Al-Watan Tandoori
6084 Fraser Street
Vancouver, BC

I am not sure about my fellow food bloggers but, more often than not, when people find out I food blog, the usual tendency is to ask for restaurant suggestions. Of course, the issue is that, what might be good for me, might not be good for the rest. So, rather, I give them a general blanket list of places with some caveats. For example, a week or so, I was asked for non-Japanese seafood lunch restaurant in Downtown Vancouver within a certain budget. Unfortunately, the only place I could think of were Joe Forte’s and Coast, so I mentioned it with warnings (i.e., Joe Forte’s being predictive, Coast being expensive and slow – among other things). What it is really odd is for non-blogger to check with me if I want to go to a restaurant. What? You want me to tag along, spend countless minutes taking pictures of the food while it gets cold? Well, that’s what happened when EC drop me a note for exactly that, as she wanted to visit Al-Watan Tandoori in Frasier Street…

If you were to drive around Frasier Street, chances are you won’t notice this restaurant. That’s because it is “hidden” behind a bus stop and, unlike its neighbour Pizza Hut, it is not as bright. However, in my visits (yes, more than one!), I noticed that customers tend to be people who already knew of its existence rather than somebody who randomly found it. And that was the case with EC, as it was suggested to her as well! In our first visit, EC2 was along so that gave us enough bodies (ahem, no pun intended) to try at least three dishes, starting off with…

Aloo-Palak or creamed spinach, potato, herbs and spices. Well, you have to have your share of vegetables, don’t you? I won’t say it was really spiced up but, for a vegetable dish, I can say that it did its job. And, as you can expected from “creamed” dishes, it was really soft, while the potatoes served mostly as a filler (there were only a couple of chunks, which fits our party breakdown quite well).

Lamb Karahi (?) – Lamb cooked with fresh tomato, green and red pepper, onion, ginger, garlic and spices. Now, I am not sure to what extent the “cooked” part it is. OK, let me rephrase that: the time between ordering and serving was less than 10 minutes, which begs the question of how well the flavours “blended” together. But, you know what? I didn’t actually mind that, as in this case, I preferred the sauce to have characteristics of its own, in this case, slightly acidic and sour. As for the lamb, it wasn’t as game-y as it could have been but something I am starting to notice as of late, i.e., it is getting less and less game-y, which, is partially disappointing to me. Oh well…

Nehari – Spicy beef curry with special herbs & spices. Truth is, I was confused at first about it, as it reminded me of some forms of beef steak I used to have in Panama (bistek picado), where a steak would be cut in strips and stir fried. Of course, in this case, it was in a stew-like form. Aside from some hints of ginger (which EC isn’t particularly fond of) and some level of spiciness (which EC was immune), I liked the fact the sauce had a slight gelatinous consistency. Not necessarily the most tender cut of beef but it served its purpose.

Chicken biryani – basmati rice cooked with chicken, onion, green and red pepper and exotic spices. If there was a dish that failed to meet expectations would have been this one. In a way that was because it didn’t have the “cooked with” feeling, rather, the meat cooked separately and the topped with the rice. The chicken was… Chicken? Not the highlight at all; as for the rice, it had that basmati nuttiness but, otherwise, I can’t say there was something exciting about it. From a Chinese perspective, it can serve as a rice filler but, for that, I guess I could easily order the “regular” version, i.e., sans meat.

And, of course, naan. Given the shape, we were wondering if this was made in a tandoor oven but, regardless, it served is purpose.

At this point, I won’t say the food was extraordinary but, given the price (~$9 was the most expensive among the ones we ordered) and the decent portion size compared to other Indian eateries, it has some redeeming qualities. With that said, in the first visit, EC and I hold ourselves back because we weren’t sure how adventurous EC2 would be and there were some unique dishes we were interested in trying. So, a couple of weeks later, EC drops me another email if I would be interested in re-visiting it, specially considering that EC2 changed his mind… So, for this re-visit…

EC ordered a mango lassi and, while I didn’t try it, her thoughts about it were… Familiar… I have mentioned a couple of times that mango lassi taste homogenized, no matter which Indian restaurant I go, hinting the fact they might use canned to ensure sweetness and consistency. EC’s thoughts? “It taste as if they came from a can”. However, she liked it because it has a sour taste… Yup, EC is unique and “special”, as she is one of the few girls I know who prefers bitter over sweet.

