Hyde Restaurant

So today is our 57th monthsary! Lol Yes, we still count the months! It's still important to us to at least be with eachother on the 26th of each month. It shows that our love and relationship has lasted another month and holds strong :) So I did some research and found this restaurant "Hyde" located on 2960 Main Street. We were surprised at its location because we pass by that block many times and never knew it was there. It's also kind of easy to miss driving by, the banner roof thingy is black and the font is slender. We got there at about 3:15pm for a really early dinner/late lunch. It's a small space they have and we sat in the corner. It was kind of busy, or just looked like it since it was a small space. We got our menus and water right away without even asking. Wow, the ambiance was really nice and a change from what we're used to seeing. The restaurant has a Tim Burton-inspired theme with remnants and icons of Alice in Wonderland. They used a lot of bold colors and I adore the purple walls :) We do admit that it was a tad bit dingy especially if there was no sunlight shining through and the paint job on the wall was terrible when inspected up close.

 We also got a feel that many of the customers come to it as a bar/pub. Bryan had noticed a lot of the people around us were only drinking beers or other drinks and had no food on their tables. It may have been that they hadn't ordered yet, but who knows..
Finally to the main attraction: the food!

  We ordered one of their "Chesire Burgers", 'The Duchess" which was a chicken patty stacked with boccocini and pesto, lettuce, tomato, onion and a pickle. You can choose a chicken, beef or veggie patty for all their burger creations. It's also served with fries, soup or salad. I obviously chose fries. This meal was $11, not bad at all if you ask me! Bryan and I split the burger, and boy, did we loooove it!! The pesto gave it a great zing! and the chicken was tender and juicy. Fries were nice and crisp too. Here's a close up of the burger:

The other dish we ordered was the Mussels and Fritts. For $13 you get a healthy serving of fresh salt spring mussels served in white wine and garlic. I love seafood, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it today. Probably because I was overcome with the white wine taste that covered each mussel. I had about 5 pieces out of about 20. Bryan however, was okay with the mussels and enjoyed eating it. We both liked how it was topped with the 'fritts' ( it was really thinly cut fried potatos, like fries), that made it extra delicious.

We both agreed that we would definitely come back here another time. Considering the quality and taste of food, price, ambiance and service, we rate it 4 out of 5 stars. YUM!
Overall, Hyde gets an 8 out of 10 rating.

Happy Eating, xoxo
Dina & Bryan

Tokyo John Sushi

Today after work, I met up with Bryan for a late lunch. My boss had told me about this place, so we decided to try it out. Tokyo John Sushi is located on Cambie Street. The ambiance and service was what I expected from a Japanese restaurant - average modern decor and lovely service. No wait time for a table and we sat right by the window. One thing which was disappointing was that the tea served was cold! not hot, not warm, but cold! Even when Bryan got a refill of tea, still cold... I ordered the lunch box special for 7.95 (available until 3pm)

It came with 6pcs california roll, beef teriyaki (or you can choose chicken), 3 pcs tempura, salad and miso soup. The salad had no taste and was very watery :( the california roll was average. The shrimp and yam tempura were delicious, and for the first time, I saw the yam cut into a square shape! lol I got excited about that. And the beef teriyaki over rice was good, but I've tasted better. I quite enjoyed the miso soup as well.

Here I am slurping away at my miso soup!

Bryan ordered the Oyako Don. It's chicken, egg, and this slippery, translucent thin noodle on top of rice. I had a taste and it was yummmmy. Warm cozy food! The sauce tasted great. It was also $7.95.

We also ordered a Golden Dragon roll to share. It was nice when the chef came out to serve it to us. It was a bit of a splurge at $11.95, but we hardly get specialty rolls and this was definitely worth it.

It had tempura, avocado and ASPARAGUS! and topped with a special white sauce and teriyaki. We loved it!

Also something good to know, is that they have brown rice available instead of the traditional white, for an extra dollar per roll. I really like that idea especially if you're watching what you eat, but unfortunately we're also watching our wallets!

In the end, we would definitely come back to Tokyo John!
Overall, Tokyo John gets a rating of 8 out of 10.

Happy Eating! xoxo

Dina & Bryan

Denny's 99cent Grand Slam!!

