Sushi Aria: First restaurant meal of 2016!

Happy New Year! Wishing you all a year filled with happiness, good health, and good food!

My first restaurant meal this year was at Sushi Aria, which opened a few months ago. This location was a travel agency, then a modern dessert place, and finally a sushi place now. Situated between Copa Cafe and Corner 23, and across from Landmark Hot Pot, I think it's perfect to have a sushi restaurant in this area. We came here on a Saturday evening without reservations, and we were seated quickly!

Sushi Aria

Menu

Agedashi tofu $4.75

The agedashi tofu was lightly fried and gave off a nice crispy outer layer even when dipped into the sauce.

Salmon teriyaki with rice $8.95

The salmon teriyaki was nicely cooked and still maintained a smooth texture. This plate had lots of bean sprouts (yay for veggies!), however, I think it had too much pepper. The pepper made this dish a little overly spicy.

Chopped scallop roll $3.95

The chopped scallop roll was satisfying as it was filled with lots of scallop! I also liked how there isn't too much rice on the roll.

Alaska combo $8.95

The Alaska combo came with 2 salmon nigiri, 1 tuna nigiri, 1 ebi nigiri, and a full order of Alaska roll. Alaska roll is usually my go-to sushi roll because I love California roll and I love salmon sashimi. So, Alaska roll is just the perfect combination for me. However, where's the imitation crab meat in this Alaska roll?! Even though it was filled with chunks of avocado, which made this roll creamy, it just didn't taste right without the imitation crab meat. As you can see, there's something on top of the Alaska rolls (and no, I'm not referring to the salmon), but the mushy, creamy-like orangey which I have yet to figure out what it is. My friend says it's crushed tempura.

Nabeyaki udon $6.95

I thought the Nabeyaki udon was one of the best nabeyaki udons I've had. The udon noodles were done just the way I liked them - a little bit chewy and the soup was rich. However, it was lacking a bit in terms of toppings as it basically only had chicken, mushrooms, and little veggies. I must comment on the way they thinly sliced the carrots because it complemented the noodles well. However, nabeyaki udon is not complete without fish cakes!

One thing I really liked about this restaurant is that it is very spacious! Most of their tables are booth seats and hence, a very private space. Finally, I must mention that the waitresses were constantly filling our cups with tea. We stayed there for quite some time and I was really surprised that I had never for once needed to ask them for to refill our tea. Thank you for keeping us hydrated and warm with the green tea! 

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Sushi California (Broadway): Great rolls, but not great for long conversations

Every time I pass by Sushi California, whether it's 12pm, 4pm or 7pm, it's always packed. Hence, I just had to see what it was all about as I knew the previous restaurant at this same location had very little business since that area has many restaurants already. 

I went right when they opened and so we were seated quickly. Upon skimming through their menu, I already noticed why it may be so popular - their prices are very reasonable. I decided to get the Crunch House Roll and the Box Sushi. 

Crunch House Roll consisted of crab meat, avocado, tuna, salmon, wrapped and deep fried $4.50

Box Sushi had smoked salmon, shrimp, scallop, avocado and sliced lemon $4.95

Crunch House Roll and Box Sushi

The Crunch House roll was definitely phenomenal. Everything tastes better when deep friend. Outside was nice and crunch, while inside was filled with soft yummy crab meat.

The Box Sushi may look nice with the slice of lemon, but I didn't want to eat the peel so I had to take that off one by one. There was also very barely noticeable scallop. This is the first ever box sushi I've had and while I do agree that the presentation looks very nice, the chunk of rice is proportionally too much, as shown below.

Crunch House Roll and Box Sushi

Yes, there's a small bit of avocado in the middle of the rice (it's not wasabi).

Box Sushi

Crunch house roll  

Add caption

The Assorted Sashimi platter was beautifully presented.

Assorted Sashimi $14.95

Takoyaki is great for sharing as an appetizer, but I felt like these takoyaki here are small.

Takoyaki $3.95

By the time when we were done and on our way out, the restaurant was already full and had people waiting for seats! 

For such unique and creative rolls at super reasonable prices, I'd definitely come back here. Not to mention that it's super convenient and transit-friendly! However, I do not recommend this place if you're looking for a long chat with a friend or date, because they'll have people waiting for your seats. Nevertheless, you could go across the street to Marulilu Cafe or across Cambie street to Moii Cafe to carry on the conversation!

