Zabu Chicken
1635 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

I might be overstating the obvious here: Restaurant business is a cuthroat business. Even more so in Vancouver where restaurants seems to come and go. Restaurateurs blame the economy, HST, drinking laws, etc. However, what they forget is that eating out is not a necessity; is a luxury. If you can’t make people come to your restaurant and generate revenue and income, probably you are doing something wrong. While I do miss some restaurants that are long gone, those empty spots are usually filled up by something else down the road. Or, in some cases, just close for a week and reinvent themselves. Fuel, in Kitsilano, for example, turned into Refuel. Am I digressing here? Maybe; however, thoughts like these came to my mind when I saw Zabu Chicken…

Wait, what is the deal with Zabu Chicken, isn’t it a new restaurant? Maybe? It might be a case of Deja Vu. Long time ago, way before my days of food blogging, 1635 Robson Street, across from Robson Market and next to Capers was home to Roscoe’s, a home cooked type, European restaurant. For some reason, despite living really close, I didn’t feel it was welcoming. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure their culture is; just that, the exterior didn’t reflect it and, as a result, I never walked in. Fast foward, to summer 2010. After some remodeling, an izakaya was supposed to open here. It’s name? Kosetsu. However, some wacky scheduling on their side prevented me from going there and, instead, I ended up going to Guu Garden. A couple of weeks later, it was suddenly closed and, wala!, a new restaurant pops out. This time? Kim Bob Chun Gook, which I went for lunch with PO. Yes, yes, it is gone and now it is occupied by Zaku Chicken. At this rate, one can’t help but wonder if this spot is cursed or the new tenants are avoiding the Canada Revenue Agency by closing and reopening (wacky thought, most likely no, as the bill from Kim Bob Chun Gook and Zabu Chicken both had the Kosetsu business name in it). But enough back story, now to this visit.

First, I am not completely unfamiliar with how Korean fry their chicken. Granted, I have not been in Korean nor will claim any expertise. However, what I can say is that, after my experience in Red Chicken and Chicken Party, at least, I sort of knew what I was up to. The question is whether Zabu would deliver.

Once again, partner in crime PO and I arrived at just after 12 o’clock, just to find a somewhat confused wait staff, as if they weren’t expecting any customers. Now, I could say that would have been “possible”: before this actual visit, we tried to go there a couple of instances just to find out they weren’t open yet. Let me try again: their original (hand written) hours were Monday to Thursday, opening at 2:00 p.m. Yup, this is one of those “WTH?” moments. What is the point of opening at 2:00 p.m. if the lunch rush is way gone? Or could it be Koreans eat later during the day? Anyway, we were seated in the dead middle of the restaurant and given the menu.

At this point, you can guess their menu is quite straight forward: Fried chicken. They have it in three different possible iterations: “original”, which meant either whole or half chicken; “sitcks” referring to drumsticks; or wings. You could also order a combo which is a mix of wings and “sticks”. Similar to Chicken Party, they have “flavours”, from the generic “fried chicken” to their soy original, hot oraiginal, lemon and “soy sal-sal”. Anything else? In addition to booze, a “zabu chicken katsu” and “zabu chicken salad”, you can say that is about it. And probably in sort of lack of judgement we ended up ordering 12 pieces of their soy wings and 5 pieces of their drumsticks, plus a salad to share. After making our orders, we got…

Now, I know that a lot of us are used to banchan – those small side dishes; here, we got a small coleslaw-like “salad” and some radish. You know what? I am OK with this. As for the radish, I thought it was a bit too acidic but, otherwise, eaten as an appetizer, it was a sort of good starting point. As for the coleslaw, too much dressing for me. On that note, it was a creamy type dressing, not too different from a ranch dressing, though without that acidic taste behind it.

