Itadakimasu Restaurant & Sake Bar

4148 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Way back when, it seemed like Japanese izakaya style restaurants were located exclusively in the downtown area. Now, there are more and more izakayas popping up outside the downtown core! Itadakimasu was on my radar for a while but I didn't have much reason to venture to Main Street so I never visited this place. On a Friday night, W and I were hanging out at Oakridge Centre so I decided, "Hey, we're sorta close, let's go there for dinner!" LOL...  Oh, and my apologies for the crappy photo quality...


When we arrived, the place was packed and we were relegated to sit at the bar. The bar stools had no backrests so by the end of the meal, my back was stiff and sore... They need to get more comfortable bar stools.
Anyway, after looking through their regular menu and their fresh sheet, we decided to order 6 items to share.

Daikon Salad ($6) - radish salad topped with deep fried potato sticks with plum sauce

From the fresh sheet, this salad was a cool and healthy way to start the meal. Ok...maybe not that healthy due to the deep fried potato sticks. They were so good though! Crunchy and lightly salted, it went well with the sweet and tart plum sauce dressing. Hiding underneath the greens were also slices of daikon (white radish), cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

PARI PARI Ebi mayo ($7) - crispy prawns with sweet chili mayo

This was on their regular menu. It wasn't on the description but the prawns were actually coated with rice crispies! I was worried that the chili mayo sauce would be too spicy for me and was actually kind of skeptical when W wanted to order it. I'm just a worrywart haha.. The sauce just had a little zingy kick to it and it was delicious!

 Daily Cute Temari sushi box ($10) - 10 assorted flavours of "ball shaped" sushi

Oh, the power of facebook! I saw a friend post a photo of Itadakimasu's temari sushi box and I immediately squealed at how cute it looked! I vowed to try it if I ever went to the restuarant. Lo and behold, I have ordered it! The appearance was certainly cute but the taste was mediocre. The sushi rice was really bland, like it hadn't been seasoned or mixed with any vinegar at all. The sashimi was kind of dry too. A little disappointed, yes, but I'm still glad I tried it.

 Pacific Roll ($11) - salmon teriyaki, cucumber topped with tuna, rice pearls and ponzu jelly

Also from their fresh sheet, I chose the Pacific Roll to see how their specialty rolls fared. Aside from the bland sushi rice, everything else was great! I especially loved the burst of tart citrus flavour from the yuzu jelly on top of the tuna.

Tsukune ($2.50 each, min. 2 orders) - skewered chicken meat ball with salt, teriyaki or sour plum & Japanese basil

These minced chicken "sausages" on bamboo skewers were pretty good too. The inside was still juicy while the exterior had a bit of char from the grill. The one glazed with sour plum sauce was my favourite because I liked the liberal sprinkle of shiso leaves (Japanese basil). It was sweet, tart and a little minty-herby. The flavour of the teriyaki (on the left) skewer was predictable (sweet and savoury) but it was still tasty.

Gindara Saikyou Miso ($9.50) - grilled miso black cod

The last dish that came was the grilled black cod. The fish was quite small in size but the sweet, salty, umami flavours were huge in impact! Nicely grilled with some char marks, the dark crispy skin contrasted with the smooth, soft and flakey white flesh. Overall, this was a fish well done. Just wished the piece was bigger to warrant that price...

With a more subdued atmosphere (no loud music or yelling by the servers like Guu), I thought it made for a more pleasing and relaxed meal. Of course, if it was the rambunctious and energetic atmosphere you're looking for, perhaps heading to downtown would be a better choice. If I was ever back in the area and was craving for izakaya appies (no sushi!), I would definitely head to Itadakimasu.

Cache Bistro - Dinner #2

1269 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

W invited a badminton buddy of his to have dinner one weekend. They decided to make it a double-date so his friend, Griffin, brought his wife along while W brought me! Since Griffin and his wife rarely head out to have nice leisurely dinners due to child-rearing duties, W thought that bringing them to Cache would be a nice outing for them.

We arrived at 6 in the evening and it was pretty empty inside. I know it’s not exactly good for business but I liked how we could chat without a lot of noise disrupting us. It got a bit busier as the night went on though.

