720 Sweets - Eating Ice Cream in Style

If you are at all active on Instagram or follow any food blogger accounts (like mine!), you must have come across at least one photo of 720 Sweets.

720 Sweets is a new little ice-cream shop that's one half hipster and one half nerd. It combines the science of dry ice and uses it to enhance the typical ice-cream experience.

They support a local baker by selling his or her homemade marshmallows. They not only sell them in packages for people to bring home, they also use these homemade marshmallows in their ice-cream creations.

Their menu is quite simple. They have 5 different varieties. 

• The Classic - crushed graham crackers, condensed milk, and a freshly baked butter cookie
• Honey720 - Rich honey drizzle and golden honeycomb
• S'Mores Please - chocolate corn flakes, dark chocolate drizzle, crunchy almond stick and a toasted marshmallow
• The Milky Way - crushed walnuts, light caramel drizzle, espresso grass jelly, and a crunchy almond cookie
• Cloud Nine - almond stick, cotton candy popcorn, and a fluffy cotton candy

Queen B and I decided to share The Milk Way ($5.95). Besides the super cool effect of the dry ice flowing from the cup, there is nothing crazy outstanding about the ice-cream. The milk tea flavour was definitely on point and I would say it's one of the better soft serves I've had. However, it wasn't enticing enough for me to make the drive to Kits again just to get it. We both did notice that the dry ice kept the ice-cream cold throughout so YAY for not having any melty parts!

Service Rating: 3.5/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!

                              dry ice made us go

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Maenam (Dine Out Vancouver) - So. Impressed.

Throughout the years I've always passed by Maenam and heard great things about their Thai food. However, for whatever reason, I never made the conscious effort to really give it a try.

This year during Dine Out Vancouver, I finally got to try it and I'm SOOO glad I did.

Their menu is $28 and is truly a tasting menu for people who love variety. It's a little complicated because for every pair, you choose one starter, one salad, one curry, and one stir fry to share. For dessert, each person gets their own. This process made it difficult for our table of 7 to order so the hostess recommended that we just trust the chef to give us a variety of dishes fit for 7 people. We were apprehensive about our decision at first, but it was actually the best decision EVER.

 Green Papaya Salad had a bit of a spicy kick but overall quite refreshing.

This one was probably the least favourite dish of the bunch. The Hot and Sour soup of Halibut and Thai Basil was too sour for our palate but the abundance of mushrooms and fish made up for it.

OH OH OH. I can drink a gallon of this stuff. If you go to Maenam, make sure you get the Creamy Hot and Sour Soup of Chicken Thighs. The creamy, slightly spicy broth is incredibly flavourful and boosts the right amount of coconut, chicken, and mushroom.

The Lemongrass and Thai Basil Mussels were also a hit with the crowd. Plump, fresh, juicy. Yum.

I forgot the name of the drink but it's essentially a Passionfruit Ginger Beer concoction. The left one is alcoholic and the right is non-alcoholic. I really enjoyed the non-alcoholic version way more and definitely recommend it.

Thai Iced Tea with Rum was also surprisingly good. Who can already see a great night with a couple of these eh? ;)

3 Flavour Pork Ribs is a vague name so I don't know exactly what it is. But I think these pork ribs are flash fried, coated in an indulgent sticky coating, and tossed with thai basil, fresh baby corn (I've only ever had the canned ones so this was a treat!), parsley, and deep fried onion.

A few of my friends thought this Aromatic Curry of Braised Duck Leg was the best dish of the night. I don't like it when curries are just 'sauce'. I like it hearty, meaty, and bountiful. This curry was exactly that so it was a big thumbs up for me.

The Southern Style Tumeric Curry of Seafood had black cod, clams, and mussels. Highly recommended.

I also loved the Grilled Tuna Salad with Green Mango. This was so refreshing to eat in between bites of curry and the mint/tuna combo was just fab.

Unlimited rice!

Oh that Caramelized Pork Belly doe. Think of the most indulgent thing you can think of, and times it by two. This will beat that in one bite. It took the sweet and savoury combo to a whole nother level.

This is essentially a Deconstructed Passion Fruit Tart. With some torched meringue on the side, fresh raspberries, passionfruit sorbet, and tart shell crumbles on the bottom, this was an amazing finish to the dinner. Nothing was too sour, too sweet, or too cold. Everything was where it needed to be.

Rice Doughnut with Pandan Custard was freshly fried and delightfully light despite it being a fried item.

Maenam completely surprised and impressed us from beginning to end. From the aromatic curries to the well balanced broths, everything was spot on and I can't wait to come back again. What we thought would be an underwhelming DOV experience ended up being one of the best DOV experiences we've ever had!

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 4.5/5
Price: $$$

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Happy Eating!


    my reaction when I accidentally eat a hot pepper X.X

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Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen & Sushi Bar - My Miku Alternative

I know, I know... almost every Vancouverite has been to Kishimoto at least once except for me. Misu recently recommended this restaurant saying it is one of her favourite sushi joints so it was the perfect time to go!

Kishimoto is known for their flame torched sushi made famous by another popular Vancouver restaurant called Miku. It's an incredibly decadent piece of box pressed sushi with charcoal infused mayo on top as flavouring. 

Instead of paying $15 at Miku, you can get the same roll at Kishimoto for $11.75!

Mochi Agedashi ($9.75) is essentially glutinous rice balls tossed in the fryer with tempura batter. The texture was super interesting, crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, but that didn't totally justify the price. 

