$6.95 for a Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box?! (Ro Sushi Broadway Review)

I think I just found myself a place for cheap sushi. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon, and I was in the VGH area volunteering for a film. I haven't had lunch yet and was craving for sushi. The first one I saw immediately at that instant that I was craving sushi was Ro Sushi. Seeing their menu on the outside, I noticed the $6.95 Bento Box special and the $5.95 sushi special.
   Walking into the restaurant, there was a small flight of stairs to climb as the inside of the restaurant is a bit higher. The restaurant wasn't too busy, and my mom and I were greeted by the staff. We were seated down immediately. Looking around, the decor wasn't anything to write about. However, I noticed that they had a small elevator for those who are disabled. I really appreciate that because a lot of restaurants don't have this and I'd imagine this shows that the business actually care about customers.
    When the waitress brought over the menu, I didn't hesitate to order the chicken teriyaki bento box. At the same time, my mom got the sushi combo. After a few minutes, our order arrived. First came the miso soup, then the bento and sushi. The bento box looked pretty decent. The portions were not too big nor too small. There was about four pieces of tempura, 6 pieces of California roll, a small salad, and teriyaki with rice.
     My mom also gave me 3 pieces of her sushi combo (which came with 18 pieces of sushi: a yam tempera roll, a California roll and a tuna roll).
     I was afraid that the combo might be too small so I ordered a separate roll of dynamite roll as well.
    In short, the food portions were decent. The chicken teriyaki box was pretty filling. The chicken is a bit smaller than what I'm used to and there could have been more rice (or maybe I was just hungry at the time and my brain was playing with me), but it was still a decent price to pay for the portions. With regards to the taste, everything tasted pretty fresh. The tempura was a bit on the greasy side, but otherwise it wasn't too bad.
   $6.95 for a bento box like this is actually pretty good and I would definitely come back again,

Half Mexican Half Contemporary Tacos and Burritos (Chronic Tacos Broadway City Hall Station)

Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I last posted (sorry I've been travelling and got caught with work), but I am back!
When it comes to Mexican food, there are quite a bit of selection around town. However, not being Mexican, I can't really comment on how authentic one Mexican restaurant is compared to another. That said, Chronic Tacos feel a bit more Western and contemporary compared to many of the other Mexican food places.
Conveniently located within a few meters to the Broadway-City Hall Skytrain station, this location is a fair place to grab your Taco needs. The moment you walk into the restaurant, you will see that the lighting is dim and the place is quite spacious. On the right hand side there is a bar and the ordering counter is at the back of the restaurant.
 This place is meant to be more of a fast food location, and by looking at the menu, this is even more evident. There aren't too many items on there. There are two main items that they offer, which are burritos and tacos. Beside these two, they do have a small sides menu and a kids menu. Compared to many of the other Mexican food outlets I've been to, I would say the menu from Chronic Tacos has less options.

When it was my turn to order, I saw on the counter if you text the word "TACO" to this number (4242658226) you would get a free taco coupon (I found out later on that it wasn't a free Taco, it was a "BOGO" thing). I decided to only get a Taco and a side of rice. The tacos were at least $3.99, so I figured if I got a side of rice with the Tacos it would be cheaper.
 I decided to get a chicken taco with corn flour (I think corn is more nutritious than refined flour). This location is sort of like Subway in the sense that they ask you what kind of toppings you would like. I find what was interesting is that they give you a double layer of the taco shell, and then they put so much toppings on the taco shell (relatively speaking, like the toppings compared to the shell) that you cannot fully wrap the taco shell around the toppings. At the end I ended up getting a fork and eating the toppings by itself and the taco shell separately.
The materials used for the toppings were fresh. What I liked about the chicken was that it wasn't greasy at all. In addition, even though I didn't add any sauce to the topping (the sauces add so much more calories...) it was still relatively good. The side of rice I got was good too. There was a hint of tomato in there, and it was flavourful that you can just eat the rice right off the bat.
 In summary, I would say the price is on the higher end, especially for the portion (the portions were not that big). The quality was fair, so I would probably come back (to use that BOGO coupon...) if I was in the area.

