In yesterday’s post, I mentioned about my epic fail on trying to go to Gyuu Don Ya. Guess what, it wasn’t one single instance of fail… In one (of several) other instances, I went there just to find out they were *still* wasn’t open (though, oddly, they had a note saying apologizing for not opening that day and should be open “tomorrow”). Oddly, their official opening day is today… That is despite I was there last week. Yes, feel to call it wacky…

Anyway, in that one instance, I had an accomplice: PO, whom have tagged along in several lunches. Since we had to go back to the office, we stopped by one place where PO has dropped by to get takeout. He mentioned it was quite decent so that was good enough reason!

For some reason, that place reminded me of Flaming Wok… Yes, that “Chinese” restaurant. Oh, wait, that place used to be Flaming Wok. What the #!$!@#$ I am getting myself into! However, I soon realized Flaming Wok it wasn’t. Instead, it was something more on the lines of a HK style cafe. The oddity was that they have a sign outside listing dim sum dishes. Errrr… While I am sure that is to entice some customers, no, I wasn’t going to order that… Instead, I went for the HK style dishes and, had the option of drink or cup of soup. In my case, I went for the later.

When I was served that cup of soup, I had to smirk a little bit. See, I did not ask what was the soup so I knew I was taking my chances. And, when I was served this version of egg drop soup, instead of pushing it aside, I actually wanted to know how this would end up. And it ended up being quite acceptable. Sure, it had cornstarch to give it some consistency but, otherwise, I can particularly think of a flaw (though, of course, that is considering expectations were low to begin with).

As for PO, instead of a cup of soup, he chose for a drink. I did not take a picture of that because, well, it is just a glass of syrup, milk and ice…

Now, as for what PO ordered for lunch, he went for eel ramen (not exact dish name but best describes it). For a moment, I thought those noodles could have been that of instant noodles. Still, PO had it without complaining too much but still pointed/remembered it wasn’t as bad …

As for me, I decided to order one of those dishes you always find in HK cafes: curry, more specifically, beef brisket curry. Served with some rice, I found the curry to be bland and slightly chewy. As seen above, given the size of the plate, it would have been unlikely anybody will complain about the amount of food on the plate… But, alas, if it have had a bit more curry taste. Past that issue (unfortunately, the main issue), the rest was a decent meal.

One thing both PO and I completely overlooked was their lunch menu. While we did not order it, on our way out, we saw a customer eating one of such orders  and… Let’s just say she was enjoying the stereotypical beef brocoli, some greens and a spring roll (among other dishes). Then again, that is what people requests…

Overall, if you have had HK cafe type food, you will have a really good idea of what A Cafe has to offer. And, despite it is reasonably priced (dishes were under $10), the uphill battle, though, is Hon’s a couple of blocks down. As for myself, I won’t mind going back, except there are a lot of places yet still to explore.

During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, there were some restaurants I hoped they were open on time during the Games. One of those restaurants that barely opened in time was Santouka. One I wished it had open but failed was Gyuu Don Ya. And how I found it was still closed? Because I walked all the way there! Since I was hungry and needed to eat quick, I browsed nearby options. Kushi Box? Nope, done. Viet Sub? Matoi Sushi? H-Mart? Done and done. Among the remaining ones was Falafel Maison. OK, lunch it is!

In what seemed to be a bit of foresight by the owners of the restaurant (compared to Kushi Box), they did have some seats inside plus a table outside. What they did not have was a bit of imagination: their menu was basically the same you can find in almost any such shawarma/falafel shops in Vancouver. But, then again, it might not be their fault, chances are that might be the easiest set up for most of these places… Why fix something that is not broken?

With that in mind, ordered the “usual” wrap (though, of course, there was the platter as well). The main difference being that container to the left, which ended up being lentil soup. I am not sure how they make their soup but I know how I like my soup. In my case, I prefer it slightly thick; alas, here, it was quite watery. While that is something I can live with the fact it felt really salty wasn’t. Somehow, I wished I didn’t order it…

For the “main” part, their shawarma wrap. For the most part, it is similar to most shawarma I have had (probably with the exception of Babylon Cafe, which is wrapped more tightly). Unfortunately, that is where the comparison ends: While it had its usual sauces, herbs and greens, the amount of chicken was disappointing. In fact, there were bites that had almost no pieces of chicken! Furthermore, a problem similar to that of the soup occurred as well: I thought it was a bit too salty.