From there, things went downhill… OK, to those who haven’t fried food, it is, in a way, a test of patience. Vegetables are quite forgiving because you can appreciate if they are still a bit raw, while, if overcooked, well, still edible because it is covered by the batter (or something else). Meats? That’s when it gets tricky. Depending on the oil temperature, you can end up with something that looks burnt outside but still raw inside. And then there is the timing: it has to be cooked through while the exterior is still nice and crispy. Given how much emphasis they were making about their chicken, I thought, well, they might do it old school, which might require 20+ or so minutes for it to fry. And how long it took for our food to arrive at the table? How about 30 minutes after ordering? In fact, by minute ~20, PO and I were starting to debate about how the food will be presented. I.e., plump pieces? Or some run off the mill pieces? Or, as they say “we cook the freshest, not frozen chicken”. Hmmmmm…. Will see if that’s true. Anyway, the first dish to arrive was (at the 30 minutes mark already)…

The chicken salad. Why the hell we were ordering this? Probably because we needed vegetables? I will go outright and say this salad is a sore disappointment. In a way, it can be considered to be the coleslaw salad it was given the us original, with some extra lettuce, chicken and in a larger portion. That is because the dressing used here was basically the same. What didn’t help was that they didn’t hold back in the dressing. At times, I felt slurping it. Darn… But, one thing was decent: the chicken pieces were crispy, though, wished it was juicier. Then again, chicken breast, should I have expected more? Regardless, it was that dressing overkill… Come to think about it, I prefer the chicken salad from Costco to this. In a way, I guess that basically tells the story.

Shortly after the salad came the wings. Looking at them I had to chuckle a little bit. At just over $12 the order, we are talking ~$1 a piece. It would have been OK if it was a regular size wing. But, alas, it wasn’t. I was wondering if these were cut out from baby chicken or some specialty type chicken because these were small. Compare it to places where it is sold per pound (Wings, House of Wings, et al, or a Beaver and Mullet visited recently), these were definitely losers in the pricing category. But, wait, the proof is in the taste, isn’t it? So, how was it? Meh. From a “soy” perspective, I didn’t notice anything soy-ish there. In fact, I was wondering if this was borderline a honey garlic type “sauce”, more on the lines of honey than garlic. Furthermore, if that wasn’t enough of a killer, there was the fact it felt overfried. See, wings is one of those cuts that stand overcooking quite well because of the fat/skin ratio to meat compared to other cuts so, unless overcooked, the meats can still “flake” out and/or keep itself juicy. Alas, these were extremely crispy, which means overcooked wings…

Moving to the drumstick version, we ordered the hot version. I was a bit hesitant because it could be a repeat of what happened at Red Chicken, i.e., a chicken so spicy that cold liquid didn’t really help. Here, I was wondering if they used a sweet chili sauce because spicy it wasn’t. As for the meat, similar to the wings, it was starting to get crispy “inside”, while the outside part, given it was layered in sauce, was a slightly better but not by much. At one point, we were wonder if the skin was removed because we couldn’t determine why it was so dry. Alas, skin was on. So, as a result, don’t ask me what is going on here.

At one point, we wondered if we should have ordered a whole fried chicken instead. While we did “argue” about it, in the end, had it been the whole chicken, there were parts that wouldn’t have helped anyway. The chicken breast, for example, considering how the wing and drumstick were dry. But here is the one killer: timing. Why it took so long for the food to deliver? It didn’t feel it was fried to order, specially considering neither the wings or drumstick were pipping hot (temperature wise). So, did I miss something? Probably the moola we had to fork? Total bill was in the $36 range (tax included) and we paid $40. At the risk of alienating readers for saying it but, for that $$$, we could have easily bought a rotisserie chicken with some sides at Safeway (< = $20) or, in a fried chicken comparison, I might have even gone to KFC or Church’s. In fact, we joked we should have done exactly that! Yes, I know people will ask for my head for making this comparison but, when the food was so sub-par, even to KFC, such statement is not overkill and might hold some truth in it. So, once again, Zabu Chicken is a no for me…

The Beaver & Mullet Canadian Bistro
1184 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Cupcakes
1168 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

I have started to wonder… Have I blogged literally all the restaurants in Denman Street? Nah, wishful thinking! A lot of times restaurants come and go and we always play a catch up game. Of course, there are also restaurants that I haven’t visited for other reasons. For example, in that area, I haven’t been yet to Westender Korean Cafe, Vina Vietnamese, Central Bistro & Lounge, et al. Why? In some cases, because the restaurant does not entice me; in other cases, the food type does not entice me. Of course, I might be overlooking something and, if so, I will always appreciate if readers point those places out! But back to this post. On a Friday, PO and I were looking for a good eats place in Denman and we walked all the way from Robson towards English Bay and then we remembered The Beaver and Mullet Canadian Bistro (Beaver and Mullet).