Authentic and Unique Japanese Cuisine (Suika Broadway Review)

When it comes to Japanese Restaurants,  there aren't many that are Japanese owned. Not only is this restaurant authentic Japanese, but it is also is very special and distinctive. From the outside, the place does not look very special, and maybe abit on the plain side. However, once you walk in, the whole vibe is different.
   The inside is slightly on the cramped side, but it is not too bad. The lighting is abit dim, but it gives off a classy feel. After when my friend and I were seated, we were brought the menus. The menu was very special. I never seen a menu where there was no picture but it was done all in text. Part of it was done in calligraphy while the other part was typed. Also, what was cool was the special of the day was drawn using a pen and photocopied. I am not really sure if it is classy but I guess it is a type of style that is unique!
  I had somewhat of a hard time to figure out what to get. There aren't really that many items on the menu and without pictures, it was abit difficult to make a choice. When it comes to food, there aren't that many choices in each category. For example, there is only one or two types of ramen, a few types of sushi and rice bowls.
   Despite their lack of choice, I think their quality of food is really good. Even though they don't have many options, the quality of food is better than the average. We ordered the special of the day (which was a chicken cutlet (I can't remember the name exactly)), negitoro sushi, and ramen.
   The order didn't take too long to come, the sushi came first followed by the ramen and chicken cutlet rice bowl. The sushi itself was not like anything I've ever had. First of all, it wasn't exactly a nigiri because it wasn't just plainly a piece of sashimi on a rice ball, but rather it was sashimi with rice and some dressings. But what was really special that I found about the sushi was that it was in an almost perfect rectangular shape. The taste was pretty good too, the taste of fish wasn't as apparent as the nice texture of sashimi. The only downside is that the price is abit high (about $9.00 for 6 pieces).
   After, we tried the ramen. The ramen itself was about $10, but it was good. I've had ramen where there is so much sodium and MSG in the broth that it makes you so thirsty when you finish drinking. However, their ramen doesn't have that saltyness in it. There are pieces of pork tendons and pork in the ramen that gives it quite abit of flavour. The noodles were really good too and it blended well with the miso. Not to mention, the portion was pretty decent too.

   Finally, we tried the cutlet meal. The set came with a half raw egg, a small plate of cold vegetables and a rice bowl with chicken and a salad on it. Personally, I think there is abit too much mayo with the rice bowl. That said, the amount of mayo really brings the flavour out of the rice. When we were brought the combo, the waitress kindly told us that we should mix the egg with the rice. The mixture looked abit funny and squishy, but it tasted really good. The cutlet and the piece of chicken was very flavourful too but abit on the squishy side because of the egg.
  Once we were finished and paid our bill, our waitress actually walked us out and bowed to thank us. I think the way they take their customer seriously like this is very good. I really like this place and I think the price, service is good and I will definitely come back again.  

Tomokazu Japanese Restaurant Review

This is probably one of the better Japanese All You Can Eat (AYCE) places around town that I've been to. Originally, my friends and I were downtown planning to eat at another restuarant. When we found out the wait was about an hour and a half we decided to go some where else.
It was about 9:15PM when we arrived at Tomokazu. We paid for our parking before we entered the restaurant. Even though the time was late in the evening, I was surprised how busy the place was. There was a short wait of about 5 minutes before we were seated.

