September 2012 ~ Eating With Kirby

Mosaic Bar and Grille- Italian Chef Tasting Menu

The barely cooked runny yolk is meant to be popped and enjoyed along with the risotto...and enjoy I did. The golden lava coated every kernel of rice with its warm embrace and made the risotto that much more comforting.

Adorabelle Tea Room- Catching Up With the Girls

This is an Onion, Chive, and Bacon Savoury Cupcake. Even the icing was savoury! It was super delicious and was really innovative. Overall, the ambiance was great (loved the fake sky ceiling!), food was well thought out and executed, and the service was attentive.

Forage- Pretty Decent Food.

All six of us ordered their Award Winning Seafood Chowder with soft poached quail egg and crispy pork rind. While the soup was smokey, full of flavour, it was too thick and tasted a bit more like sauce than soup. The quail egg added a certain richness to the soup too which was nice.

Jethro's Fine Grub- That's Some Tasty Grub.

Overall, Jethro’s is an awesome breakfast and lunch diner serving up good eats with a twist. I most definitely will return for some alligator nuggets or pancakes!

Teppan Kitchen and Mambo Cafe (Aberdeen Food Court)- Crazy Sauce.

They serve this to you with a little sleeve around the plate to catch any splattering oil that radiates from the oven hot iron plate. If you are noob (hehe) at this Teppan Rice business, you can read the "How To Cook" instructions on the sleeve.

Basho Cafe - Quaint, Cozy, Delicious

You get the real deal here when it comes to their Matcha Latte. Served in a traditional Japanese bowl the way its suppose to be (not cup), its not only fragrant but it has incredibly depth. Be forewarn, this latte isn't sweet. There is no additional pre-sweetened sugary stuff here.

29 September 2012

Slickity Jim's Chat 'N' Chew- Fun Gus and Sweet Fancy Moses

Slickity Jim’s Chat ‘N’ Chew is a little place located on Main street. I came here with the girls before I left for international exchange and we were surprised to see a line up forming in front of the restaurant for brunch.

I did try this place out for dinner one time and I thought it was a pretty neat place. The interior is funky and the names of their dishes are definitely unique.

We took forever choosing what to eat because everything sounded so delicious! It’s the innovative names I tell ya! Great marketing strategy!

Lil Sis always raved about their eggs benedict so I knew I had to get something from this section.

I chose the Fun Gus ($11.00) eggs benny and it came with sautéed mushrooms/ bacon atop two poached eggs, English muffins, and lovely hollandaise sauce. I wanted to substitute the roasted potatoes with grilled tomatoes but sadly they didn’t have that option. :(

The eggs were perfectly poached and had a really runny yolk which is my favourite, however, I wasn’t completely blown away by this dish. I thought they could have been more generous with the mushrooms and bacon. As well, there was not a lot of hollandaise sauce and that usually is my favourite part of eggs benny so I was a bit sad.

The Sweet Fancy Moses ($11.00) consisted of prosciutto, brie, and artichoke as toppings. FW thought it was pretty good as hers seem to have more toppings.

Lil Sis ordered the Daily Special which had pineapple salsa and she enjoyed it very much.

Overall, the ingredients looked fresh and it tasted good. However, this would probably not be my go-to eggs benny place.

Because of these reasons:
  • dishes are a hit or miss
  • not enough hollandaise sauce! :'(
  • unique and interesting concept and atmosphere
  • prepare for line ups and long wait times for food
Service Rating: 2.5/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$ ($10-20)

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!


Slickity Jim's Chat n' Chew on Urbanspoon

28 September 2012

Tsukiji Fish Market: Sushi Dai (Tokyo)- Best Sushi I've Ever Had In My Life. Period.

Okay, here’s the deal. I have found the must-go-to place if you ever plan to visit Tokyo, Japan. This is where I had the best sushi I’ve ever tasted and I’m super excited to tell everyone I know about it. However, if you don’t enjoy raw seafood, I wouldn't recommend this place because that is pretty much all they serve.

