Koon Bo Seafood Restaurant, Vancouver(BC)

Koon Bo Seafood Restaurant
5682 Fraser St
Vancouver, BC V5W2Z4
Phone:(604) 323-1218

My mother's birthday. Nothing puts more dread into my heart than dealing with Mother's day and birthday as they happen within 2 weeks of each other.

She wanted a Chinese restaurant without the fusion fangle thing. I chose Koon Bo as it's a reliable choice and very good food at decent prices. No fancy decor and you better not show up with no reservations.

Portions are good and the taste is even better.

We had:
-beef lettuce wrap(not stingy on the beef or the lettuce to wet)
-tofu dish, sorry didn't catch the name(soft tofu with baby shrimp)
-gailan and beef(pretty standard)
-honey garlic tenderloin beef with walnuts(seem pretty popular which is why we ordered it, very tasty)
-bbq chicken(absolutely yummy! very tender, not dry and crispy skin! shrimp chips were great not stale)
-steamed black cod(good standard)
-yu choi with scallops(generous portions of scallops).

For dessert we had yellow beans. Not my fav but more tolerable than the usual red beans.

Aqua Riva, Vancouver(BC)

Aqua Riva
604-683-5599
200 Granville Street,
Vancouver, BC V6C 1S4

A belated Mother's day dinner as mom was very busy on the actual day. She wanted to try another restaurant similiar in style to the Spotted Prawn. We have the Entertainment book and friends had recommended this restaurant to us previously.

Service was a bit uneven to start, no one at the front. The gent fussing in the front kitchen with the tie and shirt just ignored me, he definitely saw me-I had that bad feeling that he was going to ignore me when I was walking up to the host/hostess area, you know the feeling. It wasn't until I coughed and moved towards him that he said anything to me, said someone will be with me soon. Made me stand there, all by my lonesome self for about 5 minutes(yes I timed how long I was going to have to wait for service) It feels like an eternity when you are waiting for someone to confirm your "reservation" especially if you are the only one waiting around.

So I finally get a hostess who knows of my reservation, eureaka! I get shown to a wonderful window table with a stunning view of Burrard Inlet and northshore mountains. Glad for the table, even gladder when I realize our server isn't an idiot like the gent in the tie and shirt. She waits till I've sat down and have been given water to ask me if I wanted a drink while waiting for my companions, bien sur! A vodka martini is what this girl loves!

It was a very nice martini, Stoli. Onto food......

My hubby had Lemon & maple Glazed Sablefish with grilled baby corn risotto, baby veggies, and artichoke relish. He said fish wasn't dry and the risotto wasn't swimming in sauce.

Mom had Seafood linguine with clams, prawns, mussels, and dungeness crab. She loved that they weren't stingy with the seafood as sometimes it feels like they actually count how much they are putting on your dish even if you are paying premium price.

I had Spit roasted duck with a grilled apple, spinach, goat cheese & pistachio saute, date & lime chutney and foie gras springroll. Foie gras springroll was very different and good, the duck was touch bit too dry, otherwise it was fine.

We all had the soup of the day to start which is cream of mushroom, it was very creamy but also very grainy which puzzles me still.

Service was very good except for the gent with the tie and shirt. trust me he is the only one wearing a shirt and tie without an apron which all the servers were wearing. Must be a managerial type.........

Urban Thai Bistro, Vancouver(BC)

Urban Thai Bistro
1119 Hamliton St
604 408-7788

We happened on it on a Saturday noonish. We couldn't decide where to eat but settled on trying this place again as it looked very different from the outside.

We were glad we did.

The "All you can Eat" menu is what we tried out. Only available on Sat and Sun between 1130am-2pm for around $12 per person. Very reasonable considering we had: 2 appetizers, 1 rice dish, 1 noodle dish, 1 chicken dish, 1 pork dish and dessert!

Circolo, Vancouver(BC)

Circolo
1116 Mainland, Vancouver
Ph: 604 687-1116

We went to Circolo as part of the "Dine Out in Vancouver" event. It's located in Yaletown. We had an early dinner, really early like at 5pm, not a time I'm used to eating.

I have never been to an Umberto Menghi restaurant before so this was my first chance. At $35 per person for a 3 course meal exclusive of taxes and drinks except for table water, it was a bargain. We order a half carafe of Sauvignon Blanc by Jackson Kendall(calif.) Dry but slightly sweet wine, it was very smooth nothing rough to my taste.

