Aqua Riva

Aqua River, 200 Granville st

Located beside Canada Place, this long time restaurant has been part of the waterfront mainstay for over 10 years. Despite some dated decor and seating, the restaurant was spacious and welcoming on a Friday afternoon.

The lunch menu offered a lot of variety:


Steamed clams and mussels with greens. I substituted the salad for fries. The clams and mussels is steamed in a mildly spicy chili lemongrass broth. The broth is flavorful as a soup by itself or with bread.


Seafood Paella with scallops, clams, prawns and wood grilled seafood sausage. The saffon rice was seasoned perfectly. In addition the plentiful seafood made this a very satisfying dish.

Wood Grilled Wild Salmon with fennel potato gnocchi and asparagus. The gnocchi was outstanding. Most gnocchi I have tasted is plain and flavored with sauce. This gnocchi had the fennel flavor combined in the flour and was slightly charred to bring out its flavor.

Strawberry shortcake with white chocolate ice cream and chocolate whip cream. The ice cream and the whip was delicious. the shortcake was a bit on the dry side.

What we liked:

• The large seating area and quite ambiance
• Attentive and fast service
• Large portion sizes and properly seasoned food at reasonable prices. Mains vary from $13 to $20
  
• Harbor view. On a sunny day this would be a beautiful spot to lounge around and catch up with friends
  

What we did not like:

• Dated decor. Definitely needs and update to compete with newer restaurants such as Market by Jean-Georges, which also caters to the same office crowd.
• Paper lined tables. This practice always annoys me and it make we feel like I am having picnic in the park, instead of dinner at a good restaurant. Please just wash your table cloths.
  

In general, this was a good experience and I wouldn't mind coming back here. The waitress did say they were going to close soon, so take advantage of the dine out this year as this restaurant will probably not be here in a few months.

Pasta Zanmai

Pasta Zanmai, Sunway Pyramid, KL

A recent import into the Malaysian mainstream, this restaurant sells Japanese fusion western food. The lunch combos with 2 mains is a bargain!


Chicken pizza with tomato sauce and mayo. The crust is a little chewy. The japanese mayo adds a creaminess to the grilled chicken and tomato sauce.


Grilled chicken pasta. The pasta is El dente. The teriyaki sauce and soft poached egg is mixed in with the noodle for a flavorful sauce.


Dessert is by far my favorite. Left: chocolate ice cream with wafer. Middle: Green tea ice cream with azuka beans. Right: frozen sesame ice cream with whip cream.

What we like:

• The pasta is always El dente. The lunch specials are popular for sharing as there is pasta, rice or pizzas to choose from
• dessert was delicious. The sesame ice cream was outstanding. You can taste both the white and black sesame.

What we didn't like:

• Food was more salty that I am use to.

Din Tai Fung, Sentosa, Singapore

Din Tai Fung, Sentosa, Singapore

We came to this restaurant during rush hour, dispite of a line out the door, we were seated in half an hour, and was able to order and eat in less than 45 minutes. This is what I call impressive fast food!


The dumplings were served piping hot. Uniform, juicy and properly cooked, although the skin is a little chewy, the flavor made up for it.


Hainanese chicken rice. A local specialty. The chicken is steamed just to perfection. The skin has a nice sheen and the 3 dipping sauces (chili sauce, ginger sauce, soy sauce) are a perfect compliment.



Beef Noodle with vegetable. Good flavor and tender beef

What we like:

• The super fast service. We sat down, ordered and ate in under 45 minutes.
• Service was excellent. Servers were experienced to move people through the restaurant as fast as possible
• All the food was good, not just the Din Tai Fung, favorites, but also some local dishes.

What we didn't like:

• Unfortunately the style of the dumplings is still not the type we like. Although the filling is juicy, the skin is just not smooth enough to our liking.
  
• Of the 3 restaurants, the Singapore location is by far the best. High quality food and lightning speed service. It is located on the tourist island of Sentosa. Being the only Chinese choice in a predominately western restaurants area, this restaurant is definitely a winner.

Din Tai Fung KL - Pavillion

Din Tai Fung, Pavillion KL. This restaurant is located in an upscale mall with high end eateries.



The menu has most of the standard items, and one or two items specific to the restaurant, such as the lunch combos and the pork dumpling with black truffle.


Pork dumplings fresh off the steamer.


The skin is firm and a little undercooked. Inside the pork is juicy, but flavor wise is a little under seasoned compared to the one I tried in Seattle.


The afternoon special includes 3 small side dishes of marinated cucumber, bean curd, and noodle with bean curd and mushrooms. The noodle was properly seasoned and had a good assortment of vegetables.


Dry noodle with chicken and sesame sauce. Portion size is standard size by local standards.


Dessert : Taro paste dumplings. Quite misshapen compared to the pork dumplings normally served. Size is slightly smaller than regular port dumplings. The taro is lightly sweetened, and the texture is smooth. Unfortunately the undercooked skin ruined the experience.

