Jang Mo Jib (Richmond)

Eating is one of my favorite things to do and one of the reasons why is because usually you get to surround yourself and spend time with the people you love the most. Having my family here from the Philippines was a great reason for us to go out, celebrate and eat! so when we were deciding as to where to go for dinner the other night, my mom suggested to go to Jang Mo Jib since they have big dishes, great tasting food and a lot of parking spots for us to park in.

Located on Alexandra Road beside Sheraton hotel, Jang Mo Jib is well known for their delicious and quite expensive Korean food. This restaurant is an amazing choice if your eating with a large party because of their huge portions of food and their all you can eat side dishes! I mean who's to argue with refillable food? even if it's just kimchi or potatoes, I'm happy with that! (Better than nothing right?) Their food is pretty darn good especially when it comes to their hotpots, noodles and chicken wings. Whenever we come here we would usually order their Ghal Bee JJim (hotpot), Yang Nyum Chicken (if you love spicy food, the spicier the better!), Jab Che (Sweet potato noodles), Hae Mool Pah Jun (Seafood Pancake), Tohng Gal Bee (Beef short ribs), Bibimbap and their Bool Go Gee (Stir fried beef rib eye). The food might be a bit on the heavier side though since there's a lot of meat, carbs and refillable side dishes, but I think it's still worth taking in the calories especially if it's awesome Korean food! One of my favorite things about eating in a Korean restaurant too is because of their tea. I do love tea in general but there's just something special about Korean teas that makes it unique. It has a very different taste compared to what Chinese and Japanese restaurants offer and for me it just taste way waaaaay better! 

What I also like about Jang Mo Jib is that the restaurant itself is very spacious, so you don't really have to worry about being seated in a cramped area. Also, parking in this location is better than other restaurants located on Alexandra Rd because (guess what??) they have their very own back parking lot! (Yey!) so even though we went on a Friday night there's still tons of spots for me to park! Which is super awesome because less pain for the driver! (aka ME!). Overall I would have to say that even though Jang Mo Jib's price range is on the higher side, it's still worth indulging yourself to a Korean feast once in a while.. especially if you're getting the quality and taste that you're paying for.

 Jab Che

 Gahl Bee Sal Bool Go Gee

Side order of lettuce

Gahl Bee Jjim

 Yang Nyum Chicken

 Hae Mool Pah Jun

Las Vegas Summer 2012: Serendepity 3

Summer vacation calls for a trip to one of my favorite places in North America.. LAS VEGAS! For some reason, Vegas just reminds me quite a bit of home. The food (especially the buffets!), the weather (during summer time), the shopping and the hotels just brings me back to when I was still living in the Philippines. I just recently came back from Las Vegas and on our first day there, we decided to head straight to one of my favorite places on the Strip.. SERENDEPITY3! Located in between the Bellagio and Ceasars Palace, Serendepity 3 is a restaurant that is famous for their foot long hot dogs, sundaes and frozen hot chocolates. Founded by Stephen Spruce in 1954, Serendipity also holds the title for making the world's most expensive dessert in the Guinness World Records for their Golden Opulence Sunday that costs at $1000 per order! (Insane right?) 

By the time we got to our hotel, it was already pretty late because we were caught in line for about an hour just to get through immigrations at the new Terminal (which by the way just recently opened a week before we arrived) so by the time we got to the restaurant it was already around 8:30pm. If you guys haven't been to Serendepity3's Las Vegas branch, you would be surprised at how busy this place is! Practically every time I pass by the restaurant there are always people waiting in line to go in the restaurant or by their take out window. It doesn't really matter if you go on a weekday or weekend because you'll always see a line outside this place. When we went last year we ended up waiting around an hour and a half before we were given a table. This time however we ended up only waiting for 45 min which is a big improvement compared to our last trip, but it was still busy being that it was already 8:30pm when we arrived. Honestly though, I wouldn't mind waiting in line for 2 hours at this place because serendepity3 is actually one of my favorite restaurants in Vegas. If you don't want to wait as long for a table or maybe you want to order their food to go, they also have a very convenient take out window outside their restaurant that offers a simpler menu of their main menu. The wait time is shorter than waiting for a table but most of the time there's still a huge line up outside .. so be prepared to wait!

