Palki Indian Restaurant- Fantastic Potato Stuffed Naan and Prawn Goan Curry

Last night, I went with a few friends to Palki Indian restaurant located on Commerical drive and I was very surprised by the quality of their food. Before I went, I did some research on Urbanspoon and I was surprised to see that not many people know about this place.

some photos courtesy of Yoshi

Palki Restaurant was started by Bhupinder Mroke twelve years ago and he first opened a location in North Vancouver. They recently opened their second location on Commercial drive.

The exterior isn’t the best looking and I bet you can easily walk past it on the street without a second glance. However, once you go inside, it’s a whole different story.

When I walked in, I was very impressed by the interior. It was elegant, pretty, and had a romantic feel to it with their candles and flowers on the table.

Italian Kitchen- Pasta Platter Lets You Try a Bit of Everything

Italian Kitchen is part of the Glowbal Group (as well as Coast, Society, etc) and is one of my preferred restaurants in the downtown area whenever I’m craving pasta. My friends and I ventured to Italian Kitchen for Trixie’s birthday a while back and it has taken me a while to decide whether to write this post because of the hideous quality pictures provided by the dim lighting in the restaurant. I really REALLY dislike dim lighting in restaurants because 1) I want to be able to see the menu clearly, 2) I want to be able to see my food clearly, and 3) it’s hard for me to take good quality pictures. So, needless to say, Italian Kitchen was a major disaster for me in the photography department. I apologize for the ugly pictures in advance!

Again, I used a Glowbal Group “free tapas” coupon so we were each given a complimentary Spicy Kobe Meatball. It was served on a bed of marinara sauce and topped with freshly shaved Parmigiano- Reggiano.

The meatballs were very soft and delicious as always. There was only a small hint of spiciness which I appreciated as it did not overpower the flavour and texture of the meat.  To me, the softness of the meat stole the show.

Wo Fung (Aberdeen Food Court)- Always Amazing Deep Fried Chicken Wings

Trixie and I have a thing with the Aberdeen food court. We don’t particularly love their food court, but we always somehow end up eating there... ALL the time.

A week or so ago, Trixie and I went again to Aber (my short form for it) to have a quick snack. Their Christmas tree was so beautiful I just had to share it! Very unique and modern, no?

We chose Wo Fung Dessert because I wanted their awesome chicken wings and Trixie wanted their noodles in soup.

Tomoya Japanese Restaurant- I Highly Recommend The "Black Sun"!

On a random cold night, Meta Knight and I spontaneously decided to go to Tomoya Japanese Restaurant, a place we’ve passed by every time we go to Cattle Café but never tried. 

Tomoya is located in Burnaby and is across from Metrotown.

The inside of the restaurant is brightly lit and seats twenty or so people comfortably. We went during prime dinner time but there were barely any customers. :/

I have heard many good things about their “Black Sun” and their Specialty rolls. The prices are steeper than Oyama (post here) but it’s reasonable. They used to have a daily special where one special roll is half off for the day, but when I asked, the waitress said that they stopped the promotion and is now only offered for take-out orders only.

Random Thought- Recipe to Riches: Luscious Lemon Pudding Cakes

I watch a lot of shows on the Food Network and one that caught my eye was "Recipe to Riches". It's a reality show where regular peeps like us send in their recipe in hopes to have their creation transformed into a President's Choice product and win the ultimate prize of $250,000. 

Glo McNeill from Nova Scotia won the grand prize for her "Luscious Lemon Pudding Cake" recipe and her cakes are now being sold in every Superstore location! I was lucky enough to find them as I heard these flew out of the shelves like hot cakes right after she won! It is sold for $6.99 and each package contains four pudding cakes. I find it a tad expensive given the quantity, but I wanted to see what was so delicious about these cakes for them to win 250 grand.

They look like this before heading into the oven. The cake is only slightly larger than my palm.

Secret Garden Tea Company- Lovely Scones and Sandwiches, Not So Great Desserts

Secret Garden Tea Company is located in Kerrisdale and is probably one of the most popular high tea places in Vancouver. People always look at me weird when I say I have never been here, so on one particular occasion, I came here with a bunch of foodie friends for some high tea.

The atmosphere is very quaint and country like. It feels quite cozy, but at the same time, the wooden chairs weren’t the most comfortable to sit on. I suggest thicker cushions, haha, but now I’m just being picky. :P

Most of us chose the Demi High Tea ($12.95) because we all had lunch and were not very hungry. The Demi High Tea comes with two miniature sweets, two miniature sandwiches, a miniature scone, raspberry jam, Devon cream, and one of their Secret Garden Teas. Rae and I both ordered the Creamy Earl Grey so we were given a bigger pot of tea in a cute teapot cozy.