This isn't a NEW restaurant persay, but I wanted to blog about our CHEAPPPP breakfast/lunch at Denny's today. For one day only from 7-2pm you could get their Grand Slam for only 99cents!! We went to the Denny's in Richmond, which is the nicest and one of the more modern Denny's locations we've been to. There was a big crowd of people all waiting to be seated when we got there. As we stood there, we saw many turning away and leaving after finding out the wait time, which was claimed to be 45 minutes for us and everyone else. We thought "this is definitely more than a 45 minute wait!". But to our surprise we got called after 40 minutes of waiting :)
Our order came within 3 minutes! There's my plate above; they must've ran out of the larger plates, because my meal was stuffed onto this small plate. And we were using plastic cutlery, which is understandable due to their promotion. So the Grand Slam included a good serving of scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, 2 pieces of bacon and 2 yummy fluffy pancakes :)  Here's Bryan happy with his meal:

We both agree that this dollar meal at Denny's beats Ikea's dollar breakfast! =o
Based on their 99cent promo, Denny's gets a 9 out of 10. (only turn off is the wait)

So...did you get your 99cent fix of breakfast at Denny's today??

Happy Eating! xoxo
Dina & Bryan

Burgoo on Main Street

So for our first official food adventure, we decided to go out for lunch at Burgoo on Main St. We've driven by this place many times and always wondered what it would be like inside and how the food tasted.

 Upon arrival, we were seated promptly. Although, I asked to be seated by the window and was informed that they save those spots for groups of 4. There was hardly anyone there at 11:45am, but it did get busy - almost full house- within 15 mins. So, I was fine with being seated elsewhere....until...I saw another couple seated by the window when there was clearly more available seats for 2 inside! ANYWAYS, the whole restaurant was on the smaller side, had a small bar and we felt like we were in a warm cozy cabin which was nice. Our server was okay, after we had ordered and asked for water, our water came after our food! The table beside us, who arrived 10 mins after we did, even got their water and drinks first! So, that ticked us both off. 
Now, time for our FOOD. 
Bryan ordered the Kentucky Burgoo

This dish is a stew of slow-cooked meats with lima beans, corn, tomatoes, cabbage and okra served over garlic mashed potatoes (or you could choose their Burgoo biscuits instead of potatoes)

Bryan gives this dish a solid 8 out of 10. I had a taste of it too and would give it a 8.5! It was really tasty and had that comforting homecooked taste which we both agree on. But what we also agree on is that for $16, it is slightly overpriced. The portion was average. Bryan says he felt full but wasn't totally satisfied, wanting more of something. 

I ordered the "Tastier Chicken" Sandwich with Spinach Salad

The sandwich consisted of roasted chicken, melted brie, apple, cucumber, red onion and greens with house Dijonnaise, served on multigrain bread.

The spinach salad included apple, red onion, bacon and Feta cheese, finished with bacon thyme vinaigrette.

I would give this a 7 out of 10. It tasted average to me, nothing over the top. The chicken was on the dry side and the bread was tough to bite. I had to pieced the bread with my hands or try to cut it with the knife. Although, the Dijonnaise sauce in the sandwich was quite unique in taste. I feel like I could have made this easily at home for much cheaper than $12. My hunger was satisfied, but could have left happier. 

When it was time to end our meal and pay for the bill (which came up to $31.36) I paid with debit and she came to the table and after I had punched in everything, as she handed me the receipt, all we got was a "there you go" and left. No goodbyes, have-a-good-day , notta. I must've said thanks more than 5 times. How rude of her!! It's not like we didnt tip. Considering the water  and seating issue, $2.64 was quite generous, imo.

All in all, we we're glad to have tried Burgoo, but we're most definitely never going back. Too expensive for our taste and service was lacking. 

Hope you find this critique helpful!! And if you've had better experiences here, we'd like to know!!

Overall Burgoo gets a rating: 5 out of 10

Happy Eating! xoxo

Dina & Bryan

We are the Hungry Hydras!!!

Bonjour everyone!! Yay! We, Bryan and Dina, are excited to be starting our own blog :)
 Are you tired of going to the same old boring restaurants like White Spot, Earls, Red Robin?!
We sure are! That's why lately, we've been into trying new restaurants, most of which we've never even heard of before. Some of those restaurants are Slickity Jim's Chat 'N Chew, Cafe Rustico and The Templeton. I bet those are some new names to you. So, we've decided to blog about our experiences at each of our food adventures, critiquing the service, ambiance, the food itself and everything in between! 
We can't wait to get started, we're hungry for amazing food, exceptional service and new scenes!!!