We ordered rice again, this time just plain rice, not biryani

Last time we ordered the regular naan but this time we ordered the garlic and onion naan. The garlic one was meh, as I couldn’t really taste any garlic, though EC2 mentioned he did. Oh, well. However, the interesting one ended up being the onion naan. Visually it looks strange, as if it was baked (which, at that point, I didn’t care much about); rather, what made it “onion” rather than just plain naan.

If you have been to one-too-many Chinese restaurants, you would easily say “green onion pancakes!”. Yup, it indeed tasted similar to a crustier, harder version of green onion pancake. Of course, if you don’t like onion (or green onion), this might not be for you. Just that the twist caught us completely off guard.

For our vegetable dish, we went for navrattan korma – fresh mixed vegetables in a sauce with herbs and spices. Well, at least it didn’t look like frozen vegetables… As for taste, one thing stood out right away: unlike a lot of vegetable dishes, it was on the lines of sour rather than sweet. Because of this characteristic, EC liked it immediately. As for me, it was OK, nothing particularly exciting but, hey, I got my serving of vegetables!

Now moving to the “interesting” dishes, here, paya – beef foot with spices soup or, in Latin American tradition, sopa de pata. While probably not at the same extreme as me (thought she could be…), at least I will give credit to EC and say she has guts: not everybody will be willing to try this, even order it (yup, this was her dish!). However, this is a case of you don’t know what you are missing. Aside the negative the soup had a bit of an oily feeling, it was well spiced (as in spices, not salty), with an almost gelatinous consistency resulting from the collagen of the foot. People, don’t be afraid of it, if you like your chicken soup (or almost any stock!), it is that collagen that makes the soup have that consistency and taste good! The fact it had some light “chunks” of the remaining gelatinous parts of the foot topped it all. This is a dish I can see myself coming back for, specially in those cold days…

At this point, you might be wondering what’s the deal with the name of this post. I mean, Al-Watan Tandoori is the name of the restaurant but what that has to do with brains? Sure, it is Halloween but? Huahahahahahaha!!!! See, I am a person who is willing to try literally anything and in this case, it wasn’t an exception. Still don’t get it? Well, in this restaurant, there is a dish called brain masala…

Yes, BRAIN masala! Brain cooked with special herbs and spices. Hmmmmmm…. BRAAAAAAINS!!!! Huahahahahaha!!!

OK, back to the regular schedule… C’mon, if I were to serve you this and tell you it is tofu masala, most people would it eat without thinking too much about it (I guess after I have told you this, nobody will eat tofu masala if it was me who served it!). That’s because the brains in the dish were texture than anything else. Almost all the flavour came from the spices – one of the most noticeable ones included some cardamon pods on top.

The second visit was more for fun. Overall, again, based on the portion size, price and how it tasted, I would say it was fairly priced, specially if you do not go with high expectations. As for myself. again, it is the soup that I would for certain come back… AND BRAAAAAAAINSSS!!!!

Funny note: I sort-of organized an outing with fellow food bloggers to visit this place. Even when given the option to reschedule it for another day, a lot of them chickened out and nobody officialy confirmed (there were some “interesting” reasons). They know who they are…

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)…

The Lion’s Den Cafe
651 East 15th Ave
Vancouver, BC

Not sure where the idea came originally. It might be thanks to a comment from jlomein in my Delicias de Alicia post or probably because he wanted to go there from the very beginning but Karl organized a mini-gathering of sorts in The Lion’s Den Cafe. Originally, it was supposed to be Sherman, Karl and myself; however, since Jessica joined us last time in Royal City Thai, we thought we should check on her as well. And, guess what? Elaine asked if we were up for lunch on the same day and we told her of our plans. Result? An additional person in this mini-gathering!

Of course, it begs the question: what is so particular about Lion’s Den? Well, it has Caribbean food! Wait, that is not all… How about Japanese food as well? Yup, Lion’s Den has both Caribbean AND Japanese in the same menu! (Or, as they call it “Japaribbean”). With such odd combination, one of them quite popular in Vancouver, the question is how well would both combine…

Update: below are the links for everybody’s posts!

