Tasting Journey #7 - Twisted Fork Bistro

Twisted Fork Bistro
1147 Granville St.
Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1M1
www.twistedforkbistro.ca

Located in downtown Granville, in the area where I could say I'll never have the chance to walk by.  The restaurant is small, yet cozy; Dark, yet friendly.  Apparently, according to their website, the chiefs were former owners of a restaurant that was voted 'Best Resort Restaurant in North America 2003'.  Serving sort of tapas-like French cuisine, Zofia and I ventured out on taste buds by trying out 5 dishes, and their oh-so-fresh mussels.
The seating plan at Twisted Fork was unique.  There were the ordinary table&chairs, and then there were the wooden cubicles.  Shaped in a "ㄇ", Zofia and I sat side-by-side and faced directly at the kitchen (would have been kinda awkward if I didn't know my meal-mate well), .  The cubicle had a 90 degree seat backs, and had seating quite close to the ground (like the type that you would see in a library or public area) so that when looking straight ahead, the horizon of our vision would be below the counter top.   Essentially, we were staring at a stainless steel wall slate.  Interesting.

The construction of the menu was very creative.  Like the name of the restaurant, the menu uses a "twisted fork" as the securing mechanism for the clipboard. The serving speed was also quite fast, much faster than I had anticipated at a French restaurant.   We were so hungry and excited about the food that I had completely forgotten about documenting the foods for my blog until 2 dishes later, and until my stomach had some sense of satisfaction.

Similar to the style of the restaurant, the flavouring was rich, yet simple. If I must complain, I would say that the food could be slightly warmer for the cold Vancouver night.  Of the dishes we tried, I would strongly recommend the 1lb fresh mussels.  Very generously proportioned, it comes in a thick lustrous creme sauce that really complimented the seafood.  The dish also comes with some complimentary buns that acts as the perfect tool to clean up the extra sauce you may have after you're done with the mussels (and without a doubt, you would be so gladly to wipe that dish clean!)

 

So how much are we looking at? $50/person including tips. Not so bad for an awesome night out with an awesome friend on a Friday night eh!?

Tasting Journey #6 - Hapa Umi

Hapa Umi
Waterfront Centre Office Tower
909 West Cordova Street, Vancouver
http://www.hapaumi.com/

Recently opened in March 2011, Hapa Umi is the sister restaurant of Hapa Izakaya. Unlike its sister restaurant (coming off my vague memory from visiting Hapa Izakaya 10+ yrs ago), this place is more like a fusion lounge bar where you can chat (but could be noisy depending on the crowd), and enjoy a well-prepared meal with quality food (of course, you pay for what you get!$$). As this restaurant is located in the heart of coal harbour, the crowd is mostly well-dressed, either in suits or business casual attire; probably guests who work in the area (considering that this is mostly a financial district).  But then again, there are the odd ones like us (luckily I wasn't in my stretchy pants that day) who wanted to take advantage of the deals offered by the Dine Out Vancouver event.

FYI - Dine Out Festival is a 2-week long event that takes place annually where participating restaurants offer set menus priced at $18, $28, and $38 ranges.  It is the largest restaurant festival in Canada, and is a good opportunity and excuse to try out new restaurants!

It was really a bonus dinner for me that day.  I was at work till 6pm and was about to go home when Carol/Karen spontaneously asked if I wanted to join them for Dine Out.  Apparently, they go through the list of participating restaurants every year, carefully reviews all the set menus offered, and lists out the restaurants that they'd like to try out.  Once they see a restaurant of interest, they make a reservation for a random x number of people on a random y day (I'm guessing evenly spread out across the 2 week period).  What I find interesting is that at this point in time, they still have not finalized any guest lists yet, ha.  Once all restaurants are booked, they round up the troops... Isn't it all just amazing!? I guess I lucked out by being at the right place and at the right time! ;) 

Despite all the other amazing dishes listed on the menu, we went ahead with the $38 3-course set menu.  Once we placed our orders, the first thing that the server did was 1) provide each person with a sauce dish, and 2) filled the sauce dish with soy sauce.  Interesting.  I wasn't sure why we were all poured soy sauce since my 3-courses are: Albacore Tuna Tataki, Umi-"Salisbury" Steak, followed by Matcha Mille Fuille for dessert.  Maybe the tuna with soy sauce? hm...maybe not.  None of us touched the sauce for the entire meal.  (I guess some people just felt that since this is a Japanese restaurant, the food's have to be paired with soy sauce?)

