Cork & Fin

221 Carrall Street

Vancouver, BC

 

To post-celebrate my birthday, my co-worker, K, and her girlfriend treated me to oysters!! She took me to Cork & Fin in Gastown for happy hour oysters.

 

It was a warm and sunny late afternoon so the small patio out front was already filled with patrons while the inside of the restaurant was empty. The front window was wide open though so it let in a nice cool breeze and brightened up the dining area.

I'm so sorry, I have completely forgotten which types of oysters I sampled here. I believe the larger, meatiers ones (half a dozen) were Royal Miyagi? They tasted creamier and heavier while the other half a dozen were a smaller sized oyster but it tasted crisper and had a clean ocean-y saltiness to it.

We also ordered the oyster motoyaki from the happy hour menu. Not my favourite way to eat oysters because I don't like the goop of mayo on top. The oyster underneath was baked to just the right doneness though.

I liked the smaller oysters from the first round, so we ordered this type exclusively for our second round of oysters. This time, the platter came with a dish of grated horseradish. I'm not educated in oysters and I don't have much intention on learning but eating freshly shucked oysters was still fun!

Joey Coquitlam

550 Lougheed Highway

Coquitlam, BC

 

For my birthday dinner, I didn't really know where to eat. I browsed the menus of some popular chain restaurants around home and finally settled on Joey. We had a reservation so we were seated promptly.

 

Since it was my birthday, I ordered my favourite alcoholic drink haha! Lucky me, Joey had an all day happy hour drinks menu and the Bellini was included! The bellini is a nice frozen cocktail for the warm summer. Joey's version had an iced peach slice for garnish.

 

 

Bellini

$2.99 - All day happy hour menu

Steak & Sushi

Soy marinated tataki style top sirloin and rainbow roll

We skipped the appetizers and ordered our entrees right away. I chose the steak and sushi because I thought it was an interesting combination and it satified both my cravings for sushi and grilled meat! I was a little disappointed in the rainbow roll because I was anticipating a variety of toppings on the roll. This one just had salmon and avocado slices on top. There are more than 2 colours in a rainbow you know. Well, I guess the sauces (a spicy mayo and a teriyaki type sauce) drizzled on it added 2 more colours. The roll, overall, wasn't too bad.

The steak was sliced after being grilled and placed in a skillet pan with a cup of sweet soy sauce for dipping. The beef was quite tender and grilled to a nice medium rare. It was good on its own but I liked dunking the meat in the accompanied sauce for more umami-ness (savoury-ness).

Steak aux Champignon

CAB top sirloin, mushroom demi-glace, a fully loaded crispy mashed potato and seasonal veggies

W had the "steak with mushrooms". He also requested the meat to be grilled to medium rare and it was nicely done as well. The mushroom demi-glace was savoury and rich. I bet it would go well with mashed potatoes! We all didn't know what the fully loaded crispy mashed potato would look like so when we saw it on the plate, we were quite surprised that it resembled a spring roll. With shredded cheese and, I believe, sour cream on top, the crispy mashed potato seemed laden with calories...

Blue Cheese Sirloin

CAB top sirloin, blue cheese butter, mashed potato and seasonal veggies

As my dad liked blue cheese, he ordered this version of the sirloin steak. The warm steak semi-melted the salty and "fragrant" blue cheese so it acted like a sauce for the meat. It was grilled to rare but my dad preferred Sammy J's sirloin more as this one was a little bit more chewy.  He opted for regular mashed potatoes as his side.

California Chicken Burger

Aged cheddar, smoky bacon, spicy mayo on a Portuguese bun, served with fries

The only one who didn't order steak was my mom as she does not eat beef. I did not try any of the burger but I did eat some of the bacon. It was crispy and delicious (how could bacon not be delicious anyway??).

We had to leave room in our tummies for my birthday cake so we did not have any dessert at Joey. Overall, the food was not bad and service was attentive. It's not a restaurant that I would be craving to go but for the times that I did go, I was satisfied.

