Seasons in the Park
Queen Elizabeth Park
W 33rd Ave & Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC

In a way, this might be my last post. As mentioned previously, I will be hanging my camera and keyboard and call it quits once my queue of pending posts is done. While I am sure I have stirred something in that previous post and might one day disclose the actual details in that post, in the meantime, I can only say I am grateful of what this blog has provided me. I wandered to new restaurants, met new people (some on-line only, some in real life), established friendships. Some of them closer than others, of course. So, similar to my Octopus’ Garden, this post wasn’t supposed to happen. Instead, while I was at Seasons in the Park, my friend whom I was having brunch with (and whom I met via this blog!) likewise suggested I should end up with a bang. Well, when such request is made, I guess I can’t say no!

Seasons in the Park, located in Queen Elizabeth Park (a photo essay here), is part of the Sequoia Company of Restaurants, which also includes Cardero’s (in Coal Harbour), Teahouse (in Stanley Park) and Sandbar (in Granville Island). Under normal circumstances, I won’t have come here; however, a Buy a Tab gift card courtesy of Sherman as a Christmas present sort of sealed the deal. At least, he didn’t send me a gift card for *cough* a Glowbal Group restaurant! So, thankful for this gift and not wanting to leave that unused (which would, of course, disappoint Sherman), that gave me a good reason to come here. Furthermore, it was spring and, while the flowers were just starting to bloom, if the food wasn’t good, at least the view might be a good one! What view? As in this view:

Of course, making good to the name of this blog, I won’t let the view distract me and focus on the food itself. (But, of course, when the company is good…). Now, I must comment that I am not necessarily a fan of brunch. I personally like to have my breakfast prior to 9:00 a.m. and have lunch around noon. Dinner usually is more flexible as I can snack during the day. But, brunch? At times, I feel that I might be starving, specially if I skip breakfast, but halfway full if I chose to eat something earlier. To save myself from that situation, I think of an 11:30 a.m. brunch as an early lunch but, alas, depending on the restaurant, it might be “too early” for some heavier lunch fare. This time, I think I was able to manage it quite well and after ordering, we got some bread and butter.

Just for sake of discussion: for such type of restaurant, how relevant it is for the restaurant to churn their own butter? Putting the butter argument aside, the bread arrived warm and we had a brief discussion of whether the bread was made in-house, yet another possible topic of discussion. But, regardless of how it was made, it was just bread and we just had a piece each to begin as we sort of knew we might be needing it later for one of the other dishes…

As in this dish: mussels and fries. We ordered this to share as an appetizer. The broth was on the lines of a Thai curry and we both thought it needed a bit of acidity to balance the sweetness – some lemongrass would have worked great! Now, it wasn’t extremely sweet; however, it was more on the lines of showing contrast. As for the mussel themselves, typical of Pacific mussels, they were plump and none of them came closed. My only one quibble would have been that I would have preferred the dish to be served pipping hot; however, it is possible that, because we were seated outside and was taking some pictures before digging it could have affected the temperature when we dig in. As for the fries, they were decent and the chipotle mayo certainly help. And, of course, to soak some of the broth, there was the bread…

Dish #1 was their QE Park Benedict – baby spinach, roasted roma tomato, hollandaise, roasted potatoes. I originally suggested the smoked salmon version (hey, meat!); however, after tasting it, I will have to admit this one is quite a good option as well. Granted, no meat per se; however, the remaining components made up for any lack of meat goodness. Particularly, the roasted roma tomato, which maintained its consistency and provided a light mix of sweet and acidity. But, how about the egg itself? How about this?

I won’t deny it, this was well executed: whites were firm and the yolk poured out to cover the tomato and the muffin. Alas, that’s when yet-another-quibble hit: the hollandaise didn’t make much act of presence. It was there, OK, just that the texture of the yolk basically took over and there wasn’t anything telling you “I am hollandaise, I am here!”. As for the potatoes, it was probably the weakest link of the dish. It was just OK and probably a bit over salted. Otherwise, nothing extraordinary…

Moving to my dish, I ordered steak and eggs. When I mentioned above about “heavier lunch fare”, I wasn’t joking. I mean, a steak for (br/l)unch? Well, if it is in the menu! First, the eggs… I will have to say I wasn’t really impressed by it. Now, there was nothing wrong and that might have been part of the problem. By the looks (i.e., colour), you could tell they were good quality eggs, just that the texture of this scrambled egg was too dry for my liking. For comparison purposes, check the scramble eggs I had in Culina at the Muttart (in Edmonton). There, that scrambled egg still had a soft, silken texture to it, something I hope here would have achieved… As for the steak…

It was ordered medium rare but this was more on the lines of medium than medium rare. But, wasn’t really in the mood of arguing but eating so I left it as is. And, you know what? It worked fine. Given it is a sirloin, I wasn’t expecting it to be extremely tender but you could easily cut it without much effort. What sort of killed it was the cabernet demi-glace which I felt it added a bit too much saltiness. Fortunately, the egg was there to compensate. So, as a heavy (br/l)unch dish, it worked fine fine as is.

And, to make things overkill, we ordered wild mushroom risotto. Now, not sure if the outdoor issue I mentioned regarding the mussels hit here as well: after sitting there for a while, when we eventually “attacked” it, it felt not warm enough and a bit dry. How so? How about some shredded cheese still in shredded form rather than “mixed” in? (Plus it didn’t “melt” when “mixed” in?). OK, I might be nitpicking here. However, for risotto, I would have preferred mine a bit more on the wet side. Otherwise, it will resemble rice cooked Chinese style but with too much water added. Flavour wise, it was fine as it was loaded with mushroom pieces.

After the meal, we were having some interesting conversation about why there were some shortcomings despite the type of restaurant it is supposed to be. We thought that it is possible that they might lower things a little bit because they want to attract more people rather than more specific customers. For example, people are used to eat scrambled eggs cooked through rather than a somewhat runny, softer version. If that’s what people expect, why take it away? Could I have asked it to be cooked differently? Well, of course but, then again, I wasn’t sure how it would come to begin with. Could I have sent it back? Nah, I was hungry by then! Regardless, by sitting at their patio with good company, I learned why this restaurant is held in high esteem. While it is not extraordinary, it is at least above par. With that in mind, it is good enough to keep you there and a priceless setting is just icing on the cake. While I might not come back on a regular basis, I know this is a good option if I want to enjoy some of the things Vancouver has to offer.

