Eggs ‘n Things – Honolulu Special

We were strolling down the Waikiki strip looking for a late dinner and decided to pop into Eggs’n Things.  We passed by this restaurant daily and it seemed to have a line up all the time.

It turns out the line up at the door is because they require that you order outside before they take you in.  The line up is just because people are reading the menu deciding what to get.  This was an unusual arrangement.  After you place your order with the staff at the door, you are brought into a 2nd counter behind the door where you pay.  After that they will assign a table for you.

We got a nice window seat:

The restaurant has plenty of seating available when we arrived in the evening:

It had a strange line of seats facing the wall too.

We ordered Kalbi and Eggs:

This is basically a Hawaiian style steak and eggs meal which comes with a stack of pancakes.  The steak was tender and the eggs were cooked to order (over hard).

The pancakes were very fluffy and fresh.  We would say their pancakes taste a lot better than IHOP’s.

Next we ordered their plantation pork chops:

It’s like a ham steak with pineapple and an egg cooked to order with some pan fried potatoes.  I was not expecting the pork chop to look like this.  It’s pinked colored like ham, so perhaps it is Hawaiian style.

The pork chop was too salty for our liking.  Nothing spectacular about the egg.  The fried potatoes were way too dry. They were overcooked and did not have any fluffy potato texture left.

Eggs ‘n Things queuing system is a bit strange and inconvenient since customers have to order outside.  At least, if you are at fast food joints like McDonalds, you can order inside the restaurant.  We had high expectations for their eggs seeing that “eggs” are part of their name, but as you can see, they are just normal looking eggs which doesn’t really distinguish them from other greasy spoons. The best part of our visit was the pancakes.

SFDD gives 3 out of 5 Delights.

Ichiro Japanese Restaurant - Richmond

Ichiro is on the West side of Steveston Village serving authentic Japanese cuisine.  It seems to be run by Japanese servers and the sushi chefs look Japanese as well.  We haven’t been here for quite a few years since our last experience was just soso.  We brought out of town visitors here to try out so hopefully they have improved since then.

Cover of Ichiro’s menu. 

Their menu changed slightly from a couple of weeks ago when we passed by to look.  We asked the server and was told this is the new “Spring Menu”.  Most of the items and sets were the same.  The only difference was that all the prices shot up higher when compared to 2 weeks ago...

For starters we ordered a few different sushies.  On this plate are California roll, Dynamite roll and chopped scallop roll.

They cost a bit more than the other small takeout places.  Quality and taste wise, they were not bad nor spectacular.  At least the rice was cold which was good for sushi.

We also ordered the assorted sashimi trio.  It has salmon, taro and yellow tail. 

They were nice and thick.  One gripe was that the salmon had bones in it.  This was unacceptable for sashimi.  Even the all you can eat places we’ve been to in the past do not serve sashimi with bones.  We brought this up to the attention of our server and she was apologetic, yet mentioned it happens regularly.  Thus, you should be careful when ordering sashimi from this place.

Next was an assorted sushi plate with more California roll and various nigiri sushi.

Luckily no bones were in the sashimi. Overall it was quite fresh.

Next are the hot foods.

This is deep fried prawns in a spicy mayo sauce. The prawns didn’t seem to be coated with enough breading so it was not very crunchy.  The prawns were large but lacked flavor once you bite into the middle. Furthermore, the prawns just didn’t feel hot enough inside.

Grilled Squid: The taste was good except the squid was not tender enough.

Deep fried squid: This included some spicy mayo dipping sauce.  It was not overly fried and includes the squid tentacles as well.

Chicken Rice Bowl:

The chicken rice was odd because at the bottom there was lots of water.  This made the rice much too moist.  It was not overly flavorful either.

Eel Rice:

Eel rice was a bit pricey because of the eel.  The sauce was a unique sweet eel sauce, similar to teriyaki sauce.

Overall, the food quality was lacking.  Also, the food served here is very pricey and definitely not worth what they charge based on this visit.  We think some improvements need to be made to the food service before they can justify charging these prices.

SFDD gives 3 out of 5 Delights.

White Spot - Richmond Bridgeport

White Spot opened up their newest Richmond location where the old Ikea building used to be along Bridgeport road.  It’s located amongst several other big furniture stores around the area.

This White Spot has a large bar area and is more brighter than some of the other locations we’ve visited in the past.  It was a Wednesday evening when we visited this location so it was rather quiet.

We ordered a fish taco with Cesar salad.  The fish taco comes in a pair with salsa and tartar sauce.

The fish tacos were crispy and similar to other locations.  The fish was cooked well and remained moist inside.  The salad could have used some more sauce though.

Next we ordered the fish and chips (with Spot salad instead).  This was currently on special for $12 along with some other popular White Spot dishes.

The salad veggies were quite fresh.  The house dressing appears to have changed again as this time it was really thick.  The fish batter here is a bit different than other locations.  It’s better because it’s a lighter and fluffier so it was not as filling and did not feel as oily.  The fish was cooked perfectly.

This location was understaffed this evening.  Although there were not a lot of tables, there appeared to be only 1 or 2 servers running around handling the whole restaurant.  Thus, it took a long time to get a hold of our server whenever we needed extra water or napkins. We then had to sit around for a long time waiting for the bill, then waiting for the server to bring the credit card machine.  

We don’t blame the server at all because she was truly busy.  We do hope that management does a better job in arranging enough staff.  Another quick solution is not to seat customers so far apart.  Perhaps close one area, and have everyone sit in one section so the servers don’t have to run around so much.

SFDD gives 3.5 out of 5 Delights.