I apologize if this is a really short blog post but the truth is, had I tried to make it longer, it would start running into one too many negatives. It is just that with all the shawarma shops in the Downtown area, I was hoping it would at least at part with others (which, for the most part, as mentioned above, almost all these shops are similar). But, alas, it ended up being subpar.

So, that begs the question, would I return to a restaurant that I have mentioned I won’t go back? Unfortunately, chances are there might be some chances. No, I am not flip-flopping on this now. The truth is that things might have change since my last visit and it can go both ways. Good restaurants might have gone south while those I did not like have improved. Furthermore, some of the restaurants I do not like, unfortunately, are places where people like to gather (mainly because their location and layout favours this type of activities). I might grumble about their selection but, between not meeting them and choosing to give them a second chance, I think I will rather meet them – after all, friends can last a lifetime while restaurants might come and go.

So, that begs the title of this post. Has any restaurant banned me? While I am sure some restaurants can guess who am I, so far, no restaurant has put a mug shot of me saying I should not be allowed in. Instead, in a fashion similar to that of casinos, i.e., where you can tell the local casino/gaming commission to not allow you in, I have decided to ban myself from certain restaurants in Vancouver. In some cases, it has nothing to do with food, rather to something that they did during one of the greatest moments (if not THE greatest moment) of this year (if not for the next couple of years) – The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

What? What some restaurants did? OK, lets quickly reminisce… A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on restaurants people outside of Vancouver should go to eat during the Games. However, thanks to a comment, I was referred to a page mentioning some “interesting” practices of these restaurants. Likewise, local TV and newspapers started to notice a particular behaviours from some local restaurants in the Downtown core and Yaletown areas. What specifically? That of mandatory tipping and, worst of all, price gouging. So, in reference to that post…

• An article in The Globe and Mail from Alexandra Gill, the newspaper’s food critic.
• A site maintaining a naughty or nice list of restaurants.
• An article (and video) from CTV.

The most interesting one is the second link, where an actual list was compiled. I still haven’t received permission from the owner of the site yet to do a full copy-a-paste of the list with explanations for each entry but, in the meantime, here is the list (as for exactly why, please check the link above).

• Academic Public House
• The Hub
• Fairmont Hotel Restaurant
• El Furniture Warehouse
• Cafe Crepe
• Lolita’s Restaurant
• Society Dining Lounge
• Section 3 Restaurant
• Bean Around the World
• Cafe Medina
• Simply Thai
• Moxie’s Grill
• Granville Room Bar
• All Glowbal Group Restaurants
• George Lounge
• Chambar Restaurant
• Lickerish Restaurant
• Morrissey Irish Bar and Restaurant
• The Keg
• Cactus Club
• Hapa Izakawa
• Cambie Bar and Grill
• Earls Restaurants
• Red Card Sports Bar
• Elephant and Castle
• Glowbal Grill Restaurant
• Steamworks
• Megabite Pizza
• Library Square Public House
• Hamilton Street Grill
• Dix Brewery BBQ

As mentioned previously, the issues are related to mandatory gratuity (sometimes not even informed to the customers) and increase of price. So, let’s tackle them separately:

Mandatory gratuity: I have written a blog post in the past (check it here) so feel free to take a look at it. The main argument for this practice during the Olympics was that visitors from other countries who are not used to tipping might, well, not tip at all, which short changes the waiters and waitresses (and who knows who else). In my previous post, I have made reference to that culture of entitlement, i.e., you are NOT entitled to tips. But, see, here is the curve ball against the restaurant’s line of thought: weren’t your restaurants packed full (specially those that are in the Downtown/Yaletown area)? Even one restaurant bragged about it! If so, doesn’t more customers mean more people tipping (assuming they do tip)? If so, doesn’t that curve out at the end of the day? Hell, somebody even did a calculation for the Games – check it here!

And, please, do not bring the “because we are looking over more customers, we are *ahem*entitled*ahem* to more tips” argument. If I were to use that, does that mean that, in an empty restaurant, I can choose not to tip? Oh, wait, I can choose not to but you get the gist of my argument. Also, in other lines of work (read: hourly and salaried), we are not entitled to additional compensation if there is a need to put an additional effort (though, management usually compensate for this with some for of compensation).

There is one thing I must make clear about this argument: It is not directed to waiters and waitresses and bus boy (what would be the feminine of bus boys? Bus girls? Bus ladies???). Unless you are in an union (unless in it is a hotel; in a restaurant business? Unlikely), it is the restaurant who sets the mandatory side of this practice. However, at the same time, I will have to condemn you when you did NOT tell the customers there was a mandatory gratuity was applied (several instances of the restaurants listed above have those comments).