Octopus’ Garden
1995 Cornwall Ave
Vancouver, BC

Confession time: This post wasn’t supposed to happen. In fact, due to timing, my last post was supposed to be that of the Vancouver’s 1st Foodie Festival and then hang my camera and keyboard. However, in some sort of unfinished business type feeling, I knew I had to visit some places – one of them was Octopus’ Garden which is the topic of this post. Under normal conditions, I might have gone regardless but chosen not to blog. However, I was with good company and, despite knowing my intentions of stop blogging, gave me one final push and suggested I should blog it. So, as one of my last post, I might as well go out with a bang!

Octopus’ Garden is a small sushi restaurant in the Kitsilano area which could easily go unnoticed by pedestrian traffic. However, such are the places that I really like: low profile that can deliver good food. And, in Octopus’ Garden’s case, it also has some call to fame: the option for omakase, aka, “I entrust you”, aka, you leave it to the chef. From other people’s perspective, it can be considered a tasting menu of sorts but the commonality is that you don’t make any decision (aside from ordering it that is, though, alas, I wasn’t asked for preferences…). In fact, that is the call to fame of other places including Tojo’s (though, of course, Hidekazu Tojo himself will tell you he has other claims to fame as well). And now that I bring Tojo’s, there is a really important consideration: fellow blogger Sherman, thougt Octopus’ Garden can be considered better than Tojo’s because it does not have all the attitude from the later. So, given all things combined, there were high expectations for this meal.

After arriving, we were seated in a separate/secluded area of the restaurant. In fact, one thing that I considered odd was the layout. It allows some privacy at the expense of how many tables can be set up. If this is something the restaurant is willing to do, it means they really trust what they can crank out to keep customers coming. That’s all good but, for this meal, I was only worried about what would be served to me that night. And, yes, since I mentioned so many times “omakase”, not ordering it would be short of shooting myself on the foot. But wait! It wasn’t in the menu! It happens it is not listed in the menu at all: you just have to ask. For the price ranges, it starts at $60. Granted, Sherman went for the $100; however, my dining companion isn’t the heaviest eater in the world so we ended up going for the basic $60 version.

For drinks, we went for tea. I was given the option to choose from four different teas and I narrowed it down to pear green tea and a tea called Starlight – Green tea & Oolong tea naturally flavored with raspberry, currant and strawberry. In the end, I went for the later. Despite I didn’t know what was coming in terms of food, one thing I was sure: overstating the obvious, food would be savoury and it would be interesting to have something fruity to pair it against. And, for the most part, it worked! You could easily tell it had some berries hints to it, though, at the same time, for some odd reason that brought me some memories, as if I have had it previously. Hmmmmm…. That made me wonder, after the fact that is, how would have the pear green tea worked…?

And now, the food. We started off with octopus sunomono. Compared to sunomono served in other sushi spots, these had a really light hint of acidity. That is, it didn’t have an overpowering acidic taste, just enough to get you wanting to have more food. The slices of octopus were firm but by no means chewy. Not sure if good or bad but it didn’t have too much of a taste. Good way to start off but didn’t necessarily wow me based on expectations.

I didn’t get the complete description of dish #2, as, again, good company was keeping me busy and entertained. From what I recall, the yellow parts are fish + roe. The purple pieces were octopus wasabi. Extremely slimy but were also crunchy. The wasabi part of the name was a bit of a misnomer; you didn’t really get that “kick” we usually associate with wasabi. OK, exaggerating here. There was a bit of that feeling but not to the extent of having to include it as part of a dish name. The cured sausage was just that, nothing more, nothing less. But, they “key” here was the ankimo, aka, monkfish liver. That piece was creamy but, for some reason, it felt there was something missing, as the grated radish didn’t really do much for me. Hmmmmmmm…. Am I starting a trend? It was OK but not mind blowing…

Am I over using odd references a bit too much? If so, how about yet another one here: a miso-like soup with a really crispy lotus chip and a dumpling. It had a consistency of a thick soup, and quite savoury I must add. The dumpling was OK, nothing to write home about, it somehow felt like an Asian version of a matzo ball. However, what really made it was the lotus chip, as, despite it was submerged in the broth, it maintained its crispiness. I think that would have been something I could eat a bowlful of. But, in the end, there were that many chips (as in one) and too much broth for its own good.

At times, I have “complained” that restaurants make fancy dishes just for the sake of hype and/or to attract customers, not necessarily because they are good. Here is a case of such dish: uni shooter. Here, rice is added to a glass, some liquid, a sea urchin roe and quail egg. I was supposed to stir this and then drink it. While you couldn’t really “feel” any slimy texture, it was devoid of almost any taste. The only thing I was able to savour was the piece of mint at the top. Not even the “wasabi”. Sorry, didn’t like this one at all.

We weren’t served one but two different pieces of fish: black cod (?) and red snapper. The black cod (?) was a huge chunk and it felt borderline over cooked. A squeeze of the lemon did some favors to that piece of fish, though. Not much different from most large pieces of grilled fish so, as a result, not much to comment. However, that was not the case of the red snapper. First of all, they gave us one of the best pieces of the fish: the collar. Unlike a piece of fish filet, the meat in this area has a different texture and does not dry up so easily. A piece from the belly section was served along. So, in a way, fat on fat? Yup, the fish itself had a fatty texture to it, a bit slimy; but, I like it this way so it worked fine to me quite well, despite it needed a bit of hands-on to finish it.

It was almost impossible we didn’t have some form of sushi. In this case, we had sashimi, rather than actual sushi. The pieces included black cod, salmon, squid, octopus, flounder and tuna. One thing I will have to admit and that is their really good knife work. See that white piece below the slices of raw fish? Well, that’s not paper: that’s a thinly sliced piece of daikon radish used for decorating purposes. It was almost as thin as a sheet of paper… As for the sashimi itself, alas, I can’t say I enjoyed it. For some reason, it felt… Bland? Now, before anybody even think of bashing me about soy sauce or wasabi and what not, yes, I lightly dipped some before consuming each morsel. However, there was something strange with the fish itself. For example, in the case of the salmon, that unique salmon oily texture wasn’t there, no matter how hard I tried. In the case of the squid, the oba aka, Japanese mint, was the key element, same with the roe on top of slice of flounder. But, past those, I wasn’t sure what to make up from the remaining ones. It felt slightly disappointing…

I wished we were served nigiri sushi but, given we were sharing dishes already, I am sure they thought things might be easier. Here, their dragon roll which contains avocado, unagi and red pepper. I won’t deny it looks great visually, from construction perspective to knife work perspective. However, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the maki itself. Once again, it was OK. Probably slightly above average but not something I can’t live without. I will give them credit to the fact the creaminess of the avocado was there, the sweetness of the red pepper was there. What killed it was that unagi didn’t make an act of presence despite you could visually see it there. I wonder how this would have been had it been nigiri instead…

Finally, to close, Sada-san dropped by and asked us if we were read for dessert. At that point, we were getting full so, sure! And this is one of those instances I have to admit I had a really interesting dessert: deep fried brownie, topped with ice cream. You know how are brownies, you know about vanilla ice cream. Need to say more? In fact, personally I thought this was actually the highlight of the dinner. And, remember, this is coming from a person who is not that much into desserts! Of course, I had to be nitpicky and find a flaw of sorts: the batter used for the brownies was slightly chewy. Regardless of how you like your brownie, I thought that chewiness gave an odd contrast to the brownie. But, still that was a minor detail and, again, nitpicking.