Elaine
Jessica
Karl
Sherman

Originally, we were supposed to be there by 12:30 p.m.; however, due to a snafu on my part and due to people not knowing how to park (a couple of SUVs took the equivalent of four parking spots), I was late. Of course, with a group of food bloggers, hunger could cause riots! Anyway, with such a “large” group, we were set up outside, rather than inside the restaurant. See that table in the picture above? Yup, we were seated there under the sun and the falling cherry blossom petals… Too bad none of them fell on the food or any of the glasses of water – I am sure it would have been a really good photo opportunity. And talking about drinks…

Both Karl and Sherman (whom, BTW, wasn’t 100% healthy that day) ordered ginger beer, while the rest of us went for eau de Vancouver. Unfortunately, since I didn’t try it, I can’t really comment much on it. Sorry!

As for the food, we were having a long debate of what to order. Since we were sharing, the “problem” was to order different enough dishes. Some of them are easy to share while others not necessarily so. For example, how do you share a roti??? Eventually, we “agreed” on the dishes and made the orders. Now, if there is a big flaw of the restaurant, it was experienced as soon after we ordered our dishes. It took *forever* for the food to arrive. In fact, the owner even had to go out to fetch some ingredients! Of course, it could also be the Caribbean lax attitude but, as mentioned above, when you have a group of hungry food bloggers… ^_^;;;

Eventually, they started serving us food, starting with some green salad. The one thing I am not sure is that we were given one portion of each one of us; this is because one of the dishes does not technically come with salad. I guess that, as a courtesy, they added one more serving so we all had one. As for the salad itself, it is your generic green salad and, in my case, it was overdressed. Not much to comment about….

The first dish to arrive was the jerk chicken – spicy Jamaican style chicken roasted with 18 different herbs and spices”. Somebody (M?) mentioned the chicken was served in pieces, rather than chunks, as a result, we ordered two plates instead. The chicken was full of flavour and it was agreed that this was the best dish of the whole meal. The Caribbean rice and beans was on the lines of what I would expect from such dish – difficult to explain but made up its task as a filler.

The next dish is another “classical” Jamaican dish, curry goat. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations. It was a bit too boney and the curry did not have too much “punch” in it. In fact, had I wasn’t told this was a curry goat, I would have said it was a regular stew. Ouch…

At the beginning of the post, I mentioned share a roti. OK, here are the roti shells, which was filled with a yellow split pea. On its own, it might be an acquired taste, as it really needed some sauce (like the curry above). It was OK but, if I compare the roti shell from the roti I had in Rehanah’s Roti, this was a bit drier and not as stretchy/doughy.

Followed by the roti was the oxtail stew, yet another Jamaican “classic” dish. Similar to the curry goat, the chunks here were boney; however, in this case, it was sort of expected. It had a gelatinous texture in it, which I found quite pleasant to eat. However, once again, similar to the curry goat, we thought it needed some additional seasoning.

Given they have Japanese dishes, needless to say, we had to order a Japanese dish. Originally, we ordered ginger beef; however, they didn’t have it. The other dish we ordered was this, okonomiyaki (in this case, the pork version), sometimes referred to as Japanese pizza. One thing that became quite evident when it was cut was the pieces of pork. Make no mistake – these are actual pieces of pork, not ground pork. And, as a result, it provided that pork goodness taste to it. Alas, too bad the batter didn’t really lived up to the pork, as it was quite doughy and couldn’t taste much of the vegetables in it. The sauce also didn’t add much, which was a bit disappointing.

After the meal, when we were about to pay, we were asked to go inside for Ken, the owner, to tell us the story of the restaurant, including its name and a mounted lion in the restaurant itself. I won’t spoil the story: if you haven’t been there before, go just to find out about the story.

As for the food itself, there were some hits and some misses. Regardless of this, I am surprised at how the food was produced, mainly because of the chaotic kitchen. Because it has a charm of its own, I think it is worth coming back. However, the question is: how hungry should I come back? Given the time it took for the food to come, if I am too hungry, due to their pace, I might consider crossing the street for some banh mi instead. If I am not that hungry, I might miss some of the dishes. I guess if I can find partners in crime like this time…

Pooja Cuisine
1075 Easton Avenue
Somerset, NJ

As mentioned previously, in this trip, I wanted to try different types of cuisines. So far, we have had diners, burgers, Latin American (Cuban), Southern/Soul and BBQ – in that order. For this post, though, I will have to break that sequence because of tomorrow’s post. As a sneak peak, it is about burgers (yes, again but… Let’s just say wait until tomorrow). But, other than that small burger detour, I kept that different cuisine line of thought. In this case? Indian food in Pooja Cuisine.