I saw that Cache hung a new chalkboard menu by their open kitchen which detailed the daily items available for their newly added charcuterie platter. I think I might want to try it one day. Cache seems like an unintimidating place to be introduced to the world of cheese and cured meats. Anyway! Back to the dinner!

Half Moon Ice Tea ($6) - green tea, fresh lemon, mint, soda

I started with a drink while perusing the menu. The ice tea was cold and refreshing! It wasn't very sweet, which would be nice for some, but I would have liked it more if a little more green tea syrup was added.

W had a hard time choosing what to eat so he went and asked Chef Alex for recommendations. Chef Alex said that the pork belly on their Menu 35 3-course dinner was really good so, putting all his trust in Alex, he went with the Menu 35 meal!

Boutique AAA Tenderloins - Black pepper crust, bacon wrapped AAA tenderloin, celeriac purée, port glazed pearl onions

For W’s choice of appetizer on Menu 35, he opted for the beef tenderloin - tiny bite-sized cubes of beef wrapped with bacon. The dish seemed small but it was really tasty. Despite the size, the meat was well cooked, not tough to chew at all, while the bacon provided a pleasing salty hit. The other appy option was the seafood crepe (lobster, mussels, squid, and salmon, veloute de poisson).

*Please note that I did not take any photos of Griffin and his wife’s food… I just met them and I didn’t want to scare them off by halting them of any eating and shoving my camera phone in front of their dishes ~_~

Pork Belly - Braised pork belly, pomme dauphine, baby carrot

This was the chef recommended pork belly! It was braised until the meat was fork-tender. The fat practically melted in my mouth! The pork belly was seasoned well but the flavour was kind of one-dimensional. The pomme dauphine were actually the fried round mashed potato balls! These potato balls reminded me of Japanese croquette because of the crispy exterior shell, the soft and creamy potato interior, and it also had a little bit of meaty demi-glace sauce in the middle.

When a server passed by our table holding the other entrée option for Menu 35, I thought that one looked quite delicious too! It was a wild sockeye salmon marinated with miso, accompanied with fennel, and had basa noodle.

Beet Salad ($11) - Roasted golden, candy & red beets, roasted carrot, crispy goat cheese

Upon reading the description for the Menu 35 meal, I wasn’t too interested with the choices so I decided to order from the a la carte menu. I went with the beet salad to start as I wanted something light to whet my appetite. I’m starting to like beets more and more, especially the roasted variety! They were so sweet and tender! The carrots were sweet and delicious too! The little crispy goat cheese nuggets were soft in the inside and had a golden coloured panko crust on the outside. Really good textural contrast to the soft beets!

Duck Breast ($24) - Seared Fraser Valley duck breast, roasted fingerling potato, honey carrot flan, blueberry demi

I was actually a little disappointed with my entrée. By all means, it was still tasty but somehow it didn’t really meet my expectations. The meat of the duck breast was moist yet a little chewy but I thought the fat under the duck skin was not rendered enough so I felt it was not as melty-soft as I liked it to be. With the description of “honey carrot flan”, I expected this orange-coloured soufflé to taste light and sweet. However, my palate detected a very savoury and cheesy tang from this circular side dish. Totally not what I expected it to be! The taste was interesting and the texture was light and fluffy (hence why I called it a soufflé) but…where were the honey carrots?! Also, colour-wise, the whole dish seemed too "earth-tone" (brown, yellow, orange...). A nice, bright pop of colour somewhere would have been more eye-pleasing. =P

I think the best duck breast I’ve eaten was actually at the now-closed Hong Kong style café called Seventh Heaven Cafe, which was located in Aberdeen Centre at Richmond. Same with Cache, it was seared with a crispy skin and paired with a blueberry sauce but I thought it was cooked to a doneness that was just right for the meat to be slightly chewy and the fat to be melty-soft. /end digression/

Dessert sampler

Red velvet cake (cupcake), dark chocolate crème caramel, vodka and dark chocolate zabaglione

Menu 35 came with a dessert sampler to round out the meal. Cache’s dessert sampler changes daily so this night it included a red velvet cupcake, a dark chocolate crème caramel pudding, and a vodka and dark chocolate zabaglione. The red velvet cake was ok, nothing incredible about it. It was just like a normal cupcake but it was deep red in colour. The crème caramel was more interesting. Though the caramel sauce drenched over the pudding was quite sweet, the dark chocolate eggy pudding balanced the flavour out with its bitter cocoa notes. Pretty good!

