Refuel

As you approach Refuel, the first thing you'll probably notice is the chef working in the window facing the street. I thought it was pretty interesting but it'd be weird if I took a picture of him. Refuel is located in Kits so you just have to look for street parking although just on the same block, there is a parking lot for the Salvation Army and yes, you have to pay, but it's $1 for the whole night, score!


As you walk down the bar, you'll note the open environment and how the chefs are easily accessible to the patrons but I guess that's if you sit at the bar. It's quite welcoming and cozy with enough seating at the tables for maybe 40 people. The waitress that we had was very nice even though I couldn't use the Visa perks coupon cause it was listed under "Fuel" even though it's the same owners. Just a heads-up if that's the sole reason you are going there. Some of the food I'm gonna show isn't even on the menu on Refuel's website so I guess a lot has changed in 2 months or perhaps it was just their Olympics menu.


Creamy onion soup - no longer appears on the menu and seems to have been replaced with the creamy broccoli which I think I'd like more. This dish was very salty... probably why I liked it.


Lemon risotto - no longer a staple on their menu either. Not really much to say about this dish. It was lemon-y... not bad but not great.


The cure's salami ~ $17 - This is their salami dish where you can pick 3 different types of meat with some dips. I can't really what the meats we picked were but it's a nice sharing dish. It came with 3 dips and some really hard bread.


Buttermilk fried polderside chicken ~ $18 - my buddy kept raving about how this was the best fried chicken in all of Vancouver and seeing other people in the restaurant enjoying it probably made the dish taste better than it would have. The dish comes with coleslaw (eww), a jalapeno biscuit (awesome) and three pieces of chicken bigger than your average KFC so it is filling. The fried skin was great but to my horror, right underneath the fried goodness was the rubbery white skin that you get with Hainan chicken. I dislike that slippery, rubbery texture so that kinda ruined the chicken for me. Other than that, the meat was very tasty.


Dry aged beef burger ~ $14.50 - I didn't get to try this but my friend seemed to like my chicken more than his burger. It just doesn't seem any different from other (and cheaper) burgers that you could get elsewhere. He totally regretted it, I know.


A special on the night was the massive 18oz. ribeye steak. I can't recall the price exactly but it was close to $50. All I can tell you is that it was great!

As for my rating... would I go back?

Rating: 7.5 - I'd go back. I enjoyed my time and the meal. The waitress was nice as was the atmosphere and decor. I only wish that the dishes weren't all so darn salty. Ironically, I'd also get the fried chicken again despite what I said above. I need to give it another chance before I agree that it has dethroned Church's as the best chicken in town.

Refuel neighbourhood restaurant & bar

1944 West 4th Ave
Vancouver, BC V6J1M5

Tel: (604) 288-7905
http://www.refuelrestaurant.com/

P.S. So I'm back to writing blogs and yes, I was kinda lazy on this one, but it's hard to remember things from 2 months back.

Sun Tung Kee Hot Pot Restaurant

So I'm back and what better way to kick-start then with a review of one of least favorite cuisines! One of my friends wanted to do a hotpot dinner so I decided to join cause I figured what better way to be more Chinese than to eat hotpot in Richmond. She decided on Sun Tung Kee which should not be confused for Sabo which apparently goes by the same name also. The main difference being Sabo is AYCE while this place is a la carte. It's especially important that this issue be cleared up immediately because for some people, a la carte isn't their thing. The parking lot itself is crappy when busy (which aren't?) but otherwise, check for ample street parking.

This is the inside and it looks pretty clean. You've got the steam fans in the middle of the table and the boss lady greeting customers and making sure all the servers are doing their jobs diligently. I pretty much agreed to whatever everyone ordered and asked that they not tell me so that I would try everything and not worry about what it was. They have a variety of soup bases starting around $7 and we decided on the satay duo soup which was clear soup on one side and satay soup on the other. I can say right now that I didn't taste any differences but that's because i probably doused out any tastes by using the sesame sauce.

