Tropika: Malaysian and Thai Cuisine

My boyfriend and I took a drive down to Richmond to have dinner with my parents. They wanted Thai food so we ended up here, Tropika.

So under this sign, which is at the entrance of the restaurant, they have this little tiny boxes behind glass..

How cute is this!? It looks much better in person.

Yep, there was a total of 3 and yep, I had to post them all.

The interior of this place is very modern, most of you have probably been here before.

First up, we had a Melon King Prawn Soup $24. This was a soup with cucumber and prawns, and so not worth $24..

The soup was very very well seasoned. It was so good that it made the cucumber taste like a different vegetable! I liked this soup but I wouldn't order it again.

Satay Skewers! My favourite part. These are $1.30 each. We ordered 4 chicken and 4 lamb. The peanut sauce is perfection.

Pineapple Fried Rice 15. Its a must to order this every visit, simply because it comes out in a pineapple. Aside from that, nothing special.

Sambal Kang-Kong $14. To me, this was a little overcooked. The seasoning might be too much to handle for first-time triers but its pretty tasty one you get used to it.

Daun Pisang Ikan Pedas $16. Golden Pampano in sambal sauce. This one is my least favorite, but do not trust my opinion because my family loved it! The sauce over that fish just had a very strong and garlicy taste to it that I couldn't stand, thats all I can say.

Goreng Pisang 6.75. The famous deep fried banana. I can eat this everyday, honestly. A must try.

Address:
4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC
Website:
tropika-canada.com

Guu Richmond: A " You had to be there" Izakaya

If breakfast and lunch = brunch, what is lunch and dinner? Supper? Or is that another word for dinner? Anywho, we arrived at Guu @ Aberdeen Center around 5 with grouchy bellys. We had already tried Guu Garlic on Robson and loved it. We are on a mission to visit all the Guu locations. If you don't know, Guu is a chain of  Japanese restaurants that offer authentic izakaya dishes. They are known for yelling out Japanese at you everytime someone walks in, leaves, orders something, or when a dish is ready to be served. The atmosphere is quite nice and to me, makes the food much more enjoyable. Especially when its busy, this place is crazy loud!

Aside from the regular menu, they often change their special menu with many dishes to choose from. I think this is nice cause their menu isn't all that big.

 Thought these were cute.

 It wasn't all that busy which was an advantage for us cause the service was great! The servers were very energetic and seemed like they really loved their jobs.

 Kimchi Udon $7.80. Great. Couldn't ask for more from an udon dish.

Marugo Steak $8.50. The Ahi Tuna was similar to Tuna Tataki but ALOT more flavorful and the seasoning was fried with the fish instead of in a sauce on top. This was awesome and cooked very well. The inside was  cooked enough that I was able to eat it since I do NOT like sashimi.

 Scallop and Enoki Mushroom wrapped in Bacon $4.80. How cheap is this seriously!? This one was my favorite of the night. The scallop ones had 2 huge pieces of scallop and the mushroom ones were just dainty. YUM, I will definately order this again. Too bad it was on the special menu. They should really infer to switch this one to the regular. That's mustard on top if your wondering. I really don't favor in mustard but it really went well with the bacon.

 Now this one deserves a big THUMBS DOWN. Takoyaki Agedashi $7.80. First of all, was not worth that much. Secondly, it was just nasty. I didn't expect it to be drowned in SOUP... yeah soup. Ima stick to my regular takoyaki, thanks. So should they. I ate one and left the rest.

Whole Grilled Squid with Spicy Mayo $8.50. This tasted the same as any other place, good. Of course I ordered a side of regular mayo. I always wished I could eat spicy but I think god hates me. 

 Hotate Mentaiko $3 each. Love their plating! 

This came out with the bill. Complientary frozen grapes. I hate grapes but they were so good haha! Im going to be trying this at home. 

Price: Our bill came to $45. Not bad considering the great atmostphere of this place. The price is comparable to bbt restaurants but the food was MUCH better. They also serve liquor here which is a plus!

Overall, the service, ambiance, food and everything in between was GUUUUUU'D. I was a very much happy camper. 10/10

Pearl Castle: Cheap Eat

I haven't been to Pearl Castle in years. T and I were just in the area, hungry for a cheap eat and some bubble tea!

Milk Tea with Pudding and Japanese Green Tea with half pudding, half pearls. I've probably ordered this at least once at every bbt place I've been to. For me, if your green tea sucks then everything else will too. This wasn't bad. The only complaint I have was that the green tea powder was too strong and left a funny after taste.

Japanese Style Egg Roll. Pretty good. I liked this better than The One in Burnaby but honestly, its just a crepe with eggs and green onions. Nothing special.

Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets with Fried Rice. This one came out alot bigger than expected. I didn't like how the rice had shredded carrots and way too many onions as a cheap way to fill the bowl. Typical Asian food I guess. I'd prefer Bubble World's Salty Peppery Chicken Nuggets over these ones. Overall, this one was ok to me.

Squid Tentacles. Also mediocre. Nothing special and a bit too chewy. I didn't like the sauce that came with it and they didn't have garlic mayo so I just used ketchup which wasn't very satisfying. What kinda bubble tea place doesn't have garlic mayo!? Maybe I expect too much. 

Price: Our bill came to $31. They take cash only for those like me who like to carry debit. 

Ambiance: Typical bbt restaurant. Good place to sit and chill. Service was way better than Bubble World.

I would wan't to come back for their individual hotpot just to say I tried it.

Overall Rating: 6/10.