Zog’s Dogs – Whistler, BC

For sure had to try poutine while I was in Canada and Zog’s was the place to go! Very short post today lol.

Zog’s Classic Poutine

Yeah, I wasn’t impressed. I don’t know if it was just this place that made it junk or maybe I’m just not into fries slathered in gravy and cheese curds. Not a fan.

Jalapeno + Cheese Smokie
beef and pork stuffed with cheese and jalapeno

Saving grace of the meal. I love myself a good hot dog. This hit the spot. Love the spice and cheese, and the char from being grilled. Yum!

Araxi Restaurant – Whistler, BC

One of our top meals of the trip was from Araxi Restaurant. What a wonderful restaurant, and yes, senior citizen dining time so we had the restaurant almost to ourselves. No worries, it filled up quick!

Complimentary Bread and Butter

Okay that butter ball in the olive oil was just to be fancy. It wasn’t good because it’s literally butter sitting in olive oil. I would have been fine with just butter.

Carnival (drink on the left) | $10.00 (CAD)
muddled cranberries, lime, mint, maple syrup, ginger beer

The drink on the right is beer, lol. Carnival was my drink. It was good! I ordered two that night!

Toro Sashimi | $26.50 (CAD)

I think this was toro wild albacore tuna – not sure I’ve had this before and the sight of the white fish kind of startled me. No worries, it was good!

This restaurant also had a prix fix menu – it was $55.00 (CAD) for three courses. I think it was well worth it!

Fresh BC Oysters
chef’s selection of four fresh shucked oysters, chow chow sauce (wat), mandarin oil

We both love oysters so we both got this as our first course. Delicious! The chow chow sauce is apparently the pickled veggies on top? What? Anyway, was a good dish.

Elderflower Glazed Duck Breast
rootdown farm carrots and turnips, carrot ketchup, crispy rice cake, farmer jesse’s mustard greens, black garlic duck emulsion

My main entree! Can’t go with duck and this one was so good. Nice and crisp crust and perfectly rare inside. A slight taste of game but nothing overpowering. The look of the veggies (not peeled and kind of brown) would usually deter me but I know this was a swanky place so I ate it and was fine (lol)!

Peppercorn Crusted Venison
paddy’s wild fennel, truffled mushroom puree, endive leaves, pickled mountain huckleberry game jus

My BF’s dish, venison! I think this might have been my first time trying it and well, it tastes like meat. I don’t know what people expect haha. You know what was SO good? That truffled mushroom puree. You can’t really see it but it was like a dark grey puree that might deter others, but it was SO SO GOOD.

Dark Chocolate ‘Snickers’ Bar
milk chocolate mousse, candied peanuts, caramel popcorn, peanut ganache

Not my dessert but it was enjoyed!

Black Forest Gateau
dark and white chocolate mousse with flourless chocolate cake, brandied cherries and chantilly cream

Man, when we have all these three course meals – I am so full by the time dessert comes. I would rather have like fresh fruit or something but the always seem to have heavy desserts. This was mine, couldn’t finish it but it was good. Here’s a blurry picture (sorry) of the inside!

Wasuta Pasta – Richmond, BC

Another restaurant I had my eye on in Richmond! Wasuta Pasta – I love when Japanese and Italian cuisines fuse together! We also liked having fun trying to make the name rhyme, try saying it outloud! Well this restaurant didn’t disappoint, we made it there basically at last call for lunch so we had the restaurant to ourselves. Service was still good and the food was *chef’s kiss*!

Complimentary Side Salad

Crab Cream Croquette | $15.00 (CAD)

Yum! This was our appetizer and it was delicious! Nice plump chunks of crab. Love the crunchy breading outside with the creamy inside! And the cream tomato sauce on top added a nice acidic hit.

Prawn Arrabbiata (Special) | $30.00 (CAD)

This was a daily special so it might not be on the menu if you go. Super good! Nice and spicy with a great portion of prawns! Super good.

Mentaiko Carbonara | $21.00 (CAD)

Always love mentaiko with pasta. Another great dish, I liked the prawn pasta dish more but it was great to have both to have the best of both worlds you know? So good! Can’t wait to return here to try more dishes one day!

