Hamilton Street Grill

A couple Saturdays ago, B and I went to the Hamilton Street Grill with a few others for a friend's early birthday dinner. The Hamilton Street Grill is located on - you guessed it - Hamilton street. Don't let the near empty restaurant during dinner time fool you - it's all reserved. Without any reservations, we had to wait a rough thirty minutes for a table. So we put down our name and number and took a stroll around Yaletown. It was already around 8:00PM by then, and all the shops were closed except for a dollar store and Book Warehouse near-by, so we killed time there. In exactly about half an hour we received a call from the restaurant. Yay - because everyone was starving.

We got a booth. If you ever eat with me, you will soon come to realize that I hate sitting at open tables and avoid it at all costs. I rather wait. So when we got a cozy booth at the very back, I was ecstatic. Looking at the Hamilton Grill menu, the you can obviously tell that the restaurant's forte were steaks. Of course. With a name like Hamilton Grill, of course they would serve steaks. They even have a 20oz New York striploin. Birthday boy K, was really contemplating getting that but quickly changed his mind after seeing our server bring one out. It was about the size of a brick! In thickness and in length! After seeing that, K and his girlfriend decided to order the two 12oz New York steaks: Grilled (medium) and Blackened (medium-rare) instead and the Black and Blue Ahi Tuna as a starter. B and I also ordered the Grilled New York steak (medium-rare) and the Blackened New York steak (medium-rare) but with the Poutine as our appy. C can't eat beef, and although the majority of Hamilton Grill's menu is based on steak, there are other options like chicken, fish, and a few vegetarian items. C ended up picking the Stuffed Chicken. After placing our orders we were expecting complimentary bread because the other tables had bread baskets on their tables, however, our server never brought any to us. We assumed that the bread was probably a side order and never inquired about it. That was alright though, because we didn't have to wait long for our starters to arrive.

It was really dark in the restaurant, so I wasn't able to get as much pictures as I would have liked to, but K's Black and Blue Ahi Tuna was really nicely plated! I didn't get a chance to taste it, but they said that that was the best Ahi Tuna they ever had. K was so in love with the wasabi and ponzu sauce he almost wanted to lick the plate. Our Poutine was also very good - but to be honest, I would still prefer a KFC poutine. The fries were served separate from the demi-wine glace and were cut skinny and fried so that they were perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. What I wasn't a big fan of was the Gorgonzola cheese. The fries itself wasn't salted but the cheese made the whole thing too salty and it didn't melt enough even with the hot gravy. What I think to be a perfect poutine is crispy fries paired with gooey cheese and hot gravy. 

While we were still ordering, we were really curious to what the difference between a Blackened New York steak and Grilled New York steak was. Turns out that the Blackened New York is served with what I think is an onion sauce and deep fried onions/shallots and the Grilled was well, grilled. Both steaks were served with seasonal vegetables and mashed potatoes. After the fries, I didn't feel like eating anything else fried, so I took the grilled and B took the blackened. In my opinion, my medium-rare was a bit more on the medium side and K's girlfriend's plate was a bit too rare for her tastes. Taste wise, it was a bit bland and I had to add a lot of fresh-ground pepper. I loved the mashed potatoes though, soft and creamy with a hint of garlic. B had no problems with the way his steak was cooked. The blackened steak had a more smokey flavour and with the sauce it was really tasty. I would steal a bit of his sauce every now and then because it was so good. Once again, B's food tasted better than mine. Why?! C's chicken was stuffed with brie, dried cherries and pecans and and then herb-crusted and finished off with a red wine sauce, his entree was also served with a side of mashed potatoes and vegetables. If I remember correctly, C didn't have anything negative to say about his chicken except for the small serving size.

K really loved the steak at Hamilton and said it was the best steak he has ever had. After all the steak places I have been to, I still prefer Joe Fortes - because for one, it's cheaper (including tips, B paid $90 for both of us at Hamilton) if you go during their early dinner special and it tastes better. Hamilton was good, but Joe Fortes was great. We all walked out with full bellies - all except for C. He went to McDonalds to grab a double Filet-O-Fish after. 

