Acme Cafe
51 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Depending on who might be reading this, it is possible I might be overstating the obvious but I will play safe. To those who haven’t visited Vancouver Downtown, it can easily be separated into West End, Yaletown, Gastown, Downtown Eastside, Granville, Coal Harbour and so on. For the most part, if you are savvy enough of the transit system, you can pretty much get from point A to point B in Downtown in less than 15 minutes. Driving? Well, let’s just say driving in Downtown Vancouver at lunch time might not be the best of ideas. As a result, my visit to restaurants in Downtown Vancouver are mostly restricted to West End (where I work) and Coal Harbour (with some odd ones in Granville). For the rest, I tend to go on weekends.

With that said, there are times I might be somewhat narrow minded. If there is a restaurant I certainly want to visit, I don’t even bother to make plan B. However, that’s was more I less I had to resort to when I tried to go to the Greedy Pig on a Saturday at around noon sharp just to find out that they didn’t open that day until 2:00 p.m. (despite their web site says they open at 11:30 a.m.). WTF?! While Bambo Cafe while just next to it, I wanted something… Different. Whipping out my iPhone and checking Urbanspoon app, I then went to Frannie’s Gourmet Deli just to find out they do not open on weekends and holidays. At that point, I was starting to think there was some sort of conspiracy against me. Now, there were a lot of places I could stop and get lunch; however, it just that I wasn’t really in the mood for burgers or similar fare (this is because I was driving the following day to Tacoma… Yes, posts for next week will be from Tacoma!). Tired, hungry and thirsty, I recalled Acme Cafe which Sherman blogged earlier that week. And, while I commented I wasn’t in a hurry, hunger prevailed and to Acme Cafe I went.

From the outside this would be an “eyesore” to the area… OK, probably not an eyesore in that sense of the word. Rather, if you look around, you will notice this place actually looks quite “nice” compared to their surrounding neighbours, including the now closed diner at the back of Save on Meats. Did I mention the store next to it might raise some conservative eyebrows? But, then again, this is Vancouver…

Upon walking in, I was given the option to seat anywhere and, per usual, I ended up seated at the worst possible place. I believe I have a nack to do this, darn it! That place was the table next to the window (not the stool section but the actual window). Wait, isn’t such place “better” for taking pictures? Normally, yes; however, the angle by which sunlight was coming in plus how the table was setup prevented me from taking advantage of such setting. And, as usual, I didn’t find that out until it was too late… >_<

As for the food, I had some serious debate as to what to order. See, I didn’t grow up eating meat loaf or chicken pot pie or similar dishes. In a perspective, I was out there in the unknown. But, I know what I like and will most likely make my assessment based on that factor. Having said that, I narrowed down my choices to the meatloaf, chicken pot pie and the crock pot special. But, in the name of variety, I ended going for the meatloaf sandwich. Why? Because it comes with a soup and I can sample the meatloaf as well!

The soup that day was bacon potato soup with pine nuts. The pine nuts were OK but didn’t add much overall. Had they skipped the nuts, I would have been fine with it. As for the soup, it was quite starchy and a creamy texture. There were actual pieces of bacon in it but, given it was in the soup mode, there was no chance it would be crispy. However, in the end, it isn’t a soup I would necessarily order by itself. It wasn’t bad but, instead, it is the type of soup. I would have personally preferred a less starchy with less cream type of soup…. But, then again, that’s because I didn’t grow up having this particular type of soup.

As for the sandwich… I found the bread to have a chewy consistency but only to the first 3 to 5 bites. Afterwards, that consistency is not really that noticeable. So, from my perspective, it was good. As for the meatloaf, it didn’t feel that seasoned but it is possible it was masked by the other ingredients. Anyway, I actually liked the meatloaf. Sure, it was a bit smoother that I would expect but it was quite moist (even despite the sauces in the sandwich).

In the end, I will have to admit it was a decent meal. Sure, you might be able to get an equally good (if not better) sandwich in Finch’s or Brioche. But, in those places you won’t dishes found here in Acme Cafe (like the chicken pot pie). Would I come back? I thik it might be an option; just that for regular dinner on weekdays, it is too far for me. Oh, well…

Great Wall Mongolian BBQ
717 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

I have bashed at times the all-you-can-eat concept a little bit too much at times. You have to admit it: How much “quality” you can provide when you charge a fix price and there is almost no limit as to how much a diner can eat? OK, sure, hotel buffets charge an arm and a leg and the food can be quite good. But, then, they have mastered it to a certain extent. For the rest, it is a matter of balance things out: calculate based on the average case scenario (though leaning towards the worst case scenario) and hoping most of the customers won’t consume as much.

