Fancy Rolls at Blowfish on Bay

It's been at least a couple years since I've been to Blowfish - King and Bathurst was just a little far for us to stop by ad hoc...but we were happy to find a new location on Bay and decided to check it out.  I initially thought that Blowfish had simply moved - seemed odd to give up the great King/Bathurst building, but a quick look at the website today confirmed Bay is indeed just a second location.  Congrats to Blowfish on the expansion then!

Similar to the King/Bathurst location, Blowfish on Bay is very modern and chic.  We were seated by the giant window facing Bay, which was almost a little odd as it felt soo close to the sidewalk.  We browsed through the menu of assorted sushi/sashimi, cold and hot plates and various rolls.  If you have not been to Blowfish before then you need to know that the ebi shooter (giant hand roll served in a shooter glass) is FAMOUS - giant tiger prawn with mango, avocado, tobiko and a whole lot more all wrapped in a unique soy paper.  My first visit to Blowfish years ago was a stop at the bar just to have a drink and an ebi shooter.  The ebi shooter did not disappoint and was as tasty as I remembered.  It was so good we ended up ordering a 2nd, but also tried the Bob shooter, a slight variation with tempura tiger prawn instead and wrapped with sesame soy paper.  The "original" ebi shooter is still best, but I liked the sesame soy paper better.


Other rolls that tempted us were the golden king crab roll, which was tasty but the pine nuts sounded better in concept than in taste - overwhelmed the crab a bit, the truffle albacore tuna roll, which was our favourite although very little truffle oil taste, and finally the spicy tuna roll with rock shrimp, which was the Blowfish variation of typical ebi mayo.  Rolls are definitely the highlight at Blowfish, some unique combination of ingredients and flavours.  We also had the wagyu beef carpaccio, which was drowning a bit in ponzu sauce (a little less would have been better for the very thin beef) and the miso marinated lamb chops, and lobster and shrimp dumplings (kind of like expensive har gow for dim sum fans out there).  All the food was ok, but I'd stick with the rolls, which I think Blowfish does best.

Blowfish is a chic and sophisticated place to have Japanese fare, even if you're not interested in a full meal (it is a bit of a splurge), it's worth a stop by for some tasty saketinis and of course, an ebi shooter.

Blowfish Restaurant
Bay & Adelaide
416-860-0606
www.blowfishrestaurant.com (reservations available on OpenTable)       

VANCOUVER: Mouthwatering Fresh Sushi at Ajisai

Priority for every visit to Vancouver is to eat as much sushi/sashimi as possible...but having not lived in the city since 2004, I feel like I'm no longer "in-the-know" on the best places to indulge. There's always the famous Tojo but one of the main reasons Vancouver is one of my fave places to eat is because you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for great fish. An old favourite in Vancouver is Ajisai Sushi Bar in Kerrisdale, so we decided to stop in for lunch last Saturday, a timely visit to the area for a sunny walk during Kerrisdale Days. Arriving just before 11:30, we were fortunate to arrive before most of the crowds and chose to sit at the sushi bar. We always love sitting at the bar, it allows us to to be close to the food action and see everything going on. There is mostly just raw food at Ajisai, with some selected cooked/grilled items but largely, the menu is raw and made quickly by the 3 chefs standing behind the sushi bar. It was amazing just to watch them make and serve beautiful assorted sushi plates, colourful chirashi special, create unique rolls, and even torch pressed salmon sushi. Sitting at the bar was definitely part of the great experience, it was fast and impressive! Watching them reminded me of the article I read in David Chang's Lucky Peach about Japanese chefs, how they pride themselves on doing one thing well and refining their expertise and skill over time instead of branching out to new forms or cuisines.

Our taste buds were treated to the following at Ajisai:

miso soup: you may wonder why waste precious stomach space with "ordinary" miso soup, but this was served with large chucks of fresh tofu!

special assorted sashimi: this included tuna, salmon, amaebi (sweet shrimp), scallop, octopus and others. Every bite was satisfying...this was finally the fresh fish we desired!

hokkigai (surf shell clam) and sea kelp salad, marinated in miso, a crunchy, light appetizer dish.

Ajisai special roll: this was truly a GIANT roll, and was amazing. The fresh crab meat alone is worth ordering and definitely the highlight and best part!

half orders of wild sockeye salmon sashimi (really, there is no other!) and toro sashimi (falling apart like it should be and simply heavenly!).

special unagi roll: although we were mostly full from our

initial order, we asked the chef if there was anything he recommended (I'm sure he could see us salivating over every creation coming over the bar). Truthfully, I don't remember anything he said but we thought if he can recommend it, we'll eat it! What we received was a delicious and healthy tasting roll made with unagi, asparagus, chopped scallop and avocado topped with wasabi tobiko. Although the many flavours masked the unique tobiko, I tasted it on its own and it had a nice tempered spike to it. No regrets on this roll!

