Hapa Umi

I bought a Living Social voucher for a 3-course dinner at Hapa Umi for two for $45. Happened to have something to do in Downtown later this night, so decided to use my voucher at Hapa Umi. I have never been to Hapa Umi before, but have passed by outside numerous times; I have been interested since I saw them open their doors around a year ago. 


We made a reservation for early in the night, so when we arrived, there was only one other table. Immediately, I was wowed by the appearance of the restaurant. It just looked very nice, modern, comfortable, and sleek; definitely one of the nicest restaurants I've ever been to. One interesting thing is that I thought the washrooms were really cool. There are six individual rooms for the washrooms: three for men and three for women. I can honestly say I have never seen this type of arrangement in my life; very cool.

We were given the Living Social Special Dinner Menu, we could each choose from three options in the First Course, three options in the Second course, and a dessert from the dessert menu. My friend and I decided to get different items so that we could share and try more variety.


Here's what we ate:

First Course

Pemberton Meadows Beef Tataki 4.5/5
Green onion oil, spicy daikon

+

• Tasted very fresh
• The tastes just all go together when I put the whole thing into my mouth at once, my friend remarked that it tasted like dumplings?
• It was quite refreshing in the hot weather because it was sort of cold
• A very good first course to "open the stomach"

 

















Fanny Bay Tempura Oyster 5/5
Shiso tempura, miso vinaigrette, pickled shallots

+

• What can I say, um, well I love oysters, and this one is definitely one of the better tempura oysters I've ever had
• The tempura crispy layer was thin, and you can really tell that it is different than the tempura at those small Japanese restaurants that are all over Vancouver; a reason why I do not like tempura sometimes is that it is too oily and makes me feel full, but this one the crispy layer was just barely on the oyster, the oyster made up most of the "meat"
• Oyster was fresh
• The sauce was slightly sour, this gave a very unique and delicious accompaniment to the oyster

Second Course

BC Wild Spring Salmon 4/5
Pan-seared salmon, gnocchi, roasted cauliflower, cauliflower puree, grilled zucchini, miso-hollandaise foam

+

• I really liked the yellow sauce; it tasted really creamy to me, it had a sort of minty taste
• The salmon itself had good texture, it was seared just to the right level

-

• I did not really like the gnocchi made of potato; it's sort of like a potato dumpling, I guess I just did not like the taste

Tofu Two Ways 4.5/5
Tofu steak with crispy tofu, scallion-ginger soy, truffled hakusai, basil cream

+

• The tofu cubes appeared different, but I do not remember if they tasted different, the crispy layer was done perfectly; however, I thought the salmon would be a better choice if I had to choose between these two Second courses
• The truffled hakusai (cabbage) was so delicious! I ate the whole truffle at once, as I bit into the truffle, all the water from the fresh cabbage exploded in my mouth, that feeling was awesome and one that I will remember

Truffled Hakusai

Scallion-Ginger Soy

Dessert

Umi Cannoli 5/5

+

• A very nice end to a great dinner
• The chocolate ice cream was melt-in-mouth delicious
• All the berries were fresh
• The Cannoli with the strawberry was great, it was crispy, and I don't know what cream that was on top of it, but it was good
• I loved the white sugar sprinkled around the plate, it adds looks and taste to the dessert

Yuzu Tart 5/5

+

• Very strong citrus taste
• Cold
• Perfect texture

Overall: Hapa Umi delivered an amazing dining experience. The service was perfect (hot towels at start of dinner, server introduced the contents of each plate as it was brought to the table, attentive service, we never had to ask for anything, smile on face, I left a little drop of sauce on the table but she cleaned it off right away when she was taking the plate away, etc.) I thought that with the Living Social voucher, this was a really good deal for a high quality meal.

Insadong

Was in the Burnaby/Coquitlam area after doing some hiking in Belcarra. As I was not familiar with the area, someone recommended we go to Insadong, I found out afterwards that this restaurant was a very high rated Korean restaurant from various local newspapers. Honestly, I wasn't super excited about having Korean food, but let's see how it goes. 


