****½ (4.5/5)

OK, I love desserts. I almost always need to eat something sweet after a meal, no matter how full I am. So after my lunch at The Lion’s Den Cafe, I visited Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie on Broadway.

Picking something to eat at Thomas Haas was almost impossible. They had a very large selection of chocolate truffles, pastries, and cakes. Everything looked really delicious. In addition to my Mocha, my friend and I decided on an Almond Mascarpone cake and a Stilton Cheesecake with Rhubarb Compote. And also as a last minute decision, we got 3 macaroons on the side.

The Mocha was almost a dessert itself. It had a really intense chocolate flavor. In addition to chocolate sauce, they’ve also sprinkled in coca powder. It was really rich, and creamy. It was more of a drink for sipping, than actually drinking. I liked it a lot. It really hit sweet spot.

The cakes were also really yummy. The Almond Mascarpone cake was very fluffy, light, and had just the right amount of almond flavoring. This cake was went really well with my mocha mostly because it was light, really nice pairing with the savory mocha.

The Stilton Cheesecake was really dense. It had a caramelize top, and a shortbread crust. The tiny cheesecake took me a while to eat because of its density in both texture and flavor. I really enjoyed the fresh fruits on top, although I wasn’t a big fan of the rhubarb compote. I ate the cheesecake without it.

The 3 Macaroons we were got were Passion fruit, Pistachio, and.. the purple one. All of them had a crunchy top, and chewy inside.  They were all really sweet. The 3rd flavor we ordered was Coffee, but we got a purple one instead, not too sure if it was really coffee, it tasted like raspberry. My favorite one was passion fruit.

The price was on the pricey side, but the quality standard was high. The staff were really nice. It’s definitely a great place for desserts.

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Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie
2539 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6K
(604) 924-1847
www.thomashaas.com

***½~ (3.5/5)

I was in Yaletown last week looking for a quick bite for dinner, and my friends brought me to Ki-isu Japanese. I didn’t really have a high expectation for Japanese restaurants in Yaletown. I’ve been to one that’s really near by Ki-isu, it was pretty bad. That was before the existence of MePlusFood, and no, I will not return just to write a post about it.

I was pretty tired that day, and a bit lazy on deciding what kind of things I wanted to try here. Good thing there’s always dinner boxes that has pretty much everything. I decided to just get a Dinner Box A with Teriyaki Beef ($13.95).

The appetizer part of the Dinner Box A were miso soup and sunomono. The soup was average, but the sunomono was delicious. It was nicely chilled, the noodles weren’t mushy, it had just the right amount of sourness; a very refreshing dish to start off the meal.

In the actual Dinner Box there were Beef teriyaki with rice, Spicy Tuna & Dynamite Roll, California Roll, Salad, and the Tempura was served on a separate small dish. There was a lot of food.

There were 4 pieces of vegetable tempura and 1 piece of shrimp tempura. They gave me full sushi rolls instead of just 3 pieces of a roll. The Spicy Tuna & Dynamite roll was a bit messy to eat because it was pretty big, it was also pretty tasty. The beef teriyaki was also pretty good, and there was a lot of it. The beef wasn’t over cooked, and the teriyaki sauce wasn’t too sweet.

I don’t remember the last time I ordered a lunch box or a dinner box at a Japanese restaurant, and ordering one here wasn’t a bad idea. I was really full after my meal, and I packed the rest home and ate it for lunch the next day. For the amount of food, I think it was fairly priced. Just to give a prospective on how much food there was in Dinner Box A, the couple at the table next to me shared the same Dinner Box I got, with a side of something else. That was a smart thing to do.

It was a good find in Yaletown, and I’d come back to try some of their pretty looking appetizers.

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Ki-isu Japanese
275 Pacific Blvd
Vancouver, BC V6Z
(604) 899-0366
www.kiisujapanese.com

***~~ (3/5)

The Lion’s Den Cafe has been in business for 10 years, but I only heard of it recently from other food bloggers. A Caribbean cafe with a preserved lion that also serves Okonomiyaki? I am definitely intrigued.

We stopped by the cafe for lunch. From the menu, you will learn the word “Japaribbean”. It means the fusion Japanese and Caribbean food, and therefore explains the existence of Okonomiyaki. The day I went, their daily special was Soul Food. They had cat fish, fried chicken and Jambalaya. I was more in a mood for curry, so I ordered the Curry Goat off the regular menu. My friend ordered the Jerk Chicken, also off the regular menu. I was really hungry that day, before my food arrived my table, I decided to also ordered the Jambalaya to share with my friend.