The last of the trio of desserts was the zabaglione. I have never heard of this word before so I had to Google it up! Apparently, it is an Italian dessert, also known as Zabaione or sabayon. Typically, it is made with egg yolks, sugar and a sweet wine. In Cache’s case, it was made with vodka and chocolate. The consistency of this dessert was like a drinking chocolate. It was smooth and thick. You could eat it with a spoon but you could also sip it from the little cup! If I had to pick, though, I would say I liked the crème caramel the best.

Crepes Suzette ($9) – warm crepes, vanilla ice cream, orange marmalade sauce

Don’t expect the chef to come out and prepare this dessert tableside; though, I know it’s pretty hard to find a place that will serve this dessert with the traditional flair. Aside from that, the crepes were a pretty substantial dish! Easily shareable between 2 people! The crepes were warm with slightly crisp edges and stuffed with 2 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream!! The sauce that accompanied the crepes tasted like warm orange marmalade. Not that it wasn’t good; it just seemed like it belonged on a home-made dessert rather than on one found in this fine restaurant. I would love to try Crepes Suzette prepared tableside the traditional and fancy way though.

Overall, another good dinner at Cache Bistro. There were some hits and minor misses but the changing seasonal menus and friendly staff will keep bringing me back! :)

Yolk's Breakfast

Mobile Breakfast Solution
Yolks.ca

The month of February was the food truck festival at the Winter Farm Market at Nat Bailey Stadium. About a dozen or so local food trucks gathered at the market every Saturday from 10am to 2pm to serve fresh and tasty eats! I initially wasn’t going to check it out but my sister had to go the farm market to pick up some honey for her in-laws so I had an excuse to tag along!

I love going to farm markets when it’s sunny and bright outside. There’s just something about being outdoors with the fresh air and sun shining down and being surrounded by vendors sharing their fresh, local produce and goods that makes me feel invigorated. I feel like I’m doing something good by supporting local farmers and “makers” (cheese, sausage, bread etc.) but then I always spend more than what I budgeted for haha!

After making a round through the market and getting some dried fruit and fresh goat cheese, W and I set off to grab some lunch at one of the food trucks. We wanted to try the mac n’ cheese with pulled pork from one of the food trucks (forgot its name though) but they were all sold out! We were a bit dejected but no worries, there were still plenty of options! I heard that Yolk’s served a really excellent breakfast sandwich and the chicken and waffles were recommended too so we went and lined up at their cart. Ughhhh way to go for picking one of the popular food trucks, me! We waited in line for probably 30 minutes just to order and then we waited another 30 minutes or so for our food to be ready!!!

Poached free-range egg sandwich ($6.95) – double smoked bacon with fresh arugula, real hollandaise sauce, soft poached egg on English muffin

Truffle-Lemon Hashbrown Skewers ($2.75) – organic local potatoes, fresh lemon, truffle oil, sea salt and chives

There were a couple of ways to customize the breakfast sandwich. W picked the bacon as his meat with hollandaise sauce on an English muffin. I LOVE LOVE LOVED that Yolk’s made soft poached eggs by default!!! I LOVE SOFT POACHED EGGS! Sure, it made eating the sandwich difficult because of the exploding egg yolk but we ate it as an open face sandwich so actually it wasn’t too messy. The bacon was nicely fried where it wasn’t too crunchy but still crisp with a meaty chew. The hollandaise sauce (plus oozing egg yolk) melded everything together creating a delicious package!

We also added the hashbrown skewer as a side. Freshly fried and placed in the container with the sandwich, the food cart guy liberally doused the potatoes with lemon infused truffle oil in front of us! The hashbrown skewer smelled so earthy and aromatic that it kept wafting out of the box even when we closed the lid haha… Seriously, this was a well-made potato. The outside was crispy and savoury while the inside was soft. Paired with the sandwich, it definitely looked and tasted like a breakfast dish from a high-end restaurant (except it won’t be served in a bio-degradable take-out box!)

