Las Vegas!! ~ Photo-log

Aria Resort & Casino

3730 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Las Vegas, NV

 

Viva Las Vegas!! W and I escaped the cold and rainy weather and spent a few days in Las Vegas doing what I would love to do everyday: sleep, eat, visit fun or scenic places/lounge in the hot tub/not have to clean up after myself, eat some more, and sleep some more. LOL!!

 

Our flight was through West Jet and I chose them because they offered flights that made the most time out my valuable vacation (morning flight to LAS, late night flight back to YVR)

I had my heart set on living at Aria because a few of our friends also went there and said it was a really good hotel. Aria just opened in December of 2009 so it's one of the newest hotels on the strip! Its contemporary design and style makes it look more sleek and modern compared to its neighbours that have a more European, elegant, and lavish look. Speaking of neighbours, I thought Aria's location was not too bad! It's part of the development called City Center which includes the Vdara hotel, The Cosmopolitan hotel, Mandarin Oriental hotel, The Harmon hotel (contruction halted due to deficiencies in the structure...it may be demolished and rebuilt), The Veer residential towers, and the Crystals (a super expensive, high-end retail mall). City Center itself is nestled between Monte Carlo hotel and Bellagio and there is also a tram that runs between these 3 places! Quite convenient!

 

Aria's hotel lobby was tall and spacious! The ceiling was decked out in an autumn theme when we arrived. 

 

Then, after the American Thanksgiving, its ceiling suddenly transformed to a Christmas theme!!

 

According to Aria's website, their rooms average around 520 square feet. Some other hotels boast larger rooms. I thought it was quite spacious for us. There's also a large floor-to-ceiling window that offers a corner view (which apparently every room has). Luckily, we were facing the strip so we had a pretty nice view; but not nice enough because we were only on the 9th floor....not high enough for a GREAT view =P

 

One of Aria's selling feature is that there is a touchscreen console to control every electronic/electrical item in the room. So, you can turn off the lights, turn on the tv, and open or close the curtains with the touch of your finger all without moving about. It was tricky to navigate the console at first (I kept turning off all the lights and closing the curtains at the same time when I just wanted to close one darn lamp!) but it's quite handy at night when you want to shut everything off and go to sleep without leaving the bed. Don't worry, there are also individual switches for these things if you aren't very electronic-savvy.

I liked how each room has a good-sized foyer leading into the bedroom. It feels like walking into an apartment rather than a cramped hotel room.

Overall, I thought Aria was a great place to stay on the strip! It's a quick walk to access the tram to Bellagio and the newly built overpasses from City Center to the strip makes it easy to go to other places on the boulevard. If you are interested, I've included some tips and facts to help you determine if Aria is your hotel of choice when you visit Las Vegas.

- There is a $25 resort fee for each night you stay. This fee ensures your access to the gym, pool, business center and their wifi network but it's a scam because you can access their wifi for free!!! There's no password or anything =P

- There is no coffee maker in the hotel room. If you can't live without coffee in the morning, you'll either have to go out and buy a cuppa or bring your own coffee maker or electric kettle (we bought our own electric kettle)

- DO NOT TOUCH the mini fridge and snack tray as it is weighted. Even if you move or pick up something and put it back in its original place, the sensors will trigger and think you have taken it. Then they will charge you a whopping fee.

- The mattress is very pillowy soft. If that's not your sleeping style, ask housekeeping to help you flip it over because apparently the other side is harder. I have not tried this but I've heard other people that have done it.

- Airport shuttle drop-off and pick-up is located in their underground parking garage so if you are travelling to the hotel this way, unfortunately, you can't make a grand entrance at the front.

- The main floors have a strong vanilla scent wafting about which I think is to help mask the cigarette odours. It's personal preference whether you like the scent or not but I found it disgustingly sweet. But I guess it's better than breathing in the actual cigarette smoke.

Cumpari's Gelato & Cafe

535 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

It was another girls' hang out! We went to Cumpari's for some desserts and girl talk. Despite the lack of places for desserts in the Tri-Cities area, this was only my second time here. I guess I've always ventured out to downtown for my desserts.

 

Cumpari's is a pretty spacious and large cafe with a good selection of gelato and cakes, and they also have some panini sandwiches as daily specials; however, be warned: their items are quite expensive for this area (probably due to lack of competition, they are able to set their prices this high?). They have additional seating on the second floor but it was closed off when we were there. 