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Cafe de l'Orangerie: Japanese-style Spaghetti (Great First Date Location)

A hidden gem as it is located on West 73rd Ave in the residential areas, so I had not even heard of this French x Japanese cafe when my friend suggested it. French x Japanese reminds me of Moii Cafe, but that one specializes in crepes while this one features Japanese-style spaghetti, which is spaghetti with a much lighter sauce as compared to Italian sauces.

Creamy Tomato Spaghetti may look a bit plain as you can't even really tell if there's sauce or not, but trust me, it tasted very creamy (though not overwhelming). If you're a fan of creamy spaghetti like me, you'll enjoy this dish!

Creamy Tomato Spaghetti $9.80

Ponzu is water-based citrus sauce, kind of like vinegar. I know that ponzu is often used in Japanese cuisine, so I wanted to try it with the pork on rice. The pork was tender and I really liked it. The sauce was very appetizing and I loved the citrusy tinge that it brought to every bite.

Onion ponzu pork: pork sauté on rice with onion ponzu sauce $9.95

A popular item on their menu is the masago de creamy spaghetti. Even though this one is a creamy pasta with the same spaghetti, it wasn't as creamy as their Creamy Tomato Spaghetti. It had bits of seafood and masago mixed within the noodles, which created a unique texture to it.

Masago de creamy Spaghetti $9.80

A common Japanese dish, but one that you won't get bored of as I would call it a classic - chicken teriyaki on rice. It came with some fries and greens.

Chicken teriyaki on rice $8.50

When I saw chocolate fondant on the menu, I really wanted it because of 3 main reasons: 1. I love cutting open a dessert and having chocolate flowing out, 2. it was really cold in the restaurant and I wanted something warm, and 3. I wanted to see if it'd actually take 15 minutes (as the menu stated). 

All their desserts are made in the house, so I guess I can understand why it'd take 15 minutes to make this one. However, I was hoping it'd just come in a plate instead of a cup so that I could see the chocolate flowing out. It was nicely baked, but not the best I've had. 

Chocolate Fondant $4.95

I love matcha and I just had to try the matcha green tea pudding parfait (what a mouthful!). It came with a big scoop of ice-cream, sweetened red beans, and also my favourite mochi. So, basically it consisted of many things that I liked.

Matcha green tea parfait pudding $6.95

Even though this picture doesn't look very appetizing, but it shows the green tea pudding, which was very tasty as there were two different layers! I thought all the elements (ice-cream, pudding, mochi, and red beans) all went very well together. I would definitely choose this dessert over the chocolate fondant.

As it isn't in a busy location, this place wasn't busy when we were there. We got to stay as long as we wanted and it's a really nice cafe to meet up with friends to chat. However, we couldn't stand the temperature in the cafe - it was really cold! I don't know why, but they really should have cranked up some heat. I think the room temperature is just as important to guests because we couldn't enjoy the food or ourselves fully as the coldness was constantly in our minds. Also, I can't think of why they're a French x Japanese cafe other than the French name. Nevertheless, I'd definitely like to  come back to have some more Japanese-style spaghetti. 

P.S. I think this is a great first date location! Nice, cute, quiet, and affordable yummy food! Did I mention the tempting dessert too? :)

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Modern City Chinese Restaurant 新上海酒家: water, please!

Near the corner of 41st and West Boulevard, this is a popular location. Though the restaurant has changed numerous times until finally it's a Shanghai restaurant now. Of course, the star of a Shanghai restaurant has got to be the xiao long bao (小笼包) - dumplings with soup inside. I'm always afraid of burning my tongue because the soup inside stays hot for quite a while!

xiao long bao 小笼包 ($5.50 for 6)

I really enjoyed the xiao long baos at this restaurant as the skin was thin and the soup was warm.

烧卖

Siu mai (烧卖) are one of my favourite Chinese dim sums. The presentation of this dish, in my opinion, was horrible. Why did they put it in such a big bamboo basket? The dumplings are already small, but that just makes them look smaller, unappetizing, and not worth my money.

Rice cakes with meat and vegetables in soy sauce 上海炒年糕 ($9.98)

Those who know me knows I love chewy rice cakes. I love Shanghai style fried rice cakes so I just had to order this dish. I loved how the vegetables were entangled with the rice cakes and the pork was perfect. However, one thing really wrong - way too salty. I really wonder if they've forgotten and put salt in it twice! Water, please! 