The restaurant itself is very interesting as it stretches and twists with hidden rooms. The main dinning area in the front is very lovely with booths and many intimate tables for twosomes. It did feel a bit cramped with all those small tables turned in many different way so as to not leave a large empty spot anywhere other than lanes for people to move around in.

There is an opening into a kitchen, not sure if that is the main kitchen or a part of it couldn't tell but always a curiosity for me to peek.

The service is warm and efficient. Our server whose name I didn't quite catch due to my cold and stuffed ears was very attentative but not suffocating. He answered our questions and left us alone for appropriate intervals.

We sat near the windows and faux fireplace with the fabric ceiling above us. I was quite facinated that I was beside wooden folding doors that gave me a small window to look down the bar area and into another dining area in the back of the restaurant. There was also a piano on the otherside of the folding doors so I'm assuming there is a live music at some point during the evening especially on weekends.

I started with the simple Romaine salad with herb crutons and creamy garlic dressing. The dressing wasn't too garlicky but then again my poor nose was a bit stuffed up so I'm not sure if I'm right or wrong in my impression. My foodie partner in crime had Lemon cured beef carpaccio, with acacia honey and truffle oil. He wolfed it down so I assumed it was very pleasureable as he didn't share(pig!)

My entre item was the Loin Veal Medallions with wild mushrooms, red wine jus and veggies on the side(1 stick of aspargus/carrot/broccoli and mashed potatoes) Veal was done very nicely and I have to admit it was enough food even though when I first saw the oversized plate with the small portions of food it had me concerned. The veal was done just right and very tender as a calf should be. My only criticism would be the mashed potatoes could have been a bit more creamy but then they would have to put in a lot more butter and it's not good politics to clog your customers arteries right now.

My partner had the Pepper crusted duck breast. It was very tender and not very fatty which surprised me as farm raised ducks tend to lean towards a lot of body fat.

For dessert we both chose the creme caramel. Done very well! The burnt sugar crust had that satisfying spoon cracking noise which always make me smile for some strange reason. The custard underneath wasn't runny and very delicious.

We finished with teas. Nothing like a cuppa tea to help you reflect if this is a place you want to come back to or even recommend it.

Spotted Prawn Bistro, Vancouver(BC)

It was MIL b-day. She wanted to go out to a nice restaurant with a seafood theme. My partner chose the Spotted Prawn Bistro. We've been there previously but not for the last 2 yrs as we've been sampling other restaurants.

Located on 1055 W.Hastings(ph: 604-646-0667) in the dead zone of the financial district after 6pm. My SO and MIL said they enjoyed the food very much but no one wanted to spoil the night by talking about the lackluster front of house service especially by the "host" who showed us to our table didn't seem to care if we had made reservations or not, so don't bother, just show up. The restaurant wasn't super busy but bustling with enough empty table to spread people around. The "host" must have been having an off night, not only did he shove us right by a table with noisy and scrambling children, he forgot to give us the wine list or even ask us if we wanted one.........

Oh well just put up and shut up it was MIL's birthday night and we shouldn't spoil it with unpleasantness.

We ended up having a bottle of Grey Monk's gewürztraminer with our seafood.

The appetizers chosen were MIL- baked oyster with spinach, SO -Clams steamed in white wine, Mine-Shrimp Bisque. We all loved the baked oysters, steamed clams and the shrimp bisque was very nice.

Main dishes chosen MIL - Seafood linguini, she said it was wonderful as good as the other seafood pasta she's had at Monks McQueen's. SO - Jumbo Prawns with vegetable, said it was very good but he was worried he would be hungry still(we fed him tidbits from our dishes so he didn't starved) Mine-Seafood Risotto, well it was okay, it was drowning in sauce, otherwise it had excellent portions of seafood in it like mussels, clams, scallops, etc.

With the Jazz band blaring and MIL smiling at me like we read her mind and gave her the best pressie it was worth some of the bumps along the way.

Shabusen Yakiniku House, Vancouver (BC)

Yummy fish! Lots of fish!

Great All-You-Can eat menu at this place. The ala cart menu is also worth looking at too but for big groups that want sushi, the lunch and dinner all-you-can-eat is a wonderful idea. Service is a bit spotty sometimes but otherwise the quality of the establishment is fine.

Reservations are recommended especially on weekends for lunch and dinner.

Two locations: 2993 Granville Street(and W.14th Ave), and 755 Burrard Street(across from Hotel Vancouver, upstairs)