Food here looks really home made. My Curry Goat came with rice, and corn bread. The Curry Goat looked like there would be a lot of flavor, but it was actually pretty bland. There’s just wasn’t a lot of spices going on. I asked for spicy, but it wasn’t spicy at all. I’ve never had goat before, the meat was pretty tender, but there was more bones than I expected. I couldn’t really taste any goat flavor either. It also felt like the curry was microwaved, because some parts were really hot, and some parts were just lukewarm.

The Jerk Chicken on the other hand, had more flavors going on. It came with 3 chicken drum sticks. The meat was really tender, not dry. It was spicy, but the kind of spicy that builds up slowly. It was delicious.

We ordered the Jambalaya with sausage and shrimp. The Jambalaya here looked different that I am used to. It was probably because it was just sauce on top of rice, instead of everything mixed in together. The sauce was less stewy, it was rather more clear. It was tomatoey, and unlike the Jerk Chicken, you can taste the spiciness right away. And again, more flavorful than the Curry Goat. It was pretty good, but the shrimps didn’t have much flavor.

All 3 dishes came with a side of corn bread, which I liked a lot.

The restaurant had a great relaxing/hipster vibe. The owner had a great attitude, and was super friendly. He goes around to chat with everyone in the restaurant. He could tell if you are a first timer. And if you’re a first timer, he’ll tell you the story of The Lion’s Den Cafe, and will ask you to sign his guest book that he’s had since day one of his restaurant.

The food itself was OK, but the friendliness of the staff definitely added some bonus points to the dinning experience.

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The Lion’s Den Cafe
651 E 15th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5T
(604) 873-4555
www.lionsdencafe.oxyfx.com

***½~ (3.5/5)

Alpha Global is a small little Sushi/Izakaya restaurant slightly off of the heart of Yaletown. I actually haven’t even noticed this place, but I decided to go here for my birthday dinner with my friends. I made a reservation for 12 a week before, and they asked if I could provide them with a list of things we’d want to order because they have a small kitchen and would like to prep some of the food before hand.

We ordered a lot of food! A lot of which I probably don’t remember the name of. To start, I had a spinach goma-ae ($4.50) but was unable to edit because it smelled a lot more peanuty than sesame. I could’ve been wrong, but I didn’t want to take the risk. First, I had the Mozzarella Kushi-Age ($5), which are just breaded-deepfried mozzarella sticks on skewers. It supposedly had a bit of curry and chilli peppers, but I didn’t really taste too much. It was seasoned a bit, but I couldn’t pick up those flavours. It had a nice crispy coating, and gooey cheese inside but it wasn’t too stringy. We ordered three Chicken Kara-Ages ($8.00) and it was pretty good. It was big boneless chunks of chicken deep fried and served separately from the sauce. The chicken was crispy on the outside, and very tender and juicy inside. It was lightly salted, and the sauce was soy sauce based. I prefer the sauces used at Guu and Hapa over this one though. The agedashi tofu ($4.75) was lightly fried, and not too crispy. It was sitting in the sweet sauce so it got a bit soft, but picked up a lot of flavour.

The Italian Spring Roll ($7.50) was filled with mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil. With this one, the roll cooled down a little to fast and the mozzarella was already solidified again, so the texture in your mouth wasn’t very appealing. It also didn’t have much flavour to it. Pumpkin Croquette ($6.00) were decent, but it actually was squash. Inside the crispy exterior it was a very sweet and soft filling. My friends liked Guu’s croquette better because it has the egg inside too. The Beef Sashimi ($9.50) was lightly seared and topped with a ponzu sauce. The sauce was sweet, and the beef was pretty tender, but nothing special. Manzo’s is still my favourite because the beef was a bit thicker, and a lot more tender. I didn’t like the spare ribs, because it was quite chewy and hard to eat off the bone.

They had a bunch of items that weren’t on their online  menu or take out menu so I can’t remember what they are called. We also ordered a few more spring rolls. They had something similar to a california roll sans rice which was wrapped in spring roll paper, fried, and served with a mayo sauce. I enjoyed it but I don’t think my friends did because I ate most of it.