I must admit I did some homework before I went to Pooja. In fact I had another nearby Indian restaurant in mind: Hoysala. The difference between the two? Aside the fact Pooja has several north Indian dishes and Hoysala has southern, Hoysala also serves buffet style after 7:00 p.m. (They open at 5:30 p.m.). Reality is, I wasn’t really in the mood of buffets and endless food available. Then there was that wacky thought of ordering a la carte but having then a waiter go to the buffet and plate the food for me. OK, OK, it is possible they would actually cook it but I couldn’t shake that feeling. As a result, I ended up going to Pooja by process of elimination. (I must add Pooja also have buffet during lunchtime).

After I walked in, I was given the option to sit almost anywhere. Other than another table, it was pretty much the waiters, that other table and me. During my meal, a couple walked in so, pretty much it was a slow night. After looking at the menu and made my order, I got…

Papadum and chutney. These are not complimentary but part of a set dish I ordered (more on that below). I just tried a piece to taste the chutney and… Well, there wasn’t much to comment about. The chutneys did not have much taste at all which I found odd. Wasn’t it supposed to be minty or sweet/spicy? Anyway, since I did not care too much about it, I just let it slip.

To actually start my meal, I went for something… Unusual. Above, their coconut soup or, as per their menu, “Punjabi-style made with milk, grated coconut and nuts”. The reason I ordered it was because I like the taste of coconut and this really caught my attention. The end result was a bit mixed. It tasted like a warm, really thin sweetened coconut milk. It was probably a bit too sweet for my liking but, that aside, it was just weird. This is something I would have as a drink, not as a soup.

I know I am jumping back and forth but that was the order which I was served the meal. In this case, drinks, where I had lassi; however, unlike my previous visits to Indian restaurants, this is the regular lassi, not mango lassi, which explains why it is white rather than yellow-ish. I think I prefer this over the probably-over sweet mango lassi. As for the taste itself, if you ever had plain yoghurt, that is pretty much the taste of it but with a thinner consistency.

And, finally, the main components of my main dish… As you all know, when going to Indian restaurants, short of a buffet, the best approach is to go in a group. The main reason is to be able to order several dishes. But, when you go by yourself, well, the best you can do is hope they have a combination/set menu which allows you to taste several items. Fortunately, Pooja, did have such item and out of the four available, I ordered their house special which include:

Chicken tandoori. The lemon and raw onion was mostly for show as you can easily tell they were not cooked together. As for the chicken itself, taste-wise, it felt somewhat flat and, worst of all, somewhat dry. For goodness sake, it is dark meat!

Vegetable korma. When I first “stirred” the korma, I thought there was something strange, as if it contained something that shouldn’t be there and/or something missing. I did not pay too much attention to it and started eating it with the side naan (further below). Then it hit me… While you can use technically any vegetable to make the vegetable korma, I am used to what is served here in Vancouver, i.e., cauliflower, beans, carrots, sometime potatoes, et al. In Pooja’s case, the cauliflower was missing and instead of beans, it had peas. So, you do the math: peas, carrots… Does it sound like mixed vegetables?! The sauce itself was slightly sweet and creamy though not hot at all (I asked for the food to be spicy hot). So, my thoughts was that curry sauce was at par but the vegetable used was disappointing.

Lamb rogan josh. The sauce was similar to that of the korma, the difference here is that this one felt more oily. Since it is lamb, you would expect it to be game-y, right? Well, it was; however, there was something they did not manage to control: the meat was slightly tough. Now, not to the point you had to chew over and over but you could tell it wasn’t really simmered for a while to the point it starts to tenderize and fall apart…

The main carbs of the meal: rice and naan. The rice was average but did what it was supposed to do. One odd detail was that it was slightly lumpy. Not sure if I was expecting that. Out of the whole meal, I will have to say the naan was the best part. It had its share of butter/ghee on top which gave it an unique oily taste. And it manage to soak the sauce from the korma and rogan josh.

