Saturday 31 May 2014

Kanpeki Teppanyaki Restaurant


Our chef was very shy.  She repeated herself multiple times asking us not to take pictures of her.  Mmm..Given her job as a teppanyaki chef, she should have expected that people will take pictures.  At one point, she asked us to show her our pictures to make sure that she was not in them.

Lobster Miso soup 2/5 - Little to no lobster meat.  I remembered we each got a claw when I was here last time.  The soup was not too salty or water but nothing memorable neither.

Scallop 2.5/5 - It would considered it the best part of the meal.  It was on the smaller side but at least it wasn't overcooked.
Black cod 1.5/5 - Bland and not fresh and the outside wasn't crispy or anything.  The darker colour was from the sauce.
Chicken 2/5 - 3 pieces of chicken were fine.  Nothing was wrong with it.  I could make it as good as if not better.

Beef 1.5/5 - Who would expect 1 slice of beef??! Nothing much could go wrong with this already.  Too bad she didn't know what rare to medium rare meant.

Vegetables 2/5 - She was trying to do tricks (not really) and patterns with them.  Sitting on the grill too long made them looked brown and overcooked.

Fried Rice and Noodles 1/5 - They used to prepare this in front of you.  Our chef said she had to leave because the next table is waiting for her.  Mmm..Our server also told us that we got half fried rice and half noodles so that we could have a taste of both.  Nobody asked us if we want that.  The rice and noodles were also cold.  They had been sitting for at least 20 minutes.  (You can also see my empty glass.)

Lobster Tail 0.5/5 - Frozen baby lobster tails.  We were told that they were serving fresh lobsters.  They arrived after the rice and noodles because our server told us that they were preparing the lobsters.  What a joke.  The lobsters were small, no fresh, and overcooked.  I would rather not have any.

Ice-cream 1.5/5 - We only had a choice between green tea or coconut.  It used to have vanilla and mango too.  Our server miscounted and she had to take one of our ice-cream back.  Was she going to put in back to the freezer and serve it to somebody else??

Our dinner was $35 but sorry I still wouldn't go back because of the amount of food.  I could listed out what I had the entire meal: 1 piece of scallop, 1 piece of cod, 3 pieces of chicken breast, 1 slice of beef, vegetables, one baby lobster tail, and cold pre-made noodles and fried rice.

Service 1/5 - Very unacceptable.  There were 3-4 chefs (none of them were Japanese) and 1 server who served appies, drinks, and cleaned.  I understand that our server was the only server in this restaurant.  However, it wasn't appropriate to ask the customers stop ordering her around.  She told me that she had too much work waiting for her.  You can complain it to your boss but not to your customers.  Being busy wasn't a good enough excuse.  At the end she was okay after we tipped her but that was not the right way to do.  There wasn't even a show.  We weren't there for a groupon neither.  The biggest problem was not the wait; it was more about the attitude.  None of them were enjoying their job.  This place used to be okay (3/5) when I came here last year.  Our chef was funny and he played some tricks with us.  

Kanpeki Teppanyaki Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Sunday 25 May 2014

Kamamarui Ramen & Don

*especially written for MissVancouverPiggy*

Tonkotsu Ramen $9 3/5

Noodles - harder than average ramen. I like hard nodes and didn't find them overly hard.  However, my friend said it was too hard for him.
Meat - 2 thick pieces of sliced pork.  Too bad they were pan-fried and overcooked.  At first, I thought the Tonkotsu Ramen might not come with meat because the Chashu Ramen says (+2 slices of pork).
Soup - Less than 1/2 filled.  Not sure if it was their style or they were just mean.  The menu says half size ramen soup for $2.  The soup was bland which made me try the 3 sauces on the side (spicy sauce, ramen sauce, and chill oil)


Spicy Sauce - same as Dou Ban Jiang (chill bean sauce)
Ramen Sauce - more like a garlic sauce
Chili Oil - spicy oil but not much flavour
At the end, I decided to go back to the spicy sauce.


Bomb (combo +$1.5) 4.5/5 - 2 rice balls instead of 1.  Loaded with lots of seaweed.  You will like this if you like seaweed.  The rice was too moist.  I would give this a 5 if they were roasted.


Buta Don (combo +$4.5) 4.5/5 - above my expectation!  Pork belly comes with the unagi sauce. There were quite a bit of sauce and I wish there were more rice.  This made it saltier than how I wanted (but still good).


Service 2.5/5 - They said they only had hot tea and cold water.  Hot water was not an option.  One of us already had lunch so we ordered 2 noodles +sides to share.  Our server did not seem to be very happy with that.  He came back a  few times with a menu and asked if we want to order anything else.  We would if there were some other appetizers or sushi but there were nothing to choose from.

I used to come to this area a lot and it changed quite a bit.  A lot of their customers came alone for a Saturday lunch.  The seats were very uncomfortable.  A cushion or a futon would help a lot!  I understand this is suppose to be fast food.  I thought this place was famous for ramen but the rice dishes were way better.  I would not mind going back from them!  Maybe I would try miso ramen next time.  I don't think their tonkotsu ramen is anything close to those on Robson yet.
Kamamarui Ramen & Don on Urbanspoon

Sunday 18 May 2014

Alta Bistro - $25 3-course dinner


Bread (nite lake lodge bakery baguette with savoury spread) $3 4/5 - Too bad the bread was not warm.  The savoury spread tasted like hummus, olive oil with black pepper to me.

Smoky cherry tomato & pork larzo (lemon thyme ricotta, port fat crouton, basil & fried garlic) $14 3/5 - smaller than most of the other appetizers.  Nothing really stood out too.  The cured ham was 90% fat.


