Cafe Nuba

Aruba aNUBA....oOooh I wanna eat ya!

(think: Beach Boys, lol!)

For the past year (?) or so, Nuba has been quite the talk of the town - boasting authentic Lebanese cuisine in Vancouver (a first?) and quite recently, it has opened up its 4th (!) location at the Waldorf Hotel.  For one, I can't think of anywhere else in Vancouver specializing in Lebanese cuisine and second, not only is their food scrumptious, but they use local, fresh and organic ingredients in their cooking - a win-win situation, n'est ce pas?

Food:

Najib's special - Crispy Cauliflower

Najib's Special - crispy cauliflower with lemon & sea salt, served with tahini
                         - great starter, Nuba's speciality (claim to fame?), this must be deep-fried or something to achieve that crispy texture and taste but it sure doesn't taste like it's been (deep-fried!)

Le Petit Feast

Le Petit Feast - hummous, taboulleh, baba ganooj, and homemade pickle
                        - YUM!! Great start, beautifully-presented, everything was so fresh-tasting, hummous and baba ganooj were perfect, not too thick  - just the right smoothness consistency, loaded with lots of lemon juice and garlic flavour, pita bread was good too (though it was packaged from an exterior source)

Chicken Tawook (grilled Mount Lehman chicken breast marinated in paprika, thyme, lemon and garlic confit)
                        - a little dry (although I know how hard it is to make a nice, juicy, moist chicken!)

Beef Sirloin kebab - beef was cooked 'medium' (your choice) and it was tender, wonderfully-seasoned, juicy and succulent!

Lamb kibbeh

Lamb kibbeh - grilled grain-fed halal lamb patty with aromatic spices
                       - mmm though it was a bit gamey, it was a very well-seasoned sort-of lamb meatball! It was served atop a generous amount of nice, creamy tzatziki sauce..yum!

Service:

Very friendly and super casual - I liked :)

Value:

Fair and reasonable

Ambience:

Semi-funky yet cool interior - geometric wallpapers and retro-looking decor, casual atmosphere

Overall: 8/10

Yay:  If you're feelin' for some nice Middle Eastern, local, fresh and organic fare - think no further than Nuba! 4 great locations to serve you (all in Vancouver, so far)

Nay:  Minimal seating - not ideal for large groups





Posted by: J



Locus

great brunch joint on Main...with a ~spooky~ feel

Food:

Excellenttt brunch.  Both my dining companions (and I) enjoyed our dishes very much.  On this morning, I opted for the Venison Benny (with mushrooms and homemade-herb ricotta cheese).  The hollandaise sauce was very good - not too yolk-y or runny.  The venison flank was grilled to perfection and was of marvelous texture. I loved the accompanying fingerling potatoes (felt so much healthier as opposed to the usual deep fried hashbrowns/potatoes) and the paired fruit was good too (a slice watermelon, honey dew, pineapple and orange).

We also were served delicious bread (focaccia and a raisin bread) with even more appealing types of butter: spicy and a raisin rum butter (which was sweet).  The butter was light and fluffy (which I loved) and it paired extremely well with the bread.  Oddly, the bread was served the same time as when our food arrived.

My smoothie wasn't too thick and was a great boost for the morning.  Weird thing was that it was served a huge wine (?) glass and the other downside was the price: $6.95! It wasn't worth it but I really didn't feel like having tea or anything else, lol.

Service:

Great.  Our server was nice and chattable.  The owner (pretty sure) kept on checking up on us from time to time and was quite pleasant.

Value:

Strawberry, organge and banana smoothie - $6.95 (:S)

Ambience:

Very Main Street-esque.  The whole restaurant is clad in dark wooden tables and chairs, with imitation wooden trees throughout and canvas art for sale.  It's totally got a grungey feel to it and I felt like I was walking through a haunted house on my way to the washroom.  (edited: 'Eclectic' is the word that totally sums up this place!) Pretty cool.

Overall: 8/10

Yay: Yummy-in-my-tummy brunch.  Come here if your like the modern-grungey type of ambience :)

Nay: Looks kinda sketchy from the outside...but hey, hasn't your mom ever taught you to not 'judge a book by its cover'?

Posted by: J

Benkei Ramen

slurrrrrrp slurrrrp...gulp!