I've never heard of Fiddlehead Tempura ($9.95) before so I convinced our table to give it a try. Fiddleheads are young ferns and is often cooked as a vegetable side. This tempura was paired with matcha sea salt which gave it a nice earthy salt kick. Other than that, there wasn't much taste and was also quite expensive for ten bucks. What you see in this photo is all we got.

From left top and clockwise: Hamachili Roll ($8.95), Salmon Oshisushi ($11.75), Seafood Roll ($6.95), and Ebi Oshisushi ($11.75)

The Salmon Oshisushi was absolutely mouthwatering and tasted pretty much exactly like the one at Miku. The buttery smokey mayo is out of this world when combined with spicy jalapeno and raw salmon. This is a must try item at Kishimoto!

I enjoyed the Hamachili Roll as well but it definitely does not compare to the flame torched variety.

The Sashimi Salad ($10.95) comes in a big bowl so it's a nice item to share. There are pieces of octopus, chopped scallop, tuna, and salmon.

 The Chicken Karaage ($6.75) was nicely fried and came in five medium sized pieces. It was pretty good but nothing outstanding.

Overall, Kishimoto is an excellent alternative to the fine dining restaurants like Miku or Minami. You can get the same type of aburi sushi for a cheaper price and a more homey ambiance. Just be prepared to wait because they don't take resos and the restaurant is VERY small!

Service Rating: 3/5
Food Rating: 3.5/5
Price: $$$

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!

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Joe's Grill - All American Breakfast

Joe's Grill is a classic breakfast joint on West 4th and I've read many a post on their toasts, eggs, bacon..etc. I didn't understand what makes them stand out from all the rest so I decided to go with my coworkers Bing and Robot to find out.

To our surprise, there was a GIGANTIC line up in front of the restaurant. They told us it would be about 20 minutes or so but it turned out to be 45 minutes. Needless to say, we were hangry (hungry + angry) by the time we sat down.

They have their usual egg items, pancakes, bennys, and wraps.

Bing ordered one of the Omelettes ($9.35) and it consisted of three eggs, panfried potatoes, and toast. He thought it was pretty good.

Robot got the Mimosa and The Basic ($6.85) which had two eggs, bacon, panfried potatoes, and toast. She said it was pretty good and satisfied her bacon craving.

I felt like a big ol' steak for breakfast that day so I went all out and got the New York Steak ($13.95). It looks pretty good in the picture but the 6oz grade 'A' steak was actually very thin and slightly tough. I absolutely did not think it was worth the $16 (including tax and tips) because I can easily find something similar at a HK Style Cafe for $8.

After this visit, I still don't understand why Joe's Grill has endless line ups. Their breakfasts tasted okay with above average prices.

Service Rating: 2.5/5
Food Rating: 2/5
Price: $$

Overall Rating: 2/5

Happy Eating!

 

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Rajio Japanese Public House- Sea Urchin & Ikura Carbonara Udon

Food bloggers just somehow find each other even when we don't mean to. Maybe its a food community thing. We just gravitate towards each other. Nevertheless, I met up with Foodobyte, Domo Is Craving, and LimmerZ who is not a food blogger but should be one anyways since he always takes pictures of food.

We went to Rajio from some izakaya eats. It is located in the beautiful Kits.

They have a radio theme going on and they specialize in kushi katsu which are skewered and deep fried items.

I heard about their signature gigantic steak but since none of us were in beast mode that day, we didn't order it. If you do order it on your visit, take a picture for me! I want to see what it looks like!

'Hum' anyone? :D

Complimentary Cabbage at the beginning of our meal. It had a light miso or sesame dressing which paired well with the mild tasting cabbage.

I ordered the Green Apple Mojito ($6.50) and LimmerZ ordered the Pineapple Mojito ($6.50). Both were incredibly refreshing and a nice accompaniment to our meal.

The Tuna Salt Tataki ($5.80) was great in that the piece of fish was perfectly cooked on the outside while maintaining a nice raw texture on the inside, but disappointing in that the soy gelatin sauce was poorly incorporated into the dish. It was hard for us to get any of the sauce so most of it got left on the dish.

As for the Minced Pork Poutine, there is nothing to write home about but it satisfied our bellies.

I was pretty disappointed with the Aburi Saba Sushi ($9.80) because I felt like it fell short of what could have been a great sushi dish. The rice was not compact enough which made picking it up with chopsticks difficult. As well, the Saba really lacked the robust, slightly 'burnt' flavour that is normally apparent on the palate when eating aburi 'torched' sushi.

The Fresh Sashimi Bowl ($9.80) featured a wide selection of fresh sashimi of the day and ours had ikura, amaebi, salmon, and tuna.

The rice to sashimi ratio was a bit off so we ended up having a lot of leftover rice.

The signature item to get at any Izakaya is the Ebi Mayo ($6.80) and they did a pretty good job here. It definitely was not the best I've had as the batter was lacking in crunch, but it served its purpose of keeping us full.

Even though I was trying really hard to watch what I eat, I couldn't resist recommending unanimously ordering this dish for the table. Its called Sea Urchin & Ikura Carbonara Udon ($13.80). Doesn't the name make you salivate already?!

It was rich, creamy, and had hints of the ocean with every pop of ikura (fish roe). I thoroughly enjoyed this dish and probably had way more of it than I'd like to admit. If you like the taste of uni or ikura, you will most likely enjoy this dish as well.

Overall, Rajio is a decent spot to grab some beers and chill out with friends over appies if you are in the area. However, because nothing particularly wowed me, I probably wouldn't purposely make the drive to Kits to visit this spot again.

Service Rating: 4/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$$

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!


courtesy of http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/

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