Surprisingly, I don’t get a lot of hate mail or trolls commenting in the 2+ years I’ve had this blog and Instagram account. When I started, I knew that that would be a possibility — when you put out “strong opinions” on food, beer, and restaurants, not everyone is going to agree with you. And they might let you know about it, in interesting ways:
Continue reading Hate Mail: “The Donald Trump of Vancouver Food Bloggers”
Hapa Ramen (stillborn twin of longstanding Hapa Izakaya) just opened up on January 8, 2016. I had no particular expectations, aside from being curious to see what they could bring to the increasingly crowded ramen game in Vancouver. Evidently, not much.
NOTE: Hapa Ramen has nothing to do with the short-lived Hapa Ramen in San Francisco, started by Richie Nakano. Read this Munchies article for some interesting background on that whole deal. Anyways, seeing that Hapa Izakaya took a name that already existed, it might cause some problems social media-wise because Richie is still doing events and people are still using the #haparamen hashtag in reference to them.
Damso Modern Korean Cuisine on Bute near Robson started this “All-You-Can-Eat Korean Fried Chicken Wings Happy Hour Special” back in mid-July but I only noticed the sign for it this week. I took on the challenge… Last time I was here, I had some so-so Korean-style ramen and haven’t been back since. But it’s so close to my work and I think I can eat $11 worth of wings in one sitting! So I winged it.
Continue reading All-You-Can-Eat Korean Fried Chicken Wings at Damso on Bute
I was recommended by longtime local internet foodie LotusRapper from the Chowhound forum to check out Pizza Garden (PG), to compare with my experience with Straight Outta Brooklyn (SOB). So I picked the worst lunchtime out of the week to head out of the office to try them out! There were thunderstorms plus even a bit of hail, but that didn’t stop me from having a slice at PG then another slice immediately afterwards at SOB to compare…THEN an ice cream-in-a-fried-bun-thing at Japadog 😛
Continue reading Lunch Quickie: Pizza Garden vs Straight Outta Brooklyn (vs Japadog vs my stomach)
You know I go on and on and on and on and on about how good Longtail Kitchen in New West is. They just won a VanMag silver award for Best Thai! Anyways, they’re going to be featured on the Food Network Canada show “You Gotta Eat Here!” (Season 4 Episode 15 — airs May 8) and we were invited to the taping last November.
When I wasn’t being all nervous with sweaty pits, I snuck a few pics…
Disclaimer: We were invited to this taping as longtime (heh) customers of Longtail. We didn’t have to pay for any of our food, but then we didn’t get to choose what food we got. And I didn’t get to drink any beer cuz the kegerator wasn’t operating that day 🙁 We have no connection to Longtail other than being regulars and on friendly terms with the chef and staff. We were not paid for participating nor were we coached or told what to say. If this is the extent of me “selling out” as a food blogger, I’m happy with it.
Pub/restaurant crawls are tons of fun! Especially when you don’t plan out exactly where you’re going — it keeps things spontaneous and exciting! It’s good to go to an area with good density of worthy spots where you can have a drink and a bite at each place and basically experience the best of each place, all in one night! Main St. is a good area, as is Robson & Denman area, but Gastown felt right for this particular rain-free evening. Things got progressively fuzzier as the night wore on. Good thing I always have my camera!
CORRECTION: Bubble Fruity DOES serve bubble tea. You just have to ask for the bubble tea menu. But they are best known for their dessert soups. I’m gonna leave the rest of the post as-is, as a testament to my rage, confusion and ignorance.
Want food that looks unappetizing but tastes great? Check out Bubble Fruity on Saba Rd near No. 3 in Richmond. What a name! How does one take two words that have clear meanings separately and mash them together into an impossible to parse mess? Ahhh, Richmond…you’re a never-ending source of Engrish pleasures.
And no, they don’t serve bubble tea. Continue reading Fucked Up English & Sweet Nut Soup at Bubble Fruity
There’s this new class of food events that reminds me of those 90s warehouse rave days. Hawkers Market is a bit like that (previous Hawkers Market events here, here and here) but I went to another similar one-time-only event that was even more “underground” in that it was held in a secret location that wasn’t revealed until the night before. The event was FULL BLAST SUMMER JAM produced by Here There, who have put on a couple interesting food-related events previously, including one where they turned a school cafeteria into a pop-up restaurant. I had even more fun at Full Blast than Hawkers Market! 😛 Even though there was only ONE food vendor and the beer was crap, the food was so good that it didn’t matter! Continue reading Ping Pong Rave Food: Full Blast Summer Jam by Here There