Cha Kee – Richmond, BC

One of the places I wanted to try the most was Cha Kee in Richmond. They actually opened not too long ago and the social media videos just made them look so scrumptious…and the price point? On point! Super good deal for the breakfast set. We came right before they opened at 9AM and get one line already but I was like 2nd in line (score!). The line grew and grew after that, all Chinese people so I was in the right place lol.

Iced Lemon Tea | $4.00 (CAD)

Hong Kong style iced tea, plenty lemon slices! Nice and sweet and refreshing, yum!

Pineapple Bun with a Slice of Butter | $4.00 (CAD)

They are not playing around with butter. Do you see how “tick” this slice of butter is? It was crazy. Too bad I was full from breakfast because this bun was so nice and warm and toasty against the creamy butter.

Hong Kong Style Satay Beef with Instant Noodle | $11.50 + $1.00 (for the instant noodle) (CAD)
comes with Fried egg and toast

This is the deal I am talking about. Look at how much food you get! It was great!! Delicious. You can get it with macaroni or rice noodle too but I paid the $1 extra for the instant noodles. Oh yum. And they had the szechuan pickles on the side you could add to your soup. The couple before me ordered takeout and their food seemed to take a while, my food came out quick! But gotta show up early! I would definitely return!

21 Steps Kitchen + Bar – Whistler, BC

21 Steps Kitchen + Bar was one of the restaurants we went to for dinner in Whistler. It’s a cute little place and yes, there are 21 steps to get up to the restaurant! Not the stairs pictured here but inside the place, I counted on the way up. 🙂

It’s a cute eatery and as you can see we were one of the first diners there. No worries, the place filled up real quick after we started dining. I’m a senior citizen diner as you know. During the off season (which is when we were there), they offer a prix fixe menu. That’s what we went with! $44 for the 3 course meal, with upcharges if you decided to go a little fancier. 🙂

Sangria

Sangria is one of the few drinks I can drink. And it was delish! Did I have two drinks this night? One of the nights I did…lol

Basket of Warm French Bread | $6.00 (CAD)
with housemade garlic butter

Yup, you gotta pay for bread but hey, they give you a lot! We had so much food, probably didn’t need this bread. But it was good bread and who can resist garlic butter?

Garlic Chili Prawns | $21.00 (CAD)
scallions, peanuts and crispy wontons

I’m giving you folks the ala carte prices but these dishes were all included in the $44 three course meal. Can hardly tell where the prawns are yeah? They’re GREEN. The dish was good! I liked that they had asian dishes on the menu!

Tiny Bacon Wrapped Beef Filets | $21.00 (CAD)
horseradish aioli

Not my dish but it was enjoyed. Can you go wrong with meat wrapped with bacon? I’m not a bacon fan so I didn’t partake.

Braised Boneless Beef Short Rib | $35.00 (CAD)
leek, shallot and red wine demi sauce with crispy onions

My entree! Yum! Delish. And it came with rice, I think it was brown rice. Not at all sticking to each other, I have a not so nice phrase for this kine rice but I won’t share it here. The dish was super good! I really enjoyed it.

12oz. Ribeye Steak | $50.00 (CAD) – $13.00 (CAD) upcharge for prix fixe menu
chipotle garlic butter and crispy onions

Oh yum. Another winner dish. I was too full to try it that night but when we heated up the leftovers the next day to eat, I thought it was great! And even reheated tasted great.

Creme Brulee | $13.00 (CAD)

Not my dish but it was enjoyed! Think it would have been nice to included some berries on top.

Raspberry Sorbet

I was too stuffed so I wanted a dessert that was somewhat light. This was nice! I think the usual menu comes with the sorbet and chocolate mousse, I wouldn’t be able to do that with our meal this night! The meal was lovely! I would definitely return in the future!

Daan Korean Cuisine – Richmond, BC

I am always down for Korean food and I knew I had to get my fill of Asian food before heading up to Whistler. Well, Daan Korean Cuisine was close by and had bossam so duh, we had to go! It was pretty busy for a weeknight, we had to add our name to a waitlist but we got called in quick! It’s nice that they call you on your phone when the table is ready. Dining audience was a mix of Korean and other ethnicities! A big variety. I was actually surprised to be seated next to a Chinese family. I guess when I go Korean restaurant, I don’t usually see Chinese families? Do you folks? Anyway, let’s get to the food!