I went to Tokyo for 4 days with Trixie and we were on the lookout for the best sushi in town. We heard about this location called “Tsukiji Fish Market” that’s known for serving up the freshest seafood in Tokyo. The restaurant we specifically went to within the fish market was called “Sushi Dai”. Here is the lineup in front of the restaurant.

And here is the second part of the lineup. The restaurant only seats around 14 people so the wait will be long. VERY LONG. How long? Well, Trixie and I waited 2 hrs and 50 mins. O.O We got there at 8am and sat down close to 11am. That might sound ridiculous, and it is! But at the end, it was all worth it. :D

Here is the view of the fish market when you’re waiting in line. It’s actually not a tourist attraction but more of a wholesale fish and seafood market. Many people do business here so as a tourist, you have to make sure not to get in the way.

You can choose either the Omakase Course (3,900 Yen/~$50.00 CAD) which consists of 11 pieces of nigiri sushi that the chef deems freshest along with a few maki rolls, rolled egg (tamago), and miso soup, or the Jyou Course (2,500 Yen/~$32.00 CAD) which has 7 pieces of nigiri sushi along with the maki rolls, rolled egg, and miso soup. I say, go with the Omakase course. If you are on vacation, you might as well spend that extra bit to get something extraordinary.

Once you go in, the sushi chefs will greet you and start chatting with you. One nice thing about Sushi Dai is that when you get seated, no one rushes you to eat everything super quick. They want you to enjoy every piece of sushi and you will forget about the excruciating long wait before you sat down.

Complimentary green tea and hot towel. Nice.

The first nigri was Toro (fat tuna belly) and it was unlike any toro I’ve seen in Vancouver. The marbling of this fish is ridiculous so you know it’s going to be silky soft and fatty. It was definitely delicious but it lacked the melt-in-your-mouth texture that everyone was talking about on their blog (I read reviews before I came :P).

The miso soup was made with a lot of fish bones, thus giving the miso broth an incredibly rich fish flavour.

I believe this one was Hamachi but I can’t be sure because it wasn’t one of the outstanding nigris out of the bunch.

The Tamago (sweet rolled egg) was fluffy and fresh of the steamer. Deeeelicious! People who know me know that I love a good ol’ steamed egg. :D

The Sea Urchin (aka Uni) was Trixie’s favourite. Each individual uni on there was small but did not have the overwhelming ocean-y taste that you sometimes get with sea urchin.

I normally know Red Snapper as the fish Asians usually steam and eat with soy sauce, ginger, and green onions. But I never knew it could taste delicious raw! Another incredibly fresh piece of fish. It tasted great with or without soy sauce!

The chef said this was called Saury, and though I’ve never had saury in my life, it was very delicious and tasted a bit like tuna.

Now comes one of my top three. The Surf Clam. When he put this in front of me, the surf clam was still moving (NOT JOKING)! It was an amazing sight and since ‘still moving’ equates to ‘seriously uber fresh’, I was excited to attack consume it.

The clam was gigantic and definitely a two biter!!

The Marinated Tuna was good but both Trixie and I found it to be the least exciting of the bunch. The texture wasn’t as melty or smooth as we would have liked but it was still good.

If I’m not mistaken, this is Mackerel. I normally dislike eating mackerel raw, but because this mackerel was  a lot fresher than the ones here in Vancouver, it tasted pretty good. Not my favourite fish to eat raw, but definitely worth a try.

These seemingly disappointing Maki Rolls were actually SUPER SUPER DELICIOUS!! One was stuffed with avocado and surf clam while the other was stuffed with fatty toro.

This was also one of my favourites, the Ikura (fish roe) nigri. It is hard to describe why this was so amazing but just trust me in that if you normally like ikura, you will love it here.