Price increase: In the media, the operator of certain restaurant defended their actions by saying due restrictions imposed to Downtown (in reference to the delivery only during midnight/early hours of the morning bylaw), they had to hire additional staff to tackle this issue. OK, I will have to scratch my head on this one… Long time ago, I had a small business and one thing I learned really fast was the concept of cost of doing business. In a world where change is the only constant, you must always keep yourself prepared for the worst case scenario. In the case of the Olympics, notice of these bylaws were sent out way in advance so you had time to make the appropriate adjustments.

Using that argument as a reference point, does that mean if your stove breaks, you can choose to increase the price of my meal because you need a replacement? Likewise, if you HVAC, dish washer or some other appliance breaks, you will be charging me extra, etc. etc. C’mon people, things like this are things you should have kept into consideration *before* you open for business. But, wait, didn’t I mention there was an increase in business in some of these restaurants? Once again, if that was that case, doesn’t that also mean more business and more revenue to balance the additional staff required?

So, because of the two points above, I have chosen to self-ban myself from the restaurants above for the next 12 months and to be reviewed in the future. This is, of course, a one-man’s thoughts and agenda (*). I will not condemn you if you want there, after all, there is the freedom of choice. Still, I am doing it based on the principle that, during the biggest time of this city, these restaurants chose to be greedy and give a bad impression to visitors. Furthermore, it has set up a precedent and, in the future, they might do this again whenever there is a celebration/event of sorts (like making some streets pedestrians only during weekends in summer). Instead, I will choose to visit those restaurants that played “nice” and did not implement such changes, not to mention those that were hit lightly due to lack of pedestrians in their area (Gastown, West End, et al).

(*) – From a certain extent, except for a couple in the list, it is not a big personal loss, as most of these restaurants are restaurants I wouldn’t have gone by my own choice anyway to begin way *cough*Glowbal*cough*.

Finally, I will leave this space open for restaurants to voice their thoughts, specially if you belong in the list. Likewise if you believe I am wrong, please, let me know.

“There is always space for one more”

That phrase is of course a tongue-in-cheek. In some areas of Vancouver, you see a saturation of certain restaurants, yet, it seems one more restaurant always pop out. Fish and chips in Steveston, Indian in Surrey, Izakaya in Downtown Vancouver. In the corner of Robson and Denman, also known as the ramen epicentre in Vancouver, we already have the three main ramen shops: Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo and Benkei Ramen (and its “relative”, Benkei Ramen in Thurlow). The question is, of course, is there space for Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, the newest addition in the ramen picture in Vancouver…

Since I work in the area, every other day, I walk by to see if they had open yet. I was hoping they would open prior to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games but, alas, they did not. So, one day, I was walking by, I noticed a sign saying it would be open on February 26th. Alas, that day I had off and had no plans to be in the area (that was the day I ended up going to the Royal Canadian Mint pavilion, which, on that note, will be open during the Paralympics, Go Fish and Bakery 101), which meant I would be going the following week for lunch.

Since I work in the area, that means I could go for an early lunch and avoid any possible line-ups, something that occurs frequently in Kintaro. And unlike Kintaro, they were open before 12:00! However, either I was there too early or nobody had noticed it was open yet because we (colleagues and myself) were able to walk in and get a table without any problems. In fact, I was able to dally a little bit by taking pictures like the one above showing what they have in their menu… Except there was a *small* problem: not all the items were available! Now, if will give them some leeway on this visit (more about this in a moment) as it was still their soft-opening; yet, it was disappointing at the same time. Sigh… Anyway, how about a picture of the *real* thing?

After browsing what was available, I decided to go all-in and ordered their “Toroniku Shio Ramen – simmered pork jowl and salt seasoned ramen”. As seen above, it is served separately. I guess that partially eliminates the problem of people wanting (or not) their bamboo shoots, green onions and wood ear fungus in their broth. In my case, I am not that picky (Ha! Kevin, take that!) so, whether it was in or separate, does not matter that much.

Now, here is something that I am sure some people might “complain” about – but not me (Take that again, Kevin!): the size of the bowl. I wish I had a ruler or something on those lines to provide a better perspective but, unfortunately, you will have to take my word for it. If we compare side by side against the one from the other nearby ramen shops, Santouka will end up being a loser. Yes, the size of their serving is smaller than the other ones. The question remains, will the rest make up for the smaller size?

