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I’m sure you have probably read me rave about Kintaro Ramen (you know, the ladies love the cheese ramen) but there’s recently been a new kid on the block who has been stealing all the attention (and line-ups down the street) for ramen lovers.

Literally, Santouka ramen is a few blocks away from Kintaro Ramen and a lot of people are already hooked, saying that this place has more flavour than kentaro ramen in their broth and in their pork slices.  Mind you, I liked to the shop from Japan, so that’s not really a few blocks away, more like a few oceans away.

I recently had a chance to try this place out and see what all the fuss is about.  The first time I had it, it was absolutely delicious and mouth watering.  The flavours were absolutely perfect.  It might have had to do with the fact that I went to this joint after snowboarding and I was probably dehydrated and my electrolytes were probably out of balance, hence the craving for sodium.  The second time I went to this place, it wasn’t as good as the first time (now I sound like I’m talking about doing drugs- you can never chase the first high, right haha) for some reason.  It still tasted really good but the broth didn’t taste as good as it did.

Nevertheless, it is still delicious.  I agree that they have probably the best pork slices in their ramen in town.  The other places just don’t compare.  For some reason, the pork usually tastes somewhat “stale” at the other places, but at Santouka, the pork is very fatty and tastes really fresh.  Yes, fatty pork tastes good.  So sue me. Continue Reading →

I love eating good food (as you all know) and I love finding great deals.  My friend introduced me to this place, it’s located in swanky and posh Kits (on West 4th) and it is an Italian restaurant.

Trattoria is part of the Glowbal restaurant group (basically a cluster of different types of posh restaurants sprinkled all around Vancouver).  Normally i wouldn’t really eat there just willy nilly because their pastas are quite expensive.

The pastas range anywhere from $15 to $22 a plate but on Tuesdays every pasta dish is only $11.

Yes, even the $22 spaghetti and Wagyu beef meatball with truffle cream sauce is only $11!  Which is exactly what I had because I like to be cost effective that way.  I also had the wild mushroom fusilli, and the spaghetti and Wagyu beef meatball with spicy basil tomato sauce with herbed ricotta.

The wild mushroom fusilli was delicious because of the pancetta sprinkled throughout the dish.  If you don’t know what pancetta is, it is basically Italian bacon.  The bacon is so thin but it’s so tasty!  The wild mushrooms didn’t taste very wild (nor did they look wild because they really did look like your average button mushroom to me) but they did taste good.

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If you’ve ever been to Vancouver, you’ve likely visited Chinatown and the associated, notorious Downtown Eastside about one block away from Chinatown.

Save on Meats has been a Vancouver fixture since 1957 with its neon, glowing flying pig sign.  As a kid I used to walk by that place with my mom and stare at the hanging carcasses of meat in the window (alongside window watching at the nearby Woodwards Christmas decorations of course).  Save On Meats had a little mom and pop diner in the back as well where you could get a decent burger for $3.50 with fries.  You just had to walk past the crack addicted individuals asking for spare change.

A few years ago, Save On Meats closed.  Everyone was worried about what would happen to the sign (well, maybe it was just me who was worrying since I worry about everything constantly) since it is a quintessential Vancouver fixture after all.

Thankfully, a Vancouver restauranteur bought Save on Meats and revamped it (I mean…REVAMPED it.  No more carcasses hanging from the ceiling).  They made it posh and hipster.  Now there are 30-45 minute line ups to get to the diner.  LINE UPS.  It is now hip and cool to hang out in the Downtown Eastside (as much as residents of the DTES don’t like the gentrification). Continue Reading →