604 Just Eat: Japanese Cuisine @ Ichiro Japanese Restaurant

May 22nd, 2016

Ichiro Japanese Restaurant @ Steveston

Food:  4/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $ 30 person

There are quite a lot of sushi joints popping up in Richmond area but Ichiro is definitely one of my favorites.  Ichiro is an authentic Japanese restaurant in the Steveston Village area, they serve authentic Japanese food here with a comprehensive menu, which means no crazy huge sushi rolls with loads of filled ingredients and mayo or spicy sauce.  If you are a big fan of modern/fusion sushi rolls, do not go Ichiro.  It is a friendly family operated restaurant with warm and great service.  We came here for lunch, the lunch set price is slightly on the high side but you get what you pay for. 

604 Just Eat: Pacific Northwest Cuisine & Seafood @ WildTale Coastal Grill

May 14th, 2016

WildTale Coastal Grill @ Yaletown

Food:  3.5/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $ 25 person

After some crazy hours of shopping in DT, YAHHHH HAPPY HOUR!!!  Everyone loves a good happy hour (I believe) LOL.  Yaletown is an amazing neighborhood that you can find wide selections of restaurants and bistros.  We randomly picked WildTale and we never been here before.  
Simple HH menu at a very reasonable prices.  All bites come in small size at $6 and $2/pc shucked oyster (min. 1 dozen).  HH runs from 3-6PM & 9 to close daily.

604 Just Eat: Bakery/Desserts @ The Sweet Spot Bakery

May 13th, 2016

The Sweet Spot Barkery @ Steveston

Food:  4/5   Service:  4/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $15 for 2 people

This is one of my TOP 10 bakeries in Richmond and you cannot miss it!
Sweet Tooth at "The Sweet Spot".
Love their lemon tart and the french baking are to die for.  Other than the beautiful presentation and tasty of the baked goods, the shop smells so good!  The pleasant smell of the baked goods being made there.  You can see the ovens and bakers next to the counter.  If you have lunch or dinner plans in the Steveston neighborhood, highly recommended to drop by to buy few pieces of baked goods to go!
MUST EAT:  Lemon Tart, Eclairs

Lemon Tart - Right hand side
My ALL TIME FAVORITE EVER.  The lemon tart filling was perfect in texture, classic lemon curd filling, rich, creamy and just about right sweet and sour flavors.  A little swirl meringue on top as decoration, love it!

Chocolate Caramel Cake - Left hand side
(I cannot recall the name lol)
I am not a very big fan of chocolate desserts but this one was pretty amazing.  The flavors of chocolate mousse and caramel were rich and not too sweet.  Outstanding!  

BTW, they also have very delicious eclairs, salted caramel is my choice.  Try to come earlier, usually run low on products in the late afternoon.

110-12000 First Avenue, Richmond BC

604 Just Eat: Seafood @ Catch Kitchen + Bar

May 13th, 2016

Catch Kitchen + Bar @ Steveston

Food:  3.5/5   Service:  4/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $ 20 person

Great Friday lunch @ Catch Kitchen + Bar with my good friend and her family!  
Catch has recently opened at the old spot of Charthouse restaurant.  Glad we came here!  It was totally different from the old restaurant there.  It is different style from Blue Canoe downstairs.  The service was very good and attentive.  For the food quality, wayyyy better than Charthouse before.  The menu was small and pretty standard, the regular items that you can definitely pick something from there BUT no unique dishes.  I think that's what they need to stand out from other restaurants at the waterfront location.

The decor is bright and modern, very spacious!   I would consider this is a kids friendly restaurant, big and open space, no problem to go with strollers.

604 Just Eat: Desserts @ Sugar n Ice

May 7th, 2016

Sugar n Ice Cakes @ Steveston

Food:  4/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $13 person

Since we moved back to the Steveston neighborhood, Steveston village becomes our favorite spot to chillax in weekend.  I saw a new bakery shop called Sugar n Ice when we were trying to find a parking spot in the Saturday afternoon.  I could not stop my feet walking there to check out this new bakery shop!  The baked sweets were beautiful and delicate.  Other than the pastries and coffees on the menu, they also offer make to order service like wedding and any other occasions. 

