Tokyo Shabu Shabu, Rowland Heights, CA

I am definitely no expert on Shabu Shabu, in this is probably the first time I have eaten pure Shabu Shabu at a restaurant. I have had half and half at Cocary.

We had a party of seven, so we made reservations for 6:00 on a Saturday night. When we got there at 6, the dinner crowd was just starting to filter in. They saved us the corner booth that could fit 10 or so people on 4 burners. Otherwise the place has a "bar" area, where each person has their own burner, but you eat side by side and not in a small area, thus making talking to others abit difficult. They do have 4 person tables available also, sharing two burners I believe.
Considering that we were mostly eating broth, the price was abit steep, the 19.99 for 10 ounces of meat is what I ordered; The angus beef. Kobe beef would cost much more. Also a fusion broth could cost more, and the regular shabu broth is literally hot water. Though, you do have soy sauce, salt, pepper, and garlic if you ask for them.
The meat was good quality, that I will admit, the vegetables were at least not brown nor stale, They weren't super fresh either though.

Other meats you can order in

clude, seafood, pork, chicken, or lamb.

This place is in what used to be a happening place Diamond plaza Fullerton Exit off the 60 fwy. Nowadays this place isnt so hip, but there is a line for shabu shabu. Get there early!

The wait staff was friendly and helpful.

Overall, I feel ripped off eating shabu shabu at a restaurant, I understand their prices, but I would much rather have KBBQ. But for shabu shabu, I would rate this 4 stars.

Vancouver Eats

Vancouver is a city known for its smorgasbord of food options, all usually being quite authentic due to the diversity of its population. Coming from Los Angeles, another great smorgasbord of food culture and subculture, I was actually surprised than Vancouver not only matched the quality of tastes in Los Angeles but also almost matched the quantity of selection available.

Apologies in advance for lack of photos this time through.

Upon landing in Vancouver, we were all starving as the flight did not serve free food. After checking in, we immediately looked for some appetizing eats. Granted we were limited somewhat by the late hour, but off we went braving the young club-going crowd waiting in long entrance lines up and down Granville Street. We finally ended up in a Cafe Crepe on Granville Street. Yes, Cafe Crepe is a franchise or a common name that can even be found Stateside, but we went for safe and good eats this first night. We ordered a crepe with Nutella, Strawberry and Grand Marinier. Excellent ingredients to be shoved into a crepe together. Compared with previous crepes I have had, these definitely were pretty high on the scale of yumminess; losing out only to my favorite crepe place in Rowland Heights, Genki Living. Where does it lose? The crispness of this crepe lacked compared to Genki Living. On tap were 4 local beers, after getting a free taste of all of them, we chose to get a pitcher of the dark winter ale. This is a dark and rich tasting beer, with a hint of sweetness. Given we were still hungry after sharing one crepe, we decided to go with some chicken wings also. Either we were really hungry and completely biased or we were completely buzzed already or they were really good, but those slightly burnt, sweet wings tasted excellent, so savory in the mouth! The decor here is classic diner, with old ad propaganda on the walls. It took 15 minutes for us to get seats on a busy rainy night. Service was good. Parking is non-existent here in downtown, so don't expect to drive yourselves here! Overall I would give it a 4/5 stars.

The next morning, we set off a little late and skipped breakfast. We headed to Granville Island and its market where there was a large food court with so many options for food! Typical of these food courts, inside seating was very limited and the weather on this day precluded eating outside. After reviewing the options multiple times, I chose to eat at Kaisereck Delicatessen. Basically this is a German place, where you can get hot sausages and sandwiches. I tried the spicy bratwurst with sauerkraut and grilled onions.

Looks so tasty, but alas, it was a disappointment. The brat was dry and tasteless. Nothing special among the potato chips nor the coca-cola. Maybe I should have gone with the Reuben or Pastrami sandwiches. I did not get the sense that this tasted authentic at all. It was essentially typical fast food from a food court. Prices were not cheap either, this small meal costing about 6.50 Canadian. Overall a 2/5 starts here, at least parking is ample. Later on we give the food court another try ...