My friends really said the Richards Roll ($10.75) was amazing. It had prawn tempura, tobiko, and cucumber and topped with unagi and avocado with a yummy wasabi mayo sauce. They also ordered the Alpha Roll ($12), Mango Vancouver Roll ($9), and possibly more. Some ordered the Mentaiko Udon ($6.75) which they didn’t enjoy because it was weird. It seemed kind of cheesy.

They had a lot of things that I could eat, i.e, a lot of non-seafood dishes that I haven’t seen at other Izakayas so that’s a bonus. The dishes were decent for the most part and cooked well, but I’m not sure if all of the flavours worked well together or with the theme of a Japanese restaurant. Their menu is also really weird, they had a bunch of super-natural books and they just pasted their menus inside on the front and back covers. Really weird idea, and I don’t think I like it.

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Alpha Global Sushi & Bar
1099 Richards St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 633-0355

http://www.plusalfa.com

****½ (4.5/5)

Nice Cafe is a little breakfast joint in Mount Pleasant, Vancouver. This place had an atmosphere of a diner. We were seated right away, but were were seated at a row of tables for 2 that were placed so close together, it could almost be a long table. I could literally reach over to the next table to grab the ketchup without extending my arm fully. It gets cozy if you’re not sitting at a booth.

They had the usual suspects for breakfast here, bennys, omelets, pancakes. I got the traditional 2 eggs, with hash browns, sausages and toast. So what could it be so different from other breakfast places that serve the same things? The major difference was that it was cheap. My breakfast plate was $4.60, and the portion size was pretty much the same as you would find at IHop.

The food looked and tasted homemade. Nothing was overly greasy. The hash browns were really fresh, they were crispy on the outside, and still fluffy on the inside. Also, it was a nice touch on the green onions sprinkled on top of the hash browns. I asked for over-medium eggs, and they were cooked perfectly. It was a solid, comforting breakfast that hit the spot.

I enjoyed breakfast here a lot. It was a really relaxing place and I loved the neighborhood retro diner feel. The ‘long table’ concept was pretty neat, because you can chat up and be friendly with strangers sitting next to you. The staff were friendly, and were on top of their coffee refills. Great spot for breakfast.

Note: No Credit Cards accepted here. Cash or Debit only.

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Nice Cafe
154 E 8th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5T
(604) 874-4024

***~~ (3/5)

I finally went to the Hub last week before watching Cirque Du Soleil Kooza. I had a Good News Vancouver coupon good for $40 at the Hub. Once we got there, we realized it was also happy hour so all of the appetizers were only $6! Yes even the Lobster Wings which are normally $14. The patio was packed by the time we got there at 5:30 PM on a Friday. So we got seats in the front. I just remembered that this place used to be a Brown’s which I’ve been to when I was working in Yaletown. It still looks the same inside from what I remember.

We quickly looked at the menu and decided to get all appetizers. There wasn’t much on the menu that seemed too appealing to me, so we ordered 4 appetizers: Lobster Wings, Poutine, Bruschetta, and Kobe Meatballs. We also ordered a couple martini’s which were $2 off that day too.

The Poutine wasn’t traditional here either. It had the stringy cheese, but it had a really dark gravy. The menu said it has crispy bacon too, but I didn’t notice any at all. There was nothing crispy about it, and when I looked for bacon after, I didn’t notice any. It was served with some green onions which added a nice extra little kick to the poutine. The fries got a little bit soggy from the gravy, and it wasn’t overly salty. I was a bit disappointed with the Bruschetta. It was served a little bit differently than what I’m used to, and it’s probably because of that that I didn’t like it as much. They used a mix of different tomatoes, and topped it with asiago cheese shavings. They also drizzled a little bit of a balsamic vinegar reduction on top. The problem I had was that the toppings kept falling off. I think if they combined all of the ingredients together and then put it on the bread it would’ve stuck better. I also wished for a more balsamic vinegar flavour. This didn’t have much. The Kobe Meatballs were decent too. It came with a marinara sauce and topped with melted mozarella. The sauce wasn’t very spicy, but it provided a nice sauce for the meatballs to keep it juicy. They aren’t the best meatballs but they were pretty good. My friend ordered the Lobster Wings because she loves lobster, and that’s one of the things they are known for. She said it was really good. These were lightly breaded and deep fried lobster tails. It came with a butter dip which I don’t think she used that much. It was really crispy. After the 4 appies, we were really full.

In the end, the only appy that I didn’t like was the Bruschetta, but the other two that I was able to eat were pretty good. Oh, one thing that our waitress mentioned was that at $6, the nachos are a little bit smaller than what you would normally get for $16.

