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.

Pho Century (Kingsway and Sperling)
6701 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on Pho Century. Almost in no time, Karl of The Friday Lunch wrote back a comment about his subpar experience, not to mention they were opening a second location. Curiosity got the best out of me and let’s just say I had to visit it…

Update: Due to some interesting coincidences in life Sherman shokutsu of Foodosophy, wrote a post of this location as well! Check it here.

Right from the get go, one thing was noticeable. They seem to have spent some moola to make things “clean”. Of course, the fact it is a new establishment has something to do. How long will that last? Anyway, let me get the pictures completely out of the picture first so here is what I had.

Wonder why I put the pictures without much description? Well, this is one of the oddest post you might read. In fact, it might be stuff you will NOT read. Let me try again: if you want to know about the food on this trip, I might as well refer you to my visit to the original Pho Century (again, link here). Why? Pretty much the experience I had in the original location was experienced here. Talk about consistency! So, in the end, the conclusion…

Chez Meme Baguette Bistro
4016 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC

Last week, Sherman wrote a post about Dirty Apron Delicatessen and, on that post, Holly wrote a comment about Chez Meme. It just happens that place has been on my radar for quite some time. How far? As early as spring when Jessica (who has been MIA) wrote a post about them. Of course, that comment was a good reminder and, in the end, it was a matter of finding time. So, given I wanted to go, how come I didn’t make time to do so? Because of their schedule. See, they are only open for breakfast and lunch, 3:00 p.m. at the latest, Monday to Friday and open on some Saturdays (as in every second Saturday of the month, though it might be different on that Saturday in January 2011), hours which would be “normal” working hours for me. But, fortunately (?), I had a day off on an otherwise regular working day, I jumped at that opportunity.

I arrived way past noon but, still, the place was packed full. Of course, with only that many tables, it would be unavoidable. Fortunately, since I was a “party” of 1, I could sit at high stool overlooking outside so that gave me one very important “feature”: sunlight! Anyway, after being set up, given the menu, I noticed one key detail. Other than their mains, which are $13.50, most of their other dishes are below $10. And, after making my order, it was only a matter of waiting…

Alas, given I was a party of 1, that also meant I would only eat that much. To make the most out of it, I went for one of their sandwiches with a side (salad, fries and soup). And, out of all sandwich options, even with some fancy ones like cocktail (with shrimp), nordique (smoked salmon) or jarret (lamb shank), I went for something that can be considered a good yardstick: bourguignon – boneless beef short ribs, caramelized onions and horseradish, for $10.

For the soup side, the soup of the day was cauliflower, thyme and truffle oil soup. To me cauliflowers is an odd beast. By itself, it is mostly plain and it desperately need help from other flavouring agents, herbs or spices. Unless, that is, you roast it (but that is another topic). In this case, while the truffle oil was mostly their in name, the thyme actually made up for the lack of flavour from the cauliflower. However, that does not mean it was bad; instead, the cauliflower provided texture. So, while it was quite light, in the end, it was still good, as I was thinking it to be a side more than anything else and it complimented the sandwich quite well.

And here is the main, the bourguignon sandwich. When I first looked at it, I was quite sure it would be good. How so? That glossy shine on the top could either mean fat or collagen. I was willing to be it was the letter and, indeed, it was. At first bite, a deep beef taste could be savoured right away, followed by a light hint of the horseradish. The onions provided some sweet note to balance the flavours. Finally, the bread… Ah, the bread! It was soft but not dense; yet with some crunchiness but not to the point of it leaving a lot of crumbs on the plate. It could be contradicting and difficult to explain but, trust me on this one, it was good!

Overall, this is a place I would definitely come back if it wasn’t for the hours issue. In fact, I want to go *around* those hours problems just to have their sandwiches again and/or mains. Furthermore, prices are good which provides yet another bonus. So, in the end, we have a winner!