There's no doubt why Ajisai has continued to be one of the most popular and favoured sushi spots in Vancouver. We'l be sure to stop in again next time we're in town...but willing to take any and all other recommendations! We can never have enough sushi on the West coast :)

Ajisai Sushi Bar

2081 West 42 Ave.

604-266-1428

VEGAS: Glorious Food in Sin City!

Vegas is one of my favourite places to eat in the world. You wouldn't expect a strip in the middle of the desert to have great seafood and Japanese food for example, but you can really find anything GREAT in Vegas. Here are some of the favourites and new places we visited for my friend's bachelorette...it's really not a complete trip without great food, right??

Bouchon: This Thomas Keller bistro only offers brunch on Sunday, so we just had to make a stop. My last visit was nothing short of amazing, including indulgence in chicken & waffles...how can you go wrong?The unfortunate part of a good and popular restaurant is that there was a long wait. We managed to find 5 seats at the bar eventually....but the challenge of eating at the bar is also that the bar tender kind of has another job to do too! It was also too bad they ran out of the special, which sounded just delicious: lobster and mushroom benedict! I decided on the corned beef hash, as I recalled Merrill's was so tasty the last time we were there. Lis ordered a pastry basket, which turned out to be quite large! But have no fear, we packed it up for a late night/morning snack in the room :) The food was good as expected with BIG portions but our experience tempered by the long wait both for a table and food - I don't recommend Bouchon brunch if you come hungry! However, I do appreciate the attention to customer service, with the bartender treating us to a champagne cocktail to make it up. Yum!

Shibuya: I LOVE Shibuya...no one ever goes to Vegas without my insistance they must try this restaurant at the MGM. Sometimes I worry I've hyped it too much and will leave people disappointed; but so far so good! Shibuya is best enjoyed family style, so we just plowed through the list and ordered a number of cold, raw, hot and tasty tapa dishes. I can never resist the rich-but-so-delicious lobster and scallop in uni butter or the king crab miso soup, but we also had kanpachi sashimi with truffle oil and yellowtail with yuzu - both fresh as can be! For warm dishes, we had soft shell crab tempura with lemon shichimi butter sauce, black cod and kurobuta pork crisp (I ordered because I didn't know what it was) which was actually quite delicious - braised pulled pork rolls with seared tofu on top. We also wanted a bit of starch so we shared 2 bowls of shrimp tempura udon, and the tempura is nothing to turn your nose at for being normal because that was some really good, fresh, and hot shrimp tempura! Even the simplest dishes are outstanding at Shibuya!

Society: This was my first time eating at Society in the Encore. I had looked up the menu online previously and thought the brunch menu looked pretty inviting! I liked the extensive "classics" selection in addition to a menu of various sliders...who doesn't like sliders!? I ended up with the "ultimate steak & egg slider", which was seriously the best breakfast sandwich ever, a filet mignon with scrambled eggs and creamed spinach (I had mine on the side but ended up piling most of it on anyways) on a bacon-cheddar muffin. SO GOOD! They also had a "lunch box" menu, which was a really good deal for a smaller 3 course lunch. We all tried different things, with Julie and Kris trying out the cream corn soup, ahi tuna sliders with shrimp chips (which really didn't look like sliders, imagine a white soft taco...like a Chinese mantou - steamed bun), and Jenn had the Oscar benedict (poached eggs with crab cake, asparagus and hollandaise). After our BIG brunch at Bouchon yesterday, we all thought Society was quite perfect - the food was good and just the right portion for us. The menu is extensive and I highly recommend a visit! You can also make a reservation in advance :)

L'Atelier: I've frequented MGM several times, so no doubt many of the restaurants I like are also there, including Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier. We wanted a treat for Julie and no better than some French share plates. We were kicked off with a unique amuse bouche, an avocado and grapefruit jelly which I quite enjoyed. Our mix of dishes included Iberico ham, a very smooth beef tartar (which I think Julie and I ate most of!), a veal which honestly kind of tasted like salmon, suckling pig confit, sea bass with chorizo, snapper marinated with lime and tomato, which was one of my favourites for its very light, fresh and unique flavour. A highlight was again, another seemingly simple dish, the L'Atelier spaghetti (carbonara) and we just couldn't enough! We even had room for some outstanding desserts - I just LOVED the red berries with coconut sorbet and the pineapple cream, vanilla wafer, with lime and lemon grass sorbet. Both surprisingly light and refreshing! We were also treated to a selection of sweeter treats to celebrate Julie's stagette, a little taste of everything was just perfect. Always be ready for a rich meal when going French, but it was oh-so-tasty!

