Phone: (778) 285-6577

Hours:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00AM – 9:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Website: http://www.kulinarya.ca/

Hints:

• $5 menu from 10-12 and 3-5. Tuesday – Sunday.
• Small restaurant
• Shared parking lot

Kulinarya

Kulinarya has been in Coquitlam for a long time as far as I know. But for some reason, I’ve never set foot into this place till now. It’s a fairly small place with less than a dozen tables (closer to half a dozen). The restaurant appears to be family owned and operated. It was me and my girlfriend’s first time ever dining here. We were welcomely greeted on our way in and were seated immediately.

Corn nuts

We were served with the menu and a small dish of corn nuts. It was addicting! The taste was a garlic roasted flavour. I couldn’t get my hands off them that my girlfriend had to take them out of my reach.

INIHAW NA PUSIT (Grilled Squid)

I love squid, so we tried the grilled squid. It was served sizzling on a hot plate and I could smell it from a mile away. The squid was tender and just the right amount of chewiness. 

Garlic soy sauce

The squid came with a dipping sauce which I thought was unnecessary because there were so much flavours already. The garlic soy sauce was a little sour, I’m not sure what else is in it.

KARE-KARE

Shrimp Paste

We ordered a beef dish called “Kare-Kare” which is a beef and tripe dish in peanut sauce served with shrimp paste. The flavours was right on, it actually taste very good already without the shrimp paste (which they had forgotten till later). Of course, this needed some sort of rice or else it would be just like drinking soup. The shrimp paste was really good, quite salty and should never be eaten alone. But the aroma that comes out of the shrimp paste was just unreal.

Garlic Fried Rice

We ordered a small rice separately. Everything was separate, they really should have meals. The garlic rice was only a dollar more than normal steamed rice. The rice does have a strong sense of garlic but I think a normal steam rice would be suffice next time.

Halo-Halo

I’m not sure if the dishes are actually named like this in the Philippines. But some of the names are just funny. This is a dessert called “Hal0-Halo”, a shaved ice dessert. It was huge! We shouldn’t have ordered it because it was pretty chilly out that night. And we were eating ice!

Halo-Halo

It’s got a whole wack of ingredients including beans, jelly, tapioca, yam ice-cream, condense milk, etc. It’s quite the dessert. Perfect for a hot summer day, but just not tonight. And one thing I totally didn’t do because I didn’t want to destroy the art work was to stir up the bowl or you will be eating ice on the bottom.

The Bill

The bill came to under $40 for a shared 3-course meal. The food was good. I’m not sure if it’s authentic because I’ve never had Filipino food before, but definitely good. I will definitely have to come back and try the crispy pata another time. It seems to be one of the favourites here. The place could get a little busy during prime dinner time, but nothing too crazy. It’s probably because of its location. The service was great, our server took time to explain the dishes to us and recommended us some dishes because it was our first time.

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Phone: 604-609-0080

Hours:

Mondays to Saturdays – 11:30am til 11pm
Sundays – 4:30pm til 10pm

Happy Hours: Everyday except Sunday 3pm – 6pm

Website: http://www.rohvan.com/

Hints:

• Low tide edition (Happy Hour)
• Street paid parking
• Reservations accepted

Rodney’s Oyster House

My girlfriend and I celebrated our anniversary at Rodney’s Oyster House this year. The reason we picked Rodney’s is because they had a variety from their Happy Hour menu. Their raw oysters are $1.50 per shuck. More expensive than most places, but the sweetness and size of the oysters made up for it.

Raw Oysters

The oysters were sweet and fresh. Presented nicely on a sheet of ice. Aside from lemon wedges and horseradish, Rodney’s offers a variety of sauces from not spicy to flaming hot. 

Sauces

Some people like their oysters plain but I like mine with sauces. Not a whole load, but just a tiny bit. I especially liked their seawitch sauce, which was not very hot and I can still enjoy the sweetness of the oyster.

New England Clam Chowder

We were recommended the Slapjack, which I will probably try next time. But we ordered the New England chowder, not on their Happy hour menu. It was served with oyster crackers. The clam chowder was too bland for my liking. The thickness was just right, a little bit more taste would have been excellent.