With that in mind, PO and I went one day to Great Wall Mongolian BBQ (name of the restaurant) for Mongolian BBQ (type of cuisine). The twist in this case is that you fill up a bowl with different meats, vegetables and noodles. Add some sauce and it is then cooked for you on a large griddle. What’s so funny about this? Because Mongolian BBQ (the cuisine), despite the pamphlet they provide explaining their cuisine, is neither Mongolian nor it is “BBQ”! Anyway, we were up for it…

As for the $$$, it is quite straight forward: $8 lunch if you are setting yourself up for a single bowl or $10 for all-you-can-eat (lunch) or $12 (dinner). At the $8 price point, it is not that far from, say, a plateful of pad thai in Khunnai Chang ($9) so it isn’t necessarily expensive, just average. The question is whether the $8 is worth it. As for the how things are done, how about some pictures to illustrate things (and rather than using my dSLR, these pictures were taken with my iPhone).

Select your meats: there is the option of beef, chicken, pork and lamb (!). They are thinly sliced but rolled up to take more volume, I guess…

Add some vegetables and noodles (the later which I will regret later…)

Some sauces of your choice

Have it ready to cook on the griddle.

Some stirring around and done!

The cooking process can take around 2 to 3 minutes; however, if the line is long (like what happened to us on our visit, after we sat down, a party of almost 20 tourists walked in), it make take forever. As for me “regretting” what I picked, here is the reason why…

In addition to what you can fill up in the bowl, you are also served a mini-spring roll, a small cup of (egg drop) soup and fried rice. None of these were good but at least it served its purpose of filler. As a result, I shouldn’t have filled up my bowl with noodles! I mean, what is the point of more carbs?! (On that note, on the table, there is a note asking customers not to waste food and pick only what they believe you can eat). But, back to what was ordered.

In my bowl, I filled the bottom 1/3 with lamb, as I saw absolutely no reason to choose either beef or chicken and then added some slices of pork. After the noodles, I forced the bowl down by adding some vegetables and tofu. I will admit the vegetables didn’t look that bad (i.e., wilted, brownish) but then again, it could have been an illusion due to the lightning conditions. Finally, they have 12 sauces which you can combine. Me being Chinese, I went for garlic oil, some chili sauce and soy sauce. Once it was cooked, I sprinkled some toasted sesame on top.

I will have to admit, for $8, this isn’t that bad. Granted, the meat wasn’t that lean to begin with so don’t set high expectations. However, one thing that actually worked in their favour was that the lamb was extremely gamey and, if you like it, it spread its flavour quite well around. The noodles, since it was partially cooked before it went to the griddle, kept its texture. But, alas, the one component that should have worked better but didn’t was that wok hei feeling. I guess, since they don’t want to be scrubbing that griddle every time something is being cooked plus avoid using a lot of oil, they would try to prevent that wok hei effect to begin with by dousing it with some water. It worked in both ways as the resulting sauce was actually quite strong. But, given the choice between wok hei or sauce, I would say gimme some balance.

Now, we didn’t end up going back for seconds (for an additional $2) because of the huge lineup created by that party, not to mention I had to go back to the office for a conference call (unfortunately, given I work with customers all over, there are times I can’t avoid calls at 12:30 p.m.). As for me going back to this restaurant, I have the bad habit of finishing everything that is on the plate and, given I am serving myself, that can prove to be extremely dangerous. As a result, I might instead go for pad thai on another restaurant or something on those lines instead. However, for the novelty, it is not bad.

White Tower
1359 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

If you are looking for Greek food in Vancouver, you can pretty much go anywhere. Probably you might have favourites but, if you go around town, there will be one every dozen or so blocks. In the case of Downtown Vancouver, for most people, there is even a “default”: Stepho’s, a restaurant that, in a way, has mastered the art of generating enough volume of customers to make it possible for them to lower there prices to an almost ridiculous level – to an extent that people are willing to queue up just for a plate of Greek food. But, then again, there is Takis Taverna a couple of doors from Stepho’s. If you move to Denman, there is Olympia Pizza and Pasta and Maria’s Taverna. After walking so many times in Robson, I thought there might not be any… That was until a day, PO and I were looking for something quick in the area and we ended up going to a place I believe has been there forever: White Tower.

When we walked in, the oddity was that the restaurant was empty! Probably because it was a sunny day? Regardless, after we sat down and as the meal went, there were some suited businessmen taking another table and a small family yet another table. As we looked at the menu, we ended up going for the easy way out: their lunch specials. In their case, they had two so PO ended up ordering one and I ordered the other one. First, the bread from each of us orders:

In PO’s case, his order came with a piece of toast, in my case, a piece of pita. The toast could have had a bit more of garlic (as in garlic toast?) but, otherwise, it was OK. As for the pita… Well, again it was OK. Come to think about it, it was just average at best but, oh, well, it is bread so we weren’t to picky about it.