In the end, I was full. Despite it was an order for one, it was a bit too much food for a single person. However, it did not fulfill much. I have had way better Indian here in Vancouver from buffet or even below average Indian restaurants. But, then again, it might be an unfair comparison considering the Indian population here in Vancouver. Still, if I was craving for Indian in that area of New Jersey, that might not be the place I would go to.

Thai Away Home
3315 Cambie Street
1206 Davie Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC

Once again, I am on the look for something “different” to eat for lunch in the West End. While there are a lot of sushi spots, I did not want to go any one of them (comparison between these gets a bit tiring after a while). And there are several Korean restaurants but, somehow, I don’t feel too comfortable going there by myself. This time, that “something different” was Thai. I have blogged about one other Thai place previously, Khunnai Chang; however, after my initial post, I have been a couple too many times already. No, that won’t work. In the end, the Thai restaurant ended up being Thai Away Home in Davie.

This is actually one of two locations; the other one being in Cambie Street. Can this be considered a chain? Well, they have franchise opportunities! Anyway, I got there around lunch and it was empty at that moment. However, after I made my order, people started to walk in, mostly for take out. In a way, it made sense: There isn’t a table in the straight sense of the word – a “communal” table in the middle and some stools. Heck, there isn’t service in the straight sense of the word. Want some water? Grab a glass and fill it from a water cooler!

Now, in addition to take out, they sell frozen packages: re-heat and serve. It sounds interesting but, oddly, they have recipe printouts too. Could it be one is for those too lazy to cook and the other for those willing to do so? Or the idea is that similar to the now defunct Sliced Tomatoes? Of course, if what it is sold in those packages is the same as what you would get in the restaurant, you might want to try the food first, right? Said that, I ordered their yellow curry with chicken (had also the option for beef or tofu).

The curry comes with rice and salad. At this point, there is no way I won’t do a direct comparison with Khunnai Chang. Well, actually I don’t really have to. In a straight, head to head comparison, Thai Away Home loses horribly, as both costs about the same; however, Khunnai Chang offers a small cup of soup and a spring roll in lieu of the salad. So, the question boils down to taste.

In this case, I am a sucker for this type of curry (*) so there is no way I won’t say it was good. Semi-sweet sauce over rice, with slices of chicken (white meat) and some tender pieces of eggplant. Come to think about it, I think that would be the main weakness of this meal: white meat chicken. Sorry, but dark meat taste way better. Anyway, once you pour some of the curry on top of the rice, you can start to taste that sweetness, that hint of coconut. I could eat curry like that the whole day!

(*) Order of preference: mom’s version of curry, Thai, Chinese, Indian and, finally, Japanese.

Despite I mentioned Khunnai Chang looks better, still it is a lunch good option. In my case, if it wasn’t because I have to walk from Robson to Davie plus some extra blocks…

Yesterday it was another hot summer weekend but, along with it, another summer festival! In this case, after a short hop via the Seabus to Lonsdale Quay then a short walk to Waterfront Park, the Caribbean Days Festival! (Courtesy of Trinidad and Tobago Cultural Society). So, without further ado.

I will admit I am not sure how many people of Caribbean descent are in Metro Vancouver; however, the fact we have different Jamaican restaurants (mostly, haven’t found evidence of other Caribbean) ought to mean something. Hey, as they say, if there is food… So, enjoy this photo essay of the festival (which, by the way, closes today, Sunday, July 26th).

If there is a festival, there ought to vendors, right? No close shot of their wares, though…

In the main stand, different bands and, in this case, dance. Work hard, party harder?

Now, to those who haven’t been to this area, Waterfront Park is “divided” into two by a ditch (where rails are set) – the actual park with a small gazebo overlooking Downtown Vancouver and the other area which, well, looks like an empty lot. Since the park is not that big, the food section is set up in this empty lot.

There were only a handful of vendors (plus the alcohol section). However, that creates a couple of problems. For example, orders would end up being large like seen in the picture above. The other problem is that there isn’t that much variety – almost all of the stands were selling the same dishes: roti, jerk chicken, goat curry, patty, et al. And the worst offender? Long queues!!!! As for what I ended up getting…

Bake and Saltfish – a sandwich made with salted fish (cod fish?) and a salad side. It was a bit saltier that what I was expected…

Beef patty. Empanada (as in Empanada Hut) anybody?