Late night: I cannot live without late night eats, and I favour noodles and soup! There are two places to visit if you manage to scramble out of the bar before 2am: Noodle Asia at the Venetian, which offers traditional noodles, dim sum and congee - nothing fancy but definitely hits the spot; and Noodles at Bellagio, which is by far way tastier but also a bit pricy for a bowl of noodles! Noodles is normally a must-stop for me in Vegas, whether it is late night or during the day. I had beef stew noodles this time around...soo good and absolutely hits the spot! Authentic and delicious, can't ask for much more!

Modern Japanese/Korean Fare at KOKO! Share Bar

We were struggling where to have dinner on Saturday night on our way out from Holt on Bloor. First, I tried to make a last minute reservation at Sushi Couture for Omakase (no luck, need one day's advance notice); next, I tried Swish by Han, a Korean hot pot place near by, suggested by a friend....completely full. Finally, we decided to try One at the Hazelton. We've always wanted to go but never made it and partly wanted to save it for a special occasion. Well, we never made it there. As we were walking, I thought of KOKO Share Bar, which I had read about at some point, but I didn't know where it was...and right there, was the restaurant. We took a quick look at the menu and decided to give it a try.

KOKO Share Bar is a small restaurant, with only about 8-10 tables and one longer table for groups (fits only about 6). It is clean, simple and modern, but not pretentious. Our very personable waiter brought us our menus, gave us some time to look it over, and took us through some of the favourites by section - appetizers, mains, modern and traditional sushi. First, the cocktails were calling my name, some unique drinks mixed with soju. I had the honey ginseng martini - not for everyone but I like ginseng, and Tony had the citrus twist which was delicious in a very understated way - a drink that grows on you more and more one you could sip and drink all night!

We quickly made up our mind about dinner. We started with some modern sushi, the Maguro roll with yellowfin tuna and kimchee mayo. It came topped with okra and was delicious, not overly spicy or with too much mayo - simply delicious. We also had the butterfish sashimi, which was actually torched and served with ponzu, also quite good. For our mains,

Tony had the baked sea bass served with a sweet miso butter and king mushrooms. The fish was served whole and was baked with parchment paper just right, with the perfect firmness for the fish. A bowl of miso butter was served on the side to spread on the fish as you like. This was a nice healthy dish! I decided to have the spicy seafood boullaibaise hot pot.

I imagined some version of one of my favourite dishes, Korean tofu with seafood. The hot pot was a lovely modern version of what I was expecting, a spicy broth infused with seafood flavours and filled with black cod, prawns, scallops and mussels. It's not as spicy as you would get at a traditional Korean restaurant, but the milder taste combined with seafood flavour was just right for me. I slurped up the entire personal pot!

Around us, tables ordered the signature share dishes - you can choose between a Korean platter with pork belly, spicy chicken and Korean bbq or a Japanese platter with assorted sashimi, soft shell crab, and tempura. They looked plentiful and delicious, and with some friends, we'd love to try both out! Overall, we were happy to have stopped in KOKO Share Bar, we enjoyed the modern interpretations of traditional foods, done with respect to the clean, natural flavours of the food itself. The menu is diverse, a good place to visit whether you are normally adventurous or conservative with food -I'm sure you will find something to your liking.

KOKO! Share Bar

81 Yorkville Ave

416-850-6135

www.kokosharebar.com

(reservations available on OpenTable)

Sukiyaki Hot Pot at Nami

On Friday here in Toronto, we were covered in snow. Although I never need an excuse to hot pot, it is always the meal of choice in the wintery cold, and this week was no different. While Tony and I normally favour Ematei, we joined our friends Julie and Daniel at Nami to try out their version of nabe (Japanese hot pot). What could be better than sharing a delicious meal over cold beer and chatter with friends on a Friday night??

The sukiyaki hot pot is one for meat lovers - served with thinly sliced Black Angus to be simmered in sweet soy sauce base. The waitress got our hot pot started, pouring the sauce into a shared black iron pot and filling it with onions and other vegetables to bring out more sweet flavours. The broth is rich, and the meat is cooked to your heart's desire. I favoured the other items that came with our platter, like tofu, udon and vegetables as a means to offset the intense flavour of the broth, but the significant meat portion sure was filling for the boys!