Pho Century
4429 Kingsway, #14A
Burnaby, BC

After I came back from San Francisco, I noticed something really odd: in the last year or so, I have changed a little bit my activities. In the past, on Fridays, I used to go to a game shop in East Hastings to play Magic: The Gathering and, afterwards, it was a search for good eats. Nowadays, well…, just leave it there… Anyway, one night, on my way back home, I was driving back through Kingsway and, as expected, hunger hit and then the usual question: Food, where and what? I was in such a hurry that I stopped by a Marketplace IGA just to grab something quick just to notice a Vietnamese restaurant in the far corner. Well, it is there, it is open, so why not!

Past already 9:00 p.m., I found it interesting there were several customers plus some coming in while I was having my meal. Did I mention it was stuck in a corner and not really noticeable from the outside main street? Well, the question is rather if it delivers in the end.

I started off with a spring roll, the fried version. In a way, it reminded me the ones from Bao Chau. How so? The filling was on the lines of minced meat. But, other characteristics weren’t there: for example, it didn’t have the same “sweetness” level nor it had the same crunchiness. It was good in its own ways but not my first option for spring rolls.

Yes, this picture pretty much tells you what will be next. Before I go there, one word or two about this: notice something interesting? Or rather… Missing? Yup, that’s just plain bean sprout and lime wedge. Where is the hot pepper(s) and Thai basil? Otherwise, it is your default/usual plate of bean sprouts and other components…

For the “main”, I ordered Bun Bo Hue. From the food amount perspective, it is a well sized bowl and, right out from the picture above, the size of the Vietnamese sausage cuts are quite noticeable. However, there was something that visually made me put myself on guard: the broth. Now, I am not Vietnamese food expert and the Bun Bo Hue I have had diverge in some crazy way (which can also be interpreted as everybody does it differently). In this case, what it looked more on the lines of a regular pho broth with some dashes of hot oil/sauce.

Now, drilling down a little bit to the rest of the bowl, it had some actual pieces of pork hock, which I actually appreciated (though, of course, this enthusiasm isn’t usually shared by others). The rest of the meat was a bit of a miss. It was present; however, it had a bit too much gristle and fat. And, as mentioned above, the pieces of the Vietnamese were massive, though I wish it had more spice.

In the end, for myself, I didn’t find anything extraordinary here that would make me want to come back. However, there was something that drew other customers. Even that case, that is not enough enticement for me to come. In fact, I have revisited Gold Train Express for their Bun Bo Hue and, despite my initial thoughts, Gold Train Express’ is better. So, while Pho Century’s bowl did fill me up, that is about it for me.

Green Basil
4623 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Finally, back to Vancouver! OK, not really, aside from this post being from Burnaby, the visit to Green Basil occurred way before my trip to San Francisco. In other words, this post is about a place over a month ago! Under normal circumstances, I might have as well scratched it; however, there was a particular reason I kept it: I went there with a group of ex-colleagues and ordered one of their combos. While the individual dishes could be ordered separately, it was the question of the combined execution.

Now, here are some initial details as to why here: it just happens one of my ex-colleagues was coming all the way from Surrey, which a baby in a stroller. Asking her to go all the way to Downtown would have been an issue. And then there is the fact that another ex-colleague husband (TB) is your steak-and-potatoes type of person, though starting to enjoy Thai. And given I am the “restaurant expert” (not sure how that came to be), I had to come up with a place to suit all these needs. Metrotown was a place that would work, given it is sort of accessible to everybody and Green Basil over Thai House (among others) because it was a test for TB.

After we all arrived, we were a bit more interesting in catching up; however, we had to take a decision on what to order. Given it was six of us (plus the baby who was sleeping for the most part), their combo for six took away any decision taking process of individual dishes. So, to start off…

Beef lettuce wrap. Sorry, didn’t take a picture of the (iceberg) lettuce used to make the wrap. The mix was OK, with a good contrast of the meat and crunchy vegetables; however, considering this is not necessarily a difficult one to make, I will given them credit instead for not messing it up!