Empire Seafood Restaurant

Roasted Squab & Mandarin Crepes (for the Peking Duck)

Being Chinese, my sister and I are not big fans of eating at traditional-seafood-Chinese restaurants because we eat it all the time. Chinese parents, Chinese cooking, go figure. However, there are some dishes that we don't normally see on the dinner table everyday such as roasted squab - and that was exactly what my sister was craving for for months. So on my sisters birthday, we went to Empire Seafood Restaurant. That was in February. Really backlogged (and there's more), I know.

I believe we chose the set meal which included a Fish Maw soup, 2 course Peking Duck meal (crispy duck skin with Mandarin crepes and stir-fried duck lettuce wraps), Garlic Steamed King Crab legs, deep fried King Crab, Bean Curd with Bok Choy, Fried 'Raw' noodle with bean-sprouts. I get the feeling I'm forgetting something, but this is the jist of it. On top of the set meal, we also ordered 3 Roasted Squabs.

Fish Maw soup is somewhat like an Asian style chowder. If you didn't know, fish maw, or the swim bladder, is the part of the fish that allows a fish to control its buoyancy. When cooked, it has a somewhat spongy-gelatinous texture. This soup was chocked full of fish maw, with bits of crab, and full of flavor. The Roasted Squab was served next. I think I prefer the squab at Empire more than at Sun Sui Wah - and so would my sister. The skin was roasted to a perfect dark roan red and was nice and crispy. Of course, it tasted just as good as it looked. As soon as your teeth broke through the crispy skin on the outside, your tongue gets a splash of flavor from the juicy meat. I drool just thinking about it. Not too long after, the first Peking Duck course arrived: slices of crisp duck skin and Asian shrimp chips served with Mandarin crepes, Hoisin sauce and green onions. This was my favourite dish of the whole night. The crepes were kept warm in a bamboo steamer and really thin and soft. I loved the contrast in texture and flavours. Soft then crisp, sweet and salty - with a kick from the green onion. The lettuce wraps in my opinion were so-so. The duck was stir-fried with a few vegetables and then served on a plate of crispy rice sticks. Nothing too special. The lettuce did provide a nice breath of freshness from the heaviness of the first courses.

Next up was the King Crab. The legs were steamed with garlic. A lot of garlic. So much garlic that I tasted garlic in my mouth the next day. All day. Despite that, the meat itself was really juicy. I didn't try the Deep Fried King Crab because my Parents tried it and said it was really spicy, so I stayed away from that. The Bean Curd and Bok Choy was nothing to rave about because it tasted exactly how it sounded, same with the Raw Noodles. After all our dishes were cleared away and packed up, we were given a complementary dessert like most Chinese restaurants. And like most Chinese restaurants, it was a dessert soup: sweet red beat soup with black glutinous rice. This was a really nice finish to the meal. Not too sweet and kind of refreshing. I also liked the bite that the rice gave in contrast to the texture of the beans.

What I did notice was that the servers would clear our plates really quickly - which is a good thing because hey, who wants to eat on dirty plates? Weird thing was, the servers seemed to be really efficient at clearing everyone's plate but mines. Weird. Overall though, we enjoyed the food at Empire. It was a pretty expensive dinner (more expensive than Sun Sui Wah) - the bill came to about $380 (including tips it was actually $480, really expensive for a party of 5!) and we have my sister's boyfriend, T, to thank for such a good meal!

Bacon Bruschetta

I had the munchies while I was at work so I decided to make Bruschetta since I had all the ingredients at work, all I needed was run to the store for a loaf of baguette.

This serves 4 to 6 people as a light snack or a delicious appetizer.

• This is what you will need 4 medium size tomatoes, 1 shallot, a box of basil leaves a pack of bacon (I prefer a thicker cut) and garlic paste (if you dont have that handy than use 2-3 gloves of garlic) olive oil

• Add 2 table spoons of the garlic paste to the diced up bacon. Warm up the pan on high heat. Throw in the bacon mixture and cook till crispy, no need to add any extra oil since the bacon will release its fat content.

• Once cooked spoon the bacon onto a plate with a couple of sheets of paper towels so that the paper towels will absorb any of the excess oil.

• While the bacon is resting, dice up the tomatoes and basil. Put everything into a mixing bowl and add the bacon with a little drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of ground pepper. (no need for salt as the bacon is already a little salty) give it a good toss and serve it over a crusty French baguette and enjoy!

