EXP Restaurant + Bar

Phone: (604) 558-1337
Address: 309 W. Pender St., Vancouver, BC
Hours: 5:00pm to 12:00am Daily
Website:  http://www.expbar.ca/
Date of Visit: Jan. 28, 2013

EXP Bar is a video-game themed restaurant, and one of the few themed restaurants in Vancouver. Despite being opened for about a year already, they’re still in their soft-opening phase. Their original vision was to create a social meeting place for gamers that also serves alcohol, basically an arcade and bar. However BC’s liquor board put a stop to this as EXP bar has a food primary liquor license, the video games would take away from the food. So now, instead of of game consoles hooked up to the flat screens, they just have gameplay footage showing on them. It seems to me they’ll be in their soft opening phase until this issue is resolved. Personally, I think this still works. Sure I would like the option to play some video games too, but would you really want alternate between holding the controllers that have been handled by other patrons and shoving some nachos or fries down your mouth?

 

SPECIAL NACHO STAGE

Super Smash Nachos 7.5/10

• Nachos topped with cheese, pulled-pork, Italian sausage, and sour cream.
• Pulled-pork was a little dry, but still good.
• The Italian sausage worked pretty well with the nachos.

Overall, the nachos were a pretty simple dish, great to to start with with some beer. However, the plate the nachos were served in made if difficult to evenly distribute some topping onto each individual nacho.

MAIN QUESTS

Chocobo Chicken BUrger 7.5/10

• Chicken could have been a bit moister and crunchier .
• Garlic sauce really tied all the ingredients together.
• Needed more bacon.

Ubi Poutine Burger 5.5/10

This burger wasn’t necessarily bad but, it’s a burger, topped with fries, and served with a side of fries. You’re basically ordering a hamburger with cheese curds and some gravy for sauce. I don't know why my buddy ordered it. If you really wanted gravy, I’d suggest you pay the small surcharge and upgrade your fries to a poutine.

Beyond Mac & Cheese Burger with Poutine Power-Up 6.5/10

Like the poutine burger, the mac-and-cheese burger is another interesting combination. The mushiness of the pasta doesn't work too well with the burger patty. The mac-and-cheese also lacked a distinct taste that was expected from being made with dark beer. The poutine needed more cheese curds.

Tri-Force Burger 8/10

• 6oz beef patty, fried chicken, & two thick slices of bacon.

This burger should be EXP Bar’s signature burger. There aren’t a lot of places that regularly serve a burger made from (at least) three different animals. The Tri-Force char mark on the burger added a cool cosmetic touch.

ATMOSPHERE

It’s a theme restaurant, so some effort on the decor was expected, after all, naming menu items after an item or character from a video game can only do so much. Throughout the restaurant are replicas of video game characters and items. Even the bathroom (which were relatively clean, safe for #2) was decorated with video game posters. Adorning the walls are flat screens playing video-game game play footage, and in one of the corners was a DJ station. I was surprise to find that the restaurant wasn’t as loud as expected.

SERVICE

There was only one waitress on duty during our visit, despite that service was still pretty quick and our food arrived within a reasonable amount of time. That said, they weren’t very busying during our visit, I would expect service to decline greatly if it was.

VERDICT

I thought their focus would be prioritized on the atmosphere over the food, however, the food here was pretty good. The portions and price were pretty reasonable and on par with a dive bar, except you get much better atmosphere. While it may seem EXP Restaurant + Bar is catered more towards a niche audience, I would recommend this restaurant even if you’re not a gamer and you’re just looking for a place to eat and have a drink with some friends.

No. 1 Noodle House

Phone: (604) 999-1111
Address: 1 West Cordova Street, Vancouver, BC.
Hours: 11:00am-5:00pm, 6:00pm – 2:00am
Website: http://www.no1noodlehouse.ca/
Date of Visit: Apr. 30, 2013
Parking: Meter parking along street.

No. 1 Noodle House is a "pop-up” ramen restaurant. Opened by restaurateur, Mark Brand of Save-on-Meats, there has been some anticipation being built up around this restaurant recently. No. 1 Noodle House is basically a test kitchen, serving a very limited menu and aimed towards the late night crowd, closing as late as 4:00am (if they still have any food leftover). In addition to ramen, they also serve beer, wings, and a bahn mi sandwiches.

