Sanpachi Ramen Japanese Noodle Bar

I tried a new Ramen house on Bute St. There's not many that serve decent bowls of Japanese broth goodness, but this one does. It's called Sanpachi Ramen Japanese Boodle Bar. I got the Miso Ramen with a side of Mayo Nori. The service is very good, the waitresses are super polite and courteous, always on the ball with your drinks. The Miso Ramen was delicious, the noodles were perfectly chewy. They add toppings such as bamboo, chop suey, corn and butter. Yes butter. No wonder it's so tasty! The pork slices that are served in the rich broth are tender and juicy. I didn't care too much for the Mayo Nori, it was shredded pork in mayo wrapped in seaweed and rice. It was kind of dry and I found it irrelevant on the side of the very delicious Miso Ramen bowl.

If you get a chance stop by Sanpachi Ramen for a hot bowl of Ramen done right, It's awesome on these cold days that are still lingering around...(where the heck is the good spring weather?). It's definetly a comfort food/dish in my books. Only $8.25 on my tab, minus tax and tip.

Sanpachi Ramen Japanese Noodle Bar
770 Bute Street
604-609-9938

My OMG Curry Wings.

Hot wings, boring. BBQ wings, blah...I love wings but the flavors get redundant sometimes. I made wings last night for dinner and decided to create a new sauce with whatever I had in the fridge. the result was genius...oh yeah. I call it the OMG Curry Wings. They're super tasty and way cooler than your generic wings. So I mixed some melted butter with red thai curry paste, added lime juice and zest, with some honey and a tad of soy sauce. I deep fried the floured wings to a crisp and tossed them in the sauce, and garnished with a lot of finely chopped cilantro. OMG. Sooo good.

Gastown's Terra Cotta Modern Chinese Restaurant

If you love Chinese food, there's a restaurant called Terra Cotta in Gastown that serves "modern chinese" cuisine.

Food is amazing, service is even better. I ordered the Shanghai Noodles, Buddha Rolls which is a crispy bean curd roll with 4 kinds of mushrooms (very tasty), also ordered the BBQ Duck wraps. I saw these wraps featured on the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and never thought I'd be able to find anything close to that here in Canada...but I did at this awesome little place that my girlfriend introduced me to.

(Above) Shanghai Noodles

(Above) Mushroom Buddha Rolls (Great pick for vegetarians, I'm very much a carnivore but this still beats any sort of rolls I've had)

(Below) The BBQ Duck Wraps are delicious! The duck is tender and juicy, there's green onions and cucumbers inside. It goes well with the sweet Hoisin sauce. Perfect combo.

The service is on point, the waitress is very friendly and makes sure you always have everything you need. I met the owner, Eric Low, who clearly knows what hospitality is all about. Plus, I love the little chinese food take out boxes they use for the take home portions!

www.terracottavancouver.com

Spot Prawn Sashimi...DIY

Living on the west coast by the ocean means fresh seafood pretty much all the time for reasonable prices. One of my faves is the BC Spotted Prawn. I guess you have to wait til its in season but lucky me the season is now. I got exactly 6 for some Do It Yourself Prawn Sashimi.

I was inspired by a place called Hapa Izakaya on Robson Street, downtown Vancouver. That's where I first tried this dish over a year ago. Amaebi Sashimi is what the Japanese call it. At Hapa the presentation is killer...they serve 5 Amaebi's in a tiny metal shopping basket looking thingy...so cute. The head is intact with the rest of the prawn peeled except for the tail. Keep in mind this is completely raw. But that's what makes it so good. I find most seafood to taste best in its natural state, just raw with a little soy sauce. So you pull the head off and dip the prawn in a soy sauce mixed with wasabi. The taste is delicious and sweet, believe it or not. The texture is what I like the best, its almost creamy and it definitely has that snap when you first bite into it that a good prawn sashimi should have. At Hapa once you eat the Amaebi Sashimi you can request to flash fry the heads (this is a free, off menu request) :). The result is a Japanese delicacy. Super crispy deep fried Prawn heads. It's really not for those who don't absolutely love seafood! But let me tell you something, it's one of the best things I've ever eaten.

