Tag: yegeats

With Late Nights, You can always count on Tomo!

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I forgot to bring my camera guys!!! Nuuu, I should just always bring it (knowing how spontaneous I can get sometimes :p)

Justin came up from Calgary and as tradition we do our last-minute meet-up. This happened on a Sunday late at night, like 10 pm. It always starts with “What should we do?” and then follows up with “Where should we go?” So we end up going to IZAKAYA TOMO, because you can always count on them opening till late!!

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Justin pouring Tomo’s “pure” water (they sell this). When I asked them what would make their water better than Edmonton’s tap water (which is one of the cleanest and safest waters to drink by the way), they said it’s filtered more. With more probing they said it’s drinking soft water, so it has less calcium…

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Oh my goodness, they had toro in the house!!! TOMO IS ALWAYS OUT OF TORO EVERYTIME I COME HERE. Well, except for this other time… But I was so excited they had it, MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH.

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If I had my camera, you would see the glisten even clearer. All that fatty goodness bursting with flavour~

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Justin ordered some seaweed salad (so healthy). Not my cup of tea in terms of taste, BUT it is good for you so I would recommend it if you want to be healthy~

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Justin got some sashimi~ That IKA, SO FRESH. It reminded me of the ones from Tsukiji market. So creamy and sweet.

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This looks kind of strange but it’s… -drum roll-… BRUSSEL SPROUTS! Yes I know, it is kind of strange to order brussel sprouts at a Japanese restaurant. But believe me when I say they make some gooood brussel sprouts. It has a nice grilled outer layer, and the vinegary sauce with that parmesan cheese (I think it’s that, it’s a pretty sharp tasting cheese) makes a perfect combination. For anyone who doesn’t like brussel sprouts, they should definitely try this. (let me know if it changed your mind)

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I decided to be more adventurous and go try a new dessert~ The crispy honey bread served with vanilla ice cream and a coffee bean powder dusted on top. THIS IS HELLA GOOD. But very fried and not the healthiest haha (but oh well). It has a nice crispy crunch with a perfect amount of sweetness in the bread. I’m also a sucker for warm and cold contrasting desserts, so the warm bread and cold ice cream made it so yummy. Plus the coffee in there helped your taste buds take a break from an overload of just sweet honey.

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Let’s end this post by another look at this beautiful toro. Look at the cut!

 

Love. Mish.

Is it bad I’m already ready for the next long weekend?… XD

What’s your comfort food?

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The weather’s getting colder and it made me think back to when we went out searching for something warm to fill up our bellies. WE ORDERED TOO MUCHHHH.

Let’s learn some chinese! 眼阔肚窄 yan3kuo4du4zhai3. In cantonese we say it a bit differently, but direct translation turns into big eyes, small stomach. Does that give a hint?! Basically feasting with your eyes and forgetting how much the stomach can actually hold :p. We usually say the phrase after we’ve ordered wayyy too much and can’t finish.

I guess the problem is that we always seem to have these cravings later in the night. Luckily Hong Kong 852 (used to be Cafe de Tropika) is open late!

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Simple but yummy dish. Sliced beef balls with udon noodles! For some reason, I absolutely love the texture of udon… I can eat packs and packs of it with only soy sauce (not good ahaha). This dish was slightly saltier than I like though.

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Hot sweet and sour soup!! Our absolute favourite, but out of all places we tried we still think the best one is at Shanghai 456 haha.

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I first tried this on my second time to Hong Kong 852. A really kind family took me here and soon after I fell in love with it! Anyone who has ever came here with me knows I always liked to order this. A beautiful puff pastry sealing a fragrant lobster bisque inside!!! SO YUMMY!

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Ah! Thousand year old egg and salted pork congee. I still have yet a chance to try and make it! You usually use duck or chicken eggs to preserve it and then it takes a combination of lime, ash, clay, and rice hulls to make it. It should take around 4-5 weeks. It has a creamy texture on the inside and on some eggs you can see beautiful snowflake-like patterns on it!

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The Hong Kong style curry beef brisket is a common dish I’d get. Though I wish it was more piping hot when it came out! Mom often scolds me because it’s not necessarily the healthiest dish to always eat.