Nami was a nice change for us, and I found the sashimi appetizer to be quite fresh, deeming a return to be inevitable. Julie and I are both avid mushroom lovers, and our mixed mushroom platter from the grill was delicious. The hot pot is set up cost/person (2 min), so there's always room to order other items when visiting with friends! Maybe next time we'll try the bonito broth based Yose Nabe.

Guu is guuud!

At long last, Guu has arrived in Toronto! I cannot believe that up until now, there has not been a modern Japanese tapas place like the many delicious ones found in Vancouver. Months ago, I had heard that Guu would soon open here, and I was thrilled to discover that on my first night of holidays, Guu has opened at Church and Gerrard!!

The restaurant is boisterous, social and friendly - even more so than I remember of the Guu locations in Vancouver. There are small tables and share tables and also plenty of seats around the bar, where we ended up sitting tonight. We loved our location, facing the bar tender, Jin, who was a hardworking adorable Japanese guy. He turned out drinks all by himself quickly and calmly - when I asked what his favourite drink was, he decidedly told me "beer." I was hoping he might recommend one of the fancy drinks he had concocted during the night and I would quickly order one. Our waiter was also super friendly, who with his charming smile convinced me to have a "big mug" sapporo, on special for $7! Tony had vodka with Japanese red bull, and also a vodka soda with fresh grapefruit that was very popular. They actually serve the grapefruit, but our lovely bartender squeezed the juice for us.

The star of the show is of course the great food - tapas mostly ranging from $5 to $7, cold, warm, fried, stewed, and grilled. We had some specials from the menu: sweet shrimp sashimi, which the kitchen fried the heads for us after - the bartender said "you guys know how to eat shrimp, " and uni (sea urchin) sashimi, which was sweet but still can never compare to what we had in Japan. We also had some old favourites: kimchi udon with spicy cod roe and ebi mayo. Some new items on the menu we tried included oden, a delicious assortment of slow cooked fishcakes and tofu, stewed pork belly, and grilled squid. Although full of beer and delicious food, we made room for dessert - I recommend the almond tofu for something pallet cleansing, and absolutely the banana tempura with chocolate sauce and banana...very indulgent.

I can't say enough how excited we are that Guu has finally opened - on it's first night it was packed mostly with Japanese people (a good sign!), and possibly other loyalists like myself from Vancouver. It's fun, lively, inexpensive and delicious - perfect for any occasion. I am sure we will be regulars, so anytime you want to meet over a beer or sake, ring us up for a visit to Guu :)

Revisiting a Favourite: New Discoveries at Ematei

If you have been following, I have written about Ematei before - by far our favourite and most frequented restaurant in the city. Tonight, we had a different sort of experience that was so amazing I couldn't resist but share. Last I wrote about this restaurant, I shared my obsession with the hot pot, the ultimate Winter comfort food. We have other favourites as well, but we always have it with the hot pot (it definitely requires more people to share).

Without ordering hot pot, we had stomach room to try other things on the menu. We noticed a "special" sign on the wall tonight for a matsutake (mushroom) soup - we love mushrooms and we love soup, so how could we resist? In a restaurant full of delicious tapas under $10, I was expecting this $20 mushroom soup to be a big bowl; in reality, everything about this dish surprised us. The waitress told us that this was a unique soup made from rare pine mushrooms found only in Winter. The soup was a flavourful simmered broth of pine mushrooms, scallops and shrimp. It was served in a small teapot accompanied by little cups - the unique presentation allowed us to enjoy the soup throughout our meal in small portions, and each taste left us wanting more. A truly worthwhile and unique experience. Fresh pine mushroom are apparently very rare in North America, so we were doubly impressed that Ematei had the delicacy.

In addition to small portions of sushi and sashimi, we also had oden. I LOVE oden, and first experienced it at Ematei. This is also a Japanese Winter dish consisting of assorted fish cakes, daikon and boiled eggs served in a light broth. I think of it as a mini hot pot! We also had eringi butter (king mushroom), grilled black cod, and for the first time here, savoury egg custard. Tony and I had an unforgettable egg custard while in Japan last year at a restaurant that served food from the Hokkaido region, made with bits of roe and tako. It was just the right blend of flavours. Ematei's was made with traces of mushroom, shrimp, artificial crab meat and topped with orange zest. As always, we were happy to have a taste of something from Japan that we have not had at any other Japanese restaurant. And the night got better! For the first time, we actually had room for dessert, and I cannot believed we have missed out for TWO YEARS. We had anmitsu, a jelly and fruit mix served with red bean paste and (we were told) best with ice cream (black sesame was our flavour of choice). Although I recognized the name, I was not sure what this dessert was; in fact, we had it at a delicious izakaya restaurant in Shibuya on our last night in Japan....needless to say, I was elated to see this recognizable dish arrive! We also enjoyed a unique mochi, which we had not tasted before - it was freshly made sticky rice cake, rolled in what I think is ground soybean powder and served with a light syrup. Although we thought we were quite full already, we practically inhaled the entire plate. It was light and the perfect way to finish our meal. That is definitely going on the favourite list!