“Remembered”? Well, it happens that last year, it was under remodelation (don’t remember if it was under the same name) and, when it re-opened, there was a “Pay what you think it’s worth” type special. However, they had no menu outside so we didn’t even know what to expect. We weren’t that adventurous that day. However, when we found out they had a website, we were able to take a quick look at what they offer and, this time, we were good to go.

The day we went, when we arrived, it was almost empty. Given we could sit pretty much anywhere, we ended up on the table closest to the window for natural light. Not sure if it was because of the time of day or what not but, at that moment, service felt quite casual, which works fine for me. After given the menu, it was still a bit of shuffling as to what to order.

Now, notice the full name of the restaurant. What is a “Canadian Bistro”? In fact, what defines “Canadian” cuisine? Given our cultural composition, that’s something I have never been able to even imagine but, instead, just focus what is available. But, of course, if somebody knows, by all means, drop your comment at the end!

But, back to the menu, they had a salmon dish (representing BC?), Montreal smoked meat sandwich (representing Quebec?), grilled cheese sandwich, mac and cheese and a pot pie (not sure but, anyway, if it is there!), among others. However, we had an odd time deciding what to order. How so? Despite these dishes sound generic, the way the menu was listed was actually enticing to order more than one! Don’t know how to explain that, it just happened. In the end…

We started off with their BBQ Guinness wings (other variants include salt & pepper, hot, sweet chili and stupid hot). One thing that stood up right away in an odd way was the size of the wings. Yes, they were really small; however, fortunately, it wasn’t “by piece count”. If it was, I am sure a lot of people would have cried shenanigans by now! As for the wing itself, it was quite evident it wasn’t fried as it didn’t have that crispy texture; however, the end result, at least, wasn’t dry and still juicy to an extent. If it wasn’t because of the size, I would have liked it a bit more. Alas…

Moving to the mains, I ended up ordering their Canadian pot pie, which comes with a salad. While this is something I won’t have ordered under normal conditions, I did so anyway because I was curious as to what makes it Canadian! In the end, it was a chicken pot pie. In a way, it felt “simple” but, I don’t know, it wasn’t… Bad? There wasn’t anything extraordinary but, still, a decent pot pie. The only “complain” was the fact you had to pay $12 for it.

PO went for their mac and cheese. Now, it is not “just” mac and cheese; instead, there was the option to choose three “items” from a list of vegetable, cheese and meat. In other words, this was customizable (their grilled cheese sandwich could be customized the same way). Of course, I had to wonder… If I didn’t add cheese, as one of the three “items”, would it still be considered a mac-n-cheese? Anyway, in this case, PO ordered it with gouda, pesto and chicken. There was some cauliflower on top and the “burnt” crust on top was actually good as it gave some contrasting texture on top. Now, was it fresh pesto? Not sure, but didn’t matter much given it was baked. Instead, it was the fact you could actually taste the basil which I believe is what mattered. As for the chicken… Well, it was chicken… Sorry!

After finishing the meal and settling the bill, we were given some free drink tickets. Not sure if it was because I was taking pictures of the food or a common occurrence. Regardless, what do I think about the restaurant? Well, the food wasn’t bad; it felt home-y. Pricewise, some were better than others. For example, I thought the mac-n-cheese seem to be a good meal for $10 (a side salad would have been great here). Even then, I didn’t “invoke” that pay what you think it is. I am sure they have reasons to set the dishes at that price point. Would I come back? Well, at this point, not sure; but, it might be a good option as a quiet-er sports bar.

