2006 July » Marz 格子

Ain’t we all tired…

無題 (whatever) July 30th, 2006

We’re tired - that’s why we run.

We’re tired - that’s why we smoke.

We’re tired - that’s why we drink.

We’re tired - that’s why we spend money without thinking.

We’re tired - that’s why we do all sorts of things but not sleeping.

Some people don’t understand why, neither do I.

When your heart takes over your mind.

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Grand Island Seafood & Steak House

西餐 (western), 飲食 (m-food) July 29th, 2006

Before going into this post… I just wanna scream!!!!! ARGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG. Too stressed out lately. GOD. Well… Luckily, I got some chances to unleash all my negative energy. 4 out of 5 of the people I know are under huge stress these days. I guess we just have to find a way to deal with it.

Another evening on the weekend…
Occasion: ACWC’s bday dinner
Location: Grand Island (see below for more info)
Time: 7:30pm
Attendees: 10ppl
It was a very nice saturday evening. Driving on Kennedy Road, heading north, made a right turn on Carlton, I saw this hexagon building. Wondered why I haven’t seen this building before. When I got there, this grand island was already full of customers. The majority of the customers were Asian - maybe it was because of the location… or because of the owner is Asian (although most of the servers were non-Asian).

Sat down and looked around. It was a special building - not only its shape, but also the design. Looking up, you could see that high ceiling, on the floor you could see the sail. Very relaxing. If you want, you may go outside and sit at the patio. We started ordering at around 8pm. The menu was good - with lots of seafood items, lobster (which it is well-known for), salmon, mussel, shrimp, king crab, scallop, blah blah blah blah… Of course, you can also get the steak, lamb, chicken breast from there. It’s a “Seafood & Steak House”!!
I love seafood! I always say I’m a fortunate person.

Despite the fact that I can gain a lot of weight from eating, I can eat anything I want - So far, I don’t think I have any food allergy. YEAH! I basically eat anything (of course… the normal edible stuffs). What I ordered? Steamed Lobster + New York Striploin Combo (with lobster bique, ceasar salad, and tiramisu for about 39 bucks). Don’t be scared - I didn’t eat all of them by myself! I shared them with my friend, AH.

Lobster Bisque - it was good!!! I could tell they used fresh lobster in it.

DC ordered the Oysters in Shell, but he said it was ok…

Shrimp & Crab Mango Salad - looked good! Didn’t try it though - maybe next time.

Pasta Primavera with Grilled Chicken Breast - ordered by our healthiest person in the gang - TB

Grand Island Fettuccine - not sure if it was any good. I usually don’t order seafood pasta w/ cream sauce (no special reason though).

New York Striploin - yumm! It was juicy and tender - I liked it.

Seafood Risotto - LW ordered this. Looks hearty and healthy.

Steamed Nova Scotia Lobster - It was fresh - just like my friends told me. Some people even told me to pre-order the lobster before I go in case they all sold out. For about 20 bucks, not bad. But you know, all the sides are sold separately. i.e. You pay 20 bucks only for the lobster. If you want mushroom or steamed veggie, etc. Those cost about $4 per item.

Broiled Nova Scotia Lobster - VN and AC ordered this. As usual, VN got the fries. I wonder if the brown rice was any good.

Dessert - I thought we would get our tiramisu, but we got two of this instead… maybe it was because we had a birthday boy that night. But this dessert was so-so.

The end of the night… my camera was finally out of battery for the first time (since I bought it in May) - So I took the picture with my cell phone. This is where the 51 years old black singer sang. He was really good - I liked it when he sang Love Story and the Sound of Silence. It’s really good to have live music. I loved it. I would say it’s a good place for couples. (Especially, moms and dads should like the old songs.)

Outside the main entrance… taken with my cell.
I like this place overall. Although the service was EXTREMELY slow (servers were polite, just…. SLOW!!!) - maybe we had a huge group of 10 people and the night was fullhouse. The food was good. I guess I would go there again if I have a lot of time. For the price range, you can visit their website. Aside, I heard that the reason why they get fresh seafood is that the owner of this place used to be seafood exporter.