What we liked:

• Good location, quiet and comfortable seating
• food served in a reasonable time.
  
• lunch menu to target the office workers.

What we didn't like:

• food was underwhelming.
  
• the skin was undercooked for both the pork dumplings and the taro dumplings
• Although side dishes and the noodle was good, the main draw (the dumplings) were a disappointment.
• Pricing was expensive in comparison to nearby restaurants. Many food choices in the area at lower price points means that Din Tai Fung will have to offer better value to draw in customers.
  

Din Tai Fung Bellvue

Din Tai Fung - Lincoln Square, Bellevue. Opened in the beginning of November, this is the first location in North America

We happen to go to Lincoln square and decided to try it out. The wait was 2 1/2 hours! My suggestion is to go and put your name down first, then do your shopping and come back.



The menu list, they were so busy that they did not have any buns that day.



The dumpling soup. The skin is thin and the filling of mostly vegetable. The soup tastes like it was made with chicken bullion, or chicken stock. This was so so.


Steamed beef and noodle soup. The Beef is steamed in a light herbal soup then poured over the noodle when served. Beef was very tender and the soup was unique. Portion size is small for a $8 dish.


The steamed dumplings. We waited FOREVER for these to arrive, a good 20 minutes to half an hour Thankfully the waitress was very apologetic for the wait and kept checking up on the order for us.

The sign of a good dumpling is that it does not break when you pick it up. Yes, dumpling passes the test with flying colors. Was it good? Yes it was, the skin was very thin and the inside was juicy, however as my foodie partner pointed out, the skin has a slightly undercooked texture to it, and was too doughy for his tastes. He likes the flavoring of the filling as it is not overly seasoned. I liked the thinness of the skin and the flavor of the dumpling as a whole, but given that 1 order costs$9.50, I would have liked a bit more filling.


Stir fried rice cake. Pretty standard, but the the rice cake was a bit under cooked because it was not cut evenly.


What we liked:

• Attentive wait staff. Our waitress was very attentive and kept following up with our orders. I can't say the same for the hostess at the front of the restaurant which was very disorganized.
  
• Large and spacious dining area. Floor to wall glass windows, and classic decor.
• Freshly made dumplings. There is a difference when the dumplings are never frozen.

What we didn't like:

• The 2 1/2 hour wait time. This was excessive. I would suggest that you come back after a few months when the novelty has worn off.
• Portion sizes were very small given the price point. Our bill came to $50 and my boyfriend was still hungry afterward. For the same price he could have stuffed himself at the cheesecake factory across the street.
• Some of the items we tried were just average, and doesn't warrant the expensive price.

Given its location in Lincoln Square, I'm sure this restaurant will flourish without much competition.

Downtown street vendors : Fresh Local Wild

One of the newest additions to the downtown street vendor scene. Opened just this Thursday October 21st, they are located on the corner of Granville and Robson, across from future shop. It is open Tuesday to Saturdays.

The offerings:
Salmon Burger $8
Fried Oysters Po-boy $10
Venison burger $9
add fries for $2
add poutine for $3

We ordered the venison burger with poutine.




The burger is fresh grilled and served on a whole wheat bun. Perfectly seasoned and the patty is juicy when we bite into it. The burger holds together well and is served with some lettuce.

The poutine. Loved the chantrelles and fresh cheese curds. The gravy was thick but not overly salty.

What we like:

• fresh chantrelles on the poutine. This is a winner. The poutine by itself is a good bargain at $5. These will definitely sell given the cold weather.
  
• Burger bun is firm so that it does not fall apart when you eat it, venison is juicy, flavorful but not gamey.
• High quality ingredients is definitely worth trying once.
  

What we did not like:

• Spending $12 for a burger and fries. Given that we are standing on the corner of a street, paying close to $10 for the burger, not including fries, is just a bit steep.
  
• There are comparable food choices such as Japadog and Viet Sub just a block away that charges at least $2-$3 less and offers seating for patrons.

Downtown Street Vendors: The Re-Up BBQ

The Re-Up BBQ - Corner of Georgia and Hornby St.



This is one of the many street vendors that have been popping up in downtown Vancouver. A refreshing change from the regular hotdog stands. This stand serves pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Every day around noon time you will see a lineup of around 10 plus people. We decided one day to find out why this was so popular.


The pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw costs $6., with HST this comes to $6.75. Although not cheap by street vendor standards, they make up for it with a generous serving of pulled pork. The pork is chunky and infused with the spiciness of paprika.

Apparently the barbecue sauce and coleslaw is vegan, ironically this sandwich is nothing but meaty. We love the addition of the coleslaw for texture.

Our Verdict:

• Location: Prime location beside the art gallery
  
• Price: Slightly expensive. For the same price we could get 2 Vietnamese subs
  
• Flavor : Nice change from the regular hotdog stands, but lacks variety. They only have 1 style of the pulled pork sandwich. With more variety this will definitely become a downtown staple, especially for the meat lovers out there.