Overall, I felt it was a bit of a contradiction. In a per dish perspective, I thought the dishes were OK… As an OK due to expectations. Had I got these dishes because somebody else ordered for me, it would be a bit of hit (the red snapper) and a bit of a miss (uni shoot). But, combined, it would be above average in the bigger perspective of things. However, I was somehow expecting more and, well, as served, didn’t work. Could it be that my recent visit to Kimura skewed things a little bit? Or could it be I should have gone for te $100 price point? Regardless of which one it is, I am still curious and would be willing to go again… And, who knows, this time, break the bank?

Le Do Vietnamese Restaurant
2292 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC

Ah… East Hastings… An area I use to frequent but, ever since I quit Magic, I haven’t dropped by at all. It is not that there is something wrong. There are some good grocery shopping places, like Freybee’s outlet store (at Hastings and Victoria) if you are looking for cold cuts or sausages, Donald’s Market is a good option (Hastings and Nanaimo). And then there are “unique” eating places like Bao Chau and Seri Malaysia. Could it be traffic in the area? I don’t know. However, by pure sheer of events, PO and I ended up in that area and I “suggested” we give Le Do a try.

When we arrived, actually other options were considered. For example, Red Wagon which opened recently, as well as the before mentioned Seri Malaysia. However, I chose to visit this place in the end because it has been on my list for quite some time and felt I had to do so. Despite we arrived at the later parts of lunch time, the restaurant wasn’t packed full. But, then again, it was a weekday…

I just realized an odd trend of mine: When in Asian restaurants, I seldom order drinks and fall back into tea/water. Could it be that, for general consumption, it works well? Or because, somehow, when in Western type restaurants, there is that odd need to drink anything else aside from water? Regardless if this is true or not, PO ordered a drink. OK, I will admit I didn’t get the name correctly – salted lemon drink? Just as the name suggests, this slightly salty, a bit citrus-y but overall refreshing. Not something I would have ordered but, regardless, it was interesting on its own terms due to the combination of basic tastes.

To share, we ordered Goi Cuon (or was it Nem Cuon?). In a way, I was distracted when ordering and it could have been the later. The difference in terms of the item in the menu? Both are salad rolls, the former being prawns and pork and the later being listed as “patties pork”. Regardless of the name, it had some nice pieces of sausage-like pork but they were muted by all the rice noodles. The greens inside didn’t help much. Had it had from fragrant herbs – like Thai basil – it would have been better. However, in this case… It was just OK.

In retrospect, had the description been more… Interesting (?), I would have gone for the Le Do Spicy Roll – 1 piece of spring roll wrap with noodle, lettuce and cucumber (spicy). Why? Because the description does not necessarily make it enticing enough! So, what is in this roll? OK, I will let fmed explain it to your here.

Moving to the pho, PO ordered dish #3 from their menu, Pho Tai Bo Vien – rare beef plus beef balls. For the most park, he thought it was OK, not necessarily the best he has had but it got the job done. But, there was something that he kept sort of complaining: the beef wasn’t rare! I guess next time he should order the rare beef on a side so that the soup does not start to cook it… Regardless, it looked like the basic pho so I will trust in his judgement… And, as for myself…

Bun Bo Hue. The first notable? The cabbage. To my understanding, this is something that is added in-lieu of banana blossom. The only other place I recall having this served? Tràng Tiên in Edmonton… Given that Edmonton has better Vietnamese food than Vancouver, I will welcome that addition. As for the rest of the bowl… Well, it sort of went sideways. The basic meats were there but not more unusual suspects like pork knuckles or congealed pork blood. The broth felt more on the lines of the basic pho broth with some hot sauce like oil added on top. But, alas, not spicy at all. The one credit I will give them was that it had some lemongrass flavour to it. However, that didn’t really make it stand out to some other more basic bun bo hue in other places.

After the meal, PO and I compared some notes and, overall, it felt… Average? Sorry, probably I ordered the wrong dishes or it wasn’t necessarily the best time of the day. Regardless, what we ordered didn’t necessarily wow us and left of wanting more. Probably I should go back and try something else? But, if I do so… What? In the meantime, I will just leave it as a maybe

Peckinpah
2 Water Street
Vancouver, BC

It is sort of known that I don’t necessarily like fancy restaurants. That does not mean I won’t go to them, just that a lot of times, those restaurants carry heavier price tags and a lot of that price tag is not translated necessarily into what ends up on the plate. Instead, it goes to things “around” it – like ambiance. However, at times, that’s what can draw people together for a meal. I mean, a dive is not necessarily conduciveto get people together and spend 2+ hours just to catch up.

So, how does that relate to Peckinpah, a somewhat recently restaurant opened in Gastown? Well, for one, it is the area, as Gaston is one of the places I call “usual suspects”, i.e., areas of town where people go for ambiance (the others people Downtown, Yaletown and Kitsilano). The second part is that out of all possible cuisines, this is BBQ, one that has humble origins… So, how do these do combine together?

Not far from places like Irish Heather (where the Long Table Series take place), there seems that one element has to exist: booze. I mean, if you are in the area for a social gatherings, I guess the element of social lubricant has to exist. This is pretty obvious when, in the two page menu, half of it is dedicated to drinks. And, I will have to say that, in a really wacky turn of events, I ordered a Raven Cream Ale.

OK, at this point, some people will be raising their eyebrows and wondering what the hell was going on. Why? Because I am not that much of an alcohol consumer (as a result, I won’t say much about the drink). In fact, I am currently wondering… Why the #!$!@#$ I ordered it! See, I have only ordered alcohol in really limited instances (for example, when I went to Jules Casual French Bistro). And, because I have low alcohol tolerance and like to be in all my senses, I just order soda/pop. However, in this case, there was something going on in my mind and it is “safe” to say I wasn’t in all my senses – which, alas, might be reflective on parts of my thoughts of this place.