After walking out of the restaurant, something happened that might create really odd reactions, specially those who have read this blog long enough: Both PO and I looked at Cupcakes and ended up getting something from them. Yes, sky is falling!!!!

We ended up getting a pre-packed box of mini-cupcakes and took it back to the office. It is something that I wonder: how fresh are these? I took one and… Too sweet? Pointless? In the end, I didn’t change my opinion about cupcakes. While it wasn’t dry, in fact, it was moist, it was just meh. I mean, as I have mentioned before, I would have preferred petit fours over this. But why petite fours over this? Probably because I am not necessarily excited for frosting? Because I don’t necessarily like its texture? Regardless, I don’t understand the hype and, hopefully, this serves me as a reminder why I don’t care.

Motomachi Shokudo
740 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

Here we go again… A two months ago, I did a revisit to Kintaro (original post here). When I first visited it two years ago, it was regarded as the best in town. But, looking back, there wasn’t much to compare against. After an onslaught of ramen shop after ramen shop, with Benkei, Santouka and Sanpachi, among others, it was a question of whether it could hold itself up. Alas, it didn’t. The question is now if Motomachi Shokudo, a sister restaurant to Kintaro, in a similar way, would hold itself up or not. As usual, there is only one way to find out… A revisit!

As a reminder, back then, I thought it was decent; however, not as good as Kintaro. Now, given I thought Kintaro has gone downhill, the question is whether Motomachi has slipped in a similar way…

The day I went to Motomachi, I had PO as my partner in crime. Also, on that that, it was one of those “typical” Vancouver rainy, gray “cold” days, which would have made a bowl of ramen more enticing. In a way, not much has change about the place, except for one detail. Back in the old days, it was said that Motomachi was a more delicate, female version of Kintaro and, as a reflection of that, there was also the usage of ingredients (chicken broth base rather than pork) and an all female staff (kitchen included). Not sure when things have changed: there was a man in the kitchen. But, you know what, as long as the food is good, should I care much who is in the kitchen?

I know that it is not necessarily exciting to show a cup of tea, less that a cup with a tea bag in a Japanese restaurant… Wait!!! OK, here is one of those strange oddities. While a lot of places have associated tea with “free” drink in Japanese restaurants (similar to ice water in other restaurants), not necessarily so here. Yup, there is a charge for this cup of tea! Do not think of it as a “bad” thing, just as an FYI if you wonder why there is a line item in your bill.

Moving to the food now, rather than ordering the “usual” default dishes, we went for the more adventurous one. After all, that’s Motomachi’s claim to fame, right? Starting off, here is PO’s bamboo charcoal dark miso ramen – angel haired Japanese leek, menma (bamboo shoots), soft-boiled local organic egg, green onion, BBQ pork, thinly sliced chili pepper, white pepper, seasonal green vegetable, chili pepper powder. Well, people, here is a case of if you can’t stand the strange things, look away. Yup, the broth is black. I tasted a bit of that broth and my thought were on the lines of “meh”. I am not sure about you guys here but, fad or hype or whatever aside, I couldn’t think of anything that would make me order this one again. It is just that it was too… Simple? How can I put it… There wasn’t anything that made it stand out. Now, that’s the opinion of the broth alone so, to extend the question, what about the rest? Well, I had to leave that to PO and his thoughts were “meh” as well. I think I will leave it at that.