The seafood combo appetizer had shrimp cake, fish cake, fried prawn and calamari. I ended up cutting these into pieces for everybody to share. The fish cake ended up being the least favourite of all due to texture and taste: there was none. The next one on the list was the shrimp cake which again due to texture. The prawns and the calamari were better received. The only complain would have been fried over fried but, in the end, it is what it is.

Stir-fried prawns with seasonal vegetables in Thai black bean sauce. Here is where things started to go sideways. I am not sure about you but aside from it looking horrible, this looked something on the lines you would in Kent’s Kitchen (despite it is being a “Thai” dish, it looks more on the lines of a Chinese dish). Actually, Kent’s Kitchen might be better! Now, it wasn’t necessarily that it was wrong, but, for a sit down restaurant in Vancouver with so many Asian restaurants, I thought this could be better. As for the dish itself, prawns were OK and the vegetable were crunchy. It just didn’t mix very well or worked together.

Green curry ostrich with eggplant, green basil, lychee, green beans and coconut milk. I will have to say that most Thai curry seldom goes wrong and that applies here as well. Now, I am not sure if it really had ostrich but the crunchy vegetables and the sweet curry worked well for all of us.

Pad thai – or as they have it listed, phat thai noodle with shrimp, scallops, ground peanuts and bean sprouts in tamarind sauce. For the most part, it was OK: the texture was there, the ingredients were there, except for one… The tamarind sauce. Sorry, it still tasted like the catsup based ones, as it was on the sweet, tomato-ey side.

Stir fried pork with fresh mushroom, onions and chopped ginger. This once again falls in the same category as the Thai black bean sauce stir fry above: Nothing wrong with the dish, though a bit more wok-hei would have been “better”; however, it once again made me wonder about Kent’s Kitchen… :/

And yet another stir fry dish: stir fried chicken with cashew nuts and Thai chili sauce. I might be repeating myself a bit too much here but the execution again is more on the lines of Chinese. Could it be the excessive fillers in the form of celery, pepper or onion? I know, I know, there is supposed to be a Thai version just that it just felt something… Chinese?

Out of dishes that went sideways, it didn’t work because it was too similar to the Chinese versions and, as such, I had to draw that comparison. If it was different, I would have accepted it better. But, given that wasn’t the case, it didn’t work for me. However, there is one more important question: For my steak-and-potato guest, did he liked it? Actually, he ate everything, not a single complain which surprised us a little bit. Given that that was a victory by itself, I will leave it at that. As for me… Nah.

Kim Anh
7405 Edmonds Street
Burnaby, BC

Blogging is a labour of love. We do it because we want to, even when people try to bash us for no reason other than probably because we disagree. At other times, it is draining – after all, there are only that many hours a day so there will be compromises. As a result of different reasons or circumstances, blogs come and go. While it will always remain popular, there is that eternal question of who will still be there five years or more down the road. So, to a certain extent, I was a bit perplexed when Karl of The Friday Lunch stopped blogging for a while. See, I believe that Karl to be a down-to-earth guy and, in a sea of Asian born/x-generation Asian descend bloggers, he (along with Jonathan of Food and Tell) stood out because, well, he is your average “white guy” (no offence!). But, fortunately, it seems he is back and has started writing about places here and there. One such place was Lost in the 50′s drive, previously blogged by shokutsu (of Foodosophy). It seems there was a renaissance of sorts and has (re?)opened, and while it had your basic burgers, it also had its share of “F” items (“F” as in fusion…). Alas, the day I went, they were not open yet so I had to turn around and look for *anything* to eat. And suddenly, right next to me was Kim Anh.