Every time we come here we would usually order their "All in Nachos" (my favorite!), "Crab Cake Salad", "Don't be afraid of my alfredo", "Mushroom burger" (it's a vegetarian burger), and their "A.B.C. burger". I've been wanting to try their foot long hot dogs for quite some time now because I always see a lot of people ordering it whenever I'm in town. Like last year, we ended up ordering quite a lot of food already so I didn't really get a chance to try it again this trip but hopefully on my next visit to Vegas, I'll get my chance to see why people like to order their foot long hot dogs so much. Another item that I (for some reason) am always excited about is their "All in Nachos"..  as simple as it is, the mushiness of the black beans with the crunchiness of the chips and melted cheese, along with the gummy taste of the meat just goes so well with the avocado, sour cream and salsa that it comes with. Every bite blends so well in texture and taste that it just makes me lose control of my eating habits! Honestly, I think this is one of the best tasting nachos that I've had and I could probably eat a whole order or two by myself because it is just that good! I'm not really sure if a lot of you guys prefer this kind of nachos but if you are in town, I would suggest to give their nachos a try.. you'll never know.. you guys might end up liking it as well!

And Of course (let's not forget!) a trip to Serendepity3 ALWAYS calls for their frozen hot chocolate for dessert! If your in any branch of Serendepity3, whether New York, Las Vegas or somewhere else.. you have to order their frozen hot chocolate. This is a must have item in every location! I promise you, your missing out on something special right here if you don't give yourself a chance to try it out! They have a number of frozen hot chocolates to choose from in their menu but usually we just settle for their regular sized original frozen hot chocolate or their strawberry frozen hot chocolate. For us, one order of their regular size is already good enough for 4 people to share but of course if you feel like indulging yourself in cold rich hot chocolate.. why not order one just for yourself ;p The summer weather in Las Vegas is pretty much burning hot especially in July and August. I think the highest temperature that we had to get through this trip was 48 degrees, and in the span of 7 days.. I was pretty much tanned without even trying to tan! That's why Serendepity3's frozen hot chocolate also comes in super duper handy in the summer for cooling off from the scorching heat! In my opinion, the taste of their frozen hot chocolate is quite similar to how a chocolate milk shake slushy would be but more enhanced and much better than your typical chocolate shake. What makes their drink more unique than others is that they have their very own blend of chocolate mix that they make and use for their frozen hot chocolate. They also give you the option of customizing your very own frozen hot chocolate with toppings such as strawberries sauce, peanuts, fresh berries, marshmallows, pb cups, candied almonds and etc for only a dollar each, which makes it even cooler because you get a chance to dress up your frozen hot chocolate just the way you like it.

I also really like going to Serendepity3 because it reminds me a lot of being in a malt shop. I remember reading a lot of Archie comics growing up and whenever they would go to Pop's shop, I would always wonder how it would look like when it's real. Serendepity3 is not really exactly the same as Pop's but it's more of like the fancier version of how a malt shop would be. If only they could open one up in Vancouver, this would probably be our new hang out place every weekend!

Frrrozen Hot Chocolate

All in Nachos

Steak Frites

Crab Cake Salad

Double Decker Grilled Cheese with a cup of Tomato Soup

If you guys are planning on going to Las Vegas, I would suggest you guys to put Serendepity3 on your must try places on your trip. I hope you'll get a chance to try out and like this place as much as I do and hopefully wait as shorter of a time as I did going into the restaurant because the lines just seem to get longer and longer every time I go.

Doughnut Adventures part 4: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

My friends and I decided to go do a late night Krispy Kreme run the other day to go grab some of their doughnuts because apparently after 9pm, all of their doughnuts are 50% off! (I didn't really know about this until my friend told me about it but isn't it awesome?!) The down side in all of this is that the only Krispy Kreme store that we have here in BC is located in Delta (7153 120th street Delta, BC) which is around a half hour drive from Richmond.