604 Just Eat: Seafood @ Steveston Seafood House

May 6th, 2016

Steveston Seafood House @ Steveston

Food:  3/5   Service:  3/5   Atmosphere:  3/5   Price:  Avg. $45 person

We liked to have dinner in somewhere around us, so we picked Steveston village.  Actually there are not much choices in Richmond anyways.  On the internet, there are both positive and negative reviews at Steveston Seafood House; so we decided to give it a try.  Overall the dishes were okay, nothing special though nothing bad.  Service was good and attentive.  Prices are on the high side when the dishes were quite ordinary.

604 Just Eat: Afternoon Tea @ Soffee Cafe

April 30th, 2016

Soffee Cafe @ Fairview

Food:  3.5/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $30 person

Soffee Cafe is in a hidden location on 8th Ave.  I found this little gem when I was on my way to my accountant's office.  The door, curtains and decor attracted my attentions then I cannot stop myself going in to check out this place.  I went in to get a lattee to go and check out the afternoon tea sets, my favorite!!!  I told my friend about Soffee immediately then we set a day to go together.  I emailed to make reservation and the tea sets we wanted, quick and easy.  Afternoon tea order confirmation is required so be sure to make reservation.

Beautiful lace curtains, my love!  

604 Just Eat: Japanese Cuisine @ Jinya Ramen Bar

April 29th, 2016

Jinya Ramen Bar @ Kerrisdale

Food:  3.5/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $30 person

Jinya Ramen @ the heart of Kerrisdale is their second location in Vancouver.  We have been waiting to try this location since they opened, we saw the long queue each time we drove by which driving me big interest to come a bowl of ramen.  The line up was shorter tonight and the waiting time was around 20 minutes which was not bad.  Unlike other ramen joints, Jinya has more tapas and dishes options.  Ramen wise, I really like the texture of the noodles especially the thick ones, chewy and al dente!  For the Tonkotsu broth, the broth is less rich and flavors compared with other joints.  It was a good news for people who likes less heavy and thick broth.

604 Just Eat: Japanese Cuisine @ Kinome

April 23rd, 2016

Kinome @ Kitsilano

Food:  4/5   Service:  4/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $70 person

Kinome is a very authentic Japanese restaurant in Kitsilano area.  We went to Kinome with our good friends who also love to eat a lot!  When I looked at the food pictures again, it was like we ordered pretty much everything from the menu!  All the izakaya dishes were perfect to go with sake.  Dishes were absolutely delicious and the taste was exactly the same what I had in Japan!  They are very fresh and high quality seafood imported from Japan and fresh ingredients sourced locally.  
Good food and wine with GREAT friends made us a wonderful expereince at Kinome.

604 Just Eat: Canadian/Pacific Northwest Cuisine @ AnnaLena

April 16th, 2016

AnnaLena @ Kitsilano

Food:  4.5/5   Service:  4/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $80 person

Great time @ AnnaLena! We came to AnnaLena for our 2nd wedding anniversary dinner.  We have heard all the buzz about this place and the pictures allover on IG and other social media.  

Food were amazing!  Beautifully plated dishes that taste absolutely outstanding and impressively delicious.  Very innovative and interesting Canadian cuisine with lots of Asian elements into the dishes and wonderfully creative flavors and textures.
** Be sure to make reservations at least a week in advance**

604 Just Eat: Vietnamese Cuisine @ Pho 37

April 10th, 2016

Pho 37 @ Richmond

Food:  4/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  3./5   Price:  Avg. $11/person

Pho 37 is a small pho joint located at Ironwood mall.  We came here for lunch on Sunday and it was packed with people already.  We wait for 15 minutes so it was not bad.
The broth here is MSG free, I was really looking forward to taste the real richness of the beef soup!  We came here mainly for their signature Pho tuan that we have heard lots of raving reviews.  And I agree that Pho Tuan is a MUST EAT at Pho 37!