Mussels

We had the steamed mussels from their “Low Tide” menu. It was steamed in dill butter, garlic and wine. This was extremely flavourful, I wanted to thirst for more! The wine sauce was good that I could drink on its own.

Pan Fried Oysters

Hands down! These were probably the best pan fried oysters I’ve had. Freshly shucked, lightly breaded and served with their in-house tartar sauce. Don’t forget to squeeze the lemon wedge. Soft and tender on the inside but light and crispy on the outside.

The Bill

Considering this is a seafood feast, this wasn’t bad. We were seated immediately as we walked into our reservation. Sitting upstairs by the edge gave us an excellent view of the entire restaurant. We saw all the excitement from shucking oysters to preparing cocktails. It was pretty busy on a Saturday evening. Our server was extremely pleasant and explained the menu thoroughly. (Though my girlfriend had read that there were some bad experiences with service here.) On the whole, I thought that Rodney’s Oyster House is a great place for oysters and to wind down the day.

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Phone: (604) 931-5300

Hours:
Mon-Thurs 11AM-10PM,
Fri 11AM-11PM,
Sat 9AM-11PM,
Sun 9AM-10PM

Website: http://www.boathouserestaurants.ca/

The Boathouse @ Port Moody

The Boathouse has always been one of my favourite places for brunch. Not only do they have a spectacular view but also because I love their Caesar salad. I was joined by my long-time buddy (@anothersamchan) and my girlfriend. It was a Sunday afternoon, surprisingly not a lot of people. However, food service was rather slow. Plus, there wasn’t any baked goods. Unlike last time!

Westcoast Seafood Pasta

The Westcoast Seafood pasta was a little disappointing, as I had more seafood last time. And the sauce was a bit too watery. Presentation on the pasta was a bit disappointing, let’s just say I expected more for a $20 pasta. The salad was good, I would have changed it to a Caesar but forgot to. Greens were mixed with mixed cheese and dried cranberries.

Boathouse Sirloin Burger

My girlfriend had the sirloin burger served with aged cheddar, double smoked bacon, tomatoes, and lettuce. She had hers changed to a Caesar salad. The burger patty was too burnt that she had to send it back to the kitchen. The waitress was nice enough to offer her another salad while she waits. Though for a restaurant like Boathouse, I would have expected them to have it taken off the bill. But not this time.

Chicken & Apple Sausage Omelette

Sam had an omelette with chicken & apple sausage, spinach, asiago cheese and tomato basil sauce. Poor guy was doing P90x so he didn’t have the toast, just the omelette. Just by looking at it, the omelette seemed to be overdone.

Coffe Ice-cream cake

And since it was my birthday, they brought over a slice of ice-cream cake. How sweet! As I was still in the midst of recovering from being sick, I didn’t have much.

Overall, I thought the quality of The Boathouse @ Port Moody has degraded since my last visit. The service was relatively slow on a Sunday afternoon. The food was mediocre at best (referring to the pasta). But I come here mainly for the view, it’s gorgeous on a sunny day. I don’t know how much the meal was because Sam offered to pay since it was my special day, I guess I’ll just have to return the favour next time.

Wouldn’t it be nice when all my meals are free?

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Phone: (604) 278-8000

Hours: Fri – Sat: 7PM – 12AM | Sun: 6PM – 11PM

Website: http://www.summernightmarket.com/

Cost: FREE. Parking is $5.

Hints:

• Cheaper food than Richmond night market
• Opening date: Friday, May 10th, 2013 @ 7PM!
• Less crowded than Richmond night market
• FREE entrance, paid parking
• Free shuttle to/from Richmond night market

Summer Night Market

The Summer Night Market @ Vulcan Way is opening this Friday @7PM!