SUGAR, SUGAR, MORE SUGAR!

So it has been a week (more or less) since I got the root canal done and as soon as the antibiotics kicked in and I was able to re-introduce my top jaw to my bottom jaw, I stuffed my face with sugar. Sugar, sugar, and more sugar. Guilty. So, so, so guilty of gluttony.

Two things I have been mainly munching on were Japanese products from Konbinya: a Japanese specialty/convenience store in downtown Vancouver. They have everything. Well nearly. From frozen fish, to ice-cream, to bento boxes and onigiri, to hair dye, facial masks, takoyaki pans, wasabi flavoured chocolate and sushi rice - see, everything. Nearly. Bon Crepe is also located within Konbinya and they have pretty good crepes that differs from - and in my opinion better than - Cafe Crepe crepes; a slightly chewy mochi textured crepe with a good amount of ingredients. And while every time I am there, I am tempted to run down the aisle with an arm out sweeping everything on a shelf into a basket and stuff my face with crepes, I had enough restraint to limit myself to a box of Everyburger.

I had a friend who raved about a chocolate burger (each layer of the burger was a different chocolate) that you can find at Smart-n-Save in Richmond, but every time I went, it was sold out. So when I saw that last box of Everyburger, I felt like it was meant to be. Unfortunately, I think what my friend was talking about and what I bought were two separate things. Everyburger turned out to be two mini cookie "buns" sandwiching a slice of chocolate cheese and a chocolate patty. Not what I was expecting but hey, it's chocolate and cookie. It tasted like your average asian cookie/chocolate combo - you know, those Lotte Koala cookies or Yan-Yans? Same thing. What made it a bit different was that the cookie is light and flakey, not hard, and had a kind of toasted sesame aftertaste. And after seeing me googly-eye some Green tea KitKats, B picked up a bag for me... or well, I hope it was for me - because I ate it all. Green tea and KitKat? What a breakthrough. So much win in one chocolate bar - I need a break from this blog to eat one. In a bag you get two kinds of chocolate: a milkier version of green tea and a matcha version. Personally, I like the matcha one more as it was less sweet and had a stronger green-tea flavour. The milkier version, on the first bite, tasted like green tea icecream, but the flavour progresses into something like a nuttier white chocolate and definitely too sweet. But that's okay. At the moment, the sweeter the better. Oh chocolate, how I missed you so.

Wait, root-canal? What root-canal?

International Salsa Festival

The Vancouver International Salsafestival (VIS) is a 4-day event including International Dance Showcases, Concerts, Social Dancing, Workshops, and Gala Events. Drawing over 2,500 people from over 18 countries, VIS attracts those who enjoy watching dancing, those who want to learn the steps from the best in the world, and those who want to social dance all night and take a variety of workshops.

March 5th 2011 @ The Sheraton Wall Centre So here we go the Bond Gala. Excellent show, great people and lots of dancing, what more can you ask for? Oh yeah VIP baby! I should say the Triton Films VIP Lounge. Lets Salsa!

AVARICE - av•a•rice (a-və-rəs) MOVIE Premier

This is one of my most anticipated post ever!

On March 18th 2011 I attended the movie premier for AVARICE I was super hyped to finally get the chance to see the final product of this movie. For the past 12 months I have been getting updates on the making of AVARICE and it has been so awesome to see this project come to life and I know a lot of people at Triton Films has put in a lot of time and effort to make this project happen. The movie premier was held at the Vancity Theater in downtown Vancouver, which I think is a great little theater to host an event like this. Once we got there we checked in with J, and you could practically feel everyone's excitement, the place wasn't very big, the theater only holds a maximum of 170 guests but doing a quick scan of the crowd there were definitely more people than what the theater could hold.

I saw several photographers snapping away at the crowd and lots of familiar faces! I was also very happy to learn that the popcorn was free, so a bunch of us stocked up on free popcorn and was determined to get some good seats. All 170 seats were quickly filled up with some people sitting on the stairs and standing by the exits. The producer and director made a small speech introducing Avarice and thanking the crowd for their love and support. Tinsel Korey also shared her experiences on the making of the movie and thanked us for attending this premier and for supporting all the wonderful actors and actresses that participated in Avarice. I wont say too much about the movie because I don't want to spoil it, but it was really well put together the computer graphics was well done and I liked how they added a good twist into the movie - it definitely got me talking about it with M and A once it was over.

