Day 4 - Vancouver Part 2

Starting the night out . . .

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

4075 Main Street

Vancouver, BC V5V 3P5

(604) 874-9455

Credit Card Accepted

Located in a somewhat un-touristy area, you might miss this place all together even when your GPS says you've arrived. They don't have any large signs stating the name of the restaurant, just nice black curtains that prints their name. This yakitori restaurant is one of three. The one we saw first was on Denman street on the West End, it had a line forming and it seemed to never end. We arrived at our location relatively early which was a blessing because a line was forming here too soon after we arrived.

Unlike other yakitori restaurants this place is well ventilated so that the smell of grilled meat, though it is a delicious smell, doesn't cling to your clothes for hours on end.

At nearly $2CAD per stick, it gets pricey if you're going there to fill-up. I would recommend those with a hearty appetite to come to this place as a night time snack or appetizer, unless you have an endless credit the feel free to eat your heart out, 'cause it's allll gooooood~

We ate our way down the menu and back up, or tried to at least.

G-Beef & P-toro: I loved the P-toro ♥

Japanese Calamari w/Plum Mayonnaise

Gyu-Tan

Mochi Maki & Salt Momo & Sauce Momo

Mentai kimchi Yakiudon: Kimchi was on the side

Triple Salmon Roll

P-toro & Me Maki: told you I ♥ P-toro

Wafu Salmon Tartar: Oh my so YUMMY!

Cod Roe & Salmon Flake Ochazuke

Like I mentioned earlier, this place can be a little spendy if you're trying to get full. For what you see up top it came to about $80CAD before tip. Be prepared with self control if you're on a budget!

Stroll in the park to work up another appetite...

Prospect Point

We had over prices soft serve Ice Cream: No joke, average size cone and it was $4CAD each!

My opinion, save the four bucks and go buy something else!

Rounding out the night. . .

Beefy Beef Noodle House

4063 Main Street

Vancouver, BC V5V 3P5

(604) 568-6821

Cash Only: We paid Canadian so I'm not sure if they accpet USD

Inexpensive Taiwan eats. Does that explain it all? Yes if you're a Taiwanese, but for those of you who have not had a chance to grace our little island of food paradise allow me to briefly explain. Great Taiwanese food should not come with a price tag that rivals those of a steak house, if you're paying too much then it's not authentic Taiwanese food! What you got was some weird fancy-pants version of what Taiwanese food is.

So here we are, a few thousand miles away from home, and was able to eat Beef Noodle the way it's served in Taiwan. Ahhh, good times. I won't say that there are some who will disagree about the goodness of it, but that's just a difference of opinion on taste. Everyone has their own favorite Beef noodle style or place, it's hard to get people to agree on what's the best. This is a dish that has it's annual competition after all, just to show you how serious this dish is to our culture. If you win it once, you get major bragging rights and the pressure of winning again.

Right, back to the BBNH; it's good, it's no Taiwan but it certainly isn't full of mainland Chinese people running the place. The Waite staff we were pretty sure was of Taiwanese decent, the food tasted relatively authentic and the price was just at the correct range. 4 of us with more food than we can stomach (after Zakkushi and a stroll in the park) came to $40CAD with Tip.

Day 4 - Vancouver BC

Dim Sum to start the Monday . . .

Kirin Seafood Restaurant
7900 Westminister Hwy 2nd Fl.
Richmond, BC V6X 1A5
(604) 303-8833

Credit Card Accepted

Kirin is a Chinese restaurant (as if you couldn't tell), there are several locations in BC so I can only vouch for the one I've listed here. The service was great, servers and waiters wear different uniforms so it's easy to know who to hail down for what needs, although there wasn't really a need to get frustrated over speed of service. Our waiter was a busy bee, he took care of several tables at once without making anyone wait much longer than a few minutes. He was able to take orders quickly without making you feel rushed, a true professional in his field. The servers were quick and efficient, knowing when to come with clean plates and can bring your order or clear plates without much disruption. The food was great, what else do I need to say?!?! Thank goodness we arrived soon after it opened, despite it being a Monday the place filled up fast!