Now, this place has no relationship with me, name is purely coincidental. However, what confused me a lot was not the fact they advertise Vietnamese food; rather, it advertised Canadian/Vietnamese food. OK, this might be some sort of undiscovered combination? A new wave of “F”? No, instead it is something similar to Canadian/Chinese restaurants: a diner of sorts serving basic dishes like burgers, sandwiches and soups but, in this case, in a separate sheet, bowls of pho. Do you want pho with that??? Of course, that raised an odd question: Should I order pho and spring roll or should I order a burger and fries? How about a burger with spring roll or pho and fries? In the end, I decided to stick only on the Vietnamese side mainly because the table next to me made an order of that side of the menu…

Starting off, I also ordered spring rolls. At $5, this will be a serious contender for worst $$$/amount category. Of course, if it was good, I won’t argue much about it; however, it was just on the average side. And, as a result, it shouldn’t command those $5. What were the issues? Well, it was your regular vegetable type spring roll that does not have much that made them stand out compared to other spring rolls I have had in the past. Well, probably other than the fact it was well fried, i.e., not much of an oily texture and piping hot when served. But, that is more of a frying skill (which I assume would work great with the other fried dishes from the non-Vietnamese side of the menu), not of the overall cooking process.

This is the dish that the table next to me ordered so I followed suit: their version of bún bò hue. Now, notice a certain oddity: unlike a lot of other Vietnamese places, you will get your plateful of bean sprouts on the side. Here, they were *below* the noodles. In a way, I felt slightly cheated as I was expecting it to be on the side but, instead, it ended up filling parts of the bowl. As for the noodles and meat, it was similar to the ones I have had in other places so won’t comment on that – other than the fact there weren’t some pork blood or knuckle.

However, what completely skew me off this one was the broth: it was a bit sweet. No, I am not referring to sugar-y water; rather, imagine a broth which ended up being a bit sweeter than expected due to the addition of some ingredients (for example, too much corn or carrots in a chicken soup). Whether that was a good thing or not, I will leave it as a personal preference. In my case, I was hoping for a savoury, spicy soup – and it didn’t deliver.

Given that I had only the Vietnamese side of the menu, I can’t necessarily vouch for the rest of the menu; however, if I go for visuals only, another table fries and burger and, well, it looked like your average diner type burger. Is that good or bad? Again, it is a personal preference. But, in the end, what was written in Urbanspoon by the Foodosophy team about Kim Anh is the best way to phrase it: “East Meets West, and East Suffers…”

Xiang Yuan Qiao Bridge Rice Noodle
2128 – 4500 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

It is commonly agreed that Crystal Mall is one of the best places for Chinese cheap, quick eats, with some of them delivering dishes that are about par (probably giving them a bit too much credit here, though) with some sit down restaurants. Of course, given the price point at the food court, I am more willing to return there than the sit down ones! While I have written about a couple of places in Crystal Mall (like Delicious BBQ and Wang’s Shanghai), you have to admit that, for some gems to shine, you have to have something to compare against. In other words, in a sea where everything is “good”, there has to be one that sucks; otherwise, means that everything is average.

As for Crystal Mall, I have purposely avoided some of the stands probably because of some pre-conception or simply because I am not that enticed to try them. Which ones? If you see something on the lines of “2 or 3 items plus rice or noodles” or sushi, chances are I will see what’s in the next stand. (For the former, I would rather go to Kent’s Kitchen; for the later, too many in Metro Vancouver). One of the places I thought was below average in Crystal Mall was Beijing Restaurant, which I blogged previously here), and I wasn’t the only who thought was subpar. So, in a survival of the fittest type environment, it eventually closed down and now has been replaced by Xiang Yuan Qiao Bridge Rice Noodle. I was tempted to check the other stands first but after seeing such a long queue of people, I thought, what the hell, let’s give it a try…

I am not sure if you are curious or not but you have to wonder… Why such a complicated/long/strange name? Well, it just happens there is an explanation about the origin of the “crossing bridge rice noodle” name on one side of the stand. While I could copy all the text here, I will just refer to this page for an explanation. However, the key to the text is that the dish has all its components served separately and then combined at the table when served. At that point I wonder: “Really? I a food court environment?” Actually, I have seen something like that done in Korean stands (in Yaohan, for example) where they would serve the banchan separately; however, I would consider that to be an exception rather than the rule. So, with that in mind, I made my order and waited…

And waited… And waited… In the end, I swear I waited for ~10 minutes! OK, good food takes time (but, then again, being in a food court, long wait times might be an oxymoron). Anyway, if it wasn’t because I *thought* I heard my order number (they do not speak Cantonese or Hakka, which I understand), I might have been waiting forever for my order to come out. And what did I order?