  

Ramen

Shoyu Ramen 2/10

• The noodles themselves were okay at best.
• Broth was very bland, just step up from watered-down soy sauce.
• Pork was chewy.
• Fresh greens were an interesting topping.

I ordered the shoyu ramen because their signature spicy chicken ramen was unavailable. The presentation was surprising and out of place with the overall dive atmosphere of the place. I don’t like being so critical, but taste-wise, this may be the worst bowl of ramen I’ve had. It was like someone with minimal prior experience preparing a bowl throw something together to imitate a bowl of ramen. The overall dish was bland with no redeeming aspects. Portioning was on the small side too, but I guess that wasn’t necessary a bad thing. Good thing there was a bottle of Sriracha hot sauce on the side to aid the dish.

To give the readers some more perspective, here’s a bowl of Toyo Suisan instant ramen. Compared to the ramen served at No. 1, well, simply put, it blows it out of the water.

ATMOSPHERE

• Most of the seating was available as pic-nic tables. Sit wherever there’s a spot.
• Sticky seats.
• Reminiscent of a dive bar/pub.
  

SERVICE

• Service was pretty quick.

VERDICT

I realize No. 1 Noodle house is in its initial soft opening stage at the moment, and they’re still working out the kinks, but this may be one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a while. It’s like a dive bar experimenting with some new menu items. If they remain open past their 7-month “pop-up” period, it may be an indication things have improved. However, at the moment, for the same price, you could head over to West End and have an actual bowl of ramen. I really couldn’t recommend this place.

Haroo Korean Homestyle Cuisine

Phone: (604) 284-5596
Address: Central Richmond#2000, 8580 Alexandra Rd, Richmond, BC V6X4B3
Hours: Open for dinner daily, except Tuesdays. Open for lunch on weekends.
Website: N/A
Date of Visit: Apr. 03, 2013
Parking: Parking available at strip mall lot outside or meter parking along street.

Haroo is a small family owned Korean restaurant located on the second floor of a strip mall on Alexander Road.

 

Banchan

Juk 7/10

• Warm rice porridge with bits of jujubes.
• Light and bland flavour
• Thick consistency

This was the first time I had rice porridge as a starter. I don't particularly like rice porridge, however, I did not find anything I disliked about this starter other than its blandness (which it is supposed to be).

Banchan and House Salad 7/10

• House salad was dressed with a light berry-based dressing, quite refreshing and pallete cleansing.
• The selection of banchan (side dishes) was pretty standard. There’s the braised potatoes, the kimchee,, beansprouts, and I’m not too sure what the one of the far left is. I believe its some kind of braised root.
• All pretty tasty.
• Side dishes can be refilled once.

PERSONAL MEALS

TOFO SOUP 7/10

• Cooked and served in a stone bowl, arrived very hot, and served with a bowl or rice.
• Soft tofu was used.
• A raw egg was added.
• There were several options  for the protein to choose from. We ordered beef, pork, and bulgogi. Despite the differing protein, the soup tasted same.
• Soup was light, and savoury, although a bit bland.
• There was a lot of tofu in there, but not a lot of meat.

BIBIMBAP 7/10

• Cooked and served in a stone bowl, arrived very hot.
• Topped with a sunny-side-up fried egg.
• There was a good portion of vegetables, however, not a lot of protein to balance it out.

PLATTERS

MODEUM JANGBAN 8/10

• Pan-fried dumplings and firm tofu served on a bed of stir-fried vegetables and topped with beef. Served with hot and soy sauce.
• The dumplings were great. Pan-fried so that the wrapper had a bit of a crunch while the filling was still juicy and not overdone.
• The exterior of the tofu was chewy, the center soft. They could have benefitted from being coated in some starch before pan-frying for that extra crispy.
• The vegetables and beef weren’t very notable.

ATMOSPHERE

• Clean and cozy atmosphere.
• Seating was comfortable.
• Restrooms were clean.

SERVICE

• Despite that there was only one wait staff, service was quick and attentive.

