Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

If you're a local Vancouverite, then this probably won't come as news to you. It turns out that the West End (by Robson St and Denman St) of the city is ramen central! There are about 4 to 5 different ramen joints within a very short walking distance (some even directly across the street from each other).

For those of you who are not familiar with Santouka -- the restaurant first originated in Hokkaido, Japan, and has since expanded to various locations around the world. The momentum behind its quick expansion was largely a result of the popularity of their Shio Ramen (which was actually the only item on their menu) when they first opened for business. I've been to the Santouka in Toronto (one of my favourite ramen places), but I wanted to try this one out to test their consistency in quality. For me, consistency in quality plays a big role in how I rate a chain restaurant.

When we first got there, it seemed like there was going to be quite a bit of a wait. Lucky for us, they have a very efficient system going on. The waiters take your order before you are even seated! I can see how this might rub some people the wrong way. But, for me - I don't go to eat ramen for the ambiance, so this was A-OK with me. Two thumbs up for efficiency! The restaurant isn't too spacious and most of the tables are meant for shared seating. I don't mind getting cozy. 

I ordered their specialty; white tonkotsu soup ramen - the Shio Ramen. Sameer decided to go with the Spicy Miso Ramen

Shio Ramen

Spicy Miso Ramen

We each ordered a Hanjuku tamago (seasoned soft-boiled egg) to have with our ramen. (Almost) everything tastes better with an egg. 

So, let me start off by saying that this Santouka was just as good as the one I've tried in Toronto. Everything from the soup base, to the meat, to the noodles ... and even the egg tasted great! The soup (especially the Shio one) was very creamy, flavourful, and aromatic ... but, not too salty. I loved the texture of the ramen noodles - they were chewy, without being too tough or hard. The pork slices were soft, with a relatively thin lining of fat. I don't like it when there is too much fat or if there is no fat at all. I would've liked it if the slices were a little bit thicker and if there was a bit more meat in the bowl. THE EGG! On their website, they describe the texture of the egg to be "viscous". I would say that they were pretty accurate in their word choice. I find that the best way to enjoy the egg is to first immerse it into the soup. Since the egg yolk isn't too runny, the yolk is able to stay in place while soaking up the soup. 

Cynthia Approved Ramen Rating (CARR*)

*Percentage weight of each factor in calculating the total CARR: Toppings - 10%; Meat - 15%; Broth - 20%; Noodles - 20%; Presentation - 5%; and Overall Taste - 30%. 

Toppings - 4/5

Meat - 3.5/5 
Broth - 5/5
Noodles - 5/5 
Presentation - 3.5/5 
Overall taste - 4.5/5

X(perience) Factor** - 2/2

**Click for explanation (scroll to the bottom of post)

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka gets a CARR of 91.0%

Hollywood Cafe

Hollywood Cafe was at the top of our list of breakfast/brunch places to try in San Francisco. The restaurant is located just a couple of blocks south of Fisherman's Wharf by the intersection of North Point St and Taylor St. Many of the reviews that I read on Yelp said that this place was "one of the best breakfast places in San Francisco". Only one way to find out ...

We got here fairly late in the morning that day, but there was still a lineup outside. We were told that there is always a line up outside. 

Luckily for us, we were the only party of two in the lineup and a table for two just so happened to free up inside the restaurant. The inside was very cozy and the walls are decorated with pictures of classic Hollywood stars.

We started with two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. A bit pricy, but I would highly recommend it.

Although their Breakfast Specials (James Dean, Clark Gable, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe) were very tempting, we ordered two plates of their classics to shares: Old Favorite Eggs and Eggs Benedict with Salmon and Shrimp.

Old Favorite Eggs - Two sunny-side up eggs with sauteed mushrooms.

Eggs Benedict with Salmon and Shrimp.

The food was good - nothing amazing, but solid overall. We didn't have any specific complaints, but both agreed that it wasn't worth the lineup. My favourite part of the meal was probably the large capers and fresh cherries that were served on the side of the plate. 

