Vegas Havoc

Last May I had the opportunity to travel to Vegas with a few of my great friends and while what happened during that time is not what this blog talks about I would like to say that I don't regret a thing.

Anyways, one of my very vivid memory of Vegas was going to the Wicked Spoon  at the Cosmopolitan Hotel for a lunch buffet. First off let me say that I was entranced by the rain of crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. It was almost maze-like trying to find this buffet within the Hotel and this definitely was a random non-preset destination from what I remember. I think we waited about fifteen minutes until we were able to ransack the buffet tables ---except when I say ransack I mean walk elegantly in a dainty manner. This buffet was super cute as everything was served in small dishes --tapas style. There was also a wide assortment of pre-mixed salad and I remember having some kind of salmon sashimi come in a this little cup (I have no photo or vivid visual description for you but it was yummy and pretty. I should have taken a photo of everything but at the time I was not food blogging and could not rationalize taking a photo of food versus eating food.

Dessert was the only time I took photos as they were sooo pretty! Sometimes I wish I could bake/cook/make (?) dessert that didn't taste like a spoon full of sugar or rocks that broke your teeth --- but then I'm sure would become obese. Anyways I took a photo of this dessert selection (only 1/5th of what was available) and I took a picture of a plate. I think I tried to sample every pretty dessert available. And I realized that similar to my dating experience this summer the desserts were pretty and sweet but when it gets down to it there was nothing substantially valuable in them.

 

Return of the food whore

I've recently rediscovered my blog and have decided it was time to make my return. This time it will be much more fun as I am an eight month old fish eating vegetarian =)

While I think back a few months to remember what I've eaten I realize that it's pretty difficult to find pretty vegetarian dishes (by think back I mean scroll through the photos on my phone) --- or maybe that's because I rarely make any haha. Below is the only kind of breakfast I can make! Notice the lack of any stove top effort.

During the summer months my most favorite place to eat was at Save On Meats and it was usually a couple of minutes after they opened on a Sunday morning. It was my most favorite breakfast place, especially after a night of intense partying. And since I am the only crazy one among my group of friends to wake up before 8am after a night of mishap, I usually would stumble across the street to my very own booth for a nice private breakfast.

Situated in Vancouver's Gastown (right off the corner of Hastings & Abbott), the Save on Meats diner is a super economical and eccentric food joint -- it costs less than an arm to eat here. While I want to typify the patrons who go there, myself included, I can honestly say that there are a wide assortment of people of different walks of life who have enjoyed the diner's food. In the morning the cops are there, you can find a young family, a cute gay couple and then me!

Their breakfast menu is by far my favorite, or maybe it was because I was obsessed with eggs bennies at the time. They don't have a vegetarian eggs benny special but it was very easy to ask them to substitute the bacon for a slice of avocado on a tomato benny. It was so yummy that every morning I was literally face planted on my friend's window waiting for the diner to open. I've tried them during their non breakfast times pre and during my current vegetarian binge and I was not impressed. Prior to being vegetarian I believe I tried their tuna melt -- this was a bit too salty for me ( I just noticed that I could very well eat this post choice). And another time I had their vegetarian chickpea burger ... I remember thinking it was not too great and quite large! I've also had their salad and I thought it was over tarted (haha not a word I know).

Their service has always been decent, my expectations for service at this hipster-esque diner may not be too high but the waitress has always been friendly. They have appeared on a popular television show called the Gastown Gamble on the Oprah Winfrey Network ---not sure what ever happened to that channel. I would definitely go for breakfast ... not sure if I would recommend it during lunch or dinner (vegetarianly speaking).

Anyways, I hope my future posts will be much more fun to read and not so mundane as I am vacationing in Manila in the next few weeks!

Sushi Snob

Since the past year I've been exploring the food Vancouver has to offer. Sushi, or Japanese food, has been my biggest obsession. I've had enough to make some sick but it has definitely heightened my expectations.

