Sunny Dragon Restaurant: Korean Chinese food 101

If you've never had Chinese style Korean food, you're missing out. These are sold everywhere in Korea and they also deliver everywhere on their motorbikes. You will easily find a place that will deliver right to your doors, and also pick up the dishes afterwards. It is inexpensive to order them in Korea but in Vancouver, it's like going to an average restaurant. 

The choices you will get from "Joong kook jib" (Chinese house) varies. The most popular is a black bean paste noodles (Jja jang myun) or seafood spicy noodles (jjam bbong).

Any joong kook jib will come with these particular side dishes. The yellow stuff is picked radish (moo, or dan mu ji) and the white things are raw onions. We pour vinegar on the picked radish to give it a sour taste. The black paste sauce is also served on a mini plate because people like to dip the onions in them. Korean Chinese restaurants isn't necessarily about being fancy or delicious. Well, it is to a point but I think they are more known if they are not tasty versus being tasty. Saying that, it is difficult to find a restaurant that doesn't make good Korean Chinese food because it is considered something so basic for Koreans. Almost as if it is a convenience store next door.

We ordered special combo A - $27.99

Bodega On Main: My first go at Spanish Tapas

I've passed by Bodega many times but I didn't know what type of restaurant it was until recently. I am not familiar with Spanish tapas but I love the concept of sharing small dishes with others (i.e. Japanese izakaya). Similar to Korean cuisine, the smaller dishes are shared with everyone and this way, you not only get to try various dishes but also share a moment with those at the table.

The restaurant was nicely designed with unique posters on one wall, a beautiful bar on one side and rest were kept quite minimalistic.

Afghan Horseman Restaurant: the first Afghan restaurant in Vancity

This was my first time trying Afghan food and I assumed it was similar to other middle eastern cuisine I've tried before (i.e. Lebanese, etc.). I was surprised to find out that it was middle eastern cuisine with a Greek twist to it. I believe this restaurant is the first Afghani restaurant that opened in Vancouver and it's been open for 41 years now. If they've been open for that long, they must be doing something right!

Forty Ninth Parallel Cafe & Lucky's Doughnuts (Kitsilano): donut worry, be happy

So the reason Zach and I didn't get dessert at Maenam was because we wanted to drop by 49 Parallel for donuts. I personally enjoy this location much better than the one in Mount Pleasant due to the brightness of the cafe. I also used to live around here so naturally, I came to this one more often. Now that I am in East Vancouver, I have not been here since the summer.

It was a Saturday afternoon but I did not expect it to be SO busy. There was a lineup far outside the cafe and everyone was looking for seats. Luckily, Zach and I were going to get a coffee & donut combo to-go and walk down to Kitsilano beach for a stroll. While in line, we realized that they were hosting the hot chocolate festival. They had a deal on hot chocolate & donut for $6 (it may have been $6.50) so we decided to get that instead. I've tried many of their donuts already: peanut butter & jam, salted caramel, oreo, lemon mergue and etc. but they had a couple new ones I never tasted before.

Maenam: pomelo salad for days!

I've heard of Maenam for a long, long time but frankly, I never understood the beauty of Southeast Asian food until recently. I think it's because I grew up eating JUST Korean food and I was very much used to the flavours and ingredients used in Korean cooking. Korean food is delicious but we don't use ingredients that are used in Southeast Asian cooking (i.e. coconut milk, cilantro, limes, lemon grass, curry leaf etc.). More recently, tried a couple of recipes with coconut milk and realized that it wasn't so bad. I also went to Laksa King a couple of weeks ago and tried laksa for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've  heard that Maenam is Seth Rogen's favourite place to eat in Vancity (I may be completely wrong) but a couple of my friends did see him at the restaurant here and there. So when I saw Maenam on the Dineout list and I knew that it was my time to finally try it (not because of Seth Rogen). The lunch menu was only $25 so I booked a reservation and went on a Saturday at 12:30. It was empty when we arrived and we were provided with an option of ordering from the normal menu or the Dineout. The Dineout menu was basically 1 appetizer, 3 main dishes (one salad, one stir fry and one curry) from the regular menu. These dishes are normally $15-16/ dish so by choosing the Dineout option, we saved about $10. Unfortunately, the lunch menu did not come with desserts but they were on the menu for $3.  In the end, it would've been cheaper even with desserts to go with the lunch option versus. dinner.

I wasn't a big fan of these tables... and the restaurant was a lot smaller than what I thought! They had a beautiful bar and it was big enough to sit several people.

Harambe Ethiopian Restaurant: finger lickin' good

The first time I had Ethiopian food was in Montreal and it was at a restaurant called Nil Bleu (Blue Nile). I left the restaurant with such a positive impression of Ethiopian cuisine because it was finger lickin' good. If you order a platter, it will come with a huge dish with variety of different options. I always opted for the meat option but I generally found the veggies to be extremely tasty as well. The 2nd time I had Ethiopian food was in Kenya and of course it was as good as I remembered it to be. 

Recently,I was meeting up with some of the girls I went to Kenya with and we really wanted to go to an East African restaurant. We weren't aware of any Kenyan restaurants in Vancouver so we decided to try Harambe Ethiopian restaurant on Commercial Drive. 

I was the first one to arrive and when I opened the door, I was welcomed by a friendly waitress. The place was quite empty and it was a lot smaller than I had anticipated. The tables and the setup was slightly tacky but I didn't want to judge the place without trying the food first. 

One thing I did really appreciate was the art work that was all around the restaurant. It was colourful and very pleasing to the eye!

Torafuku : Worth the hype?

 This was my second time at Torafuku and I was excited that my friends wanted to come here for Dineout 2016. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed for the first two weeks of January so my friend had to make the reservation through e-mail. Those without reservation were turned away. Apparently no one picks up when you call even when they are open. So if you're still wanting to go.. e-mail them.

Another interesting thing was their water! They put a cinnamon stick in it so it had a hint of cinnamon flavour which I actually enjoyed.