Never Again

Deer Garden Signatures 鹿園魚湯米線

6270 Fraser St Vancouver, BC V5W3A1 | (604) 322-6116 | www.deergarden.ca

I don't usually come here, but was in the neighbourhood and was so impressed with the Deer Garden in Richmond, I thought I'd give it a try. BAD IDEA.

I should have known from the moment I stepped in. We were waiting at the door for sometime before any of the waiter/waitress even noticed us. I thought maybe they ran out of tables but there were clearly empty tables yet to be filled. Because we were so hungry we quickly place our order ( 1 XO turnip cake, deep fried pork cutlet and 1 noodle) to share. The pork cutlet and turnip cake came out fast but the noodle took over 20 mins. Turns out or order was delivered to the wrong table ( the table next to us).

We didn't say anything assuming either:
A) Our noodles took longer to make or
B) The girl next to us ordered the same thing

After a good 10-15 mins of texting on her phone, the girl beside us finally decided to dig around in the bowl of noodles.
Just then, her actual order came, it was at this time that both the waiter and the girl noticed something was wrong.  us as there were 2 bowls of noodles at her table now.

Oh and I'm pretty sure the whole restaurant could hear because the waiter's voice was so loud we could even hear their private conversations.

Anyways, after they took "our" noodle in, they brought it back out in less than 5 mins!

So tell me, how did you remake my order in LESS THAN A MINUTE?

On top of that:
1. Our noodle was no longer hot, it was lukewarm
2. The noodles were getting soggy
3. There was limp cilantro (clearly it has been sitting in soup for too long)
4. There was no apology for the delay

Maybe they could have gotten away with it if the other person was sitting half way across the room, but we were sitting right next to her. WE WATCHED THE WHOLE PROCESS. 

If this happened to us, who knows if they've done the same to other customers...

Moreover, we had the hardest time asking for chilli and the waiter shouts across the room to the point where it was impossible for customers to have conversations. We had to ask 3 times before someone "remembered" to bring use the chilli.

The only time the waitresses were responsive is when they're waiting for you to pay.

Bottom line is, I will not be coming back here ever (not this specific Deer Garden at least.
My advice is, if you are craving Deer Garden, cross the bridge to Richmond or go to another branch.

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. 

Uncle Lu

Uncle Lu 安可盧萬巒豬腳

3779 Sexsmith Rd Richmond, BC V6X1J8 | (604) 370-0250

To be honest, based on what it looks like from the outside, I really thought this was a fancy tea shop for the longest time. Which is why I never bothered to try it. Until recently.

Uncle Lu aka sister store of Corner 23 is always packed with people. At times you really have to seat yourself, and the food takes a while to come out, so I would not suggest coming here if you are in a rush.

They tend to alternate their teas (sometimes within the hour which bugs me as I do not appreciate drinking a mixture of red and green tea, I am a food purist in that sense) but I absolutely love the aroma of their red tea.

Below is a compilation of the foods we have eaten as I have been here too many times.

Chicken With Thai Style Spicy Chili Sauce

I expected some special Thai sauce made in house, but this was literally the Thai Spicy Chili Sauce you can buy at the market

Fried Pork With Sweet and Sour Sauce

Taiwanese Style Pork Sausage

Sliced Pork With Garlic Sauce

Classic Taiwanese Dish! :)

Wan Luan Pork Hock

First time having this dish so I can't compare it to much, but very well marinated and the sauce definitely hit the spot.

Chicken With Three Spice Sauce

My All Time Favourite, Really impressed as I can say Uncle Lu is probably one of my top 3 go to places for this dish

Malaysian Fever

Ipoh Asian House
2128 E Hastings St Vancouver, BC V5L1V2 | (604) 251-3322

Finally got the chance to come here after hearing my parents rave about Ipoh for months.

As a family, we usually go out for Vietnamese food, but recently they've caught the Malaysian fever. We have been having Malaysian food every week now.

Anyways, Ipoh has a really simple modern look.

In short: Chinese owned, Chinese chef, BIG portions, affordable prices :)

Quick snap of the menu

Fish maw soup

Not bad at all! Lots of fish maw and enough for everyone to have seconds. (4 of us)

Crab (Forgot which style of crab)

We were supposed to dip the crab in "sauce" (the paste of sauce leftover from cooking), when asked "what sauce?" the waitress brought over curry for dipping.

We also had Roti Canai, a veggie dish and $1 Chicken (their special at the time).

* The rest of the pictures are MIA as the owner of this blog may have been too hungry.

Price:  $$

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

Conclusion: Nice place to go for lunch/dinner. A good alternative to taiwanese bubble tea houses. Go for their big portions, but don't expect to have authentic, authentic Malaysian food here.

