Minoas Greek Taverna

Minoas Greek Taverna
3823 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

I interrupt my Tacoma post for Minoas Taverna!

For the most part, most food blogger gatherings have been done by Sherman and myself, though, for the last one, it was Jenny who organized it. Out of the blue, Elaine drops some of us an email for an impromptu mini-gathering of sorts. The place? Minoas Greek Taverna, a restaurant in Kingsway where I have seen countless amount of times (mainly because I take Skytrain) which has made me wonder for the longest: how the restaurant manage to survive in such odd location? Is it because they serve something good? One way to find out! In this round, it was Chris and Elaine, Sherman, Jessica and M, and me. Others were also invited but due to external circumstances, they couldn’t make it. Oh, well, I guess it should be still enough people to sample several dishes, hehehehe.

I was the first one to arrive probably because I was taking Skytrain (to Patterson Skytrain station and then a short walk). When I walked in, one of the oddest thing occurred. While I was expecting the dining room to be right there, instead, I saw a flight of stairs. I was somewhat confused: is this a restaurant or somebody’s house? I hesitantly went upstairs and there was the restaurant! I asked for Elaine’s reservation (or a table for six) but they were looking at me funny. As a result, I told them I will wait for my dining partners and be back in a moment. Eventually, the rest of the gang arrived with Sherman being the first one (which resulted in such choosing where to seat).

So, here is the deal with Minoas (and the reason why Elaine wanted to come here): On Tuesday, Wednesday and Tuesday, Kleftico or lamb should is $14 (otherwise, $18). However, at the same time, Jessica and Sherman had coupons. Now, we are no b@$7@rds and demanded both discounts; instead, we chose to use one of them instead (which ended up being the coupons). So, a couple of minutes after we made our orders, we got what seems to be a stereotypical Greek dish…

Greek salad: It was quite simple and refreshing. The only oddity was that the tomato wasn’t that sweet but, then again, heirloom tomato or cherry tomato aren’t necessarily cheap (even in summer). Still, it worked fine for me.

One of the “issues” we have in a food blogger dinner is the part of who orders what to avoid having one (or hopefully not more) repeated dish. However, Chris is not a food blogger and, instead, try to spoil or fun a little bit (JK!). So, in the end, he ordered fasolatha, a bean and vegetable soup. He seemed to enjoy it but I will defer how it was to Elaine’s post!

Based on the savings we would get from the coupons, we decided order their hot appetizer platter which has spanakopita (spinach pie), calamari, dolmathes (grape vine leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice), manitaria (sautéed mushrooms), hummus and tzatziki. For the most part, these were different from what I have tasted in other Greek restaurants but in a good way. For example, the spanakopita had a minty hint in it and the hummus was chunkier than some (though in no way dry). The calamari wasn’t chewy at all and quite well seasoned but wasn’t that crispy. The tzatziki was garlic-y, but in a good way. The odd one out was the sautéed mushrooms, which I found strange to be served this way but, regardless, it was quite tasty.

Moving to mains, Elaine went for the biftekia (spiced ground beef patties). Despite it looks really charred outside, inside was still quite moist and spiced. Furthermore, three patties? How can you go wrong here!

I will have to accuse Jessica for ordering something “strange”. Could it be that because she hasn’t blogged in a while, she chose to order something… Different? Here the lamb loin chops. I had mixed feelings about it, as the piece I tasted was somewhat overcooked; however, according to Sherman, his piece seemed to have some juiciness (sp?) in it. Uneven cooking? In my case, I will call it a pass.

I went for something somewhat stereotypical: moussaka, which was actually Jessica’s first option (but which I ended up calling shotgun first!). This was actually quite good. A decent portion size, with the vegetables not being sliced too thin to the point it “disappeared” under the sauce or other larger components and being able to say “I am here!”. Furthermore, it wasn’t overloaded with bechamel sauce which allowed the vegetables to shine. The one thing I would have preferred is the ground beef having a bit more presence. It was visually there; just not from a taste perspective.

Finally, the dish we went for and which M and Sherman ended up ordering: the lamb shoulder. Based on the pieces I tasted, it was quite moist, though slightly lacking in the gaminess department. So, depending on how you like it, it can go both ways. A little bit more spices (oregano?) would have done wonders but, otherwise, it is still good.

Except for Chris’ order, all of our mains came with some vegetables in the form of carrots, potato and rice. The potato was OK, though with some greasiness on top (not necessarily bad). The carrots were OK but the rice was terrible as it was somewhat mushy.

Overall, some dishes went sideways but, otherwise, I thought the food was quite good. The one point some people might have to consider is that we ended up splitting the bill to ~$22.50 (tax included, discount applied, tips based on the amount pre-discount). Depending on your perspective, it could be moderately priced or expensive (specially if you compare it to Stepho’s). In my case, I would certainly come back if I had a coupon, not sure if I would do so without it. (Which, we actually received!).

After we finished the meal, I checked with everybody to stay for a moment. The reason? Well, it just happen that Mijune was back from a business trip and brought some stuff for us to try:

What are these? I will let Mijune answer the question instead! But, yes, that donut is BIG!!!

Tagged under: Burnaby • Greek • Lamb