While they did not ask me how I wanted my noodles, their “default” serving still had some bite and, more interestingly, even after the photo shoot and the time it took me to eat most of it, the last pieces did not turn mushy. From that perspective it was good. I found the broth to be thicker than the ones from other places and, as a result, richer. Some people (non-bloggers) have told me diverse opinions about it, from it being sweet to be a bit salty. I guess it is a matter of how you like yours: if, like me, you like it with some consistency, then it is a definite winner. And, despite it was good, there was even another winner: the pork jowl. While it retained its shape and you could grab it with your chopsticks, as soon as you put it in your mouth, it almost melts away. It is something I can eat the whole day…

Now, here is one catch of this visit: since not all items in the menu was available, I was determined to go there again another day. And, fortunately, a couple of days later, Sherman drop me a note saying he will be in Downtown and wanted to give it a try as well. Hey, I am always game for food! While perusing the menu, I was disappointed again not all the items in the menu was available. And, in the meantime, I insisted to Sherman he *must* try the toroniku shio (he initially wanted to try the miso version). In the end he did and… Well, just check his post on his thoughts, hehehehe. As for me…

Since I already had the “premium” bowl of ramen, I thought I should go for the basic one… OK, let me try again: among the items not available the day I went originally were the rice bowls. On this second visit, they were available and I could order them with their “basic” ramen orders to make a combo (which includes half boiled egg). So, here is the shoyu ramen – pork broth seasoned with soy sauce. It was indeed lighter than to shio but, at the same time, saltier. Given I prefer the richer version, in my opinion, shio works better for me. Now, there was one thing that disappointed. Notice the piece of pork? Well, there was only one piece! And, you know what? In this case, I think I prefer the one from Kintaro a bit more than Santouka’s… But, on its own, I thought that one slice was a bit “cheap”. I must add, though, one piece might be the amount of slices you get if it is in a combo; in the plastic sample (as seen on the second picture from the top), the stand alone bowl had more than one slice. Well, you decide.

I had several options for rice bowls and, depending on which I choose, price will change as well. Out of the four – negi meshi (dried bonito, green onions and soy sauce), ikura gohan (topped with salmon roe), yakishake (pieces of grilled salmon) and cha-shu (piece of cha-shu pork), I went for the last one. For thoughts of the ikura gohan and yakishake, check Mijune’s post! But, back to this post. The cha siu pork here were really tender but it might be because it had some more fat in the pieces. For some reason, given its consistency, I am under the impression these are stewed rather than braised (yeah, I know, these cooking methods are quite similar…). Regardless, similar to the pork jowl, these were melt in your mouth. The toasted sesame seeds added some level of nuttiness to the rice bowl, which meant another layer of flavour. If I had to find a weakest link here, that would be the rice. Now, there wasn’t anything wrong, just that, it only served as a blank palette for the rest – nothing else. One way I thought it could have been improved a bit more would be some more of the stewing liquid but, I guess, there will be people who prefers it this way. As for the egg…. Well, I won’t say much. Rather than still having its yolk semi-soft, here it was hard boiled. It was OK, not much to comment about.

Oh, one more thing…

Let’s just say there are some people who are crazy about egg and, in this case, Sherman ordered a soft boiled egg. I did not ask for a piece so, again, you will have to check Sherman’s post (or, as an alternative, Mijune’s post).

So, how does Santouka compares to Benkei? It is better but more expensive. How about Motomachi Shokudo? It might a somewhat difficult to compare considering their broths have different base (pork vs. chicken) so it might be an unfair one. What about Kintaro? Now, that is a though question. Putting the argument of authenticity aside and whether Japanese people like or dislike Kintaro, I believe there are some merits in both – it is whether we want to take those into consideration. But, the most important question: by itself, how does Santouka fare? I think it is really good and might come back. The problem; however, is the $$$. If you can swallow the cost factor, then, Santouka might be the top of the list.

OK, despite its odd name, no, I wasn’t in a class. Rather, this is a bakery located in the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, a local culinary school near Granville Island. So, how come I went considering I am not crazy about sweets, not to mention this one in particular, considering all the bakeries found in Vancouver? Well… Blame Yen of OMNOMics on this one, as she recently wrote a blog post about it!

OK, the truth was that, after my lunch in Go Fish, I went back to Atlantic Canada House to see if lines had shortened up. No, no chance so I felt defeated and started going back to take the streetcar (aka Olympic Line) to go back to Downtown. On my way out, I noticed the school and Yen’s post so I thought “I might as well!”.