The dishes were very "well-dressed", as they were all nicely plated and arranged with decorative sauce & "side stuff".  Tuna Tataki was really well prepared, and was by far, my favourite dish of the night.  The slightly seared edges were crispy, and sprinkled with salt & pepper for added flavour.  The fish was fresh so you can fully enjoy the taste, texture and look of the dish.  Well done!  (the avocado sauce on the side is merely for the looks).  The Salisbury steak was...O..K..A..Y.... to me, it tasted like meat ball - sauteed ground beef, shaped in a ball.  I liked the plumb sauce that complimented the meat.  It offered a great balance to the richness of the meat. All the dishes were of decent quality, with the only disappointment of Karen's dessert - White Sesame Panna Cotta (black sesame ice-cream).  I'm not sure if it was made too early, or if something went wrong with the ice-cream maker, but when the dish was served, it did not look like an ice-cream to me. Rather, it was molten milk shake (left top image below).

   

The dishes at Hapa Umi can be considered delicate, and well-proportioned.  I would consider going their for fine dining for special occasions. (FYI - a california roll is $11, but they probably use real crab meat). I would rate it as a "thumbs-up".

Tasting Journey #5 - Mandala IKI Asian Bistro

Mandala IKI Asian Bistro - 曼陀羅
2394 W 4th Ave, Vancouver, B.C. V6K 1P1
Tel / Fax: (604) 734-3715
Cuisine: Chinese Food, Japanese Sushi
http://www.brownricesushi.com/mandala/index.html


A little info on the word Mandala first....
Mandala - a Sanskrit word that means "circle" often seen in Buddhist & Hindu religion.
曼陀羅 (also the name of the restaurant) - is a type of flower also known as devil's trumpet, devil's weed, thorn apple or Datura stramonium. The entire plant is poisonous, and may be fatal of ingested.

Alexis had recommended that we go for sushi at Mandala's for our next Tasting Journey.  When she first mentioned the place, my first thought was that it did not sound very "Japanese".  This is not to say that it won't be good, but that it could be a contemporary fusion restaurant that offered awesome Japanese food.  The restaurant is located on W. 4th, amongst many other interesting independent restaurants.  I had passed by it many times on my way to work, and had always thought it served south-east asian cuisine given the name was very "buddhist/hindu".

If you were to ask me what type of restaurant this is, I wouldn't know what to say - The atmosphere was zen: bamboo deco's, a buddha statue and some black/white characters on the wall.  Yet at the same time, it had red leather couches, the ones that you would typically find in a western family diner.  In terms of menu selection, Mandala served a wide range of cuisines - from Chinese stir-fry's to sushi bento boxes to Malaysian laksa to Vietnamese pho.  Nothing that showed this is an authentic Japanese restaurant.  I guess if you feel like a bit of everything, this would be the perfect place, but if you don't know what you want, then you could be lost with the wide selections they offer.   

I should've asked Alexis for her recommendations on choices since I am assuming that she is probably a frequent at Mandala's (Alexis could not join as she was under the weather that day :(...)  However, given that she had suggested that we come here for sushi, I decided to stick with Japanese food.

I had the spicy tuna, the agedashi tofu, and the dynamite roll - nothing too adventurous today.  Spicy tuna was extremely spicy.  The tuna were so fully encapsulated in thick coats of chili sauce that I think I probably had lips like Angelina Jolie's afterward haha...As for the tofu, I liked how it remained crunchy despite sitting in the sauce, probably due to the thick fried shell of the tofu (I had to take my time with the spicy tuna).  However, though crispy, the shell was a bit too thick for my liking.   I felt that I was eating a lot of fried batter, and not tofu.  Thick batter or soggy tofu? It's that fine balance that determines a well-made agedashi tofu dish. Dynamite roll was an interesting try...I had ordered brown rice instead of the typical white.  It was my first time trying sushi with brown rice.  I thought I'd go healthy, but like anything healthy, you end up compromising taste, hahat.  This just again validates my theory that unhealthy food typically tend to taste better ^^.   Sushi with brown rice do not as "sticky" nor "sweet".  It did not "melt in your mouth" - my definition of a good sushi.   Claire's vegetarian bento box looked like just like any other bento box you would get anywhere, and as for Zofia's laksa, not a fan of coconut sauce.

From my review above, it sounds like the place isn't very attractive.  However, of the 2 hours at Mandala, I did notice that there is still a constant in-stream of guests (of which, all are none asians...hm....)  The restaurant did serve as a good central location in Kitsilano for talking and hanging out.   So would I come here for sushi? No, but maybe I'll try their pho next time.