Beef Short Rib Stew | $19.99 (CAD)

Would I call this a stew? Emmm no. It’s very soupy as you can see. A nice little kick of spice and they were pretty generous with the rib meat. Had a small amount of the glass noodles but they were all the way at the bottom of the bowl! I was feeling like something brothy, hit the spot!

Seafood Tofu Soup | $15.99 (CAD)

Not my dish, but it was enjoyed (by a Korean no less!). Looks nice a flavorful. I had a sip of the soup, was nice!

Complimentary Banchan

Always gotta show you folks the banchan. Didn’t love the kimchee but it was alright. The bean sprouts and potatoes were okay too. Nothing to write home about (even though I’m writing about it on a blog).

Small Seafood Pancake | $19.99 (CAD)

Okay. If you like super crispy pancake, this is the place to go. It was super crispy. What threw me off? The use of imitation crab. Nothing against imitation crab but I’m just not used to it being used in this dish. Was good though! I was stuffed so was hard to get all this food in…

Small Bossam | $23.99 (CAD)

The highly anticipated dish of the night! How was it? Good! Very strong doenjang (Korean soybean paste) taste on the pork. What did I miss? The raw oysters in the kimchee veggies but maybe better for my tummy that I don’t eat that. Would I order this again? Yes!

Funny story about this restaurant too. The two servers were a young girl and young man, both looked like they could be Kpop trainees. I’m used to being served by older Korean ladies so it was an amusing turn, and both of them were very nice (also not used to that lol).

Recipe: Mixed Eggplant Bucatini

A trip to the mainland means a trip to Trader Joes. Especially if you’re from Hawaii! Another TikTok recipe, I saved this and decided to give it a try! Easy easy recipe. 4 ingredients!

That’s basically it! Cook up your pasta according to your preference (doesn’t have to be bucatini, choose what you like!) – save the pasta water. Heat up the eggplant with tomatoes and onions and jar of eggplace garlic spread with sweet red peppers on the stove top. Add maybe 1/2 C of your hot pasta water to make the mixture more “saucy” – do it to your liking. Throw in the cooked pasta and mix it up! Top with shredded parmesan cheese (whatever cheese you like).

Looks good ah? My own notes, not enough salt. It’s a bit sweet for my taste. Perhaps you can salt your pasta water (I didn’t) or add salt when you’re making it to your taste. I ate it with hot chili oil so it tasted great for me. I’m glad I bought two servings worth, I can still make another batch!

Spot Prawn Festival – Vancouver, BC

My coworker follows a lot of travel feeds and told us about a Spot Prawn Festival and we signed up right away! I don’t usually go to these big food events but I couldn’t resist prawns! I was very happy we signed up, the food was great! Where else can you get a tasting from the best chefs? This was also where I got my sunburn on my left shoulder. It’s really odd, only my left shoulder. Anyway, on to the food!

Spot Prawn Spring Roll / Daikon Salad / XO Vinaigrette
Steve Rutherford

Starting dish! Long line since it was the first tent up after you enter. It was yummy! Perfect first dish to have.

Vietnamese Hot & Sour Spot Prawn Broth / Rice Noodles / Pineapple / Tamarind
Phyllis Tanga & Ben Kiely

I though this was good! Not usually a huge fan or sour soup but this one tasted great!

BC Spot Prawn “Thermidor” / Gruyere Gougere, Spring Onion
Bobby Milheron

Probably my least favorite dish of the festival. Unfortunately the potato cake was cold, I bet if it was still warm and crispy, this dish would have been good!

Spot Prawn with Laci-fermented Tomato Water / Heirloom Tomato Jam / Chive Blossoms
John Lance

This dish was impressive. The elements the chef and his team put into each cup. Fancy elements all in this cup and all delicious. I loved it!

Spot Prawn Ceviche / Prawn Aioli / Wonton Crisp / Seaweed
Tommy Shorthouse

This was good, nothing special. It’s hard to compare a chip and dip dish with all those other elevated dishes. I enjoyed it and was glad I got to it before they were out!

Grilled Spot Prawn / Papaya Salad / Prawn Cracker
Steve Kuan

We saved this dish for last. They were grilling the prawns in the tent for this dish, yum! Not my favorite dish of the festival but still very good!

Rain or Shine Malted Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
Homemade honeycomb (free of corn syrup) is coated In 70% dark chocolate and mixed into a Belgian milk chocolate base. Malted Barley is also added to enhance the richness of this ice cream.

