Wang Ji Restaurant Cafe

Hey everyone,

Ever since moving to Richmond, I've been trying out more neighbourhood restaurants around the area. I'm always scouting around searching for close by restaurants nearby. I don't like driving that much so finding good restaurants within the area was vital to me. I came across this restaurant a few months ago and finally the other day I finally had the chance to give it a try. From their signage, it really gives off the vibe of traditional Chinese food, BUT they actually serve Taiwanese food. They've posted their menus in front of the door, so people passing by can always take a look at the menu before deciding whether you would like to dine here or not. 

The interior was much nicer and bigger than I thought it'll be. There was a lot of room and was definitely a comfortable space to dine in. I took a peek in to their washrooms and it looked very well renovated too, with black marble detailing. 

Hash House a Go Go - Las Vegas - The Linq

Hey Everyone,

On day 5 of our Vegas trip, Jess and I hit up Hash House a Go Go for lunch/dinner while walking around the strip again. It was our last day and with limited time left, we had to try and cross off more from our list of must try places in Vegas.

Check it out on our day 5 vlog below!

Claypot Hotpot & BBQ Restaurant

Hey everyone!

I went to Claypot yesterday with my family and it reminded me that I still didn't blog about my previous experience yet. I went to Claypot for the first time a few weeks ago and i LOVED it.

First off, I recommend booking a table before going because this place gets packed extremely fast, especially during cold Vancity days.

For parking, I recommend car pooling and drive a small vehicle. The parking lot is very small and the spots are very tight.

This place is an all you can eat hot pot restaurant and everyone over 12 years old costs $20.95, children 4-11 years old costs $14.95. They also have a 2 hour limit for the all you can eat. Below, I've included the order menu, so you guys have a clearer idea of what food they offer.

For drinks, they have three options: plum juice, coca cola, and sprite for $1.50 and it is all you can drink. I prefer drinking plum juice during hot pot because it doesn't have any fizz to bloat up my belly. But the rest of my fam ordered the sodas.

I really like this place because their hot pot is a three tiered tower. the top tier is for steaming (recommend steaming some siu mah, if you like the ones from night market), second tier is to bbq and the bottom is of course for the actual hot pot. The bottom tier has a two way split, so you can have two different soup bases.

Hakkasan Bistro

Hey everyone!

Domo Is Craving's team was invited to a dinner event hosted by Hakkasan Bistro. Our invite first started at Canada Berries, which is a local Richmond fruit winery. We went there around 5:30pm for a wine tasting. Their fruit wines tasted amazing and my personal favourite was the Gooseberry. Their staff was very informative in terms of their history, their products & you can definitely tell how passionate they were about their wines. I highly recommend checking them out because they only sell their fruit wines at their Richmond winery. I will include their address at the bottom of my post in case anyone wants to drop by and check them out! I highly suggest trying the Gooseberry & the Blue Queen Dry! The ones I like are not the super sweet ones but if you are the kind who like sweet wines, I recommend trying out their Princess Peach or Princess Cranberry Fruit wine. The Princess Peach wine is also a great sangria mix!
We were also served with appetizers on the side to pair with our wine. I was really enjoying their home grown grapes. They told us to try the grapes because apparently people always say Richmond can't grow great grapes. I can personally say that their home grown Richmond grapes taste amazing and they are extremely juicy and sweet!

G-men @ NanChuu Ramen Izakaya

Hey Everyone,

Had a ramen craving recently so we decided to hit up G-men for dinner. Now G-men is located on Alexandra, so that undoubtedly means if you're going at a busy time like 7pm, you're going to have a bad time looking for a parking spot! Took me so long to find a spot, I ended up settling for street pay parking. Their lot at the back of the restaurant is packed full, and then some, meaning all those illegals parked in the driveways of the parking lot where there is no actual spot. 

Luckily the rest of our group had already got a table inside, so I was able to join them right away. If you don't have someone grabbing a table ahead of time, the wait is likely half an hour or more!

