Best Mediterranean Food

Cioppino's Mediterranean Grill 

 1133 Hamilton St Vancouver, BC V6B5P6 | (604) 688-7466 | www.cioppinosyaletown.com

Came here for A's birthday a while ago... will let the pictures speak for themselves because words can not describe how good the food was.

Digby Scallops

Oven roasted , sweet tomato confit , tender artichokes

This dish was the most delightful in my opinion, as you can see it came with 3 big scallops. With the pairing of either the sweet tomato confit, tender artichokes or both, each bite had its own unique taste.

Beef Carpaccio

 Sliced AAA Canadian beef , Parmigiano , Harry’s bar mustard dressing

I'm a big fan of Japanese beef carpaccio, so this was definitely a must try when we saw it on the menu. Unlike Japanese beef carpaccio, this was more rich and savoury. A wonderful start to a wonderful meal.

Foie Gras

I have to say that foie gras has never been something I go crazy for, partially because I dislike the powdery texture of cooked liver. But then again that was before I tried the foie gras at Cioppino's. The foie gras here is cooked to perfection. There was nothing powdery about it, in fact from the minute it entered your mouth it melts and disappears, leaving you with the sweet aftertaste of the sauce. One order may not be enough.

Boar Meat (Special of the day)

The words boar meat sounded so intriguing as it is very rare to find it served at a restaurant, so we just had to try. To our surprise it was unlike what we thought it would be (tough meat, smelly) it was soft and delicate with the right fat-to-meat ratio - Another must try  

* Linguine - Atlantic half lobster , tomato-cream-lobster sauce

Was very impressed with the size of the lobster. The lobster to pasta ratio was perfect and you can clearly tell that the lobster was not a side and was in fact a part of the meal as a whole.

* Classic Lobster Bisque - served with Pacific crab-apple-celery root rémoulade

This is another must have at Cioppino's, the richest most savoury lobster bisque I've had so far.

Price:  $$$$

Food:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 
Service:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 
Ambience:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Conclusion: Good food, wonderful service, lovely atmosphere. What more can a girl ask for?  Undoubtedly one of the pricier restaurants out there, but surely it is worth every penny.

*** Please note that items with a "*" are items I was too hungry to take pictures of, but reviewed anyways. 

SPICES!

Hu Tong

2942 W Broadway Vancouver, BC V6K 2G6 | (604) 559-6622

It was date night, and K wanted to take me to this place that had good Hainanese Chicken on Broadway, but as it turns out the place was closed so we decided to go for a stroll.

That was when we came across Hu Tong, The exterior reminded us of those "old towns" in Taiwan, we didn't think much about it but the smell was what caught our attention. If you weren't hungry to begin with, the aroma of the food will make you hungry. K and I both have never had traditional Beijing food so we decided to give it a go.

K is a fan of really traditional Chinese decor, if he had a house this may be what he would want it to look like.

Bacardi cups for water? Why not?!

Spinach with Peanuts and Sesame Seeds

The waitress made it sound so saucy, but in reality it was kind of sour and did not see any sauce, was upsold.

Lamb Hot Pot

We were told this may not be enough for  people, but it was more than enough for us, intact we had leftovers to take home. 

Price:  $$
Food:  ☆ ☆ ☆ 
Service:  ☆ ☆ 
Ambience:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Conclusion: Can be a little pricey, but everywhere you go for "traditional food" is a little pricey. I would most likely come back again sometime.

Hidden Gem in Kerrisdale

George's Pizza

6109 West Blvd Vancouver, BC | (604) 266-0411

So I've been hanging out in Kerrisdale for many years now and for some odd reason I have never noticed George's pizza until recently. Maybe it's because it's located in the outskirts of Kerrisdale away from where all the shopping is, but I'm telling you if you're looking to get away from Vancouver for an hour or two this is the place to go!

It's friendly staff knows exactly what to suggest for you, and the interior of the restaurant accompanied by the Italian-esque melody being played in the background places you right in the middle of Europe.

Spinach Tortellini

Never been much of a pesto/green sauce fan, but if I had to choose, this would be my favourite green sauce pasta.

1/2 Greek 1/2 Hawaiian

Please don't make me choose between the two, they are both so good!

Dinner Special of the Day: Penne with Chicken in Rose Sauce

K doesn't like red sauce pastas, but he loved this one, couldn't stop talking about it for days.

George's Special (minus green peppers)

Price:  $$$
Food:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Service:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 
Ambience:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Conclusion: Usually I would say something along the lines of I will be coming back. But in this case, I have already been back.

We probably stayed here for hours forgetting the time, the staff here as so amazingly friendly, I swear I brought friends here and stayed for over four hours (until closing) and even though all the customers already left and they were closing up, they did not come to our table to ask us to leave once. We had such a good time here we lost track of time and that has never happened anywhere else.

Portland: Sen Yai

Sen Yai

3384 SE Division St Portland, OR 97202 | (503) 236-3573

http://pokpoksenyai.com

Was convinced to come here after learning about the 2.5 hour wait at Pok Pok. After a long day we were tired and hungry and on top of that it was pouring outside. We were all not willing to wait especially for 2.5 hours. 

Browsing on my phone I found someone on Foursquare that said Sen Yai was "Even better than Pok Pok". Plus it is owned by the same owners of Pok Pok, so can't be bad right?

Upon walking in, the restaurant was quite full, however there was no wait. We were approached by their friendly staff and was seated immediately. There was such a big selection of food on their menu it was almost impossible to decide on which one to choose. The exotic food names were rather difficult to pronounce too (I must give props to our server, he had to pretty much read the whole menu out for us)

In the end, we stuck to their best sellers. And Thai Ice Tea, because its so amazingly good. I'm really sensitive to caffeine and can easily get an allergic reaction, but I always down for thai iced tea, extra syrup of course. Everyone just stares at me as if I was a mad woman whenever I ask for it to be extra sweet, I just need my sugar fix sometimes.

Kuaytiaw Reua "Boat Noodles"

Laksa

Phat Thai Ruam

Thai Ice Tea

Price:  $$
Food:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Service:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 
Ambience:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Conclusion: Best Phat Thai I've ever had and really nice soups. Want to come back again as soon as possible.