As we walked into the restaurant, I noticed the ambiance inside was quite good; it looked very traditional Korean decorations, this set up a comfortable setting for the meal.


Here's what we had:


Beef Shabu Shabu with Vegetable Hot Pot (Medium) $44.99     3.5/5

Beef Shabu Shabu

+

• Beef tasted fresh, it had a good "meat" taste, prepared in nice thin slices; the sauces combined with the beef tasted wonderful
• Beef not too fat
• Vegetables were fresh also, I especially liked the mushrooms
• Side dishes, especially the potatoes, were decent; they were not extremely good though, just regular

-

• Not enough beef for the price in my opinion
• This set was designed for three people, but I was still a little hungry after 
• Gas ran out a few times during the dinner

Vegetables

Beef slices

Side dish

Side dish

Side dish

Overall: The food at Insadong is good and the atmosphere is traditional Korean. However, the prices are a little too expensive for me for the amount of food that I get. I rather go to all you can eat Hot Pot places at this price.

Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot (Crystal Mall)

This restaurant has two stores, one in Crystal Mall in Burnaby, and the other in Union Square in Richmond. I usually go to the Richmond one because it is more convenient. The thing I first noticed as I walked into the Crystal Mall location was that they are in serious need of a renovation, the walls were peeling apart, the menus were ripped, and the whole place needs a renovation in my opinion.


I immediately ordered the same thing I order every time I go to Han Ju, I have literally had this dish for ~50 times I guess; I have been eating this for a long time, but I never get bored of it, it is just too good.


This is what I'm talking about:

Korean Style BBQ with Rice $6.95     5/5
Korean Style BBQ Pork, 2 Kinds of Vegetable, Hot Tofu, Egg; on rice

+

• This thing is addictive, I eat this every time I go here, trust me, if you haven't tried this before, you must!
• The BBQ pork is delicious, it does not taste old, very fresh and good texture
• Hot Tofu is the right level of spiciness, goes well with rice
• Vegetables have strong taste, likely due to some toppings but I do not know what they are, but very good
• Rice is excellent, it is sort of like Taiwanese or Japanese rice, where the rice is sort of sticky; I love this type of rice
• Seaweed soup has good taste, it is hard to describe the taste, but it is good every time
• I finish the entire bowl so that there is not a single thing left in the bowl every time

Overall: I love this place; one of my favourites in Vancouver It is good for a quick and delicious meal. Make sure to drink water after though, there is always a taste I think from the garlic or ginger in my mouth after eating.

Kingspark Good Food

Had to make an early morning trip to Crystal Mall today and did not have time to eat breakfast at home. I prepared a sandwich to bring with me on the bus ride, but stupidly forgot the sandwich at home. I did not want to spend money on breakfast as I was going to eat lunch at Crystal Mall anyways, but my stomach took over, and I bought a little sandwich at Kingspark Good Food inside the food court. Hopefully the food lives up to the name of the restaurant :)

Here's what I ate:

Corned Beef and Egg Sandwich 咸牛肉蛋三明治 $3.25 tax included     3/5

+

• Beef and egg came very hot

-

• The beef was not very salty, I would have preferred a little more salty
• An imbalance in the quantity of the egg vs. the beef, there seemed to be much more beef than egg; I would have preferred more egg
• It would be better to increase the size of the innards of the sandwich, so that the sandwich looks more appealing, because right now, the bread is much bigger than the contents of the sandwich

 



Overall: I have only had one dish out of their many options, so I can not make a conclusive statement of whether they are good, but I think I just made a poor decision in my choice of food; I would come here again because the prices are pretty cheap.

Dairy Queen

Thought to get some dessert after having Thai dinner in Downtown because it was the second day of Summer and the weather was looking good. I did not know that this was going to not be such a good idea for me. I will explain why later.


My group spent a few minutes deciding where to go; we ended deciding to go to a Dairy Queen. So we brought out our smartphones and located the closest Dairy Queen to our vicinity!