As soon as you walk pass the door, you can see the bakery. Of course, if you want lunch or dinner prepared by the students, you can go to the restaurant as well. However, I will leave that for some other visit, hehehehe. Since I had a big lunch in Go Fish, that meant I only had space for that much. The question was… What? As in which one of these????

This is for show purposes only – I wasn’t going to order the whole pie!

Now, the fact they were doing some prep, float count and so one, meant they were in a bit of a rush. So, while I was deciding, three different people checked on me. Yes, I felt some pressure in ordering but, c’mon, give me a break, OK? Anyway, since I couldn’t decide, I went for the same item that Yen went for. Behold…

The Pazuwa. Now, don’t ask me what Pazuwa means or into what that translates into. Instead, I can only say it has milk chocolate & hazelnut mousse with cheesecake & chocolate chunks, chocolate sponge cake base with chocolate glaze”. Yes, that is chocolate on chocolate on chocolate!

At first, because it looked shinny, I was under the impression the exterior would be solid… Nope, it was really soft. Wooops, my mistake! Similar to what happened to Yen, I was under the impression it would be a solid piece of cheese cake… My mistake again! Instead, it was small pieces of cheese cake. And I will admit, the combination of the soft mousse and almost as soft cheesecake worked really well. Not only in the texture sense but also in the taste. Whereas one is basic and the other is, well, chocolate, they did not fight each other, instead, the cheesecake added some additional creaminess to the overall concoction. As for the cake, in part it was MIA but the rest of the chocolate made up for that “absence”. In fact, despite it is labelled as milk chocolate, there was enough dark(er) chocolate to give it a slightly bitter taste to it.

Now, I won’t try to even compare it to giants like Ganache Patisserie, Kreations Artisan Cake or Thomas Haas – these guys are pros. However, if this is what students can crank out, I am certain they will be able to provide even better things in the future. In the meantime, if you want pastries from places like the ones mentioned above but do not want to blow the budget, this place offers an interesting alternative.

My next to last post associated in a way to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games! Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a blast but, alas, all good things must come to an end…

So, how this post is related in any way to the Olympics? In two ways: first, I mentioned it in my Where to Eat post and, second, after a failed visit to Atlantic Canada House (one of the few Canada exhibits I completely failed to visit), I wanted lunch and Go Fish was the option I had in mind. So, there you go, my explanation of why Go Fish! (Let’s face it, do I *really* need an explanation of why I like to eat??? )

Now, being a fish and chips shop, the choices are usually straight forward: what fish and how many pieces. Well, for the most part it was. However, in addition to their usual stuff, I wanted *something* else. I knew I was going to over order but, let’s face it, when was the last time I did not do that? Shame on me, shame on me…

So, I started off with their taco. Here are two curve balls: At $5, it is not a cheap taco. And, since I was going to order fish and chips, I decided to skip the tuna version – the one usually lauded by everybody – and went for the oyster version instead. And, if you noticed the lemon wedge on the back, no, it wasn’t intended for this taco but the fish and chips!

If I had to give a one word description of this oyster taco, that would be disappointing. There are several reasons behind it: The crunchiness of the coleslaw which killed any texture from the oyster, the small piece (almost MIA), etc. etc. Don’t get me wrong, the way the taco was setup was good (the way it is tortilla flour was grilled, how it was wrapped and so on); however, the combination of the two did not work for me. I guess I should try the tuna taco next time…

And here is what I came for, fish and chips. In this case, I went for cod (the long piece) and salmon (the “square” piece). C’mon people, you knew I wasn’t going to stop with only one version, do you? And, in addition to the “chips”, it also came with a small coleslaw and tartar sauce. Hey, I had my share of veggies that day, you know!

On the note of the coleslaw, I will have to say it was better than a lot of coleslaw I have had: It was crunchy, it wasn’t overdressed, neither creamy nor acidic and the seasoning was well balanced. There was a hint of sesame oil, something that might be too much for some. But, me being Asian, that wasn’t going to be the case, hehehehe.

As for the fries, I will give them some credit: Rather than bland, almost tasteless pieces of starch, they were actually seasoned and had some slight bite into it. See the black dots on the fries? I had some hard time trying to identify what seasoning or herbs used but it did not matter.

Finally, the fish… Unfortunately, it suffers from the same fate most fish and chip places suffer: The fish itself was not seasoned at all and relies on sauces and what not to make up for it. However, while the fish itself wasn’t seasoned, the thin, crispy batter made up for it. It was lightly seasoned and, while it wasn’t the best tartar sauce, it did provide some creaminess. But, what really heightened the fish and chips was a squirt of lemon juice, which added some acidity that the tartar sauce lacked and contrasted very well with both fish.

