sushi california: nothing like a whole buncha rolls

nothing's better than sushi take out on a friday night...especially at a great price like at sushi california. 

top: spicy tuna tempura roll ($3.95) - deep fried tempura in a spicy sauce in a roll for 4 bucks...as good as it sounds... 

4/5

bottom: smoked salmon garlic roll ($4.50) - prawn tempura in the middle with smoked salmon on top sprinkled with garlic chips, kind of plain tasting/starchy without a sauce to hold it together and heavy on the rice!  

3.70/5

house roll ($4.50) - just like at sushi garden, its just loaded with stuff like crab meat, assorted fish and tamago. perfect for a filler and to get a nice variety

4/5

top: hot n roll ($3.95) - spicy tuna in the middle topped with spicy salmon, pickled onion and jalapeño, my favourite of the night, perfect amount of spiciness and delicious overall! 

4.5/5

bottom: alaska roll ($3.95) - again, like sushi garden an avocado filled roll with a salad dressing type sauce and salmon. slices on top were a bit thin but the garlicky sauce was so good. 

3.75/5

overall: sushi california does not fail to satisfy that cheap sushi desire. non-authentic rolls and funky combinations for under 25 bucks...yes please, anytime! 

capstone tea and fondue: not quite high tea - mid height?

another social shopper deal led me to capstone tea and fondue in richmond for their high tea set which included savoury and sweet treats with 2 drinks as well.

matcha latte: not the prettiest latte art but was tasty and smooth 

3.5/5

matcha smoothie (half sweet): a bit too icy for my liking and the matcha flavour was lacking

2.5/5

the entire tea set; details below except for macarons and ice cream: store bought, nothing special

2/5 

mini sandwiches: filled with greens and ham were nothing special..just bread with some boring/cheap and generic fillings

1.5/5

creme filled bun, chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie: all extremely sweet and store bought

1.5/5

mini strudels: tasted like they came straight from a box and even a bit stale

1.5/5

overall: for only $20 this was a nice relaxing afternoon and was fun for the dainty ness that is high tea but i would never pay the full price ($40) for the quality and amount of food we got. it all came from a box and could easily be replicated elsewhere. i would only return if another group buy enticed me to. 

shanghai morning: the kind of dim sum i love

continuing the shanghai adventures in richmond, my mom and i visited shanghai morning in a tiny plaza with limited parking. 

focusing mostly on dimsum dishes this meal...

wine chicken ($5.50): chilled chicken soaked in a wine sauce, a huge portion for cheap with not many bones! deliciously moist chicken and a strong wine flavour, this was a delicious appetizer! 

4.5/5

green onion pancake ($3.50): supposed to be panfried but came out deep fried making it quite oily meaning i could only have one piece despite it being quite good.

3.5/5

xiao long bao ($4.95): of course the pork soup dumplings! what meal is complete without this?! filled to the brim with soup, these had a thin skin and delicious flavour although a bit lighter than others. one of my favourite xlb's to date!!

5/5

spicy wontons ($5.95): LOTS of delicious wontons in a spicy chili oil. perfectly spicy and one of my favourite dim sum dishes. nothing bad to say at all...so good.

5/5

overall: shanghai morning is one of my FAVOURITE shanghai stops in richmond now. it has a lot of small dishes perfect for sharing and i love dumplings so this is like heaven. the total was just at $20 with tax and i was quite filled up! 

dragon ball tea house: those perfect pearls

bubble tea, my old friend. i had heard a lot about dragon ball tea house as some of the best in vancouver so my mom and i popped by and it lives up to the hype. 

honey green milk tea (hot ~ $4.00): my mom loved this. she said it was the right amount of sweetness and creaminess that milk tea should have! 

4.5/5

oreo cookie slush + pearls (~$5.00): again this was delicious. the oreo cookie flavours and bits were blended into the drink amazingly but the best was the PEARLS. chewy, not hard or mushy and just a tiny bit warm. just thinking about them....some of the best pearls around. 