 

Regular-sized coffee

I ordered a regular coffee to go with the sweets. Cream and sugar was available on the side. Their coffee was actually not too bad.

We ordered 3 cakes to share between the 5 of us. Ok, they were pretty big slices so perhaps it justifies the high prices...

Pistachio cake

I am not a big fan of pistachio so I only ate a few bites of this cake. I couldn't really detect much pistachio flavour but the cake was moist with the creamy layers in between.

Ferrero Rocher cake

I chose the Ferrero Rocher cake since I wanted something chocolatey. I thought this was a pretty good cake. The cake part was meh (like regular chocolate cake) but the dense fudgy layer was rich with chocolatey hazelnutty goodness, albeit a little too sweet. The little crispy balls on the outside provided a bit of texture to the cake.

Mango Greek Yogurt cake

This cake had layers of sponge cake sandwiched between another 2 layers of light and tangy mousse, then topped with a mango flavoured jelly. It was actually quite refreshing because the mousse was airy and not very sweet. The mango jelly provided most of the sweetness. This one seemed like the healthiest cake out of the 3 haha...

If I was craving for desserts, Cumpari's still wouldn't be one of my choices but for a local place to hang out over some drinks and sweets, it's still not a bad place to go.

The Coffee Bun

1011-1163 Pinetree Way
Coquitlam, BC
(Henderson Place, facing Lincoln Ave.)

The Coffee Bun is a bakery and cafe that offers their special UFO-shaped baked bun, some desserts, as well as a variety of coffee (they serve Kicking Horse coffee) and teas. The original store is located in North Vancouver and their second store opened up in Henderson mall a while ago.

I've been meaning to try this place but there's always something else that pulls me away. I guess it's some sort of vibe that the mall emits that makes people divert away haha... The locals know what I'm talking about. This mall is like a mini ghost town! There are more vacant shops than there are tenants! Anyway.

On a sunny but chilly weekend, my sis and I wanted to have something to warm up after a walk in the park with my niece. Since we were close by, my sis suggested popping into The Coffee Bun. I was quite surprised that the cafe was filled with people! There were some teens hanging out and some middle-aged ladies having tea and chatting. We opted to buy the buns home to eat. I also bought a cup of green tea. They have fruit teas and herbal teas but I just picked a green tea from a tea bag.

Red bean coffee bun

As the buns cooled off a bit during the car ride home, I re-heated them in a toaster oven. It helped crisp up the topping again. The buns reminded me of the Hong Kong style bun "Mexican bun" which also had a smooth, crumbly and sweet top. The red bean one had an adequate amount of sweetened red beans inside. The beans were soft but still retained its round shape. I found this bun a little too sweet for my liking.

Vanilla custard coffee bun

I liked the vanilla custard bun more. The filling was smooth and not too sweet with hints of vanilla flavour. It gave the bun a more light and airy feeling. My sis liked the red bean one more though.

I would like to go back to The Coffee Bun again and try their other flavours (they have chocolate, cinnamon, cream cheese, as well as savoury ones like garlic and coffee bun sandwiches). However...it'll be hard to resist those vibes emitting from the mall!!

Sushi K Kamizato

Suite 2105 - 2850 Shaughnessy Street

Port Coquitlam, BC

 

I really have to thank all the local food bloggers as they are my source on finding new restaurants. On one particular blog, I read about a newly opened Japanese restaurant located in Poco and was intrigued by their menu. So, I gathered up my sis, my bro-in-law and W to check it out!

 

It's a rather small restaurant seating only about 20-25 people. Reservations are highly recommended if you have a large party. 

 

Spinach Gomae

Fresh spinach leaves tossed in a light soy sauce and sprinkled with crushed sesame seeds

We started off with the spinach gomae. This didn't look like a typical gomae! Rather than blanched spinach, the greens here were left uncooked and  lightly tossed in a soy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I quite liked this version as it wasn't very heavy.

Ocean Wiser

Raw ebi (shrimp), salmon belly, cucumbers, topped with salmon and avocado and drizzled with black sesame, green onions and their special sauce

This was one of their creative rolls. Even though it was busy-looking, the whole package was well made and it was really tasty! The shrimp was a little lost amidst the other fillings though. I'm not sure what their special sauce was but it tasted like a really light soy sauce. I'm actually quite fond of the way they do their rolls because it's easy to pick up and eat and they are not slathered with sauces that overwhelm the ingredients. Some places have ginormous rolls that are cut really thin so everything falls apart when you pick up. These were well made and everything was fresh.