PO chose special #1 ($9): lasagna. OK, OK, this does not necessarily shout Greek but Italian. But, you know what? Lasagna might have some Greek background, not to mention there is a similar Greek dish called pastitsio! In the end, if it is good, that is what matters the most. As for the one here, the sauce could have had a bit more spices but, otherwise, the pasta had a nice fresh texture to it. PO finished the whole plate, which, by then, I had to ask: how does it compare to the one from Ciao Bella? He thought it might be apple and oranges, in the case of White Tower’s, it had a bit more “home” feeling. And, from the sample I had, I will have to agree.

As for myself, I went for special #2 ($10), chicken souvlaki, served with rice, Greek salad, roasted potatoes and tzatziki, which I used mostly as a spread for the pita. The rice was almost the parboiled type but, at least, it had some seasoning hint in it. As for the salad… Well, it is quite similar to the ones you can find in almost all Greek places so I am not sure how to really separate them from the rest. The potatoes was OK; not the biggest fan of potatoes but, at least, it did what it was supposed to do. And, finally, the chicken souvlaki… I will have to admit it was nicely grilled but it was slightly dry. A slight squirt of the lemon did some wonders but not enough to counter the dryness.

I will have to admit that despite some issues, the food was good. Unfortunately, given it is walking distance from Stepho’s, there will be that comparison. But, if you let that go, not to mention if the consideration that “other” dishes are available here (including pasta and pizza), which can prove to be a plus if you have a party and people wants different dishes. In the end, the food is good in its own ways and that is what matters.

The Dish
1068 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC

There are times when we “lament” restaurants do not do homestyle cooking. But, then again, why should it? I mean, if you can cook it at home, chances are, you might not want to get it in a restaurant! However, that is assuming you belong to that culture… For us Chinese, it is the issue of where you were born (or your parents were born) but, overall, you can find Cantonese and more recently Shanghai, Taiwan and Beijing. Some regions… Well, that might be more difficult. But, how about Western style home cooking? Given that “meat-and-potatoes” stereotype, I guess it would be “easier” to tackle that concept. And that’s more or less what is served at The Dish (plus, given we are in Vancouver, the concept of being “good” food).

One thing that I have lamented lately is the fact I have been “grounded” (as in not travelled for business) and, because I have been quite busy, not venturing to some other places in the West End except those close to my workplaces (as in less than five block radius). However, on this day, I took an early lunch to do some blood test (no fasting necessary) so, on my way back, I chose to stop for lunch. Most of the places nearby were… Well, I wasn’t that interesting that day. However, then I spotted The Dish. While there wasn’t anything enticing about it, as mentioned above; instead, it was that concept of being “Fabulous Nourishment”.

When I walked in, I noticed they had a plate of food on a counter detailed (or showing?) the dish of the day: a turkey dinner: turkey dish with stuffing, mashed potato ad gravy. Also, they had a wrap but, you know what? Despite turkey is not my favourite form of fowl, I would certainly be interesting on checking what it has to offer. So, for that I went.

After paying it, I walked outside and sat at one of the two tables there. After a short wait, I got the plate above. Well, I will have to admit it looks quite home-y! I mean, this is no fancy cooking on fancy china. This was, for the most part, a down-to-earth dish most Canadians or Americans would easily recognize.

I won’t say I necessarily like this stuffing. It was a bit too mushy for my liking. The mashed potato, on the other hand, was killer! In addition to it been fluffy and having a light consistency, it had an interesting hint of coconut. Really interesting twist which I will have to admit I liked. The cranberry sauce had a tangy taste but not too strong. Not necessarily outstanding but it certainly did its job.

The turkey, ah, the turkey… I wasn’t given the option of white/dark meat and, alas, I was served white meat. Now, if you prefer chicken white meat, please give dark meat a chance. It is really more flavourful (though more fatty, of course). As for these slices, it had a slight dry consistency but, still, it was moist enough not to choke. And, on that note, the gravy had a really light taste but didn’t feel “artificial” (as in made from a mix). Again, similar to the mash, it is good in its own ways!

Overall, the food was quite similar to what you would find in somebody’s home. While it was the “special” for one day, I am almost certain other dishes are prepared in a similar way, i.e., literally home style. While not my “home” style food, still, I can see myself coming back. (This is regardless of the “fabulous nourishment” note it has).

Fireside Cafe – House of Cheesecake
13593 King George Highway
Surrey, BC

After we finished our meal at Afghan Chopan, Sherman suggested “cheesecake!”. Well, since we were already in Surrey, hey, why not! I mean, with some exceptions (ahem, Jenny and Sherman), the rest of us seldom go there right? So, in the end, R, Jenny, Miss Y and Sherman went to Fireside Cafe – House of Cheesecakes.