Sammy J's Grill & Bar

1075 Lougheed Highway
Coquitlam, BC

My dad received a gift card for Sammy J's a long time ago (back when "Pepper" was still a part of its name!). He thought it was lost but then accidentally found it again not so long ago! Since the gift card was, thankfully, still valid, we went out to the Coquitlam location for dinner.
For the appy, we shared the Jacked Up Skins (fried russet potato skins topped with aged white cheddar and havarti cheese, bacon, scallions and served with a ranchero yogurt dip). Unfortunately, I was too busy digging into these to take a photo. The potato skins were alright. It was a tad dry since the melted cheese did not fully cover the whole potato skin. I guess that's what the dip is for!

Honey Bourbon BBQ Ribs

Full pound of fall-off-the-bone slow roasted ribs basted in honey bourbon BBQ. Served with seasonal veggies and white cheddar mashed potato.

I ordered the ribs as my main. The meat definitely did fall off the bone. A slight prod with the knife and fork and the meat slipped off the bone. However, it seemed like the ratio of fat seemed more than the meat. As much as it makes food more tasty, I wasn't very keen on eating bites of pork fat... The BBQ sauce, as the name suggested, was on the sweeter side but I still enjoyed it. Loved the green beans as the veggie side though. They were lightly blanched and tossed with salt and pepper so they still retained a nice crunch. The mashed potatos were ok, nothing to shout out about.

Classic Cut 7oz Sirloin

Served with baked potato and seasonal veggies

The steak was my dad's choice. The sirloin was grilled to a rare doneness and came with a baked potato and green beans as well. I tried a bite of the steak and it was quite tender and juicy. Sometimes a sirloin can be chewy and tough to eat despite it being rare. Their cut of beef was not bad. My dad didn't like the baked potato though. He found the texture of the potato kind of weird.

The Lobster Grilled Cheese

Atlantic lobster, scallions, 4 cheese mornay sauce and havarti pressed between artisan Romano loaf.

My mom opted for a sandwich for her meal and decided on the lobster grilled cheese. Since I wanted to eat yam fries, she substituted her regular fries for yam fries, which came with a sweet chipotle dip. There were ample amounts of lobster meat in the sandwich but I thought it wasn't cheesy enough. Perhaps that's what the mornay sauce is for but somehow, dipping a sandwich into a rich, creamy sauce wasn't my thing. I like grilled cheese sandwiches to be ooey and cheesy in the inside. The bread was also crusty and a little hard (hard as in it would scratch the roof of your mouth when biting into it) so that also turned me off. As for the yam fries, they were ok. There are places that have better yam fries.

In terms of food, it wasn't too bad yet nothing really wowed me; though the service was adequate and the dining room was clean, bright and spacious. As a chain restaurant that seems like it's going for similar food and ambiance as other popular chain restaurants (Joey's, Cactus Club, Milestones) I'd have to say that Sammy J's would not be on the top of my list.

Guu Kobachi ~ Photolog

735 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

W and I went to Guu Kobachi with 2 of our friends to post-celebrate W's birthday. Guu Kobachi is a new concept restaurant from the Guu Izakaya chain. This one specializes in a "no fixed menu" concept so their menu changes frequently to match whatever seasonal ingredients they have. Once again, I have forgotten to take photos of their menu so I have forgotten the names of some of these dishes...sorry.

Beef Tataki (?) 

It's definitely seared or broiled beef but I'm not sure if this was the beef tataki.

Miso Kushi

Breaded and deep fried pork and green onion on skewers with special Hacho miso sauce

Ebimayo's Sister

Shredded potato coated ebimayo

Grilled Gyu-tan

Sprinkled with black pepper and topped with shredded leeks

Korokke

Creamy mashed potato croquette with a whole prawn inside

Crunchy Chicken Gizzard

Deep fried chicken gizzard skin tossed with spice

Osaka Tako Tempura (?)

I believe this was the octopus tempura (Osaka style)

The food at Guu Kobachi was good, although, we all found their food to be on the saltier side (hey, it's good with beer!). This restaurant is smaller than all the other Guu's so seating is quite tight. I still need to visit Guu Otokomae in Gastown and I will have been to all of the Guu Izakaya's in Metro Vancouver!! Guu is guud!!