But, too much personal stuff, back to the restaurant… Despite its small menu, I had a hard problem deciding what to order. First of all, I wasn’t excessively hungry. Instead, I just wanted to eat something and move on. Peckinpah just happened to be there. If it wasn’t there, I might have ended up going to Vera’s next door. Second, on the day I went (and seems to be still true as of the date this post is going up), their BBQ orders are of single meat type, despite you can make half orders. In other words, there are no options to mix-n-match meats. Translation: given I was by myself and could eat only that much, I better order the “right” one. So, instead of me guessing, I left that to the bartender/cashier. His suggestion? Beef brisket. At that point, I raised my eyebrows, as if having doubts why I was suggested that. But, OK, well, if you are running the restaurant and this is your suggestion, I will hold you accountable for that suggestion!

Wait, wait, wait. That’s not beef brisket?! Yup, that’s not beef brisket. That is their pork corn dog (beef also available; however, since I was going to have brisket…) with three mustards. Before jumping to the food, yes, sorry, lightning conditions were terrible for picture taking. So, sorry… Once again, back to the food… This ain’t your run of the mill fair corn dog. It was indeed a meaty pork sausage. The batter was quite light. In fact, if it wasn’t because it held some of the greasiness, you might say it was something similar to a really light tempura. Alas, the mustard almost didn’t work. The grainy mustard or what I thought was a Dijon mustard felt too sweet to my taste. I wonder if it was because of the ale or because my mind were playing games… Regardless, I wasn’t not necessarily impressed by it and will leave it in the “OK” category.

OK, shoot me… Yes, I wasn’t THAT hungry and, even then, I ended up ordering a big plate of food (and this is half order!). Had they allowed me to do a mix-n-match type platter, I might have not ordered the corn dog. As for the half order, I had the option of ordering two sides to go along. It ended up going for southern greens, baked beans; this is in addition of the cornbread.

I have some mixed feelings about the baked beans. If I were eating it by itself, I am sure I would have eaten a bowlful of it. But, then again, I am a sucker for this type of dish. However, at the same time, despite I saw some pieces of meat mixed in, I wished it had either a bit of tomato flavour in it or something smokey. While it could have had one (or both), likewise, it might have been MIA. As for the greens, not much to say. I just wanted some vegetables. The cornbread… Once again, mixed feelings. In a way, didn’t feel that much like cornbread the way I have had it in the past, where you can feel a little bit the graininess of the cornmeal, here it had a fluffy texture. And, what’s even stranger? I noticed it was in a large block (imagine a cake) and then sliced into squares. When I saw that, for some reason I thought “polenta”? Of course, it is a far cry from polenta but I couldn’t shake that feeling. A bit of honey on the side would have helped but that would be on the lines of personal likes.

Now, to the meat. Again, I ended up ordering beef brisket. When it was served, right away that sense of “I made a mistake” kicked in, specially when I couldn’t visualize a smoke ring. Now, if we take out any preconception of BBQ, I will have to admit it was a good piece of meat. It still felt juicy, thought it wasn’t too “warm”. As for texture, it was tender to a point but still required knife. And what I mentioned about smoke ring was confirmed after I took the first bite: couldn’t taste much of a smokiness taste to it. In other words, good “meat” if we take out a lot of considerations but, by then, can it still be considered BBQ?

As I mentioned above, I wasn’t necessarily on my right state of mind when I went there. However, looking back, I did realize and notice a lot of things. For example, why I was suggested brisket… OK, what happenes is that Peckinpah labels themselves as Carolina style BBQ. And what does that mean? Pork is usually the meat of choice. Granted, they might be trying to cater as many people as possible. But, even then, when you say “Carolina style”, shouldn’t at least specialize in pork instead of beef – and, as a result, suggested something pork instead? The second part is that I didn’t feel the “love” that day. In fact, the kitchen looks like a normal running kitchen, not that much a BBQ shop. Meats were carefully wrapped, sliced when ordered and carefully wrapped back. And then the comment I mentioned above about the cornbread.

Once again, it is possible I wasn’t in my right state of mind the night I was seated at the bar and eating my food. However, the pictures and some facts do not lie. As a result of that, I can’t necessarily say the food was good. As a drinking hole, well, again, not much of an alcohol drinker so that is not an enticement for me to come back.

peckinpah

Lully’s Sandwich Mobile Cart
650 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC

Back when the original set of food carts came out, the one that we had to admit was a bit “different” from the rest was PanDa Fresh Bakery. While some of them would be as expected in other cultures (skewers from Chinese Skewer King and Satay King), others went for fusion (Cartel Taco, et al) and some went for old school type (pizza from Ragazzi, pulled pork sandwich from Re-Up and crepes from “>Kimono Koi Crepes), the folks from PanDa made a twist by offering stuffed croissants. Alas, it seems things went sort of sideways and they have come back in the form of Lully’s Sandwich.

Located just outside of Granville Skytrain Station (Granville Street exit), it has one thing that their old location didn’t have: foot traffic. After all, for food carts to work, you ought to have a lot of that. Without pedestrians, people might as well go to a sit down restaurant! Of course, without a good product, that would be meaningless. And what are they offering now? Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and, in an interesting twist, they seem they are associated with Lully’s Sandwich Bar from Victoria to bring their smoked meat goodness to Vancouver. Of course, there are some bigger questions with the main one being: would a restaurant formula work on the streets? Of course, with the caveat I have NOT being to Lully’s Sandwich Bar, I can’t say how they operate over there and can only based my thoughts on what they are offering from that cart. Instead, I will make a trip to memory lane and compare it to Kaplan’s Star Deli (it’s Downtown location which has closed). (Of course, I could have tried to compare it to Carnegie Deli, that might be an apple/oranges comparison of sorts, as I had their Woody Allen, which has pastrami and corned beef).

Of course, I am jumping ahead. After making my order, aka, telling them I wanted small, medium (the one I ended up ordering in the end) or jumbo stacked, they start putting some packed cuts of meat into a steamer. Of course, that might raise some questions: would it be good doing it this way? Actually, this method is a workable solution. Under normal conditions, the meat would be steaming and cut to order. However, when purchased in big slabs and taken home, guess how would you re-heat them? Suggested method is usually to cut them into pieces and them steam it for a couple of minutes. Sure, it takes away some authenticity but, given we don’t have the same consumption volume as in Montreal, we have to give some to get some. And the cooking alternative might be what needs to be done…

And here it is, the medium Montreal smoked meat sandwich, served with a pickle. Not necessarily a big fan of pickles so won’t say much. I had the option for yellow prepared mustard or Dijon mustard. OK, I went for the “untraditional” route and had it with Dijon. The rye bread, was a bit… Generic? But, the main question is… How is the meat?