Tasting Journey #4 - Judas Goat

Judas Goat

Blood Alley, Gastown  

http://www.judasgoat.ca/


Despite of having lived in Vancouver for 20+ years, the first time of hearing of a street named Blood Alley was ironically introduced to me by a colleague of mine who's only been living in Vancouver for 6 months;  When I was living in Taichung, my coworkers would oftentimes ask me for recommendations on restaurants or places to visit.  I guess it is true that locals tend to stick to the few restaurants that they are familiar with, while visitors are more adventurous in venturing out interesting places.  Given the mentality that you will not be staying in the same city forever, you have the motivation to get as much out of it in as little time as possible.

Judas Goat is definitely one of those interesting places.  Although located in the beautiful area of Gastown, the restaurant is hidden away in the street behind.  Blood Alley does not have the same beautiful European street lights, nor red brick buildings.  Rather, it felt more like a back alley where homeless people find corners to rest.  We saw people walking through the street, but mostly in pairs, quickly with a destination in mind.  It's not a sketchy place, but I would not feel comfortable striding down this street everyday at night by myself.  The restaurant, however, is completely a different story.

Judas Goat fits approximately 20 people. The atmosphere is more like a deli than a restaurant where all tables are tall, and with high chairs.  Walking into the restaurant, the first thing you see is the counter where all the food is prepared.  Most of the seats were reserved (well, it is a Friday night), we were seated by the window.  Though this type of seating made it difficult to talk face-to-face, it was nice to be able to look out the window.  I've always liked sitting by the window and observing people as they walk by despite the minimal traffic in a back alley.

The weather has been extremely cold the last few days.  So to start off our meal, we each ordered a glass of wine to warm up. Looking at the selection, there weren't too many "warm" food.  They were mostly like hors d'oeuvres or 懷石料理, perfect for us to try many different dishes.  Portions are not huge, therefore we ended up sharing 9 dishes.  My favourite is the cacciatori (first image below);  The spanish cheese also well complimented the cured meat; Mussles were tasty, and so were the pork & chard empanada.

The crowd started picking up around 7pm, and by 8pm, the entire restaurant was packed.  Despite the popularity, I was surprised that there were no guests waiting in line for a table.  I guess considering the location of this restaurant, I wouldn't be surprised if all of these guests are frequent visitors who knew they had to make a reservation in advance to get a seat.  I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant - cozy yet contemporary.  However, one thing that did slightly bother me was the noise level.  As the evening progressed (and possibly after everyone had a few round of drinks), I had to talk louder and louder to be heard, and to also have to slightly read lips to hear.  Definitely not the place if you are looking for a deep conversation, but highly recommended as a place to start your weekend.

How much does it cost? Less the wine, I would say we are looking at an approximate $36/person. Definitely needed to order the Polenta dish as a filler.

Tasting Journey #3 - Shota Sushi & Grill

Shota sushi
5688 Yew Street

Located in the heart of Kerrisdale, I would say Shota sushi is one of my favourite Japanese restaurant.  The restaurant is on a side street, tucked away from the bustling W.41st Ave which allows for a cozy ambient.  It offers quite a wide range of selection, from sushi to grill to soup noodle, and to fushion.  I would say that the dishes are considered expensive when compared to the over abundance of sushi restaurants in town, but it is definitely worth it for the quality.  If you are looking for something filling and big-portioned, then this is probably not the place to go. However, if you are looking for a fine dining, taste bud adventure, then this is the place.  Undeniably, this is one of the places where "you get what you pay for".

I've never really been fond of raw oysters because of the portion, and the texture. However, I have to admit that this dish is extremely well done.  I like how they had offered the "baby" oyster since I feel that I would have probably easily been grossed out if it were just a tad bit larger.  The sauce & the lemon was also perfectly blended so that all I could taste was the freshness of the oyster. None of those "gum chewy" texture, nor "fishy" after-taste.

Next came the spicy tuna sashimi.  Again, Shota amazed me.  I've had many many spicy tuna sashimi dishes in the past, but there's something about this dish that just completely brought this to a whole new level.  First off, unlike many other typical dishes where they simply squirt a thick red hot spicy paste of chili sauce (hence the spicy tuna), the tuna was decorated with sprinkles of furikake's. The crispiness & the slight sweet & salty texture mashed perfected with the tuna.  In addition, the chili sauce used is probably (I'm guessing), some type of spicy oil which surprisingly makes the dish much lighter to the taste.  Without a doubt, I can definitely eat an entire dish myself, and not feel disgusted.  Completely amazed by the quality of this dish, I am tempted to make some myself someday... shouldn't be too hard right? haha... ;)

 Next came the Flamed Salmon Sushi.  It was not what I was expecting. Rather than a slightly grilled salmon sashimi placed on a dough of vinegar-ed rice, the dish was actually a thin slice of grilled salmon skin on rice. The skin was crispy, and well marinated.  However, the smell of the charcoal was so strong that I felt my clothes were tainted with the BBQ smell even just after 1 piece. All of us concluded that it was probably over-done.  Though good, and worth trying, it probably won't be on my list to order next time. (Did I mention that I'm also not a fan of fish skin? well, that's another story...) 

