Donburiya

Was looking to get some Donburi (Japanese-style rice bowl) before heading to Stanley Park for the Theatre Under The Stars show, which was quite entertaining by the way, definitely worth checking out in the summer. Today's weather was quite cool and wet for a summer day, I thought a nice bowl of hot donburi would be nice.


I found this restaurant through Urbanspoon, filtering for the restaurants that were most liked by others. Ended up choosing Donburiya. The prices were much cheaper than I expected as this is a Japanese fast-food style place; however, the seating was quite comfortable and the staff were friendly. Ordering food is like ordering at McDonalds where you place the order at the counter, however, the food is delivered to you by the staff. Self-serve free ice water is provided as well as some condiments.

 decided to try something new today, the Yakiniku:

Yakiniku (Medium) $6.50     5/5

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• Charred taste (did not appear black) through out the entire rice bowl; this taste was just delicious and I remembered it for several hours after the dinner because it was so tasty
• The sauce they used was spread out through the entire rice bowl, other places I've been to usually just have all the Donburi ingredients on the top, and then tasteless rice on the bottom; however, the Yakiniku I had today was tasty throughout the whole bowl
• The BBQ pork was prepared to just the right level, I really loved that "BBQ" taste
• The lettuce vegetable they used combined with the salad sauce also added to the taste of the rice, sort of reminded me of the lettuce and salad combination in McDonalds' burgers
• The rice did not stick together or had too much sauce on it, so the rice was not overly softened and retained much of the BBQ taste from the pork = Yummy!

Overall: Most delicious Japanese Donburi I've ever had, and at an affordable price too. I'll be back.

Benkei Ramen

It was such a hot day today! After going for a walk in Stanley Park, I was hungry for some lunch. Since I had a stamp card from Benkei Ramen, I decided to have lunch there. I noticed that they opened the sliding door/window thing; this was great for bring the summer into the restaurant! Finally summer is here! 


I thought I was going to get a bowl of ramen as usual, but when I got the menu, I noticed they had Beef Curry with Rice and that it was a *NEW* item, so I decided to try it. Maybe not such a good idea seeing as the name of the restaurant was Benkei RAMEN, but oh well, let's see how it was:

Beef Curry $7.75    3/5

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• Beef (I think it was Beef brisket) was delicious, there was just a little layer of fat, which was perfect as it wasn't too fatty or "old"

-

• A little too much sauce in relation to the amount of rice
• Besides the beef, it tasted pretty bland to me
• More of the delicious beef would be great

Spicy sauce

Overall: I like their ramen better!

Luda

I was super tired from Canada Day celebrations the previous day, so I really wanted to head out for dinner. I was having a hard time picking between this restaurant and another restaurant (Gingeri in Richmond), but Gingeri was full for dinner so we went to Luda. By the time we got here, I was already really hungry and I looked forward to trying their Oyster Omelette, a Chinese dish of Chiuchow origin. Chiuchow food is rare in Vancouver, so I am excited every time I get to try the Oyster Omelette.

If you have never been here before, you might not expect much in terms of cleanliness and/or food quality from a place on East Hastings. When you walk inside, you'll be surprised by the coziness of the restaurant; and the prices are in line with restaurants that appear higher-end. This definitely is not a hole-in-the-wall place serving Canadian Chinese food.

Here's what we ate:

Salted Fish Fried Meat (Pork) Pie $14.98     5/5

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• The "bouncy" feel felt by your mouth when you bite into the meat was present here
• Contrary to steam, the method of preparation used at most Chinese restaurants for this dish, Luda takes it up a level and fries the Pie, I believe this gave a better feeling in the mouth and a feeling of more "fire"
• The salted fish was distributed in little pieces, there weren't too many, so the Pie was not excessively salty
• Goes very well with a bowl of rice

Oyster Omelette $16.80     5/5

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• One of my favourite dishes of all time, Luda does a great job with it
• Traditionally, oyster omelette would be prepared using small oysters, however, small oysters are more abundant in China and not so here on the West Coast, so what most chefs do is cut big oysters into small pieces; personally, I do not have that big a preference regarding this because it still tastes good since the oyster was fresh
• The omelette was not too thick or thin, just the right amount of starch was used to give the egg a thicker consistency
• Not too oily
• The onions sprinkled through out the omelette augmented the taste and texture of the omelette greatly, because the onions added more crunchyness to the omelette
• Fried just to the right level, not over fried, and fried just to the right level in that the egg is still crunchy
• Lots of oysters 

Spicy sauce and another sauce (I did not really like the taste)

椒C Fermented Bean Curd Spinach $14.98     4.5/5

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• Good texture (crunchy)
• Usually I do not like spinach, however, when it is prepared with this method, I love it because the taste is excellent for going along with a bowl of rice
• Fresh

Overall: All the dishes were served steaming hot. It was quite a nice dinner with comfortable seats. I can tell that the chef has put a lot of effort into preparing the dishes. I'll be back.