For the most part, they have “pots” with one meat type per order, including a “WTF?!” option: SPAM. Now, I know people might bash this luncheon meat but I admit eating that while growing up, not to mention recently had it in the form of SPAM musubi. Believe me, it is not as bad as people put it… But I digress. Anyway, I ended up getting the assorted rice noodle version which includes four types of meat.

To answer question #1, no, everything was served combined. In fact, seeing through the small window, you could see they prepare everything in the pot and put it in the stove to boil it. In other words, this would be more on the lines of a hot pot than the claimed before mentioned crossing bridge rice noodle dish. As a result, I didn’t care anything related to authenticity and tried this soup “as is”.

So how was it? As a hot pot, I will have to say the broth wasn’t that bad, though using that plastic spoon shaped like a Chinese spoon was a bit of a pain to scoop it. At first, I didn’t “feel” the heat (I ordered spicy); however, as I went, it started to make me sweat bullets. It is one of those instances where it was both type of hot (temperature and somewhat spicy) created a compounded effect…

The noodles were a bit on the slippery, easily breaking side. Not necessarily my liking but still did its job. Out of the different meats, I was able to easily identify lamb, chicken and pork – Not sure what was the fourth one. In addition, there were some bamboo “shoots”, wood fungus and a hard-boiled quail egg plus the token piece of Shanghai bok choy. The meats weren’t that bad; however, I would hardly call them good. The one issue that I had was the game-y lamb taste was heavily “infused” into the broth and overpowered the rest of the meats. If it wasn’t because of the visual and, in part to the texture, I might have as well called it a lamb hot pot.

Despite the negatives, I will have to call a decent hot pot-type dish. Still, the harder part to swallow was the price point: This one in particular was $8.75 (single meats start at $6.75). Considering this is Crystal Mall, depending on which stand you go, you can find something more decent, if not better, at this same price point. This is the main reason, if given the option, I would rather go “somewhere” else, rather than here. Not bad, but there are “better” places right next to it…

Big Orange
7 Locations in Metro Vancouver
4700 Kingsway (Metrotown) – Location visited
Burnaby, BC

Like in pretty much anything in life, there are trends that are, well, overrated – namely, fads. Anybody remember foam? Atkins diet? To me, yet-another of those fads is bubble tea (BBT). As of today, I simply don’t get the popularity behind these drinks. Probably I am over-simplifying things but, if you want “tea”, why not get some actual tea rather than this sweetened concoction (in the case of the tea ones)? How about some actual fruit juice (or better, actual fruit) rather than the fruit-y version? Granted, I won’t envision something like taro juice but those would be corner cases.

Still, that does not mean I am not willing to give these drinks a try so, after my dinner with Mijune at Saffron Indian Cuisine, we went to get something “sweet” for Mijune and we ended up in Metrotown. Alas, it was past the mall closing time so that left with that many options in the area. Mijune was thinking of TCBY or McDonald’s (for soft serve) when she made mention of Big Orange. I thought “sure, why not!” so we ended up here instead.