The first part that left me with mixed feelings was the fact the meat was borderline sliced type. Now, Carnegie Deli did that with the Woody Allen and Kaplan’s did that with their Montreal Smoked Meat. However, I had sort of different type of expectations for them, specially because they were reheating them eat, they could have had it roughly cut. I guess, for purposes of consistency, they went for the sliced method.

The question would now be, how does it work as a whole package? In a way, it felt sort of mixed, the main problem for me being the texture. While piled high (I don’t want to imagine the jump extra), when I bit into it, there was no “resistance” from the meat. I am not sure about you, just that, I was expecting something to chew. In this case, it became too soft for me. From a taste perspective, actually, it was savoury and a smoke-like taste, characteristic of this type of meats. Because I asked for Dijon, it gave a contrasting “kick” something that others might not necessarily appreciate. In that case, I guess regular prepared yellow mustard would be for you.

So, how does that make it overall? Well, two things hit hard: the first one is price. One of the issue I raised back with Panda was it’s price. This sandwich is $7.50 which, from a street food perspective, it ain’t cheap. Of course, given they are bringing it the smoked meat from Victoria, I guess there ought to be some overhead. But, if we put that aside from a moment, there is the second factor with was (literally) external ones. The day I went was a cold day (as in borderline 0C) and it cooled down really fast after I unwrapped it (and, of course, to take a picture first). Compared that to eating it at the food court in Pacific Centre: weather won’t be an issue. In the end, if I were to share it with somebody as a snack, it would work. Back by myself as a whole sandwich… I didn’t necessarily convince me. But, once again, I am sure others will appreciate it.

Red Persimmon Taiwanese Cuisine
2133-4500 Kingsway
Crystal Mall
Burnaby, BC

Ah… Crystal Mall… The parking hell hole of Burnaby… Whether by design or due to how it is used, I don’t care. Whenever I need to go there, I just take Skytrain or just park at Metrotown. However, that brings the other question: why to go there to begin with? Yup, their well known food court. While not as modern as, say, Aberdeen Centre, one thing and lacking some options as in Yaohan Centre, one thing it can’t be taken away: it has good eats of it’s own. So, I was there one of these days looking something for dinner but was a bit too tired to think. In other words, hoping to go there and decide based on what was available or fancied. On that night? Red Persimmon.

One of the reason I remembered Red Persimmon was that, some long time ago, I visited another stand in the same food court called Beijing Restaurant. While this one closed (to be replaced by Xiang Yuan Qiao Bridge Rice Noodle), what I did remember from Beijing Restaurant was rou jia mo, aka, Taiwanese burger. From what I got afterwards, in addition to this place, there was one other that sell the same goodies: Red Persimmon. That was the reason I ended up here. Now, I am jumping ahead… First, another dish I ordered that night:

While I wasn’t extremely hungry, I was “hungry” enough and knew the “burger” won’t be enough. Looking at the menu, I found this rice bowl + pork for just under $3. What? $3? Yup, no typo here. For under $3, you get rice in a bowl plus some minced pork. In a way, this would be the type of food I would be eating in a down day – a comfort food of sorts. Was it good? The ground pork ain’t necessarily a fancy cut: it could have been “butt” but, again, it really does not matter. What did matter was that it was cooked through and, when served, it was served with the juices as a result of the cooking, which moistened and flavoured the otherwise bland rice. Furthermore, they had a small container of hot sauce. And, let me tell you, “hot” might be an understatement. If it wasn’t because I added it only on one side, I would have certainly regretted it, as it was spicy enough to make me sweat profusely… Now, would I order their larger version? Probably no, unless it came with some veggies, as otherwise,

And here it is, what in the menu appears as a burger, but, far from it being a burger, this looks more like a braised pork sandwich. Once again, at under $3, this is a deal. Better (and cheaper!) than a Big Mac or a Whopper. Why should one go for those if you can have one of this? Well, probably if you are not used to this. Regardless, it is a good option. The pork was soft but not extremely so. Enough for it not to “break” down when eaten but not too mushy. The pickled mustard greens gave a bit of crunch as well as some contrasting flavour. The layer of peanut (?) and sugar (?) added another layer of contrasting flavour. Overall, the combination worked quite well. However, for some reason, this is not something I necessarily want to eat on a daily basis, despite it is pork… For some reason, it was starting to feel heavy after eating it halfway. Probably as a once in a while…

So, indeed, Red Persimmon is a good option in Crystal Mall food court. With the departure of Wang’s (for XLB), I was starting to wonder which of the remaining stands would make me come back. In the case of Red Persimmon, it seems to be a good starting point. Hope the rest of their menu were as good as these two dishes I ordered.

Kimura
3883 Rupert Street
Vancouver, BC

If I were to visit a restaurant, how often should I do a re-post? Once, twice, thrice? More often than not, unless there is something catastrophic or the experience between the first visit and the second visit is extremely different, I don’t believe there is such need, specially if the time gap between these are extremely short. After all, your experience have documented and capture that essence, is there really a need to do so? After visiting Kimura with Sherman in summer 2010 (wow, we did tackle a lot of these hidden places early!), I was hoping to return for their omakase – or leave it to the chef, which can be considered a tasting menu of sorts. So, in what seemed to have a been a lot of coincidences, when Chris (Eating is the Hard Part) was arranging with me restaurants to consider for his visit, gastronomydomine of the Foodosophy team wrote a post about omakase at Kimura. Result? A flurry of text messages started between Chris and myself. Omakase at Kimura it was…

While making the reservations, I told them ahead of time we would for the $40 omakase. Now, there was no specifics as if that was supposed to be a a possible price point; rather, I threw the number. Given they didn’t say anything at all, I confirmed the time for the meal and from there we went.

Arriving that day to the restaurant was a bit of an adventure in its own ways. It was “snowing” that day (as in flakes that never stick), Bin had to take a small detour and, as a result, he had to cab in and so on. When we arrived, I was disappointed we weren’t given the option to seat at the bar. Now, I am aware it is an option; but… But, still, we were seated close enough to observe most of the action so, at least, there was a consolation prize of sorts. Anyway, after warming up and confirming we want to go for the $40 price point omakase, food started to arrive, starting off with…

An appetizer trio consisting of jelly-ied pigs ear and hock, grilled sardines with shiso leaves and kabocha pumpkin. The best description of the ears would be in the line of a dense, savoury jelly. The one thing I wish it had was a some snap from the pigs ear. I mean, you could see it, but, at the same time, it wasn’t “there”. The grilled sardines, which, by itself is an oily fishy tasting, errr…, fish (?), maintained those characteristics. The meat wasn’t soft or flaky; instead, it almost felt as if it was a single chunky piece. And that worked fine for me, given I grew up eating it like that. As for the kabocha, unlike some other forms of cooked pumpkin, this one was borderline dense and heavy. It was lightly sweet which provided some contrast to the other savoury parts of the appetizer.

