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Choon Ha Choo Dong

May 282013

We’ve always driven by this place and wondered if it was any good, so finally we decided to stop and give it a try. I’m always confused about restaurants on the 2nd floor. I pay more attention to stores on the bottom than above.

Walking up the stairs, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The carpet leading up the stairs was a bit dingy looking, but once we opened up the door to the restaurant I was pleasantly surprised. Indeed it did look like a korean restaurant!

You can choose to order a-la-carte or all you can eat. We decided to go with the all you can eat since we like to have a variety of things during a meal.

You will have to cook the meats yourself, which is something I really enjoy. Just a warning, the grills heat up really quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on your bbq! It also gets a bit smokey, so it’s best to not wear clothes that you don’t want infused with the bbq smell.

There’s quite a variety of items for you to choose from. A lot of the items are by piece instead of by plate, so if you order 1 tofu(as per above), you really do get 1 tofu! There’s a mixture of korean/japanese items on the menu, I found it to be a nice balance between the 2. It easily had my favourite items from each cuisine.

One thing to note, the agedashi tofu seems to be fried upon order, these were the favourite of the table. We just couldn’t get enough of it! The yakisoba was pretty tasty, they seem to make it upon order as well.

Overall, we enjoyed our dining experience here. Service is friendly and prompt, and the food was pretty good for an all you can place. We’ve already visited several times since our first visit. Definitely a good find.

Post by Colleen

EAT! Vancouver 2013

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May 252013

EAT! Vancouver Food + Cooking Festival is currently taking place at BC Place- May 24, 25 and 26th. I know this post is coming a bit late, but there’s still tomorrow to head down to the festival and check it out.

EAT! Vancouver – Food + Cooking Festival

Tickets for adults are $16 if you buy it at the door, but only $14 if you purchase it online, $14 for seniors and $9 for youth.

This was our first time at the EAT! Vancouver Festival, so we went into it with an open mind and stomache.

Marv, his sister and I arrived right when it opened because we weren’t sure if there was going to be a long line to get in, and I had really wanted to make it there in time to see Anna Olson on the Food Network Celebrity Stage. We made a beeline straight to the seating area for Anna Olson and anxiously awaited the demonstration to begin. She’s quite entertaining to watch in person, I loved it!

There were lots of tables and chairs around for you to sit and eat your goodies. Many of the booths offered samples, but you can also purchase a bigger portion with tickets. You’ll have to purchase these tickets at the show. There are a couple of booths in the festival, so you don’t have to always head back to the front to purchase more.

As we wandered around sampling at different booths, we decided to use some of the Tasting tickets. I can’t resist Beavertails, so we lined up for this one. I was surprised to see only 1 person working at this booth. The line moved slowly, but the lady worked her hardest to keep up. I was impressed that she kept her smile on her face and cheerful attitude amongst the stress of the line.

The butter chicken at Siddartha’s was my favourite! It was extremely flavourful and I wished there was more. I’m definitely going to make a visit to Siddarthas in the near future.

Walking around the festival made us really thirsty. There were a few booths in the centre of the festival which offered samples of their beverages. I really enjoyed Mash a lot, and wanted to buy it by the case! Unfortunately I didn’t think I would be able to carry it all the way back to the car, so I’ll have to look for it elsewhere. There’s also a section of the festival designated for alcoholic beverages. Yes, you do need to be of legal age in order to enter this section.

One of the longest lines that I saw was for Dunn’s. Luckily we went to this place near the beginning so we managed to beat the huge lineup.

Indomie was a nice surprise. The food was good, and the portion was huge. The noodles was on the spicier side, but it was definitely tasty.

While people were waiting in the lineup for Dunn’s, there was a person dressed up in a pickle costume. It made it pretty fun, and there were kids playing around it. I also had to laugh when the pickle was down on the ground,(no he didn’t fall, but did it voluntarily). Small things amuse me…

Out of the things we sampled, there were a few things that I enjoyed that I knew I wanted to bring home. Granola girl was 1 of them and Mash was also a hit with me!

I don’t usually like hummous, but the red pepper hummous was delicious! I just wanted more and more.

Yes, that’s right! More Mash drinks! I think I’m seriously addicted to it now, thankfully there’s another day of the event and I can go back to stock up!

Overall we all really enjoyed ourselves at the event. As the day went on, the festival started getting really busy. Maneuvering to get around from booth to booth and staying together started to get a bit difficult. I’d definitely recommend everyone to check out the event! It’s a fun way to check out and sample new products as well as all the events/classes going on during the show. Hope y’all are able to head down for the event!

