Shanghai Imperial Cuisine

Spent my Saturday afternoon for lunch with my mom, lil sister and brother. My mom wanted shanghai food so we decided to try this place nearby. We ordered the hot and sour soup. The soup had many ingredients such as tofu, wood ear mushrooms, shrimp etc. But the soup was missing the sour and the spiciness. I still like it but it wasn't really a hot and sour soup. Next we ordered the Tan Tan Men which is noodles with ground pork with peanut butter broth. This was great! The noodles were bouncy and had lots of textures and the flavor of the peanut butter wasn't overwhelming but just right. We ordered stir fry rice cakes which had a lot of "heat" we call it in Chinese "wok hey" flavors from the pan. And lastly we had the steam buns. There wasn't a lot of soup in them but the flavors were there. Overall, a simple place, not very busy on a Saturday afternoon. But if you are craving Shanghainese food give his place a try. The prices are relatively low for a Shanghainese restaurant.

Shanghai Imperial Cuisine
Location:
8329 Oak St, Vancouver, BC V6P 4A9
Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5

Nubo Japanese Tapas

We decided to grab a snack before Bin 4. We decided to check this place out. We ordered the Tan Tan Men which is ground pork, bamboo in a spicy chili oil tonkotsu broth. This ramen was way better then the other place we went to. The bowl was hot, the flavors were great! Bf ordered the Hokkaido Miso Ramen with pork belly, egg, corn, seaweed in a tonkotsu broth. Overall, a great meal for a chilly night.

Nubo Japanese Tapas
Location:
739 Pandora Ave, Victoria, BC V8W 1N9
Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5

Il Terrazzo

For my birthday, bf decided to take me out for Italian food. Our friend recommended to check this place out. We made reservations just in case the place got busy for a Monday night. There was only 3 tables when we got there. This restaurant was walk able from where we stayed. We stayed at the Hilton for our trip. The place is romantically lit so excuse the poor pictures below. We started off with drinks. Bf had red wine and I had a grapefruit sparkling drink. Next came the house bread. We ordered the charcuterie board to share. This was probably my favourite dish of the night. Lots of great cheese, fresh ingredients. Flavours were impactful. I ordered the pasta special of the night. Bf ordered pasta as well. I'm not sure what they were called. The noodles felt like they were made in house. I wasn't a big fan of my spaghetti. The noodles were to thick and soft for my liking. The pasta was alright nothing special. And the end I had a chocolate birthday cake slice to share with my bf. I great evening with great company.

Il Terrazzo
Location:
555 Johnson St, Victoria, BC V8W
Rating: ☆☆☆/5

BAO

We arrived to Victoria around dinner time so we were in search of some food places. We found this place near Chinatown. Bao is an Asian fusion place, quite hipster. We ordered the 3 for $12 baos: Taiwanese classic with grilled pork belly, peanut powder, cilantro, pickled onion and hoisin sauce, the Buttermilk fried chicken with spicy mayo, scallions, slaw and kimchi and the pork meatball banh mi with spicy nuoc (fish sauce) pickles, pork pate, slaw, cilantro and spicy mayo. The best one out of the 3 was the Taiwanese classic. The rest was too saucy, salty and overwhelming. Too much flavours going on in your mouth.  We also ordered the chicken karaage ramen with pork, chicken broth topped with chicken karaage, shredded green cabbage, pickled red ginger, scallions, fresh lemon, soy marinated egg, and togarashi. The broth was luke warm which is one of my pet peeves when it comes to soup noodles. I like my broth steaming hot. And the place itself was poorly heated. Cold and unwelcoming. At 7pm on a Saturday night this place was quite dead. Next time I need to visit a specialized Japanese ramen house to enjoy ramen.

Bao
Location: 626 Fisgard Street
Victoria, BC V8W 1R6
Rating: ☆☆/5

BIN 4

So we wanted to try new places to eat in Victoria so we asked a friend who lived there for awhile serving the Canadian army. Aaron recommended a place called Bin 4 known for their burgers and at 10pm the burgers are half price. So we decided to visit this place  around 10pm. The place already had a line up when we got there. We waited for about 20 mins for a seat. A small place but bustling with activity. I ordered the wild mushroom burger which consists of premium BC beef, wild mushrooms, garlic, cream, truffle oil, parmigiano, truffle aioli, baby arugula and tomatoes. This was the best burger I have ever eaten in my life. The meat was moist and tender. The sauce was flavorful and it tasted like I was eating a mushroom soup. It was amazing.
Bf ordered the pre season favorite which consisted of premium beef, bacon, house made roasted jalapeno guacamole, bruschetta, parmigiano, roasted garlic aioli and butter lettuce. The meat was moist and tender, the flavors weren't my preferred choice but over the burger was great!

The burgers comes with a side of fries, salad or onion rings. Everything was made perfectly. Highly recommend checking this place out for half price $7-8 a dish. You are full and have one of the best orgasmic experience ever!