5/5 

overall: delicious bubble tea, tiny shop, AMAZING PEARLS 

gyo: hidden japanese gem and a seafood yukke don

this post is WAYY overdue and i've been back to gyo-o multiple times now but to reminisce on the first time i fell in love with the food here...fond memories. 

gyo-o is a part of the gyoza king chain and serves up mostly rice bowls or udon (both soup and dry) as well as many appetizers including sashimi.  located in the same strip mall as pearl castle and deer garden, i feel it is often forgotten but it sure has amazing food.

the first time here, everything looked amazing but there were TOO MANY CHOICES so i looked to urban spoon for help and then settled on the seafood yukke don as well as a pick and choose bukkake udon. 

miso soup came with the bukkake udon. 

seafood yukke don: chopped up seafood mixed with special sauce over rice with a poached egg ($11.00) - this right here is what makes this place amazing. i had never tried seafood yukke don and was skeptical but this is THE BOMB DOT COM.

lots of chopped up seafood in this magical sauce that you mix into the rice with that egg and it just because the best bowl of rice you will ever have. tasty but not overwhelming with little bits of fish to keep your protein tastebuds happy. this is seriously a MUST EAT. but be warned, it is a bit slimier so if you're not into that stuff, stay away and stick to the deep fried. 

5/5

pick and choose bukkake udon (~$13) (sorry dont remember the real name) - deep fried chicken kaarage, takoyaki and poached egg atop a bed of udon noodles served with sauce. 

they have a whole list of toppings that you can choose from to go with your udon.

my first time having cold udon and it was really good! the chicken and takoyaki here are awesome, some of the best id ever had, but the udon was quite different from what i'm used to.

the sauce comes on the side and once i removed the toppings (im not huge on soggy fried) i poured the liquid in slowly just to see how it would taste and it was quite good! 

this was the end product of the egg and sauce, looks unappealing but had a delicious flavour. and they give QUITE A BIT of udon. nice and chewy, al dente udon! 

4.75/5

overall: this is one of the best food discoveries i have made thanks to food blogging. i walked past it 100 times before and never even thought about entering but it is DELICIOUS. not what you usually expect at japanese restaurants...its even better. only complaint is that the prices are a bit high but the food is so delicious that you dont care.

5/5

itadakimasu: izakaya with a twist

itadakimasu had a groupon (sometimes it comes back) and open only for dinner, my family came for my birthday celebration. the food is interesting and quite tasty! 

pari pari ebi mayo ($7): essentially deep fried shrimp but they coat it with rice krispies instead of the usual tempura batter! gave it a delicious crunch and the sauce was sweet and spicy. absolutely delicious! 

4.5/5

daily cute temari sushi ($10): ball shaped sushi with assorted fish on top - they were very cute but tasted like regular nigiri (with more rice) but it was nice to get a variety.

3/5

takoyaki ($4): octopus filled balls that are covered in 2 sauces and bonito flakes - these were quite good! not too greasy or heavy but nothing especially memorable about them. 

3.75/5

tuna tataki ($8) - lightly seared tuna with ponzu jelly - the jelly was really interesting almost like salty jello that was delicious ontop of each slice of tuna.

4/5

kurobuta pork sausace ($~5): this was a special but did not impress us very much. tasted just like plain sausage although the grainy mustard sauce was good! 

2.75/5 

beef bibimbomb ($8.6): beef short rib, egg, scallions and rice in a stone pot - this comes with spicy sauce but we got it on the side. the sauce makes it really delicious so if you can take things a bit spicier definitely go for it! this was really good! the flavours melded really well and wasnt too greasy either. one of my favourites of the night!

4.5/5

overall: the food here is a bit expensive and portions are not the MOST generous but it is definitely different and delicious! also the servers were super nice and had no problems with the groupon. returning is in the near future!