Trio of oysters. Now, I am a bit of a person with mixed feelings about oysters. I mean, I will eat it and, if I were to put in an oyster eating competition, I could certainly eat a lot of them. However, I won’t go ballistic if I don’t have them. Plus, procuring them in good conditions is a pain and, depending on the restaurant, it might charge an arm and a leg. Granted, there are places where buck-a-shuck is offered but these are quite popular so there might be packed or have long lines. In Kimura’s case, Mr Kimura himself told us these were flown directly from Japan. Does it guarantee it is better than local BC ones? Given I am not crazy about oysters, what I can say is that these had a clean taste and the three forms of roe provided some crunchiness and saltiness to it. Even Sarah who had some hesitations happily ate them!

Salmon carpaccio with a sesame, soy sauce dressing. There were two types of salmon: a more orange-y one plus a reddish one. I wonder if they were using farmed salmon or one of the more orange-y type wild salmon. I would lean towards the later but, regardless, the dressing was quite strong. It wasn’t bad just that it overpowered the salmon itself. Would I order it by itself? Not certain.

Ankimo, aka, monkfish liver, aka, foie gras of the sea, on a squid ink sauce. Yup, you got that right, this is a piece of liver, not too different from foie gras. Well, there are some key differences; for example, this wasn’t seared and, despite it was creamy, it had a clean taste. Quite a sharp contrast to the monkfish liver I had at Guu Garden… The sauces didn’t make much of a difference but, hey, as long as it didn’t detract from the key part, I am good!

Oyster tempura, mushroom and okra. Another oyster dish? Well, won’t complain here! Now, I don’t think “tempura” is the best description, as it wasn’t really crispy; instead, the batter had a chewy texture to it. As for the flavour, it had a light sea taste to it (but not as in a bad “spoiled” way). The mushroom was shiitake and, if you have had it before, you know it has a quite pungent taste to it. As for the okra, it is either a like it or hate it for a lot of people. In my case, I liked the creaminess of the inside so I am good as is. However, I am jumping ahead! There is one thing that my picture didn’t really capture and that was a bit of edible golden spray. Yup, Mr. Himura spray something glittering golden on the plate. But it was mostly for show as there was no taste behind it. Hey, at times flare works!

If there was a dish that ended up in a strange spot would be this one: shrimp on risotto, which wasn’t really a risotto in the straight sense of the word. It felt more on the lines of rice molded in a ring and then the top and bottom cooked in a way similar to grilled onigiri. It gave it a crunchy exterior and a somewhat creamy interior (but, once again, not to the same point as a risotto). Alas, it ended up slightly too bitter for my taste. The shrimp on top (served with salsa) ended up being a miss as well. How so? Slightly overdone which translates into a chewy morsel.

As soon as I saw this little cup, my eyes glittered. Before the waitress could name the dish, I yelled “chawanmushi!!!“, to which the waitress could help but give a big smile and just nod. So what is this?

Translated as “tea cup steam”, this is an savoury egg custard, not too different from my very favourite dish: Chinese steamed eggs. However, this one contains a strand of udon so, technically, it could be called odamaki mushi. Regardless of the name (or technicality), I will have to say “I like it” no matter what. But, don’t let me jump ahead: in addition to the strand of udon, it also had some chicken, a piece of shrimp and mushroom. It wasn’t really salty and the consistency was stiffer than how my mom would make the Chinese version. But, once again, I just call it good eats! (Sorry, this is a biased statement!).

Of course, the (nigiri) sushi course… From top down, battera sushi, red tuna, o-toro, flounder (though, I thought it could have been halibut), surf clam and unagi. From the rice perspective, other than the battera sushi, the rice in the rest was loose to the point it could easily crumble if you were to try to pick it using chopsticks. So, yes, hands were used. Also, I didn’t really dip it in soy sauce, as Mr. Himura brushed the appropriate pieces before they were served. As for the fish, I will just say it was fresh. Sorry, there isn’t much to say other than it was good.

To close, some green tea ice cream. To be blunt… Nah, didn’t care much for this after all the other dishes served.

Overall, for $40, this is quite a deal. I mean, they were 9 dishes. If you were to average it, that would be under $5 each. And, we are not talking dishes made out of cheapo type ingredients. Oysters? Monkfish liver? Sushi??? So, indeed it is worth every buck. But, of course, let’s not abuse a good thing. If would certainly come back, given it has a good price point and good dishes. Just that, if I do so, it would most likely be once every six weeks or two months.

Campagnolo
1020 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

What is better than a food blogger visiting another food blogger for dinner in another city? How about having a mini gathering of sorts? When Chris (Eating is the Hard Part) told me about his trip, I sent an email to some of the local bloggers here but, between bad timing and other reasons, only Sherman managed to join us. As to where, while in Edmonton, Chris and I visited Corso 32, a newly opened Italian eatery there and, in my post, I mentioned “the best way would to visit a somewhat similar/related restaurant here and compare!”. That restaurant I had in mind the whole time was Campagnolo.

There is a lot of “interesting” features of Campagnolo, one of them is its pedigree – related to Refuel – and another is its location. Between Main Skytrain Station and Chinatown, it is not necessarily a “pretty” area. However, people believe this is a part of town that seems to have attracted some restaurants recently, for example, London Pub. How it turns out in the future, well, if I only knew… Anyway, we were then and for food it was!

