The sun is out in Vancouver again! To celebrate of course we must eat. That or we were just hungry for lunch. Today we went to Charcoal Sushi and Grill and had to park on level 6 because the spots were all full during lunch hours. Almost all the tables were full on this weekday lunch hour.

We ordered three of the lunch combos which allows you to choose one main and one side.

Sides

Salmon maki

 Although the piece was kind of small, I enjoyed the deep fried aji because it was splendidly crunchy! It was fried with the same coating as katsu. There were no bones and fish filet only.

Deep fried aji

Beef teriyaki roll

Mains

The beef udon didn't taste particularly special but I did like how smooth the udon was.

Beef Udon

 The beef tongue curry don sounded interesting but I didn't know if it would be good. The tongue was cooked until tender and tasted like normal sliced beef. I like Japanese curry a lot because it is semi-sweet and so flavourful.

Beef tongue curry don

I looked most forward to the Canadian Roll because I had seen photos on other blog posts. It had a yam tempura, cream cheese, and slices of avocado on top. The entire roll was quite heavy with all the carby goodness of yam and cream cheese but it was good! Plus the rice was still slightly warm.

The Canadian Roll

 Here's a closer up photo of the pretty colours. Although it's just a name, I wonder why they thought orange and green represented Canada. There's no red at all.

Sesame Beef Rice Bowl

I found a photo of food from earlier in 2013 that I didn't blog about! This was eaten on the trip to Edmonton and was the only Asian meal I had for a week. 

This place, Banzai Japanese Restaurant, was just across the street from the hotel I was at. Honestly, I didn't expect much from it but it really wasn't bad. Sesame Beef Rice Bowl: the rice was hearty and covered with a generous amount of marinated beef. The sesame taste wasn't strong despite the name but I prefer it that way.

There's a little station on the side to grab utensils and refill water yourselves.

Sometimes I like to search up menus online before heading to a restaurant. Found out that Original Joe's has an active social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram (use the hashtag #ojsmenu) 

I had a grilled chicken burger with potato and quinoa salad. Getting to choose two sides with my burger is great compared to other restaurants where you can only choose one or none. Some more sauce on the burger would make it juicier.

The best thing about this OJ location is probably its view. On a nice day the second floor view out the window shows off Vancouver's beauty. If only cables weren't in the way.

Instagram: VivienAvenue

Overall, it's a good place to dine with a big group.

Milestones Crossroads is conveniently located diagonally from the Broadway Skytrain Station so even though it was raining, I didn't have to worry about forgetting my umbrella.

The menu doesn't have that much variety and friends who ordered entrées said the food was all right. I really liked the two appetizers I tried though.

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip: spinach dip, artichoke hearts, cheese, sour cream, salsa, tortilla chips. There were actually a lot of chips all dusted with a coat of salt and nicely striped to pick up the spinach dip. The salsa smelled fragrant to me, almost like a floral scent.

Hot Spinach & Artichoke Dip

Calamari Steak Strips: thick sliced calamari steak, spicy andouille sausage tomato ragu, preserved lemon aioli. These were some of the best calamaris I've had recently (even compared to Greek restaurants). Probably because it was calamari steak, each piece was juicy and not dry at all. 

Calamari Steak Strips

Shang Noodle is in a convenient and inconvenient location. Convenient for pedestrians because it is next to the Brighouse Skytrain station and diagonal from Richmond Centre. Inconvenient for drivers because there are few parking spots and you must register your license plate inside the restaurant to avoid getting towed.

Maybe it was that particular time of day (late afternoon) but all the tables around us had babies in baby carriages!

I ordered a ramen meal and upgraded the complimentary drink to a blueberry Calpis. Honestly, did not really like the taste of this drink because it was overly sweet and tasted more like synthetic grape.

Beef tendon and brisket ramen: It tasted pretty good since the beef was marinated in spice. The ratio of brisket to tendon was probably 10 to 1 meaning that there was only one piece of tendon in my bowl! More tendon would be nice.

This fried cutlet pork chop was pretty delicious with its crunchy shell and tender meat. No need to wait in line at Aberdeen's Saboten for good pork chop!

Overall, I will be visiting again for the inexpensive bubble tea and to try the different snacks!

Neptune Seafood has been around for awhile and I remember coming here often when I was younger. A few years back they closed for renovation and since then the food quality has dropped. I'm guessing that the main chef left when they were closed?

Anywho, I had a very mediocre dim sum experience here and there's not much to describe so this will be mostly a photo post.

Pork Congee

BBQ Pork Bun (sweet)

Green Bean Pudding

Steamed Vegetarian Dumpling

Fish Rice Flour Roll

Chicken Herbal Soup

On a Sunday morning, the dim sum restaurant we wanted to go to on Alexandra Road had a 30 minute wait so we went half a street down to Jade Seafood Restaurant. Restaurant hopping is definitely easy in Richmond. Unlike the other restaurant, Jade was only half filled when we sat down.

 I suppose the number of customers that morning was indicative of the popularity of Jade. I don't suppose that it is true but I heard that the reason for the lack of customers at Jade is because of a ghost. Apparently, someone related to the restaurant died and has since been haunting the place. Not sure where that story came from but I don't hear about ghost stories in other Chinese restaurants.

Chicken Ginger Bun

Steamed Chicken Wrap

Vegetable Shrimp Dumpling

Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll

Portuguese Egg Tarts are supposed to have a sweeter top than normal egg tarts after it has  been baked so that the top is burnt with brown spots. The tarts here were not like Portuguese egg tarts despite naming itself the same.

Portuguese Egg Tart

Chipotle is located in a clear spot in downtown Vancouver near the big Chapters store and just a few minutes walk from the Skytrain station. There was a short line since it was dinner time.

I got the Steak Rice Bowl which was topped with salsa, lettuce, corn, cheese and a very generous amount of sour cream. It came to be $10 with tax just for the rice with no add ons to make it a meal. Can't wait for dining out tax to return to 7% starting tomorrow!

Overall it tasted good but not rave worthy.