By then, Mijune already had a good idea of what to order but I wasn’t really sure. In the end, I was a bit spontaneous – more of that in a moment. One thing I must give credit about this place is that, unlike some others similar shops, like Dragon Ball, at least all the menu is in English and not that convoluted. OK, still what to choose was a task but it was better laid out. Anyway, moving to the drinks:

Mijune made mentioned of their taro drink but given her love for green tea, she ended up ordering this one instead. I took a slurp of this and I was short of calling it bad. (I just shrugged my shoulders). First of all, I don’t get the hype behind green tea. I mean, there is some flavour hints, true; however, when it is chilled, sugar added and what not, it simply isn’t “the real thing”. As a result, from a flavour perspective, I wasn’t particularly impressed. As for consistency, while “slurp-able”, it was still a bit icy. I guess Mijune should have stuck with the tried and true ones instead…

One thing a lot of fellow food bloggers and dining companions notice about me when ordering is that I always ask what they would have ordered had they not ordered their first option. Part of the reason is to make sure we do not end up ordering the same dish; others is because I simply don’t care that much about the cuisine and ask my dining companion so they can try their option B. In this case, Mijune asked me to order what *I* wanted which created problems of its own – since I haven’t been to these places, there was no guarantees. Granted, I could have gone for the taro but Mijune insisted I go for something of my own thinking. That ended up being papaya and honeydew. The reason? Tropical fruits!

Now, I didn’t really notice if they used fresh fruit or not but, in the end, the drink did had some fruity flavours. OK, let me take that back: There was some honey dew taste; not that much on the papaya side. Compared to Mijune’s, this had the consistency of a light slurpee. Depending on your like/dislike, it might or not work for you. The funny thing about my order is that Mijune does NOT like these fruits/flavour! Geez, and she tells me I tend to complain a lot!

Now, in both cases, we had the bubbles and, for the most part, I thought it was OK. It had some initial chewiness but didn’t have to chew too hard.

Just for kicks, a couple of days later, I went back and tried their taro version, given Mijune made so much emphasis in it. The texture was in-between the two drinks above but, again, neither was an issue. Flavourwise, actually, I found it quite interesting. Now, it wasn’t the boiled root-y taste, rather a roasted taste. This time, I ordered jelly instead and these were a bit too sweet for my taste. Would I choose this one over the papaya and honeydew? It might be a coin toss.

After this visit, I won’t say it changed my opinion about this drink. Again, if I am in a group and everybody is ordering it, I might order it just to tag along. However, by myself, it is not something I would go. As for Big Orange… Well, their offerings weren’t that bad but, then again, I am not the best person to judge it.

Saffron Indian Cuisine
4300 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Another week goes and, once again, I get to meet with other food bloggers for dinner. Just like last time, I got to meet Mijune for some catch-up (let me tell you, she is a busy woman!). Alas, in this, I was caught unprepared in the sense I didn’t really think of a place to eat. Believe it or not, choosing places to eat is not a simple task: there are times where we have way too many ideas; at times, we just draw blanks. Fortunately for me, Mijune remembered Saffron Indian Cuisine, as the name suggests, an Indian restaurant in the Burnaby side of Kingsway. I have been there in the past for their buffet but that was years ago (read: before I started food blogging) so that gave me a reason to revisit it. And who better than with a fellow blogger!

As soon as we arrived, Mijune made an observation about what was next to it: a pizza shop? From what I remember, it seems they are part of the same group, given flyers for one was on one side of the page and the other was on the flip side. But, well, we were there for Indian and there we went.

Here is what I consider to be some issues with Indian issues: if you go by yourself, chances are you will order one dish at most. Probably an appetizer and some naan to eat along. Your could order a second dish but, for the most part, and unlike other cuisines, it starts to get quite expensive. Another issue that I run into is that some dishes are quite similar to each other. For example, butter chicken vs korma vs curry. If not because of an addition of one or other component, you can convert one to the other, which can be counterproductive. OK, it is possible I am oversimplifying things but that’s my feeling and, as a result, I don’t necessarily push to go to Indian restaurants.