VERDICT

Haroo is definitely one of the better Korean restaurants in Richmond. The food is good, service quick, atmosphere clean, and prices reasonable. Haroo is more of a place for a quick casual meal. I wouldn’t recommend arriving with a large group and space is limited, there are plenty of larger Korean restaurants nearby better suited.

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Phone: (604) 681-8121
Address: 1690 Robson St., Vancouver, BC
Hours: N/A, Open Lunch to dinner
Website:  http://www.santouka.co.jp/
Date of Visit: Feb. 28, 2013
Parking: Meter parking along street.

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka is another extremely popular ramen restaurants in West End, Vancouver and , a popular chain of ramen restaurants in Japan. Urbanspoon currently has Hokkaido Ramen Santouka as the highest rated downtown ramen restaurant. Ramen Santouka has a wider selection of items on their menu than most other ramen restaurants. Each bowl of ramen can be customized from the amount of lard and salt in the broth to the doneness of your noodles. I’ve been meaning to try the place for a while to find out if it is in fact arguably the best ramen in the city. However,  nearly every time I walk by, there’s a queue, so I keep on walking. I took the next opportunity to try this restaurant as soon as I saw no line-up with pretty high expectations. Here’s a quick review.

Check out my review of  Kintaro Ramen here.

 

Ramen

Kara-Miso Ramen & Ikura Gohan Combination 8/10

• The broth was indeed rich and flavourful, the saltiness was accompanied by a distinct pork flavour. While the broth on its own was very salty, it was fine with the ramen. It was not however, very spicy.
• The chasu (pork) had a good balance of protein and fat.
• The ramen could have been chewier.
• Fair amount of toppings on the ramen.
• Ikura gohan lacked ikura.

I ordered the Kara-Miso ramen while Shio, Shoyu, and Miso ramen is available at any other ramen restaurant in Vancouver, Kara-Miso is not. The menu describes it as a spicy version of the miso ramen. I didn't opt for any other customization options.
When the bowl arrived, the first thing I noticed was that the portions are smaller than other ramen restaurants nearby. Nonetheless, with the side, it was still enough to fill me up. Another thing was that the broth was served cooler than what I’m used to. Santouka claims this is the optimal temperature to enjoy the broth.
I was impressed at the balance of fat and protein on the pork. Unlike some other ramen restaurants where the pork is either too fatty or not fatty enough, Santouka seems to have had found the perfect balance. Flavour and texture wise, the only comment I have to say is that it was delicious.
The ramen it self was a bit of a let down. I thought it was a bit overdone and would have benefitted from some bounce in the texture.  Note, the ramen is not fresh, they arrive to the restaurant wrapped in plastic. However, I don't think there are any ramen restaurants that serve fresh ramen in Vancouver.

As for the ikura gohan, well, it wasn’t impressive at all. It’s a very simple dish but the balance is all wrong. The ratio between ikura is way off, there simply was not enough ikura to accompany the blandness of the rice. There enough ikura there for maybe one and half pieces of nigiri sushi, two if served with slices of cucumber. This was for a bowl of rice.

Miso Ramen 8.5/10

I ordered a bowl of miso ramen too as a comparison for the Kara-miso. I actually enjoyed the flavours from dish better than the previous. I found that the addition of the spicy components actually took away from the broth.  

 

ATMOSPHERE

• Crowded.
• Seating was uncomfortable, and spacing was cramped and limited.

SERVICE

• Service is quick in order to maintain their high turnover rate.
• Water was refilled regularly.
• They enforce a minimum charge per person rule.

VERDICT

I’ll have to agree, the ramen here is pretty good, no better ramen in Vancouver comes to mind. However, I would say its debatable whether its worth standing in line outside for (from what I’ve heard) an average of 30 minutes only to be squished in cramped seating. I would recommend dining strategically in the mid-afternoon. Of course, do definitely give Hokkaido Ramen a try if you love ramen, but with so many other well-reviewed ramen restaurants nearby, your options for ramen aren’t limited.