Bin 4
Location: 911 Yates St #180, Victoria, BC V8V 4X3
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆/5

Green Leaf Bistro

During our trip to Victoria, I wanted to find a place that has good pho. So my friend, Tracey recommended Green Leaf. So I got there Canh Chua which consists of a sweet and sour soup base with fish, tomatoes, mussels, pineapple, celery, bean sprouts. Overall, lots of ingredients, flavors were pretty good and it comes with a side of noodles. Bf ordered the Bun Bo Hue which tasted more like a Bun Rieu (a crab flavored soup base) instead of a beef bone shrimp paste broth. It was flavorful but it wasn't what he asked for. Overall, the food was alright. The place could be better lit. It was quite dim. The restaurant was busy for a Monday afternoon.

Green Leaf Bistro
Location: 832 Goldstream Ave, Victoria, BC V9B 2X7
Rating: ☆☆☆/5

Jam Cafe in Victoria

For my birthday weekend we went to Jam Cafe for brunch. The line up was about a 30 min wait on a Sunday morning. I ordered the london fog and bf had the espresso. I ordered a side of shoestring fries and the skillet which consists of mac and cheese topped with bacon, roasted tomatoes and Ritz crackers. Bf had the pulled pork pancakes with maple BBQ glaze, jalapeno sour cream and pickled cabbage. Overall, a great place to have brunch. The wait is worth it!

Jam Cafe in Victoria
Location: 542 Herald St, Victoria, BC V8W 1S5
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆/5

Mr. Red Cafe

I have visited this place before with my bf for their pho and their Bo Bun Hue but I recently heard on Daily Hive about their all you can eat Vietnamese food special for two days only Feb 13,14. Tickets were going for $28 for adults so since my mom loved Vietnamese food I decided to give this place a try. You had to purchase and pick up your tickets beforehand at one of their two locations: Hastings or Broadway. My mom helped me pick them up. My bf wanted to join last minute so I called them ahead of time asking if that was possible and they had said that we can purchase an extra ticket there before we sat to eat. We got their around 6:30pm on Monday night (family day) and the place was already packed. This place wasn't very big but the buffet seating limit was about an hour and a half. We waited for about 15 mins which wasn't so bad. There was quite the selection. They had banana leaf stick rice wraps, spring rolls, salad rolls, rice, sticky rice, braised pork, spicy chicken, snails, fish, soup, dessert, tapioca pudding with plantains etc. I was full after the meal. Everything was cooked very well. Some flavors were new to me but everything tasted delicious and tasted like home cooked food. I hope they bring this back again for next year. The service was super friendly and attentive.

Mr. Red Cafe
Location: 2680 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6K 2G3
Rating: ☆☆☆☆1/2 /5

HaiYi Seafood Restaurant

Happy birthday to my dearest brother and dad. We went close by for dinner due to the snowstorm warning we had in Vancouver. Although it was snowing it wasn't snowing as hard as in burnaby or coquitlam thank goodness!

The restaurant seem quite new. I believe it was taken over by a new owner. The place is brightly lit and the decor wasn't too shabby. We decided to order individual items from the menu instead of ordering their cheapest set menu which was about $500.00 with tip. We started off with the fish maw soup with crab meat. Bouncy textures, soup was flavorful and clean. Afterwards we had the fried tofu. This was one of the best dishes of the night. They were known for their tofu here so we ordered it. Nice and crispy, not to oily made just right. Afterwards we had the fried squid. The salt wasn't evenly distributed so some of the squid were saltier then others. We had the rod cod made in two ways: steamed in black bean sauce with orange peel (a rather different flavor then I'm used to) not a fan of the orange flavor and the stir fry fish with vegetables which I prefer more. The fish was fresh, flaky and tender and not overcooked.

I had chosen to order the pork jowl with bitter melon on a bed of rice noodles. This was different as well more on the tangy side due to the preserved vegetables. The rice noodles were slightly overcooked but the "wok heat" flavour was there. We had the eggplant hot pot with tofu, this was alright compared to the many I had elsewhere. Too oily in my opinion. We had a stir fry scrambled egg with shrimp. We also had the stir fry vegetables with squid.

Lastly we had the taopica baked pudding with taro. This was definitely a let down for me. The crust was too thin and heavy. Not crispy at all. Not enough sweetness as well very bland.

And we had a cake from St. Germain and the cake was overly too "chestnutty for me. I prefer the mango cakes there.

Overall the meal was clean and not overly oily which I prefer. The portions were big but the prices were on the higher end. There was about 5 tables during the snowstorm which was very good in my opinion. Service was great! Food came fast and everyone was efficient. Overall, a great meal.

Next time I'm coming to try the hot pot the other table was having. Fresh seafood cooked right in front of you on the table.

HaiYi Seafood Restaurant
Location: 4818 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5V 3R8
Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5