I know that comment about the fish might be a bit harsh, mainly because I my concept of fried fish is different from most people: namely, frying a ~20cm/8″ fish whole and stuffed with herbs. But, from a Vancouver standard, I will have to say these were quite good. If I had to compare it against my other favourite, Moby Dick, I will have to say both are comparable, with Go Fish having an edge because it does not have to rely on the tartar sauce as Moby Dick did, plus the fact they offer salmon and halibut in addition to cod. But, then again, neither one is cheap so I will leave it at that!

Last week, reader Ryan wrote a comment in my Wally’s Burger (Cates Park) post saying there was a new location in Killarney Market in the Victoria Drive/Fraserview area. While I wasn’t necessarily impressed in my visit to its North Vancouver location, I still had some willingness to give it a try but, of course, this time with lower expectations. (Of course, the fact I did not have to cross any bridge helps!).

While Ryan mentioned it just opened, I did not realize he meant they *literally* just opened. When I went, they said they were just open for a couple of days! Not sure if it was as a result of it being just opened or it is intended, they had not tables in the straight sense of the word. No, it wasn’t intended to be take-out only; instead, they had some stools near the wall. However, the fact it was given to me in a bag (i.e., takeout)… Well, it was odd.

Sorry for the fuzziness of the pictures. Lightning conditions were a bit odd for these shots…

Unlike last time where I ordered their combo burger, I went the burger route this time. And here it is their deluxe chuck wagon combo where I switched the fries for onion rings. The reason I didn’t go for yam fries (like last time) was that I was planning to bake some yams for dinner hence, avoiding some level of redundancy. So why not regular fries? Come to think of it, I think I should have but, nah, onion rings suits me better!

While they are far from being the perfect onion rings, at least I will have to give them some credit for making decent rings. First of all, they were rested, though this can also be attributed to the fact I had to go home first. However, on the flip side, they were quite greasy. Once again, the fact I had to go home first allowed the paper bag to “soak” all that excess oil… But, back to the rings, once you bite into it, you could easily notice that the batter/onion ratio was relatively balanced and that you won’t grab the whole onion piece on the first bite. Some seasoning might have helped but, I guess, that was the purpose of that dipping sauce. On that note, that roasted pepper dipping sauce was a complete flop compared to the one I had originally in my first visit. In this case, it was bland and had a really odd chunkiness in it.

Back to the burger… In addition to the regular burger, I asked for extra mushrooms. They are not quite visible here but, let me reassure you, there were mushrooms. I did not add cheese due to the transit time but I don’t think that would have matter much.

One thing that is quite evident about this burger is that eating it would be a mess. Now, there are good mess and bad mess. In the first case, it is due to juiciness of the burger; while the second case is due to everything falling apart. In this case, it was a combination of both but mostly from the “good” mess. OK, in reality, it ended up being condiments dripping out while I took different bites. While it was not as juicy as it could have been, it did had a little bit of fat into it, which made that mess, well, messier. (Sorry about all the messy way that was written! ). And, yes, it did have some beef flavour, despite that elliptic hockey puck looks. As for the condiments and sides, for the most part, they were forgettable, except for the mushroom which did add some savouryness to the burger.

In the end, I will have to say it is a huge improvement compared to its Cates Park location. As for a comparison against other burgers… Well, it might be better than MickeyD’s (slightly more expensive, though) but, against Burger Burger, it faces an uphill battle. As for me, been there, not sure if I am in a hurry to go back as, in the same complex, I think I might rather go for Chinese BBQ

Once again, during the Olympic Games, after I attended the only event I got tickets for, which I got from the original lottery, it was dinner time. The problem was that… I didn’t know where to go for dinner! Driving round and round (OK, not literally), I was going through Victoria Drive when I noticed Nancy Wonton House, a place I have in my list for a while but haven’t for some reason. And one of the reasons people like this place? Its hours: it close at a relatively late (or early, depending on your perspective) time of the day.

When I arrived, there were some tables occupied and one of the waitresses was having dinner. After seated, it was the usual menu and glass of tea.I will have to say that this has been one of the few instances that I could have ordered without even opening at the menu. That is because of a post by Sherman when he visited it twice but ended up writing a single post. However, I wanted something else and that ended up being…

Chicken knees. I am sure some people will look at me funny and say “knees?!”. When you order this you don’t order it for the meat, obviously. Rather, you go for it for its crunchiness when you chew into it. Add some fried goodness and garlic and you have almost a winner. In this case, it had all these characteristics, except I wish the batter was fried slightly bit more.