FYI: Grand Island Seafood & Steak House
Unit 201, 538-548 Carlton Road, Markham, ON. L3R 0C6
Tel: 905-479-5999

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Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro

日本菜 (japanese), 飲食 (m-food) July 25th, 2006

Another Japanese restaurant… Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro near Woodbine and Apple Creek. (For the meaning of Daikoku, click here.) Friday night after work, me and two girl friends of mine decided to come to this Japanese Ramen place. I remember this place… It was still under renovation during my first visit to Royal Teahouse early this year. At around 8pm, the restaurant was about 1/4 full, which wasn’t so good for a Friday night. When I first stepped in, I quite like the atmosphere there - a bit of a fusion - lounge feel - also depends on the music they play.

Looking at the menu while waiting for JL, flipping over the pages, I like its design, but it was a bit overwhelming to look at the selections - you know… sometimes it’s not the more the better. At the end, I saw this: “additional $5.00 charge for every item” if you bring any outside beverage or food - “chik - chak” Picture taken. At the same moment, a waitress came by and told me no picture is allowed. Oh well… So I thought… fine, I’ll keep my camera in my purse. However, at the same time, I heard a loud “chik-chak” sound coming from another table! It was from a girl taking pictures of the food w/ her cell phone.

So, I was like… forget about the camera, I’ll just do it with my cell phone! Friends, bear with the quality of the following pictures, they are not as good quality as the usual ones as my cell phone is 2.0 mega pixel instead of 6.0; also it was kinda dark inside the restaurant. Look at the tea pot and cup set, they’re just adorable.

Here’s what we ordered…

墨汁拉麵 (can’t remember the proper English name), Skewers, Daikoku ramen (miso base), “Black curry” ramen. I think I like the 墨汁拉麵 the best. All the other stuffs were just ok. The texture of the ramen wasn’t that good - it becomes a big soggy after 5 minutes. We also ordered a “wild rice vinegar w/ honey”, which is quite nice - vinegar is good if you drink it once in a while. JL ordered a “house-made” apple calpis.

It was nice to chit chat with the girl friends, can’t remember when I had a girls night out last time. Since we were talking and chatting all the time, the waiting time didn’t seem that long. We stayed there til about 10:30pm. The service was ok. The waiter was good in terms of filling the tea.

Saturday night - went to Daikoku again, this time with my bf. I didn’t intentionally to go there, but we just ended up going there coz he didn’t feel like Thai/Viet, and there were only 4 major restaurants in that area (Woodstone, Mini Viet, Royal Teahouse and Daikoku). Looking at the sky… It was so beautiful.

At around 8:30pm, there were more customers in this place - much better than Friday night. I also noticed that the people who went there tend to be younger. The waiters/waitresses were the same ones as yesterday’s.

Friday night while we were tasting the food, JL mentioned that this restaurant is run by the same group of people who ran 橫綱 (Yokozuna) at Commerce Gate. I think she’s right, especially after looking at their dessert menu and trying their ramen. Quite a long time ago, we’ve been to Yokozuna, and found their egg-wrapped rice quite good. Although there was only the “egg-wrapped ramen” instead of rice on the menu, we still ordered that anyways. The taste was good, but the portion was small. We also ordered the Philadephia roll and U571 maki - $7-8 for a 4 pieces roll, well… the taste was quite good, but it was a bit pricy (don’t you ever underestimate your customers… we know the price range!!!). I ordered the Teriyaki salmon rice… however after a long wait, when we have finished all the egg-wrapped rice and Philidephia roll, the waitress came and told me they ran out of rice!!! God. That’s unbelieverable for a restaurant to run out of rice!

Therefore, I had a ramen instead of rice. The portion of the teriyaki salmon was also relatively small. Overall, the experience wasn’t that great - a bit pricy for what you pay for & not too professional service. The first night, 3 person paid $18.5/person (after T&T); second night, the total was around $40.

I don’t think I’d go there again.

FYI: Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro
8865 Woodbine Ave Unit #D5 in Markham
Tel: 905-307-3328

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