Gokudo Shabu Shabu

Gokudo Shabu Shabu is exactly like Pearl Hot Pot. Price is reasonable and you get your own little pot to cook in which I love. Service is a little slow considering only 2 people were responsible for serving the entire restaurant. The staff was very friendly and we all had a wonderful time cooking, especially J because it was her first time eating Hot Pot. What more is there to say? Well... don't over cook your meat and go early.

I think it's a definite YES that we will be back again considering A and L had a blast!

Pictures taken with instagram

*Some of my pictures were deleted/error occurred, I was not able to recover everything so therefore I deleted some of my posts, I am trying to restore as many posts as I can!- November 18 2012*

The Keg Yaletown

I had a lousy work week. I think the weather kind of got to me, so when the sun started to shine on Saturday I was excited for a night out.

I have been to The Keg many times, the location that I usually hit up is the one on Granville Island so when T suggested we grab some dinner at The Keg in Yaletown I didn't really think much of it. We called ahead to ask what the waiting time was because on most Saturdays its usually fairly busy so I was surprised that they told us it would only be about a 20 minute wait. It took some patience to try to find parking in Yaletown, but after several tries we got a good spot and the parking was free too. Surprisingly when we got to The Keg in Yaletown we were seated immediately and from then on I was amazed with our server! I always thought The Keg was pretty consistent with providing good customer service but our server (Neil) at the Yaletown location was fantastic, he gave us an excellent run-down of the specials for the night and then came back promptly to take our orders. We got the Cocktail Shrimp and the French Onion Soup to start, for our main course we told our server that we wanted to split the Keg-O-Mega which is a 24oz Prime Rib that isn't on the main menu. When our appetizers arrived I started to snap away and our server noticed my picture-taking and asked if I was doing a food blog, I said yes and he immediately came back with this delicious 3 cheese whipped butter and told T and I that we must try this spread with our warm bread. And what do you know, it was delicious!

Its not really the food that amazed me. I mean the meal was very good it definitely satisfied my taste-buds, but it was our server that made such a memorable impression for me. He was such a happy fellow and very attentive but not over bearing. Nearing the end of our meal he chatted with us for a bit and told me that I should check out The Keg's lunch-time menu which features the "Keg Dog" which is this amazing hot dog that is served with a garlic bread bun, avocados and other delicious ingredients. It sounded so good that it got me excited to visit The Keg again! We also found out that our server got an amazing job offer in management at the Fairmount Hotel and his background was in Hotel Management before he moved to Vancouver. I wish him the best of luck in his career and I hope the next time I visit The Keg in Yaletown that I will meet another excellent server with an interest story to tell.

We ended our night at Tunnel which was a little lounge with a small dance floor. We were there to visit T's friend and I wanted to go dancing. It was my first time at Tunnel, we arrived at 11:00pm the place was very quiet. The music was sub-par and once the clock struck midnight we were outta there pronto...

Thai Away Home

I figured since I live in an area that is quite literally surrounded by restaurants, I should at least try each of these restaurants at least once and hey, in the mean time, why not blog it? I will probably be more active on it after I finish my March Photo A Day on Instagram. Anyway.

Nestled between a Pub and a Bike Shop is Thai Away Home: a little take-out restaurant, with some seating, serving Thai cuisine. I am not a big Thai food person as I can't handle spice and heat too well, or I just don't know what to order. So I went for the safe route, which is the most obvious: Pad Thai. It was part of a lunch "special" for $8, but I don't see what is so special about it besides it coming with a green salad - which I was really disappointed with. There was little to no dressing on it which kind of sucked because from what I could have tasted, the dressing had a really good brightness too it and complemented the slightly bitter dark greens. The Pad Thai itself was mediocre as well. There was a good amount of beansprouts and tofu - and that was about it for toppings. There were also two small pieces of shrimp in an ocean of noodles. It was almost like finding a needle in a hay stack; a shrimp in the ocean. Ha. Tastewise - I can`t really be the judge on what is authentic Thai or not - but I was satisfied with it. It was a bit sweet, a bit sour, and the heat was present, but not overwhelming at all.