I regret that we didn't take any pictures tonight because our meal was so beautiful, from the mushroom soup teapot, the small oden ceramic hot pot to our cup of egg custard! Since I have shared my love of Ematei in the past, I was not planning to blog about our meal; but it was a different kind of experience for us that included pleasant reminders of Japan and also new tastes worth sharing. I think we will be back again shortly and perhaps then I can update with pics! We have a new completion goal to try everything on the menu, we don't want to miss out on anything. Think we can do it!?

Sushi in the Prairies at Zipang

Sushi Bar Zipang is one of few good Japanese restaurants in Calgary, a place we frequented when we still lived in the city. It's located just off Edmonton trail in up and coming Bridgeland neighbourhood. It offers a good mix of small cooked dishes and sushi/sashimi. Some of our favourites in addition to their fresh sashimi include gyu tataki (beef), cold soba with seaweed, miso paste on grilled eggplant, and salmon belly. The special menu often has exotic items worth trying. Last night, we went to celebrate my friend's birthday - lucky we had a reservation as it was packed, no surprise for a Friday night! We tried the squid with spicy cod roe for the first time, and the red tuna sashimi with quail egg. The squid was crisp and fresh, the tuna was a bit bland. Zipang also offers one of my favourite drinks, Calpico! I literally drank litres of it while we were in Japan, so I am always happy to have it whenever we indulge in good sushi.

Zipang is a worthwhile experience with good cooked dishes and traditional fresh fish. They offer an assortment for the adventurous or conservative, and some good value set meals as well. If you are in Calgary and crave good Japanese food, I think Zipang is a good bet.

Our Favourite Japanese Restaurant in Toronto: Ematei

I was recently thinking about what cuisine I could have everyday, and I think Japanese food alone takes that prize. I'm not sure I could even have Chinese food everyday, although I suppose there is enough variety for me to get by! As most people know, Vancouver is my haven for glorious Japanese food, particularly tapas at Hapa Izakaya, Kingyo, Guu and the like. In a city as big as Toronto, we just assumed there would be something similar.....but we were wrong. Not to be disappointed for long, Tony came upon Ematei in his unrelenting research online; and lucky for us, it happens to be conveniently located just off Queen on the surprisingly quiet St. Patrick street.

Ematei offers traditional Japanese fare and is deliciously satisfying - ALWAYS my "go to" place when I've had a long/tiring/bad day at work. In fact, it is by far our most frequented restaurant in TO . We've noticed the patrons are largely Japanese, a good nod to authenticity. Our best discovery has been nabe - Japanese hot pot! I had not had it before Ematei and can say we have it 95% of the times we are there. Nabe is a unique experience allowing everyone at the table to socially cook and share food - nothing new for fans of Chinese hot pot! Our favourite at Ematei is the Chanko Nabe, a miso broth filled with tofu, chicken balls, beef, shrimp, scallops, assorted mushrooms, vegetables and noodles. Sound like a lot? It is! And somehow, Tony and I manage to survive eating it on our own. But I have to say, it is best enjoyed with 4+ people, because then you can taste the rest of Ematei's delicious menu - from staple sushi/sashimi, rice and noodles, to grilled tapas on the special menu. Our favourites include the grilled black cod, sashimi dinner, oden (assorted fishcakes & daikon in broth, only available in winter), butter eringi mushroom, and miso grilled eggplant. There are still many items we have not tried on the menu because I am always crave the hot pot! Not to say we dined our way through all of Tokyo, but our hot pot experience at Ematei is better than some places we tried in Japan....no small feat.

Please try Ematei if I have not yet taken you there personally! Be warned that it is often busy, so don't be surprised if you have to wait. Meanwhile, I wait with baited breath for Guu to open in Toronto....but it won't replace my nabe!

Kenzo: The Story of a Noodle House in Downtown Toronto

I love noodles - anyone who knows me can vouch for that. We were thrilled when we saw that a noodle house was opening close to home a couple weeks ago; and better yet, a Japanese noodle house! We passed by every day wondering when it would open its doors....little did we know that the red banner outside the door was an indication that they were open for business!

