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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Wow I'm on a roll with these all-you-can-eat posts! Just yesterday was AYCE Fish and Chips... and now it's AYCE Korean BBQ!!
My good friend BB introduced me to this Korean place I never ever thought about going... the Westender Korean Restaurant on Denman.
It looks super dingy and uninteresting from the outside but the interior was surprisingly cozy and comfortable.
We started off with a bottle of Cass because BB and I both have fond memories of drinking this brand in Seoul. ^.^
I enjoyed their banchans (small complementary dishes) and of course these are refillable.
The Green Onion Salad ($3.99) is a must order dish!! It's huge so you can probably share with someone. But this salad goes amazingly well with pork and brings a good refreshing bite.
I forgot what this tofu soup is called but it was just a couple of bucks and super spicy. Not my cup of tea but definitely great for anyone that likes a spicy kick.
We didn't opt for the AYCE which would've been $17/person (includes everything from samgyeopsal to sides to lettuce). Instead we got one order of Samgyeopsal ($10) and shared it along with lettuce for the both of us. We were totally expecting to order one more when we were done but it surprisingly filled us up!
All in all, this is a great place for samgyeopsal if you don't care too much about it being served already cooked. The sides are great, the green onion salad is the bomb, and the prices are affordable.
After a shift of volunteering with my work comrades, we decided to stop for a bite at C Lovers for fish and chips! I've always seen C-Lovers at Playland but never tried it because of their long lines.
At this time, my favourite fish and chips place is still Pajo's in Steveston, Richmond. Who's with me? It's those newspaper cones I tell ya.
We went to the C-Lovers location on Denman Street.
They have AYCE Fish and Chips for $11.99 here!! What a great deal for people who love their fried fishies. Our server told us one guy comes every week and eats 30 pieces of fish with the AYCE deal.
Their Deep Fried Pickles ($5.99) were thinly battered and delicious to share.
For some reason I LOVED their Deep Fried Mushrooms ($6.99) even though they weren't anything super special.The mushrooms were only the regular white button ones too. The batter was crunchy, the dip was great, I'd definitely get this again.
For the AYCE Fish and Chips ($11.99), you get about five smaller pieces to start and fries. For the few people who ordered this, they didn't even have to add more fish because they were already so full after the first plate.
I went with the regular 1pc Cod and Chips ($8.49) which came with coleslaw and fries. The coleslaw was way overdressed and the fries were limp. However, the cod was flaky and perfectly moist.
The Halibut Burger ($6.99) may look small and plain (because it doesn't come with any sides), but my coworker felt very content with this!
I gave the Mushy Peas ($1.99) a try as a spontaneous act...but it wasn't my cup of tea. I think they used split peas instead of green peas because something about the taste put me off. The mushy peas from Peaked Pies are still much better in my opinion.
If you ever get a chance to visit downtown Seattle, Pike Place Market is a tourist attraction that is not to be missed. It's an incredibly noisy and eccentric marketplace filled with local vendors selling their signature items.
Piroshky Piroshky is popular Russian bakery within Pike Place that I always stop at whenever I visit. They sell the best little (actually, they're rather large) buns of heaven that will sure get your taste buds singing.
They will ALWAYS have a line up (upwards to 20 minute wait) but it's well worth it. Especially when you buy five buns to bring back to Vancouver like I did. :P
See? The line up moves quite quickly though because the staff are really efficient and the pastries coming out of the oven are never ending.
I always go with their savoury items but they do have sweet buns like Apple Cinnamon Roll, Cinnamon Cardamon Braid, and Oscar's Star if you have more of a sweet tooth. I overheard in the line up that the Oscar's Star is good.
Oh look at those buns...
Their items range from $4-6 per bun which isn't cheap. However, one bite and you'll understand why cheap folks like me still go ahead and buy a bajillion of these. The Smoked Salmon Bun consists of a soft yet crispy bread exterior surrounding an indulgent cream cheese/smoked salmon mixture. The combination? Heaven.
The Beef and Cheese is my go to and this bun (though visually small in this picture) will fill you up in an instant. Inside all that freshly baked yeasty bread is a heavy mixture of ground beef and melted cheese.
These pictures really don't do it justice. But I almost didn't take any photos because I was too busy eating. Just trust my word and go visit Piroshky Piroshky. Just make sure to eat it hot, so right after purchasing, or if you're at home, after a good warm up in the oven.