And the weather is looking great! Street food! Here we come. Check out what I ate last year…

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Phone: 604-879-3114

Hours: 

Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m – 4:00 p.m

Breakfast served from 9:00 a.m – Noon
Lunch is served from Noon - 3:00pm

Weekends 9:00 a.m – 4:00 p.m   Brunch served from 9 a.m to 3 p.m

Web: http://www.medinacafe.com/

Back room of Cafe Medina

Medina by day and Chambar by night. I have wanted to visit Medina for brunch awhile now, but never made it in because both my girlfriend and I are late-wakers on the weekend. And so by the time we get downtown, it’ll be already like afternoon tea time (ok, I maybe exaggerating a little). We got to Medina around half past 1 and we still had to put our name on the list for a 20 minutes wait. By the time we were seated, the restaurant was emptying because they only serve brunch till 3pm. If you want to save on parking, I would suggest parking at Tinseltown, buying something worth a dollar there and walk up a block. It’ll save you from paying $2 per hour or was it half an hour.

Saumon Fume – $12

Saumon Fume

Saumon Fume

My girlfriend chose the Saumon Fume, which is served all day. Served on a open faced ciabatta sandwich with a over-easy fried egg, smoked salmon, caper cream cheese, sliced avocado, arugula, peppadew and artichoke salad. It was good, lots of cream cheese and the salmon was good. Presentation was nice. However, to our disappointment we did find a piece of hard bone in the salmon, which was unacceptable for a spread. My girlfriend almost chocked on it.

Bone in salmon

It was a disappointment that the kitchen didn’t do anything about it. Though the waitress was apologetic about it.

Fricassé – $16

Fricassé

I had the Fricassé, which is also served all day. Served on a skillet with 2 sunny-side up fried eggs, braised short ribs, roasted potatoes, balsamic onions, Watercress, applewood cheddar and a grilled foccacia. Mine was also very tasteful. It was a little salty to my likings, but overall the taste and presentation was good. My only complaint would be the sunny-side up eggs were a little too well done for my liking. (Even more so than my girlfriend’s over easy).

View of BC Place

On a good day, the view here of BC Place is not bad.

The Bill

Overall, Medina had pretty good brunch. But I’m not sure if I’d wait in line for breakfast food. The service was not too bad, but wasn’t dazzling either. Our server didn’t check up on us besides for taking down orders, food, and the bill. The flavours of the food was good and we enjoyed it. However, that piece of bone really ruined it at the end. Value, I would say it’s a little on the high end for brunch. But if you take in the presentation of the food presented, I think it was well worth it. I tend to stay away from places that don’t take reservations but this one, maybe I’ll consider it.

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Phone: 604-868-9339

Hours: Open 7 days a week for lunch!

Web: http://www.feastro.ca/

Feastro the Rolling Bistro

It’s that time of year again for food trucks season. The bright and sunny days are back in town! Today, we are visiting Feastro the Rolling Bistro. A food truck that serves up fresh tacos, fish & chips, sandwiches. But mostly related to seafood.

Tacos!

What a terrible shot! But my hands were limited, so indeed these are two tacos. Pulled pork (left) and Tuna (right). The pulled pork was very juicy, so juicy that  I couldn’t pick it up. It’s got slow roasted & smoked pulled pork, refried beans, tomato & star arise chutney, shaved cabbage, sour cream, hand cut salsa and pickled jalapenos. The tuna is a grilled local albacore tuna with tomato and star anise chutney, shaved cabbage, miso aioli, wakame, pickled ginger, tabiko, and bonito flakes. The tuna was also very enjoyable. Super light and refreshing.

If I were to choose again, I would definitely pick the tuna.

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Phone: 604-432-6002

Hours: Open 7 days a week!

Dim Sum: 9:30AM – 3:00PM
Dinner: 5:00PM – 10:30PM

Web: http://www.granddynasty.ca/

Grand Dynasty

Grand Dynasty

Grand Dynasty has become my new favourite Dim Sum spot. Grand Dynasty, unlike its name, is not a very big restaurant. The food here is Dim Sum and unique. They change up their menu monthly and are your boring old dim sum joints. The restaurant is extremely busy on weekends, reservations are highly recommended.

Dim Sum Mania

The first time I was here, I was with a bunch of uncles and aunties. I didn’t get a true sense of the dining experience because there was just way too much food on the table and there were too many people. So I came back for a second time to truly enjoy the dim sum experience (with less people).