Samurai Sushi House

Phone: (604) 325-8597
Address :  5888 Cambie St. Vancouver, BC
Hours: 11am to 9pm
Website: N/A
Date of Visit: Mar. 30, 2013
Parking: Parking in back or along Cambie Street.
Whenever I visit Samurai Sushi House, I generally order the sashimi. The quality and preparation of food here isn't great and sashimi requires minimal preparation. On closer examination, you could see the fish was not cut with skill, there are bits hanging off here and there. There were even a few times where the bones have not all been picked out or not fully defrosted. However it still tasted fine for the price I paid. The fish served here is a bit on the bland side by the way, sometimes, I would have to drench the fish in soy sauce due to the lack of flavour. Still, the fish here is much better than some all-you-can-eat restaurants.
I generally order the Hamachi sashimi because its comparable to those served by much higher end restaurants depending on the cut (I think its from the same supplier).

SASHIMI

Salmon and Hamachi Sashimi 7/10

• Salmon Sashimi is sliced in large uneven portions.
• Tasted relatively fresh, or rather, recently defrosted by the fishery.
• Hamachi Sashimi was slice thinly in this picture, however, they have been sliced in pretty large portions before.

Whenever I visit Samurai Sushi House, I generally order the sashimi. The quality and preparation of food here isn't great and sashimi requires minimal preparation. On closer examination, you could see the fish was not cut with skill, there are bits hanging off here and there. There were even a few times where the bones have not all been picked out or not fully defrosted. However it still tasted fine for the price I paid. The fish served here is a bit on the bland side by the way, sometimes, I would have to drench the fish in soy sauce due to the lack of flavour. Still, the fish here is much better than some all-you-can-eat restaurants.
I generally order the Hamachi sashimi because its comparable to those served by much higher end restaurants depending on the cut (I think its from the same supplier).
 

SUSHI

UNAGI TEMPURA ROLL 7/10

 

• Fair amount of deep fried and roasted eel gives a nice contrast to the soft avocado.
• Large portion of avocado.

This is another item I regularly order when I visit Samurai Sushi House. An Unagi Tempura roll with avocado is commonly found in other sushi restaurants. More importantly, its not found in any of the combos, meaning, its likely not prepared ahead of time. Some of their more common items like the salmon maki roll is prepared ahead of time and sitting in room temperature waiting to be sliced when someone places the order. It's not the most appealing thing to eat. Moreover, its not packed with rice in order to give o a larger appearance.
 

ATMOSPHERE

• In short, bad. Order your food takeout.

SERVICE

• Also bad. Order your food takeout. Sometimes you get thanked after you pay them.
• Food is prepared fairly quickly.
• They once made a mistake on my order and they rectified it the next time i visited.

VERDICT

While the price has gone up over the years and the portions dwindled marginally, they still offer some the largest portions for the price. This establishment is not a place I can recommend unless you're looking for some cheap sushi. The only reason I keep returning its because its conveniently located on my way back home. They do offer a discount if you place your take-out order by phone in advance, but they do prepare food pretty quickly and your order may be sitting on the shelf for a while.

Arduino 16*2 LCD, Ultrasonic Sensor, and Temperatur Sensor

OBJECTIVE

It has been a while since I've done some work hobby work with the Arduino prototyping microcontroller. I decided its time to dig out my kit and build something and reacquaint myself. Something simple to start, yet new.

Main Components

• Arduino Uno 
• HD44780 16*2 LCD display
• SR04 Ultrasonic Range Sensor
• LM335 Temperature Sensor

Design

Working with an LCD display can make things simpler. Generally, I used the LCD display to display sensor information but it can also be used to display the stages of the code written running. This comes in handy for debugging and gives me the option of not having to rely on the serial monitor.

Unfortunately, the LCD display takes up a lot of pins on the Arduino board, just look at tutorial here.
The solution; I bought an IIC serial mondule to act as the interface between the Arduino and LCD display. The LCD display now only requires two pins, the serial port on the the Arduino, A3 and A4.

Well now that I have the LCD display working after some trouble finding the correct libraries, I need to find some information to output on it. This is where  the ultrasonic range sensor comes in. They're pretty easy to work and generally pretty accurate. A line of code to to make the calculation for distance given time it takes for the ultrasonic wave to bounce from the emitter to receiver and speed is all that's needed.

distance = (duration/2) / 29.1;

As you can see, that's pretty close. My tests indicate the accuracy starts to decrease when distance sense reaches above 1m despite the manufacturer says its good for up to 4.5m. Maybe I need to fine-tune my code a bit or there's some interference.