I will admit I ended up ordering “misses” for the sake of variety. Had I ordered a jerk or curry, that would have been more food and wouldn’t have ordered the patty instead. In a funny way, that ended up being a bad idea anyway, as there wasn’t anything else that caught my attention (despite there was a soft-serve ice-cream shop). I ended up going to the festivities area and…

Yes, corn cob. I must be nuts to be eating this while basking under the sun!

Finally, to quench my thirst, I got something unusual: mauby. The best way to describe its flavours would be root beer-y, anise-y and that of a bad medicine. Read: an acquired taste.

The festival was interesting but one thing dampened it: it was way too hot for my liking. In the end, I went to a nearby McD’s for a large soft-drink (special at $1) as I was starting to feel dehydrated (I know, not the best drink but I had to have something!). Not to blame them of course, it just happened. So, one more festival down, at least two other more to come!

Alberni Food Fair
1070 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC

I once wrote this about food courts:

“Food courts in Metro Vancouver (and North America in general) are, more often than not, just places for you to buy something, sit on a table and eat it. Whether is something edible, good for you, entertainment or anything on these lines, well, just don’t raise your expectations“.

Of course, there are always exceptions to those rules. For example, the one instance when I visited Crystal Mall’s food court and had BBQ duck and BBQ pork. Of course, that could be an exception to the rule, after all, Crystal Mall is one the lines of a Chinese/Oriental mall. Now, what are the chances I would like a food court in Downtown Vancouver, surrounded by high end restaurants?

Entrance in Thurlow street.

Entrance in Alberni street.

I ended up here almost by chance. Despite I used walk by almost everyday, I never realized there was a food court there. Yes, it is one of those cases where you can’t see the forest because there are way too many trees. But how I ended up there? It happens I was hungry by 11:00 a.m. and most restaurants were closed. Urban Fare or Tim Horton’s would have been an option but I wanted something else.

Yes, it was empty when I walked down the stairs.

As for the food, there are several options, from:

Middle-Eastern to…

Vietnamese and others including Thai, Japanese, etc.

The day I went there was a really cold day, which translates into wanting something pipping hot. Something like…

A bowl of pho from Treat. But not the regular pho, rather it was topped with spicy lemon grass beef. I know this sounds strange but it was better than expected for $6. Now, the noodles, as seen in the picture above, were a bit of a let down; however, again, at $6, and compared to some places with more expensive bowls – like the one I had at Gold Train Express, this one was quite good.

Given the meal was better than expected, on another day, I went there and bought a meatball sandwich to go. And this is what I got for ~$3:

Think a Vietnamese sandwich but, rather than cold cuts, you get  a meat sauce with grounded beef instead. It was quite good, I must say. Feeling I was on a run,  on another day, I dropped by a stand called Vegety, where they serve Japanese style curry.

I went for the baked chicken curry ($6.50). Not sure how noticeable it is but it had some pieces of potatoes (it had the texture of baked), three pieces of chicken with rice, topped with a Japanese style curry sauce. It wasn’t hot (as in spicy) and wished it had also some other vegetables, like carrots. But, it was interesting in its own ways.

Finally, for dessert, I had a somewhat odd dessert: a tofu chocolate brownie ($1.50).

It felt short of a really good brownie, as it didn’t have that creamy/fatty texture. However, again, it was quite interesting.

Overall, I must say this place was better than expected. Cheap food with a good variety. If I want a cheap meal in Downtown Vancouver, out of all places, this might be a good option.

Taste Nice Caribbean Restaurant
13448 108th Avenue
Surrey, BC

Surrey, BC… No offence to anybody who lives there but it is one of those places in Metro Vancouver in try not to go to. It has nothing to do with the culture or population or what not. Rather, I find it lacking… As a result, it shouldn’t be any surprise I have not blogged any restaurants over there. OK, I have not blogged the other neighboring cities (Coquitlam, Port Moody and so on) but given the population in Surrey, there ought to be good eats there, right? A couple of days ago, I had to go to the Whalley area of Surrey and that gave me a perfect excuse to drop by a restaurant. ANY restaurant, as it was around lunch time and I was hungry!