On our first visit to Kenzo, we had miso ramen, shoyu ramen and takoyaki (octopus dough balls) - the basic noodle bowls reminded us of the efficient yet delicious meals we'd have along the Tokyo subway on our last holiday. We ended up chatting with the owner after telling him the OPEN sign should be lit! He is an endearing man who was overwhelmed by how busy his little venture has become. He has sold his North York and Marham locations to focus on this new, high traffic location. They were so unexpectedly busy the first week that they ran out of noodles! He also showed us the intended full menu - Kenzo is not just a noodle house afterall, the menu was to include izakaya including charcoal grill skewers. He told us about the special charcoal that needs to be imported and other ingredients key to Japanese stock and dishes....we couldn't wait to try it out. Today, we made a return visit and were happy to find that the menu was almost completely ready. There are some familiar options like pork belly and enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon (in fact, there are many bacon wrapped options!), and also some exotic ones like chicken heart.

While I wouldn't consider Kenzo extraordinary, it satisfies in flavour and the basic qualities of a noodle house: fast, simple, and affordable - you can have a bowl of ramen for $6 and splurge for some skewers at $3 each for some variety. I think ramen and takoyaki will become a regular part of our diet going forward!

Vegas: A Whirlwind Weekend for Foodies!

Every year, we go away on a little trip for Tony's birthday. While it would make sense for us to stick to the East side of the continent - the deals to Vegas are simply too good to be passed up right now! For the price of one night in NYC, we were able to spend a full weekend in Vegas...so I thought, WHY NOT? We love Vegas! Last weekend, we made the whirlwind trip there with our friends Merrill & Jackie from Toronto and Sam & Surina from Vancouver - it was great to have them join us. Food, shopping, and the company of good friends...the weekend flew by before we knew it (and yet, it felt like we were there for days and days!).

We landed late at night, but the time change was on our side - after meeting up with Sam/Sur the 6 of us went for a quick bite at Fix at the Bellagio. I often feel like I am not meant to eat there - Tony and I have missed a reservation there in the past, and this time, we landed late and missed the "regular" menu. The late night menu was...ok, but not spectacular. We had lobster tacos (in fact, everyone at the table did!) and yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno. Merrill's kobe sliders looked delicious...and maybe more filling :)

After our quick meal we took a walk around the casino - for a Friday night, Bellagio was relatively dead. In fact, we were able to play craps for $10! Is that normal?? It was a short night, as we had planned an early start to the outlets on Saturday...

My first couple trips to Vegas did not include Premium Outlets - I was never a big outlet shopper, felt like I get caught up in buying stuff I don't really need but felt compelled by the GREAT deals. Besides, there is such good shopping on the strip already - Caesars forum (everything from Abercrombie and Victoria Secret to Dior and La Perla) and Fashion Show Mall (Nieman, Macys, Saks AND Nordstroms!?). But I must say, Premium Outlets in Vegas is prettttty good: BCBG, Burberry, Coach, cK and Kenneth Cole...to start. The deals are good! I picked up a fantastic Coach bag for my mom last year at a ridiculous discount, and this time, Tony found Kenneth Cole dress shoes for $35! Maybe it's the recession? I'm doing my part to stimulate the economy! The 6 of us split up and made our merry way through the many stores. It was a good day half indoors, half out :) And I think we all picked up some great bargains!

I had made reservations at one of our FAVOURITE restaurants - Shibuya at the MGM. Our waiter at the Alain Ducasse restaurant (Mix) recommended it during our first trip to Vegas together - who knew sushi in Vegas could be so good!? Shibuya is also where we fell in love with sake, the menu is extensive and educational, including pictures of bottles/labels, regionality and thorough taste descriptions. With each sake you try, they also present you with a Shibuya business card with the name on the back - so you never forget the great little drink you had! Genius! But the food is the hero of the show of course: Merrill and Jackie opted for the Omakase, a 9 course meal, which was the initiation of our love affair with this restaurant. - you really get the best Shibuya has to offer! Sam and Surina chose the futari for two, a family style tasting menu. Several of our favourites were included with this menu as well - such as the albacore with crispy onions, and lobster and scallop in uni butter. In fact, we ALL HAD the lobster and scallop in uni butter - yes, it's THAT good. Tony and I also had lobster miso soup, kobe beef tataki, toro tartare, tuna sashimi, miso black cod, and braised kobe short rib and seared foie gras. Needless to say, we were stuffed after this scrumptious meal. We had talked up this restuarant to our friends, and I was a little nervous it wouldn't stand up to their foodie expectations....thankfully, everyone walked away happy and satisfied, which made us all the more happy to have brought them there.