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Hub Restaurant & Lounge
1165 Mainland St.
Vancouver, BC

(604) 696-0400

http://hubrestaurant.ca

***~~ (3/5)

If you’re looking for a place for a quick drink and a quick bite, Goldies Rustic Pizza is one of those places for you. Goldies Rustic Pizza is a bar type pizza joint with a take out window on Pender street.

The take out window is for pizza by the slice. If you are dining in, you could order a whole pie, or get one slice of pizza with a pint of beer for $8 dollars. Pizza and beer deal, how can you pass that up?

There were about 8 different types of pizzas. I got the Roasted Chicken, and Mushroom pizzas. Yes, I got the pizza and beer deal, twice.

I guess I could understand the ‘Rustic’ part of the restaurant name. Pizzas here had super thin crusts, and with nicely charred bottom for ‘Artisan feel’. They used both white wheat and whole wheat crusts. There were fairly generous on the portions of chicken on the the chicken pizza. Both the Roasted Chicken, and the Mushroom pizzas were nice considering they were already made and just got re-heated to order. I preferred the chicken pizza over the mushrooms and also a little bit more cheese on the pizzas would have been nicer.

Michael, the bartender/waiter was very energetic and friendly. This was a super casual place and a nice little dive to go and have a chat, drink and eat.

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Goldies Rustic Pizza
605 West Pender Street,
Vancouver, BC V6B
(604) 681-0650

****~ (4/5)

Vegan, vegetarian, I don’t really know the difference. As long as it’s meatless, I am all for it on the days where all I want to eat is vegetables. Gorilla Food is probably the first vegan restaurant I visited in Vancouver.

First time visiting Gorilla Food we obviously looked out of place, but shortly after we arrived, we were greeted by the lady behind the counter. She gave us menus and told us that we could pick our own seats, and all orders are taken at the cashier desk. There’s a lot on the menu from salads, to pizzas. I usually stay away from burgers in vegetarian restaurants, but not this time. I ordered a Pesto Primo Burger, and my friend got the Dehli Doubler Burger.

The burgers were bread less, and instead of a bun they used lettuce leaves. You can also ordered it with ‘bun’ like my friend did. I say ‘bun’ because it wasn’t really a bun, it was more like a thin tortilla/pita wrap like ‘bread’. The burger patties were served cold. They were layered with tomato, cucumber, and shredded apples. My Pesto Primo was also layered with pesto sauce, and my friend’s Dehli Doubler Burger had guacamole on it. The presentation was pretty neat.

I have to say, I really enjoyed my burger, because freshness is what I always look for when I order vegetarian food. It was really refreshing. I’m really not sure what was in the patties, I think there were some sort of nuts in it, but the flavors were pretty good. It had a great balance of texture, not everything was a mush. It was a very light meal, and I felt great after eating it.

They are closed at 7pm on weekdays! My friend and I ended up having a very short dinner, because we arrived around 6:45pm. We were a little bit weirded out when the lady asked us for last calls 10 minutes after we got there. They are also in a basement, it was really warm when we were there, because there was no AC. It’s a great place to chill and get some delicious vegetarian food, but probably not on a very hot summer day.

Note: Cash Only!

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Gorilla Food
436 Richards St
Vancouver, BC V6B
(604) 684-3663
www.gorillafood.com

****~ (4/5)

I had my birthday dinner with family at Hamilton Street Grill. It’s a place that I’ve wanted to try for a while because it’s so close to my brother’s place. It was pretty dead wen we got there at around 6:45PM on Monday.

We started off with the Poutine ($8) and the Tomato and Bocconcini Salad ($10). I was really happy with the starters. The salad was very refreshing and had a nice balsamic vinaigrette. I love tomatoes and cheese, and I like how they added the salad. I was glad that the cheese wasn’t too bland, it had a nice bit of saltiness to it. The poutine, I must admit was not like the traditional poutine  from La Belle Patate. It was good though. I really like their Kennebec fries because they were thin and crispy. Fried perfectly. The gravy was very light, and didn’t make the fries too soggy. It wasn’t overly salty. They also used the cheese curds that melt and get kind of stringy. My only complaint is that they didn’t have cheese on the top, just in the middle.