My go-to choice for ramen is always a miso flavour broth, so I ordered the Tonkotsu Miso Ramen $9.50 with added Ajitama (Marinated Egg) $1.50 and Butter & Corn $2.50.

The Flying Pig at the Village

Hi everyone!

So if you read my food blog on a regular basis, you should know I just blogged about a Flying Pig location in Gastown a few weeks ago. Today I will be talking about the Flying Pig at the Village. I didn't even know that there was a Flying Pig location around there until Phil mentioned it to me when he drove by that area a few weeks ago.

This restaurant is located at the Olympic Village on West 2nd. With tons of brand new apartment buildings, it definitely draws a lot more attention within that area when there is so many great food options.

We went there on a Saturday for my bros birthday. They don't take dinner reservations so I expected a wait. When we got there, there were many people standing around the entrance, so I was prepared to wait for at least 20 mins or more for a table, especially when there was a Canucks game on that night. When I told the host that we were a table of 3, we were seated right away. So I'm assuming those people waiting had large parties.

I was celebrating both my bros birthday because they both have birthdays during April. One of my bros ordered a Mojito & I ordered my usual white wine, Riesling $9.00. My bro thought the Mojito was okay, tried better elsewhere.

 

Tap & Barrel

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

I started off my weekend going to Tap & Barrel with Phil on Friday. At first we were seated on the second floor middle section table, which was slightly TOO centre of attention for us so we decided to move ourselves up to the bar section. The first floor was already packed full of people so I was pretty glad we got seated on the second floor, so I can actually have clear conversations with Phil and still enjoy the ambience of the space and the food.

We got there a bit past 5pm so it was still pretty bright outside. Full length windows bringing LOTS of natural light in to the space and I love the interior with barrel decors and wooden bar tables. The Village buildings were built to LEED Platinum standards which was indicated in the bathroom stalls. There were signage indicating that they use rain water for toilets, therefore the toilet water may not always be clear. So if you end up using the washrooms in the area, you'll notice that all the toilet water is yellowish color, so don't freak out!

Phil ordered "Phillips-Blue Buck Ale" $7.00.
His thoughts: "Great taste, great beer! Will definitely order this again"

For me, obviously I ordered a Sangria (White Wine) $7.75.

Sugarholic Cafe

Hey Everyone,

We were thinking of where to eat for dinner before heading to a movie, and we thought of this restaurant that was recommended to us by a friend who had dined here recently. Since I had to go NCIX at Aberdeen anyways, dining here made perfect sense!

JC Kitchen

Hello everyone!

My family loves to eat Chiu Chow Cuisine and we find it very difficult to locate an authentic Chiu Chow restaurant that makes on-point dishes. I'm partially Chiu Chow, therefore ever since I was young, my grandpa would cook up the BEST Chiu Chow dishes ever. 

We were given a small dish of pickled mustard greens. They were absolutely delicious! This place makes it sweeter than Top Chiu Chow Cuisine. I really like Top Chiu Chow, but I've heard they switched management and the level has gone down a little.

The location of this restaurant is extremely hidden and you'll only find this place if you know where you are headed. My uncle told us about this restaurant and it's surrounded by commercial properties. For dinner, they open up at 5:30, so when I got there, we were the first customers. At first I was kind of skeptical about this place because there was nobody there. After 30 mins of opening, this placed was packed full of party tables. 

So all the dishes we ordered are the ones we LOVE to eat. 
We are major duck fans, therefore we ordered the Chiu Chow Style Soy Duck (Half) $16.80.
The duck was perfectly cooked and I like how the soy sauce didn't overlap the taste of the duck. It was the perfect amount of soy to go along with it.

Venice Garden

Hey Everyone,

For my family's Christmas dinner, it was somehow decided to go to Venice Garden, a Chinese seafood restaurant at the plaza on Renfrew and East 1st Ave in Vancouver. This is definitely not a place I would voluntarily choose to go to, but it was an uncle's choice, so we ended up going there. 