Now, JS and TS didn’t join us due to other reasons; however, I am not sure what would have their reaction be… OK, let me put it this way: there were some interesting characters there, namely drag queens who were there for a live show later that night. If you aren’t used to it, you might feel quite uncomfortable. In fact, that is actually what happened. Given I am not that familiar with Surrey, I arrived last by several minutes. When I park and start walking, I turn around and see Sherman and Miss Y still in Sherman’s car. I walk to his car and he looks at me funny, as if he had second thoughts about this place. I look at the place and look back and Sherman with a confused face. In the end, I think it was because I was looking at them with a “well, we are already here, we might as well go in” face that we decided to go in. And, then suddenly, R and Jenny jump out of their car. WTH?!

When we walked, we noticed a display with several single pieces of cheesecake. The oddity is that, just after they sell one, another piece pops out. IS this a case of one WTH followed by another WTH? My guess is that they do not want the whole pie out there and put a piece as they are ordered. I am not sure if that’s the best approach but, oh, well, it is not my business… As for my piece, I went for the “regular” NY cheesecake naked, i.e., no chocolate shaving or whipped cream. To repeat what I told Sherman: this is a textbook cheesecake, specifically, as Jenny suggested, probably purchased from GPF/Sysco/Neptune.

Jenny went for the white chocolate blueberry cheesecake and Sherman went for the key lime cheesecake. In the case of the blueberry cheesecake it was OK, though it was a bit too sweet for the liking of most of us. As for the lemon one, I told Sherman, while it had qualities of its own, it had a hint of that lemon/lime smell from dish washing liquid, that is, artificial. The killer was that the key lime cheesecake was still frozen in the centre. Mass produced and stored in the freezer until the piece outside is sold? Hmmmmm….

Here is where a somewhat odd situation happened. As mentioned above, there was going to be a live drag queens performing on stage later that night. Now, nothing strange but singing and similar acts in a small stage. The oddity is that we caught their attention while we were taking pictures of the cheesecake (as if, by then, five Asians are eating cheesecake in Whalley wasn’t strange enough). We might not have attracted much attention if it wasn’t because somebody was using flash… ^_^;;; So… WTH situation #3???

In the end, the food is just average at best; however, if you go, you might not necessarily be going for food. Even then, I won’t deny I actually had some fun. But, again, if you are uncomfortable with that, it might further discourage you from going. So, for the show, give it a chance. It might change your opinion. (On that note, just before we were leaving, the drag queen was “performing” Anne Murray’s Daydream Believer).

Afghan Chopan
104 – 12888 80th Avenue
Surrey, BC

For the X time, it was time again for a food bloggers dinner! This time, the task to organize this event felt into the hands of Jenny and her suggested place was a bit… Different. Sort of following the trend of visiting non-Chinese places (let’s face it, there are enough, let’s check other restaurants!), Jenny chose an Afghan restaurant… Nope, not Afghan Horsemen near Granville Island. Instead, it was Afghan Chopan in Surrey out of all places!

In addition to Jenny (and R), coming along for this visit were TS and JS and Sherman (who invited Miss Y as well). I guess the fact it was in Surrey was a bit of detraction for people to go. C’mon, people, it isn’t THAT scary, not to mention not all good eats are concentrated in Vancouver or Richmond… *shakes fist!!!*

On the day we went, there was *something* going on on the space next to the restaurant. A wedding? I am not sure if the restaurant was really prepare for this because, at one time, the circuit breaker tripped and left us in the dark! Furthermore, I am not sure if they left enough staff on the restaurant side, as things were quite sparse…

Oh, one really important note: We notice at least a table where the customers were wearing burka (sp?) and… Let’s just say Miss Y felt she was showing a bit too much skin… So, caveat emptor… Anyway, to the food!

JS and TS chose to order tea. I won’t say much about this because they were seated at the other side from where I was seated and I didn’t ask for a sample… Yeah, shame on me…

We started with several appetizers to share. In this case, their bolani (?). Now, here is a small detail: when it arrived at the table, there weren’t enough pieces for all of us. So, another order was made… Except it never came… Did I mention sparse service? Fortunately, somebody chose not to eat their piece and, when I had mine, well, it was just a crispy piece of “bread”. Given I ate it not it is optimal conditions, I won’t say much about it…

Raita and “chatnee”

Mantu and anshak; basically dumplings, the difference being the filling. The mantu has a meat filling; the anshak has a chive filling (though, oddly, a meat sauce on top so it is not necessarily a vegetarian dish). It was OK but, given it was quite similar to a Chinese dumpling, it would be an unfair comparison. However, if I were to compare it to the one I tasted at East is East… Well, I thought that one was better. Not sure if it was because it had a gamier taste but even when it was vegetarian. Oh, well…

Qabeli Pallow – Tender pieces of beef shank beneath Afghan steamed basmati rice with raisins and carrots served with your side order of the day. If you asked me, I would have said “biryani”! Some of the components here, namely the raisins and carrots were token at most. For the most part, it was the beef shank… OK, for some reason, I didn’t think it was beef shank, as it was quite bone-y to be shank and I wasn’t sure it was even beef because of the gamey taste! But, putting those details aside, this rice dish was quite good! Again, as mentioned, if you like biryani, you will like this. Just it is not as heavily season compared to the Indian counterpart.