So I can't recall everything that was ordered since this was a while ago but here goes: Inside the white icing bag are the fish paste noodles ($10) which you squeeze out like cake icing which was surprisingly good since i hate fish balls. From the waiter, we learned the proper method for squeezing is to imitate the upward stroke actions of your arms as if you were running.... Anyway, in the background, I think you have beef slices ($10), in front are the golden mushrooms ($6.50), the lamb slices ($9) and the fish slices ($14) in the background. I liked the meat but not so much the fish slices or mushrooms.

Here are the assorted meatballs C ($15) and what I think is another view of the beef slices. As for the meatballs, I only ate the shrimp and beef but can't recall the others. I just didn't try the fishballs cause I already know they are gross.

I can't really recall what these dishes were other than the shrimp dumplings ($8) up at the top and the chicken wings ($9). I must say right now that steamed and boiled chicken wings is extremely nasty and I hate the elasticity of the skin. Chicken should only be fried, roasted or baked - otherwise, it's just gross.

Here we have what I think is beef again, fresh oysters ($12) and ostrich meat ($16). The ostrich meat was actually quite tasty and more tender than I though it would be.

So overall, I was pretty stuffed but I did find it quite pricey at$27/person. The dishes themselves didn't seem that expensive but I guess everything just adds up. I must say that the portions appear quite generous but then again, I have no other places to compare it to. As for the restaurant itself, I didn't hate it but I can't say that I'd be aching to return... not just to this restaurant but to any hotpot restaurant in general. I think the appeal of cooking your own raw food and mixing it altogether in a broth with a whole bunch of other raw stuff is gross and still is.

One thing though is that the service was extremely good! You know you're getting great service when the girls are cooking the food for you and placing it on your plate so I can't complain about that. By the way, in order for that to happen, you'd have to go with a really nice girls.

Rating: 6/10 - my first hotpot restaurant experience could have been worse and I honestly wasn't expecting much. The fact that I didn't get food poisoning also helps too. Oh yeah, if the food is cooked thoroughly and served to you by girls, well... that helps too =)


Sun Tung Kee Hot Pot Restaurant
1060-8580 Alexandra Road
Richmond BC V6X 4B3
604-207-0386

hello all. in the midst of the Olympics and studying for my final exam, I'll have to take a break (I probably should've written this a month ago), but check back this Sat March 13 for a new update :)

Places that you'll never see me review

Hey all. You probably forgot who I am since it always seems to be take forever for me to update so I thought I'd change it up a bit. This isn't an actual review but more of a rundown of places that you'll never see me review because either:

1) I went to it during my pre-review days, and something about it sucked and I'll never go back,
2) A bad experience from someone else is enough for me to never give the place another chance, or
3) it's too expensive and not worth it.

Some say there's no such thing as bad publicity, so without further ado:

1) Grand Honour Hot Pot Restaurant on Granville. I've never been here myself but my mom recently went here and came back with a severe case of food poisoning. She's well on the way to recovery but ended up having to go to the hospital for meds and IV fluids. Her fellow patrons also fell ill but not to the extent that she did. I'm not a fan of hot pot to begin with (ironically, I will post about another hot pot place in the near future), so this doesn't do much to change my mind.

Rating: -10/10 cause I wouldn't come even if you drove me here and paid for me.

2) Lombardo's Ristorante and Pizzeria on Commercial

- It looks like an outdoor cafe but it's inside a mall with no shops. With all the outdoor cafes available on Commercial, go figure.
- bitch waitress that wouldn't let us order since 1/18 guests had not yet arrived. That one person said it was okay and we weren't rude to her.
- someone ordered wine, and their glass had water drips inside. Classy.
- once we got food, she disappeared (it is a small restaurant too!) and water re-fills didn't come
- pricey for mediocre food, and pizza had minimal toppings.
- automatic 18% gratuity despite lack of service
- she asked that before we left, if she could count the money in front of us. Seriously!?