As I left the Thai restaurant, I was already shivering because I was only wearing a T-shirt and I did not expect it to be so cool at night. 


Here's what I got at DQ:


Peanut Butter Parfait ~$5     3.5/5

+

• Peanuts were very fresh and were not too salty
• The whole thing just melted together and was a good texture
• Not too frozen or too melted; a good liquid-like mix

-

• A little too sweet for me

Overall: The Peanut Butter Parfait was very good, but I think I should wait until the summer heat actually hits before I go out for dessert at night because I was freezing while eating this outside.

Sala Thai

I was quite excited about this dinner because I do not have Thai often. From my limited experience, I really like the spices used in Thai dishes. The dinner tonight was actually a social gathering for an organization that I am involved in; I thought the host picked a great place for dinner because I found Sala Thai to be excellent for having casual chitchat with your group. This was due to the ambient lighting, various decorations, and the spaciousness of the restaurant. Another nice thing about Salathai is that their washroom was very clean and well maintained.


I had read some reviews of Salathai about their food being too slow. I unfortunately have to agree with these reviewers; the dish I ordered took ~30-40 minutes. In my opinion, for the type of dish I ordered, this is too long. Fortunately, our group had a really great time chatting with one another; so this was more a pro than a con in the case of this dinner tonight. I have also read some reviews of how this restaurant had bad service. I did not find any faults with the service; I actually found them extremely friendly. The waitresses were attentive (they smartly split the bill for our group without us even asking) and offered help in selecting items in the menu for those who might not be familiar with Thai dishes. One thing to note however is that they automatically charge a 15% gratuity for groups of 6 or more; this was stated in the menu so it was not a problem.


I decided to try the Pad Thai as I heard it was a signature Thai dish, let's see how it went:


Pad Thai Chao Wang $12.99     4.5/5
The original ingredients the Thai Palace and an Thai noodles dish, fried rice noodles with tiger prawns, tofu and bean sprouts with tamarind sauce 

+

• Sauce had very strong sweet and sour taste, very strong tasty and good for taste buds
• Dish came hot, it was still hot after I was half done the plate
• The tiger prawns had a "vibrating" texture when bitten into, this is a sign of good prawn
• Rice noodles were better than other rice noodles I've had at Chinese restaurants; they were thin and smooth
• Very "crunchy", the dish had many "crunchy" foods, making eating the dish more enjoyable

Overall: Salathai exceeded my expectations. I expected a Thai restaurant which was mainly targeted towards tourists delivering not so good food. However, the food was quite delicious. My group seemed to enjoy the experience also. It was a Wednesday night but the restaurant was still quite busy. The servers are nice and friendly. The only thing preventing me from coming again is the price. With the 15% gratuity and taxes, my little plate of Pad Thai came at ~$17.

Moodyville Cafe

I heard a lot of good things about this all-day breakfast cafe in North Vancouver. I chose to try Moodyville in the morning with my friends before heading up to Grouse Mountain to hike the Grouse Grind.


How this place works is when you go into the restaurant, you first order the food from the counter. Then the cashier gives you a stand with a number on it, and your food will be brought to your table when it is ready. 


It was around 11am on a Monday morning, the place was pretty busy. The wait for the food was ~15 minutes, which is not really ideal if you are in a rush, but otherwise is okay. 


I decided to go with something simple:

Eggs with Hash + Toast with Sausage 3.5/5

+

• Good quantity and very filling (I wasn't hungry even at the end of my Grouse Grind hike)
• Sausages were delicious, I loved the taste and it was not too salty
• Toast was not hard, easy to chew, they applied the butter already so I did not have to do that

-

• Scrambled eggs were not the best I have had, they were a bit too overcooked for me, I would have preferred smoother egg
• Some of the Hash was burnt

Overall: Moodyville Cafe serves a good breakfast at a good price. It has a very "neighbourhood" feeling to it. I would say the food is not that special compared to other places for breakfast, but it's definitely comparable. I still can not find a place that serves as good scrambled eggs as Hong Kong!