There are so many options in Greater Vancouver for craft beer lovers to find amazing food and beer pairings. You are probably familiar with gastropubs and bars such as Alibi Room, St. Augustine’s and O’Hare’s. If you are looking for a date night idea, or to try something different while still being able to enjoy a pint or two, I’ve put together a list of 8 restaurants ranging from Lebanese to pan-Asian cuisine, to Italian favourites and hidden gem fine-dining.
(more…)Archive for the ‘Pan Asian’ Category
Torafuku – Eyes Eat First!
Posted in Chinatown, Contemporary, Dinner, Japanese, Joyce, No Reservation, Pan Asian, Restaurants, Seafood, Vancouver, Wings, tagged Aburi sushi, calamari, Chicken Wings, Chinatown, Clement Chan, Kickass Rice, Le Tigre, Ocotopus, Torafuku, Tuna on August 13, 2015| 4 Comments »
An impromptu dinner on a Friday evening took us to Torafuku, the new brick and mortar location brought to you by the Le Tigre food truck team. Frankly, and feeling guilty to admit to it, I never ate at Le Tigre. With the rave reviews about Le Tigre, I was quite excited to try Torafuku.
Food
The Rye So Messy Chicken Wings was an award winning dish. The gochujang marinate really came through as you can taste this garlicky, spicy flavour. The skin was crispy, meat was juicy, and I like the ramen crumble to add even more texture to it. These were really good wings, but 5 wings for $12 maybe a bit too expensive.
Dr. Octopus vs. Mr. Tuna seriously sounds like a superhero movie title!
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The Wild Fig at Executive Plaza Hotel Coquitlam
Posted in Asian, Coquitlam, Dessert, Dinner, Hotel Dining, Joyce, Meat, Pan Asian, Restaurants, Steak, West Coast, tagged Bread Pudding, Certified Angus Beef, charcuterie, Executive Plaza Hotel Coquitlam, lamb shank, prawns, The Wild Fig, Yakitori on January 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps with the exception of downtown Vancouver and some Richmond hotels, hotel dining doesn’t usually have a good reputation. That doesn’t stop me from being curious and wanting to try. So when the Executive Hotel in Coquitlam got a new restaurant, the Wild Fig, and was offering a coupon deal, CC and I gave it a try.
Food
Our coupon covered 1 appetizer, 2 entrees and 1 dessert. They actually have many appetizer options and some interesting ones so we couldn’t really decide on just one. With extra charge we ordered two appies instead. The Charcuterie Plate had a good combination of cured meat, including cold smoked chuck flat, pork loin, salami and sausage, with Little Qualicum cheese. Overall we were quite happy with this; the cured meat had good texture (some drier, some more moist) and a mix of flavours (smokiness and spices), but some could be borderline salty for my liking. My favourite was the cured pork loin. What also caught our attention on this plate was the Brie & Fig Chutney Pastry Rolls; you could order this as a separate item but it came with the charcuterie plate so bonus for us. It was freshly baked – warm (almost too hot to hold at the beginning), crispy on the outside and soft inside. I liked the sweet fig filling (I’m a sucker for anything fig too) but they could put more filling in the pastry.
The Coconut Breaded Prawns had prominent Asian and tropical flavours. The prawns had a nice bite, a crunchy meat texture, although the breading was a bit too dark for my liking. It didn’t taste burnt, though. The menu said “horseradish marmalade” but I didn’t taste the pungent horseradish flavour; the sauce just reminded me of a house-made Thai chili sauce, more on the sweet and spicy note, which I thought worked well with the prawns and tasted quite good. Perhaps they just didn’t add enough horseradish in the marmalade.
As for entree, I had the Zinfandel Lamb Shank. Huge portion! (more…)
Prestons [Dine Out Vancouver 2013]
Posted in Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, Group Dinner, Joyce, Pan Asian, Restaurants, Vancouver, tagged Beef Short Ribs, Coast Coal Harbour, Dine Out Vancouver 2013, Gyoza, Prestons, Tempura Banana on February 4, 2013| 1 Comment »
With the number of foodies at the office, we went out one evening for Dine Out. After much consideration, we decided on Prestons because of its location (pretty close to the office) and its approachable menu (something for everyone). I remember a couple years ago when we blogged about a tasting event there, I said I would return for its regular service because that media event wasn’t their best. Well, here I am.
Dine Out at Prestons
Food
For appetizer I ordered the Prawn Gyoza. If you have been following my posts, you would know I’m not a huge fan of Pan Asian food, so obviously I had reservations about this dish. The verdict? It was Lisa’s favourite at the media event 2 years ago, and it didn’t disappoint me this time around. No, these aren’t the traditional, authentic gyozas, but they were very tasty. (more…)
Dine Out Vancouver Returns & Past Dine Out Reviews
Posted in Chocolate, Culinary Events, Dessert, Dine Out Vancouver, Dinner, French, Great Views, Italian, Joyce, Latin American, News, North Vancouver, Pan Asian, Seafood, Soup, Vancouver, West Coast, West Vancouver, Yaletown, tagged Bacchus Restaurant and Lounge, Baru Latino, Beachside Forno, CinCin, Cork & Fin, Dine Out Vancouver 2012, Diva at the Met, Il Giardino, Joe Fortes, La Terrazza, Mosaic Bar & Grille, Old Spaghetti Factory on January 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Dine Out Vancouver 2012 is set for Jan 20-Feb 5, 2012 and is now open for reservations. In its 10th year, 230 restaurants are participating in this event, offering prix fixe menus at $18, $28 or $38.
While I understand this event is meant to be a filler to help restaurants through its down time (January is usually the slowest month due to post-Christmas blues), I have always hoped and expected restaurants to treat this as an opportunity to showcase and market themselves and bring their A-game. Not usually the case. In fact, I’ve heard many stories where restaurants completely flopped during Dine Out, but redeemed themselves afterwards on a separate visit. I don’t quite get why restaurants would want to ruin customers’ first impression on them if Dine Out were their first point of contact. Perhaps thinking people are being cheap to go the Dine Out route?
Grilled Alberta AAA Beef Striploin from La Terrazza
Anyway, I thought I’d round up some past Dine Out experience that we have had in recent years (2009-2011), good and bad. Maybe this will help your research as you try to determine which ones to try. Here’s the list in alphabetically order, but I also included its menu price: (more…)
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