Served with the qabeli pallow was Afghan naan. Now, this is not a single order. We also got these from our main dish. It was quite… Interesting. It is a bit difficult to compare it to Western type bread because it wasn’t that fluffy; however, it had borderline savoury. If you like crispy breads, this will work well for you; if you prefer fluffy ones, you will not care too much about this.

Another side was eggplants; in this case, it resembled almost an Italian version… Regardless, it was a quite well cooked eggplant dish. Miss Y even asked for “permission” to clean it up! (Darn, I am starting to sound like Sherman and giving Miss Y a hard time!)

Ordering individually was a no-go right away so we focused in ordering a “large” platter. I was suggest the House Special Combo but that got “overruled” (too much food). So, behold, their chef’s table. Truth is that’s a lot of meat! To be more exact, 3 skewers of tekka kebabs (chunks of top beef tenderloin), 3 skewers of chicken kebab, 3 skewers of shami kebab (ground beef), 2 skewers of Chopan kebabs (chunks of lamb) and 2 pieces of chaplee kebab (marinated ground beef). Now, I know the the shami kebab and the chaplee kebab sounds similar but, well, they are not. Now, based on visuals only one is shaped like the regular skewer, while the other was shaped originally in the form of a patty; otherwise, the difference in terms of taste would be that the shami was more heavily spiced.

So, if I had to “guess”, from 9:00 o’clock clockwise, they would pieces of the chopan skewer, followed by chaplee, shami, chicken and tekka. Out of all these, the one I liked the least was the chaplee (lamb): It was a bit too overcooked for my liking. As for the one I liked the most, that would be the shami, as mentioned above, it was more spiced compared to the other.

Now, here is a big curveball: Miss Y asked for catsup! OK, it wasn’t actually her who ended up asking the waitress, it was me. What happens is that the waitresses ended up MIA for a while and, in the meantime, it became sort of a running joke. I mean, catsup? Really? However, we ended up eating our words (literally), as the catsup they served was more of the vinegar-y variety and it gave a sharp contrast to the meat.

Overall, the food was quite interesting and, based on what was served, the big caveat would be that it looks that if you do come, it might be a good idea for you to come in a small group (like we did). Had I gone by myself… Well, it is just that, solely on description, trying to find out which skewer is “better” is sort of a challenge and ordering a plate like this end up working “better”. So, by myself, my answer would not necessarily, else, it looks like a good option!

City Temple of Shanghai
3755 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

“Anybody interested in some XLB?” That was what Sherman wrote in an email. I am not sure but, there are times where I wonder if that question should be asked anymore… Well, actually, this was, as I was in “maybe” mode. Why? Me, don’t want to tag along for food? Well, it just happens the day Sherman suggested we went for xiao long bao was the day I went with TNG to Squamish! In the end, we chose to come back to Vancouver and, for TNG to meet fellow food bloggers in action, in this case, in addition to Sherman, there were also Elaine, Matt and Degan. The place for XLB? A small mom-n-pop, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Main Street called City Temple of Shanghai.

We were the last the arrive and, for the most part of the dinner, we were the only ones. There were people coming in and out and, almost at the end, a small family arrived for dinner. But, then again, it was a weekday so it is possible that was the cause why it was so empty…

We left the ordering to “Da Man”, aka, Sherman. Part of the menu was already decided in advance:as mentioned originally, we were here for xiao long bao (XLB) and, while making the reservation, Sherman took the executive decision to reserve a duck as well. So, instead, the question was… What else? In the end, all of us stared at Sherman…

While he was doing the ordering, I looked around and noticed this… OK, this picture might not be quite evident but, similar to a lot of Asian places, here is your menu on the wall… Except that it also had English “translations” in it. So, it certainly helps tentative non-Cantonese speaking customers (actually, she seems to speak Madarin).

So, here it is the duck… One of the two dishes they prepare out of one single duck. Here, the skin was removed and then served with “Chinese crepes”, green onions and cucumber. I won’t say it really wowed me mainly because I thought the “crepe” was a bit too stretchy/elastic and the duck skin wasn’t that “fatty”. Otherwise, the duck skin was quite crispy.

This is the reason why we were here: xiao long bao. For a place that specializes in XLB (or supposedly), well, they were OK. From the dough side, the top portion was a bit doughy but, otherwise, the filling was quite juicy. Some extra seasoning in the filling itself would have made it better but, still, it was doing a decent job. One interesting detail is that, to prevent it from sticking, a thin slice of carrott was at the bottom of each dumpling. Interesting touch…

From here on, I will have to say one of the biggest epic fails occurred: The battery of my camera died… As a result, I didn’t take pictures of the rest of the food; instead, the pictures below are from Sherman!