After work, I went to I Love Sushi on Schoolhouse in Coquitlam with my dad. It's a fairly casual hangout since its directly connected to a bowling alley. The food was good for my dad but it was just alright for me. We ordered the Tuna Tataki Salad which often is a difficulty (I've noticed) for some places. Tuna tataki is meant to be pan seared raw tuna sashimi, usually drizzled in sauce after. The tuna tataki salad we received was fully cooked tuna slabs that looked like chicken and leafs of iceberg lettuce. They placed dressing of some sort on the side for us to dip into, I guess. My dad ordered a Crunch Roll which basically had prawn & yam tempura roll with crunch bits along the top. He really liked this roll, I thought it was not that great, I could make it at home and it lacked a bit of flavor. I ordered the Yummy Roll which I thought was okay. It simply was a california roll with spicy tuna on top. The spicy tuna was simply raw pieces of tuna with hot sauce drizzled on it. It was yummy and pretty I guess.

Overall, I would come back to this restaurant if I had to but it's definitely not one of the top ten on my list. The service and the price was good though!

Kumare mare!

In Tagalog (predominant language of those from the Philippines) 'mare' is a slang reference to a female friend and 'kumare' refers to close female friends. I guess the name of this restaurant came from the woman who started it. I don't know much about her but she sure knows how to cook and decorate!

I treated my parents after my first paycheck and was pleasantly surprised. Located in Richmond off No. 3 Road, Kumare boasts casual modern dining room design with unique light fixtures and inviting seating. The service was good although the waitress forgot to bring us our drinks. We came in placed our orders and the food came not too long after. We ordered Crispy Fish with Sweet & Sour Ginger sauce which my mom loved. It was impressively still crispy even after the sauce was lathered on and the fish itself was moist which made it seem fresh. I craved Thai so I tried their Pandan Chicken with Pad Thai. As expected their Pad Thai did not live up to my expectations but their Pandan Chicken (barbequed chicken wrapped in pandan leaves) was yummy and moist with a hint of pandan! We also ordered the traditional Filipino BBQ Chicken which we all loved because it was big succulent pieces of moist chicken with absolutely no fat.

Overall, I would definitely come back again. While I was eating, I also observed a lady who looked to be the owner/manager walking around to some tables conversing with the customers. I thought this was nice, it definitely added a homey feel to the place.

Four hours at the Hub

My cousins and I decided to do our ladies night at the Hub in Yaletown. The place was nice though it has a warm, casual and high end feel to it. When I first got there it was filled with older men and then towards the end of the night the crowd got younger. I was seated right near the door and every time I glanced up from my Wet Dream martini (which tasted just like juice =yummy) it looked like the two hostess were glaring at me. I guess they got flustered with the dinner rush and there I was by myself at a table looking like I was just stood up since I arrived a good half hour earlier than my cousins.

When my cousins came we had a feast! I'm pretty sure we tried most (80%) of their appetizers. I think my favourites were the Wok Squid (so succulent and perfectly spiced) and the Yam fries with the curry sauce. The Lobster Wings were a 'meh' I think their name just ups the expectation and it did not pass for me or my cousins. We also enjoyed the Kobe Beef Balls which were quite savoury - I'm not much of a beef person though so you may like it. And the nachos (with banana peppers!), onion rings and scallop potatoes were also good. We also tried the Chocolate Chip Pazookie and Cheesecake for desert -both of which were amazing! The service was generally good. Our waitress was always around topping up our wine glass with the bottles of white we ordered.

The Hub is definitely a must try. Appies are only $6 from 3- 6pm AND they have pretty decent drink specials. Over all it was a tad bit pricey, maybe because it's in Yaletown, but I would definitely go again.

Lazy Photo Blog

So I have taken photos of my food during the past three months with the notion that I would blog about it later and never got it it. BUT here are the photos from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Vancouver =) ENJOY!

Gringos at Joeys

So I had my first experience of a 'Gringo' at Joeys on Burrard and Robson and I totally loved it! It's composed of beer, a frozen alcoholic slush ball thing that melts in your drink and with the lime it is pure perfection! What's even better you may ask? ... These Gringos are only $4.99 at Joeys on Tuesdays!!!

The crowd at the Burrard & Robson Joeys on a Tuesday is actually pretty happening (not sure if I used the idiom correctly) and the waitress we had was super genuine and friendly.

So if you want to go somewhere fun and try something new on a weeknight I would recommend a Gringo at Joeys!