Food:

Onigiri

Everything we ordered here was beyond satisfying.  As a first timer here at this location (Main St./E. 5th Ave), the standards were up to par, if not better.  Between my dining companion and I, we shared an order of their Onigiri - a sticky-rice ball sort of thing with bits of 'chasu' (pork) molded into a triangular shape with a piece of seaweed as the base.  We also shared an order of their Pork Gyoza, which was very fresh-tasting - I especially liked the thin gyoza skin. 

Chilled Ramen

For my lunch entree, I had the Akaoni Ramen - a spicy miso-based pork bone broth.  It was quite rich in taste, wasn't too spicy, had a light miso taste with a hint of garlic flavour.  The ramen was cooked just right with alongside it plenty of bamboo shoots, green onions and minced pork.  I really enjoyed it and have only ever tried the Akaoni.  I give the Akaoni three thumbs up!

Akaoni (Spicy Miso) Ramen

Luckily for me, my dining companion decided to order their Chilled Ramen (regular).  As usual, I was having extreme difficulty deciding whether to try the Chilled Ramen or, have my usual Akaoni Ramen.  All went well.  Of course, I was able to (more than) sample my d.c's Chilled Ramen and quite thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was basically a soup-less bowl of ramen, topped with an abundance of ingredients including: julienned cucumbers, boiled prawn, sliced mushrooms, red ginger, julienned strips of imitation crab meat, shredded pieces of fried egg and boiled pieces of pork.  Of course, there had to be some sort of liquid flavouring: sweet soy sauce.  It was very refreshing, and I thought that all the ingredients meshed well with one another.  Downside is that it's only available in the summer :(

Service:

Friendly, polite and prompt!

Value:

$7.80 for the Akaoni Ramen. $2.50 for the Onigiri.  Reasonable pricing, I believe.

Ambience:

Don't expect the Guu-type izakaya experience here - this is your typical sit-down, eat and leave ramen joint (albeit they do have a tv installed here).

Overall: 8.2/10

Yay:  They've got 3 locations, with one more coming soon.  Imho, this location is more favourable to the one on Robson for the quality of their food and location-wise (parking).  Benkei is also my number 1 go-to ramen joint out of the ones I've been to - Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo, and Menya (worst one).  Prices are reasonable and you even get a stamp card for every bowl of ramen purchase! :)

Nay:  Limited seating.  Seats aren't the most comfortable either (wooden squared stools).  Not ideal for big groups.



Posted by: J

Dream Sushi

where sushi fantasies come true...

Food:

Top: Dream Roll
Bottom: Ocean Dragon Roll

Similar to Kadoya on Denman and Sake Maki on Commercial Dr., the menu and pictures look awfully familiar (with a few name changes here and there).  I enjoy both Kadoya and Sake Maki for their innovative fusion rolls (though I enjoy Kadoya less so because they tend to use more rice in their rolls).  Regardless, we found ourselves at another fusion-roll sushi joint and was uber excited to see what was in store for us!

Crunch Roll

After perusing the menu for an unusually longer period of time, we finally decided on the Ocean Dragon Roll and the Peking Duck Roll (which were both listed on the white board as 'specials'), the Dream Roll, and the Crunch Roll.  All rolls were equally exceptional (seriously).  The ratio of the rice was perfect.  The coconut sprinkles on top of the Crunch Roll was a nice topper.  All the ingredients in the Ocean Dragon roll blended so well together.  The Peking Duck Roll was nicely executed - with a fine amount of duck, topped with a nice crispy duck skin (although ideally, I would've liked the fat underneath the skin removed).  The hoisin sauce and onions added nice touches to the overall taste.

Peking Duck Roll

For appies, we opted for the usual Spinach Gomae (which Scoe thought was only ok - spinach was a lil too overcooked), while the Wakame was more drenched (as we would like it to be).  The Spicy Tuna Sashimi was ok - Kadoya & Sake Maki's versions are more saucier, but same ingredients.  We also tried out the Hamachi Sashimi (which was supposedly "fresh from Japan").  It indeed, tasted very fresh.  I would order it again.



Service:

Ok - we had to ask a couple of times for more tea, extra sauce, etc.  But they were pretty friendly.