Alberta Elk Tartar & Duck Liver Parfait (parsley, endive, molasses rye bread, apple, smoked shallots, cocoa nibs) $14 5/6 - very popular dish.  Almost every table ordered this or the oysters.  It tasted like a creamy pate with pickles.  Where was the bread?  It was a little too filling for me.


Half dozen of Raw local oysters (Douglas Fir vinaigrette, fresh lemon, horseradish, alta hot sauce) $17 4/5 - it didn't come with cocktail sauce or hot sauce.  I had to ask for the hot sauce.  Fresh oysters but nothing more than that.


Manilla Clams & Tiroler Bacon (white beans, double cream, english peas, chevril, spicy toast, cured ham) $25 4/5 - very tender beans.  The in-house made bacon were better than the clams.  


Arctic Char (Jade radish, cilantro, apple, quinoa & zucchini fritters, mint jalapeno mayo) $27 4.5/5 - Exactly how I wanted my fish to be. Rare to medium rare with a crunchy skin!  The sides were mostly fresh vegetables.


Roasted Lamb Shoulder (faro risotto, sweetbreads, black garlic olive butter, mushrooms, tarragon) $27 3.5/5 - there were only 2 slices of lamb and the rest were chicken.  It was acceptable given it was only $27.

Roasted Heritage Angus Beef Shin (chick peas, local carrots & verjus, oregon bay leaf, puffed millet seed, dill) $32 3.5/5 - not a big fan of braised beef but very tender.    Came with quite a bit of chickpeas too to fill up the gentlemen.

Cardamon Financier Cake & Vanilla Semifreddo (apple granite, mulled wine, sharp cheddar shortbread, almond praline, sarsaparilla) $12 4/5 - better than what I thought it would be.  I liked the semifreddo than the financier.  The cake was a little too sweet so I just had the semifreddo part.  Very creamy!

Our server knew we were not interested in alcohol so she suggested some non-alcohol drinks.  Surprisingly, they do not have a non-alcohol drink menu.  I've got the orange juice pop.  She described it as fizzy orange juice but I didn't find it anything special.  Don't think I would order this again.

We got a reservation at 6pm (just in time to make it for the $25 3 course dinner).  Service was excellent.  There was a little wait between the appetizers and the entree.  I guess most of the appetizers were pre-made and most of them were there for the $25 dinner.  Still acceptable and nothing to complain. (Ya! my first post is done!  It wasn't as hard as I thought)

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Saturday 17 May 2014

Blacktail Florist - $35 tasting menu



Okaganan Pear, Cured Ham, Crispy Seaweed $2 4/5 - The crispy seaweed was very similar to those you can find in Korean/Asian supermarket.  Not sure if they were made in-house.  Very refreshing pear puree but the cured ham was 90% fat.

BC Nugget Potatoes, Sour Cream, Chive Flowers, 5-year-old cheddar $4/2 2.5/5 - the potatoes were plain.  Bake them to crispy would make it better.  Would not order this again.

Salmon Belly, Endive, Crispy Shallots, Dill, Pop Rocks $3.5 3.5/5 - The endive made it so very crispy.  The red onions override the smoked salmon.  I could not tell what flavour of the pop rocks because they were barely any.

Fried Chicken, Garden Beignets, Beet Ketchup $9 4/5 - The chicken tasted exactly like Taiwanese Fried Chicken at BBT places.  Crispy, tender and juicy.  The beet ketchup made it a little special.  We could not taste the vegetables in the beignets.  They were a little overcooked.

Salad of Spring Vegetables and Mushrooms $11 4.5/5 - definitely one of the best of the night.  The creamy dressing was very flavourful.

Grilled Humbolt Squid, Rhubarb, Fennel, Sweet Cicely $14 2/5 - very very salty.  The squid was very bland and did not match with the other vegetables

Buttered Peas, Lavender and Walnuts $8 4/5 - very buttery and not overly strong flavour of lavender.

Halibut Cheeks, Oyster Mushrooms, Flowering Kale, Capers and Raisins $14 3/5 - the halibut cheeks were super salty.  They were crispy but too salty for me to finish

Asparagus, Foraged Mushrooms, Smoked Cream, Mustard $11 4/5 - The mustard was quite flavourful.  Fresh asparagus.  One of the better dishes of the meal.

Poached Egg, Cheese Dumplings, Arugula, Basils $12 3/5 - they called this cheese dumplings but they were just gnocchi.  The egg did not make any difference to the gnocchi.  Nothing memorable.

Braised Bison Brisket with Earl Grey, Swiss Chard and Crispy Potatoes $14 3.5/5 - Our server said we had a red meat dish coming and I didn't know it was bison.  It was gamey and tough.  I wish we had a chance to get beef or something else.

Chocolate (Goat Milk Rice Pudding, Apricots, Cinnamon Chocolate Parfait, Smoked Salt, Honeycomb) $9 4.5/5 - the goat milk did not tasted like goat milk at all.  It was more like a light chocolate ice-cream to me.

Flowers (Rose and Elderflower Ice, Charred Flower Sour Cream, Crushed Berries and Rhubarb) $9 3/5 - I don't like flowery food.  It was colourful but didn't taste good.

Smokey (Condensed Sweet Potato, Burnt Cedar Cream, Cranberry, Malted Milk Crumbs) $9 3.5/5 - I read reviews about this dish so I had pretty high expectation.  Creamy but too rich and sweet.  The sweet potato was not too strong.  It came with salt on the side and it made the dessert less sweet.

This place is totally overrated.  It was good but nothing really outstanding and memorable.  We were there on Saturday and it started to get crowded around 7:30-8pm.  There was also an inconsistency of quality.  Some of the dishes we ordered 2 and one of them tend to be saltier than the other one (especially for the squid and the halibut).  Given the amount and the quality of food that we got, I don't think it was worth it.  There are better options out there.
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