604: Mak n Ming

My friend and I came here for the Vancouver Dine out and to feed the hype. This would not have been my pick from the Vancouver 2021 Dine out since it's not that much cheaper than ordering from the regular menu, but my friend wanted to give it a try and was able to reserve a table, so I decided to give it a try.

This restaurant is located in Kitsilano and parking was a pain. The restaurant is small with only four or five tables, but it has a warm and cozy atmosphere and offers outstanding customer service. They are known for their innovative, contemporary fusion dishes. We basically tried everything on the Dine Out menu and all I can say is that it's good but it's not mind blowing. It looks exquisite but doesn't taste extra fancy. The food tasted alright? Nothing was impressive enough to make me want to return.

For the same price point, I'd much prefer Pidgins or Kissa Tanto for a fusion dinner.

Oh well, at least I've participated in the #hype and could check this off from my list.

📍 Location: Kitsilano, Vancouver

Menu: Here

💵 Price:

$70 pp (Vancouver Dine Out Pricing ) - $100 pp

🤤Taste: 3 / 5

📈 Price Performance ratio: 2 / 5

Retention Rate: 0%

🕯Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🪑Seating: ⭐️⭐️

2021 Vancouver Dine Out Menu

604: Vij's

The first time I had Indian food was at @tastyindian with my friend. He ordered all the renowned traditional Indian food to ensure I get a full on experience and made sure that I understood fully that “butter chicken” isn’t part of the national dish (he at least said it 3 times and compared it with the Chinese orange chicken from Panda Express lol). It was really good but unfortunately, I wasn’t used to the herbs and all my internal organs were like on fire. So I haven’t had Indian food since 🥺🥺 But my friend assured me that Vij’s is a more toned down version with a fusion twist. We ordered the “Thali” at Vij’s which we get to choose four dishes from the entire menu. My friend and I strategically ordered two Thali trays and had 7 different dishes to sample with. Other than the goat, everything was really impressive. My favourite was the lamb in cumin coconut curry (which we made sure to order one from each tray - wise decision) and the beef in Bengali style creamy curry. They also offer chai tea as a complimentary to everyone at the table. My friend decided to be adventurous and ordered the “nice guy chai” cocktail which he praised highly of.

Overall, it was a very fun experience. Thank you @eatdrinkvijs for the wonderful meal with the lovely fusion twist, and making it possible for me to enjoy it fully without any agony 🤣

If you had never tried Indian food, start with Vij's. It's the best place as an introductory for beginners.

Location: Here

Menu: Here

What we ordered (Rating out of 5):

1. Rainbow trout in coconut and fenugreek seed masala and sour cream curry (Rate 4.2)

2. Goat in Punjabi style curry with spiced vegetables (Rate: 2.8)

3. Braised grass-fed PEI beef in Bengali style creamy curry with naan and rice (Rate 4.6)

4. Lamb in cumin-coconut curry with tomato sauteed vegetables (Rate 4.8)

5. Kale, jackfruit, cauliflower in coconut curry with spiced pumpkin seeds (Rate 4.2)

6. Sauteed eggplant and bell peppers on fenugreek potatoes and cream curry (Rate 4.3)

7. Local Kalonji chicken curry with green onion/tomato green lentils (Rate 3)
   

Price: $45 pp

Overall Taste: 4.2 / 5

Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Seating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Price Performance ratio: 3 / 5

604: Milkcow (Richmond)

Whenever I'm in Japan, I'll get a soft serve ice cream from Cremia. Their soft serve has an intensely rich, milk flavour that only Japan produces this distinct dairy flavour. Luckily, Vancouver has an ice cream store that sells soft-serve ice cream that resembles this Japanese ice cream. It's still not exactly the same but it's 80% close.

My top pick from their menu are Milk Way, Milk Honey and Milky Comb. Any additional toppings would have covered that unique dairy flavour, which is the whole reason why I'm here in the first place.

I also tried the Ube flavour and the tiramisu flavour. The Tiramisu ice cream is just sponge cake, that's overly-soaked with coffee liqueur, topped with vanilla ice cream and cocoa dusting; and the Ube flavor isn't strong enough in the Ube ice cream.

So I think I'm just gonna stick with the Milky Way or the Milk Honey in the future.

P.S - this place definitely beats Soft Peaks. The dairy flavour is a lot stronger at Milkcow.

📍Location: Here

Website: Here

💵 Price: $5 - $7 per cup

🤤 Taste: 4.7 / 5

📈 Price Performance ratio: 4.5 / 5

Retention Rate: 100%

🕯Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🪑Seating: ⭐️⭐️⭐