So, here is the duck, stir fried and served with iceberg lettuce to make wraps. Again, the meat was OK; however, the veggies along were cooked unevenly. For example, the carrot was still crunchy while the celery was cooked through.

Tan Tan noodles. For some reason, I thought we were jumping back and forth with the different cuisines but, hey, if it is in the menu! There wasn’t much of a bite in the noodles but the sauce was quite peanut-y (sp?). I would have preferred a thicker sauce but that is more of a personal preference.

One dish that ended up quite sideways was this: rice cake and pork chops. The rice cake ended up being quite chewy, which I thought distracted the dish. The pork chop was… Well, it felt it was battered and then fried, rather than cooked through in a wok. Not sure if it is acquired taste but I could have done without this one…

In addition to the XLB, another type of dumplings was ordered in the form of regular potstickers. These were quite good, I will have to say. OK, the “sking” was a bit doughy again but it had some crispiness and, similar to the XLB, it was juicy inside. Again, some extra seasoning would have helped but, otherwise, I think I could easily a dozen or so of these…

Shanghai fried thick noodles. Hmmmmmm…. Probably I am not as crazy for starch but, at this point, I thought it was OK. Quite oily though but, oddly, compared to Tan Tan noodles, at list this one had a bite. Not necessarily the best but it somehow did the work.

After we finished our meal, we spent some time chatting when suddenly, the owner (?), served this to us as dessert. It had some pumpkin on the dough filled with red beans. I thought it was somewhat oily but, if you have a sweet tooth, you will not like it, given it is not that sweet. Compared to other Chinese desserts, it was quite good, though. So, a bit of an acquired taste?

Overall, it has some good points (like some of the dumplings/potstickers) but some other dishes felt generic. Still, given it is a mom-n-pop type shop, I didn’t set expectations too high as using that as a yardstick, I felt it was still good (though not necessarily my first place to go). And, as I have mentioned previously, it is at times, who you are with and, in this case, it was they who made this dinner even better.

Montana’s Cookhouse
Several locations across Canada
1046 – 2929 Barnet Highway (location visited)
Coquitlam, BC

After that hike in Diez Vistas, DVP couldn’t join me for dinner as she had to attend something unexpected. Alas, me “stranded” in the middle of nowhere and starting to get hungry (despite eating several handfuls of cashews before the last portion of the trail). So, while driving out of Buntzen Lake, I chose to drive through Coquitlam Centre rather than the “easier” route of Port Moody. Why? I have absolutely no idea… Could it be because I came driving that way? When I hit that mall, I remembered there was a Montana’s Cookhouse, as well as Chada Thai, I chose the former for one reason: Meat! I mean, I was darn hungry and all I could think of was meat… NOW!!!

At this point, if somebody is going to chastise me for going to Montana’s for their “BBQ”, please don’t. Me as a food blogger will go to almost any extent to try different restaurants, be it perceived good or perceived bad. To me, it is an adventure and a discovery process based on what I like (and dislike). Chances are, yours will be different than mine. The key here is enjoying the (eating?) process. But, back to Montana’s, the key here is that, unlike other restaurants, they don’t call themselves a BBQ place, instead it is family restaurant with emphasis in ribs and steaks. It won’t be that different from saying Red Lobster and a family restaurant emphasizing seafood or Red Robin emphasizing burgers. So, please, keep that in mind.

After being guided to a table and given the menu, my debate was… Should I go for the all-you-can-eat ribs or should I order one of their dishes? Now, had it been a heavy meat eater like Sherman, chances are both of us ordering the all-you-can-eat ribs (different types, of course) and sharing it. Had it been somebody lighter like Mijune or Anita, that might not necessarily be the case. OK, probably bad example with Mijune… She can be a heavy eater as any big guy! But, being by myself and despite I was really hungry, I chose the option of one of their ribs + other meat dishes mainly because I wanted variety. And that one “other meat” ended up being chicken:

Here, their beef rib + quarter chicken, and, for sides, I chose coleslaw and baked beans. One thing I am not sure if I should be surprised (or should have expected it) was the speed which this was served. I think it took them less than five minutes between ordering and serving it to my table. Truth is that is about right. I mean, it is not like some other cuisines that dishes are made to order. These dishes ought to be prepared in advance and, at most, a matter of plating them. So, from that perspective, they did what they were supposed to do…

The coleslaw was average but, then again, since chances are this came from a bag with some dressing thrown in, should I have expected anything else? The cornbread… Well, I will have to say it is among the worst I have ever had. It was too sweet for my liking plus it crumbled down way too easily. It was as if there wasn’t anything holding them together.