I haven't had Krispy Kreme in a long long long time and let me tell you, eating my first Original Glazed doughnut in 3 years was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I'm seriously not exaggerating, I haven't had Krispy Kreme in that long and the last time I had it was when I went back home to the Philippines! When we arrived however, the store was already closed so we had to buy our doughnuts through the drive thru window. I really wanted to go in and have a look at their doughnut selections and see the doughnuts first hand but since they close at 9, the drive thru menu/pictures will do.

They have quite a lot of choices to choose from and as I have written in my last few doughnut adventure posts, I super love doughnuts with fillings inside especially if it's fruit filled! Krispy Kreme does have a couple of fruit/cream filled doughnuts (Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled, Glazed raspberry Filled, Chocolate Iced Custard Filled, Glazed Kreme Filled, Lemon FIlled, and Powdered Berry Filled) but since my family preferred the Original Glazed better and I was trying to cut back on my sweets, I just decided to buy a dozen of the original ones to bring home so I wouldn't be tempted to eat more than I was planning to (esp if they were fruit/cream filled ones). If I wasn't buying for my family, I guarantee you I might have gotten almost every single flavor of doughnut that they have and maybe another dozen full of the Powdered Berry Filled doughnuts (which looks so good in the picture by the way!). I'm sure a lot of people have already tried their doughnuts and most of you would know that their doughnuts are really really sweet. Unlike Cartems or Outpost, Krispy Kreme's glaze is intense in sweetness (well for me it's super sweet!) and although it's melt in your mouth good.. eating too much of it isn't really good for your health.

As late as it was when I arrived home, I was tempted to eat 2 of the doughnuts myself (which I am not proud of since I was supposed to be cutting back on sugar!). Eating one just wouldn't cut it especially after 3 years of depriving myself from Krispy Kreme. So I guess putting a Krispy Kreme in Delta was a good idea since I won't be tempted as much to go buy and eat their berry filled doughnuts! If there is one in Richmond, I would probably have diabetes by now.

Original Glazed Doughnuts

West Lake Vietnamese Restaurant

My little sister went to the dentist the other day to get her teeth checked and since her appointment was around 11:30 am, we decided to go grab lunch at West Lake since our dentist's office is only one store down from the restaurant. I haven't been to West Lake before and I was surprised to see how the place looks cleaner than most Pho places here in Richmond. Although usually a lot of my friends would say the dirtier the place, the better the pho! (or maybe that's just the people I know) this place isn't actually that bad taste wise even though it's cleaner looking compared to a lot of Pho places that I usually go to (such as Pho Lan). Located on a strip mall on no.3 road (105-4800 no.3 road Richmond, BC), West Lake is known for their create your own pho option where you can customize your own bowl of Pho according to how you like it. You start by either choosing a small or large bowl of Pho and then choose up to 3 toppings from the choices that they give you (Rare Beef, Beef Flank, Beef Ball, White Radish, Tendon, Tripe, Chicken Meat Ball, and Vietnamese Ham). They also offer great deals on their lunch combos where you can choose any entree, appetizer and drink from their lunch menu (depending on which combo you get) for either $9 or $10 (which is an awesome deal if you ask me). In a place like this, you won't really expect great service especially for cheap Pho, and to be honest I really don't mind it as much just as long as the Pho is good! Based on my past experiences on finding a parking spot in this area (from eating at boiling point and our visits to the dentist), the parking is not as bad as most places but then again I've only been here on weekdays so I'm not really sure if it might be more crowded on the weekends. Compared to most Pho places that I've tried here in Richmond, West Lake is in the middle of my food scale (which is: not that bad but it's not the best, and there are other places that are better). I would still prefer going to either Pho Viet, Pho Lan, Lemongrass or Pho Hoa for Pho but since a lot of people have different tastes I would recommend you guys to go give this place a try, you'll never know maybe you might end up really liking this place!

 Rare Beef Noodle Soup

 House Special Noodle Soup

 Shrimp Salad Roll

 Vegetable Salad Roll

 Side Order: Soup

Bbq RIbs