Food Adventures: The Pint Public House

A very lowbrow bar with amazing cheap eats and cheap drinks! The only thing about this place is that it is a pub, so expect the place to be grungy and dark. The location of the pub is convenient too as it is located by a Skytrain and literally a block away from Gastown.

The Pint is special for their Pint of Boots. The fruity boots are served in glasses shaped like boots with a shot of alcohol in them. There are variety flavors for each boot and the boots just look awesome, especially drinking out of them.

I had the Classic Perogies for the night. They were delicious, and perfectly cooked. They are pan fried, so it is a little bit crispy on the skin, but everything about them are white and perfectly delicious. The potato cheese inside explodes in your mouth as you bite into them. There are so much ingredients on top of the Perogies, it is just crazy! The chives are always fresh and perfectly bite sizes. The bacon is the best part of the Perogies.

I give this place an amazing 8.5/10, as this place can get quite busy and the amount of people there gets annoying. But overall, the decor and the atmosphere is amazing. The service is perfect and the food/drinks are just my favorite part of the bar! Love it.

Food Adventures: Kingyo Izakaya 金魚居酒屋

Kingyo is one of my favourite Japanese Tapas restaurants in all of Vancouver. This place is always filled with amazing food and drinks. The décor is beautifully authentic, and the service is perfectly personal.

The décor is very beautiful. The old wooden tables, and the chairs are comfortable. I love the small little cushions for your butt on the chairs. I find it a little funny. The bamboo long table in the middle of the restaurant looks beautiful in the environment. Kingyo has a very personal service for every single person that step into the restaurant  The waitresses/waiters are extremely nice and personally tell you about your choices of dishes for the night. They are very knowledgeable about their own establishment (where they work) and some of the waiters are great for eye candy too.

I ordered their Sashimi Salad. Different types of fish cuts every single day, and I got albacore tuna, atlantic salmon, and yellowtail hamachi. The slices were perfectly cut, as each bite was delicious and fatty. The greens were fresh and the dressing was delicious. Three different types of dressing to go with each slice of fish. The dressing complimented each fish perfectly. My favourite is the albacore tuna dressing. It was tangy, filled with tobiko, and the acidity of the lemon really makes each bite better.

The next dish I ordered was the Kimchi Udon, which was on special. The seasoning of the ramen was perfect as it mixed with the spicy kimchi. The udon wasn't slimy and wasn't stuck together, it was perfectly cooked. I enjoyed this dish a lot, but I could cook something similar to this at home though. So I wouldn't say it was anything special.

Like every time I go to Kingyo, I have to order the Mackerel Pressed Sushi. I love their pressed sushi. I love their sauces on the top as it adds a sweetness to the dish. The mackerel has a lovely light grill on the top of them, and it's not 100% cooked, but still raw and delicious. Don't try to finish each sushi piece with one bite. It is not worth it, just slowly take it in, and enjoy it slowly.

For desert, we had to get their famous Matcha Brûlée!! It is the perfect desert to end off the night of delicious food. I love the thick taste of Matcha in each bite. The delicious burnt sugar on the top of the matach block just adds the sweetness. The mint leaf and the whip cream was a perfect addition to the mix. This is one of my favourite must have on their menu. 

Anyways, I am rating this place a stunning 9.5/10! Their food is what I want it to be, most of the time. Their service is great and their décor is beautiful. Going back again for sure.

Food Adventures: Miura Waffle & Milk Bar

A small little cafe located on Davie Street, owned and run by a very dedicated Japanese Chef. This little cafe has been here for little bit less than a year and the success of this popular little cafe is very well renown. I am not surprised since their food is delectable, and the waffles are SOOOOO FLUFFIEEEE!!

My co-worker, Garth, introduced me to this amazing place. He said, they have amazing Waffles. Knowing Garth, I always trust him with food. We went on a lunch break, and when we arrived a nice "Welcome" was given to us. There are only two people that work here, the Japanese Chef owner, and his pretty lady barista. It is a small cafe, with a small under cover patio. The cafe is just perfect for a nice lunch and a refresher from work.

I ordered a Wasabi Tuna Waffle Sandwich. The flavour is creamy, tangy, smooth, and the wasabi is the perfect touch to the end of a bite. The sandwich is filled with tuna bits and the waffle is extremely fluffy. The waffle is in a perfect size for a sandwich, and the white edges have a perfect crisp when biting into it. I loved this Wasabi Tuna a lot. It is delicious and the quality of the ingredients are perfect! Yummy!

I returned to the cafe and got a Hoisin Waffle Sandwich too. This time the waffle was a bit burnt, and mushy. The waffles wasn't as crispy as I had the first time, but the fluffiness of the waffle is kept. The flavours are still there, so I wouldn't mind if the crispiness was lost that time. The flavours of the ingredients reminded me of a Bahn Mi. The amount of pickled carrots, the sweetness of hoisin, and the meatballs is a perfect mix.

I will be coming back here for lunch visits! I love this place a lot. It a perfect get away from the office for lunch, and the price is perfectly decent too! Of course, me being the Japanese culture lover, this place is perfect for me too! I give this place an amazing 9.5/10!

Food Adventures: Cartems Donuterie

This place has the most flavourful donuts you will EVER eat. These fresh, locally sourced, and made donuts are to die for! There are so many different types of donuts. This time I only got like 5 flavours in total.

Me and my friend walked towards Cartems Donutier after a lunch meet-up. I ordered 7 donuts in total so I could bring some to the office and share.