Rating: 0/10 cause with all the other restaurants around, you have no excuse to come for this garbage. I MAY give it a second chance if you pay though. It might even be upgraded to "1".

3) Lux on Granville

It's been a while since I went here and it'll be another while before I come back...

+ people watching for clubbers waiting to go into Caprice
- just because you dine at their restaurant doesn't mean they'll let you in without waiting in line... lame.
- food took a long time to be served
- food was quite overcooked and salty, I remember it specifically for the halibut cheeks. Perhaps they used the sweat and fumes from the previous night's clubbers to steam their food?

Rating: 2/10 cause it's not at all luxurious at they claim it to be. You might as well go club first and then go to Denny's later a 2AM cause it'll taste the same once you're drunk. Actually, that's an insult. Denny's is much better eve when sober.

4) Cocolo on West 4th

- Went here twice for work lunches and I want to like it, but I can't.
- Miso soup is different from normal types you get. Lots of veggies. No, I don't like it.
- They have lunch box combos that are pricier than most although I don't think they are filling
- Their chicken teriyaki tastes like cold chicken with soy sauce
- Desserts are small for the price so don't think about sharing.
- $4 for their Cocolo sushi. You get 2 razor-thin fish "loonies" for this.
+ Umm... their service is quite good and attentive. They greeted and also thanked me when leaving.
+ Nice ambiance and really like the Japanese decor
+ free backlot parking in a tight concrete area
- If you care, operated by Chinese.

Rating: 4/10 cause I want to like it but until they improve their food and portion quality, it can't be helped. It was only for lunch but perhaps they are different during dinner.

5) Kakurenbou Japanese Dining on Jervis

+ this place looks very cool from the inside, like a temple
+ pretty good variety of izakaya and sake
+ good desserts
+ service was good
+ my boss paid for me to eat and be merry
- do not get their stone-grilled kobe beef unless you can cook 6 small slabs perfectly yourself cause that's what you do for $20.
- it's like double the price of Guu or Hapa Izakaya but you don't get as much food and their quality isn't any better.
- depending on your mood, it's not party-like or rambunctious like the above two places
- Guu and Hapa are nearby
- did i mention that it is extremely expensive, notwithstanding the fact that it's not really worth it even if money weren't an issue?

Rating: 6/10 cause I'd probably never go here again unless my boss pays for me cause I think it came out to about $75/person and I wasn't even full. It's not a bad place at all but that price is already a meal each at Guu and Hapa already.

I'm hesitant to put "West" on here cause I'd definitely like to go back although the one time I went (back in the high school days), the waiter was obnoxious, arrogant and definitely looked down at our party, probably because we came during dineout. I hope he was hauled off to work at Grand Honor or Lombardo's where he belongs.

Anyway, So this was a nice change and it'd be interesting to hear about other peoples' places to avoid. Till then, I'll keep scrounging up bad memories of food and wait to compile a list then.

Salathai on Burrard

My friend was feeling southeast Asian and suggested we go to Salathai. For Thai, I've only ever been to Thai House (gross) and Green Basil (good) so wasn't sure what to expect. We came here on a Saturday evening and as to be expected, it was busy but we had a reservation. One of my friend's boyfriend also happen to know the owner very well so obviously, expectations are a bit higher than usual. I think that's why we went here in the end.



This is the view facing the entrance although it totally doesn't even look like a restaurant (ok, the other side was filled with tables and the bar), but really, I think the decor is more to appease the people from out of town or who have never been to Thailand. Nonetheless, clean, tidy, no problems.


A free drink on the house courtesy of the owner. I believe it was some kind of Thai iced coffee but it was quite good and very refreshing. We ordered a variety of items to share and the first thing I noticed was that there were no items over $20. I thought to myself "wow, is this place one of those cheap, hidden gems that taste awesome that I'd never known about?" I was about to be unpleasantly surprised...