One note about this place, you order from the menu not the traditional carts that roll around.It was hilarious when Amber handed me the menu, I stared at it blankly as it was written in Chinese. Since the English descriptions do nothing for me (they all sound like the same dish after a while), I can only remember remember some of the dishes names. I mean, why bother remembering them when I usually go to dim sum places with my father or sister? They know what I like; if not, I just describe it and they know what I'm talking about. Which is what I ended up having to do with Amber, good thing she's good a deciphering my crazed descriptions.

Okay, I shall attempt to name these dishes... or at least say what I think it is

鳳爪 - Chicken feet, no dim sum place is without it

海鮮粥 - Seafood Congee


Steamed Veggie, its one of my favorite vegetables but heck if I know what it's called in English

油條腸粉 - Oil sticks that is wrapped in steamed rice noodle

蝦餃 - Shrimp dumpling

叉燒包 - you'll know this from a previous blog entry

叉燒包 - it was good, we ordered it twice

Fried bread

燒賣 - Minced pork and prawns

Lychee Jelly

豆腐花 - Dessert tofu with sweet ginger syrup

芒果布甸- Mango pudding with evaporated milk

Hungry yet?

Day 3 - Vancouver Part 2

After supper . . .

We went out for cheesecakes

Humm... I actually don't know where we went

Special of the Evening: Blueberry cheesecake, and a side of hot nutmeg milk
Cheesecake with no crust

My order of Strawberry Cheesecake with Green Tea

Day 3 - Vancouver Canada

Vancouver Canada - Arriving in time for supper

Kintaro Ramen Noodle
788 Denman St
Vancouver, BC V6G 2L5
(604) 682-7568

Cash Only! American Dollars okay but you'll likely get change in Canadian.

There was a line, and it went on and on and on... It's a small little hole in the wall, the pace is fast. The food authentic. You order at the door when you're next to be seated. When your order arrives, you eat-pay-then get out of the way. Like most ramen places I've gone to in Los Angeles you're given the choices; here you get to choose what type of flavoring, how strong your soup base is to be and how fatty you want your meat. It was good, but not better than the ramen place I frequented in Gardena, California. If you're ever near that area I totally would recommend a stop over at Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi, but more about that next time.
There is something going on in this West End area called Denman Street, it seems to be a very popular area for little hideaway restaurants. It's worth spending time to explore. It offers everything from Japanese to Ukrainian cuisines and every restaurant looks popular.









Left: the men who keeps the bowls coming







Left: I found this amusing, a Japanese restaurant with authentic Japanese everything from the homemade noodle to it's staff, and here in the middle of the counter was a Louisiana hot sauce

Left: My order of Shoyu Ramen, medium soup base and fatty pork.



Left: An order of Miso ramen, with medium soup base and fatty pork

Left: very good gyozas, one of the best I've had in a Japanese ramen shop. Vinegar included to give it just that extra needed kick, and it's actually a fairly decent size

Day 2 - Seattle Part 2

Downtown for supper . . .

Wann Izakaya
2020 2nd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-5637

Credit Card Accepted

Japanese food that has a great happy hour menu. I am absolutely in love with this place. It was recommended by a native Japanese, and she knew what she was talking about! Seaweed Salad to start the evening opening up the pallets for all that's to come. The Deep-fried Takoyaki is my favorite, so crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the inside. The tako was of decent size too, you didn't have to hunt for it. The best part? Not a red ginger in sight! YEY!
An order of Seattle Roll nicely done, the yakitori was decent, and then my cousin orders the monster of all sushi that was offered. While the size was not daunting, it was th warning label that came with the dish presented on the menu. It was SPICY! She ordered the Godzilla roll, lets just say that 1 piece was plenty for me. I had gotten a little of the mixed sauce on my forearm and licked it off. It was nearly enough to blast me out of my seat, and the piece itself nearly left me begging for mercy. I'm glad she's a hardier eater than I am, she was able to polish off the other 5 pieces. I wish I had photos from this place, but had left my camera in the car. I know our friends have taken shots of their orders so the follow photos are from their meal (I think these are what they had just based on looks):