Deep Fried Taro Dumpling with Minced Pork

The deep fried dumpling is usually good at most places, as long as the taro is in a paste form it’ll mix quite well. It’s crispy on the outside and paste-like on the inside.

Shu Mai

This is probably the most well-known dim sum that everyone knows about. The steamed pork dumpling here is not the best, but decent. Definitely not the biggest either.

Steamed Rice roll with Shrimp & Chive

One of my favourites here, they have included not only shrimp but also dried scallops here. The steamed rice roll is made really well, nice and tender.

Steamed Chicken Feet with Spicy Sauce

This probably grosses some people out, but chicken feet is almost a Chinese delicacy. There’s so many ways of making it great and this is one of the common dishes you will find at most Dim Sum places.

Deep Fried Squid with House Seasoning

I love the deep fried squid here! It’s made with their in-house seasoning. I have ordered this dish multiple times, however, I find the size always differs. I’m guessing this is dependant on how many people orders it. But this is a definite must try!

Dried Shimp & Vegetable Pancake

Dried Shrimp & Vegetable Pancake

The inside of the pancake is loaded with chives and dried shrimp. It’s good, but not my favourite.

Crispy bean curd with Mushroom

Surprisingly, this dish was served warm. At Kirin, this dish is served cold. But I like how it’s lukewarm temperature here.

Deep Fried Chicken wings

Kind of expensive here, but if you have a craving for wings. Why not?

Steamed Cha Siu (Pork) Bun

Lobster Congee

The lobster congee isn’t bad, it’s shareable between 6 or 7 people. There’s a good amount of lobster (1 small lobster).

Steamed rice roll with beef

I still liked my steamed shrimp & chive rice roll more.

BBQ Duck noodle in soup

The BBQ duck was very good for a Dim Sum place. It was juicy and the noodles were generous.

Baby oyster, minced pork and rice in soup

The rice in soup here is pretty good too. It’s loaded with ingredients!

Pan fried Durian Pancake

And we ended off with a pan fried durian pancake. It was one of the best desserts I’ve had, and here. Durian is one of those love and hate relationships. In my case, I’m in love. The durian smell is pretty strong, I can smell it from a mile away. It’s served warm and inside is a durian paste with bits of durian still there. It just melts in your mouth.

Overall, I love the food here. And I like the upscale decors. It could get a little loud and crowded on weekends, but which dim sum places don’t?

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Phone: 604-559-9111

Hours: Closed every 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month. Opens at 11:30AM otherwise.

M Dessert

M Dessert opened roughly 3 weeks ago and it offers Hong Kong style desserts. My girlfriend came across another blog post the famous Hong Kong “Honeymoon Dessert” was opening up inside Crystal mall. Being the dessert lover that I am, we decided to go check it out. They copied the Chinese name but not the English, it had seemed.  However, the desserts looked really good in picture.

Black Sticky Rice with Special Ice-cream – $5.95

My girlfriend had the black sticky rice with special ice-cream. I had a hard time finding ice-cream in here, if any. There was definitely milk, condensed milk, and shaved ice. The black sticky rice balls were pretty good, but my girlfriend critiqued something about them (I forgot).

Mango and Grass Jelly with Special ice-cream – $6.25

I was originally going to try their mango and basil seed with special ice-cream, but they didn’t have it in stock. So I went for the next mango thing, which was the mango and grass jelly with special ice-cream. At first, I thought they forgot the mango but it was on the bottom. The grass jelly was very smooth, and a sweeter than hers. The special ice-cream is nothing special, it is just Vanilla ice-cream.

The Bill

Overall, I thought the prices were on the high end for desserts. It wasn’t exactly filling, but also didn’t come in any surprise. Room is limited in the restaurant, there are less than a dozen small tables. And it’s not very decorated. This place, like most Asian places, is Cash only. For a dessert place, I don’t think it’ll last because most people eat dessert after dinner. However, this place opens only till 7pm. It’s more like a snack place, if anything at all. We probably won’t be back often, but if you want a taste of Asian dessert after lunch. This just might be the place.