After the movie premier there was a catered snack bar for everyone to enjoy. Ahh food, definitely cant say no to that! I can practically hear the excitement buzzing all around me, people were critiquing Avarice while munching on mini cupcakes and sipping on sparkling fruit punch, and there was an after party for Avarice, and it was held at the 100 Days restaurant located inside the Opus Hotel, unfortunately I had another engagement to attend to so I missed out on the after party. E and I have been talking about going to LA to check out the filming of Triton Film's next movie project, we are thinking of going in mid June but we will definitely keep everyone posted on our next adventure so be sure to check in with us at Munchzilla, meanwhile enjoy the trailer!

Synopsis av·a·rice (a-və-rəs) - excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves Brad Dourif (LOTR, Deadwood), Ray Park (Star Wars, X-Men), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) and Tinsel Korey (Twilight: New Moon & Eclipse) fight over a magic box from the cosmos in this truly stellar looking new indie scifi thriller that looks nothing short of 2001: A Space Odyssey meets No Counrty for Old Men. You gotta see this, people!

A mysterious box from space lands in the desert; it holds the power to grant anyone's desires, but at a deathly cost. When a group of strangers are brought together by their most desperate desires, they will unwittingly release the evil darkness lurking inside.

Glowbal Grill

What have I been munching on lately? Advil and antibiotics. Last Friday, the night that I turned twenty, the consequences of my sweet tooth had finally caught up to me in the form of five jackhammers in my mouth. Unfortunately for me, most dental offices don't operate over the weekends. Even worse, mine had to open on a Tuesday... at 10:00AM. So as I sit here, nursing the aftermath of a root canal, I reminisce all that I have ate lately and I shed a tear - for my dear love, sugar and I, will be parting ways. For a while. At least. Hopefully we will rendezvous soon.

Oh well. At least my last meal was a pretty good one - albeit it bit over-the-top-salty. As most people in Vancouver might know, the Glowbal collection is a family of restaurants which includes: Coast, Trattoria, Italian Kitchen, Sanafir, Society, and of course, Glowbal Grill. Out of all these restaurants, I have only tried Society - for drinks - but have heard lots about Coast, Sanafir, and the Italian Kitchen. For my birthday, B surprised me with dinner at Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar in trendy Yaletown because I love a good steak and I can finally cross Glowbal off my check list. 

When we first got to the restaurant, it looked pretty packed. Not surprising since it was a Friday night. Originally, we were going to be seated on the heated patio in what looked like a cozy corner. My favourite. Too bad the rain got to our table before we did. Instead, we were seated in a waiting area with light-cubes as tables and started off with drinks -  a stirred Grey Goose martini with olives for B and for me, after a quick conversation with the bartender, a personalized  fruity concoction with some kind of Vodka and/or Gin. It was a nice place to wait for a table, a bit lounge-y and comfortable and before we knew it, we were seated. In my opinion, our table was a very awkward one. It was located at the top of a set of stairs and an area where the servers kept bottles of open wine or plates. It did, however, have a really nice view of the open kitchen and their meat showcase? Meat container? Meat display? Whatever it was, it was lit with red light and showed off their cuts of meat. Pretty neat and creepy at the same time. I liked it.

After a few questions about their menu and hearing the specials, we ordered the Chef's selection of satays which included: the king mushroom, panko crusted ahi tuna, garlic butter tiger prawn, tropical glazed coconut chicken, kobe meatball, short rib, wild salmon, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus to share. For the entree B chose the AAA 10oz Striploin, med-rare, with the wild mushroom risotto on the side. I also had the Striploin at medium rare but with a poutine on the side. While waiting for our food, we were happily nibbling on our hot bread with brown-salt butter, when a server popped in with a sample of creamy garlic soup in espresso shot cups, courtesy of the chef. I'm not a big fan of soup, but I have to say, this was a really good soup. Creamy and with just enough garlic flavour. It went really well with the crusty bread. 