“Polderside Farms” Chicken & Waffles ($8.95) – Panko-crusted fried chicken nuggets, country gravy, maple syrup

Since I read about the Chicken & Waffles on a food blog, I decided to give it a try. The seasoned chicken was fried with a panko crust and the parts that weren’t sitting in the gravy were still crunchy. After being jostled around the box with gravy, the chicken was soon not crunchy anymore but it was still yummy. I thought the waffle was kind of tough, not very fluffy and soft. I liked the contrast between the sweet maple syrup on the waffle and the savoury flavours from the chicken and gravy though.

Hot Mulled Apple Cider 12oz ($3.25), 16oz ($3.75) - Lemon, cayenne and local honey

A cup of the large hot apple cider was shared between W and I (sorry, forgot to take a photo). Despite the sunny weather, it was a super windy and chilly day so the cup of hot cider became our hand-warmer while we waited for our food. It tasted good, like any regular apple cider. It reminded me of the instant apple cider powder that you can get at Costco though haha!

Since the food truck festival has ended, you can find Yolk’s cart in downtown, near the Stadium skytrain station. Check out their website for updated menus and locations! If you’re a soft-poached egg lover like me, you really gotta check out their breakfast sandwiches!!

Omega Cafe

1 - 2929 St. John's Street
Port Moody, BC

With the addition of a baby in my sister’s household, she and her husband have been pretty much confined to dining around their neighbourhood. She has been to Omega Café in Port Moody a few times for lunch and thought the food was pretty good so she recommended it to me and my parents. With good value and freshly made food, it was definitely a suitable alternative to Tim Hortons (which was once our family favourite)!

Just like Timmy’s, you order at the counter and they’ll make your food for you. They also serve coffee and home-made donuts too!

Eggs, sausage and toast - served with panfried potatoes

Chicken vegetable soup(?) - Soup of the day

My bro-in-law had one of their breakfast options and tacked on the soup of the day to round out his meal.

Salmon Burger - served with fries, pickled jalapeno pepper; topped with sprouts, cucumbers, tomatos, lettuce, onions

My sis went with the salmon burger which was on their ‘special of the day’ menu board. Seeing how it was difficult for my sis to lift the burger up and eat it without having the contents spilling out, I’d say it was a pretty big burger. The pan-fried salmon still looked moist too. Along with a huge a pile of fries, this was definitely a hefty lunch!

Clubhouse Sandwich - Turkey, bacon, tomatos, cucumbers, lettuce on ciabatta bun

The Clubhouse is always my mom’s go-to sandwich anywhere. At Omega, their version has turkey and bacon as the meat, with tomatoes, cucumber slices and lettuce filling up the rest of the layers.

It also came with pickled jalapeno peppers and a gherkin.

Ham and Cheese Omlette - served with toast and panfried potatoes

When W’s omelette arrived on the table, we didn’t expect it to look like a breakfast pizza! Haha! Rather than the typical egg crepe folded with fillings inside, it was round and pan-fried with ham and cheese on top of the egg. Despite the appearance, it was still a tasty breakfast. The Pan-fried potato hash was crispy and delicious too. We noticed that their toast was made with a Panini press haha!

Shepherd's Pie (featured special of the day) - served with side of gravy, small salad

As for me, I decided on the Shepherd’s Pie because I’m a meat-and-potatoes kinda gal! The cashier/owner(?) advised that it would take a while because it’s baked to order. When it came out it was piping hot with a nicely browned mashed potato topping. The shepherd’s pie came in a pie crust, which I thought was unusual because all the shepherd’s pie I’ve had before just consisted of the ground meat filling and the mashed potato topping. Nonetheless, it was still a very hearty pie! On the side was a small bowl of gravy. At first I wasn’t sure what it’s for because the pie was moist and flavourful by itself. However, as I was getting to the middle of the pie, the mashed potatoes were a little dense so the gravy helped moisten the topping making it easier to eat. The “salad” also provided a break from the rich meaty goodness.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and prices of the food at Omega Café! My only complaint was that the jam they provided for the toast was not “jammy” anymore =P It’s been sitting there for a long time so the jam inside the plastic containers turned gummy and dry…yech.

Side note: we went for a second visit around Chinese New Year and the owner gave us a plate of complimentary donuts to celebrate the holiday! The home-made donuts were pretty big and they were not too dense and not too sweet. Pretty good donuts!! The owner (I’m guessing he’s the owner since he had the power to give away donuts!) is a really nice man and I am glad to support these local “mom ‘n pop” shops.