Bistro Verde (Nordstrom) - Salads, Salads, Salads!

Since Nordstrom's opening a few weeks ago, their in-house restaurant, Bistro Verde has been packed with one to two hour waits during lunch hours (unless you make a reservation).  It may seem like a long time to wait, but if you have the entire Nordstrom to roam around, it's not actually that bad. :P

Bistro Verde is perched on the third floor of the giant fashion retailer and has a very rustic, wooden yet modern and contemporary design.

Their menu selection includes sandwiches, pastas, tapas, fish, and tons of delicious salad choices. You don't see too many restaurants with a huge selection of entree salads so it was awesome to see some really delicious looking options here. One thing I did notice was that every dish on the menu also came with calorie details. I personally love the knowledge, but I feel like a lot of people might not want to know how many calories are in their chocolate cake. :P

The interior is very spacious and open due to the floor to ceiling windows.

I can't remember what this soup was called but it was the Soup Du Jour (Soup of the Day). It looked like a tomato based minestrone.

The appy that really blew me away was the Ahi Tuna Poke ($14.95/ 280 cal)! It's definitely on the pricier side, but it's well worth it. The tuna was well marinated and exploded with the undeniable umami flavour.

Though I didn't expect much from the Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos ($10.95/ 620 cal) - I mean - when have you ever been BLOWN AWAY by tacos? I still found it really really tasty.

I don't know why but the Sauteed Chicken and Angel Hair Pasta ($19.95/ 960 cal) called my name. It consists of baby spinach, oyster mushrooms, super tender chicken breast, and roasted garlic tomato sauce with rosemary beurre blanc. The pasta was on the soft side but I didn't mind too much. My favourite part was the ridiculously tender chicken breast. Honestly if I could make it that well at home, I'd never have to eat out again.

Now this was a showstopper. Meta Knight ordered this and I couldn't stop eyeing it the entire time. And I mean.. the ENTIRE TIME. This Ginger Crusted Ahi Tuna Salad ($19.95/ 490 cal) with its blistered green beans, red pepper, seasoned wontons, candied ginger, soy glaze. and spicy thai basil vinaigrette is definitely a must get salad here at Bistro Verde.

Continuing on the salad trend, here is the Cilantro Lime Shrimp Salad ($19.25/ 570 cal) with wild shrimp, petite tomatoes, grilled corn, pepitas, jack cheese, tortilla crisps, and cilantro lime vinaigrette.

You can see there is a trend of entree salads here. :P I didn't get to try this Herb Roasted Salmon Nicoise ($19.95/ 800 cal) but I will absolutely get this next time. I had a little taste of the 'smashed potato' and it was friggin delicious.

Last but not least is the Roasted Chicken and Avocado Salad ($16.25/ 1040 cal). It has rustic croutons, petite tomatoes, pickled french beans, radish, and roasted tomato dressing.

All in all, Bistro Verde is a solid choice for lunch and exceeded all my expectations. I went one week in and the place was bustling with hip Vancouverites, cocktails being served at noon, and automated blinds coming down the windows when it detects direct sunlight. This IS the place to feel like a million bucks so if I want to treat myself in the future, I'll buy myself something small at Nordstrom and complete it with some dranks and tapas at Bistro Verde.

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

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!


                        growing up to me means

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Shiang Garden - Grand Dinner Selection

I feel so blessed to be a part of the ChineseBites crew because I get to explore all these different Chinese cuisines with similar foodies like myself. Recently, I got to go to Shiang Garden for a 13 course dinner with Sean, Grace, Sherman, Rick, Diana, and Nancy. The noms are real.

We started off  with a Prawn Salad which consisted of half a juicy ripe papaya topped with huge prawns, melon and Japanese mayo. I absolutely adore prawns that have a good snap when you bite into it, and this was the case. I'd come back just for this appetizer alone.

The venue and restaurant itself is quite grand, with chandeliers at every corner and elaborate chair covers.

 The Sauteed Mixed Seafood came with large plump scallops, shrimp, snow peas, sea cucumber, and a gorgeous decoration of sliced oranges and cucumbers.

 This is called Tremella with Chicken & Crab Meat Soup. For those familiar with crab meat and fish maw soup, it tastes kind of like that. Otherwise, think of it as a very thick broth based soup.

The presentation of this Diced Beef Tenderloin with Honey and Pepper dish blew me away more than anything. Look at that thinly sliced cucumber! I absolutely love the combination of honey and pepper so I thought this dish was really delicious.

Time for seafood! It was nearing the end of spot prawn season so the Steamed Spot Prawns with Garlic were more on the smaller side. The presentation was stunning though and left everyone wanting more than one piece.

This was probably my favourite dish of the night! Definitely a must get item. It's called Lobster with Salted Egg Yolk and it satisfied me in so many ways.

Not only did it glow in a beautiful gold colour, the salted egg yolk coated every piece of lobster perfectly. Not too little, not too much. If I wasn't in the company of others, I would have totally licked that plate clean.

I'm not sure if the presentation was especially exquisite because it was a special blogger dinner, but this Whole Chicken with Abalone Sauce looked ridiculously cool. The soy chicken was quite tender on its own, but became elevated when paired with the slick abalone sauce.