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: Via Tribunaili

Via Tribunali

36 SW 3rd Ave Portland, OR 97204 | (503) 548-2917

http://viatribunali.net

So my pizza craving took me to Old Town, Portland. We were on our way to Voodoo Doughnut when we learnt about their 45 min wait, so we decided we should probably eat before we go wait in line. We chose this place as it looked authentic, with a stone oven for pizza. 

Via Tribunali - Specialita' Della Casa 

(provola, ricotta, rapini, sausage, cherry tomatoes, arugula, fresh mozzarella, basil, grana padano)

Quatro Stagioni 

(prosciutto cotto, oven-roasted mushrooms, salame piccante, pomodoro, fresh mozzarella, basil, grana padano )

* We also had Bruchetta, however I did not get a chance to snap a picture.

Price:  $$

Food:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Service:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Ambience:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Conclusion: Best pizza I've had! We came here not knowing the size of the pizza, when we asked if 2 was enough for the 3 of us we were told that each one was made for 1 person. We were not that hungry so we got 2. It was still too much, we were all stuffed, leaving no room for doughnuts.

The Via Tribunali was a big surprise, we did not to find cheese and veggies stuffed and wrapped inside the pizza. It is rare to find salad pizzas, this has to be one of my all time favourites. 

The Quatro Stagioni was so different from the pizzas I'm used to. It was so thin I could not pick it up and bite, I had to eat with a fork and knife. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining because it was just as unique and equally good!

Lastly the waiter was so kind! The food came out really fast and he kept walking by to check on us. (I eat in Richmond a lot and good service is hard to come by)

Hidden Gem: Penang Delight

Penang Delight (馬來檳城美食)
1316 W 73rd Ave. Vancouver, BC V6P3E7 | (604) 559-9898
http://penangdelight.com/marpole/



It was D and V's idea to come here for dinner, I had no idea what to expect, in fact I've been living in the area for over 10 years and didn't even know this restaurant existed because its was so hidden!

We arrived to find the whole restaurant packed! All Malaysian people. Thats how you know its good Malaysian food. As packed as the restaurant was the staff was so fast paced that one minute customers walk in and the next out.

The interior of the restaurant reminded us all of Asia, once we placed our order the food came out within 10-15 minutes. I was very impressed.

Grass Jelly Soya Bean

Cendol

Cantonese Chow Fun

Hainanese Chicken

Penang Prawn Meehoon and Mee (Spicy)

Deluxe Curry Platter (Curry Chicken, Rendang Beef, Rendang Lamb)

(Forgot the name of this, but the fried part is mashed taro and on top is stir fry)

KL Hokkian Mee

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

Conclusion: I loved the atmosphere and the quick service, but certain dishes can be a little pricey.

No Ikea, HASHI SUSHI!

Hashi Sushi Japanese Restaurant
150-3757 Jacombs Rd Richmond, BC V6V2R3 | (604) 445-6818 |
https://www.facebook.com/hashisushijapaneserestaurant







So, K and I came across this little place while driving to ikea one day. It was late and we were hungry, we thought any food is better than no food. At first we were skeptical, it was in one of those office-warehouse complexes and there was no one eating there. And so I looked it up on Urbanspoon, to find a 86% rating on this little place. No more questions asked.

We sat down and found that the menu selection was quite small but they did have MANY dragon rolls (Red Dragon, Black Dragon, White Dragon... the list goes on.)

We got the Black Dragon and the White Dragon

White Dragon (Chopped Scallop)

Black Dragon (Unagi Tempura)

Usually we would order 5 different dishes at restaurants but at Hashi, 2 rolls was filling enough.


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

Conclusion: Friendly service, in a hidden location. But have yummy sushi rolls and a wide selection of dragon rolls. We will be back!

LUCY'S: What happened?

I loved Lucy's so much i had to go back again, this time I took A with me. throughout the whole car ride there I was telling her how great the food at Lucy's was, and how its conveniently opened 24 hours a day. (Perfect for late night munchies after clubbing)

I was quite happy at first, we got there around 11pm, there wasn't a lot of people (only 3 tables) so we didn't have to wait to be seated. The waitress seemed jolly, but it did however take some time for someone to come over and take our order (surprisingly it was one of staff that was getting off)

I ordered the Mac n' Cheese and Pulled Pork Hoagie again, this order comes with either a soup or fries on the side, the person who took my order did not ask me what I wanted so I had to call him back and tell him that I wanted to try their chicken noodle soup (which at the time was their soup of the day).

When the food came out it looked promising, however from the moment i saw it I noticed that the pulled pork was less juicy compared to the first time i had it (I remember there was so much juice it was dripping everywhere). The Mac n' Cheese was not cheesy at all, in fact the cheese was clumpy. The chicken noodle soup was tasteless and watery (not to mention it looked a little green).

Throughout the whole time I kept telling myself that it doesn't taste as good because I've been over indulging but I was wrong. It wasn't until I got home and took a good look at the two pictures I took.

I will let you guys find the differences:

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