Now, before I continue, I must say there is a large South Asian population in Metro Vancouver. For some reason I am not aware of, a lot of them have chosen Surrey to be their home. Given that case, one would think I would end up in an Indian (or similar) restaurant, right? Well, not really! Although I have not really blogged any Indian restaurants yet, it is not because I don’t like their; rather it is because going solo to an Indian restaurant is an odd experience. But, I promise I will do that soon, OK? Back to this post: the first place that caught my attention was Taste Nice Caribbean Restaurant.

I must also mention there was a reason why I ended up in this place. A couple of months ago, I visited Kiss Yo Mama, a Caribbean restaurant in Burnaby. I was awaiting for a chance to visit another similar restaurant to make some comparisons and Taste Nice gave me that opportunity.

When I arrived, I was hesitant to walk in. See, although there was an “Open” sign blinking, on the door there was their schedule saying it was not open on Sundays (the day I was there). Seeing there were some customers seated, I took my chances. Hey, the worst that could happen? Getting myself kicked? Nah… ^_^;

The restaurant is small: 4 booths plus the two tables in the picture above and the table I was seated. I have the odd theory it might be because of (1) the area and (2) because takeout/delivery seems to be what they emphasize more on. In fact, their weekday/regular schedule goes from noon to ~8:00 p.m. (depending on the day). Anyway, I am writing about this chance encounter (literally because this was their first Sunday open!). Oh, yeah, the other customers were seated in one of the booths.

Now, the food. For drinks, I ordered Ting, a grapefruit flavoured pop/soda, popular in the Caribbean. At $3, it is not cheap for pop/soda, specially for a 350mL bottle which tastes like Squirt. But, I am not making any judgment on that… And the entree was… Goat curry!

I find it funy I was not in an Indian restaurant in Surrey but ended up ordering a curry! At first, I was not sure if I would like it or not. The problem being that the curry sauce was thin, really thin. It was almost like a soup (if not slightly thinner). I quickly found out it was not such a bad idea. The rice (with beans in it) quickly absorbed the curry sauce, hence, thickening it slightly. The meat was a bit bone-y but had enough chunks. If I must complain about this place, there are two things I could mention: First is the vegetable, or lack of. Aside from the two slits of tomatoes, it was the curry and the rice. That’s it. My second “complain” would be the spiciness. I was expecting it a bit more “hot”. OK, there was hot sauce on the table but it is not the same when they add some spices while preparing the curry.

During my meal, a person identified as Nigel, walked by and started to chit-chat a little bit. He was quite friendly, making myself welcome. But, I must warn anybody who would go there: service is really laid back. In fact, despite the restaurant was almost empty, it took several minutes to fetch anything – in my case, I ended up walking to the cashier to pay after asking and waiting the bill for over 5 minutes.

Now to the main question: how was the food compared to Kiss Yo Mama? I would say it is not exactly the same. Food was good but I found Kiss Yo Mama’s slightly better. Only slightly, as in razor thin…

Lumbini
322 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD

For other reasons (which can’t be disclosed), on my fourth night in Baltimore, I was exhausted. I had plans for a restaurant – which I eventually went the following night, that post will be up tomorrow, and instead I went to a one closer to the hotel. I am sure some of you could have said “but, you can have a meal in the hotel itself!”. Sure, I could have but, c’mon… Anyway, the closest place I could remember was Mick O’Sheas, which I blogged previously, and while walking there, I noticed an Indian restaurant. It wasn’t the “Indian” part that caught my attention, rather it was the Nepalese part. That’s how I ended up in Lumbini.

It is just me or it seems almost all Indian restaurants have buffet?

Just like in my visit to Akbar a couple of nights before, the restaurant was almost empty. Actually, there was another table occupied, yet I was afraid of a repeat experience. Déjà vu, anybody? Although late, by the end of my meal (around 8:30 p.m.), a couple other customers had walked in.

My first look of the menu was extremely disappointing. The promise of the restaurant was for both Nepalese (which I had absolutely no idea about) and Indian (which I have had some, despite not necessarily the authentic version); yet almost all the menu was Indian based, i.e., curries, tandoor dishes, etc. It was not until I hit a section of the menu labeled “Bhojan” that I saw some glimpse of hope. But, to start, the drink…

Mango lassi. Called it profiling or what not; but this drink seem to appear in every single Indian restaurant. The funniest thing? Every single place I have been, it taste exactly the same! I guess that, rather than using fresh mangoes, canned pulp is used; hence the consistency.