I probably won't be making any special trips to Thai Away, but if I needed something fast and quick - I would... consider it.

Theirry

Update: May 14 2012 @ 7:00pm - I can't believe I gave this place a second chance.

Theirry is overrated and I am not happy with their level of condescending service

I have tried going to Theirry a couple times, and each time it was overflowing with people. I would glance at their cakes and macarons longingly and almost tear upon leaving because I couldn't get a taste of those delicate treats. Yesterday night, after our movie and dinner at Save-On-Meats (oh the juxtaposition of the two), we stopped by at Theirry for dessert and was in luck! There were a couple of empty tables on their patio! I was so ecstatic and seriously wanted to go crazy and order everything. B would have probably encouraged me with the usual, "Get it if you want it", but this time I was strong and only grabbed two pastries: the exotic fruit tart and the opera cake, and a few macarons - as well as a sencha tea to share.

And after all that hype, I was quite disappointed with Theirry. The fruit tart was nicely decorated with all sorts of fruit, but bland. The pastry cream was almost tasteless. Granted that the fruits used were off-season, but it really tasted like the tart has been there for a while. The most off putting thing about the tart was that the pineapples on it tasted like dirty dish water. I can't find a better way to describe that rancid smell from the pineapples besides that. In contrast to the tart, my opera cake was so sweet it almost made me gag. I could barely detect any coffee or chocolate taste because it was that sweet. I couldn't even taste my sencha tea after one bite and that is a really strong green tea. Those coveted macarons were overly sweet and heavy just like my cake. I was only able to take one bite of my macaron before I had to pack up the rest in a box.

Albeit that the store and desserts itself are very visually appealing, I probably won't go back to Theirry, and B agrees. It seems like a lot of people really enjoy it, but I think it was just way too sweet for me.

Save-on-Meats

On Friday, B and I were on our way to Tinseltown to watch a movie and decided to stop by and grab McDonalds for dinner (because I have been craving a filet-o-fish since what feels like forever), when we drove by Save-on-Meats. I actually didn't even notice the flashing neon sign with a giant pig on it, god knows why, until B muttered, "Oh, so that's where Save-on-Meats was". Upon those words, a flashback of reading 604Foodtography's post on Save-on-Meats popped into my head. So of course, we put the MickeyD plans aside. Sigh. The complications of wanting to eat everything and not having enough stomachs for it.

You are greeted first, not by the server, but by an old-school jukebox and a vintage candy machine; then comes the server telling you to write your name on the whiteboard. After a quick five minute-or-so wait, we were seated at the bar. Since Save-on was a last minute decision I didn't get a chance to scout the menu beforehand so I asked the server for a recommendation and boy, am I glad I did. I ordered the burger with a tossed salad and a root beer float and he got the clubhouse and slaw.

We had to wait a bit for our food, but it was a busy night. The burger is your standard burger; a nice thick and juicy patty, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese.  It is definitely not the most delicious burger out there, but it is definitely better than any fast food chain because the patty didn't taste like it was flash frozen and then defrosted - in other words, it was fresh and had a home-made kind of feel. My salad was a little under dressed even for my tastes but better under than over, in my opinion. I didn't get a chance to try B's sandwich, but he commented that there was a tone of bacon in it (his favourite) and the chicken was quite juicy.

I probably wouldn't go out of my way to come to Save-On-Meats, but if I was in the area I would. I would definitely order the burger again because you really do get more than you paid for. Six dollars for a fresh, homemade tasting burger? That's about the same price as a big mac but better than a big mac. Also, our experience there was really enjoyable. The server was friendly, and since we were at the bar, we had a really nice conversation with our neighbors. Everyone was really laid back and friendly - most memorable would be a granny who was there enjoying a slice of cake. She even shared a bite of her vanilla butter cream cake with strawberry filling with B before she dug in her self! I find that experiences like that, are rare, and definitely made a difference in our dining experience.

Oh, and by the way, Kevin, if you are reading this - they got their liquor license.