Braised gluten with mushrooms $5.95

When I first saw "braised gluten" on the menu, I did not know what exactly gluten looks like as I thought it was just some kind of protein found in wheat. Well, that's what gluten looks like. As a food itself, it is better known as wheat gluten and you can get it by washing dough with water until all the starch is gone. Apparently, this is often used as a meat substitute due to its texture. It was somewhat chewy and juicy as it has absorbed the sauce. This dish is a popular in Shanghai restaurants and is served as a cold appetizer. 

steamed dumplings

I haven't gotten around to updating this post so it was a while since I've taken these pictures. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name and what exactly this last dish was. Some sort of steamed dumplings, and from the picture, I'm guessing one was shrimp and the other veggie. 

Modern City Chinese Restaurant is a pencil menu, in which you just check off your orders from a piece of paper. Overall, they did not fail in the star of a Shanghai restaurant - the xiao long bao (pork dumplings with soup) were great. Other than that, their other dishes that we ordered weren't exactly impressive.

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Zakkushi Charcoal Grill (on Main): For those who are Adventurous or Drinkers

Zakkushi is one of my favourite non-sushi Japanese restaurants. They are known as tapas - snacks, appetizers, finger foods usually to accompany drinks. At Zakkushi, they are known to use a special type of Japanese charcoal grill, Binchotan. This flameless type of grilling has a high component of carbon (~95%) so the food is able to retain its own flavour without impurities.

They currently have 2 locations in Vancouver: Denman street and Main street. We visited the one on Main street and it may be easily missed as it's kinda in the dark corner of a square. Even though we were only a party of 2, we had to wait over 30 minutes to be seated, so we actually went to have dessert at Sweet Revenge first.

I think the seats at this location is quite cute and cozy. Perfect for couples, not so much for groups. Here we have the zakkushi set for $9.20. I recommend getting this one for the first-time visitors as it's like sample taster as it includes 5 different skewers: mono, umeshiso yaki, me maki, p-toro, and oropon beef. My favourite is the p-toro (pork belly) as it tasted unique, tender, and fatty!

Zakkushi set - momo, umeshiso yaki, me maki, p-toro, oropon beef $9.20

As you probably already know, I love chewy things and I fall for anything mochi, hence, I had to get the mochi maki.

mochi maki (sticky rice wrapped with pork) $2

I love trying new things and this was definitely different and you probably won't find it at a typical restaurant. Mochi (sticky rice) wrapped with pork?! Tasty!

Now on to one of my Zakkushi favourites: yakitori don $7.50. I loved this Japanese-style soft boil egg with teriyaki chicken sprinkled with seaweed. Break the egg and mix it up! Another one of my favourite dons (rice bowls) with the soft boiled egg and eel is from Deer Garden Restaurant.

Yakitori don - teriyaki chicken, half boiled egg, mayo, green onion, seaweed on rice $7.50

To finish off, I got the salmon onigiri (rice ball). What's so special about onigiris? I'm not sure, but I wanted to try one. I didn't find anything special, it was just like eating rice mixed with bits of salmon but in the same of a triangle.

Salmon onigiri

This restaurant is quite for those who are adventurous as the menu has a variety of unique items that one can order a bit of this and that to try. It's also great for those who like a drink or two with some light snacks. 

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Soho Tea Room: Salmon Wellington & Fire on Ice

A few years ago, I'd always go to Richmond for bubble tea and Chinese food, but it seems like there are more and more bubble tea cafes here in Vancouver now. Soho Tea Room opened not too long, and they're owned by the same owners as Flo Tea Room (which ironically closed their former Vancouver location on Granville).

Upon entering the restaurant, the environment and atmosphere seemed more modern than typical bubble tea cafes.

Salmon Wellington

Salmon wellington with prawns & spinach cream in puff pastry $19: I don't know about you, but when I first hear the word, wellington, I think of Gordon Ramsay. Then when I take a bit of this, I could hear Gordon Ramsay say "what a shame". Where's the layer of spinach and prawns? It looks completely different than their picture in the menu which had a thick reddish piece of salmon and then a layer of spinach and prawns. Some parts of the pastry was soggy and the salmon was a bit dried. I didn't expect much though, as this is like a western dish and most of the time western dishes aren't perfected in an Asian restaurant.