We arrived early… Quite early, to the point we (actually Sherman and Viv) arrived first to an empty restaurant and, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take the picture above. Now, this is not the whole dining area. It seems there is an additional area in the back. Alas, to be able to use it, we had to make reservations and we were short by two (in our party, it was Sherman and Viv, Bin, Chris and Sarah, and myself). While we couldn’t make reservations, we did manage to do something else: go “alla famigla” or “family style”. Actually, this is not listed as such in the menu; instead, it says that for party of 3 or more, “the kitchen can cook for you”. There are two price points: $35 and $45. I guess, after travelling this far, there was no way we would go easy and, in the end, we went for the $45 price point. And here are the courses:

Out of the anti-pasti course, the one I liked the most was the crispy ceci – chickpeas, chilies, mint, citrus. These were fried chickpeas and then the remaining ingredients added as a form of dressing. As for the texture, think of them as pop corn but with a paste-like consistency in the inside. Of the other ingredients in the “dressing”, I couldn’t really taste the chilies but it didn’t matter to me: These were darn addictive as is! From there, the beet salad – shaved vegetables, olive oil, ricotta, mint – worked quite well for me, as it was simple, though a bit more of ricotta would have certainly helped. The “cure” was OK… For some reason, there was something amiss; something partially shared by the beef carpaccio – salsa verde, herb and lemon focaccia. It was certainly good, just that it felt slightly loss by the salsa verde and the other dressings. Probably because the beef felt it was sliced way too thin? Looking back, I think we should have asked for the burrata mozzarella – castelvetrano olives, sea salt, olive oil – or the seared octopus – nugget potatoes, olives, lardo, frisee lettuce – but, oh, well, we were too busy chatting and not paying enough attention to the menu…

I will have to admit this one caught us of guard. For a moment, I thought we were going to get the primi course, aka, the pasta course; however, we got pizza first. The first one was the margherita – flor di latte mozzarella, tomato, basil – and the second one was the carbonara – smoked provolone, bacon, crimini mushroom, onion, egg. Because the carbonara was on my side, I ate that one first and, as a white pizza, it felt as eating crispy flatbread with some creaminess thanks to me dipping the corner of my slice into the egg. Think dipping a piece of toast into a sunny side up egg. A bit more of that provolone would have been appreciated but that would be personal preference. However, here is the oddball that followed: while the carbonara was crispy, I thought the margherita was too chewy – an opinion that the rest didn’t necessarily share. My thoughts was that, because I had it second, the texture of the baked dough has changed by the time I bit into it. As for the sauce, it felt slightly acidic but did a good job. Alas, the basil, despite it was added after it was baked wasn’t “felt”.

And now, the proper primi course. The ricotta and spinachi gnudi – tomato sauce and fresh basil – was quite soft and fluffy. I would have certainly love to eat a plateful of this, if it wasn’t because I would have been eating way too much ricotta. The tagliatelle – pork ragú, basil, pecorino romano cheese – was a winner for me. The meat felt almost like pulled pork, something that I always appreciate. As for the sauce, there was just enough to cover it and, it certainly worked for me, as the sauce (in a way similar to the past sauce used above) provided enough “punch” to the pasta. The one oddity was that the pasta itself felt too bundled together, i.e., I had a hard time picking up the noodle strands without pulling almost the whole plate. Now, this is not a bad thing, just difficulty in serving myself. Else, the pasta had a nice bite to it. As for the linguini – BC mussels, white wine, lemon, butter, parsley, was the best one of the bunch for me and it was a case of simplicity at its best. While barely with any excess sauce, what was “served” clung into the pasta quite well and, in each bite, you could tell there was some seafood and some buttery taste in it. If I had to be nit picky, my one issue would be the consistency of the pasta: I thought it was quite al dente, probably a bit underdone.

At this point, not sure if it was due to the pacing or because we were eating more than we should (not unusual) but we were pretty full. But then… We realize we still had secondi AND side dishes AND dessert. First, the side dishes:

Broccoli, anchovies, garlic, chilies was a bit of a misnomer. I couldn’t taste much of the other ingredients as much as the broccoli and the parmesan on top. However, these were cooked quite nicely, in the sense the florets as well as the stem parts were all tender. So, if you like broccoli, you will like these. Now, I thought it was a bit strange to have both broccoli and cauliflower but there you go – fried cauliflower florets, fresh bacon, parsley. However, it was still good because, unlike the broccoli, the cauliflower were fried and had a crispy texture to it. Alas, the bacon didn’t really come out… Still, it was the texture that made it. Now, if you are at home and want to replicate it but don’t want to fry, just cut some florets and bake it until golden. Finally, the third side dish was smashed potatoes, lemon, chives. These was indeed a winner. It combined several form of well prepared potato goodness into one: some crispiness outside, yet still soft and a fluffy inside. Unlike the other side dishes, there was some light lemon-y taste. Indeed, a winner for me…

Yes, the secondi… Red wine braised beef – soft polenta, kale, marrow, salsa verde – suffered from the same issue as the flat steak at Corso 32: the meat felt overcooked and a bit dry. It wasn’t bad, just that it just didn’t make justice to almost any cut of beef. However, one part of this dish won me over: the soft polenta. If I could replicate the polenta again, I would be golden… (yes, I am experimenting at home making grits and polenta lately). The Il Pesce del Giorno – fish of the day – ended up being trout on a bed of farro with salsa verde. This was a well prepared dish and have nothing else to say. OK, if I was nitpicky, I would have preferred some form of seared type salmon-like dish but, then again, that’s preference. As is, it worked well. But, the winner was the polderside chicken – black lentils, parsnip, red swiss chard. This is the second time that, despite there are fancier dishes, it was the chicken dish that won the day (the previous instance was Incanto in San Francisco). In this case, this chicken roulade was juicy inside and the exterior had that feeling texture. And, ah… The lentils. Me being a sucker for legumes, made me enjoy it even more.

Did I say there was still dessert pending? Truth is, at that point, I just had some and threw in the towel. In fact, I don’t even recall these very well, aside from the fact the pannacotta being quite smooth and the pear torte (?) shell felt dry. Then again, I am not a dessert person so I didn’t care more.

Afterwards, we spent quite some time chatting and, needless to say, having different opinions, specially that from different cities was a really good thing. As for the food itself, it was darn too much food. In fact, we had some double servings for some (again, family size serving with enough for everybody). Was it good? I think it was a bit of hit and miss but, above average overall. For example, I liked some of the anti-pasti, some of the primi and some of the secondi. The pizza… Well, if I were to have it by myself, I might enjoy only the first or second slice but might have difficulty with the rest (this is considering they have pizza specials late night). It might be a matter of choosing the “correct” ones more than anything else.

Now, as for comparison with Corso 32, alas, I will have to give this one to Corso 32. The reasons include the size of the menu: in Corso’s case, having a small menu make things more easily manageable and, in Campagnolo’s case, we say some of the sauces being used over and over again (for example, salsa verde used in more than one dish). Still, from a Vancouver perspective, it is a good offering. Would I come back? Well, may be but, iff, I can do it family style. Though… That also open the doors to other Italian eateries like La Quercia (check this post by Sherman when he went there and had a meal in such way).

Sky is falling!!! In my last post, I wrote about Excellent Tofu & Snack, a dessert tofu shop in Richmond next to Aberdeen Centre. Going there wasn’t that much of an issue; after all, it was late night (*) and I was already in Richmond in YVR. However, the issue is going to Richmond during the day where all hell break loose!