Au Petit Chavignol

843 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Ever since I had the fabulous Croque Madame at St. Honore's Boulangerie in Portland, I've been trying to find places in Vancouver that serves it too. One such place was Au Petit Chavignol on East Hastings Street. They are a cheese and wine specialty restaurant with a retail section next door.

We were the first to arrive on a sunny late Friday morning but the place was bustling right around 12pm. The dining area was small with a few tables and some bar seating.

Croque Madame

Mr. Crunch topped with a poached free run egg

It was a given that I'd order their Croque Madame! This was their version of the Croque Monsieur a.k.a Mr. Crunch (toasted ham and cheese sandwich) except with a poached egg on top. They usually serve this sandwich with a fried egg on top but I requested a poached egg instead so I could re-create the oozing egg yolk that I had at St. Honore.

I forgot to request a soft poached egg so they gave me a standard medium egg, hence, I did not get much egg yolk ooze... The sandwich was true to its name. The bread stayed crunchy until the last bite, even with all that bechamel sauce on top! However, the sauce stiffened up halfway through so the sandwich didn't have that ooey-gooey cheesiness to it anymore (the lack of oozing egg yolk didn't help either). The first few bites were excellent though. The ham was a little on the dry side but that's just me being nit picky.

Feature sandwich of the day

Egg Salad Sandwich with side salad

W ordered their sandwich of the day. It was a simple egg salad sandwich with tomatos and lettuce on whole grain bread. The sandwich came with a side salad which consisted of arugula and some sliced red onions tossed in a vinaigrette. The sandwich was pretty plain (something I could make at home) but it was fresh and a good size for lunch. I thought the salad paired better with my Croque Madame because it helped cut the cheesy richness.

As we were finishing up, a table near us ordered a bottle of rosé champagne for lunch! Wow, some people sure know how to enjoy a sunny Friday afternoon... 

Campagnolo Restaurant

1020 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

 

I was reminiscing about the fantastic agnolotti pasta I had at Araxi last year so I searched for places in Vancouver that had agnolotti on their menu. I came upon Campagnolo's menu and saw that they served their own version of agnolotti (same type of pasta but different filling) so I convinced W to go try it with me.

The decor inside was simple but clean and warm with the wooden wainscotting and tables. We were served iced water while we perused the menu.

After we made our order, our server came and placed this plate on our table! She said it was to sprinkle on our dishes. On the left was parmesan reggiano, the centre was some sort of dried herb (sorry, I do not recall the name), and on the right were some dried chili flakes.

Agnolotti

Salted cod, preserved lemon

Ahh, now this was what I was looking forward to! Such a simple looking pasta but such diverse and complex flavours! Inside was a filling of pureed salted cod meat with mashed potatoes and herbs and the sauce was a light dressing infused with preserved lemon. There were also little bits of preserved lemon peel in the sauce which cut the saltiness of the cod filling very nicely.

Salsiccia

Fennel sausage, arugula, parmigiano reggiano, chilies

W and I also shared a pizza to go with our pasta. I loved the base of the pizza. The crust was thick and chewy (but not bland and difficult to eat) while the middle was also chewy but thin so that you could fold it and eat it without have the topping spill out. The chilies provided a slight kick to the pizza, the arugula gave a little crunch while the sausage balanced out the acidity of the tomato sauce. I would have liked to see more sausage though; otherwise, this was a very tasty pizza.

Terrina di Cioccolato
Coffee, nutella 

We comtemplated for a very long time whether to have dessert or not. There were only 3 choices on the menu and none of them really inticed us. However, we wanted to end the meal on a sweet note so we chose the chocolatey-coffee-hazelnutty cake (the others were a strawberry rhubarb tart and a cheese platter).

The cake was moist and soft. It would have been better if the coffee flavour was more pronounced. It seemed quite sweet with the chocolate and nutella throughout the cake. Overall, I liked the savoury items more than the dessert in the meal. The menu at Campagnolo changes often so be sure to check their menu online for their latest offerings.