Not too long after, we got our appetizers that was also served with a crispy thai slaw and two sauces: ginger white soya and hot Chinese mustard. I was pretty impressed with the presentation. It was plated on a wooden plank and each individual food item had a single skewer, the slaw was also chilled with dry ice! Impressive. Out of everything, the Panko crusted Ahi was my favourite - warm and crunchy on the outside and soft and cool on the inside. The chicken was surprisingly moist despite its appearance and had a slight tangy-coconut-y taste with a stronger kick of spice when dipped in the hot chinese mustard. Outside of those two items, not thing else really stood out because from what I remember, it was a bit salty.

After our appetizers were finished and plates were whisked away, we had to wait a bit for our entrees. We got a bit impatient, because it was a fairly long wait, but the atmosphere and view of the kitchen kept us entertained. When we finally did get our entrees, the first bite of my steak was delicious. It seemed to be seasoned well with out covering up the natural flavour of the beef but the more I ate, the saltier it got and it got really salty. Pity though, because aside from it tasting more and more like the Pacific Ocean, the steak was perfectly cooked true to medium rare and was plentiful juicy as was it tender. My poutine though, was an absolute disappointment. You would think that for $6.50, it would be a pretty good poutine right? Nah, KFC and New York fries does a better poutine than Glowbal Grill. There was a nice amount of mozzarella cheese curds and gravy covering the fries but while the gravy was hot, the cheese didn't melt. The fries itself were also kind of soggy and limp - like it was left out for a while. B's wild mushroom risotto wasn't any better. Now, both of us never tried risotto, but this one tasted chalky and a bit undercooked. It looked creamy, and smooth, but when you took a bite it tasted like what raw rice would taste like and broke apart into some kind of powdery substance.

Overall, our appetizers were probably the best part of the meal - despite it being oversalted, it was bearable. And if our steaks weren't marinated with ocean water, it could have rivaled Joe Fortes. After dinner, we skipped dessert. Shocking! But to be honest, I was scared even the desserts would be over-salted in some way and I was craving for a parfait anyways. Too bad by the time we left, Chiccos was closed. I would have risked a salty creme brulee if I knew that was going to be my last dessert for a while!

Rodneys Oyster House

When someone mentions, "Oysters" the first thought that comes to mind would be Rodney's Oyster House. Being located so close to the ocean and other bodies of water, Vancouver has some of the freshest seafood around. I have been to Rodney's in Yaletown once for my birthday last year with B, and couldn't stop talking about how amazing the oysters was to my sister. So after a year of hearing me constantly refer to Rodney's every time we have seafood, my sister took me out for dinner there for my birthday again - because I loved it and she's never tried it.

The decor inside followed a maritime theme, with lots of white-washed accents and wood planks. They also have an oyster bar which displays all the fresh oysters market style on ice (and you can watch them shuck 'em by hand) as well as an open kitchen. Not too long after being seated, our server greeted us with some kind of rye bread - which we all thought was way too hard - and light conversation while taking down drink orders. The atmosphere at Rodney's is very lively and the servers are friendly with personality - not your average cheery-how-is-everything type of cheery. Some are cheeky like they have known you for a while, while some like to joke around and kid.

When it came time to order, we got half a dozen oysters each: a mixture of Kusshi, Kumamoto, and Fanny Bays, two plates of steamed clams and crab cakes. We got our oysters first, along with all the sauces. What I like most about Rodney's, aside from the oysters itself, is the fact they serve their oysters with so many sauces - not just your standard Tabasco and lemon. Our server introduced each sauce, and also gave us some suggestions of what he liked the most: a raspberry vinaigrette mixed in with a bit of the Jalapeno Tabasco. First bite of a Kusshi and I was transported to seafood heaven. The oyster was buttery and smooth; ice cold and crisp; and just tasted fresh.When it comes to raw oysters, Rodney's will never disappoint in my eyes. Next came our two plates of steamed clams. Those disappeared within minutes. Piping hot and juicy, and with a little lemon.. yum. Our crab cakes, served with a sweet and spicy sauce and a side salad, came last. We divvied up the crab cakes and the salad was big enough so each of us got a nice portion. The cakes were definitely made with real crab - crispy on the outside, not oily at all and chocked full of crab. I thought it tasted best with just a little lemon, sans sauce, because the sweet and sour sauce seemed to take a way a bit of the crab flavor. Everything we had at Rodney's tasted fresh and delicious, albeit the hard bread. And of course, what else makes fresh-out-of-the-ocean seafood even better? Hot servers. 'Nuff said.