The other side, the beans, was a bit of a mixed bag. It wasn’t that sweet, didn’t have much of meat taste (actually, I don’t mind much this part); however, what detracted me was the fact it had a bit of a gritty feeling. It was fine as well but, again, I have had better. Oh, on that note, the sauce on the back was supposed to be Texas bold but… Aside from some odd taste, I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. Anyway, the proteins tasted fine without them.

And, talking about proteins, here is the chicken. I will have to admit it is quite decent. Now, not the best of this type but at least it had some unique characteristics still. For example, in no way it was dry and was brined long enough before cooking. But, then again, it is chicken… Oh, by default you get dark meat; if you want white meat (not sure why you would), it is extra.

Finally, their “BBQ” ribs. OK, there is no point on hiding this: if you don’t know by know, these aren’t really “BBQ”. Instead, they are boiled/parboiled/dry cooked/braised, probably grilled before serving/plating and then drenched in sauce. As a result of this cooking, the bone was literally falling off; however, the meat still had a “bite” in it. So, comparing this to any “real” BBQ might be comparing apple to oranges. However, I have absolutely no problem with these cooking methods because the result has qualities of its own. At least, in this case, the sauce served its purpose of “hiding” some imperfections associated to how they were cooked…

So, if you were going for “authentic” BBQ (whatever that means as everybody has his/her own opinion about this), don’t go to Montana’s. You will be disappointed. If you overlook that, what’s served is still edible.

Crème de la Crumb
466 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Whenever there are high notes and/or excitement when a new place opens, I approach it with certain skepticism. More often than not, it is hype; others, the “free” food factor. However, as I mentioned in my Bella Gelateria post, there are people I trust, like Mijune and Sherman. When Mijune wrote about Crème de la Crumb in her Granville Foodie Tour post, I knew I had to visit it, despite sweets are not my first option and a lot of what is sold here are pastries…

So, given my lack of sweets experience, why I choose to come anyway? How about sandwiches? Yes, when Mijune wrote about it, this was the one item that actually caught my attention. So, what does this little shop has to offer? How about this?

Here, Grilled Steak and Blue Cheese Mayo w/ Balsamic Caramelized Red Onion, Arugula, Mushrooms, which was grilled just before it was served. Now, here is something I must mention right away: These are not prepared to order; as their menu states: ” Our gourmet sandwiches are hand-prepared each morning…“. So, if you are those who like to customize your sandwiches, sorry, what you see wrapped in the cool display is what you get.

One thing that really surprised me when I took the first couple of bites is the bread. While I think the cut was a bit too thick, one thing you could notice almost right away is that it is not your run off the mill bread. It wasn’t necessarily a sweet type bread not complete neutral type. But it was the fact there were pieces of walnuts in it. It is quite an interesting departure from the usual ones, indeed.

As for the filling itself, that’s where things were… Interesting. On one side, there was a balance, in the sense you had some greens plus the savoury part and then there is the mushroom. On each bite you could taste a bit of all. However, how the meat was cut was what confused me. Each piece was almost a chunk rather than thin slices. If that was the intent, well, it worked; however, I would have preferred it differently, more on the lines of longer slices (think Philly cheesesteak). In the end it worked though…

Now, a really odd note about my selection: it seems that I should have ordered the turkey one; however, I wasn’t that enthusiastic about the turkey for some reason. Probably because, given the option, I prefer beef over some fowl in a sandwich? (Not that I haven’t had that before but…) Or because I am biased against turkey? Regardless, here is the big question: how does it compare to nearby places? Compared to, say, Bread Garden, I think we have a winner. However, if we compare it to made to order places, like Finch’s or Brioche, well, it is a case of comparing apple to oranges, specially in the case you are looking for something quick (if you are short on time, going to Finch’s is almost madness)

OK, OK, I am not THAT crazy about pastries but, given I was in one, shouldn’t I have tried some as well? Here we have their lemon poppy seed loaf. Just for kicks, I asked for my colleagues to give this one a try and, for the most part, they were quite enthusiastic about it. They found it was moist but without getting really oily (compared to say, some muffins from other places). One thing they liked a lot was the fact there was that contrast between the moist centre and there was a crusty exterior. As for the lemon taste, actually, I find it was lemon-y, though I wished it was more of a “natural” taste but, I guess, it being baked there will be some transformation from that natural taste. And, oh, the poppy seeds… Let’s just say that we were joking about triggering a false positive in drug tests!

For myself, I also got a vanilla bean + pear scone. There was a particular note about this: I wasn’t planning to eat it right away so I asked if there would be any special instructions if I wanted to eat it later. Lydia, the owner, suggested me to put it in a toaster oven until the exterior was getting crunchy (while, in this case, the interior was kept soft and, I dare to say, sweet!). I did exactly that later that day and… Well, my perception of a scone is something neutral, in this case, it was sweet. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given it has vanilla and pear. However, I didn’t really taste much of the vanilla. Probably if I tried really hard… Or I had things mixed up with the sweetness (it had some level of)? And there were actual pieces of pear but, once again, it was somewhat muted. Now you knew there were there, as you could “feel” it but somehow lost in that sea of sweetness.