Value:

$8.95 per Chef's speciality roll, $12.95 for the hamachi sashimi (9 pieces or so)

Ambience:

Similar to Kadoya, here you'll find rectangular sheets of coloured paper with all sorts of comments and suggestions left by customers taped to the walls.  The blue walls created a sort-of kindergarten classroom environment; I felt comfortable here, lol.  The restaurant isn't very big - with approx. 10 tables.

Overall: 7.9/10

Yay: Yummy, creative, nicely-fused fusion rolls - where else could you find a Peking Duck Roll? They've also got great lunch specials

Nay: $8.95 may be a bit hefty of a price for some, limited seating, not authentically Japanese (nor do they claim to be) - not a nay for us per se, but it might be for others






Posted by: J

The Reef

Dey got good 'tings' to eat, ya know?

Food:

Started off with a nice pitcher of Sangria.  Would've liked the fruits a lil'more mashed, but it did its job :)

As for eats, we started off with the complimentary Johnny Cakes.  I personally, ain't too big of a fan of them. Probably because of its overly-doughy texture.  I prefer it to be more fluffy.  Though, I've heard that they do serve Banana-stuffed Johnny Cakes on weekends, and would love to try those!

For appies, we started off with the Yardie Yam Fries, Coco Prawns and the Jamaican (Beef) Patty.  I like the yam fries here as they are hand-cut, fresh and lightly fried/baked and not too oily-tasty like what you get at some places.  They were great in those aspects, but were definitely wayyy too salty! Loved the accompanying jerk mayo though.

The Coco Prawns were up next.  Battered with toasted coconut and served with a minted avocado yogurt, these babies were plump and tasty.  The sauce was very tangy and sweet (which I really liked), though I couldn't really taste the avocado in them.  The Jamaican Patty arrived smokin' hot and stuffed with nicely-seasoned house-made beef.  It was delicious and even more so with the mango chutney that was served.

At this point, we were stuffed from all those (salty!) yam fries.  The Spinach Salad and the Jamaican Jerk Chicken entree took longer to arrive, and by then, we were only able to finish a third of each dish.  The Salad portion was generous consisting of chevre (goat cheese), red onions, crispy tortilla and a jicama (Mexican potato/turnip) apple slaw with a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.  We added a side of jerk chicken as well.  I loved how it was a white meat chicken breast.  It was very tender and it's too bad that we (surprisingly) weren't able to finish it!  

* Also wanted to note that the Miss Kitty's hot sauce (see first pic above) is a must-try here.  It was so good that Scoe even purchased a bottle for himself!

Value:

Yam fries for $6, Patty for $4, Jerk Chicken Entree for $14.  Decent!

Service:

Had to wave down our server a couple of times, though she was a friendly one.  Would've preferred better attentive service though!

Ambience:

Cool soothin' Jamaican tunes with a live DJ on-set on a Saturday night.  Carribean vibes whizzed throughout. Great ambience.

Overall: 7.8/10

Yay: Yummy Caribean food in a seemingly Carribean-like setting! Come here for the jams & the eats!

Nay:  Could be a bit of a wait if you're with a group of 3/4+....they take resos, though! Service isn't the best, but it's passable.

Posted by: J

Cascade Room

Chill at Cascade ...

Location: Vancouver (Main Street)

Food:

I was blown away by the Mushroom Pizza on my first visit and felt compelled to order it again.  I've tried all sorts of pizzas from various chains and restaurants and I must say that Cascades' pies rank high on my list.  The (thin) crust was just the right amount of crispiness and definitely did not taste like cardboard (as many thin crust pizzas do).  It came loaded with mushrooms, edam and goat cheese, and fresh spinach ...on a pesto base - it was phenomenal, to say the least.  They are also known for their Polenta Fries - which I think are just ok. I also sampled the Calamari and they tasted fabolous. May order it next time!

Service:

Prompt and the server allowed for separate bills (even though we had a group of 20+). You know that's always a good thing!

Value:

Food prices were reasonable although drink prices are a little high ($9 for a cocktail).

Ambience:

Hip hip happenin'!

Overall: 7.7/10

Yay: Always a good choice for drinks (and grub!) if you're in and around Main Street. Above average lounge/bar fare is a bonus.

Nay: Always bustlin' with customers whenever I'm there. Could be a bit of a wait come peak periods.

** Interesting Fact: Habit Lounge next door is their sibling restaurant!



Posted by: J