Here with Andrew

Over the Olympic break, my sister and I wanted to try out some new food on one of the Sundays. This was the same day as one of the Canada hockey games so we didn’t want to head downtown (my sister ended up going to Ebisu afterwards anyways). Off we went to West 4th! (I brought my camera this time)

Trattoria Italian Kitchen is a little place near Burrard and 4th. It belongs to Glowbal Group, which is pretty well known for having some classy restaurants in Yaletown that attracts celebrities.

Service was pretty mediocre on an overall basis; it was slower than I would have expected and we weren’t even addressed when we first walked into the restaurant. I think the staff was very engaged with what was going on with the Olympics which is probably why it didn’t meet my expectations as much.

It seems like the place is pretty popular for breakfast as most of the tables around us were having breakfast.

For starters, we were offered complementary scones. These are probably the best scones I have ever tasted. They were very soft and went well with the lemon cream dipping that came with it. I would definitely make sure to try this out if you ever visit this restaurant.

For our starter, we ordered the Beef Carpaccio. This was better than the ones i’ve had at other restaurants and the portions were quite satisfying (but at $13 it better be)! It was cut thin and there was a creamy sauce that went with it.

Time for an entree! I first heard about this place when my sister mentioned their downtown location. One night, she brought home Kobe Beef meatballs, which were pretty good. This dish was the Spaghetti with Kobe Beef Meatballs and it was served with this truffle type cream sauce. Although the portions are not as large as I would have liked, it definitely met my expectations for this type of restaurant.

My sister went for the BC Salmon (?) Eggs Benedict. It looked good; I just tried a bit of the salmon and it was pretty good. Still would prefer having pasta over this though.

Our total bill was approximately $40 after tip, which is on the pricier side for a lunch meal (at least for me). I would recommend this place for smaller parties/a date if you want to try some good quality food though.

Food – 4
Ambiance –  3.5
Service – 3.5
Overall – 3.7

In addition to checking out the Sheraton Wall Centre today in Downtown (Enterprize 2010!!!) I also spent a couple of extra hours in Downtown. In about two hours, I came to the conclusion that:

1. The Mondo Gelato on Robson and Bute has fun chairs; very amusing for the young and the old.
2. The Blenz on Robson and Bute is a great spot for people watching and getting some work done.

After that, I went to try the infamous unofficially named #1 Japanese Ramen place in Vancouver, which is Kintaro Ramen on Denman and Robson.

My friend and I walked there from the Blenz; it took us about 10 minutes maybe with it being downhill. Downtown’s really beautiful at night. I really understand why so many people love the vibe of Downtown. It’s so lively and there’s so much to see just about anywhere you go.

Anyways, after searching around for it a bit, we managed to get ourselves across the street from it and watch the line get even longer. Originally, I had called earlier in the day to book a reservation but was told that Kintaro does not take reservations. Then I asked how busy it would be around 6 pm and the person on the phone said it’s usually not too bad on Sundays and there would be no line.

Once we got there, we were probably #11 or 12 in line. The place is particularly small and was very cramped. However, looking at it from the outside makes you wonder what’s so special about the experience. I was pretty excited about trying this place so the line didn’t bother me too much. Even when you’re in line, you can hear chitter-chatter from other folks in line raving about the food in this place. It’s really awesome.

What’s even better was that we were a group of two so we got to skip the group of 5 in front of us. The total time we spent in the restaurant couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes (we checked the receipt, 6:47pm for our order to go in and by 6:58pm we had finished eating).

Credits to Dinehere for the Photo

We were offered water off the bat and had both taken a look at the menu outside to get an advanced look. It’s so busy that there are groups who stand inside, order their food, and their food comes right when a table leaves so they just sit down and eat right away. We both had the Miso Ramen with medium soup and lean BBQ pork. You can choose between light, medium, or rich soup and lean or fat pork. We were both cutting back so obviously we chose the healthier alternative. They also have a cheese ramen there which sounds really neat. I also asked what the difference was between the Miso Ramen and the BBQ Pork Ramen with Miso and the 2nd has more Pork, just in case anyone was wondering.

Other than the ramen and pork, there’s also bean sprouts, green onions, corn, and other miscellaneous sides in the bowl. The soup was very good but seemed to be pretty layered with oil too. I believe that the soup’s made of pork stock…

All in all, the food was pretty good. Our bill came out to about $16 (we didn’t get any appetizers). I would definitely recommend this place to other people. Although it’s a bit cramped, the ambiance/experience felt pretty legit and the service was very to the point; we were given our receipt before we my friend finished her ramen.  I think this place is much better than the other Ramen place i’ve been to, which is in Richmond near Parker Place (Ajisen?)

If you’re ever in the area, do check it out! The walk back to the Canada Line helps with the meal which is actually quite filling…

So as many of you already know, Apple just announced the release of their new product called the iPad on Wedns January 27th.

Although there are other factors that affect the market, Apple’s stock price has dropped over 5% since the announcement on Wedns.

Aesthetically, I think this product looks great. I used to use an iPhone and it has been probably one of the best phones i’ve ever used. To put that in perspective, i’ve had a bunch of Nokias previous to that and maybe one Sony Ericsson briefly. I’m on the Blackberry Bold 9000 now (switched over for attractiveness of email ability) but I still have my 1st gen iPhone. Also, the weight (approx 1.5 lbs) is amazing!

There are plenty of other sites that discuss the benefits/pros/cons/problems with this product already so I won’t get too much into that. However, there’s a few things that come to mind about this product, especially after a conversation with some friends who are Apple enthusiasts.

Would we carry this around along with our laptop, or bring just this or vice versa?

The consensus was that we wouldn’t bring it along. Even though the product itself is light, it seemed unnecessary for us to bring both around.  I have always valued having something with me that has strong computing/functional abilities, which is why I don’t have a netbook (I know there are many people who would disagree on this with me). On the other hand, I could see myself bringing the iPad to a coffee shop or out to the park to do some light reading/writing.

Is the iPad worth the purchase?

To me, i’ve always enjoyed trying out new technological toys. Before the prices were announced, I didn’t expect the iPad to be overpriced. It seems that the announcement of the price was favourable in the eyes of many consumers. To me, $499 USD for the lowest end model may still be a bit steep. However, I just bought a $700 laptop so this may be affecting my views. I would likely buy this over the Kindle though (the iPad has been rumoured by many to be a Kindle Killer but I don’t think it will).

One last thing that was a turnoff for me was the difference between the Wifi and the 3G versions. As much as I like having internet on the go, I don’t want to be paying more for internet for my iPad in addition to my Blackberry and the internet we have at home. I know I can simply cancel one (ie. the one on my Blackberry) but it doesn’t make sense for me to make that trade off as of now.

Even though it seems like i’ve mentioned nothing but cons so far, I think I would buy an iPad. I may wait for the second round of manufacturing to start first. I do wonder if Apple’s going to be making a bunch of modifications after hearing the responses of so many consumers though.

Are you going to buy the iPad?