604 Just Eat: Japanese Cuisine @ Black Rice Izakaya

April 9th , 2016

Black Rice Izakaya @ Yaletown

Food:  3/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $45/person

We have hit to so many izakaya places already so we wanted to look for a new place to try on Saturday night.  We found Black Rice on Zomato and we hesitated a while since there were both good and bad reviews at it.  Black Rice is a Japanese Izakaya restaurant located in Yaletown area.  I was a lil disappointed at the food menu as I expected more izakaya dishes and Black Rice is not a traditional Izakaya.  I think it is operated by Korean, not Japanese.  I like the sake menu, they have a good selection of sake.  Food quality was so so, nothing is impressive.  Price range is on the high side especially the nigiri sushi.  In this price range, I definitely can have some real good authentic sushi at other Japanese restaurants.  The place is great, nice environment and relaxing atmosphere which unlike the typical izakayas.      

604 Just Eat: Cantonese Cafe @ Smart and Save Cafe

April 2nd , 2016

Smart and Save Cafe @ Richmond

Food:  3/5   Service:  3/5   Atmosphere:  2.5/5   Price:  Avg. $7.5/person

I heard some raving comments of Smart and Save Café, specialized in Hong Kong style local street food or snacks.  We decided to check it out on Saturday for late lunch.

We wanted to order the Chinese sticky rice and deep fried prawn paste toast but they were sold out already!  I was mad craving for the HK style fish paste siu mai but again it was sold out too.  OMG it was only 1pm when we got there and I heard these dishes were so good too….  Now I got the idea why granny always said “early birds catch the worm”.  Oh well, I was lil disappointed but there were other food we could try.  We ordered the waffle and the mixed sauce plain rice roll with the HK style milk tea. 

Hong Kong style milk tea @ $2.50

 Pretty good, smooth and tasty but not strong tea flavor enough.

604 Just Eat: Korean Cuisine @ Hanok

March 31st , 2016

Hanok Korean Restaurant @ Richmond

Food:  3/5   Service:  2/5   Atmosphere:  3/5   Price:  Avg. $30/person

Hanok is a Korean Cuisine restaurant located on the "food street", Alexandra Road.  The restaurant is pretty spacious and comfortable seat.  It is a good place to go in a big group and I consider it is one of the "kids friendly" Korean restaurants to go in Richmond.  This was our first time visit to Hanok, we came here in a group of 8.  Food quality was good and standard, portions were generous.  What I like the most was I did not walk out the restaurant with the BBQ smell on my clothes, good air circulation!  The staff were nice and polite but there were not enough servers.  I can see that they tried their best already but it was definitely not a good sign for slow responses and dishes came slow too.  There were two dishes that we ordered actually did not come when we finished all food.  I hope that it was just an exceptional case for us. 

604 Just Eat: Pub Food @ I Darts Color

March 29th , 2016

I Darts Color @ Kitsilano

Food:  3/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $40/person

I Darts Color is located on West Broadway near Vine Street, a new dart pub in Kitsilano area.  One of our friends suggested us to come here for food and drinks, this was my first visit here.  The pub was very spacious and comfortable with lots of fancy dart machines.  I am not a dart lover, so we skipped it for the night.  Usually dart bars and pubs only serve traditional pub food which I am not that interested.  I was surprised that the appys here with lots influences of Asian tastes, very interesting.

We ordered 6 appy samplers and 2 mains.  The appetizers are available on the pub menu but not the mains yet.  We were so lucky to try the mains too when they were not official dishes on the menu!  I forgot to take a picture of the pub menu so I tried to “make up” the name with good description in details.  Lol.