I ordered all the seasonal ones for the day, and starting from the top left, I got Citrus Blast, Bacon Glazed, Earl Grey, Pumpkin Spice, Bacon Glazed, and Sugar Cinnamon.

The Citrus Blast, was one of the freshest donuts I have ever placed in my mouth. The yellow lemon zest really gives that heavy punch to it. The taste of the sweet orange comes out through the dough. The flavour mixed perfectly with the glazing sweetness.

The Bacon Glazed was delicious. Sweet and salty savoury is one of the best combo ever. The creaminess of the glaze mixes perfectly with the amount of sweet and savoury this donut has to offer. I really enjoyed this donut.

The Earl Grey was not as special as I thought. I can really taste the heaviness of the tea and the ingredients, but I thought it was too sweet for my taste. The glaze was too much in my opinion, but the colourful petals really added the touch of beauty to it though.

The Pumpkin Spice is my favourite of ALL of the donuts. That first bite into the ginger pieces were AMAZING! Then the flavour smooths out towards the pumpkin sweetness and there was that cream glaze on top of the donut was just perfect.

The last one is the Sugar Cinnamon. It was a perfect sweet, but the cinnamon was lost in the creaminess of the donut itself. I really couldn't taste the cinnamon, but it was extremely sweet. The crispiness of the glaze and the soft fluffy center of the donut is amazing.

I am for sure coming back here to buy a lot more donuts. They are considered to be a pop-up shop, so they are only there for a limited time! Go drop by and say hi! It is seriously worth the visit to grab a couple boxes home!

Food Adventures: Meat and Bread

I can still taste that juicy lamb as of today. The amount of flavours, and the juice from the lamb will always be remembered. The bread just soaked up all that juice, and the mustard just adds the perfect kick to each bite in that amazing sandwich.

So I was meeting up with a good friend of mine, who works downtown as well. We haven't seen each other for a while now. I decided we should go to Meat and Bread for a meet-up. And of course, me, haven't been there since opening night, it has been busy like crazy. The lines were long the amount of people trying to find seating at the place was just impossible! I had to go there again since opening, and I heard they opened another one as well.

The decor of the place is hipster. I don't like it as much as I would think because, I am really not into that whole "hipster" fad. I am just trendy and geeky. On the walls were hanging heads of animals, and the old white tiled floors, with "old" mirrors on the walls with a tall communal table. There were old white lockers at the back the restaurant, with really weird decor that I would not put in my house at all. And they jar of water was an "old" water can, it was just not my style of place to hang out at all...

Regardless, it is a restaurant, so I went for the food. The food is just such a big contrast to the decoration and atmosphere of the place. Once you enter after the long line up from outside, you will see where all the action happens, a person will be cutting the meat in the front with tons of bread just piled along the side of the glass plane, and the crunching of that pork skin was just awesome!

I would for sure come back to this place for an amazing time with meat and bread. mmmmhmm

Concert Series: David Choi & Clara C. 2012 Fall Tour

David Choi and Clara Chung had their 2nd show for the Fall Tour 2012 in Vancouver!! This is David Choi's 4th time in Vancouver, and Clara's 2nd time! It was so great to see them again, and performing their hearts out to the fans of Vancouver.

I do not like how the Vancouver show was 1/2 shorter and longer filled with random marketing stuff to the viewers. I do not pay for a concert to see a lot of random advertisement. I hate that. The show in Seattle and Portland was much longer, with a better set list too by Clara and David Choi. I am pretty angry about that.

I met David Choi again, and welcoming him with an opening hug and catching up with him is always good! First time meeting Clara, she is so cute. She is truly the performer that I wanted her to be. She just rocks out to music sometimes, she doesn't need to sing for it to become music. She jams a lot, and I love that from a musician. 

I had to get a personal photo with David Choi, as every time he comes up here, I always get a photo with him! It is so good to see him again. I just love jamming out to his songs in the front row and just sing.

Front row as usual with my friend making a heart on the left side. This was a photo done by David Choi on the stage. He does this every time! It makes it always awesome to see him <3

The set list for both of their performances. The one on the left is David Choi's and the one on the right is Clara C. Clara's is on a napkin. It was so cute, and it was taped onto her piano, but I asked Taco, the bassist for the band to get me the set list! It was amazing!! David Choi just threw it to me at the end of his performance on the stage! Thank you to him always! I am always so happy to see him every time he comes to Vancouver! Always supporting him, and always listening to David Choi.

The end of their performance, they came out to sing "Darling it's You" as a duet to finish off the night. It was a stunning performance, and I loved it. I hope to see David or Clara again when they come to Vancouver. I will be there, for sure!!

Thank you David Choi for coming and Clara for performing her heart out to us. I will end here with a video of their duet song "Darling It's You".

Food Adventures: Mom's Grilled Cheese

Today was Free Mom's Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day! Thank you to Mom's Grilled Cheese for your amazing service, especially mom herself (Cindy).

The line up for the grilled sandwiches were long, and a lot of people were there early. Also, there was a chance to win free grilled cheese sandwiches for a year!

I ordered the Jackson 3 Sandwich, which was filled with Boursin, Guyere, and this time she didn't have any brie, but she had some amazing natural swiss.. Yummy. Her food truck is located at Vancouver Art Gallery, on Howe Street! Her grilled cheezus is amazing!!

Thanks to mom! (Cindy) for the free sandwich! Garth, Sandra and I will be back soon!!