Zakkushi has always been one of my favourite joints for little eats, booze, and meat. They specialize in Japanese meat skewers grilled over charcoal and lots and lots of alcohol concoctions.
Zakkushi is on Denman Street as well as Main Street so there are two locations for you to choose from.
This one is the Main location. Feel free to check out my post on the Denman location here.
The Oden ($7.50) was so good we ordered two of these for three people! It had daikon, konnyaku noodle bunches, mochi beancurd, and other various fish balls.
My alcohol of choice. It's called Calpico Sour w/ Extra Shot ($4.80 +3).
Uzura Maki ($2.10/ea) are quailed eggs wrapped with bacon/pork, and this is a must get item!
Another must get dish! Botan Ebi ($12) is raw jumbo sweet prawn and these were as succulent as it gets. They were incredibly large and so ridiculously fresh.
After you finish the shrimp, ask the waiter if you can have the heads fried. Most kitchens do this and once the heads are fried, you can eat them whole! It's crispy and taste like tempura. :P
Beef Tongue and Chicken Skewer wrapped in Shiso Leaf.
The Zakkushi Set ($9.20) gives you great variety if you get overwhelmed with the different yakitori choices.
The Tsukune Set ($9.20) comes with five chicken meat ball skewers with different toppings. My favourite is the seaweed and mayonnaise, followed by grated daikon/ponzu sauce.
If you know me, you know I like my innards. :D I LOVED the Chicken Gizzard, Chicken Heart (Sea Salt), Chicken Liver (Sea Salt0, and Chicken Thigh. The heart is especially delicious so if you're not squeamish, you should definitely get this.
Out of all the tapas, this was the most unimpressive dish. The tempura connecting all the corn kernels were oily and not crunchy.
I always like getting udon at Japanese Izakayas and this one was no exception. This one has kimchi and mentaiko and was really good.
This Ebimayo ($7.80) was only okay. But you can never really go wrong with ebi mayo.
Overall, Zakkushi is the place to be if you want to have a good time with copious amounts of meat and booze. If you're not careful it does add up though so don't be surprised if your bill at the end of the night comes to $60+ or so.
My girlfriends and I recently went to Seattle for a triple birthday trip (yeah, three of us had birthdays within 5 days of each other) and knowing us, it was going to be allllll about the food.
Lil Sis recommended we stop for Jollibee, a Philipino fast food chain highly popular in Asia because she thought it was the bomb diggity of fast food.
Jollibee was a bout a 15-20 minute drive from Bellevue and is located further below Seattle in Tukwila. It's connected to a mall called Southcenter Mall.
It had a really interesting Asian KFC vibe, most likely because they specialize in fried chicken (called "Chicken Joy" hehe). Even Anthony Bourdain tried Jollibee on his show "Parts Unknown" and loved everything about it. You can watch it here below.
[Jollibee segment starts at 0:40]
If you haven't seen "Parts Unknown by Anthony Bourdain" before, you're missing out. It's incredibly eye opening from a cultural perspective and he always talks about food. :)
Connected next door is a Filipino Bakery in which you can get copious amounts of Pan de Sal, every flavour of Mamon, and Ensaimada.
They sell things like fried chicken, burger steaks, sweet spaghetti, burgers, and mango pies to name a few.
First off, I LOVE how every chicken joy automatically comes with a side of gravy. Can Church's Chicken, KFC, and LA Chicken adopt this? Please?
This is the 2pc Burgersteak w/ Mash Potatoes ($3.99) and it is exactly what it says it is. Two pieces of burger patty and a scoop of mash. Nothing special, but it's really inexpensive.
The 3pcs Chicken Joy with side of Corn, Gravy ($5.99) and Jollibee Spaghetti ($3.99) was absolutely delicious. The fried chicken rivals LA Chicken (thought LA is still better) and is heaven when dipped into the thick artificial but addicting gravy. Sweet spaghetti is a classic Filipino dish and apparently every Filipino mom will try to make their spaghetti as closely as Jolliebees. The sauce is thick, meaty, sweet, and who can resist those little cut up wieners?
All in all, Jollibee reminded me of eating fast food in Asia, with its 90% oriental customer demographic, weird and uncommon food combinations, and delicious never-good-for-you goodness.
It's a place all foodies should try, with no high expectations of course because after all, it is still just a fast food chain.