On another day, I decided to drop by really early hopefully to get that turkey sandwich to have it as breakfast. Alas, they weren’t available yet so, instead, I went for something “sweet”. Sigh, pushing my limit on sweets…

Here, their banana chocolate chip loaf. Alas, I didn’t eat it right away but later in the afternoon as a “snack” later that day. In a way, it shared a lot of characteristics to the lemon poppy seed bar, i.e., it wasn’t really that oily and moist. However, there was something lost in translation here: I can’t say I could taste the banana. Could it be they weren’t that ripe when they made this batch (considering that gap between green to ripe before spoiling is really narrow). I mean, I knew it was there because I could see the strands/specks but couldn’t taste it that much. In the end, it felt more like a chocolate chips loaf – and there is nothing wrong with that!

Finally, what seems to be something that almost shouldn’t be missed was their cinnamon bun. And that’s what I had for breakfast in the end. When I was growing up, I could eat a couple of these; however, after that desire for sweets wane, so did my tolerance. However, I will admit, despite it looked as a sugar overload (OK, technically it is), they weren’t as sweet as it could be. And, true to its name, the cinnamon was there. Alas, one thing I didn’t quite enjoy was the frosting on top. For some reason, there was something that bugged me and I couldn’t really find out what. So, pieces with frosting were fine, those with, I ended up scrapping it off. I guess it is more on the lines of personal preference.

Overall, the fact I was able to eat some of the sweets despite my low tolerance tells me something. Alas. if it wasn’t because it is somewhat far from my workplace prevents me from coming back for a quick lunch. And, for some pastries, if it wasn’t because of their hours (then again, this is Downtown, a lot of places aren’t open on some days/after certain times). Otherwise, I think Crème de la Crumb is a good option.

Al Basha
3143 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC

My dislike for Richmond is quite well know. Crazy drivers, small parking spaces, badly design parking locations, the list goes on and on. However, that isn’t the only part of Metro Vancouver I do not frequent. Vancouver West Side is another of such areas in town, despite there is no particular reason. Probably because of those houses I don’t think I will never have enough moola to purchase? Or, perhaps because there is that sense of “falsehood”. Probably because most of the restaurants are the type where there is more hype to be seen rather than what it is served on the plate? Or because, well, I have had a bad track there? Regardless of the reason, after my visit to the area on Greek Day, I found out there were actually small interesting shops. One of them happened to be Al Basha and I made a mental note to return “soon” and that is what I did…

One thing that works really well for Al Basha is their operating hours: They close at 3:00 a.m. Now, I was there ~10:00 p.m. so it was still way before their closing time but, compared to the other restaurants nearby which was starting to close, at least you know it will be there for you. After walking in, I was greeted by the enthusiastic owner. Now, enthusiastic as in the sense he was all smiles and quite chatty. When he noticed I was holding my camera (the zipper of my camera bag just broke at that moment), he was telling me about his photography adventure and so on. Well, I guess there are things that you can or can’t expect! But, back to the food…

Similar to a lot of shawarma places, there were your usual wraps and plates. I ended up ordering what they call the “Al Basha” plate, which is basically a shawarma plate. Here, it is served with rice, salad and hummus.

The salad was a simple one so no complains… Actually, it had a fair amount of dressing; now, not overdressed but dressed enough. The taste of some of the components of the salad really came out. For example, there was some sweetness in the tomatoes as well as sweetness (and some sharpness) from the onions. Some people might hate this so just leave it as acquired taste.

The hummus wasn’t as watery as some places I have been (like Falafel King) but one touch that is quite evident in the picture is the “drizzle” of oil on top. OK, some of you will say “fat tastes good!” Yes, agreed, but, when I tasted some of it without the extra oil, let just say it hold its own.

Finally, the chicken shawarma itself, served on top of rice. Unlike some places, it wasn’t the regular white parboiled rice. Unfortunately, I didn’t really ask if there was a specific type of rice or seasoning and I didn’t try to find out what it had exactly. I could have tried but let’s just say I was hungry! ^_^;;; The dressing plus the chicken was quite flavourful and each bite made me want to keep on eating… Yes, it had that “savoury” characteristic… (Not necessarily due to salt; sure there was some but it wasn’t overwhelming nor I felt thirsty afterwards).

Despite it is slightly more expensive compared to similar restaurants in Vancouver’s West End, I can still say it is worth the price difference, specially if you are looking for late night eats. As for me, I won’t necessarily drive here, unless it is 1:00 a.m. (at other times, it is a real hassle) and want something to eat and I am in the area. But, still, it is a good option. One final positive aspect on this trip is that it proved me there is some good eats but without some of those “negative” attributes in my head mentioned above.