[Vancouver] Shady Island Bar and Grill

Location Review
3800 Bayview Street
Richmond, British Columbia



Today's restaurant review is located in the historical village of Stevenston nearby Vancouver. The area has lots of little shops, and a boardwalk guiding you along the scenic fisherman's wharf. I was told if you wanted to get fish and chips in the greater vancouver area, Stevenston was the place to do it. Shady Island Bar and Grill, claims that they have "The Best Fish and Chips on the Boardwalk". Those were some powerful words that warranted a try. Taste test time!

Shady Island Bar and Grill

[Vancouver] Sushi Garden

Location Review
4635 Kingsway
Burnaby, British Columbia

Located across from the large shopping complex that is Metrotown, is a strip plaza where today's restaurant review is located. Sushi Garden has two locations in the Greater Vancouver area, and is the restaurant that I've come back to each time I visit B.C. In a nutshell, it's really just too good to pass up!

Optical illusion

Let me clear up any misconceptions this deceiving picture may bring about. You may be thinking "Mary, this restaurant looks pretty empty, must not be very good". Well my friends, it didn't take 2 seconds after I snapped this picture, that people started flooding in. Sushi Garden was open for business in the books at 11am that day, but to our surprise we were able to be seated at 10:50am when we arrived. Felt pretty good to be the first customers in the restaurant!

[Vancouver] Kiriri Japanese Cuisine

Location Review
8780 Blundell Rd
Richmond, British Columbia



One of the many days during my Vancouver trip, my cousin Fiona took us all out to lunch near by her house at Kiriri Japanese Cuisine. From what I gather it's not a very well-known spot, but she loves it for it's authentic Japanese fare and fresh fish. But on top of that, she praised about a cute Kaiseki Set that is served there. At the time I had never had a Kaiseki before, so it was definitely a treat for me! :)

Kiriri Japanese Cuisine

[Events] Oktoberfest at Steam Whistle Breweries

So now that it is October, it’s only fitting that I do a little post on Oktoberfest, right? Right. But make no mistake, despite it commonly celebrated over Thanksgiving weekend, Oktoberfest actually starts in September, and lasts a total of 16 days. The very first Oktoberfest took place in 1810 in Munich Germany, and was to commemorate the marriage of a German King Ludwig to his bride Therese. 200 years later, this festival of beer is still celebrated by 5 million people all over globe. A ceremonial 12 gun salute and official tapping of the first keg marks the beginning of the 2 week long festival.

This year Oktoberfest began on the 22nd of September, and so last week I decided to join in on the festivities by attending Steam Whistle’s (@SteamWhistle)annual Oktoberfest celebration. Complete with a celebratory first keg tap, traditional German fare, and lots (and I mean LOTS) of beer, I just couldn’t resist going!

I made a trip out to downtown where the Steam Whistle brewery is.

Steam Whistle Brewery

[Coupeville] Mosquito Fleet Chili

Location Review
12 Front Street Northwest
Coupeville, Washington

They say that small towns have the best food. With all these big celebrity chefs, emerging fine dining restaurants, and commercialized food processing techniques, it's sometimes easy to forget how a homestyle handcrafted meal can be perfection. But it only took one road trip to Seattle during my West Coast trip to be reminded of this fact.

Somewhere between Vancouver and Seattle is a little town of Coupeville. I spent about a half a day here, and all I can tell you about it is that they have a beautiful lavender farm there, and a small downtown area by the water of Penn Cove. Their downtown consists of only a couple streets, and feels extremely historical. Kind of like Main street Markham, except instead of trying to make it look old on purpose, everything there probably was old.

So lunch time comes around, and we walk down a "busier" street that had a few stores and less than 5 restaurants. They were all pretty similar, so we scoped out each one for their menu. But really, it was one restaurant's sign that decided it all.

Mosquito Fleet Chili

A chalkboard from Mosquito Fleet Chili displaying daily specials and the words: "Award Winning Mussel Chowder". Well that settles it. Award winning food is more than enough to convince me to go anywhere!

[Seattle] Blazing Onion Burger Company

Location Review
3000 184th St SW, Suite 840
Lynnwood, WA 98036
Phone (425) 640-9100


A short family trip to Seattle during my west coast vacation brought me to Alderwood Mall for a bit of American shopping. My cousins and I roamed the mall, and really worked up an appetite. Naturally our noses found the food court, and we were presented with a couple rows of food court stalls, most of which didn't seem to appetizing. We were just about to skip dinner and continue shopping when in the very corner, we saw an entrance to the Blazing Onion Burger Company (@BlazingOnion)

We went inside, and it ended up being a full fledged restaurant, serving American style burgers. And to be honest, there really was nothing more I wanted after a long day of sightseeing and shopping than some good old American style food. Burgers? Bring it!

Alderwood Blazing Onion

[Vancouver] Octopus Garden

Location Review
1995 Cornwall Ave
Vancouver, BC



One of the first Japanese spots I went to while I was in Vancouver, was this much recommended spot in Kitslano. Everyone raved about Octopus Garden their fresh fish and authentic Japanese chefs, so one of the nights I went there to have a light dinner. We had practically been eating all day, so our orders were quite minimal, and we stuck to mostly the raw items.

The cute entrance to the restaurant. It's so warm and welcoming!