As I mentioned, I knew what to order without even opening the menu and, come on, with “wonton house” in your name, you can pretty do exactly that. Here, five relatively large sized pieces of wonton, packed with shrimps and, more importantly, it had some snap into it. That is important because it means they weren’t overcooked nor they were sitting there for a long time before it was served. The broth was savoury with some chicken aftertaste but not extremely salty. As for the noodles… Well, it was a bit odd. It had some texture in it but, at the same time, it had also some odd taste. I am not sure how to best describe it except it went away after the first couple of bites. However, that “oddity” could detract some people if they choose to stop at that moment. (Sorry for being vague on the last one… -_-;;;)

In the end, I left with a full stomach. It wasn’t the best in the world (my mom makes better); however, it fulfills several what it is supposed to do: some late night good eats and a decent price. And, for that, we should give it some credit.

Once again, it was during those hectic Winter Olympic days… Actually, they weren’t THAT bad because, thanks to arrangements from my workplace, I was able to finish work earlier which let me wander around the different houses and pavilions (and I blogged about them here). That arrangement also allowed me to go to Downtown core itself for lunch and, for today’s post, one of those places that seems to be close yet a bit too far: Sciué

Truth is, I am not sure what would be the best way to describe Sciué… Coffee shop? Sandwich shop? Restaurant? Sure, the entrance tells you it is also a bakery but, one thing is what they say it is, another is what they actually sell. One thing that you won’t miss is the fact they are Italian based as, well, they sell a lot of Italian goods, including what I ended up ordering for lunch…

Yup, that is pizza alright. But, wait… Why it looks like rectangles? Well, it just happens they don’t sell it by slice, as almost any other places nearby. Instead, think of ~17.5 cm/~7″ wide flat bread. You then tell them how much you want and they will cut a piece for you. That piece is then weighed (for cost) and reheated before it is served to you. Of course, you can’t tell them “I want 100g”; instead, you estimate how much before it is cut. While I am OK with this approach of guessing it yourself the same way you would when ordering cold cuts in a deli, I didn’t quite like the fact I could (easily) find the price per gram in the menu, nor have an idea of how many grams are the slice I am asking for, nor the fact they were quite “fast” at the weight scale (they just put it and removed it right away: I couldn’t really see how much it was that slice). Had I known in advance, I might have hesitated on ordering this for lunch…

As for the dough/base, it is of course, quite different from the one found in Ah-Beetz. The end result is more doughy and chewy, yet the more charred portions had a crunch bite to it. In a funny way, that worked well, as despite the “small” portion, it ended up quite filling due to all the chewing you had to go through. As for taste, I could swear it was somewhat similar to the taste of sourdough…

The toonie is for reference purposes

I will admit I am a fan of almost all form of edible fungi, even if it is the plain/simple button mushroom. In this case, it imparted a meatiness to the slice, which made meat unnecessary. I will admit I wasn’t paying too much attention to the cheese (chances are, it was mozzarella); however, what I will admit is that it wasn’t that milky substances found in other places – it actually tasted like cheese. From that perspective, I will give them some credit…

Slice #2 was one of the “salad” type pizzas. In this case, after the flat bread has been prepared, some garden salad and, in this case, salmon was added to the top. I will admit I got this one out of a whim because, well, it has salmon! The base had a creamy dressing which help the green salad – both complemented the smokiness of the salmon.

Now, this last one is dedicated to Jessica (of Yum-o-Rama). See, some long time ago, Jessica embarked on a quest for cannoli and, in a way, I took over that torch. Unfortunately, I dropped it because, I wasn’t really looking too hard. However, after noticing they have cannoli, I had to order one.

Now, they didn’t fill up upon ordering so, purists, don’t bring your pitchforks, you were warned! As for taste… Well, it was good yet it was OK. The filling was creamy and not too sweet. The cocoa powder didn’t really add much, unfortunately. The part that went sideways was the pastry: think of it more on the lines of a soft (not chewy) cookie. While it kept its shape, after the first bite, everything started to crumble down. In a way, it wasn’t a pretty sight. However, I am sure others won’t mind this and will be happy with this otherwise messy cannoli.

