Hungry Girl’s Guide: Japadog with Shaked Fries

It was a longer than long day today! The kind that makes you crave comfort food but it has to be fast though because you still have to get back at it. Yes the glamorous life of an entrepreneur. I knew good ol’ hot dog and some fries will lift my spirit – grease and carbohydrates together tend to do that for me. Although today, I needed a different on my comfort food just to kick it up a notch or maybe confuses me a bit to distract me from my stress.

Japadog Sitdown Place - Vancouver

Thank goodness for Vancouver and its eclectic variety of fusion food. I remembered Japadog is now open near Waterfront, literally 2 blocks from the office BUT I also wanted fries so I settled on walking 6-7 blocks down to Robson and Seymour to the sit down place. That’s right, Japadog also does fries and dessert too! I took a few pictures of the menu of the Japadog variety but also their Shaked Fries.

Japadog Sitdown Place - Exterior

Japadog Sitdown Place - Menu

Japadog Sitdown Place - Shaked Fries

Japadog Sitdown Place - Butter & Shoyu Shaked Fries

Butter & Shoyu Shaked Fries was very interesting, it had a really strong butter taste but yet you can still taste the Shoyu – which is a Japanese soy sauce. It was definitely an experience, you have to try it because there is no way for me to describe what it is like.

Japadog Sitdown Place - Love Meat

The main feature – Love Meat Japadog was amazing! Imagine a generous heaping of spaghetti meat sauce on your hot dog and then three kind of cheese melted on top. It was deeelicious and you bet I am coming back for more!

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Hungry Girl’s Guide: Gyudonya

Now that I am on vacation, I am wandering everywhere Downtown aimlessly to discover new things to try out and places to eat at. I have walked by Gyudonya twice on Monday but want to save the experience of trying out a new restaurant with my favourite couple, Michael and Stephanie. Stephanie is the person behind (@momofukufor2) a very popular blog that follows her cooking adventure.

The place is smaller just like most restaurants in downtown. Although they did make good use of the space with lots of communal tables, what I dislike are the high chairs we sat on. Eating on high chair is highly uncomfortable UNLESS they did it so you don’t get too comfortable so they can have better turn over.

Gyudonya - Exterior - Vancouver

Location-wise, it is a super convenient location at Richards and Robson.

Gyudonya - Interior - Vancouver

Gyudonya - Menu

One of the most basic menu I have seen, they have 5 different bowls and a few side-dishes you can add on as part of a combo. Again, very affordable. Under $6 for an individual bowl and under $9 dollars for each individual combo.

Guydonya - Beef Rib Bowl

The short rib bowl was surprisingly good, I would have preferred for the ribs to be sizzling hot when it arrives at the table but it was more warm than hot.

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Hungry Girl’s Guide: East Fusion Food

My office The Network Hub is a stone throw away from Chinatown where there is a smorgasbord of fantastic cheap eats and one of my favourite quick cheap and tasty restaurants is East Fusion Food.  East Fusion food has beautiful modern decor to replace the typical linoleum flooring with peeling upholstered pleather chairs that most Chinese restaurants are inflicted with.  Although the place looks a world apart from other places in Chinatown, the food is as tasty and authentic as the ones you would find right in the heart of Chinatown, and the price is still the same!  The service was also quick and attentive.  Still trying to figure out the fusion part in the name but hey, the menu says East and not East Fusion so maybe they had a change of heart.  Although with the prices they are charging, I am definitely not complaining – it could be Olympus Fusion Restaurant and I will still eat there.

Two can dine for under $15 dollars or you can get a filling combo for $8.95!

East Fusion Restaurant - Exterior Vancouver

East Fusion Restaurant - Interior

East Fusion Restaurant - Menu

East Fusion Restaurant - Special menu

East Fusion Restaurant - Dumpling

East Fusion Restaurant - Sweet & sour seafood soup

East Fusion Restaurant - Salted egg & pork congee - Vancouver

If you have a sophisticated palate (unlike me) this might be too casual for you. This is the place to go for a quick cheap tasty lunch or a quick meal before a movie in Tinseltown.

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Hungry girl’s guide: Ramen Santouka

I realized I get, well, hungry… a lot, and my adventurous stomach often guide my feet to interesting food places that I want to share with you.  Remember, my stomach guides my adventure, so I can’t tell you why I end up where I do.  Most of the time by convenience and sometimes it is because I remember I wanted to try a certain place.

Ramen Santouka - Exterior

Santouka was on my list of places to try, only because I am a HUGE ramen fan.  Fancy ramen, instant ramen, ramen in a cup, ramen in a Styrofoam bowl… doesn’t matter, I eat it all.  Santouka was out of commission for a while due to “mechanical problems” so I was pleased when I heard they re-opened.  I made the special effort to walk from the Dragon Boat festival to Santouka.  It is a quaint tiny little place near the end of Robson; if you blink you might miss it.  Today though it was hard to miss as there was a small waiting line to get in, now I am not much for line up because I am impatient about getting at my food (hence hungry girl’s guide).  But I made an exception today, also because I had a few grilled Korean BBQ from Jang Mo Jib at Dragon Boat festival.

Ramen Santouka - Interior

It is tiny inside but they made good use of the space with a large communal table at the front and strategically placed table line the narrow back of the store.  Decor was simple and pleasing with jazz music playing in the background.  Took us only 10 minutes to get seated so it was not bad at all, Hungry Girl approves!  Curiously, there was a small section of the menu that serves limited quantity of very special simmered pork jowl – this might not sound delicious but it is the kind of meat that literally melts in your mouth.  I decided against the limited quantity items as I just wanted to see how their usual regular ramen measure up to other ramen restaurants that is only a block from them. I got Kara Miso Ramen, which is a pork broth seasoned with hot spices and miso.  My dinner companion got Shio Ramen combo with grilled salmon on rice and a small dish with hard-boiled egg and some purply pickled veggie.  The ramen was DELICIOUS!!!  The broth was good but it wasn’t anything unusual for me, what stood out was the noodle and the char shiu.  The noodle had the perfect amount of chewiness and the char shiu was melt in your mouth tasty.

Ramen Santouka - Kira Miso Ramen

Ramen Santouka - Shio Ramen combo with Grilled Salmon on Rice

Ramen Santouka - Chewy Ramen Noodle Goodness

The excellence of a restaurant is in the details and Santouka is amazingly meticulous. Now between taking breaks from my oodles of noodle delight and trying to finish this super filled bowl of hearty broth, I was extra pleased with this amazing spoon that you can hang up on the side of the bowl!  Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?  Lost spoon to full deep brothy bowls will never happen again.  Ingenious I say! My order of Coke came with an ice cold cup with tiny little ice cubes, I have never had any restaurant pay so much attention to my pop order.

Ramen Santouka - Amazing hanging spoon efficiency

Ramen Santouka - Ice cold Coke cup

I shared the extra side dishes that came with my companion’s combo, alright correction… I launched at his bowl of grilled salmon on rice before an invitation was offered.   The grilled salmon was amazing!  It was salty and had a slight smoky taste to it so it went well with the sticky Japanese rice with flakes of seaweed on top.  I didn’t care much for the hardboiled egg and the pickled veggies, I had a bite but it wasn’t anything special.

Ramen Santouka - Grilled Salmon on Rice

Ramen Santouka - Boiled egg + purple pickled friend

The food was plenty and the bill was very reasonable.  Warning: Once you finish eating… the tiny hill to get back to Robson Street seems like an uphill climb up a mountain.

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