So anyway, I didn't feel like going to Hapa, I made my own. I'm not a fan of preparing live food. It freaks me out a little, but you can't eat non live seafood raw. I've seen a YouTube video of this asian guy just eating the prawn live and kicking! I'm not that extreme. I learned how to prepare the Spot Prawn Sashimi by watching my favorite Chef, Japanese world renowned Iron Chef Morimoto.

What you do is flash boil the prawn for 3 seconds only, then you throw them into an ice bath. And there you go, you're almost done already! I seperated the heads and coated it with rice flour and flash fried those. I de-veined the prawns and that was it. Just like that it was ready to eat. The contrast between the fried and raw is genius for your palette. Try it, it's damn good. Below is my homemade version:

Taco Bell Who? Try La Taquiera Pinche Taco Shop...

Have you guys seen the latest Taco Bell commercial on TV? It's their rebuttal to the recent public discovery that we haven't ever really been buying real beef when ordering their tacos but rather a substitute called "Taco Meat Filling". Mmmmm. How delicious does that sound? After reading about their "beef" actually having just 35 percent beef, with the remaining 65 percent containing water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and corn starch, I immediately stopped going to any fake Mexican, North Americanized fast food chains and that included Taco Time.

Now their commercial just sort of creep me out. They're trying to lure people with the free tacos! While I'm sure alot of people don't care and will still go and get free tacos, I think i'm gonna stay away from that for a awhile!

Anyway, so I recently I had a craving for some real Mexican food. That's when my fiancé introduced me to this Taco place called La Taquiera Pinche Taco Shop.

Located on 322 W Hastings in downtown Vancouver, this little shop's got alot of swagger. The front is graced by Our Lady of Guadalupe painted tattoo style. The first thing you notice about this place is that it's small but really busy, we lined up right at the door. The menu gives you an extensive range of choice for different tacos. There's chicken, beef, pork and even fish. I went with the weirdest thing on the menu because that's what I always do. I ordered De Lengua (which is braised pemberton meadows beef tongue). No really, it's so good! Other 2 tacos I ate were Carnitas (Pork confit with pickled red onion)and Asada (grilled AAA flank beef with cucumber).

Omg, so good. These tacos are legit. The soft corn tortillas were awesome. The real meat filling was even better! They add this cilantro lime and onion salsa on the meat and have this tomatillo salsa verde sauce (green chilli salsa is what I think it is) you can put on yourself. This place was inspired by authentic Taco Shops in Mexico. They just opened in 2009 but business is looking good for these guys. Thanks to the best tacos you can find in Vancouver. Why in the world eat mysterious meat tacos, when you can get the real deal Holyfield right at La Taquiera Pinche Taco Shop. It's 9.50 for 4 tacos. Not bad I say.

www.lataqueria.ca

Kickin' Off The Day Right!

Good Morning Lovelies...I woke up with an unbelievable hunger this morning. Almost felt like I hadn't ate last night for dinner! I could have been thrifty and baked the thick cut bacon in the fridge, made my usual over easy eggs and all that jazz but....nah!! I live near so many quirky food gems, I decided to pay a visit to one of my favorites literally next door to my place. It's called Medina's.

Got me the "La Santé" platter for breakfast...which translates to "Health". Look at it. Isn't it just divine? It tastes as good as it looks. The platter consists of a perfectly medium well done hard boiled organic egg with a teeny pile of sea salt and pepper, 4 slices of grilled croutons/mini baguette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a creamy black olive and tomato paste with basil (which goes with the croutons), smoked prosciutto and 2 quarters of ripe avocado tossed in a salt and pepper vinagrette. A perfect polygamy marriage of food ;) This can be easily duplicated for an impressive breakfast you can entertain your guests with. Very European, very chic, clean and yummm.

Okay, enough with the healthy part of breakfast. Check this out: The small, but very perfect Medina Waffle. It's lightly crunchy on the outside but fluffy and moist inside. Great when paired with their freshly brewed Americano. Delicious.

