SPAGHeTEI interesting and varied

Finally got around to trying SPAGHeTEI, the Japanese take on spaghetti.
It's a small space that can get quite popular. Even so, seat spacing is really quite good, and you don't get a squashed-in feeling common to many places now.
Went on a Thursday night and there was just one frantic waitress on the floor.

English over the phone while making my reservation was also quite poor and my reservation ended up being scrambled from 8 persons to 8pm. Best to show up in person to make a reservation unless you're speaking Japanese.

Apparently you can't get a pot of tea here, but hot green tea is complimentary.
Of the spaghetti I tried, each has a very different character, so if you can, go in a small group and try various types. In the end I found the taste mediocre, but bonus points for interestingness and a lunchtime happy hour when you can get their most popular spaghetti at just under $10, plus other discounts.

Green Garlic Bread

You get one piece per person for free of this once you've placed your order.
The green part doesn't taste like anything at all.
Tastes like butter plus something sweet melted in there. Sugar maybe.

2016-Apr-24 SPAGHeTEI - complimentary garlic bread

Double Meat Sauce ($12) Our signature meat sauce with sliced beef topped with diced boiled egg.

Of the ones I tried, this sweet sauce made it closest to a "normal" spaghetti. A safe choice but also boring as a result.

2016-Apr-24 SPAGHeTEI - double meat sauce

The Small Barayaki (-$1; on the left) isn't significantly less than the Large Barayaki (+$1; picture on the right), so super-sizing an order didn't seem worth it to me. However, downsizing to get it at $1 less generally just loses you some pasta, which isn't a bad idea. Doesn't look like a lot of meat/toppings lost.

2016-Apr-24 SPAGHeTEI - barayaki - small (left), large (right)

Barayaki ($13) Pan fried beef and onions with barayaki sauce (teriyaki-like sauce).

Some flavour to the noodles but not enough so that it's somewhat bland. You could try the spicy chili powder or parmesan available at the table if you run out of beef to accompany each bite.
Quite sweet beef, tender and thinly sliced. The highlight of the dish and tasty.

2016-Apr-24 SPAGHeTEI - barayaki (large)

Mentaiko ($13) Mentaiko (cod roe), shrimp, and assorted muchrooms topped with dried seaweed.

The cod roe is extensively mixed into the noodles.
For me, this was more interesting than tasty. Wouldn't order it again now that I've tried it.
Texture has basically no sauce in the noodles.

2016-Apr-24 SPAGHeTEI - mentaiko (regular)

Crème brûlée ($4.80)

Sizable deep-dish portion for a low price, compared to crème brûlée you could get elsewhere.
Tasted like a decently done crème brûlée. Nothing wrong here and price is excellent for portion.

Powder Snow Milk Syrup ($4.50)

How the frozen milk is shaved makes it like powdery snow.
Fun to eat and price is OK but toppings are quite boring.

2016-Apr-24 SPAGHeTEI - powder snow milk syrup

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 3

A picture from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. I can't remember why I had this couple in the picture, but I do vaguely remember this to be in London, on the first official day of the tour group getting together. Their insistence on my helping them take a picture caused the three of us to be late getting back to the bus. The local tour guide had a "rule" about lateness, that we had to buy chocolate to share with everyone. As it turned out, later in the trip, on at least two occasions, we were stuck on the highway on either a long commute or a traffic jam, and I had chocolate and chocolate-covered marzipan to share. About the chocolate-covered marzipan -- Apparently we were in Austria just as they were celebrating Mozart's birthday with special marzipans wrapped in foil with the famous composer's picture. I'm pretty sure it was Mirabell Mozartkugeln . Anyway, there were enough to go around the en...

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 10

The last of my pictures (at least the ones that survived the cheesy disposable cameras) from my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. Below is the obligatory group photo. Not sure everyone's in it, actually. I'm pretty sure this one was taken by the tour director, Mike Scrimshire as I'm in the back row, on the right side.

Trafalgar's European Explorer 2006 memoirs part 9

More assorted couples on my 2006 trip, a Trafalgar 's bus tour, on an itinerary called the European Explorer. An American couple who joked about being from "the land of the giants" -- and with good reason, because both of them were really tall! A cute Jewish mother-daughter pair who ducked out part-way to divert to Israel. I vaguely remember the issue of the daughter being an orthodox Jew was highlighted in France when, to make things easy, she just declared herself vegetarian for the wait staff. I also remember there was some logistics error in France because our party size was way underestimated or simply relayed incorrectly, and there was a shortage of food at dinner. Dessert came as an unopened can of yogurt. It did not seem like they tried to make it up to us later, either. Plus there was smoking every which way in France, and I had a helluva time with that. We were also in a hotel that seemed tucked away in the burbs, and not walking distance from anythin...

Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

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