KookyCulinary

We usually eat out on the weekends. Whenever possible, we like to try out different restaurants and this is one of them that we tried out sometime ago - Chandler’s Crabhouse. Located at South Lake Union, Chandler’s Crabhouse has an awesome view of the lake. If you are lucky, you can even get to see seaplanes take off or land while having lunch.

Foodwise, I had the crabcakes. I really like it.

Hubby had the Alaskan King Crab. He thought it was ok, nothing special. The portion was just a little too small for him.

Overall even though the food was good but it was pretty expensive. I would have to say that the view is more attractive to me than the food. I would probably go back again just for the view.

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 4:

Just before heading back across the border, we went to Kirin for lunch. Kirin is very packed for dim sum on weekends. Usually you can’t get in without a reservation which was what happened to us the first day.

Delicious egg tart, fresh from the oven.

Siu Mai (Steam Pork Dumpling)

Plum sauce steam pork - a twist on the regular black bean steam pork. Not the best looking dish but it was very good.

The little one decided that she didn’t want dim sum, so we ordered pan-fried noodles. Delicious! Noodles were crispy and just the right amount of sauce to soak it a little. The little one loved it so much that she sat so quietly enjoying her noodles that for a moment, I thought she wasn’t with us!

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 3:

Since there are so many restaurants in Richmond, we usually like to try different ones everytime we go there. This time, we headed over to Sea Harbour for dinner.

We ordered Hand Shredded Five-Spice Chicken. The chicken was good but it was not anything special. Pretty ordinary but the salt-based dipping sauce that accompanied it was good.

Minced Pork with Chayote. Very tasty and delicious.

But the best dish of the night would have to be the Dungeness Crab with Kabocha Squash Hot Pot. I’ve never had Kabocha Squash before. It turned out to be very sweet and really add depth to the black-bean based sauce. Will definitely have to come back for this again.

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 2:

After our dim sum at Sun Sui Wah, we headed over to Aberdeen Centre in the Golden Village District of Richmond. Aberdeen Centre reminds me of the malls in Kuala Lumpur. 90% of the shoppers are Asian and most of the shops are also Asian-themed. There is a shop selling bak kua (pork jerky Singapore style), one that sells all the dried & pickled snacks, chinese bookstore, a Malaysian restaurant and many more. They also have my favorite store, a 2-storey Daiso! That’s where I get most of my bento supplies.

Since this is a food blog, I’ll concentrate on their food court. The food court is definitely geared towards Asian customers. Not a burger stall in sight. Some of the stalls include

My favorite thing to eat there - THIS!! Frappe Bliss.

Milk shaved ice topped with strawberry, kiwi, mango, mango ice-cream and a drizzle of condensed milk. Yummy!! It’s just like ice-kacang but the ice is definitely much smoother. Maybe it’s because they use milk shaved ice instead of regular ice It has a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

This one’s with kiwi, strawberry, mango, lychee and grass jelly (chin chow)

Vancouver/Richmond Part 1

This past month had been rather stressful filled with endless doctor visits. The flu season seem to be extremely severe this winter. Two weekends ago, with the entire family feeling healthy, we decided to head across the border for relaxation and a dose of great comfort food. We headed straight to Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. Hands down, Richmond has the best Asian food!

When we got to Richmond, we headed straight for our favorite restaurant, Kirin, for dim sum. Unfortunately they were fully booked for the entire day. So we made a reservation for the next day and headed out to another restaurant. We ended up in Sun Sui Wah.

Crispy Taro Puff (Wu Kok)

Siu Mai

Bean Curd Roll

Sticky Glutinous Rice - my favorite of the day.

Overall, the dim sum was not as good as Kirin but still pretty good. I think this restaurant is more famous for its dinner entrees specifically their Alaskan King Crab and Roasted Squab. Too bad we didn’t have a chance to try that. Will definitely have to try it out next time.

Restaurant Address:
Sun Sui Wah
4920 No. 3 Road, Richmond

Usually when I go back to Malaysia & Singapore, I will fall sick because I am very sensitive to the weather change. That means I always end up NOT eating a lot of the local food. But this year, thank God that I didn’t fall sick. So I was able to eat a lot! Even Lil’ C too!

In Singapore, a cousin whom I haven’t met in almost 20 years took us out to dinner. Suggestions of eating at restaurants were immediately rejected by my sister & I. Hehehe… We wanted local food, so we ended up at East Coast Hawker Center.

Some of the things we ate:

Satay

Oyster Omelette

Rojak

Grilled Chicken Wings

Yummy!! Give me local food anytime!!

Since I am still not back in my kitchen yet, I thought I would share some of the food that I have been eating out.

One of my favorite place to wander about in Seattle is the Pike Place Market. It’s one of the oldest farmer’s market in the country. Unfortunately since it is a tourist attraction, it gets very crowded on the weekends. There is just so much to see & eat at Pike Place Market. From antiques to flying fishes, it has it all. Even the first Starbucks is there. For me, the biggest attraction is definitely the food.

One of the shops that I usually try to drop by is the Pike Place Chowder. A cup of their famous clam chowder and a Dungeness Crab Roll is a great way to fill the hunger before the shopping begins.

I’m back!!!!!! It’s been a very hectic 3 months of a nomadic lifestyle. With a trip across the world to Malaysia & several cross-country trips between the east & the west coast, we finally settled down & moved into our new place. Living out of a suitcase has not been easy especially with a 2 yr old toddler in tow. Foodwise, it’s also been a lot of eating out since we only had access to a minimally equipped kitchen. Needless to say, temporarily living within walking distance from Pike Place Market, it became one of my (& toddler’s) favorite food haunts. In spite of being “touristy”, Pike Place definitely has lots of good food & lots of charm. Some of our favorite food includes:

Macarons from Le Panier

Clam Chowder from Pike Place Chowder

Located in nearby Belltown, Orange Hazelnut Pinwheel & Latte from Macrina