Thankfully, the set came with soup of the day and a choice of fries, salad, or spaghetti.

fries

Pan fried thick noodles with pork cheek

Braised pork cheek with black bean sauce pan fried thick noodles $9: I knew I wanted this the second I finished reading its name. Pork cheeks are my favourite parts because it's not fatty and is chewy, yet tender. Thick noodles are also my favourite type of noodles. This dish was not disappointing at all and exactly what I expected. I thought they would give a very small amount of pork cheeks, but I was wrong. I also thought the portion was large, so it's great for sharing.

Fire on Ice

The look of this drink corresponds with its name - fire on ice. On the menu, it says "approx. 30 minutes" and when we asked the waitress, she said this drink takes 30 minutes to serve if they're busy. Really? I don't know why a drink would take that long to make. I think it took just about 10 minutes this time even though the restaurant was neither full nor empty. I don't know why they would write that beside the drink, which will probably in turn make customers unwanting to order it. This slushy consisted of lychee, peach, mango and strawberry - fruity, sweet, with a twist of tanginess. 

There are actually other quite a handful of other bubble tea cafes close by such as Corner 23, Copa Cafe, and Gloucester Cafe. I think their wide variety of drinks (and the names for them) and their extensive menu are things that make Soho Tea Room stand out. 

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Ken's Chinese Restaurant 南軒中西美食: Chinese-Style Afternoon Tea

Sometimes, I just want to go to a Hong Kong style cafe because they're fast, affordable, yummy, and satisfying. Well, not as fast as the ones in Hong Kong....except there might be a line up for seats in Hong Kong since there's always so many people, everywhere, all the time.

Here, afternoons are usually pretty quiet for restaurants. That's why Ken's Chinese Restaurant has a special offer of 10% off starting at 2:30pm to 5pm. I ordered from their Special Set menu which comes with soup of the day and a drink. I got one of my favourites of all time... 

Baked seafood rice

Yes, that's right - baked seafood rice! Just looked at how nicely it's baked. Now let's dissect it a bit.

baked seafood rice

What's in it? Big shrimps (or are those prawns? I can't tell),  slices of fish and squid, scallops, mushrooms - all covered in melted cheese and creamy sauce. Wow, I think I just made it sound better than it tasted. But you can never go wrong with the baked seafood rice, it's like the complete package for a seafood fan.  

As a lover of thick noodles, I also chose the Shanghai Stir fried noodles. Now this was mostly noodles - it could have definitely use more meat/cabbage. 

Shanghai stir-fried noodles 上海粗炒面

Getting a set meal makes me feel complete. For soup of the day, I got to choose vegetable or creamy soup and I chose the creamy soup. Now it does not look very good and it wasn't. It was kind of watered-down. Optimistically, at least it didn't fill me up before the main dishes came.

Soup of the day - creamy soup

As for drinks, you can choose from the typical list of drinks at a Hong Kong style cafe in cold/hot:  

- Hong Kong style milk tea 港式奶茶

- Hong Kong style coffee

- Hong Kong style half coffee half tea 鴛鴦

- Hong Kong style lemon tea

- Lemon and honey 

- Almond 杏仁霜

- Ovaltine 阿華田

- Horlicks 好立克

... and the list goes on....

Hong Kong style milk tea 

Almond drink 杏仁霜

 I believed the entire bill came to less than $20. I've also heard of their late night dinner with all you can eat congee. In Cantonese, that's probably called "siu yeh" Hahaha. They're opened until 1am - perfect for those night owls! I'd loved to come by here on a late night for "siu yeh" :)

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U & I Thai: Modern & Fine Dining

Looking for a place that's modern place with good service, yet reasonably priced? U&I Thai is a perfect place for an affordable meal with a unique ambience. It seems like a western fine dining restaurant, but it is actually a Thai restaurant. Located on Cambie Street, it used to be the location of another Thai restaurant (Sala Thai, I believe).

Upon entering the restaurant, I noticed the western modern style fused with Thai decorations. Simple, modern, yet nicely designed...giving off a "fine dining" vibe. There was only one other table and so we did not have to wait for seats. It was a pretty quiet day for them, so I wondered about their food.

I ordered from the lunch menu special, where most items were $10, and came with soup of the day.

Thai soup

I'm not sure what exactly was the soup, I think hot and sour soup, but perhaps tung yam kung? I have no idea but it was probably made from frozen veggies and lots of spices. Because it was a little sour, it was appetizing! But in my opinion, the spices were too strong and the soup was too oily for my liking. Still better than the "gym locker" tung yam kung I had at Tropika!

Pad Thai $10

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