I think the reason why the place is so busy is because they have a late night AYCE menu for almost half price of the regular. However, when we compared the regular to the late night menu, a few things were missing from the late night. At the end we decided to go with the light menu.
The restaurant itself is pretty big, and I would say the servers are all dressed in uniform and this shows that their company actually cares about the presentation of their brand.
hen we were seated, we we so hungry we started ordering stuff right away. My friends ordered Miso soup first (personally I don't recommend ordering anything liquid because it fills you up quicker... I know the mentality of people when they go to AYCE is to eat all they can eat, but drinking liquid decreased the amount one can eat). Then we also ordered a few rolls, sashimi, salads and other small sides.
One thing that make their menu stand out compared to all the other AYCE menus that I've seen around town is that they have an option of having prawn tempura. There doesn't seem to be a limit on how many prawn tempura one can have as well!
 The wait for the food to come was pretty short and when it arrived, I was pretty impressed with some of the stuff. The miso soup was just average (can't really mess up miso soup) but the other stuff was pretty special. The chopped scallop roll was wrapped in the fashion where it looked more like nigiri (like the meat was on top, and rice at the bottom rather having the scallop wrapped inside the rice in a roll).
In addition to having regular sashimi, they also have slices of carrots that come with their sashimi. There are also different kinds of sashimi as well, like the korean style salmon sashimi and a few other kinds of fish.

What I was impressed with most of all is that the spring rolls and samosas did not taste like microwaved ones. I've been to other sushi and AYCE Japanese places where it's clear that the food wasn't freshly prepared, but at Tomokazu, I didn't get that feel.
 Some of the foods I would avoid though, if I was here again would probably be the unagi fried rice and jello. The unagi fried rice didn't taste bad, but it was just too ricey for me. It was mostly rice and almost no unagi, so stuff like that can fill one up really fast. The other thing that I would avoid is the jello. I think the food colouring on the jello is abit too much. After the jello was finished, I could see the colours of the jello stuck at the bottom of the plate. The sight was abit unnerving...
In general, I would say that the price for AYCE here is abit on the high end and the location is not that convenient because only busses can get you here (or you can walk a while from the Canada Line Vancouver City Hall station). In addition, parking is not free. When we were there, my friend only paid for an hour of parking because it was late at night. When we left, he had a ticket for parking because we were there for an hour and 20 mins. I swear someone must be sitting at that tiny parking lot and waiting for someone's parking ticket to expire.

Overall:
Location: Not too convenient, but it's not too bad either
Price: abit on the high end/ but better quality

Afternoon Snack at Timmy's

I was on my way to the Vancouver General Hospital when I got hungry. I just did a 10k run this morning in preparation for the Vancouver Marathon in May. One of my favourite snack items is Tim Horton's Chicken Salad Wrap. They are usually only $1.50 for one and they are quite filling for a snack. Not only do they pack in protein, but they also have abit of vegetables like tomatos and a piece of lettuce. Today I walked by this Timmy's and I went in.
  I must say, I don't really like the decor of the place. For some reason the beige walls reminds me of some senior's home. Better question is, you'll walk in there wondering "who died?!". The staff in general was pretty friendly, there was a song that came on the radio and they were singing along with it. This is also one of the only Tim Horton's that didn't have a display case of their baked goods. Rather, they had the display case behind the counter.
   Overall, this is just an average Tim Horton's, nothing too special about it.

Blenz Coffee (VGH/Broadway)

After I left the Vancouver General Hospital, I decided I needed a caffine boost. I never tried Blenz coffee (I know, I live in Vancouver but never had Blenz...), there is one just across the street on Broadway. It is very nice and cozy. The coffee shop itself is very small, but it is cozy. There are a few couch seats, and a few seats that are elevated (I am not sure what they are called...). then a line of couch and chairs in front of the coffee counter.
   I ordered a regular Americano and had them put it in a large cup. The taste is pretty average and the price was fair too (in comparison with Starbucks). The washroom at this coffee shop is pretty interesting, they have 2 door handles on the washroom door. I am not sure why they would need two because only the top one works, and the bottom one I guess used to work... Thinking of it, it would be cheaper to leave the old handle there and confuse the daylights out of people than to fill it up and put in a new handle in the location of the old one...