Potato Croquette

Ika Maruyaki

Deep-fried Takoyaki

Tatsutaage and Kurobuta Sausage

House Mixed Salad

Dessert near by. . .
Top Pot Doughnuts
2124 5th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 728-1966

credit card accepted

Suggested by my cousin, this doughnut/coffee shop supplies to Starbucks around town too. (Competition? I'm not sure how it works) It's good stuff! Custard doughnut was full of wonderful custard that wasn't too sweet. It makes for a great dessert. Be careful though, it closes fairly early for the area.

Day 2 - Seattle

Walking downtown near Pike's Market
Stop 1:
Fran's Chocolates
1325 1st Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-0168

credit card accepted

This is no See's Candies, do not expect to be given samples at the door. These little chocolates go for about $2USD per bite. They do sound very good though. The store is very clean and well kept, the little sitting areas give the store a warm feeling inviting the guests to sit down and have a cup of espresso with their afternoon delights. The service was wonderful, all the ladies there were cheerful and polite their manners were above par and very soft spoken. They act as if they have all the time in the world just to wait on your order, at the price and choices offered it does take a while to make up one's mind!


Left: All selections offered in milk chocolate and dark chocolate













Above: Grey Salt Caramel, I'm told that the salt takes the enjoyment of chocolate to a whole new level of goodness

Stop 2:
美心餅家
Mee Sum Pastry
1526 Pike Pl
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682 6780

Credit Card: I'm not sure, we paid cash

From the long lines at the front of this bakery, we expected it to be something above average. Just to show, lines can be deceiving. We ordered 蒸叉燒包 as it seemed to be prominently featured on their menu, it was a let down. While edible, it was not the joy to the taste buds I was expecting. Maybe it's because we wanted it to be more Taiwanese style. So be forewarned! Actually, we could have saved ourselves the disappointment if we bothered reading the English name of the store, it does translate it's name to a Cantonese pronunciation. *sigh*

Above: I think the expression says it all

Stop 3:

Ivar's Fish Bar - Pier 54

1001 Alaskan Way

Seattle, WA 98104

(206) 467-8063

Credit Card Accepted

I wanted clam chowder, where else to go in Seattle than Ivar's. So conviniently located on the Pier, a quick walk away from Pike's (away from the massive amount of crowd to a smaller more manageable crowd). A bowl of white clam chowder, an order of jumbo shrimp. Yup it definently hit the spot. They offer red clam chowder and a salmon chowder too!

Left: Jumbo prawns and fries

Left: Salmon Chowder with crakers

Left: Halibut and fries

Day 1 - Seattle

In the International District

1st Stop:
Pho Hoa Restaurant

618 S. Weller St.

Seattle, WA 98104

(206) 624-7189

Credit Card Accepted

It's a chain Vietnamese restaurant, inexpensive for a good amount of food. This is a good place to go when you're wanting Pho NOW! The service was swift, order came quick. The restroom was clean. I ordered the Steak-tendon-tripe Pho, it was good. The soup at the right temperature to finish cooking the steak, not too salty and the tripe added a nice crunch to the meal. 4 Regular sized order came to about $30USD.

2nd Stop:
Ocean City Restaurant

609 S. Weller St.

Seattle, WA 98104

(206) 623-2333

Credit Card Accepted

Just across the street from Pho Hoa, this is a Chinese restaurant. Didn't see much of the menu, we were there just to order a 1/2 duck and 1/4 chicken to go. Inexpensive in the sense that our order came to about $18USD. From my observation, while the restaurant wasn't packed, it still had a nice gathering of customers at 9:30 in the evening. The ducks were still hanging, and the ladies were cranking out some 水餃 in the corner while chatting. A very familiar scene in Asia actually.

Left: 1/2 duck minus a few already munched on pieces

Left: a little over a 1/4 of a chicken, once again the evidence of the munched on pieces can be seen on the lid.