Archive for March, 2012

  • Guest Restaurant Review: Wasabi House – Quinpool Road

    Date: 2012.03.30 | Category: Eats, Guest Blog | Response: 0

    Where: Wasabi House (Quinpool Rd across from the Oxford Theatre)
    Time: 9pm

    There has been at least 3 different restaurants in that spot since the original greek one that was there for years closed.

    Walking up the two steps into the entrance, the restaurant is packed. A long booth runs down the entire side with adjacent tables and chairs. Apparently it’s Happy Hour, so from 9pm – 11pm it’s a smaller version of their menu. Choice of appetizers from miso soup to dumplings to tempura and then 2 rolls for $9.95 or 3 for $13.95. The variety of rolls was very basic, the spicies(salmon, tuna, crab) california, shrimp tempura, hamachi and salmon and some vegetarian options. We ordered vegetable tempura and gyoza for appetizers. The vegetable tempura was hot and crispy and the vegetables were a combination of sweet potato and zucchini. We had an option to have beef or veg gyoza, or both, so we opted for both. If you don’t know, Gyoza are little dumplings similar to pot stickers. The vegetable ones were pretty bland, they may have needed salt. The beef ones were flavorful but very greasy, you could taste the fat. Not a fan.

    For rolls I chose spicy salmon, dynamite maki and spicy crab. The rolls came out quick and I liked the toasted sesame seeds on the rice but all in all they lacked finesse. The rice didn’t evenly cover the nori – it was thick on some sides and not so much on others. The dynamite maki had no avocado as promised and the salmon pieces were too big for the roll. Didn’t like the crab either, it just didn’t taste fresh at all.

    The only great thing about The Wasabi House was the service. With only a couple of servers running around she was wonderful, attentive, asked if we had any questions, answered honestly about what she liked over the other and was all over the table but not in an obtrusive way; like a ninja, we’d remove our chopsticks from the paper, next thing we know the papers are gone. She came back after each course asked how it was, if we needed drinks refreshed, brought more napkins, etc, etc. She was great!

    Needless to say, I’m not sure I’d give them another chance especially with all the other options for sushi in town.

    Cost: $51 tax in. Plus tip it was $62.

  • Opinion: They Killed Penny

    Date: 2012.03.30 | Category: Uncategorized | Response: 0

  • Rumour: The Future of the BLIP?

    Date: 2012.03.29 | Category: Opinions | Response: 0

    The future of the the Bayers Lake Industrial Park (BLIP) may look something like this.

     

    (Click Picture to Enlarge)

    The questions I ask

    • Can the BLIP handle the traffic? The Washmill Lake overpass wasn’t really a solution as executed.
    • What will happen to the space left by Costco, Kent and WalMart abandoning their current stores?
    • Is there a need to develop this space at all?
    • Does this hurt the revitalization of downtown ?

    Link to Herald article by Colleen Cosgrove last year (http://thechronicleherald.mobi/business/28599-consultant-bayers-lake-big-boxes-likely-eyeing-expanded-park)

    Of course none of this is confirmed.

    EDIT: 10-10-12

    Also now rumoured to be coming are Forever 21, Marshalls, Marks & Spencers, Top Shop, JC Penney
    I have also heard that Structube, Crate & Barrel and something from the Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma family
    though I can’t see why a US retailer would make it’s entry point in Halifax, it may make sense for a European based retailer though

  • Restaurant Review: Ardmore Tea Room

    Date: 2012.03.28 | Category: Eats, Guest Blog | Response: 0

    Where: Ardmore Tea Room on Quinpool Road
    When: Today at 11:30 am

    On my way to work, we decided to have a quick breakfast. The Ardmore Tea Room is really a hole in the wall resto. It’s been there for years, survived a fire and most recently a change of ownership.

    Walk in, seat yourself. It’s a mix match of booths, tables and chairs. We opt for the booth in the front corner by the window. All the tables have jam, peanut butter and honey racks with ketchup, flax seeds, salt, sugar and pepper. The waitress greeted us at the door and as we seated ourselves she was right behind us with paper placemats, folded paper napkins and silverware.

    The menu has changed, it’s no longer a double sided plastic laminate piece of paper, it’s a book with 3 pages including the all day breakfast on the back.

    My moms is with me, we both order coffee and it’s hot and fresh accommodated with a bowl of cold little buckets of blend and milk. We each order breakfast; she has 2 eggs with sausage and toast, I ordered the same but with bacon, and we both had multigrain toast. On the menu it was labeled “two eggs with meat” and you had a bunch of choices including falafel. (which you would never ever have with eggs, let alone with breakfast, let alone I should have ran when I saw it but vegetarians need their choice too) We both asked for our eggs over medium and they were cooked perfectly, however, my biggest pet peeve – one of my yolks was already broken. That’s suppose to be for me to do! As a rule of thumb you shouldn’t serve eggs with broken yolks unless asked to do so or start the fuck over. I mean you have a full all day breakfast menu and you can’t cook my eggs without breaking the yolk? A whole page of your three page menu is dedicated to breakfast, come on!

    Anyway, we each traded sausage for bacon. The sausage was hot and snapped when you took a bite, it was pretty tasty. I can’t say that for the bacon though, it was crispy but it wasn’t the real deal. Salty pre-cooked pre-packaged fake thin little strips of bacon that you’d find in the grocery store aisle under I don’t have the time and I lack a sense of respect. Makes me assume the microwave is the chef at large at this establishment.

    I’ve been told the french toast and pancakes are good and the milkshakes are delicious. My advice would be to avoid the eggs benny because the hollandaise is made from powder and also avoid anything fried. I remember going with a friend and the fish and chips were so dark it was almost racist. The oil that runs my car is cleaner.

    I’d categorize it as quick, cheap, come by yourself and read the paper, or bring your hungover friends. I don’t know if I’d give them another shot, but it could happen. It’s like I completely forget about this place and then once every couple of years it comes to mind and I always forget how hit and miss it is. I’d avoid the lunch menu in droves because I don’t think it’s made fresh to order.

    I have to credit the server, she was quick and attentive and extremely friendly even when we asked for a different fork because it came sticky lol.

    Beep, beep, order up!

    Total was $16.50 and with tip it was $20

  • Retro Wednesday: Halifax Woman 1983 LOL

    Date: 2012.03.28 | Category: Retro | Response: 1

    This is a quite an amusing week long event at Halifax Shopping Centre 29 years ago

    pretty funny stuff

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