Cheers!

Post by Colleen

Smoke’s Poutinerie

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May 082013

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love anything potato related. When I heard about Smoke’s Poutinerie, I knew I had to head down to give it a try. French fries? I’m totally there!

The place was neatly decorated, I liked the whole chalkboard idea, but I’m not sure about the whole getting my hands dirty before eating. Once you walk into the place, you have to make your way up to the counter to place your order and wait till they call you back up to pick up your food.

There were a ton of choices to choose from on the board above the counter. It took us a while to figure out which ones we wanted to try. I started off with my Orange Pop. Drinking this brings back childhood memories, I used to only drink orange pop as a child and nothing else.

To the left is Marvs choice, the Triple Pork Poutine. This had sausage, pulled pork and bacon. Marv said this was way too meaty for him, but he thought it was really well done and would come back for another visit for a regular poutine. I went with the Nacho Grande on the right. This had sour cream, salsa, chili, guacamole and peppers. I absolutely loved this! Everything blended well together and the french fries remained crispy. We both went with the regular size and it was more than enough for the both of us.

Overall, we both enjoyed our visit to Smokie’s Poutinerie. They concentrate on the poutine and they do it well. Portion sizes are pretty big even for a big eater like Marv. We’ll definitely stop by again for our next poutine fix.

Post by Colleen

Twisted Fork Bistro

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May 012013

I look forward to the weekends because that’s the only time I have during the week to go out for brunch. Finally we found the time to make it downtown for brunch at Twisted Fork Bistro. I have to admit, I almost walked right past it! (Ok, maybe I did walk past it.. won’t be making that mistake again)

Twisted Fork Bistro
1147 Granville Street, Vancouver BC
Tel#: (604) 568-0749

Famoso

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Apr 262013

Thanks to Meryls sister for recommending Famoso to us when we were in Edmonton, we enjoyed our time there. Once I heard Famoso opened up a location in Vancouver, I had to plan a visit right away.

The layout of the restaurant is pretty much the same. Seat yourself and place your order at the counter when you’re ready. there’s a pad of paper and a pencil for you to write down your order to bring up to the counter. This is pretty helpful and reduces your chances of errors(unless you have illegible writing…then this might be a problem). From this point on, a server will be taking care of your table. Your pizza gets delivered to your table, so don’t worry about waiting at the counter for it. To the right is my order, the Spicy Thai. It had peanut sauce, fire roasted chicken, mozzarella and smoked mozza topped with bean sprouts, cilantro, crushed peanuts and carrots! This was the clear winner of the table. I loved the peanut sauce used in this pizza, everything blended well together. I could’ve easily eaten the whole thing!

Above left is the Siciliana which was Laura’s choice. This had italian sausage, ham and prosciutto. If you’re in it for the meat, definitely order this one! Above right is Marvs choice, the Abruzzo. This had italian sausage, red onions, roasted mushrooms, fennel seeds and smoked mozarella. I didn’t really enjoy this one, but that’s partially because I don’t like red onions on anything besides a burger.

Overall, our visits here have been consistently good. In the front of the restaurant, you can also buy ice cream! We ended up taking a pint of the double chocolate home, and boy was it chocolate-y! Parking in the area is a bit tough and is mainly metered. Despite all this, I’d come back again for their Spicy Thai pizza anyday!

Post by Colleen

Thien Trang

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Apr 102013

Driving along Nanaimo and I noticed Mui Ngo Gai was gone! In its place is now Thien Trang. I guess now we’ll have to venture over to their Kingsway location if we feel like frequenting that restaurant again. We decided to give this new place a try since we were hungry anyways. Yes yes, I know, when are we not hungry!

Since the decor was left the same, I was hoping foodwise it would be just as good. The place was empty when we arrived, keep in mind we were there in between lunch/dinner.

Marv decided to go with a dry noodle dish this time. Although it appears to be quite large, Marv finished this dish with ease, and wanted to order something more.

My dad decided to get a rice dish. It had a mixture of meats and plenty of rice to go with it. He said the meats were cooked well and was pretty tasty. He’d definitely order this dish again if he were to revisit.

And I went with a simple Sliced Beef Noodle Soup. This is what I enjoy ordering at every vietnamese place that we go to. The simplicity of beef slices with noodles in a good tasting broth is what makes me happy the most. Marv ‘n I also decided to split a Banh Mi sandwich. The bun was crunchy, but there was a serious lack of filling to it.

Overall, the food here is pretty standard and it’s not a place that I’d go looking for. There are a few other vietnamese places nearby to choose from if the craving comes up again.

Post by Colleen

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