I would come to Rodney's more often, except it's a bit on the pricey side. They do however, have a high-tide special from 3PM-6PM - where their raw oysters are half off.

Quick update!

Have you noticed the difference in writing styles between the last couple of posts? If you have then congratulations! - You can tell the difference between my writing and my sister's! From now on, I will be collaborating with my sister, Lisa to expand and bring more to the Munchzilla blog. We will soon be adding a link to recipies we have tried and loved, and also giving you guys a glimpse of the events we attend to - such as catering events, salsa festivals, movie premieres! 

We will keep everyone updated and like always, see you when we see you!

The Wooden Shoe

I would say my favorite meal of the day is breakfast, but the only issue I have is waking up... I adore dim sum but the whole waking-up-part-on-a-Sunday morning just doesnt seem to work for me. Thus the backup plan is to go to The Wooden Shoe. The first time I was there I had no clue what to order, the menu was HUGE! The place specializes in serving Dutch breakfast and if it weren't for our friend Ryan I would of ordered everything on the menu!

I was first introduced to the Bavarian Sausage Breakfast Platter by Ryan who has always ordered it. The platter consisted of thinly sliced Bavarian sausages, pan-friend eggs dont to your liking (mines is always done sunny-side up) raisin toast, a side of home made apple sauce and real hash browns diced up into little ity bity cubes and pan-friend to perfection. Oh I almost forgot the best part, everything is drizzled with the most creamy Hollandise sauce ever! It is definitely a very good breakfast to wake up to after a lonnnnngg night of partying.

Even though I've been to The Wooden Shoe several times and trying Dutch pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, etc... I still love the Breakfast Platters. The decor is quite unique the walls are all lined with pictures of previous diners and different types of beer bottles and shot glasses... and we cant forget the wooden shoes! The servers are always friendly and the restaurant is a very chill place to hang out for a hard Dutch breakfast.

*a lot of my pictures got deleted on some of my blog posts... so I am trying to upload all the missing pics - November 17 2012*

Benkei on Thurlow

During the last few weeks of February, Vancouver has been hitting sub-zero temperatures paired with the kind of weather that makes you just want to stay at home and sleep from morning to night. And as much as I would have loved to be permanently glued to my bed all day, I had to drag myself out for a date with my Economics textbook. How fun. After 3 grueling hours at the Central library, B and I made the desicion to brave the cold and walk down to Robson for a nice, hot, steamy bowl of Ramen. Nothings better than hot soup and noodles to warm you up from the inside out!

As much as I really wanted to try the new Ramen place in downtown, it was a bit too far, especially since we couldn't feel our noses five minutes into walking - so we settled for the Benkei on Thurlow. I have been to the Benkei on Robson, but never the Thurlow location and in a way, I guess it still counts as trying some place new! It was nice and warm when we walked in and was immediately greeted by the servers shouting something in Japanese - probably "Welcome", or something of that sorts. What I really liked about the Thurlow location was that the larger space allowed them to have a sort of ramen "bar": a long bar that winds in almost a U-shape - which was where we were seated. Since the last time I have been to Benkei, they seemed to have added a few new items to their menu such as a curry ramen and curry rice. I stuck with my usual Shio Ramen with an egg, but B was feeling a bit more adventurous and since he was a fan of curry, he opted for the Curry Ramen and also added an egg.

For some strange reason, B's food always seems to taste better than mine and this time was no different because after trying B's noodles, I wish I got the Curry Ramen! The curry "soup" was really more like a watered down curry, but it was still full of flavor and delicious. Japanese curry is different from Indian or Thai curries in the sense that it is a bit on the sweeter side. This curry had a hint of sweetness that doesn't distract the palette from all the other flavors and had a really, really, mild-barely-even-noticeable kick of spice. The only bad thing about the Curry Ramen was that the chicken it came with was a bit dry, but you can substitute it with chasu. With so much flavor going on in B's noodles, mine tasted a little bland after - which is unusual since I usually love Shio Ramen.

With our belly's full, the cold didn't seem so cold anymore - but next time, for sure, I will be ordering a curry item on their menu!