Surprise treat to end the festival! I enjoyed it! A bit rich, I would have liked a light fruity sorbet to end the festival but enjoyed it anyhow.

Kamonegi – Seattle, WA

Sorry for the sudden break in blogging! I finally got to go on a trip and headed up to Seattle and then we drove up to Richmond, BC and then Whistler, BC. It was such a wonderful trip, I had a great time! I would say that Whistler was probably my favorite part of the trip, really enjoyed the small village feel, cold weather and of course my time with my travel companion.

Kamonegi is a restaurant I’ve wanted to try for years and years and years. I think when they first opened, there was an interview with the owner who talked about making their own soba that intrigued me. So anyway, I followed them on Facebook since way back when and when I finally got a chance to return to Seattle…I made the reservation! You have to pay $50 to hold the reservation but they refund the $50 back when you dine in.

They have NO parking but my bf was able to secure parking at a close by motel (lol) so we still had to walk but hey, we got parking right? Well even though the weather is cool, walking in the sun is still hot. My biggest disappointment was that this restaurant had no AC and I don’t think the fans were on. In other words, it was HAWT.

The restaurant is pretty small, we had a tiny two-top for ourselves. Here you see their little soba bar where you get to watch the kitchen at work!

Complimentary Radish Appetizer – yum!

Housemade Soda

Gosh, I should have saved their menu. They change it monthly and apparently the drinks get changed too. Bummer! Well I didn’t like it too much so we’re good. You know what I did like?? This jalapeno umeshu shot they were serving! Oh my, I don’t usually drink but I really liked it when I tried it. The spiciness and vinegary taste of the jalapeno was so good. Where can I find a drink like that here in Hawaii?

Uni Shiso Bomb | $18 for 2pc
fresh uni* from Santa Barbara, served on shiso leaf tempura with uni salt, ikura, wasabi

Pricey but good. Delicious. Would get again! Nice, light and crisp!

Shrimp Tempura | $11 for 2pc
shrimp tempura, daikon oroshi, tempura sauce

Good. Nothing special, would probably skip next time to try another dish.

Broccolini Tempura | $14.00
tempura fried broccolini, spicy cod roe aioli

Probably my favorite dish of the night. I don’t know what to tell you, I love me a good broccolini. And the spicy cod roe aioli? That just made it even better. I would definitely order this again!

Lamb Tartare | $18.00
lamb strip loin from new zealand, iburigakko, caper, chive mayo, nori chips

Oh man, this dish came out so late that it kind of was just not enjoyed as much you know? I had to remind them that we didn’t receive it yet. The lamb tartare itself was just okay, you can’t taste that it’s lamb (no gamey taste) but also I felt like the capers and pickled aspect of the dish was overpowering everything. And nori chips? No. It’s just cut up nori, nori chips are battered and deep fried no? I wouldn’t get this again.

Kamonegi Seiro | $24.00
duck breast, duck tsukune meatball, leek, yuzu zest

I wanted to try one of their signature dishes. Okay, I should have gone for a bukkake dish since it was hot in the restaurant but the bukkake dishes don’t come with duck! Disappointing. How was the duck? Ehh…well since it’s either ground into a meatball or a super thin slice – it’s not like you can tell it’s duck. The dish was okay but not great.

All in all, I am glad I tried the restaurant! Would I return? Not sure yet, maybe. I wouldn’t mind trying the other soba dishes!

ICHIRAN – Harujuku, Japan

I am not a big fan of crowds. But here I was in Harajuku. Why? Well, firstly because of Ikea. And also some other stores I had to go to buy omiyage. Ended the trip with my every Japan trip visit to Ichiran. I know it’s a bit touristy to go and the whole cubicle to yourself dining concept was a bit faddish. To me, it’s just a nice bowl of ramen you can eat quickly and go. You can also purchase a pack to take home, way cheaper than the one in Don Quijote.

Ordering Machine

No worries, there’s always a line and they hand you a foreigner friendly menu to review before you get to the machine. Makes for an easy ordering process. Then you continue to line up to get seated. You can ask to be seated near your companion, just let them know.

Me in my cubicle waiting for my ramen with my lonely egg. Each cubicle has its own water station with cups on top.

While you are waiting for your seat after ordering, you can further specify how salty you want it, how you want the noodles cooked, spice level, etc. Yes, it’s an English form!

My toppings! Yum!