I would say that the portions at Shota is "delicate" (aka not large), and so we've also ordered a "filler" dish for our stomach - Spider roll.  Nothing out of the ordinary, soft shell crab with masago and avocado.
Next came the prawn tempura. It is a well-fried dish, but like many other places, it is just prawn tempura.  One twist to this ordinary dish though, is that Shota added a "rose salt" dip on the side.  Very interesting combination.  Rose salt was not a 1-dimensional salty condiment, like our standard table salt.  It had a "rosey" aroma to it...almost a sweetness to it as well.  I wasn't sure what the proper way of incorporating this salt is since I've never found prawn tempura dish to be blend in taste, nor have I found a need to make it "saltier".  What I ended up doing was dipping the prawn in the tempura sauce, then sprinkling some rose salt on top of it for additional flavouring. The increase in texture was subtle, but noticeable.  

Lastly was the seaweed salad. It was awkward that they had served the salad last. Maybe they had just forgotten.  Thankfully, Shota's speed with serving has been fairly quick, so it wasn't like we had fully digested and was too full to even eat the salad by the time it arrived.  Nothing extraordinary, but I guess it was a refreshing compliment to the deep fried spider roll and prawn tempura.



My conclusion? I would highly recommend dining at this restaurant if you haven't blown your monthly budget, or if you happened to find some extra cash in your winter coat.  Treat yourself to a nice meal, especially on this cold Christmas night! :)

Tasting Journey #2 - Ramen Sanpachi

It's 7pm after work, and it's freezing cold outside. I have a craving for something warm and soupy.  Last night, I had attempted to make my all-time-favourite congee, and thought that this could be the perfect dinner.  Called my mom on the way home to ask her to heat it up so that it'd be ready and waiting for me as soon as I got home.  My mom's exact words, "it REALLY doesn't look that great..." Trusting my mom's response since she's not a picky eater, I told her I'll just have it for lunch tomorrow, and convinced her that we should just dine out.  Didn't take much convincing though (I guess she really didn't want to have any of my failed congee either).

 So we thought we'd try a new place somewhere on Broadway.  I remember walking on Broadway one fine summer day (seems ages ago!) and noticing all the new restaurants that have opened up.  My mom & I had agreed that we would one day try all of them.  This is our chance. 

Ramen Sanpachi - 3132 West Broadway

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/1573443/restaurant/Kitsilano/Ramen-Sanpachi-Broadway-Vancouver#all_reviews

Ramen Sanpachi a chain store from Sapporo, Japan. 
With over 90 stores in the world (70 of them in Japan), they opened in Vancouver beginning of this year.  They are famous for their miso ramen (since they're from Hokkaido of course!).

 
As soon as you walk in the restaurant, there is a sense of cozyness and warmth in the air.   The atmosphere is great, and the vibe was just right.  This would be the perfect place for family dining.

The restaurant is probably 70% full.  This is actually quite good, considering that today is only Wednesday.  My mom and I ordered a few items to share, and while we waited for the food to arrive, the waitress greeted us politely. Great service.

Looking at the menu, I am inclined to think that this is the Japanese version of western "comfort food".  Unlike most other ramen places, this place serves ramen as its entree, yet also offers a few other dishes such as curry rice, and a few basic sushi rolls (ex. dynamite, spicy tuna, avocado roll..etc).  I thought this is quite a smart strategy since when you dine in a group, not everyone has the same craving for ramen.  So this offers a bit more options and are more inclined to attract customers.

First dish that arrived was the tonkotsu ramen.  I was just too hungry so I completely forgot about logging my food...
When "evaluating" the quality of ramen places, I always order tonkotsu.  Why? Just because it's my favourite type of ramen.  No particular reason, haha... Its broth is quite thick & creamy.  A bit too rich to my liking.  The portion was just right, but it lacks in topping.  Unlike the photo in the menu, it only had 3 scarce pieces of thinly sliced chashu, and 2 pieces of bamboo shoots.  Comparing this place to Santouka Ramen, also a chain store from Hokkaido, I would definitely vote for Santouka (if you dont' mind the long line-ups & the difficult parking situation in downtown).