I bring this up because a workaround to this (the “solution” at times is to go in a large enough group) is to go to a buffet and Saffron, like a lot of similar Indian restaurants, has a buffet as well. But, having all dishes sitting there for extended periods of time creates issues of its down. Quality down, food sitting there for extended periods of time and so on. Because of this, Mijune and I decided to order a la carte. Alas, being the two of us only meant we can only order that many dishes… And talking about food…

Mango lassi, the somewhat stereotypical drink that appears in almost every Indian restaurant and, what seems to be even freakier, is that, regardless of which Indian restaurant, it tastes pretty much the same. If you had it somehwere else, the one in Saffron won’t be that different. Having said that, the one served at Saffron ran into a small issue as well: I wished it was colder! After it was delivered to our table, I couldn’t help notice this was not that cold. And I am not talking about tolerance, it was almost room temperature. Epic fail? Personal preference? Some could argue it is like this; however, I have had some in a colder form so I had to draw this comparison, unfortunately.

One of those “dishes” ordered in Indian restaurant pretty much every time there is curry or something on those lines is naan – of course, ordering naan with dosa might sound odd. Here we have the garlic and basil naan. While you could taste some garlic, it was really – and I do mean, really – faint. As for the basil, it was visually there but you couldn’t really taste much of its unique taste. As for the texture, these were OK, it was somewhat fluffy and doughy; otherwise, there wasn’t anything really outstanding.

In addition to the garlic and basil naan, we also ordered their Saffron Naan (cook’s special mix), which adds some shredded chicken to the naan (by stuffing it). It was interesting, I will admit; however, that is pretty much it. There wasn’t anything that yelled me I should come back and try this again. Ouch!

As for the entrees, we were shuffling as to how many dishes to order. One of those (yet another) “issues” with Indian food is that you can’t be sure how much food is “enough”. Sometimes, an order can be a really small container, at times, it might be enough. Given that uncertainty, we decided to order two dishes and, depending on how it went, order a third dish. To start off, we ordered something that contained several elements and that ended up being their mixed grill – A celebration of sizzling tandoori delicacies! A melange of Tandoori Chicken, Seekh Kebab, Chicken Tika, Lamb Chops and Jumbo Tandoori Prawn. This was served with a salad, rice and chutney.

The “salad” was just some chunks of iceber lettuce. Pass? The rice was… simple? While there was some fragrancy (basmati, after all), there wasn’t anything else. The highlight though was the mint chutney, which provided some refreshing tones to it.

But back to the meats. While the idea was good, there was a variable that resulted in the overall dish ended up being an epic fail: The sizzling hot plate. What happens is that, as Mijune pointed out, there wasn’t a thick layer of onions and the meats ended up in direct contact. Because of this, they continued to cook and those that came into direct contact ended up charred (not in a good way). As a result, I wasn’t necessarily impressed by the end result. For example, the prawns were bland and borderline chewy not in a good way. The rest of the meats were a bit of a hit and miss, like the chicken tikka which, while still a bit moist, the charred bits took away quite a lot of its unique taste. The one that was able to escape those “issue” was the lamb chops. Probably cooked past a certain level most people would prefer but, otherwise, still some the characteristic were there.

Mijune’s dish of choice: Chicken Madrasi – “Chicken with a South Indian flavour in a coconut and poppy seed sauce“. Here is one of my “issues” – how is this different from a curry? How would I differentiate it? Supposedly, the interesting feature is the use of poppyseeds which we had a hard time finding. Other than that, I will give them some credit that the chicken wasn’t completely dry. As for the sauce, it was a bit tomato-ey but, otherwise, the promised coconut in the description was also MIA.

At this point, I am not sure if is necessary to point out that Saffron didn’t really work for me. Could it be we ordered the wrong dishes (if it is in the menu…)? Could it be it was an off night? Should I have gone for the buffet? Regardless, it goes back to Triple O’s motto: If you are not proud of it. Unfortunately, that seems to cement those general thoughts of Indian food in Vancouver: unless you want “modern” interpretations of Indian food, Surrey is the way to go.

And that brings a topic I wasn’t sure I wanted to bring: Mijune made a brief mention that Saffron was noted to be Burnaby’s best Indian restaurant. If that’s the case, it might be due to lack of competition (I can only recall a handful of such establishments in Burnaby)…

Minoas Greek Taverna
3823 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

I interrupt my Tacoma post for Minoas Taverna!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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