If you appreciate charming and methodically thought out ambiances while you dine like I do, this place is just that. They even have a cooking school right down the street called The Dirty Apron. I pass by it frequently and its whimsical name and look always peaks my interest. I will have to check it out sometime.

Seafood for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner please!

If not one way, it's another! It seems I always find a way to incorporate seafood into my daily diet. And who says you can't? It's so good and for the most part not bad for your health. There's endless ways I can think of to eat seafood. Fried, steamed, boiled, pan seared, BBQ'd...oh man, I sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump. He knew what he was talkin' about though!

Breakfast of Champs:
Dungeoness Crab English Muffin with Hollandaise Sauce
Where: 13 Coins - Seattle, Washington
This breakfast was delicious, rich with the creamy hollandaise sauce over the flaky, moist crab. Good stuff.




Gourmet Seafood Lunch in a Food Court? Yup.
Where: Place Montreal Trust Mall Food Court, I believe is whats it's called. I don't remember the name of this hidden gourmet Italian place tucked away and hidden among the common, cheap food court franchises. When I find the name I will re-post. This Paella is served on a posh square platter as if you were in a real restaurant. It's loaded with calamari, clams and big prawns you just wouldn't expect to get in a food court. The rice is done perfectly, moist and very flavorful.




Crab Dinner Made at Home:
When you crave a specific dish moms used to make, you won't find it anywhere. You just gotta make it yourself. That's just what happened last week when the usual sudden craving of seafood hit me after a long day at work. Good thing I live above an Asian market with a good seafood selection! So I went and bought one of these suckers and had it cut to about 6 pieces. Dusted it with rice flour and deep fried it. Then made a cream sauce by mixing a few teaspoons of Knorr wonton mix in a wok with 10% cream, added garlic, ginger slices and scallions. Ta-da!! Coat the fried crab with the sauce and book off the next hour! You will be licking your fingers til its all gone.

And it begins! The tiniest gem in Montreal...

So, I just got back from Montreal not too long ago. My sister who is an equally food obsessed hunter for the most unique and delicious culinary experiences, brought me to this lil joint on famous St-Catherine's street called Kazu. (What can I say, like sister like sister!) It's an authentic, Izakaya, fusion restaurant that serves amazing Japanese food! Oh and it's Japanese owned...I always say you can't call it authentic if the owner/chef is not the of the same culture of the food served. Just my opinion.

Anyway, the food is friggin' delish. I had the beef carpacio sliced ever so thinly that it soaks up the savoury sauce drizzled over it in a matter of seconds. Sooo yum. Melt in your mouth good. Okay you get the point. If you get a chance, go there, but you have been warned: GO EARLY. Or risk waiting outside for a looong time my friend. You don't wanna be that guy that looks through the window in severe food envy. Ugh i hate those guys! It's like let me eat in peace, and stop gawking at me like you haven't eaten for a week please, okay thanks. This place, no word of a lie is like the size of my bathroom. Hope you dont mind a little bump here and there. They got their menus items written out by hand with crayola markers pinned right on the wall--all over the wall. Other dishes we ate were the Gyoza and Salmon Sashimi Salad just to name a few. It's always packed so they're doing somethin special to that food where people are still willing to wait for hours, get bumped into every 5 minutes and pay a more than decent price to eat their small but taste tantalizing dishes.

Welcome to The Food Love Affair...

Tell me you don't love food as much as I do? Betcha can't. There's no one out there that doesn't at least LOVE food...I'll bet on that! I'm obsessed, I think about it, cook it, eat it, savour it and photograph it...it's art in my eyes. Art with a benefit. What in the world could be better? I don't think any of you could pick me out of a line up as the mastermind behind this delicious food chronicle/memoir...why? Because I'm a twenty something woman standing at 5'6" weighing at 110 lbs. The joke I've heard all my life is, "Hey you should eat something, you're too skinny!"...well, I guess it wasn't really a joke, more of a rude ignorant comment LOL...but hey, they clearly don't know me as you will soon get to see :) So welcome to my blog, tell your friends and your friends' friends about it!

Happy viewing and see you again soon ;)

S