For dinner, we searched for some sushi. Yelp has never steered us wrong before, so we searched Yelp for a sushi place within walking distance and with good reviews. After some debate about the menus, we decided on Kadoya Japanese Restaurant. There were 6 of us there, 4 of us shared a "dinner for 4" ($54.95)while the other 2 got the large bento box ($16.50). Let me tell you, that is mounds and mounds of food, with waitresses coming to bring a never-ending supply of plates. The dinner for 4 started out with miso soup and typical Japanese salad. Nothing super special here. Solid. Next up was a mixed sashimi plate, the fish were very fresh. Presentation was not special, but the raw fish was good. Every piece was savory (salmon, eel, halibut, tuna and toro). Next up our rolls, we were allowed to choose two from the Chef's Recommendations. We chose the Sakura roll (tuna and scallop) and the Spider roll (imitation crab, soft shell crab, yam tempura). Both of these rolls were excellent quality with the Spider roll winning over my taste buds for the night. Next on the list, was the tempura, one piece of yam, shrimp and broccoli for the each of us. Nothing special about the tempura either. Next was the seafood fried rice, which was just fried rice in light soy sauce with seafood pieces haphazardly cooked together. The seafood here saved the dish, the rice itself was bland and tasteless, you had to hope that another piece of seafood would be in every bite. After we were all very full, the last plate came; the beef teriyaki (you can choose chicken). This was also a good dish, served sizzling on a hot plate with onions, bean sprouts, and cabbage, almost like a pad thai without the noodle. Overall, I would rate this place a 3.5/5 stars. The restaurant was a little small, the service was good, and the food mostly tasted good, just not the best I have had. Prices are mid-level, but the portions are huge on the bento boxes and large dinner combos.

The next day again we skipped breakfast, but this time in favor of eating a large and filling brunch in Chinatown. We ate at Jade Dynasty and had their dim sum.

This restaurant was situated in the heart of Chinatown. Again we partially made our decision based on Yelp, although we also stopped by the local cultural center and asked the Chinese people there which dim sum they recommended. Dim Sum here is done Honk Kong style, where you order from a menu and they go into the back and cook it and bring it out, unlike what goes on in most of southern California, where they bring carts of food out for you to choose from. Before 11 in the morning, although your choices are somewhat limited, every option is $2.09 per tapas style dish. Expensive by southern California standards, where in some places can be closer to one dollar per item, but cheap compared to their after 11 AM menu. We had a plethora of options shared amongst the 6 of us including shrimp shumai, beef hargow, BBQ pork buns, taro cakes, egg tarts, mango pudding, pork shumai, and more. All of this food was amongst the best in southern California, however the egg tarts, with the egg still steaming in the center, not quite gelled yet, was the most excellent I have tasted by far. The only real disappointment came from the bland mango pudding, isn't it usually served with condensed milk? Maybe that is what we get for going to a restaurant that advertises its vegetarian specialties. Overall a 4/5, partially getting docked for price.

That night, we were hankering for some burgers and to watch the Kings-Canucks game. We went to the Canadian chain restaurant The White Spot. Amazingly it was quite empty, all the hockey fans must have been out in force at the local pubs instead of the chain restaurants. We were immediately seated at a window table in a lounge like area with a fireplace and a large flat screen television. I had the Monty Mushroom Bigger Burger. It was your typical restaurant chain large gourmet burgers with endless fries. We also ordered a pitcher of pale ale. Everything here was good, but just your average chain restaurant tastes. Their triple "O" sauce was not all that special to me. With a name like that, I was expecting ecstasy, especially after walking all day and not having any snacks. 3.5/5 stars here. Service was friendly despite us rooting for the "wrong" team.

The next day was our conference presentation day, but that did not stop us from eating! We started out the day scouring through yelp and finally deciding on ramen (ramyun). Originally we wanted to eat at Kintaro Ramen Noodle with its 4 star rating and 100+ reviews on Yelp, but they were closed Mondays! We had to "settle" for the nearby Motomachi Shokudo, a mere 4 stars with 43 reviews. Motomachi is a very small ramen house, with one central table that could potentially seat 12 and 3-4 other 2-3 person tables. We were promptly seated New York style (with other guests) at the center table. All three of us ordered the Name-shoyu Ramen, I ordered it with extra oil in the broth. Included in the large bowl was one savory piece of pork (best I have tasted in ramen), bean sprouts, bamboo shots, a soft boiled egg, and other minor ingredients. The flavored oil served to make the broth more salty I think, and richer. This is actually one of the best Japanese ramen I have ever had. Everything was high quality. Prices are steep for ramen, but southern Californians are used to paying these prices for ramen (approximately 9 dollars). Overall a 4.5/5, getting docked only for the seating (or lack of) and price. Definitely a must visit if I am back in Vancouver. Some yelpers say Santouka or Kintaro are better, those might be worth a visit also if I am back.