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Phone: N/A

Hours: Closed every 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month. Opens at 11:30AM otherwise.

Jeong Ga Nae

My girlfriend noticed a new Korean restaurant opening up when she passed by going home one night, this replaced the previous Green House BBQ restaurant that I was planning to go back to try out their BBQ. I guess we just weren’t meant to be.

$4.99 Lunch Special

Upon their grand opening, they are doing a lunch special for $4.99 on their Pork Soup, which I interpret as their Pork Bone and Potato Soup. The price is pretty good because most places would only be $9-10. So if you want to try them out, be sure to visit before the end of April to get the special!

Inside the restaurant

The inside didn’t change much, except I did notice the lighting isn’t all awkward and blue anymore. It brings a warmer ambiance than before.

The Banchan

Like all Korean restaurants, this comes with complimentary appetizers. I didn’t really like the ones they have here. The only one I probably liked most was the bean curd looking one. All the others were sour.

Potato and Pork Bone Spicy Stew – $22.95

I always love getting one of these at Korean restaurants. The stew itself is flavourful and heart-warming, especially on a cold day. The pork bone stew here was unlike others that I’ve had. It had more vegetable ingredients like carrots, cucumber, and onions. Onions are usual, but not cucumber and carrots. But they did taste really good by the end. The stew itself was alright, the stew had a pretty strong spice in it that I wasn’t particular fond of. But overall, not too bad. However, I would like to see more potatoes.

Rice

The stew came with rice for 2. Upon opening the rice bowl, I was pretty surprised to find it purple. Normally, they have white rice. But not this one. I guess it’s only healthier! It tasted just like normal rice.

LA Ribs – $12.95

We didn’t want to get the DIY BBQ because the minimum order was 2. But I guess with a bigger group, it’d be okay. So we ordered something that was made in the kitchen. The LA Ribs came sizzling hot on the table. It tasted just like the ones you can make at home with Korean BBQ sauce. But nonetheless, it was good. Though we question the value of it.

Take out

And no worries if you can’t finish your stew, you can have it take out. We obviously didn’t finish, I saw the table next to us with 3 grown men sharing the same stew. I say we did pretty good.

Overall, Jeong Ga Nae seems to be a good addition to the Coquitlam Centre area because there’s not a lot of Korean restaurants around. Especially good ones! I think with the addition of BBQ, there will be more people dining here. Although I like the flavours of Green House BBQ more. The prices are similar to other Korean restaurants around Vancouver. The hot pot was a bit cheaper than other restaurants. The service was mediocre with only 2 servers, so if the restaurant is full house be prepared to wait.

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Phone: 604-441-9655

Hours: 

• Takes Debit/Credit/Cash
• Breakfast/Brunch food
• <$10 per person
• Open on SUNDAYS! (In fact, 7 days a week!)

 

Yolk’s

I’m a major fan of poached eggs. And when I first heard of the name “Yolk’s” the first thing that comes to mind is egg-goodness. I discovered Yolk’s from Diana’s (@Foodology) instagram post. And I just couldn’t wait to try it out. We arrived on a sunny Sunday afternoon. They were actually about to closed, so not a lot of food left. At least not from their daily menu. So I opted something original.

Poached Free-Range Eggs Sandwich – $6.95

I had one of their breakfast sandwiches. This is the double smoked bacon with fresh arugula, hollandaise, one egg on an English muffin. I liked how the English muffin was toasted. Everything made it seemed like it was just an original breakfast muffin. But just wait…

I was told that be careful of the runny yolk because it’s really YOLKY!

Poached Free-range egg sandwich

And was she ever right, I had let my girlfriend take the first bite. And the result was  yolk all over my pants and at least half of the yolk gone! I’ll have to come back to get the full experience again. As you can see, the yolk is very yellow-orange coloured. Other than the egg, the bacon was good, not too crispy but just crunchy. I would say it’s a pretty expensive for breakfast, but I guess once in awhile you can pamper yourself. Especially with a food cart like this, all they sell is breakfast food!

 

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