Meet in Gastown

I am so behind on my food posts! That's part of the reason why I will be keeping this one fairly short. Just wanted to put that out there before I get started.

Meet in Gastown - probably best described as a restaurant where casual comfort meets modern hipsterness (I think I made that word up).

I first stumbled across this place by accident when I was wandering around in Gastown trying to find a place to have dinner. Although the address of the restaurant is on Water Street, the actual spot is a bit tucked away inside a corridor. The restaurant's inconspicuous location makes it a good place for a quiet and cozy meal. I am definitely a fan, even though the "patio" only offers glimpses of sunshine.

I came here with Cory (almost 3 weeks ago now) for dinner on a Thursday night. There was a good flow of people going in and out, but it wasn't too busy. I will confess that I didn't know much about the restaurant before coming. Neither Cory or I realized that the restaurant was known for its gluten-free and vegan menu selections. I've actually never been to a completely gluten-free / vegan restaurant. I guess there is a first for everything! 

Knowing my preferences, I (obviously) ordered their Mac N' Cheese .. with the add-on of chili!

Mac N' Cheese with chili.

Their Mac N' Cheese is made with their vegan cashew cheez sauce, scallions and smoked salt. I had a choice of brown rice macaroni or wheat penne. I picked brown rice macaroni. It actually bothers me when mac and cheese is not made with macaroni! How can it be "mac" and cheese ... 

And truth be told, it was actually very tasty! I will refrain from giving it a CAMCR (Cynthia Approved Mac and Cheese Rating) because although it tasted good, it didn't quite resemble your typical mac and cheese. It was more of a chili mac, if anything. I couldn't really make out the cashew cheez very well, so it's hard for me to comment on how it stacks up with real cheese. 

I do plan on coming back and trying their house chili though. I saw several people around me ordering it and it looked like straight comfort in a bowl. 

Miku

If you are a Vancouverite, then chances are you've already heard all about Miku. For my Toronto friends, chances are you've heard about Miku too (seeing that they opened up a location in Toronto relatively recently).

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about ...

First of all, "miku" translates to "beautiful sky" in Japanese.

Miku is an upscale, Japanese restaurant located downtown Vancouver. The location is conveniently situated alongside the waterfront, next to Canada Place and is commonly known as one of the best Japanese restaurants in Vancouver. Miku's location is prime as it offers its diners a beautiful view of the North Shore mountains. The view would be significantly better if it wasn't partially obstructed by some hideous orange cranes on the nearby loading dock ... but, I guess that's not the restaurant's fault!  The restaurant prides itself on its focus on sustainability and its commitment to its corporate philosophy of Ningemni. Ningemni translates to "finding a joy in your life by bringing one to others". This ideology really comes through from their lively ambiance, vibrant artwork, and friendly restaurant staff. Above all, Miku is most well-known for their gourmet Aburi cuisine. Their Aburi-style sushi (aka pressed sushi) is prepared using their famous flame-seared technique and signature sauces.

I have been to Miku twice since I moved to Vancouver - once for lunch and once for dinner. The Sashimi Lunch special I had for lunch was good, but not amazing. I wouldn't  recommend coming to Miku if all you are interested in having is regular sashimi or (nigiri) sushi. There are many other spots in Vancouver that serve high-quality sashimi and nigiri in larger quantities and at a more reasonable prices.

Their Aburi sushi, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. I had a much better dinner experience at Miku. Note: you can also order Aburi sushi at lunch ... I just didn't order it when I went for lunch that time. Sameer and I went to Miku for dinner a couple of Sundays ago. It wasn't planned, so we didn't have reservations. It was about 7 pm at the time and we were told that the wait for a table with be around 45 min to an hour. Luckily, there was only a 5-10 min wait if we wanted to sit at the bar. And ... that's what we decided to do.

Our view from our bar seats.

We asked our waiter to recommend an appetizer and he suggested the Aburi Beef Carpaccio without hesitation. I was sold after he told us that it came with an egg in the middle. From the Aburi Oshi Sushi list, he recommended the Salmon Oshi Sushi and the Ebi Oshi Sushi. He said that although Salmon is always the crowd favourite, he personally liked the Ebi one best. From his descriptions, we went with two orders of the Salmon Oshi Sushi and one order of the Ebi Oshi Suhi. Each order comes with six pieces. 