For my main, me and my brother split the Hamilton Street Burger ($16) and the Mushroom Risotto ($24). I really liked their burger because it was really juicy and flavourful. It came with smoked bacon, cheddar with the lettuce, tomato, and onions on the side. It came with a huge amount of Kennebec fries which I really liked from the poutine. It also came with a mayo sauce, which kind of seemed like a tartar sauce to me. It wasn’t the biggest burger, but it tasted really good.

My brother has been to Hamilton Street Grill about 3 times, and he said he always gets the risotto, which is why I wanted to order it. He said it looked a bit different though. I must say, risotto isn’t for me, especially as a main. I think it’s too rich, and too much of the same. I’d be happy with it as an appetizer, but a huge bowl all to myself would be far too much. That being said, it was decent. It had a nice amount of meaty mushrooms mixed in. It had some tomatoes and some leeks mixed in. Very creamy, but not too salty. The rice was good well, but it’s a very heavy dish.

The rest of my family ordered the 16 Oz ribeye steak ($26) with mashed potatoes (+$5). Yup the steak comes with nothing, so you need to add which ever sides you want. The steak was pretty good too. Although my dad ordered medium it was really juicy and tender. It had a nice charred top and really nice marbling through out. The mashed potatoes were pretty plain, no added garlic flavour, and it wasn’t even very buttery. I also got to try a little bit of the Cavatappi ($20), which came with chorizo sausage and it was pretty good too. The chorizo they used is different from the Filipino chorizo that I’m used to which is a bit harder and spicier.

They gave me a complimentary gingerbread pudding which I was eyeing, but didn’t want to order because we were so full. He was like are you sure? So I gave in, and they ended up comping it on the receipt. Thanks! It was really good. I wasn’t sure about gingerbread, because all I think about are gingerbread cookies. But this was a nice thick piece, and really dense. It came with a ginger ice cream which had what I thought was just a slight hint of ginger flavouring, and a scoop of pumpkin ice cream. Both really good. We’re glad we got it.

I ordered the 10 year Tawny Port, but it wasn’t as good as the Port I had at R.TL. The place got busier as the evening went on. Our service was also really good. He gave us plenty of bread to feed my 13-month old nephew. I’d definitely come back here for the burger and some appies. I’m not sure if many of the other main courses really interest me too much.

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Hamilton Street Grill
1009 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 331-1511

http://www.hamiltonstreetgrill.com

****~ (4/5)

Last night we joined Sherman’s food tour for his food blogger friend Eunice from New York for dinner at L’Abattoir in Gastown.

We were greeted by the very friendly hostess when first arrived, and waited for about 15 minutes before we were lead to our table for our party of 7. Our table was located at the back of the restaurant, that was sort of hidden from the entrance. The dining space at the back of the restaurant was really nice. It was bright, simple, modern with simple furniture. Great for taking pictures!

The one page menu was very straight forward, we wanted to try as many dishes as we could, we got a few appetizers included the Mostaccioli pasta with mozzarella cheese and as for the entrée, our table got the Roast flank steak, Leg of lamb, but for myself I had the Poached Halibut with Mussels and Spinach Dumplings.

Mostaccilo Pasta had really nice mix of textures. The pasta and beans still had a bit of a bite to it but nice and tender, a nice crunch from something fried, softness from the cheese, and it had a nice light bean paste on the bottom. Overall the dish was presented nicely. I thought it tasted nice, but it was very very light. It was not bland, but there weren’t many strong flavours that jumped out at you. Definitely grab a bit of pasta, bean, zuchini, cheese, the crunchy stuff, and the bean paste to get the most out of each bite. It was a really nice salad.

I really loved the plating of my Poached Halibut. It was so pretty! And it was definitely a surprise. They really used the space of the big plate well, with the halibut centered in the middle, and the mussels, and spinach dumplings around the edges of the plate. It was very creative and playful. The cucumbers on the halibut to mimic the scales of the fish was cleaver.

The Poached Halibut was a very light dish. The halibut was cooked well, however it didn’t have a lot of flavor by itself. I sort of had to venture to other parts of the plate, and eat it with the creamy garlic sabayon, the vegetables, the basil and the mussels. The mussels were fresh and delicious, and I also enjoyed the spinach dumplings a lot. Overall, it was a very summery dish.

We had a good time at L’Abattoir. The staff were friendly, the service was excellent. I loved the decor and the semi private space, it was trendy, it had a great energy. The food was creative, a little too pretty to eat I must say! A nice new restaurant in Vancouver.

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L’Abattoir
217 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC V6B
www.labattoir.ca
twitter.com/LABATTOIR_VAN