loads of fun. also noticed that they have a sickly collection of tequila. must go again, try the tacos and beef taquitos, have a tequila tasting, and then stumble home!!
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lol, i am all too familiar with the "chinese brusqeness"!! my family and i are chinese malaysians and are proud gluttons!! well, we will try it again. no we were there pretty early. it's only been the son that has given us negative service. almost eye rolling, big sigh, ignore the table sort of service. i work with the public so am always aware to be nice and polite to servers, always minding my p's and q's. maybe i'll do take out next...lol!