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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Sushi Hachi: Imitation crab stick

Sushi Hachi is located right beside Orange Corner in Kerrisdale, where there are many sushi restaurants. We were actually going to go to Orange Corner, but changed our minds last minute for sushi. It wasn't very busy when we went around dinner time and we were quickly seated and served tea. As you can probably tell, I usually go for the assorted sushi combos or some obento box. Today, the Assorted Sushi Combo A sounded like what I wanted - 6 California rolls, 1 of salmon, tuna, ebi, and crab imitation sushi. Does anyone see anything unusual in the picture below?

Assorted sushi combo A $9.50

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Orange Corner: BBT, crepes, Taiwanese snacks and light meals

Orange Corner has definitely changed since my last visit, which was quite a while ago. This place is a cozy, two-level Taiwanese bubble tea and crepe restaurant with two locations now! Kerrisdale was first, then another one opened in Metrotown. I've only been to the one at Kerrisdale and I remember when they first started, they had comfy couches and cute cushions for people to hang around. I believe they got rid of that stuff now (correct me if I'm wrong), but I'm not 100% sure because I sat on the second floor this time.

I got one of the taiwanese meals - eggplant. I love eggplant with rice. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Eggplants from restaurants always taste different then the ones cooked at home (because I think they fry it?). Like usual, the Taiwanese meals came with some sides dishes. This restaurant had broccoli and corn with pan-fried eggs. 

Eggplant with rice meal set

I've definitely had better eggplant than this one. Unfortunately, I do not think I'd order this again here because it wasn't what I had expected. There were too little eggplant and way too much sauce.

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Asa Sushi & BBT Cafe: Kerrisdale

When I found out that my friend was back in Vancouver, we spontaneously set up a meet up for Japanese food. We settled with Asa Sushi, located in the Kerrisdale community. 

Asa Sushi (I shouldn't walk and take pictures)

Dinner Box A 

My friend got Dinner Box A (assorted nigiri sushi, tempura, chicken teriyaki with rice) which came with miso soup, salad, and ebi sunomono.

Roll Combo C ($11.95)

I'm not much of a fan of miso soup nor ebi sunomono, so I settled with Combo C (Alaska roll, dynamite roll, and California roll). As I was eating this, I realized that it was quite "boring" because technically, I had 2 sets of California roll, as the Alaska roll is basically California roll with a piece of salmon on the top. I would suggest they mix up their menu a bit so there's more variety in their combos.

Asa Sushi Bar

Asa Sushi

Asa Sushi is a fairly small place, but since we went on a weekday, the service wasn't slow at all. I think this place is one of the better places for good sushi but nothing too outstanding.

__________________________________

We had a satisfied tummy, but having not seen each other for quite a while, we wanted to continue with our chats and updates. There are a lot of bubble tea places in Kerrisdale and we chose to get a drink from BBT Cafe.

Almond milk tea

They have a range of drinks - slush, fresh juice, milk tea, brewed tea, and even coffee. I went with a hot almond milk tea even though I rarely get hot drinks from a bubble tea place, except that day was especially cold. I was still in food coma from the sushi so I decided to skip the pearls. My friend got a hot milk tea with pearls so it came with a spoon for the pearls. Like most bubble tea places being cash only, this one was no exception. 

Chats over hot drinks :)

BBT Cafe

We reminisced over our last visit at BBT Cafe a long time ago with a whole group of friends and yummy food that they offer. So, we decided that the next time we meet up, we'd have to get the group to BBT Cafe for dinner for some Taiwanese food.

     

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Pho Tan's Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

Basil leaves, bean sprouts, serrano chili, lime

On a chilly day, all I want is something nice and warm in my tummy - fast. My friend and I settled for a bowl of pho in Kerrisdale. I fell in love with pho the first time I tried it. I find that the pho noodles are very unique, love the soup base, and love the beef as well. At Pho Tan's, all of their beef noodle soups (pho) come in a small or large for a reasonable price of $6 and $7, respectively. I ordered the phõ tái sách, which is sliced rare beef and beef tripes with rice noodle soup. (Don't worry, they have a nice and simple description of each one underneath their name).

They also serve each table with bean sprouts, basil leaves, serrano chili, and lime. I've never eaten bean sprouts raw, so when my bowl of noodles came, I put a bunch of bean sprouts deep into the bowl to "cook" it. As you can see as well, the beef is rare and I don't like it to be completely rare, so I'd usually push it down into the hot soup first. While they take your order at your table, I believe customers are expected to go up to them to pay.
This place is a very casual place for relatively cheaper priced, but just as delicious, pho.

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Ajisai Sushi Bar

Ajisai, known for its fresh and authentic sushi, is located in Kerrisdale and may be better known as 'the sushi place behind London Drugs.

Special assorted sushi: red tuna, salmon, hamachi, 
toro, unagi, amaebi, unichopped 
scallop, tekka maki ~$20

My friends and I arrived at the restaurant half an hour before its closing time and we were afraid that we won't be able to finish the food we were planning to order. To our surprise, the people there were all very friendly and welcoming. In fact, the waitress kept on refilling our green tea even though they were closed. (I love green tea!) While they were wrapping up and cleaning the restaurant, they let us stay to eat, chat, and continue drinking green tea. Great service!

If you come here, you must get some sashimi as its all very fresh. Just look at the colour of the salmon - very appetizing.They have a bunch of combos, but unfortunately none of them were 100% for me as I don't eat certain fish or raw things. I still ended up getting combo A even though I don't eat raw tuna and I'm not a fan of the BC roll as I don't like fish skin. The sashimi salad had slices of fresh sashimi, corn flakes, shrimp, and all kinds of different greens and alfafa sprouts (yum!). As you can see, the special assorted sushi comes with a variety of sushi and is a great one if you eat all kinds of raw fishes.

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The Mac Shack

Lobster Mac and Cheese ($15) take out

Raincouver, Raincouver. There's always someone complaining about the rain and so we have portrayed an image that Vancouver is constantly raining. Come on, we do get some sunny days! Nevertheless, I quite like the rain sometimes - it's refreshing! The best food on a rainy day is definitely hot food though. I tried The Mac Shack, located on West Boulevard across from Point Grey Secondary. The Mac Shack opened late last year and is already looking in to opening another location! Their menu features a variety of mac and cheese and offers 3 different sizes (regular 6"skillet, ultimate 7.5" skillet, jumbo 10" skillet). Don't see a combo you like? No problem, you can build your own (by choosing the sauce, pasta, cheese, etc.)

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