604 Just Eat: Vietnamese Cuisine @ Hoi An Cafe

March 19th , 2016

Hoi An Cafe @ Kensington

Food:  4/5   Service:  4/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $15/person

I have heard a lot of good reviews about Hoi An so we finally decided to come on a  Saturday night.  Hoi An Café is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant located on Victoria Street, across from Tengs grocery market.  It is a small causal cafe, very clean and tidy with great services.  The dishes did not disappointed us, amazingly good!

604 Just Eat: Pacific Northwest Cuisine @ Oru

Jan 24th, 2016

Oru @ Coal Harbor

Food:  2.5/5   Service:  3.5/5   Atmosphere:  4/5   Price:  Avg. $50/person

We picked a few places among the list for Dine out Vancouver and Oru was one of them.  We heard some really good comments on the food as well as the voices of the over priced menu.  Therefore, we decided to go and check it out, see if the dishes really worth it!
We were a bit disappointed at the food quality, probably because we have set a high expectation at Oru.  I did not know whether it was just the dine out; the food was okay but not impressive at all.  It would be overpriced if this is the dish quality for regular menu.  I did not feel this is worth it then.

604 Just Eat: Japanese Cuisine @ Sanpoutei

March 13th , 2016

Ramen @ Richmond

Food:  2.5/5   Service:  3/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $15/person

I needed a bowl of noodles in rich and piping hot soup!  Hubby suggested to go Sanpoutei, he ate once there when I was out of town earlier.  There are a lot of famous and delicious ramen joints in Downtown but not the same story in Richmond.  It was good to know that there is a new ramen joint now!  Sanpoutei is located on No. 3 road, heard the house made noodles was really famous and the lineup is always crazily long.  How could I not visit?!  LOL.  We were there 8ish on a Sunday night and so lucky that we got to sit down after 5 minutes.   

Shoyu Ramen

The noodles was really good, chewy texture but it was not the thick noodles I like the most.  Portion was relatively small compared with other ramen joints.  Chashu was okay, standard quality but not impressive.  The soft boiled egg was not as good as other ramen joints, the yolk was not creamy.  The broth was very thick texture, rich flavors and oily to keep the broth hot enough when I was about to finish it.  It was a lil bit salty to me so I did not drink the soup much but I still felt so thirsty all night after the ramen.  No good.

604 Just Eat: Chinese Cuisine @ Yuan's Shanghai Serendipity Cuisine

March 13th , 2016

Yuan's Shanghai Serendipity Cuisine @ Richmond

Food:  3/5   Service:  3/5   Atmosphere:  3.5/5   Price:  Avg. $30/person

Yuan’s Shanghai Serendipity Cuisine is an authentic Shanghaiese restaurant located on no.3 road.  It was our first time coming to Yuan's.  Inside the restaurant it is very authentic Chinese style with all the wooden furniture and decorations, fancy style.  Other than the signature dishes that you expect in a Shanghaiese cuisine restaurant, they also have a lot of Szechuan dishes on the menu, bold and spicy flavors with lots of garlic and chili peppers.  Their dishes were very rich in flavors, seasonings and sauces which toward to the characteristics of Northern Chinese cuisine.  l can handle mild spicy but I definitely cannot manage the spicy level of the dishes at Yuan's.  I got to drink a lot of tea because of few spicy dishes during the dinner. 

604 Just Eat: French Cuisine @ Absinthe Bistro

March 26th , 2016

Absinthe Bistro @ Grandview

Food:  4.5/5   Service:  4.5/5   Atmosphere:  4.5/5   Price:  Avg. $50/person

Great time at Absinthe Bistro!!!  This little Bistro totally worth the hype.  Absinthe Bistro is a lovely little Bistro on Commercial drive, specialized in blends of classic and French cuisine.  I love this little place,  just like a small cafe we were in Europe.  I love die the interior décor with the casual atmosphere.   We had the window seat which was perfect for the evening.  The price is very reasonable at this excellent food quality, wonderful and attentive service.  Dishes were well prepared and presented.  I fall in love with this little authentic Parisian Bistro.