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.
My family and I found an advertisement in the local paper about this Man Ri Sung Restaurant in Aberdeen. It was originally on Westminster and in a much smaller location. I guess business was good so now they moved to a bigger and better spot.
They specialize in peking duck and Korean food. It's kind of a weird mix but I have an inkling it's because the chef is Chinese and he married a Korean wife.
They have some set menus for 4 (which we got) and 8 people which are great because the planning is already done for you. Both set menus include peking duck and a variety of different dishes.
For $75.95 (the 4 people set menu), we got a whole duck slicked up and ready for peking duck wrapping goodness, duck hot pot (with homemade knife cut noodles), and a choice of Japchae, blood sausage, or potstickers. We went with the Japchae.
Some banchans (Korean side dishes) for good measure. They had bean sprouts, kimchi, pickled radishes, and sweet potatoes.
My whole family was impressed by the quality of the BBQ duck. The skin was extremely crispy and the meat was juicy. Furthermore, the famous Chef (his pic is on the menu) personally came to take our order and ask us how it was throughout the meal. I saw him do that with a couple of other tables too. It's nice to see a Chef or store owner take the time to know his customers and ask for feedback. That is what truly separates entrepreneurs who put their heart and soul into their business and the 'investors' or business owners that just do it for pure profit.
For peking duck virgins, this is how you make your wrap. You take a piece of 'crepe' or chinese pancake, put hoisin sauce on it, add the green onion and julienne cucumber, and top it with duck skin/meat.
Wrap it up and you're good to go!
The japchae was flavourful and had enough veggies and mushrooms to fill me up before the hot pot arrived.
The set menu allowed us to choose between the 'Duck Hotpot' or 'Duck Congee'. After having this hotpot, I would absolutely recommend getting this over the congee. This hot pot is DA BOMB.
Not only did the hot pot have lots of leftover duck meat in it, it had tons of veggies and knife cut noodles (kalguksu)!! These homemade knife cut noodles were unlike anything I've ever tasted, and was cooked to a perfect consistency. Every single noodle was unique and different because thats how its made.
Here is a video of how knife cut noodles are made... the chef literally takes a block of dough and shaves off noodles one by one into a pot of boiling water.
I am definitely coming back again because the food was just so darn good.
Service Rating: 5/5
Food Rating: 4.5/5
Price: $$-$$$
Red Lobster has always been on my 'To-Eat' list only because I've never tried it before and their commercials always make their seafood look amazing.
People told me to have no expectations going in because it's not as great as it seems. And that their cheesy appetizer biscuits are the best thing on the menu.
Since I was on a work trip in Calgary and had a daily allowance for food, of course I took advantage of that opportunity and went to Red Lobster! *Yes, those are teenage girls taking selfies in front of the restaurant... *
To be honest, their menu looked amazing. I wanted to get everything on the menu so it took me forever to decide on a dish.
For drinks, I ended up getting a Virgin Peach Mango Slush of some sort. It was alright.
Minecraft Boy was starving his butt of so he got some Mozzarella Sticks and Chicken Tenders to start. They were very average and quite frankly looked like the frozen stuff you'd make at home.
I don't know what these cheesy biscuits are called, but they are complementary appetizers and my friends were right! They were absolutely amazing. It was cheesy, buttery, and everything that's bad for your body but good for the soul.
If I'm not mistaken, Minecraft Boy got the Cheese Crusted Tilapia which came with a heavy dose of breadcrumbs, cream sauce, broccoli, and pasta.
I went for the Bar Harbour Lobster Bake ($29.99) which had Petite Maritime lobster tails, split, and roasted with shrimp, sea scallops, and mussels. Served over linguini in a garlic and white wine broth.
There were ample amounts of seafood and I was pleasantly surprised by their rather large sea scallops. It would've been even better if the scallops were slightly seared. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed this dish and had TONS of leftover to pack home.
All in all, Red Lobster didn't quite wow me with its dining atmosphere or 'fresh' seafood selection. I would have to side with all my friends and say its a once in a lifetime try, and once is more than enough. :) Especially when we live in Vancouver and can have much fresher seafood than this.
Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$$$-$$$$$
Tapenade Bistro is located in the heart of Steveston and is a cute little French resto amongst the abundance of frozen yogurt and fish and chip establishments.
I personally have never been prior to this visit but I know a lot of friends who love coming here for brunch. It's a classy yet homey restaurant.
I came here with a bunch of my girlfriends and we took up the back of the restaurant. I noticed that the majority of people who brunched here were families, older couples, or groups of girls.
Their brunch menu!
Their Smoked Sablefish Bennedict ($15) sounded awesome. It had smoked black cod, pickled fennel, filone baguette, and a nice bearnaise sauce. Comes with potatos and a tiny salad on the side.
I didn't try the Beef Tartare ($15) but I it looked really delicious. It's made with Cache Creek Natural Beef, coffee scented celeriac, egg jam, and smoked allumettes.
The hearty Beef Bourguignon ($25) would be a good idea for bigger eaters because it consists of braised beef cheeks, smoked bone marrow pomme puree, glazed root vegetables.
I of course had to get their Short Rib Pastrami Hash ($15). Anything with short rib just calls my name. It had house smoked pastrami with triple cooked potato, onion soubise, roast squash, and chestnut. The eggs were perfectly poached too and the yolk became my sauce. Yummmm...
All in all, Tapenade Bistro is a nice place to go with your family or friends for brunch. It's not cheap by any means but you are next to the water and can take a really nice stroll in Steveston after your meal. :)
Having known about this restaurant called Cafe de L'Orangerie for a few years now, I don't know why I never bothered to visit. It's such a hidden gem (actually! Geographically wise) and such a delight for people who like the Japanese Western fusion cuisine.
If you live in Richmond, Cafe de L'Orrangerie is very much like Moncton Cafe in Steveston.
At this mom and pop shop, you can find Japanese style pastas, 'hamburg' which are thick Japanese hamburger patties, curries, etc.
They do poutine a little differently here.. They serve it up Orangerie-Style (Small - $6.25) and is more of a beef tomato stew instead of gravy. Nevertheless, the stew was amazing and the fries were double fried. Perfectly crisp. It honestly could NOT have been better.
For those that like light and refreshing pastas, this Wafu-Style Spaghetti ($9.80) would be perfect. It has bonito flakes, seaweed, mushroom, bacon, garlic, and cabbage.
I went with the popular Masago de Creamy Spaghetti ($9.80) which had squid, mushroom, asparagus, roe, and cream in it. Even though it took some extra effort to finish, it was delightful. The roe made this dish 'Japanese' and provided a flavour profile that you just cannot get with any other Western ingredient.
I was actually a little shocked when I first saw the Matcha Green Tea Pudding Parfait ($6.95) because I was expecting something tall and layered. Instead, it is served in a bowl along with red bean, dango (glutinous rice balls) and vanilla ice-cream.
Here's the matcha pudding underneath!
In my opinion, Cafe de L'Orangerie is definitely worth checking out if you're into Japanese fusion cuisine. I personally loved this little resto and will gladly return whenever I want something hearty. My only qualm with them is that the service was really slow when I went. It took a while for each dish to come out and it took us at least 10 minutes to wave down a waitress for our check.