Upon first impression, the look of the restaurant is pretty typical with most restaurants of this type. However, one thing about the design of the restaurant really bothered me. The first thing I looked for when I went in the restaurant was the washroom location, because I had to use it! I looked around and only saw the sign for the women's washroom, but no sign indicating where the men's washroom was. The women's washroom was located at the inside right corner when you enter the restaurant, as indicated by an illuminated sign. The inside left, and outside left corners were just part of the dining area, the other only other corner remaining was the outside right corner, which is right by the entrance of the restaurant. I looked down the short hall that was the outside right corner, and it lead to a dead end, only having a supply of extra chairs. This made no sense to me, as why would a restaurant only have a women's washroom but no men's washroom? I mean, yes this is a cheap looking Chinese restaurant, but come on! A functional washroom for both genders is a requirement of any restaurant, no matter how cheap they are! I decided to check out the inside right corner where the women's washroom was located to see what's up, and my suspicion was correct. The men's washroom was indeed located in that hallway as well, but for some idiotic reason, they choose not to have a sign indicating that it's also located in that corner of the restaurant as well! This might not be such a big deal for some people, but it REALLY bothered me that they did not care to put a sign up saying that the men's washroom was located there as well. I mean if you put up a general sign that says "WASHROOM", then it would be clear that both washrooms are located in the same area, but if you have a sign for the women's washroom in that corner only, then no one is going to assume the men's washroom is there as well, and they would assume it would be in the opposite corner of the restaurant, as this is something other restaurants have done. This set the tone for the rest of the dining experience already so they had better come up with some amazing food to save this review.

Black + Blue

Hey everybody!!!

So the other day me and my bestie went out for our annual xmas dinner. This year we were supposed to go to the Keg, but after plans changed we switched to a way fancier place in Downtown and decided to go all out. After all...it is Xmas time and we just received our bonus from work so might as well treat ourselves to something amazing. We went to Black + Blue located on Alberni. That street is usually packed full of people so either cab down or pay for valet parking. I swear paying for  valet is a better deal then street parking if you are intending to stay there for over 3 hours.

To start off our dinner, we order 4 Kusshi Oysters ($3.70/each). They were SUPER fresh.

Next we ordered the Beef Carpaccio ($16.00) which was highly recommended by our waiter. He was right...this dish is AMAZING. The combination of the raw beef, grill oyster mushrooms and truffle aioli was just perfect.

Gyo-O 魚王

Hi Everyone,

Back with a quick blog about this Japanese restaurant located in Richmond in the Continental Plaza. Continental Plaza is filled with different varieties of food but this Japanese restaurant is legitimately opened by Japanese people. Love the decor in there. The walls are filled with Japanese words & painted drawings of fish. The vibe of the design really makes me feel like I'm eating somewhere in Japan. On their television screen, they play Japanese shows. Me & Phil were watching a donburi eating contest..and I must say..those Japanese people can eat ALOT of donburi..

The restaurant is very small so I don't recommend large parties to go there unless you tell them in advance. We were seated near the entrance so the cold air coming in when people open the door was definitely the down fall of our corner seat. The service is decent, we were constantly getting refills for our tea, which i love the fact that I don't need to wave them down to ask them!

Phil ordered the Ebi Tempura Bakkake Udon with Egg (Approx. $11-12).
He thought this dish could use a bit more seasoning or sauce. The udon's were simply just too plain. He had to add the tempura sauce on top of the udon's to give it more flavour.

508 Bistro

Hey Everyone,

So after dining at this restaurant several times now, I've finally decided to write up a blog about it! This is a Taiwanese cafe style restaurant in Burnaby on Kingsway past Metrotown. When I say "past" I speak from the perspective of Vancouver. I was introduced to this restaurant by one of my best friends and although the service at the time wasn't that great, the food was pretty good so I kept coming back. 