Aburi Beef Carpaccio.

The Aburi Beef Carpaccio was absolutely delectable. It reminded me of the Butter Beef at Phnom Penh (minus the cilantro) - just as tender and flavourful. The carpaccio was prepared with sterling silver AAA short ribs and topped with a bed of organic baby greens, slivers of Asian pear, and a beautiful 64-degree organic egg. The dark sauce (as you can see in the picture) is jalapeno-garlic ponzu and the green dollops on the corners are pickled wasabi. I liked everything about this dish - from the beef itself ... to the tangy ponzu ... to the kick added by the pickled wasabi. At $19.50 per plate, it is on the pricier side, but totally worth it in my opinion!

Fun fact #1: Ponzu is a citrus-based Japanese sauce. 

Fun fact #2: A 64-degree egg is an egg that's slow-cooked in its shell in 64 degrees Celsius water for about 45 min. Cooking the egg in water at this temperature gives the egg yolk and egg white a certain desired consistency. Once the egg is ready to be served, it must be removed from its shell under a water bath in order to prevent stress and damage to the egg's shape.

 

Salmon Oshi Sushi (top and bottom); Ebi Oshi Sushi (line in the middle).

Melt-in-your-mouth - best description of the sushi that I can think of. The fish and prawns at the top of the sushi was perfectly blow-torched and so sooo tender and juicy. Blow-torching creates this effect, as the heat helps to melt down the fat. The Salmon Oshi Sushi was made with pressed BC Sockeye Salmon, topped with adorable mini slices of jalapeno, and finished with Miku's special sauce. The Ebi Oshi Sushi was topped with lime zest and finished with ume sauce. I loved the pairing of jalapeno with the salmon and lime zest with the prawns. The jalapeno brought out the freshness in the salmon and the tanginess of the lime zest and ume sauce brought out hints of sweetness in the prawns.

Fun fact #3: Ume sauce is a tart Japanese dressing that is concocted using pickled plums.

Fun fact #4: My research tells me that Miku's special sauce is French-inspired and takes the form of a browned, yolky, house-made mayonnaise. 

As I mentioned above, if you're just looking to have some standard sashimi or sushi to satisfy a craving for Japanese food, Miku may not be the best place to go. However, if you're looking to really satisfy your taste buds and try something new ... the Aburi sushi at Miku is a must try!!!

Sal y Limon

Sal y Limon is located in the heart of the Mount Pleasant community, right by Kingsway and Fraser St. I have passed by this restaurant so many times on my way downtown and have heard great things about their tacos from a number of people.

Sal y Limon translates directly to "salt and lime" - how fitting for a Mexican restaurant! The joint is co-owned by two couples - Carolina & Sebastien and Adriana and Pepe. The restaurant is well-known for its authentic Mexican cuisine and exuberant wall decor. As you can tell from the picture below, the interior walls play host to a colourful display of artwork by Mexican artists. They also have a small area towards the back that is designed as a play area for children (so yes, I would categorize the restaurant as being "kid friendly"). I loved the bright colours and openness of the seating area.

I am told that the place has been renovated relatively recently and wasn't always like this.

You order your food up at the front and then wait at your table for them to bring out your food. There is a stack of menus at the front where you place your order. Luckily, it wasn't that busy when we (Sameer and I) were there because I took me quite a while to navigate through the menu. We came here this past Sunday for a late lunch. There was a steady of flow of customers going in and out, but overall, it wasn't too busy.

They had this trophy proudly showcased on their front counter.

In case you are wondering (because I wondered too) ... Taco Wars is a series of episodes from the show Best in Chow from the Cooking Channel. The show features Chris Nannarone, a standup comedian, who travels to different cities and tries different restaurants in search of the best burger, pizza, taco, etc.

Now back to the food ...