BC Dungeness Crab with White Wine Sauce was simple, fresh, and brought out the natural sweet taste of the crab. I'm normally not one to eat the crab shell cholesterol, but it did look damn enticing.

Another honey and pepper dish, yummm. This one was in the form of Lamb Chops.

I feel like "baos" have been a thing lately. There's Bao Down in Gastown, Bao Bei near Chinatown... everyone just can't get enough of baos! Including me. :) My favourite version is deep fried baos with drizzled with condensed milk. Oh gawd, I'm drooling on my keyboard just thinking about it.

The braised pork belly had the quintessential ratio of 50% fat, 50% meat. Clearly it melted in the mouth and made me feel like I just committed a sin after eating it. :P

As if we did not have enough protein in this meal, we were offered an En-Ping Style Whole Tilpaia. I didn't try much of it so I can't comment on it too much.

The Buddha's Feast Cabbage Roll was a nice break from all the meat and delivered on a lighter note which was super necessary at this point. It contained carrots, wood ear mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms.

When they set the plate down I was SO excited. Both the Durian Pastry and Osmanthus Flower Cake Pudding was super delicious. I'm a big fan of fresh durian so I found the durian flavours to be quite muted in the pastry dish. However, I know it's just right or even too much for novice durian eaters so don't follow my palate if you don't ADORE durian like I do. :P

All in all, the 13 course dinner at Shiang Garden exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend the durian pastry and lobster with salted egg yolk dishes!!

Service Rating: N/A
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $$-$$$

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Eating!

      
everyone's face when I tell them i like durian...

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Hakkasan Bistro Cafe - MUST GET THE SOUP!

You know... sometimes I forget how much of a food crazed nerd I am until I hang around similar, like minded people and we ALL talk about one thing. Food. T'was the story of this Chinese Bites dinner at Hakkasan Bistro Cafe. Myself, along with almost 16 other food bloggers in the Vancouver area had the privilege of trying out this mom and pop restaurant and their specialty items.

Hakkasan is located in the most obscure place imaginable. It's literally at the end of No. 5 Road near River Road where all the industrial companies are. They've been open since 2007 and have just recently gone through a major renovation with dining room area.

When I first walked in, I marveled at their interior design. Such unexpected contemporary furniture from a little mom and pop shop on No. 5 Road!

We started off with the Honey Roasted Pork Cheeks ($20). It was very well executed and tasted kind of like BBQ Char Siu except with pork cheeks instead. The honey flavour was more prominent and the meat definitely had more 'snap' to it than regular pork.

This, ladies and gentlemen, would be the single greatest reason why I would bring my whole family back to try this restaurant. This is called Chef's Signature Whole Coconut Pork and Snow Fungus Soup ($22/coconut). 

Even though this is not cheap by any means, the price is a direct reflection of the quality you'll get in the soup. It's hard to explain the flavour of the broth, but trust me, they were so complex it was like a friggin party in your mouth. You can also scrape and eat all the young coconut meat as well which were filled with chicken-y goodness.

This is another one of Hakkasan's Specialty dishes. The Steamed Specialty Odorless Lobster ($22/ half a lobster) is made with 'odorless' garlic which is less pungent and makes your breath less stinky. Even though this is cool, I actually really like pungent, over-the-top smelling garlic in my food, so I wish it wasn't odorless. It would've been nice to have the option of going with regular garlic! :D

It was served over a huge bed of unflavoured jasmine rice which was good but not flavourful enough to bring the lobster to the next level. 

The Ancient Style Salt Baked Chicken ($55) needs to be reserved in advance and is made with a technique I don't often see in restaurants. 

The chicken is marinated in over ten different herbs and spices, then wrapped and cooked in a traditional clay pot filled with coarse salt.

The salt keeps the chicken moist and juicy, while instilling a type of umami flavour that is impossible to replicate with any other type of cooking style (let's say, just rubbing the chicken with salt prior to cooking).

The chicken was OH MY GOD delicious and oh so tender. I got a breast piece and the white meat was so soft it tasted like dark meat. If I come back for a celebratory dinner, I am so ordering this again.

Another reservation only item, the Braised Pork Hock ($40) was tender and melted like butter in your mouth.

The Mui Choy Stirfry was not bad and filled our veggie quota for the night. I honestly didn't eat much of this because...why waste stomach space on veggies when there's so much meat in front of you!

As one of my favourite dishes of the night, the Steamed Egg with Pork and Duck Yolk ($18) is certainly something I'll order again. It goes great with rice and the addition of duck yolk/ground pork was a nice touch.

I'm personally not a fan of fried fish coated in sauce so I didn't really enjoy the Stir Fried Pickled Cabbage and Fish ($19).

For dessert we had the Steamed Milk Egg White Custard. It looks plain but it was done really really well. It was actually quite similar to the steamed milk custard served at the famous Australian Dairy Company in Hong Kong (post here).

All in all, I thought the food was fantastic and some dishes were truly one of a kind. I am super grateful to have been able to taste test Hakkasan's specialty dishes and I'll certainly bring my family back for more noms!

Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to attend this media event for Hakkasan Bistro. My meal was comped but the opinions are all my own and unbiased.

Service Rating: N/A (we were here for a media event)

Food Rating: 4.5/5

Price: $$-$$$$

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Happy Eating!

                      that chicken coconut soup was like...

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