Salathai Satay ~ $8.25 - We had chicken but they also had beef and pork. With 4 skewers, a little over $2 for a piece of meat the size of your index figure. It was good (Personally, I think it's pretty hard to screw up skewers) but for the price, I didn't think it was worth it and was disappointed.

Tom Yum Soup with prawns ~ $9. Honestly, I was biased against this dish from the get-go cause I don't like hot and sour soup so I wasn't looking for seconds. Even though the bowl looks small, we were able to scoop out 6 standard rice bowls with a prawn for each person. Of course, I only took about half cause I didn't want to waste it.

Golden Angel Wings ~$9 - boneless chicken wings stuffed with meat, shrimp, veggies and vermicelli.. Apparently, this is one of their signature dishes and for what it's worth. It was pretty good. If I were to go back, I'd get this dish.

Pad Thai ~ $11 - Can you really go to a Thai restaurant and not order pad thai? It was alright but for the price you pay and the portion you receive, it is totally not worth it.

Gaeng Dang ~ $11 - chicken, bell peppers, bamboo shoots in red curry with coconut milk. Like most other places, you have to pay for rice separately (I forgot how much), there was enough to share for everyone but I found the curry to be too liquid for my liking.


Dessert platter on the house - we have coconut gelatinous cubes, vanilla ice cream with red bean paste and deep fried banana. Cubes = not very flavorful (then again, I think that's normal), ice cream = good, red bean = I don't like red bean and banana = good. I can't really say anything about its worth cause we received it for free.

While it was great that our buddy had a hookup with the owners and gave us free drinks and dessert, I was overall disappointed with the experience. I understand that it gets busy but the service was very lacking. It took a long time to get water or we'd have to re-request it. Also, I found it rude how when our waitress, in the middle of taking our orders, suddenly said she would be right back, left us to do whatever, and then came back 5 minutes later. I didn't think that was very professional but tips are included.

I also now realize that by making the menu items seem less expensive, it makes you feel like you can order more! Unfortunately, portion-wise, it's not worth it. For what it's worth, I did leave feeling full, but not satisfied. Most of the dishes are also designed for sharing so you can't really get your own things. There's a Salathai on Cambie but don't think I'll be coming back here or the other one anytime soon.

Due to popular (one anonymous person ^^ ), I will start rating places once again with a comment.

rating: 5/10 - Even though the golden angel wings were good, I'd come back only with that guy to get the free hook-ups but I wouldn't come myself. I'd also avoid busy times cause the service leaves much to be desired.


Salathai on Burrard
102-888 Burrard Street
Vancouver BC V6 1X9
Tel: 604-683-7999
www.Salathai.ca

Section 3

Ever since the construction of the Canada line near my workplace, I've found myself starting to explore venues in Yaletown that I would never have gone to normally, mainly because of the parking there). Decided to check this place out on a whim since they advertised $10 lunches online. It's conveniently located about a block away from the skytrain but if you plan to drive, then yes, parking may be challenging.

Given that it was around 2pm, the place was pretty deserted and we could sit wherever. Once you step in, you'd notice the lighted nerd sign lighting the bar and once you got seated, you'd probably notice the poster of the topless woman behind the entrance. Their drink menus are always decorated with vintage b&w pictures of topless women. Not too sure what their goal is here.
The inside decor is pretty funky and eclectic. Note the iron Christmas tree looking object in the nerd picture. It's hard to tell with the lighting but I think most of the furniture in here is pink. Apparently, they have two sets of washrooms here. You've got a pair near the back of the restaurant and then there is another past the back doors which looks more like a public washroom for the complex. It's pretty obvious which one they keep more clean.