We ordered the Shrimp Ceviche (it's a weekend special) and 6 tacos:

- 1 beef tongue
- 1 beef
- 1 pollo pibil (slow roasted chicken breast)
- 1 fish
- 1 cochinita (slow roasted pork)
- 1 chorizo (pork sausage)

Pretty reasonably priced ... me likey!

There was hardly any wait for the food ... which is always a plus for forever-hungry-Cynthia!

Shrimp Ceviche

The Shrimp Ceviche was yummy. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of shrimp that came with it. You can't tell by the picture because they're all buried underneath the surface. The shrimp  was pretty fresh and well-textured. I always enjoy the limey tang of ceviche. My only critcism would be that it could've come with more tortilla chips. We had to finish the remainder of the ceviche with a spoon after we ran out of chip for dipping.

From the top, going clockwise - Beef tongue, pollo pibil, and fish.

From the top, going clockwise - Chorizo, beef, and cochinita.
Note: these tacos were stripped of cilantro because Sameer is not a fan.

The tacos were delicious. The tacos were made from two soft corn tortillas stacked directly on top of each other, with no shortage of meat on top. The meat was very juicy and tender (likely due to the slow roasting). I would give the marination two thumbs up.

I especially liked the variety of salsa there was to choose from: avocado, chunky, arbol, chipotle, peanut, chef, jalapeno, diabla, and sweet diabla. The salsa are all spicy, ranging from 1 to 3 chili peppers. I secretly wanted to try them all, but I didn't want to over do it. We decided to go with avocado, chipotle, and peanut (all of which tasted fantastic). 

We gobbled up everything in a fury, including any over-spillage of meat that might have escaped from the taco. I really like the whole atmosphere of the restaurant, friendliness of the staff, and the authenticity of the food. Needless to say, I will definitely be coming back.

Honourable mention:

This is a random observation that is not food-related. They have beautiful bathroom sinks! Fits in very well with their Mexican artwork decor.

Burgoo

Burgoo. What a cute name??? I've wanted to try this place out ever since I drove by it on Main Street the first time.  I've since learned that there are two other locations in Vancouver - one on West 4th and one on Londsdale Avenue, in North Van. "Burgoo" sounds like a fictional baby-talk term. However, Google and Wikipedia tell me otherwise. Apparently, "burgoo" refers to a type of thick stew, often prepared communally as a social gathering.

The restaurant's slogan is, "food for comfort". Their menu seems to say the same thing. I recently read a Daily Hive article titled, "101 things to eat and drink in Vancouver before you die"...

"82. Mac and Cheese at Burgoo
Beloved for their comfort foods, Burgoo's Mac and Cheese always gets top nods for being among the best in the city."

MAC AND CHEESE??? BEST IN THE CITY??? YES PLEASE. (Yes, the capitalization and punctuation is absolutely necessary to properly convey my level of excitement.)

Sameer and I came here this past Sunday for a late lunch and was lucky enough to score a seat on the patio. It was already 3 pm by the time we still had to wait about 15 min to be seated. As usual, I was famished by the time we were seated. Luckily, I didn't have to waste any time deciding what to order ... because MAC AND CHEESE. I took a sneak peek at their menu anyway, just to see what other yummy selections they had to offer.

I made a mental note of the items I wanted to try on my next visit: Jambalaya, Chicken Pot Pie, Beef Bourguignon, Burgoo Biscuits, and Queso Fundido ... to name a few. And that's obviously subject to me being able to restrain myself from ordering the Mac and Cheese again.

Our waitress told us right off the bat that all of their cheese dishes were very popular. This made me very happy. I proudly ordered the Mac and Cheese and a Caesar (because why not? And because they have $6 Caesar specials on Sundays!). Sameer ordered the El Cubano Sandwich that was stuffed with braised pulled pork, spicy Capicollo ham, mix cheese, grainy mustard, and garlic pickle relish. It also came with a side of kale salad.

El Cubano Sandwich

I took a couple of bites of his sandwich to try it out. The meat was very flavourful and soft and the sandwich was good overall ... but didn't come close to my  Mac and Cheese.