Along with my lassi, I got some “free” appetizer in the form of papadum:

Along with the some chutneys:

The twist here is the one on the left. It wasn’t a sauce in the straight sense of the word; rather they seemed to be pieces of marinated bamboo shoots. It had a strange texture but enjoyable nevertheless.

As for the main…

Daal Bhat Masu Thali. As per their menu, it is a “typical Nepalese dinner included white rice, dhal, chutney and choice of chicken or mutton curry”. If you have read previous post, you could easily guess what I had… Yup, I had mutton. (Depending on the country/classification, mutton is a sheep, though it could also be a goat). Yup, the plate looks hilarious in a way. I don’t remember using one like that in ages. Now, a close-up of each component.

Again, the bamboo shoot chutney.

Dhal. Yup, that’s a chili in it! I have mentioned previously my love for legumes. However, even with that bias, I must admit it was really good!

The mutton curry. I am not sure how to describe it other than a more gamier (?) version of lamb, which, I assume, it is expected. Now, unlike lamb curries, in this case, it was bone in, which gave it even more flavour. It was great!

For a change, to finish the meal, I asked for something sweet. When I looked at the menu, one item caught my attention: Mango khulfi, described as “traditional unchurned, indian ice cream mixed with mango”. That’s the menu description; my description would be more on the lines of small chipped chunks of mango flavoured ice cubes. Heck, even ice shaving work as well. On top of it, some small raisins. As for the taste itself, the comment on the mango lassi applies, i.e., it tastes a bit too similar… Now, I could live with that; however, it was way too sweet. I couldn’t finish it.

Overall, I am both happy and disappointed at the same time. On one side, the food was better than expected. On the flip-side, it is too “Indian” (i.e., more Indian based than Nepalese, as it was described). Nevertheless, there was enough “twist” to it and, as a result, a worthy meal.

Kiss Yo Mama
4926 Imperial St
Burnaby, BC

To me, Jamaican cuisine is a paradox: it is familiar yet it is foreign at the same time. On one side, for dishes like patties, rice and beans (or rice and peas) and escoveitch fish, there is a Panamanian equivalent. On the other hand, you have jerk chicken, curry goat and ackee and saltfish, well, there are none. So, in a way, it is akin to have Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a friend. With that in mind, I went to Kiss Yo Mama.

I will go straight to the point: it took me a couple of tries to finally eat in. No, it is not related to the location (it is near Metrotown), rather, it was their schedule. Officially, they are open from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. plus brunch on Sundays (11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.). However, in an occasion, it was closed without notice and, in another, it was not locked but was told they were not going to have service that night. Call it odd if you want… Anyway, after a couple of attempts, I finally managed to eat in.

On the night I visited the place, there was only one person running the restaurant, Chef Liza Brown herself. Talk about streamlined operations… One thing I should mention though, the pictures above do not make a good representation of the decoration of the place. There were a lot of pictures of artists with Chef Brown. I thought I shouldn’t take picture of those…

Now, the food.

For drinks, I had Ting, a Jamaican soft-drink. The best way to describe it would be something similar to Squirt or Fresca. It was OK but not something I would order again.

A garden salad that came with my entree. It was OK, though I wish I had the option for vinagrete rather than the creamy, ranch-like dressing. Personal preference.

And some chips. Not much to talk about.

Finally, the main item… Goat curry, which comes with a piece of bread, rice and peas and a slice of watermelon. Oh, notice that reddish sauce at the bottom right of the plate? That’s hot sauce! Just in case, a close-up of the curry goat and rice and peas…

The food was excellent. Though a bit bone-y, it was really tasty. The bread was really soft and served well to soak the left-over curry. The rice and peas was similar to the rice and beans I had in Panama and, despite how it looks, it was not dry at all. Both the hot sauce and the curry were hot! I was sweating bullets when I finished the meal.

Overall, I really enjoyed the meal. It had some really interesting flavours and brought some memories. If I have to find a problem with my meal, I will have to say it is the price. At $14.50, I will not call it a cheap meal (nor $3 for the glass of Ting). Feel free to call me cheap if you want; is the fact I have similar dishes in Panama (rice, beans and beef) for cheap. Would I come back? Not sure! At this point, there are other Jamaican restaurants I want to try and will decide after that.