It's on their website but for the lazy people, I've posted a link of their menu, of which all items are $10. Most of their food is standard and nothing really sticks out. They have daily specials but you're paying $9 instead of $10. However, who am I to complain about a 10% drop in price. I asked the guy what he recommended and he kept saying how the turkey sandwich was "sooooo gooooood!". I decided to get something else =p

Bacon cheeseburger with wild sauteed mushrooms and fries. It's your standard fare with a healthy bit of beef and mushrooms so no complaints. The fries came with a spicy mayo which was good too.

Shepherd's pie with giant garlic toast. My friend had this since it was their daily special. To be honest, I don't really even know what Shepherd's pie is but then I learned it's like mashing your potatoes and meat together. It was alright. My friend said it was ok and garlic toast is... well, just garlic toast so nothing special.

Smoked salmon fettuccine with spinach and capers. It was... ok. Perhaps I expected more but then again, I was comparing it to Favorito ("yo, check it out in the December month).

The other pasta of the day was the smoked chicken penne with mushrooms, green peas and sundried tomatoes. I liked this one more than the smoked salmon cause it had more flavor. When I asked both girls, they said they'd probably pick a different item next time.

Thin crust pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and bell peppers. We had this to share and it was very good. It wasn't too greasy and they were generous with toppings. This was our favorite dish of the day and had we known, we probably would've just gotten a bunch of pizzas.

The service overall was good but then there were only like 3 tables inside. I remember coming here once around 1am and it was packed. They also had a DJ playing in the corner. We ordered yam fries but I thought they were overdone and too salty. And as can be expected, service is pretty slow and forgetful so that was my last impression before coming here for a second go-around. It's not my first choice for dinner or a late night hangout, but I wouldn't mind coming back for lunch given their $10 menus.



Section 3
1039 Mainland Street
Vancouver BC V6B 5P9
Tel; 604-684-2777
http://www.sectionthree.com/

Vita Bella

Came here on a Sunday night for a nice dinner with Cheerios. The restaurant is located near the intersection of Hastings and Willingdon so lots of parking along the streets. The restaurant is actually kind of hard to miss cause the outside is pretty hard and the iron-bar appearance from the outside doen't help.

The decor inside is really simple yet elegant. They have paintings decorated throughout and the pale green color is easy on the eyes. The lighting set the mood perfectly - not too biright nor too dark. We had a cozy table beside the wall.

Ahi tuna with blueberry fennel slaw and peppers ~ $30. The fennel and the tuna complimented each other very well and the tuna was excellent. Needless to say, Cheerios liked her dish a lot.

Linguine fumate: house-smoked duck breast, sun-dried tomatoes with assorted mushrooms in Grand Marnier demiglaze cream sauce, drizzled with truffle oil ~ $18. The duck had a crispy outside with a soft inside and was full of flavor. It may be because I like my pasta to be extremely saucy but I thought the noodles could have used a bit more sauce.

Chef Leonardo's chocolate pave ~ $7. The presentation was really nice but we were a little disappointed by the dessert after so much hype from our waiter. It's basically like eating a mousse cake or a ganache. Nonetheless, it still tasted great but didn't seem up to par with the entrees.

The only negative part of the night was that our entrees seemed to take much longer than the other patrons like 40 mins we ordered. You get bread with olive oil but it only lasts for so long. I recall one couple sitting near us who arrived about the same time but they were gone moments after we received our entree. And then a group of 4 came, ordered, and got to eating within 10 minutes so I was a little peeved about that.

However, to end on a positive note, during our dinner, a old, short, bespectacled man came to our table and asked how our meal was and if everything was okay. I thought he was a random customer who just happened to be interested in what we were eating but Cheerios later pointed out that he was likely the head chef and owner since he was wearing an apron and was going around to other tables. I thought this was a really nice touch by the owner and he was also very humble and grateful for our presence. I'm pretty much ready to patronage to chef Leo again.


Vita Bella Ristorante
4544 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC V5C2K4

Tel: (604) 298-4464
Fax: (604) 298-4485
http://www.vitabellaristorante.ca