Now that I have the distance sensor working and the LCD, there a number applications I can think of just by adding more lines of code and maybe a button or two for user input.

• Door Alarm/Greeter
• Motion Detector
• Height Finder (through the use of triangulation)

Now I have one more component to add, the temperature sensor. The voltage output of the sensor scales linearly with ambient temperature, so calibration would be pretty simple. For this quick project, I didn't bother. Since I wanted a portable device, I added a power supply module for my breadboard as well.

A few more lines of code and some time wasted troubleshooting the code only to discover the problem was a lose wire, here's the result:

I'm have not come up with any ideas for applications for a device needs both the temperature and distance, but it's great to see everything working as intended. If I push my creativity further and spent a few hours writing some code, I'm sure I can find a few interesting applications for these two sensors. I should probably calibrate the temperature sensor though, 70 degrees is way off.

Kintaro Tonkatsu Ramen

Phone: (604) 682-7568

Address: 788 Denman St, Vancouver, BC V6G 2L5

Hours: Tuesdays to Sunday 12:00pm to 11:00p, closed Mondays

Website:  N/A

Date of Visit: Mar. 29, 2013

Parking: Meters along street.

Kintaro Ramen is one of the first and most popular ramen restaurants in West End, Vancouver. They boast to serve hand made tonkotsu ramen, although I have no idea which part of the bowl of ramen was actually handmade. Located at the busy corner of Denman and Robson where several other very popular ramen restaurants (such as Santouka and Benkei Ramen) have opened up, line-ups are to be expected. Kintaro Ramen was so busy during my visit that orders were being taken while people were still in line. Their menu is relatively simple compared to other ramen restaurants offering only ramen with BBQ pork in your choice of Shoyu (soy sauce), Shio (salt), or Miso soup base and a few sides (such as gyoza). The option to choose between fatty or lean slices of pork and a light, medium, or rich soup base is available. They do not accept credit cards.

Ramen
 

Shio Ramen (Fatty Pork Slices & Medium Soup Base)
6.5/10

• The pork bone broth was pretty heavy. There were so many bits of pork fat suspended in the broth that it was almost creamy. While I could really taste the salt used to season the broth, I couldn't really taste the savoriness of the pork bone.
• The noodles had a nice, chewy, springy texture
• The highlight of the bowl; the BBQ pork, or Chasu, was fatty, flavorful and tender.
• Toppings were minimal; an overcooked hard-boiled egg, green onions, sprouts, and bamboo shoots.

Perhaps my expectations were too high given the massive amount of hype surrounding the place, but I couldn't find much memorable about the ramen they serve here. The bowl of ramen served at Kintaro was pretty large and you do get a decent amount of ramen. The broth was a let down and it did get very salty after a few sips. The only redeeming quality of the dish was the large piece of chasu, although the dish could have greatly benefited by adding a second slice.

Shio Ramen (Fatty Pork Slices & Light Soup Base)
6.5/10

Here's a picture of the light soup-base for comparison.

Miso Ramen (Lean Pork Slices & Rich Soup Base)
6.5/10

I expected the lean pork slice to be a bit on the rough side but it was actually fine. You get a few more slices when ordering the lean pork.

SERVICE

• Service was minimal. Our order was taken while we were still in line to get into the restaurant. We waited for our food to arrive once seated.
• The line up was about 15-20 minutes during the Friday dinner rush.
• They were very busy, so dont expect attentive service.
• Water was filled frequently.

ATMOSPHERE

• Decor is minimal. 
• There are a few small tables along the wall, a few bar-seats, and a big communal table by the window. Space was sparse.
• Seating was cramped and uncomfortable.

 

VERDICT

 
With plenty of ramen restaurants in Vancouver, (there are several big ones only a few minutes of walking away), Kintaro holds its edge by offering a more affordable pricing, larger servings, and better chasu with their ramen. However, my overall experience with Kintaro was okay at best. While the ramen was decent, with the line-ups and cramped seating inside, I'll be trying another place nearby the next time I want ramen.