House Roll

Imitation crab meat, salmon, tuna topped with a zesty mayo sauce that has been torched

I am so accustomed to house rolls being these massive rolls with everything but the kitchen sink stuffed inside. This one surprised me a bit but in a good way haha. For one, it's small enough to pop the whole thing in my mouth (which, to me, seems to be more traditional) and two, there was just a thin layer of mayo on top which provided the right amount of flavour and kick to the roll. 

Tako Wasabi

Marinated chopped octopus and wasabi stems(?)

Halfway through the meal, the lady of the restaurant bestowed upon us a complimentary appetizer!! She apologized and said that this was to make up for the long wait of our dishes as it was a pretty busy night in the kitchen. I didn't think the food took that long to come out but anyway, that was such a lovely gesture! I have never tried tako wasabi before because I was always quite scared of the strong, nasal-clearing, tear-inducing Japanese horseradish. I am glad to say that I tried this and now I love it (at least Sushi K Kamizato's version)! The wasabi still gave me a strong kick in the face/mouth but it was mixed together with the chopped octopus, pickled stems and another sauce so altogether it was very YUM-O!

Saba Battera

Mackeral pressed sushi with shiso leaf in the middle and topped with ginger and green onions

Next came the saba battera. This was my least favourite sushi out of the meal. I thought the rice was kind of dry and the overall flavour was subtle. The shiso leaves and the ginger/green onions helped temper the mackeral which can be salty and fishy. However, their saba wasn't very fishy or salty so that was good.

Tiger Eyes

A ball of sushi rice wrapped with marinated salmon that's lightly seared and then topped with chopped scallop and tobiko mixed with mayo

This special little package is not on their menu but it should be!!! I saw this from the food blog I read and it was offered as a "special of the day" but it was not offered on the night that I went. I asked the lady of the restaurant if they still offered Tiger Eyes and she was so shocked that I knew about it! LOL! She even asked me how I knew about it and I told her I read about it on the Internet and I wanted to try. She looked so thankful and appreciative. I was actually quite touched!

As the description suggests, this sushi is one package full of deliciousness! The salmon was coated with just enough marinade that it dídn't make the sushi all soggy and overwhelm the delicate scallop. I thought this was very unique.

Sushi Combo

(L-R) Tuna, Salmon, Hamachi (yellowtail?), Ebi (shrimp), Ika (squid), Tako (octopus), Hotate (scallop)

The nigiri sushi were well made and the fish seemed very fresh. I liked how they really put some thought into the sushi like adding a shiso leaf underneath the squid and torching the scallop and brushing it with some lime juice. Usually, sushi combos have your run-of-the-mill salmon, tuna and shrimp. But here, they included pricier items like the squid and scallop. I like this kind of variety.

With Dynamite Roll and California Roll (4 pieces each)

These 2 rolls were kind of ordinary but, again, I liked how they were small and easy to eat.

BC Roll

BBQ-ed salmon skin and cucumbers, drizzled with a tangy and sweet sauce

Man oh man, I don't think I have raved about a BC roll before! Often times BC rolls are an afterthought and, for me, are ordered as a cheap sushi filler. But this one! The salmon skin was crisp and still warm, and there was a good ratio between skin and meat! I don't know...maybe it's just me...I thought that this was the best BC roll I have ever eaten in a long time.

Chicken Teriyaki Don

With shredded carrots and cabbage

By the time this rice bowl came, I was stuffed so I didn't try any of this. From its appearance though, it looked pretty bland. There doesn't seem to be enough sauce on the chicken and the rice to provide colour and flavour. To me, it just seemed like a sad looking teriyaki-don.

Complimentary ice-cream (mango and green tea mix)

At the end of the meal, we were also given complimentary dessert in the form of ice-cream! Not too fond of it though because the mango was too sweet which overpowered the green tea part. And the green tea ice-cream was not very strong in the first place anyway. I love a good strong matcha/green tea ice-cream! Nonetheless, it was free and I appreciated a sweet treat to finish off the night.

I would recommend Sushi K Kamizato, not only for its food, but also because of the service and attitude of the people working at this restaurant. They are passionate about their food and they make everyone feel welcomed. At one point, the sushi chef even came over to say hi and ask us about the food! They were so gracious and grateful to all their customers. Definitely a cozy and lovely sushi place that I would go back again :)