Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘scallops’

Rodney’s Oyster House – Happy Hour on the Weekend

Posted in Dinner, Fine dining, Hang-Out with Friends, Happy Hour, Joyce, No Reservation, Oysters, Restaurants, Seafood, Vancouver, Yaletown, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2015| 1 Comment »

Even though I work in downtown Vancouver, I don’t usually get to enjoy Happy Hour. Generally runs 3-6pm, by the time I get off work, and I don’t leave work right at 5pm on the dot, it would be near the tail-end of Happy Hour or worse, I would miss it completely. Luckily for me, Rodney’s Oyster House offers its Happy Hour menu on Saturday, and my girlfriends and I checked it out as part of a birthday celebration.

Food

With the 4 of us, we went through most of its Low Tide (aka Happy Hour) menu. First, we ordered a dozen of Raw Oysters to start. They were $1.50 each Fanny Bay oysters. The sizes were pretty consistent, maybe with a couple that were slightly smaller. The taste was light and crisp, not creamy. We ordered another half-dozen afterwards.

Raw Oysters

The Raw Oysters came with a number of sauces, from mild to super hot, and it was quite fun to test our spice tolerance. Turns out I didn’t do so bad; I think I got to the 4th jar!

Sauces for Oysters

Next, there was an abundance of Steamed Clams! (more…)

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Stake at Hard Rock Casino Vancouver – Fine Dining in Tri-Cities

Posted in Coquitlam, Dinner, Eat Local, Fine dining, Joyce, Meat, Restaurants, Steak, West Coast, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

In Vancouver, there is no shortage of fine dining options to celebrate your special occasions. The suburb, is a different story. Last year, Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam revamped its restaurants and introduced Stake, a fine dining establishment focused on sourcing local products. I was there when it launched its menu in the Fall (here’s the proof – check out 0:45 and the hand model at 1:17 – I could be a YouTube sensation one day!) and was quite impressed. So to celebrate CC’s birthday, a few of us girls went there for dinner.

Food

The menu isn’t very big, but there are a few good options. We shared a few appetizers to start. The Signature Smoked Crispy Pork Belly was our favourite appy. The meat was tender, the fatty bits were rendered nicely. Perhaps the edges were a bit too charred but it didn’t have any burned taste.

Stake’s Signature Smoked Crispy Pork Belly

Even though the Albacore Tuna Tataki was a standard affair, I had to commend on the nice sear they’ve had on the fish. I liked the thick cut on the fish, so it gave you a bit of a bite. They could probably up the acidity in the sauce to help cut through the rich tuna.

Albacore Tuna Tataki

The Pan Seared Scallops were nicely caramelized on the outside, and just slightly rare inside. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Guu Garlic – The one that started it all for me

Posted in Dinner, Japanese, Joyce, Meat, Oysters, Pizza, Restaurants, Seafood, Tapas, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

With different Japanese izakayas popping up around town, it’s been forever since I last visited a Guu location. I remember the Thurlow location was my very first izakaya that I’ve visited in Vancouver and it was such a unique experience: the screaming servers, the exchange of Japanese throughout the room and the long list of small plates that we could order. It was so much fun I took a visiting guest to Guu Garlic after. Now, years later, I’m back.

Food

Guu Garlic’s name came from the extra use of garlic at this particular location, and it still holds true to this day. With my girlfriends, we ordered a number of dishes. First, the Salmon Sashimi didn’t look super fatty at first, but it’s actually quite good. It tasted fresh and did have a bit of the fatty texture.

Salmon Sashimi

And so we had an encore of sashimi. The Assorted Sashimi included salmon, scallops and tuna tataki. Not very many pieces so I’m not sure if it’s the best value, but the scallops were sweet and the tuna tataki was skillfully thinly seared on the outside.

Assorted Sashimi

Funny enough, we also ordered the Tuna Tataki (when a bunch of hungry women blindly ordering food off a menu, there could be a lot of similar items lol). The difference here was that they made it more like a salad by including some greens, ponzu sauce and a generous serving of crispy garlic chips (remember I talked about the use of garlic? Proof #1). I prefer this iteration of tuna tataki, using the slightly acidic ponzu sauce, over the sashimi version with just soy sauce.

Tuna Tataki

The last raw dish was the Yellow Tail Carpaccio. The flavour of yellow tail (hamachi) is quite delicate, so the sauce was a bit too over-powering in my opinion. The garlic chips (Proof #2) and sliced onion were actually a bit sweet (though also a bit spicy) so they did work with this plate.

Yellow Tail Carpaccio

Ebi Mayo is my must-have at all izakayas. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Cooking with Chef Bernie at Louis Gervais Fine Foods

Posted in By Invitations, Cooking Class, Dinner, Group Dinner, Mr., North Vancouver, Seafood, tagged , , , , on May 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Since I began writing for VanFoodies, I’ve attended a few cooking classes, dealing with different types of food in different environments.

I’m sorry to say this to all the ones I’ve taken before, this cooking class with Chef Bernie DesLauriers at Louis Gervais Fine Foods has been the best one so far. And here’s why.

Relaxed lesson

Lesson Plan & Wine

I don’t think this is too much to ask for. I want to be relaxed but still energetic when I sit down for a meal. After a day of work and a 2-hour cooking class, it’s usually not the case. However, because some of the prep work had been completely by the staff, and the demonstration and the cooking sections were evenly spread out through the night, I didn’t feel all that tired by the time I sat down to eat.

Snacks before cooking

Imagine yourself cooking at 7pm. It’s been hours after lunch, you are hungry, and you know you won’t be eating for another hour. That’s not something you want to put yourself through, especially if you are paying for it. They had just what I needed to keep my hunger at bay: a few choices of bread, some cheese and preserved meats. Nothing to ruin your appetite over.

Easy-going chef

Filleting Salmon

I can’t stress how important this is. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Les Faux Bourgeois

Posted in Dinner, French, Joyce, Mr., Neighbourhood Gem, Vancouver, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 7, 2011| 3 Comments »

So I’ve heard about this bustling French bistro in East Vancouver for awhile now, and it seems to be on everyone’s list of favourite French restaurants. Les Faux Bourgeois — A Fake Middle Class. What an interesting choice of name. After taking a look at the seemingly reasonable menu (all entrees are under $20), we decided to plan a double date and check this place out.

I was warned that you have to book weeks in advance. With only a few days notice, we only managed a 5:30pm booking; it certainly is a popular place. But hey, it’s still an opening. We’ll take it!

Les Faux Bourgeois

Les Faux Bourgeois

Food

Les Faux Bourgeois’ regular menu is fairly small, along with 4 featured items written on its blackboard. To start, each of the two couples decided to share a Soupe a L’oignon Gratinee. I remember having onion soups with greasy broth and fatty cheese, and I just felt kind of sick afterwards and it wasn’t a very pleasant feeling. Not here. The onion soup arrived piping hot, with gooey cheese all over. The broth was really light and flavourful, not rich and heavy as my past experience suggested. Our friends were comparing it to the one at Burgoo (currently still on my to-visit list) and they seem to prefer Burgoo’s.

Soupe a L'oignon Gratinee

Soupe a L'oignon Gratinee

For entrees, two of us ordered the featured items, two from the regular menu. First, on the fresh sheet was the Seared Scallops. We were surprised to see four jumbo size scallops. They were done perfectly: crispy on the outside and sweet and soft inside. The dish came with a bed of wild rice, and we all tried a bit of it. All I can say is, it’s too healthy for us youngsters. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts

%d bloggers like this: