Fish on Rice - Burnaby South

Biting off more than I can chew.. This happens to me quite a lot. The voice of reason in my head often goes unheard and my impulses take over.

How does this relate to Fish on Rice? The first time I dined here (keep in mind it's all you can eat) I grossly overestimated how much I could really eat, and left feeling as though I was about to burst.

Unfortunately for my girlfriend, she had to sit and wait for 30 minutes as I slowly ate my meal, struggling to finish each bite.

Well this time would be different, I told my self I can always order more if I'm hungry, just order one prawn tempura not six.. The price isn't too bad for dinner here, it's $21.95/person which, yeah you could get a decent meal at a sushi place for two but oh well. This also includes a soft drink.

We got the requisite sunomono, I got tako sunomono, which I believe is had octopus in it..(please correct me if I'm wrong). I like to start of the meal with something acidic like this since I'll be eating raw fish, I feel better making my stomach acid more acidic.

We of course got some miso soup because..well why wouldn't we?

I like the miso soup here, better than some regular non AYCE places.
I wish I could find miso soup mix at the store that actually tastes good..I have tried some store bought stuff and it wasn't great.

Beef Tataki is one of the sole reasons we got for AYCE, I think we ordered 40 pieces of this..it is just so amazing. I don't often see this offered at regular sushi spots, and if it is, it's usually fairly costly, so we order a generous amount here. A definite must for any patron of Fish on Rice.

Crispy Chicken Skins, hmm these are really not my thing. Crispy chicken yes, but deep frying the chicken skin..they may taste good but my mind says no. They do taste great dipped in the sauce from the beef tataki (fyi) but do some cardio to help your heart after.

Here we go, something I can do.. Chicken Karrage, I love wings, these are wings, therefore I love em. There was a lot of batter but oh how do I love that crunch.. my poor body.. very tasty.

I did not realise that when I ordered the Deep Fried Gyoza, that they actually had a coating on them when they got fried, I thought they were just regular ones tossed in a deep fryer. Nonetheless I enjoyed them, very hot when they came out but very good.

I was unaware that ika meant squid, so I was pretty pumped when they brought out calamari. I'm not sure what it is but I just love the taste of it. Naturally I had to order seconds of the Ika Karrage.

Next, the Spicy Scallop Cone, and the..I'm not sure cone..(I forgot what it was). I really like the spicy scallop cone, but wasn't too big on the other one..unfortunately I don't remember what it was so I will most likely order it again.

Despite the less than pleasing aesthetics, the Spicy Tuna roll was good. I can't help but order this one anywhere I go because they are always so d*mn good! There was quite a bit of rice, so I was happy I only got two because the rice fills me up so quickly.

Lastly, I got the Burnaby Roll, and the Vancouver Roll. I am unsure of which one was which but  I didn't enjoy the one with the smoked salmon on top and the cream cheese. The cream cheese was very strong tasting and ruined it for me, the other roll was similar to a california roll but also had prawn tempura in it.

The first two times I had dined at this restaurant I was about ready to write it off and not come back. I did not really enjoy my meals that much and didn't think it was worth going.

This trip put the restaurant back in my good graces and I will probably return  again. If I stick with what I like and don't go overboard, a pleasant meal can be had.

Sui Shah Ya - Lansdowne Centre, Richmond

I told myself I was going to stop going to All You Can Eat sushi. I guess I didn't remember because after driving to Kwantlen in Richmond with my girlfriend we found ourselves at such an establishment.

I don't know Richmond at all, I do know there is a plethora of Asian restaurants to chose from but I had no idea where or what to get.

We ended up going to an AYCE place in Lansdowne Centre. The reason i'm not partial to AYCE is because quite often the quality and the service are terrible.

Assortment of items:From the Lunch Menu $11.95+ tax

Your standard ebi sunomono. It was actually not too bad. Not too tangy or sweet, the noodles didn't stick together, quite decent in my opinion.

Miso Soup. Very bland and too much tofu for my liking.

Green Salad. My girlfriend had this. She didn't comment on it. I'm sure it tasted like any other green salad.

Beef Teriyaki. I thought this was very tasty. The beef was thinly sliced and there a nice amount of flavor on it.

Chicken Teriyaki. I did not like this dish. The batter on the chicken wasn't very good and the taste just wasn't there.

Oyster Motoyaki. I liked the oyster part but I am not a fan of the mayo sauce or whatever they use to cover it. It wasn't this restaurant specifically just in general I am not a fan of it. It does look cool though.

Chicken Karrage. Who doesn't like chicken wings? These were very good, nice and crispy and not too greasy. I ordered a spicy one as well (pic not included) and it was delicious, probably my favorite part of lunch.

Salmon Sashimi. These tasted really good, the texture was nice on the salmon and it felt fresh but I am not sure what the little gray marks are on them, anyone care to explain? 

I'm not going to sugar coat things, the rolls were not very good. The yam tempura roll was very soft, not crispy. The spicy tuna roll was very bland, as was the beef teri roll. Maybe some of the other rolls are alright but I was not a fan of these.

I was not disappointed with the meal but I was not happy either. I mean I don't expect great quality when I go for all you can eat but I at least like to have the rolls tasting good. I did really like the chicken karrage, and the nigiri sushi was good.

I didn't enjoy the service. When we were finished our first order of food (we only did one order) no one stopped to ask us if we wanted more or wanted the bill or anything. I assume they want those 20 minutes to happen so you are full and don't order anything more, in our case I just wanted to pay and nobody was asking if I needed the bill or anything.

Tusker House, African Lunch Buffet - Disney's Animal Kingdom

Located inside Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Tusker House restaurant is a more expensive spot to eat where, "the flavors of Africa are drummed up in exotic lunch and dinner buffets that include a variety of vegetarian and meat-based options". Having had a pretty cheap breakfast we thought we would treat ourselves to a nice sit down lunch buffet at a signature Disney restaurant. There was no line up to be seated and the wait staff was incredibly friendly. The old woman who seated us was really trying hard to put a ring on my girlfriends finger because she was "beautiful" and "not overweight like many other woman" .. I had a good laugh with her.

The buffet items were in a separate, high ceiling room with the dessert station in the middle and the rest of the food lined around the walls. I didn't take pictures of every individual food station (still feels kind of rude to me) so I just took a quick overview shot. The selection wasn't huge (I would have liked to have seen more options) but I found many things I liked and stuck with them.

The lighting wasn't the greatest inside for pictures, but the interior consisted of lots of African art and pictures on the walls, while the tables and chairs were darkly stained wood.

This picture really sums up what I ate. I know I need to work on my plating presentation but I am still new at this! The little croquette looking things are mini corn dogs, no they are not gourmet but they sure were tasty and I couldn't get enough. The had the usual roast beef carving station, unfortunately like most buffets it is cooked to please the masses (meaning not rare enough). On the right you can see a bit of a chicken wing, these were quite tasty. The roasted potatoes were very very good, I'm not sure what spices were used but I enjoyed them a lot. My favorite part of the buffet was a seafood stew, it consisted of mussels, prawns, and scallops. I have no idea what the sauce was on it but it tasted incredible.

They had a little station with pita bread, crackers, and different dips. The hummus was very good (big hummus fan here) and I wasn't sure what I thought of the other dip. I think it had cous cous in it and some parsley and what not but I don't recall if I liked it or not. I apologize for the lack of pictures taken, I was just enjoying myself too much. I really enjoyed the Tusker House, not just for the food but the experience was a good one as well. I would have liked to see more variety of dishes and some medium rare meat but other than that I have no qualms and would recommended it if you ever find yourself hungry at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

One last snack before we left the park. Even though it was incredibly hot I was craving a pretzel. A particular jalapeno & cheese one caught my eye and I was helpless against it. Regular pretzels are good enough but add jalapeno and cheese and you have a winning combination right there...I think Vancouver should get a pretzel cart somewhere downtown, just saying..

I hope you enjoyed my post about the Animal Kingdom. There is still many more eats in Disney to write about so stay tuned for more!

Fish on Rice- Burnaby

Oh the joys of being young. Getting to eat copious amounts of food and not think twice. Despite my better judgement after reading many negative reviews of Fish on Rice my stomach took over my girlfriend  and myself went out to enjoy a nice romantic dinner consisting of All You can Eat Sushi.
Often times I find myself at an Asian restaurant and not all the menu items have an english translation and it leaves me confused and worrying that I won't order the right thing...This time however I was prepared, I checked out Fish on Rice's menu and googled the Japanese words I didn't know and wrote them down on a paper to bring along so that I would actually know what I was getting.

We started off with two miso soups, two ebi sunomono and an order of gyoza

ebi sunomono

miso soup

gyoza

Only complaint was with the ebi sunomono, the noodles used in it were clumped together and kind of chewy, miso soup and gyoza tasted just like any other place.

Next came some sushi cones, a chopped scallop, spicy tuna, flying fish roe, and one random one.

Sushi Cones

 I've only ever had sushi cones at All You can Eat places and these ones tasted just like any other place, I did really like the chopped scallop one.
Next the Teryiaki came. The beef and chicken one were great, I was huge on the salmon though...bones in it ugh

Beef and Chicken Teriyaki

Salmon Teriyaki

 I won't waste too much time talking about every single item since it is AYCE.

Vancouver, Dynamite, Beef teryiaki, spicy tuna rolls

Oyster Motoyaki

Assorted Nigiri

I liked the beef nigiri, it is not an item I have seen before at other restaurants and after eating Steak Tar Tar I have no qualms eating raw beef. I don't know why I always the Oyster Motoyaki, I never enjoy it and yet I have ordered it again..  I was a little grossed out by it this time, after getting the oyster out there was a nice pool of oil filling the cup, c'est terrible, maybe I will learn my lesson and not order those anymore.

Next up some more raw food, Tuna Tataki, and Beef Tataki.
Both were tasty. We also got beef short ribs, which I thought were pretty gross, too much fat very greasy..I guess that is what ribs are about though.
We also ordered crispy chicken skins. I was hesitant to try these because at home we could cook chicken skin and give it to the dog...not 'shudder' eat it for ourselves.

Tuna Tataki

Beef Tataki

Beef Short Ribs

I ordered five pieces of Prawn tempura..not knowing that my girlfriend didn't want any. There was a lot of batter compared to the prawn and after eating five of them I wasn't feeling too great.

Prawn Tempura

Crispy Chicken Skins


 I had ordered three things each of spicy tuna and salmon sashimi..big mistake. The tuna smelled terrible, really fishy not fresh at all. The salmon was ok but the spicy sauce they used on it was not very good. I ended up ordering way too much food that I could handle and my girlfriend sat laughing at me as I slowly struggled to eat everything.

I did not think this place was as bad  (service wise) as people said it was. Our waiter was nice and not zombie like at all. One good thing about this place was you got a free pop with the meal, which was about a dollar cheaper than other places.

Food wise there was a lot of hits and misses, there were some items done well and others that weren't. I don't see myself coming back but at least I tried somewhere new!

If you don't care about quality and wish to eat until you get sick than this place is perfect for you. I myself would prefer to spend the same amount of money and actually get something I enjoy. 

Great Wall Mongolian- Downtown Vancouver

*Closed I think..The Great Wall Mongolian BBQ is located just off of Georgia on Denman St. There is no shortage of restaurants crammed into this area, however if you're looking for cheap eats like me the Great Wall is your place. With tax an all you can eat dinner costs around $12 which is a great value because variety here is only limited by your imagination.

First Bowl, A bit of everything

This is an all you can eat joint in which you get to choose exactly what meat, veggies, and sauces you want, all cooked in front of you. I love the options you get at this place. There is an extensive list of sauces you can add to create unique flavors. All one needs to do is grab a bowl, choose from beef, lamb,chicken or pork (all 4 is my preference), add whatever veggies and noodles you want, and lastly choose from 12 different sauces and watch it all grilled up in front of your very eyes

Complimentary Biscuits

I've gone to other restaurants of the same variety, one on Robson and one in Coquitlam and this one was my favorite. Each time I go I find a new combination of sauces that make it all the better.  Part of the fun of going here is watching the chef grill your food up in front of you. It adds a little something different than the regular dining experience.

Second Bowl

The pictures I took didn't turn out very well but I've added some more from urbanspoon:

All pictures property of KimHo



Ordering process

food being grilled

choice of sacues