One More Sushi

I had a work dinner at One More Sushi, located at the village of UBC's campus. I wouldn't say the restaurant is small, but my workplace had the entire restaurant booked so there wasn't anybody there who wasn't with us. 

Bento Box B with teriyaki beef, tempura, California roll, salad and oranges

City 1 Cafe

City 1 Cafe is located in the King Edward Safeway Square and can be easily missed. This place have never really caught my eye so I'm so glad my friend suggested to eat here. Yes, I'm trying to be more observant now. Their menu is simple and their specialty seemed to be the Hainanese chicken as their menu features these: few pieces of chicken with a bowl of rice, half a chicken with 3 bowls of rice, or a whole chicken with 5 bowls of rice. I couldn't make up my mind whether to try the Hainanese chicken or the laksa noodle soup, but I ended up ordering the noodle soup and decided to try the Hainanese chicken next time with a larger group.

Laksa noodle soup

I was happy to see that the laksa noodle soup came with two pieces of Hainanese chicken as well as fried tofu, fish cake, and some parsley. It was very flavourful and of course, a little spicy. The boneless Hainanese chicken was extremely tender and I definitely wanted more.

I will definitely come back here for their Hainanese chicken!

Landmark Hot Pot House 春秋火鍋: Fresh ingredients, nice cars, & birthday song

At a hot pot restaurant, aren't customers their own chefs? The chefs in the kitchen....don't they just wash the veggies and slice up some meat? Yup, I totally forgot about the seasoning and crafting up the soup base. Chef Raymond Cheung of Landmark Hot Pot House is one of the 8 who has achieved the title of the 2013 Chinese MasterChefs. The restaurant has also won numerous awards for being the "Best Hot Pot Restaurant" and for some of their signature dishes. 

We were at a table of 8 so we had two hot bot bowls. On my side, we decided to get two different soup bases: SiChuan Mala spicy (四州麻辣) and preserved eggs and parsley (皮蛋莞茜). This was convenient so that the spicy eaters and the non-spicy eaters were both happy. 

A Whiter Smile, A Brighter Smile: Crest 3D White + Oral-B 3D White Products Review

A white smile is much more pleasant to look at than a yellow-ish smile. There are many causes of yellow teeth such as staining from drinking coffee/tea, medications, aging, presence of plaque, and of course, genetics. I'd like to think my yellowish teeth are due to genetics, and unfortunately not something I can change. However, there are so many products on the market these days for "whitening" teeth that it's not a hopeless cause anymore. I was thrilled to be selected to do a product review for Crest 3D White (Glamorous White) multi-care whitening oral rinse and toothpaste, as well as Oral-B 3D White Vivid toothbrush.

Crest 3D White (Glamorous White) multi-care whitening oral rinse & toothpaste
+ Oral-B 3D White Vivid toothbrush

Salade de Fruits Café: The Night I Got 'Musseled'

My birthday falls two days after one of my good friends' birthday and it's the first time in 5 years that we're in the same city! Hence, a celebration awaits. We decided to go to Salade de Fruits Café for fancy-ish  dinner with another one of our good friend. Salade de Fruits Café is a very small French bistro located inside the French Cultural Centre building on 7th Ave.

Salade de Fruits Café

It was packed with people on a Saturday night so reservations are highly recommended. The waiter asked us whether we wanted the table outside of the restaurant (still inside the building) or the smaller one inside. Great minds think alike, we decided to take the cozier one to enjoy the atmosphere as well. 

French bread

We were served with hot-out-of-the-oven French bread. Extremely fresh, extremely soft. Have I mentioned I love restaurant bread? Already couldn't stop eating.

For appetizer, we got l'escargot à l'ail (snails with garlic) to share. This was my first time eating snails. It came with 8 snails, which were already out of their shells and soaked in strong garlic and oil so I couldn't really tell what snails taste like. The texture was like mushrooms though. 

Escargot à l'ail $8

Menya Japanese Noodle: Nagahama Ramen

Menya Japanese Noodle Restaurant is a small restaurant at the corner of Broadway St. and Yukon St. 

Menya Japanese Noodle Restaurant

We arrived at the restaurant for dinner and they weren't very busy at all so we were quickly seated and served tea. The outside of the restaurant made it seem boring and plain, but when I entered, they're actually quite cute and unique. They have long benches along the wall as well as stools (for sitting, not poop), which gave it a kind of street-eat feeling.

Menya Japanese Noodle

I ordered what seemed to be their most popular and the specialty, the Nagahama ramen. The description states that it is "authentic tonkotsu ramen" with pork bone soup and Menya special soy sauce.

Nagahama Ramen $6.95

Marulilu Cafe - Cozy, Cheap, and Calming

I always go down to Broadway and Cambie for food and groceries, but I don't know why I never noticed Marulilu Cafe until I saw it on a several foodies blogs. Marulilu Cafe is conveniently located right across from the Broadway City Hall Canada Line station. It's a small and cozy brunch/afternoon cafe with an affordable menu offering Japanese and western foods.

On other foodies blogs, I've heard a lot about the Japanese style breakfast which consists of grilled salmon, Japanese plain omelet, rice, miso soup and your choice of natto or tofu. So I've heard a lot about natto, (fermented soybeans), which have a very unique taste and texture and is high in protein. I'm always up for trying new foods, whether it be traditional or innovative, so I chose natto. 

Japanese Style Breakfast (grilled salmon, Japanese plain omelet, rice, miso soup, natto) $6.99