With that said came our second dish - ika karaage (fried calamari).
It wasn't crispy, but it was decent.  I also liked how it came with the mayo dipping sauce instead of the tartar sauce that we typically get with fish 'n chips.  Nothing too mind-blowing in this dish, so there's nothing worth writing about.
Next came the dynamite rolls.  It definitely was no typical dynamite roll, sadly. The roll (diameter) was small - like the size of what we see in a california roll.  The nori is also wrapped on the outside instead of the rice.  Both the taste and texture of the roll was blend.  If I had not seen the deep-fried shrimp tail, I would not have known that the shrimp was tempura'd. Again, a slight disappointment here...

Next - This is what they called Mayo Rice.  It is minced chashu mixed with mayo, served on top of rice rolled up in nori.

I'm not a big fan of eating mayo in large dose (feels like spooning salad oil into my mouth, but that's another story). 

Quite an easy dish to make, but my mom thought that this was better than both of the previous 2 dishes. Not sure if I'd totally agree, but one thing for sure was that it wasn't blend tasting (the flavour of the mayo was strong)...

Last dish that arrived was the grilled pork ribs. The sauce was spicy and thick.  It's pretty tastey, but not something I would expect to have in a Japanese restaurant. The meat was tender and juicy and I was happily enjoying it until I started noticing that the meat might not be fully cooked (and maybe that's why it's still so tender & juicy?).  I showed it to the waitress who then showed it to the chief.  She came back saying that it is indeed fully cooked (despite i was having trouble separating the meat from the bone), but wanted to know if I would prefer to eat something else instead.  I said it was fine.  I was too full to order anything else anyways.

All-in-all, I wasn't blown away by the quality nor the taste of the food.  The service was great, and the people were friendly.  Although the portions are quite small, the food is not considered pricy (This dinner was $30). I would say, GO - for the atmosphere; GO - if you're looking for a nice cozy place to chill out at; GO - if you don't have crazy for sushi...; maybe just go for a drink? ;)

Tasting Journey #1 - Campagnolo

October 13, 2011 - 18:00

http://www.campagnolorestaurant.ca/

I've been looking forward to this day ever since I wrote this down as one of my 1-year personal goal.
To help achieve this goal, Zofia and I decided to start a restaurant club at work where we would meet every 3 weeks or so and try out new restaurants located in Vancouver.

Campagnolo is located near the train station (Main/Terminal) near a bunch of areas that are currently under construction. I've driven past that area a million times, but I don't think you would notice the restaurant unless you were on foot.
As soon as I walked in, I was surprised by how spacious the restaurant is.  The layout of the restaurant is quite interesting; The kitchen is located right in the centre of the restaurant, with big open spaces for tables on either ends of the restaurant.

For appetizers, we ordered Crispy Ceci (left) & Crostini (right). Crispy Ceci is by far, the best dish for the entire night. It is made of fried chick peas tossed with spinach, chili and some type of citrus sauce.  The chick peas were crispy and was really really good!  Crostini is chicken liver pate. Look at the size of the pate jar! We had to apply a very generous amount of chicken liver per bread, to even use up half of what's provided...and that threw the balance of the cripy bread-pate ratio off....

Rigatoni is what I had tonight.  This is a dish made of braised rabbit ragu mixed with pork, corn, and pasta, all topped off with a creamy sauce.
This is my first time trying rabbit meat. I was a bit hesitant at first, as rabbits are just too cute to be considered a food. Then I thought to myself, have I lost my adventurous spirit? Int he past, I did not think twice to try raw horse, whale or even bat! why am I now hesitant to try rabbit? It is a delicacy afterall isn't it? Anyways, so I tried it. Had I not known that it was rabbit, I would've guessed that the meat is a piece of very well salted pork! Though tastey, I'm still not a big fan of eating cuddly, furry friends, so you probably wouldn't see me splurge over rabbit meat anytime soon...

Lasagna was what Zofia had ordered tonight. It was rich in flavour, extremely tasty, but a bit too salty to my liking. At the end of the meal, Zofia provided the feedback to the waitress (not as a complaint, but as a feedback with good intention since we both felt it was too salty). The chief actually gave her a 40% discount on the dish! Pretty good service, I'd say!

Romano Pizza. I didn't try it, but it looked delicious. Minimal cheese as topping, the pizza had bright red tomato sauce, and lots of juicy looking olives. Portions are huge as well. It's interesting that they cut the pizza in 4's, and not in 8's. It was funny watching Michelle stuff such a huge slice in her mouth.
As we stood up to leave, I did notice that many of the other guests all ordered pizza. Definitely something I'd like to try next time if I do go back.

All in all, I really enjoyed dinner tonight. I liked how we got the chance to enjoy food and the opportunity to just converse casually. It's nice not to have to talk about work 24/7. I'm really looking forward to our next tastey journey!