Chop Steakhouse- Richmond

For Dine Out 2017, we tried out CHOP in Richmond. 

Chop is located by the Sandman hotel so there an be plenty of parking available from the huge lot.  It might be hard to find if you are not from the neighborhood.  It’s next to highway 99 leading up to Oak St Bridge.

Inside the restaurant was like a maze because the dining area was separated from the bar area.  Chop also has 2 separate entrances, so make sure you go through the right one.  The washrooms were also very fancy.  There’s a large comfortable couch in side the men’s washroom.

We were lucky to get a Friday evening reservation but it was early for 5:30pm.  On the Dine Out menu online, they only showed a $30 dinner menu.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that they also offered a $40 menu as well.  Popular restaurants fill up fast for Dine Out.   

Our server was extremely friendly and pleasant.  After taking our orders we got some multigrain dinner bread.

Being a healthy multigrain based bread, it was kind of dry.  We would have preferred something like sourdough bread.  Nevertheless, this was easily fixed by adding lots of butter.

They didn’t have any beer specials that evening, so we ordered Granville Island lager from the tap.

We all ordered salad as a starter.  Here is a Cesar salad.

This is the artisan green salad which is a bit more unique than the Cesar.

Both salads were very fresh.

If ordering from the $40 menu, you get an extra appetizer.  Two of us ordered from the $40 menu so we shared the following appies:

The Crab Cakes here were nice and fluffy with a tangy chipotle sauce to complement.

Next are steak bites with some bbq sauce underneath and some horseradish aioli.

The steak bites were very tender and tasty.

For the main course, we had prime rib, cooked medium.  This is from the $40 menu.

We did not know it was going to be such a large serving!  It was also cooked perfectly red for medium.  The prime rib was very very tender and it really kicks the Keg’s butt!

Next is maple bourbon haddock.  This is from the $30 menu.

The fish was cooked perfectly too.  It  was not overcooked and remained very moist.  The sauce was a bit too overpowering though.  It was a bit too sweet for our liking but not entirely bad enough to ruin the fish.

Dessert time!

Tiramisu:

The tiramisu is served in a cup and was too creamy.  The lady fingers were too soggy though.

Warm apple crumble with vanilla bean gelato:

The apple crumble was sour and tangy but was perfectly balanced by the gelato.

We really enjoyed our visit to Chop.  Our server was very attentive, laid back and checked up on us several times to make sure things were OK.  The captain also came by a couple of times to make sure we enjoyed our meals.

We certainly like to come back to hang out during happy hour too as their happy hour menu looked quite delicious.

SFDD gives 4.5 out of 5 Delights.

Provence Mediterranean Grill - Point Grey Vancouver

When we heard that Provence was going to be closing down at the of this year, we thought it was a good time to go visit one last time to enjoy their well prepared dishes.  We were never disappointed from our previous visits.

We made a reservation for a  Halloween dinner.  It was is always busy at dinner time here.  It’s a rather cozy atmosphere and the service is always friendly.

Lets get on to the main dishes.

Beef Tenderloin:

This was cooked perfectly to order (medium rare)  Their tenderloin is always the best quality naturally seasoned served above fresh veggies.  Each bite will melt in your mouth.

It came with a large serving of fries on the side:

Next is also a popular dish at here, Bouillabaisse:

It is a soupy dish with lots and lots of the freshest and highest quality seafood like prawns, mussel, clams and fresh fish.  The seafood here is always flavorful and cooked just right.

Next is the Seafood Linguine:

We were very surprised that it came with so much fresh seafood!  It was almost like having the Bouillabaisse with added linguine as a bonus.  The linguine was cooked to a perfect al-dente texture, and was tossed in an attractive plum tomato sauce.

We shared 2 desserts.

Berry and white chocolate clafoutis:

Chocolate Terrine:

Surprisingly, both desserts were not overly sweet (as we prefer).  They were both beautifully presented.

It is sad to see this location close down.  Each time we come here for dinner, the food always surpass our expectations.  Prices are not cheap, but it is not unreasonable either given the quality, attention to detail and friendly atmosphere experienced here.

SFDD gives 4.5 out of 5 Delights.

Maui, Hawaii Special - Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar

Sansei Seafood Restaurant is a chain of Japanese restaurants in the different parts of Hawaii.  We visited the one in Kihei for an early dinner after a fellow tourist recommended it to us a few days earlier.

If you get here before 6pm, you can get 25% off most of the menu so we made it just on time at about 5:45pm.  The waitress was kind and said we didn’t have to rush o we took our time to review the menu.

We started with fried calamari.

The batter was light and the portion was just right for the two of us.  It came with a spicy dipping sauce, similar to the ones you use for shrimp cocktail.

We were not that hungry since it was still early, so it was going to be a light dinner, sushi only.  The server was overly generous with the wasabi and ginger. It’s hard to tell the proportion, but it was a large chunk.

We ordered the California roll on the right, and on the left is the Paia Make roll. the Paia maki was mainly a veggie roll with avocado, cucumber, nuts and some local greens topped off at the end that sprouted out like a flower.

We also ordered one of their specialty rolls called the Sansei Mango crab salad hand roll.  Instead of using seaweed, it’s wrapped in something called mamenori which is like a rice paper.  But at the time we ate this, we thought it was a type of lettuce due to the color and the texture.

This was a very unique roll that we’ve never tried before so it was quite a tasty surprise. It paired well with the peanuts, mango and the vinaigrette on the bottom.

The sushi's we ordered were better than expected and were very unique from our own experience.  The ingredients used were very fresh and were definitely made to order.  It’s too bad we were unable to sample more of Sansei’s sushi's this time.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.