The Noodle Box - Kitsilano

My friend and I visited The Noodle Box located on 4th Avenue in Kitsilano. The Noodle Box serves fusion Asian dishes, mainly noodles. I went to the place on a Saturday morning, when it was fairly empty.

Here is the shot of their menu. Besides noodles, they also serve several different curry dishes and rice dishes.

Both of us ordered noodles, and we were told to let them know how spicy we wanted our noodles to be.

They have a "guide to spiciness" on the back of their menu. Since this was a fusion noodle shop, I didn't think Medium would be too spicy. Afterall, in the description, it says "Closer to a "western" hot." Although it's debatable what a "western" hot would be, being an Asian, I mindlessly assumed that that would translate as "moderately spicy" for me, and as I will mention later on, I was wrong! Notice they have "Suicide Hot?" I kind of want to try it! But just one spoonful.


Noodle Box Chili Plum

Within a few minutes (very quick!), our food was ready. My friend ordered the Noodle Box Chili Plum with chicken (medium spiciness as well), which came to be $10.75 including tax. A little expensive for a bowl of noodles, don't you think? At least the vegetables included in the bowl tasted very very fresh, and the chicken was good as well. My friend found the sauce to be quite spicy, but because of the amount of vegetables and sweetness of the sauce, he still found the dish to be manageable.


Black Bean and Garlic

 I ordered the Black Bean and Garlic with prawns which was $11.75 including tax. The sauce was spicy. I always thought I was pretty good with handling spicy food, but this time, it was a little difficult, especially because the sauce was salty as well. Usually, if it's just spicy, it's more manageable, but when it's salty and spicy at the same time, the flavour can become intense. And it was not just salty, but very salty. I did like the prawns and the vegetables though, as they were very juicy and fresh. As for the noodles, I didn't really like the Hokkein noodles, as they weren't as firm and chewy as I would've liked them to be. However, that may just be the way Hokkein noodles are supposed to be prepared as.

Overall, I didn't like the Black Bean and Garlic noodle. I think it's just not the right dish for me. When I tried some of my friend's Noodle Box Chili Plum, I really liked it, so I think I just happened to choose something that I don't like when there are other options I would've liked a lot more.

My friend, who recommended this restaurant, told me that this is a popular noodle shop, known for its use of fresh ingredients and effort to create nutritional dishes. For someone who eats out often like me, it's good to know of restaurants like this one that serve healthy and fresh food quickly. I think the restaurant will be great for people who are looking to pick up lunch or dinner quickly without having to resort to typical fast food restaurants.

I would visit The Noodle Box again if I am in the area, to try maybe their curry dishes or their satay lunch box, which I eyed before ordering the Black Bean and Garlic. I just need to keep in mind to order in Mild-Medium or even Mild + spiciness (1 and 2 levels less spicier than Medium, which I ordered this time)!

1867 W 4th Avenue
Vancouver BC

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Motomachi Shokudo

Motomachi Shokudo is a Japanese-owned ramen restaurant located on Denman Street.

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They have a very descriptive menus, which are placed in front of each seating area. The menu mentions that all of Motomachi's food are MSG-free, which is always good to know. This made me wonder if other ramen restaurants in the neighborhood use MSG. I have never gotten extremely thirsty after having ramen in Vancouver, so I don't think many of the ramen restaurants I've been to use a lot of MSG.



The menu has a good shot of the restaurant's interior. I do think the place looks more spaceous in the photo than it actually is. Maybe it was because the restaurant was packed with people when I was there.


Nama Shoyu Ramen

My friend ordered the Nama Shoyu Ramen. I liked the way they presented the ramen. The flower on the side was pleasant to have. Look at how the bowl is loaded with veggies! My friend really liked the broth, and the meat (pork) inside was very tender and flavourful. 



Spicy Miso Ramen

I always like to have my ramen a little spicy, so I ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen with organic chicken. When I ordered, the waitress told me that my ramen does not come with any eggs, so I ordered one on the side. I guess a lot of people had gotten disappointed when their ramen came out with no eggs! I would've been disappointed too.

Although it's not very visible in the photo, mine came with a flower as well! The egg came as well, and the egg was very delicious. The middle of the yolk was gooey and not fully cooked, which I liked. As with the Shoyu Ramen, my ramen was loaded with veggies. I really like that. You don't find this much vegetables in most bowls of ramen served in Vancouver! I love lotus roots, and was happy find some in my bowl. The organic chicken was okay. It was tender, but I personally liked the pork, which had more flavour, in the Shoyu Ramen more.

One thing I noticed was how oily the broth was. Both my friend and I could taste sesame oil, and a lot of it in our bowls. Although it adds to the flavour of the broth, there was too much of it in it for my liking. 