Mac and Cheese - star of the show!

My Mac and Cheese was piping hot and fresh out of the oven ... just the way I like it! I like having Mac and Cheese while it's H-O-T (hot to the point where you could burn your tongue if you're not careful). That way, the cheese is ooey gooey and melted just right. This Mac and Cheese was loaded with aged white Cheddar; simple and classic. A common criticism I have for mac and cheese is that it's dry or it doesn't have enough cheese. The macaroni here was soft and very moist, but not mushy. There was just the right amount of cheese and the taste of cheddar was not too overpowering. I also loved that they had bottles of Sriracha sauce readily available. If you are a fan of mac and cheese, please do yourself a favour and try this one!

Cynthia Approved Mac and Cheese Rating (CAMCR*)

*Percentage weight of each factor in calculating the total CAMCR - Macaroni 20%; Cheese - 30%; Presentation - 5%; and Overall Taste - 45%.

Category: Gourmet**/Classic? - Classic

**Note: Toppings/Ingredients would have been a factor if it was categorized as "Gourmet".

Macaroni - 4/5

Cheese - 5/5

Presentation - 3.5/5

Overall Taste 4.5/5

X(perience) Factor*** - 2/2

***Click here (and scroll down to the bottom) for an explanation.

Burgoo gets a CAMCR of 92.0%

Tableau Bar Bistro

This post is long overdue considering that I came to this restaurant about a month ago. My friend Cory and I decided to try Tableau Bar Bistro for dinner on a rainy Thursday night. The restaurant is located downtown Vancouver, just west of Thurlow Street, on Melville, and is connected to a boutique hotel (Loden Hotel).

Since it was raining fairly hard that day, I didn't take a picture of the entrance to avoid being outside for longer than required.

From doing some quick research on the restaurant, I discovered that Tableau and Homer St. Cafe share the same executive chef - Chef Marc-Andre Choquette. Chef Choquette is well-known for his extensive training in French classical haute cuisine. Seeing that I had a fairly pleasant experience at Homer St. Cafe several months ago, I was excited to see what Tableau had to offer. Unlike Homer St. Cafe's focus on offering upscale comfort food, Tableau's menu features classic French bistro fare prepared from locally sourced and seasonal ingredients.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated with dark tones, wood-framed furniture and black and white square tiles. It gave off a very classic vibe with a hint of French charm (but not so much that it was overbearing). There was an Escargot Special on the day that we went. The dish was only $5, so it was a "must order" for me. I was a little torn on what to order for my entree, so I defaulted to asking our waiter for his favourites on the menu. I find that this always works in my favour. He suggested the Steelhead Trout without any hesitation ... so that's what I went with!

Escargot on special

The escargots were so delicious, to say the least. This was my first time having escargots prepared in a cream sauce ... and I loved it! The sauce was a tomato-based cream sauce that paired very well with the escargots. The dish was served with chopped potatoes, blistered orange tomatoes and BC morel mushrooms (which I thought were sea cucumbers at first) and garnished with a sprig of parsley. The escargots were quite size-able and the texture was soft and chewy. Two thumbs up!

Steelhead Trout

The trout was served over a medley of quinoa, almonds, dill, and capers with lemon yogurt sauce on the side. I'm always reluctant to order fish at restaurants because I've had too many experiences where the fish was overcooked (and we all know that overcooked fish ruins everything). The waiter was not wrong to recommend this one though! The trout was perfectly cooked and the skin was delightfully crispy. The lemon yogurt was probably my favourite part. It gave the fish even more moisture and served as a good "adhesive" for the quinoa mix. I did notice that the trout looked and tasted eerily similar to salmon.

Fun fact (that I discovered afterward): Steelhead Trout actually belong to the same family of fish (Salmonidea) as Salmon. 

Overall, I had a very pleasant dining experience. The service was good - our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu (he was the one who identified the BC morel mushrooms). The ambiance was charming and comfortable. Since I was here last, I've heard a lot of good things about the restaurant's brunch menu. So, it looks like I'll have to pay another visit sometime soon!