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This borsch soup came with the curry beef brisket. It’s just a nice vegetable soup. The price is really good though ($14) for soup and a dish.

 

That’s it for today!!!

-Love Mish.

 

1. Nudoru Ramen Bar (I)

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Overall score: 3.8/5

Ordered:
             -Nudoru bunger ($9.00 for 2)

-Make your own noodles ($13.00)

Nudoru bunger
Spicy miso ramen
Shoyu ramen
steamed bun, pickled pears, sweet miso sauce, pork belly

We were off to Whyte and decided to try out this ramen place people were raving about! I’m in love with the noodles… thick, house-made noodles that cling together to hold up the soup! Just lovely. D’:

Presentation:                    3.5/5
Overall, the presentation of the food is average. I was really tempted to move around how they placed the individual ingredients inside the bowl before taking the picture haha. I wish there was some pop of colour or something for the dishes.

Health:                                  4/5
Reminds me of my mom’s cooking! There are some places that I went to before where the soup is very oily, and the buns leaves a film of oil around your mouth. But not here, just the way I like it! It wasn’t too salty either.

I heard the noodles and buns etcetera are made in-house! This is exciting, because it means ingredients can be made fresh, without buying from other places where they tend to add in preservatives.

They do have a vegetarian option.

Atmosphere/location: 4.5/5
It is near the new escape room 出xit, and located conveniently on Whyte ave (very accessible). Right when you walk inside, there’s a beautiful dragon painted on the wall, Japanese tea whisk-inspired lights.

It is spacious, relaxing and open, and the seating is good for 2-4 people. I’m pretty sure they can push together the tables if you had more people.

Cost:                                  3.5/5
The cost is pretty comparable to other places that sell ramen as well. It was a filling meal with just the two items we got. In terms of the ingredients, I believe that with the in-house made noodles and buns I think the price is pretty good. I know how much effort it takes to make those. (><)”

Taste:                                3.7/5
–Nudoru bunger: The pork belly tastes just like what my mom makes; it is more on the boiled and soft side. The main flavours I found came from the sweet miso paste scraped on the bottom of the bun, and the lovely pears that paired (hehe) nicely with it. I don’t think I would’ve been able to take as many bites without the pears as the concentrated miso taste would’ve been a bit strong for me. So make sure you taste a full bite!

I feel like they missed the grilled scallions for our buns though… I think that would help add some other depth to the flavour. The bun is nice and pillowly, and doesn’t leave a film of the bread stuck on the roof of your mouth (not sure if you guys experienced that before).

–Spicy miso ramen: I have to say this is one of the best noodles I’ve had in a while in Edmonton ramen places. It is the thick and wavy kind that has a yellowish hue. The noodles kind of cling together to hold the soup (which is awesome, especially to capture the miso bits), so each bite has flavour! The noodles is definitely my favourite part, just a really nice texture!

The individual components I got was: nori, soft-boiled egg, pork belly and cabbage. There was 2 pieces of nori, and a marinated soft-boiled egg (in soy sauce I believe). I did wish they gave a bit more cabbage, it was a very thin layer of it on the top of my soup. The pork belly was okay, it was the same boiled one as the one in the bun, but I felt like it didn’t really stand out at all in the ramen dish.

I find individual components in the ramen just as important as the broth and noodles itself, and I felt that if they had a seared or crunchier, maybe even more marinated pork belly it would add some different textures in the overall dish.

The broth was good and piping hot :), I tried a bit of the shoyu one, and I’m glad that you can actually differentiate between the broths. It is more of a kotteri (rich) broth with the miso in it, and I was surprised how they used chopped up chili peppers for the heat rather than most places that would use a powder or chili paste.

I noticed in some other pictures that they had the long japanese soup ladle before, but we got a long spoon (it was more awkward feeling in my hands).

Service:                              4/5
They had friendly service. Not much to say haha. Maybe could be bit more organized or attentive? We didn’t have napkins or the pencil for marking etc… and we had to keep asking for the items individually. But other than that it was good~

EEEEEE that’s the first post, have a lot to improve but it’s just me thoughts~

-Love Mish.