That might, after our conference, we were taken out for eats by our attendings Gilbert and Jyoti. They even let us decide where to eat, and based on the recommendation of family of our friends, we decided to go to a Japanese tapas bar named Guu-izakaya. This review will be somewhat biased as I have never had Japanese tapas before, definitely not like this. The idea of tapas here is that each dish has enough food for 3-4 people to taste, while their noodle dishes are a little larger and more filling. I almost can't tell you exactly what we ate, but everything was absolutely delectable. The waitresses here yell in the orders to the sushi chef, of note the whole staff were women including the cooks. Typical Japanese was they greeted every entering guest with a friendly yell. What did we eat? Some sort of beef shashimi, beef tongue, kim-chi fried rice, shashimi salad, popeye salad, maguro ahi steak, korokke (boiled egg and pork croquette), grilled short ribs, deep fried chicken, and more from their specials menu! Everything was divine. Overall bill for 9 people plus a 3 year old was 160 dollars, even after 4 beers were ordered. Not too bad! Overall I would give this place 4.5/5 stars, leaving room for other tapas places that I may taste in the future. If you are not into the noise and this type of ambiance, you would probably get annoyed, but the food makes up for it in my personal opinion. Give it a try!

Afterward, we still had room for dessert, and decided to go to another Crepe Cafe. Again no disappointment here. I had the dark chocolate, strawberry crepe, and it was oh so good. Prices are sky high, but occasionally you just have to treat yourself to a wonderful crepe!

The next day we paid another visit to Granville Island, we ate at the same food court for lunch after skipping breakfast. Despite the hunger pangs hitting, my choice of pizza was a thorough disappointment. Sorry Pizza Pzazz, your pizza was old, crusty and bland. Even frozen pizzas cooked in my own oven tasted better than this (although more processed tasting). The saving grace came from the Terra Breads bakery where I got a blueberry focaccia. This was an excellent choice, focaccia bread topped with blueberries and powdered sugar. Both pizza and bread were pricey here, so you are probably better off eating elsewhere in Vancouver! Pizza place gets 1.5/5 stars. Terra Breads I can't give a complete review based on 1 bakery item, but if I were to score would get 3.5/5 stars.

While a couple of our friends decided to go high class for dinner at Cin Cin Italian Restaurant, the other group of us decided to save money and go for ghetto foods of Canada. First up Japadog, very famous hot dogs from a cart. Ice Cube, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron and more celebrities have loved to eat from here. Their different sausages and hot dogs run you 5-7 dollars Canadian but the originality and taste here are definitely worth your price!

I ate 2 of these sausages/hot dogs! The first one was their Okonomi pork hot dog. It features what they call this the "Kobe beef" of pork, the kurobuta, it is topped with special sauce, fried bonito flakes that are still crinkling and moving when you first get your "dog", Japanese mayo and fried cabbage. That was definitely the best pork in a hot dog I have ever had! I topped off half of it with Rooster Sauce and that made it even better! My second hot dog was the Edamame infused Bratwurst named "Ume". This featured raw onions, special plum sauce, on top of a bratwurst with edamame pieces strategically infused inside. What a unique taste, again I added Rooster Sauce! It too was excellent, although I overall preferred the Okonomi. Wow, for you hot dog lovers out there, this is a must visit! My friend had the Cheese Terimayo and said that one was the best one! I can't wait to try to Kobe Beef hot dog on a future trip! Come open one in LA! Or better yet, they should do a roving food truck! I give it a 4.5/5, only negatives are long lines and its outdoor (so no dedicated seating).

Right afterward, on the recommendation of my good friends from Texas, we set out to find Poutine, a very Canadian fries drenched in cheese and gravy. Based on yelp reviews, the closest one was Fritz European Fry House. Here you find fries and pretty much nothing else, they also sell hot dogs.
How can you resist? French fries drenched in brown gravy with large cubes of stringy mozzarella cheese. This was an effort to eat after already having 2 Japadog hot dogs, but it was so good, we finished off a Jumbo size version between the three of us! Hard to give stars to a type of food I have never tasted before, however, given lack of selection, and the specialized nature of this Fry House, would give it a 3.5/5 stars.

Overall, I would rate Vancouver pretty high up on the cities with good food list. There is ample selection and most of it is higher in quality. Of course we were disappointed by the food court at Granville Island, but what can you really expect from a food court? Hope you enjoyed the report!

Intro

Hi, this is me:



I'm just your average Joe.... oh well, in my case, your average Mike. Since my marriage to my wife Pauline, temptations have mostly come from the three T's (Taste, Tech and Travel). This blog will focus on following our exploits encountering these tantalizing treats and what we think of them. Enjoy! Hopefully this can be at least entertaining if not informational!