Overall, I liked Motomachi Shokudo. Although the broth was a oily, I liked the deep flavour of the broth, and the chewiness of the ramen. I liked how the broth wasn't too fatty. As I have mentioned above, the ramen bowls have a lot of veggies as well. I could tell that the restaurant makes effort to be health conscious (for example, the amount of vegetables, no use of MSG, and organic ingredients), which I appreciate. I wouldn't mind visiting again!

Lonsdale Quay Market

I've heard lots of things about Lonsdale Quay Market, and I was very excited to visit the place! The market is located in North Vancouver, and houses more than 80 shops and services.


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Beaver Tails

 

The place had a selection of different beaver tails people can choose from. However, because this was brunch for me, I chose the classic beaver tail, which is basically just fried dough with sugar sprinkled on it. The other choices were chocolate, M&M's, or caramel on top of the classic fried dough with sugar, which was a little too much for the morning. 

After waiting a couple of minutes, this is what I got!

I know it looks very simple, but it tastes so good! It's sweet and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. Because it's made freshly, the smell is great too, and it melts in your mouth! There are tables and chairs near by with windows facing the water, so you can have your food while enjoying the great view as well.

Honestly, if there were chocolate or caramel added to what I have here, I think it might have been a bit too sweet for me. For someone who doesn't like overly sweet treats like me, the classic version would be perfect. Also, it's obviously not a healthy food choice (it's deep fried and loaded with sugar!), so although it is very delicious, I don't think it'll be a good idea to have this too often. 

Screaming Mimi's

I love seafood, so I was looking forward to my visit to Screaming Mimi's, which serves seafood, mainly oysters. 

 

 They also had interesting illustrations of different kinds of seafood on the wall, including a crab that looked too happy about getting cooked alive.

 This is a shot of their menu.

 

Some live crabs...

 

 They also display their fresh oysters like so. When you order your oysters, they shuck it before your eyes.

They also have a variety of different kinds of cooked oysters. As you can see, they have many choices, so it was difficult for me to decide what to eat! 

 

The oysters were great! They were very fresh. We ordered two, but they gave us one more,because as you can see, the second oyster they gave us was very small.

 We also had some creamy oysters, which were oysters cooked with cream and butter. This was both my and my friend's favourite! The creaminess matched well with the oyster's flavour, and I felt that the slight fishy taste that the oyster had was taken down a notch by the cream and butter. Overall, it was very delicious, and I found myself scraping the shell to make sure I get everything.

 Next, we had fried oysters. These were good as well, but the taste did not stand out compared to the other dishes we had. It was a little greasy, which I didn't really like.

The seafood bun (next to the fried oysters) was very delicious! There was shrimp, cucumber, and other vegetables that were all mixed in mayonnaise on top of the bun.The mixture on top was fresh and delicious, but what really made it great was the bun. We could tell that the bun was very fresh, and it was spread with butter inside. The bun and the seafood mixture tasted very good together, and I will surely order this again the next time I'm here.

Overall, I really enjoyed the food at Screaming Mimi's. I will surely return the next time I'm in the area for more - especially the creamy oysters. 

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

My friend and I were craving ramen that day, and since it was hard to find ramen places in Coquitlam, we ventured out to Burnaby.
I've noticed Kenzo Japanese Noodle House a few times while passing by, and the place has always been on my mind. I mentioned Kenzo, and my friend was willing to try the Korean-owned ramen restaurant, so that's how we ended up at Kenzo.

Both of us have frequently visited Japanese-owned Ramen shops on Robson Street such as Santouka and Benkei, and so we were subconsciously expectnig our orders to taste as good as those offered in Downtown. As you may expect, we were quite disappointed!

I ordered Tonkotsu Ramen and my friend ordered Shio Ramen. We shared kyoza as well.

Kyoza

There was nothing really special about the Kyoza. Both of us didn't really like it especially because their kyozas were way too oily. The kyozas were literally dripping with oil, and there was oil oozing out from the kyozas everytime I took a bite! Not a very pleasant experience...








Tonkotsu ramen

I kind of liked their Tonkotsu ramen. The broth was alright, but lacked the deep flavour ramens from other ramen shops such as Santouka and Benkei usually have. Then again, I guess it's not really fair to compare the place with Japanese-owned places. Anyway, I liked how it was creamy, and looking at my friend's Shio Ramen (which did not have any flavour at all!), I was glad I ordered this one!  I liked the noodles, as they were chewy. Overall, it was not great, but not bad.


Shio ramen

The first thing we noticed when it arrived was how clear the broth was. As for the taste, it was very bland and watery... and just slightly salty. As with Tonkotsu ramen, I liked the noodle in Shio ramen as well. But overall, this was pretty disappointing. Maybe it was a bad day for the restaurant, because I have seen several reviews that liked Kenzo's Shio ramen.