One of my favourite things about this restaurant is something they started with, then stopped, then changed. They start you off with a bowl of something crispy to munch on while you decide on what to order. They used to give you a bowl of deep fried taro sticks with that Taiwanese salt and pepper flavouring. Then one day when I came here with some friends, they didn't give anything! I asked them about it that time and they said they stopped doing that! That was almost a dealbreaker for me so I was hesitant to return this time, but here we are! To my surprise, when we were seated, we were also given a bowl of something new this time!

I'm not exactly sure what type of deep fried chip this is, but it's really good! It has the same flavouring as previously mentioned and it is just addictive to snack on! In any case I'm just glad they brought this back as this differentiated them from the other BBT cafes (Bubble World, Pearl Castle).

Jess and I have eaten here before so we had some favourite dishes to fall back on if we didn't know what to order. We started off with one of our favourite dishes here, the Sliced Pork Belly with minced garlic $6.99.

This is by far one of my favs here after dining several times. It has that bit of sweet and sour flavour to it, likely from vinegar I'm guessing plus the garlic. The pork is cooked very nicely and very tender. I highly recommend trying this dish!

Dinesty-Aberdeen

Hey Everyone,

Jess and I were in Richmond looking to eat some dinner, and I thought of going here, which I was referring to as "Northern Delicacy", which was what was here before, but when we arrived, turns out it is now "Dinesty"! 

I had always wanted to try Dinesty but never ended up going, so this was perfect! It was a week night so the restaurant was not busy at all. We were seated fairly quickly by the "windows" of the restaurant that look out to the hallway with large windows that overlook the Browngate Rd. entrance. 

After we ordered, we were given tea and our dipping sauce for the Xiao Long Bao's.

First came the "Pork"

These were served with small buns so you can make a "slider" of sorts as the bun is split in the middle like a burger bun.

REVISIT- Blue Canoe Waterfront Restaurant

Hey everyone!

Phil blogged about Blue Canoe last time but I thought I'll blog about my first experience too :) We went to Blue Canoe for Mama Lims birthday and it was extremely lovely. The view was amazing, the weather that day was gorgeous and the food was just phenomenal. I tried to take some scenery photos of the night to show you guys how beautiful it is. I'm not a professional photographer so hope you all enjoy!

For appetizers, we ordered two different types of fresh oysters, Royal Miyagi & Effingham. I wasn't able to enjoy this dish since I wasn't feeling so well that day. But from the response i got back from Mama & Papa Lim & Phil, they loved it! Said it was super fresh & smooth. 

Sushi S Japanese Restaurant

Hello Everyone!

After viewing apartments with Phil and his agent, we randomly decided to go dinner at Sushi S which is located along Willingdon at a random corner spot. Parking spots are very limited but they do have set spots for each restaurant so people parking at that particular spot must be eating at that restaurant in order to park there. I've passed by this restaurant many times and it never appealed to me so I was not expecting much out of it. We asked our waitress whether they were Japanese but they are actually Korean. Which I'm not surprised because in Vancouver there's a lot of Japanese restaurants that are not owned by Japanese people.

Phil ordered several slices of Sashimi and he said it was thick and delicious!

Havana Restaurant & Gallery

Hello everyone!

So last week I went to Havana's for the first time with my friends and obviously Phil. I heard many things about their awesome Sangrias so I was really excited to give this place a try. This restaurant is located on the busy street of Commercial. Parking was not too bad but during busy hours it might be difficult, so I recommend car pooling with your buddies if you are planning to go. My friend mentioned that it usually gets extremely busy during 6 but we were lucky enough to beat the rush and was able to get a table right away.

 

 

Food Court Corner- Chun Hing Cuisine

Hey Everyone,

Went to eat at Yaohan food court as a last minute decision when looking for a cheap meal with Jess last time. Jess went with korean food while I ended up picking Chun Hing Cuisine, one of the many choices there that offer the "rice or noodle with 3 or 4 items". As with my ribs decision making process, I went with whichever one had the longer line. 

Their competitor next door had the same deal going on as seen in the picture below.

This is definitely good value for $7 as they load up your container full of food! Their selection looked more appetizing than their competitor as well, so I decided to eat here.