Merrill and Jackie then made their way to see O (the BEST Cirque and any live show, in my opinion), while the rest of us went to see Jersey Boys at the Palazzo. The show was FANTASTIC, the 2006 Tony Award winner for best musical lives up to all the hype. Not going to lie, I wasn't sure who Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were by name, but apparently, I did know a lot of the songs - like Big Girls Don't Cry, and Can't Take My Eyes Off of You! And the crowd was adorable - the average age must have been 60, and they just sang along with their old time favourites. We enjoyed the show even more than we thought we would - it is well writen, well performed and the music is fun. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting!

We sadly said good-bye to Sam and Surina Sunday morning, and made our way to Bouchon, by Thomas Keller, at the Venetian for brunch. Surina and I had had a wonderful dinner there last year for her stagette - but Tony had never been! Our meal was AMAZING...and food-coma-inducing. We started with less than impressive moulets et frites, but the rest was heavenly: chicken & waffles with chives, in a bacon and mushroom sauce (seriously, how can you go wrong with that!?); butter poached trout with green beans (I didn't know I could like the taste of trout so much!); a Croque Madam ( toasted ham and cheese on brioche); and the best corned beef hash ever. There was no bad meal on the table - and I think I need to go again to try the French Toast. That was definitely the best brunch I have ever had!

We walked off our excessive brunch with some shopping at Fashion Show Mall (seriously, the sales were unbelievable), and eventually made our way for dinner at Michael Mina. Unfortunately, this is another restaurant we are not meant to try - the boys' shorts were deemed inappropriate attire (isn't this Vegas???) so we never even made it to the table. Tony and I had previously missed a reservation at a Michael Mina restaurant in Miami. Instead, we had a lighter dinner (probably a good idea in hindsight!) at Noodles in the Bellagio. I have been there before with my parents, and although it's ridiculous to pay twenty-some-dollars for noodle soup, it's pretty darn good! The brisket soup tasted like it had been boiling for days, and my laksa curry noodle was uber delicious! This is a nice change from the luxurious food we had all weekend, can't take the Asian out of us!

So we left Vegas full and happy - another great trip, and I know we'll be back again. We just can't get enough of the world class food, shopping and service. I've done the student trip, the romantic/food/theater trip, the girls trip, the parents trip, now the couples trip and I've even had a 24 hour trip! What next? I'm sure I'll find a reason.

Comfort Udon at Manpuku Eatery

Manpuku is a modern Japanese eatery tucked away inside the Village by the Grange. We never would have found it without out neighbour's recommendation (thanks!). The first time we visited was shortly after our Japan trip in December - it was an unexpected and comforting reminder of our vacation and now we always think of it that way. As soon as you sit down, order the takoyaki (dough balls stuffed with octopus, rolled and grilled in a yummy sauce). I can't say I was a big fan before Japan - they don't taste right here because people cheap out on the octopus and all you get is dough...but it is worth having at Manpuku. Be warned that if the place is busy, it can take 30min+ to get your takoyaki!

This past weekend, we also had curry beef udon (I inhaled it), and niku udon (beef with onions and sauce). Both were delicious and really inexpensive! We also tried the takosen for the first time, which was essentially takoyaki served with prawn crackers for you to squish them between like a sandwich. It was interesting, but I'm ok just having the takoyaki straight up! I also recommend trying items on the special menu, notably the miso chicken udon.

I loved that we were able to have a comforting and simple Japanese meal for less than $25 on a rainy Friday night.

A Perfect Food-Filled Weekend in Vancouver

We are ALWAYS thrilled to visit Vancouver - not only do we get to see our friends and enjoy the ocean/mountains/fresh air but also because there is SOOOOO much good food! We have loved eating around Toronto, but the seafood and sushi on the coast just can't be beat. I also think Vancouver has the best foodie value, we were always surprised how inexpensive our meals were. So here was our eating extravaganza!!

Thursday:
We had a simple sushi lunch at Tokyo John on Cambie with our friends and their new baby. I had never been there before but it was delicious. Highlight: brown rice sushi! The sashimi lunch was not quite enough for Tony, so we made our way to Richmond for some afternoon munchies. First, Excellent Tofu, run by an adorable Chinese couple who make all the tofu FRESH - if you haven't been you must! There is always a steady stream of people in this little hole in the wall, young and old, a testament to the delicious food. Not bad for a restaurant that primarily just serves tofu! Next, Aberdeen Mall for mango shaved ice and "egg balls" (gai dan jai). Shaved ice is an amazing dessert, literally made by finely shaving a block of flavoured ice - it is light, fluffy, and refreshing. The food court at Aberdeen has plenty of good food to be found if you ever need to pit stop for a quick meal.