(*) Just because it is night does not preclude from tweens driving expensive cars taking over the parking lots of most strip malls!

But, in this case, Chris, Sarah and Bin wanted to go for some Chinese eats and to Richmond it was… However, there was sort of a reason…

We arrived at Yaohan Centre and the experience I was hoping to show Chris and Company happened almost right away: The crazy Richmond drivers. See, one of the things that some of us have complained about Richmond, aside from the narrow parking spaces, is their drivers. Truth is, people there do NOT know how to drive. I am not talking about just hitting the gas or brake; people don’t know know how to maneuver nor want to walk an additional 100 metre. Instead, they would rather double park (and don’t give a damn in the process) or stop, holding all the traffic while waiting for somebody who is starting to load his/her car, rather than turn around to the next open spot. In fact, in the two trips to Richmond, I think Chris and Company saw a bit of everything. In the particular case of Yaohan, I was turning around and had the right to take a parking spot. However, a SUV speeds up trying to take that same spot. Nope, I didn’t budge! Just because you have a bigger car does not mean I will yield to you, bastard!

But back to the trip. Once in Yaohan, we went to Osaka Supermarket (aka, T&T in disguise) and then a peek at their food court. Alas, we arrived a bit too early and several of the shops there was still empty. So, we took a quick drive to the mall across the street to Aberdeen Center. First thing I had to show them? That insane turn at the entrance. To those who haven’t driven there, as soon as you enter the building (driving, of course), you have to do a sharp right turn and, less than 10 metres later, a sharp left turn which leads you to the parkade. Here is the problem: as mentioned above, people do not want to walk an additional 100 metres and, given there is only lane up and one lane down, they would hold all the cars while waiting for somebody to leave. Going to the next level? Not a chance! “Fortunately”, we were still relatively early and managed to snag a spot almost right away.

Taking them to a small tour to what this mall has to offer, we went to our intended destination: their food court. Now, I must mention that I offered to drive to Burnaby, specifically to Crystal Mall as an alternative but, I guess due to time (despite it was noon, remmeber the one hour time zone difference), we decided to look for options at the food court. So, it was Chris and Sarah, Bin by himself and I by myself, buy something and meet back in ~15 or so minutes. In the end we got…

Chris seemed to be hypnotized by the siu mei and ended up getting not one or two but *three* dishes from Leung Kee Cantonese Food, from char siu pork to rib and Chinese sausage on rice and curry. All of these came with a small soup.

On Bin’s side, he went to Cafe D’Lite Express and got an order of Hainanese Chicken with rice. To me, it was OK. For some reason, I felt there was something… Missing? Probably I didn’t scoop too much of the sauces? Maybe…

And, finally, despite people have said it has gone downhill, chicken wings from Wo Fung Dessert (my previous post here). Has it gone downhill? Well, I will have to say that, probably a bit less of that ginger marinade like taste it had in the past but still delicious in its own ways.

And here is a plate with a bit of everything.

To me this food is more on the lines of “comfort” food, not necessarily fine dining or anything on those lines. After all, hey, this is a food court! As for the food itself, aside from too much carbs/rice, I won’t necessarily call the best (for example, for pork only, I would have gone to HK BBQ Master) but, for variety and quick fix, this definitely does the job. Is this food court better than the other ones? Well, it is a hard call. Aberdeen’s have things that Yaohan does not have (Frappe Blisse) and vice-versa (congee in Yaohan). Likewise, these do not have something that Crystal Mall has (XLB at Wang’s Shanghai Cuisine) and, once again, vice-versa. In the end, it is a matter of whether you want to travel to these places, else just what is available in the closest place and enjoy what you can get. As for myself… Well, while most of the stuff here are things I can find alternatives without driving down to Richmond so unless there is a good reason, like driving out-of-town friends to visit them, I will stick with what I can find in either Vancouver or Burnaby. As for Chris’ thoughts? How about you check his post!

Oh, one another thing I really hope happened is that Chris, Sarah and Bin now know what mean when people like me and Sherman says “Richmond”! Why? Because, when leaving the parking lot, what I described about Aberdeen Centre parking lot actually happened: long line from the entrance, almost bumper to bumper. As soon as I signaled, there was a car right next to mine waiting to take my spot. At least they were using the blinkers!

Excellent Tofu & Snack
160 – 4231 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

Almost two months ago, I was in Edmonton and, while there, I visited Corso 32 with Edmonton food blogger Chris, who writes Eating is the Hard Part. During our conversation at Corso 32, I briefly made mention he should visit us and, indeed, that’s what Sarah and himself did a couple of weeks ago during Family Day weekend – also Louis Riel Day as well as Islander Day, but, for us in BC, the holiday that, as of 2011, we don’t have. While it was “late” and despite they could have easily taken the Canada Line, I offered to pick them up at YVR. Why? Hey, would I leave out a chance to eat out? Of course not! Now, since they have had dinner already, I gave them the options of something “light” and that one option became Excellent Tofu & Snack.

Located in one of the several strip malls in Richmond, Excellent Tofu is just behind Aberdeen Centre. Getting there wasn’t that much of a problem. Finding a parking space was! In fact, one car was double parked. Bastard! Fortunately, as soon as I turned around, there was an opening so I grabbed it.

Due to the layout, there was no table for three (or four); instead, we just grabbed a spare chair. Once given the menu, I started tossing around the options and ended up with these three:

What are these? Dou Fu Fa, aka, silken tofu. Top down are the black glutinous rice, red beans with coconut milk and, finally, grass jelly (all of them warm). And, on the first picture, there are the two squeeze bottles with syrup: one “regular” and one with ginger. One thing I mentioned to Chris and Sarah was that these will be really plain (you might need to try really hard even with the toppings) but, despite that, they liked it! (Check Chris’ post, here!). And they liked it even more when they added some of the ginger syrup. As for me, well, I am Chinese, what do you expect?

Out of the three, I will have to say I prefer the red beans and coconut milk more than the others. Part of the reason is the coconut milk, as it gave a really light hint of nuttiness. The one requires a bit of an acquire taste is the grass jelly. By itself, other than a light herby hint, it was quite bland.

Given its hours and type of food (which you can also have to go), one can imagine why it is a popular stop for a quick stop for snack. Alas, for me, it is in Richmond so I am not necessarily in a hurry to go back. Even if I was in Richmond is the issue of parking in this tight strip mall. So, in the end, it is almost a perfect storm type condition for me to go back but, if they were met, definitely.