The Freshwater Eel (steamed I think) was another notable one as it tasted nothing like Unagi. I remember the chef telling us that Unagi is fresh water eel but this one is from salt water. Anyways, this tasted nothing like unagi, largely because of its fluffy yet mushy texture. This should be eaten without soy sauce to fully taste the flavour.

Last but not least, you get to choose your own nigri out of the menu they provide. I went with the Amaebi which is raw prawn. THIS, my friend, was of epic proportions. When I say this place uses only the freshest ingredients, I mean it. When the chef set this in front of me, I almost jumped up when I saw the tail twitching (just a tiny bit)! For some people, that might sound disgusting, but I’m sure I am not the only one that finds this incredibly fascinating and intriguing! ;) Anyway, this was undoubtedly fresh and delicious, and not at all slimy like all of the other amaebi I have tasted in Vancouver.

They also grill the prawn head for you to eat. This is an acquired taste. I enjoyed it but Trixie didn’t.

All in all, just go. If you are going to be in Tokyo, don’t miss out on the Tsukiji Fish Market, and Sushi Dai or else I’ll say “I told you so” when you regret it. The sushi here was so good that Trixie almost cried and we were on a (sushi) high after we left. Sounds too good to be true? Try it out for yourself and let me know!

Happy Eating!


Product Review: Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Chunky Salsa- Great for Parties And Your Waistline!

Hello hello! Here comes another product review!! A while ago, the folks at Sabra were kind enough to give me a few of their products to try out. This included the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus as well as the Chunky Pico De Gallo Salsa. I had so much fun experimenting with these two products that I will definitely be returning to get some more!!

As you can see, I used both the hummus and the salsa to top my homemade Ahi Tuna. It was super DE-licious!!!

The Sabra hummus comes in a 283g container and depending on what flavour of hummus you get, the middle part will be different. In my case, the middle of the hummus contained a type of red pepper puree.

The hummus is very smooth with no lumps and tasted like the chickpeas were freshly blended. FYI- hummus is traditionally made from mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt.

This makes for a great dip at parties (when served with cracker or crisps)and it’s a way healthier option than serving chips, don’t you think? :D

The Chunky Pico De Gallo salsa was my favourite because of its versatility and flavour.

The salsa was incredibly fresh and there were large chunks of tomatoes, onions, and herbs. I brought this to a ‘girls night in’ and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it!  

You can purchase Sabra products at Walmart or other specific retailers.

Experiment! Create your own dishes or appetizers! I certainly had fun with it :) Send me any creative or yummy hummus/salsa creations!

24 September 2012

Paul Lafayet (Hong Kong)- Artisanal Pastries in HK

When I was in Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, I stumbled upon this French patisserie called Paul Lafayet. One quick glance at the display case proved no match for my willpower so I had no choice but to give some of their sweets a try. :P Luckily, I was with my friend Trixie who also has quite a large appetite.

The main reason we ‘stumbled’ upon this patisserie was because we noticed the crowd of people in the front.

The sold a variety of macarons and artisanal pastries. We took forever to choose because every single dessert looked soooo delicious.

We decided to share a Passion Fruit macaron and Chocolate & Blueberry Dome. One taste of the passion fruit macaron and it became my favourite macaron of all time. I always though macarons tasted okay when I tried them at Thierry or other high tea places, however, this one tasted really really delicious!

20 September 2012

Sushiholic- How Awesome Is 'The Awesome Roll'?

Sushiholic is a Japanese restaurant located on East Broadway that is famous of their ‘awesome roll’. I’ve never been here before so Lil Sis brought me here one time because it’s one of her favourite sushi roll restaurants.

It looked super sketch from the outside but the interior was COMPLETELY different and very pretty.

Sushi chefs hard at work behind the bar. We waited quite a while to get a seat because the place was packed.  Definitely not what I expected from a sketchy looking sushi place.

Special Maki Rolls.

All of them looked so enticing!! I may have to go back just to try them all. :D

We started off with a typical Scallop Roll ($3.75). It was one of the better scallop rolls I’ve had so this was a solid item.