We took our friend and gracious host, Cassandra, to Market by Jean-Georges at the new Shangri-la for dinner. The restaurant has an "old school" crowd and feel, fitting of the Shangri-la. It was hopping on a Thursday night; however, I found it a bit noisy for chatting over dinner - I had trouble listening to Cass sitting right next to me. To start, we had seared scallops, bacon wrapped shrimp, and foie gras brulee. Sable fish in sweet & sour broth, lobster & potato gnocchi, and halibut in almond broth were our mains. We enjoyed our meals, but overall, it was only satisfactory. The food is VERY reasonably price, and delicious, but not spectacular or exceptionally unique. It is my humble opinion that there is better food to be had in Vancouver, a disappointment for Jean-Georges.

Friday:
We met our friends for a ramen lunch at Motomachi Shokudo on Denman (owned by Kintaro). This place was UNBELIEVEABLE. We had abandoned Kintaro as a regular Vancouver foodie stop because we always felt like our heart stopped after inhaling the delicious ramen (don't get me wrong, it is still really really tasty), but our friends introduced us to this amazing place just a couple doors down. It is a healthy alternative to Kintaro's pork based broth, made instead with organic chicken, and features unique ramen like bamboo-charcoal, said to be healthy for the digestive system, and spicy miso ramen. And all ramen is not the same, different "thickness" is served with each variety of soup. We also had delicious gyozas here - some of the best I have had. Authentic, healthy, inexpensive and delicious! We couldn't resist going back for a 2nd meal before we flew back to Toronto.

Most of my friends already know Hapa Izakaya is one of my favourite spots in Vancouver, and we were thrilled to meet our friends Sam and Surina there for a night of good food and drinks. Highlights (and favourites): pork belly, ebi mayo, and spicy cod roe udon. I could eat that udon everyday! Did I mention Hapa also has the most amazing saketinis? While these tapa restaurants now flood Vancouver, they cannot be found anywhere else. What a great night this was, topped off with casual drinks at Lobby at Shangri-la, a quieter alternative to Market.

Saturday:
Although most of our day was filled with wedding festivities, we managed to squeak in brunch with Lorena at Crepe Bretagne. We stuffed ourselves with savoury crepes: I had breakfast eggs, cheese and sausage; Lorena had ratatouille; Tony had mushrooms, asparagus, and chicken au gratin. This is a more authentic and cozier experience than the popular Cafe Crepe. An honourable mention for food was the delicious lasanga we had at the wedding reception, at Famee Furlane. The lasanga, the 2nd course, was surely handmade by the little Italian ladies we saw in the kitchen, because it was amazing! There were many many layers and it was incredibly light.

Sunday:
By now, I was sure I had already gained 5 pds! But that didn't stop us from having lunch with our friends at Guu with Garlic. Tony and I were thrilled to see Loco Moco on the menu - something we discovered in Hawaii (rice topped with a burger patti, egg, mushroom and gravy!). We had two pizzas (the spicy cod roe version was better than the spicy prawn), and 2 loco moco's (minced pork was better than garlic steak).

And perhaps the highlight of the weekend, we found ourselves at The Cannery on Sunday night. I was sad to learn that it is their last year of business in the current location, on the East Side on Port land. Ever since 9/11, security has been exceptionally tight at the Port and it has been difficult to access the restaurant (you have to clear security first!). They are finally kicking them out - how will Cannery ever find another location with such charm? The view is irreplaceable, set uniquely against the rail yard and really...in the middle of nowhere. Where-ever they may move, it will not be the same. The Cannery's lobster oil is to die for - we devoured the bread instantly, in a race to dip/absorb the most lobster oil - you can taste the lobster! We also started with lobster bisque, which I believe is the best in the world, and a unique oyster motoyaki flavoured with mild wasabi. Tony and I had the seafood platter as mains - why not take advantage of being on the coast, right? It included a lobster, crab, mussels, shrimp, wild salmon and smoked black cod. Needless to say, we were fully satisfied and stuffed by the time we left. The food was fresh and tasty - the crab and lobster fell out of its shells, and the fish was flavourful and filling. Not only do I love the food and the view, but also the exceptional service. We never filled our own wine glasses (I don't even know when we finished!) and our waiter was both personal and professional. For anyone who lives in Vancouver, or will be in Vancouver this year, you MUST make your way to experience the Cannery before they are gone! It truly is an institution and it will be a sad day when the doors close.

We left Vancouver full and happy - I miss the little tapa places, the fresh seafood and sushi, and the great friends we have. Thanks to everyone who made time for us and joining us on our eating adventure!