Pinkberry (Metrotown)- It's Cute, It's Tasty, It's a Bit Pricey

Pinkberry just opened up a new location at the Metrotown food court and I went (on two occasions) to try out how their frozen yogurt compares to the other franchises like Qoola and Yogen Fruz.

Their store and colour scheme looked so cute! Quite girly too in my opinion :P Clearly females are their target market.

The line starts at the end of the row and you first choose your flavour of frozen yogurt, then your toppings, and then you pay at the end.

Sushi Hachi- Saba Battera is Amazing!

A few weeks ago, I met up with Janice (GoodEat) and Steph (KrispyBites) for dinner at Sushi Hachi. Sushi Hachi is known for their sashimi and authentic Japanese eats. The whole restaurant is operated by a couple. The husband (I assume) is the chef and the wife does everything else (serving, taking orders, refilling tea). They are only open three hours a day (6-9pm) from Tuesday to Saturday. Crazy right?!

The chef seemed like he knew the customers really well because he was chatting with the couple in front of him throughout their dinner in Japanese.

The menu is simple. They have sushi by piece and sushi rolls on one side, and...

Sashimi, pressed sushi, rice bowls, dessert, and some cooked items on the other side.

First came the Saba Battera ($14.50) and Chopped Scallop Roll ($3.50). The saba battera was quite expensive for six pieces, but well worth the splurge on occasion. It was absolutely delicious! I normally dislike raw Saba because I find it fishy, but there was none of that here. I particularly loved the basil (or mint?) that was pressed into the middle of the sushi rice. It was subtle, but it made all the difference. The chopped scallop roll was ok but nothing special. There weren’t many scallops in the roll as you can see from the piece at the end.

The Pit Burger Bar- Cheap Waffle Fries!!

Have you ever had a sudden craving for something that is totally not crave-worthy or special at all but you still want it anyway? Well, I had exactly that a week or two ago, and it was for...waffle fries. I know, totally weird and random. Since The Pit Burger Bar at UBC is the only place I know that serves waffle fries, I made myself an excuse and studied with Trixie at UBC just so I could get my hands on those delicious greasy carbohydrates.

I got an order of Waffle Fries ($2.95, includes tax!) and Curry Mayo ($0.60) as dip. The curry mayo wasn’t necessary since the fries had seasoning on them already but Trixie recommended it, so what the hey, we still got it. :P

Thierry Patisserie- Pastries and Macarons Are Worth A Try

I have always been intrigued by Parisian Macarons and I feel like I still haven't found a place in Vancouver that makes them well. So on the day that Yoshi, Rae, and I went on our food cart binge, we decided to finish off our gluttonous day with some macarons at Thierry!

 photo courtesy of Rae

Thierry is a little cafe located on Alberni next to Italian Kitchen and across from Coast. The signage doesn't really stand out so we almost walked past it!

The inside is bright, modern, and quite cozy. There aren't many tables though so I feel like it wouldn't be a good place to study for long periods of time or something.

Their selection of cakes are sooo breath taking! If it tastes as good as it looks (anybody know?), then I am definitely coming here from now on to buy birthday cakes.

Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace (Re-visit)- My Favourite One Stop Shop For Japanese Goodies

Since my last post on Izumi-Ya Japanese Marketplace (link here), I've revisited this place a billion more times whenever I'm short on time or want a quick lunch or dinner. So... here is my re-visit post! 

I always find their assortment of sushi and bento boxes very affordable and I like how everything is made fresh daily. Their Negitoro Temaki ($3.95) is pretty much a Negitoro maki roll before it's cut. 

The minced tuna and chopped spring onion mixture (negitoro) always tastes fresh and you are also given seaweed to wrap the roll with right before consuming.

At Izumi-Ya, I realize they sell Cream Caramel cups from a Japanese dessert bakery called Cake-Ya. They come in a variety of flavours ranging from Original to Black Sesame.

Osa Tako Hero- Pretty Good Takoyaki

Osa Tako Hero is a new food cart that opened not too long ago and they specialize in only one thing. Takoyaki. The food cart is quite cute and has a bunch of signs with cartoon animation on it.

Their Takoyaki is made of: Secret Magic Batter, Tako (Octopus), Green Tea, Green Cabbage, Carrot, Onion, and Aonori.

I found it unique that the concept for their food cart is like a Super Mario Game (or something like that), however, it can get a bit confusing. It actually took us a while to find out how the ordering process worked.

Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck (Revisit)- Can Never Get Enough

After our disappointing experience at Re-Up BBQ Food Cart, Yoshi, Rae, and I headed over to Mom's Grilled Cheese Truck to get something better. This time around, I KNOW the food will be good because I've visited Mom's Grilled Cheese truck before (post here) and it was extraordinary.

  photos courtesy of Yoshi

 I heard their Roasted Tomato Soup is the bomb but I was too full at that point to get anything. Next time!!!