For the most part, the food was above average but one thing wasn’t: price. I am all in for quality food but when I pay almost $10 for the flat bread/pizza plus $3.25 for the cannolo, well, it is a hard hit to the wallet. At the same price, I can think of better lunch options. OK, I will give them some break considering they are in Downtown core and their customer base might not care as much. On the same token, that is the reason I am not that interested in coming back…

On a Friday during the Olympics, Sherman gives me a call and asks “Do you want to go to Ozark’s tomorrow?”. Now, due to the background noise, I thought he said “Do you want to go to the (Richmond) O Zone tomorrow?”. Of course, my reaction was “WTH? You want me to go to line up in Richmond out of all places???”. When he repeated himself that is when I understood he wanted to go for food! And, in my case, I needed an escape from the Olympic madness. So, the following day, to Ozark’s BBQ in Langley it was!

I had a small internal debate (think Angels and Demons type situation) whether I should mention some of the things that happened on our route there but, given that it has a greater impact on Sherman’s side, I will let him decide whether he will mention them or not. Let’s just say, in some cases, they were epic!

Anyway, the reason Sherman wanted to go all the way down to Langley was because of his friends Nikita and Bluebeard. For some reason, I have started to meet Sherman’s dining companions, considering I have met already some of them when we had lunch in Azia. And, of course, some of the topics of conversation deviated a little bit into that as well. That makes me wonder: Sherman, does anybody who knows you do NOT know you food blog??? Putting that aside, to the food!

What I have not mention until now was that this was a family affair, as it was Sherman, Viv and children. And, given Sherman’s previous comments about his son’s, ahem, “pickiness”, I wasn’t surprised he automatically ordered for him grilled cheese sandwich. I will stop at that, OK?

As for the rest of us adults, we were shuffling what to order to try to encompass as much as possible. Since their specialties seems to be ribs, Nikita and Bluebeard ordered two of them: St. Louis side ribs and baby back ribs. While these are different type of ribs, unfortunately, in the end, they ended up being the same… OK, let me rephrase that: both were dry and tasteless. It could have been salvaged by the BBQ sauce but really? >_< And here is an odd comment by Sherman which I will have to agree: had they boiled it and then grilled it, probably I might have liked it a bit more… Yes, heresy but, in the end, it is what you can call edible food.

Viv ordered from their lunch menu, specifically, their pulled pork sandwich. Since it was for only $5, Sherman and I ordered one as well for us to share. I have always been under the impression that “killing” pulled pork was close to impossible but, alas, they managed to do it here. They were dry and, once again, the BBQ sauce helped a little bit. Regardless, I was completely disappointed at this, but I must given them some credit for the fact it is only $5…

Sherman’s order, their Lone Star Texas Beef Ribs. Out of the three ribs available, this one was the best of the three, though somewhat more expensive. However, that extra $$$ was worth it. Six big ribs with tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bones pieces of meat in between which was a contrast to the dry St. Louis and baby back ribs. The best? It wasn’t charred dry which means it is meat you can actually eat rather than burnt morsels you have to discard.

And here is my order: Texas beef brisket plate. The reason behind this order is because, well, aside from chicken, this meant we go to try every type of BBQs. There is a sharp contrast between these and the non-beef ribs: It was actually soft and juicy. It lacked a little bit of the smokey taste but, regardless, it was tender meat you can eat and be happy about it.

I have skipped commenting about the sides because (beans, coleslaw and the choice of baked or mashed potatoes or fries), for the most part, they were average. Out of the three potatoes, the mashed emerged as the winner because, well, its texture was different from the other ones! (Sorry, it is a bit difficult to explain carbs and vegetables when you are in for the meat!).

Now, here is a big curve ball: it is usually women who would go for desserts. Not this time! It was guys who went for dessert instead… Sky is falling? Anyway, behold, their deep fried cheesecake. Move over deep fried Mars bars and deep fried Oreos! In this case, it was a piece of cheesecake wrapped in a flour tortilla and deep friend. Served with some ice cream, interestingly, the cheesecake wasn’t that sweet and, fortunately, though had some soft consistency, it did not melt. You could tell it is cheesecake rather than some form of custard due its creaminess. And, while it did not have that flaky consistency, the tortilla wrap did not get in the way.

When it comes to BBQ, it usually ends up being a holy war of sorts. In the case of Ozark’s, some dishes were meh but there is a least one dish that will certainly make me come back. On that note, if you are a big eater, they currently have an all ribs you can eat (though not sharing) for ~$27, depending on which rib. In my case, if I was darn hungry for BBQ, I will seriously come back just for their beef ribs… Nikita, Bluebeard, thanks for letting me tag along. It was nice to meet you two and hopefully will see you some other time for another of these dining outs… Like when you let us know 5 Guys is open?