As for myself, I had the spicy miso ramen with organic chicken – chicken, cabbage, lotus roots, carrot, bean sprout, spinach, Chinese chive, onion, snow peas, menma (bamboo shoots), angel haired Japanese leek, green onion, corn, olive oil, sesame oil, chili sauce. I will have to admit that, when presented at the table, I was a bit surprised. I mean, that was a lot of vegetables! Probably a bit of emphasis on the “healthy” side? But, of course, given so much oil, how can you call it “healthy”? OK, let me backtrack that, people, it is not that oil is bad for your health, you need some. It is at times how much you consume! Anyway, there was so much that I was starting to wonder when I was going to start hitting the noodles. Yes, eventually I did. But, one thing that went sort of MIA was the chicken. No, really. There were only a couple of small pieces. If that was “bad”, here is the killer: White meat. Facepalm. I know, I know, they might be going for “healthy” but, c’mon! As for the rest, it felt quite similar to the bamboo charcoal one. It was just “meh”. There wasn’t anything exciting, anything that really stood out. I mean, if I were to compare it to the leek version of Sanpachi, that one stood out more because there weren’t too many components added. Here, the different components ended up fighting and distracting each other. It was a case of too much for its own good. Oh, as for the noodles, it was decent, still had a light bite but… But… Not outstanding (yes, again!).

As a side, we ordered their gyoza and, in an odd “claim to fame”, these are not sort of chubby but elongated. Well, nothing extraordinary, just OK. Sorry…

In the end, we paid and left without much to say. Reality was that food was average and not overkill as some parts of Kintaro’s meal. However, that’s the problem. It didn’t have anything to “show” and, as a result, the new kids in the block felt superior. So, in the end, similar to Kintaro, it feels it has rested in their laurels… Pass?

Hida Takayama Ramen
203 – 1610 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Wow… How long it has been? Almost a month already since my last post of Vancouver! Anyway, after I came back, it was time to check with people from right here and food that makes Vancouver sort of well know. One of those is Japanese and, among the different options, is ramen. Given I work near Robson and Denman, I have easy access to the popular ones: From Santouka to Benkei to Sanpachi. And then there are Kintaro and Motomachi Shokudo. However, in a case of “me, too!”, some smaller places have opened and today’s post is one of them: Hida Takayama Ramen, located in, out of all strange places, in the food court at Robson Market.

Before I continue, a small rant about “authenticity”. In fact, check this post from Foodosopher of Foodosophy. Don’t worry, I will still be here… While we have “bashed” places that sell ramen that are not Japanese owned/operated (Kawawa Ramen would be the poster child for this), truth is, as long as they deliver a product that tastes good in the confines of the definition of the dish, does it matter? In fact, when I was at Sanpachi, I could hear the “manager” was a woman yelling at their suppliers over the phone because they haven’t delivered something yet. However, I thought it was still good because the people behind the scenes were cooking the food accordingly. And, if you are bothered by this, just don’t go to the US, where, and by no means I am trying to be racist here, a lot of the kitchen staff happens to be Latino! Heck, when I was in Portland, at Nong’s Khao Man Gai, the people cooking the goodies in the back where… Latino! (And, did I mention this is a food cart???). So, instead, the mid line for me ends up being the following: If you are of that cuisine’s ethnicity, my expectations would be higher. So, having said that, for Hida Takayama, the fact they are Japanese own and operated means my expectations would be, as a result, high.

Now, there is one caveat about this post: the day I went, I was literally wasted. No, I wasn’t drinking the previous day or anything like that (I am a cheap drunk anyway who will be tipsy after my first half glass of wine); instead, I had a really nasty cold. Even then, Sherman who happened to be in Downtown on that day was all good to go along, even when I told him I would rather not “expose” him. Well, what can I say… He is a trooper… (On that note, his post is here)

Anyway, if you aren’t familiar with the area, chances are you will easily miss it. There aren’t much in terms of signage and about the only way for you to find it is to literally go in and upstairs to their food court area. Yup, it is in the second storey of Robson Market. We arrived a bit earlier for lunch time and that worked fine given that the food court area was empty and we could take whatever table we wanted. But that wasn’t going to be an issue, as there is natural light filling in that market. But, I am jumping ahead…

When we visited it, they had just opened. And, in what seems to be a trend from ramen shops, not all the menu was available on that day. Hmmmmm…. Didn’t that happen with Santouka and Sanpachi as well? You be the judge. From the remaining options, we ended up ordering two bowls with some sides to share, with the first bowl being…

Their “natural salt” flavoured ramen. Given it does not specifically name it in Japanese (or include any kana), if I had to draw a parallel, that would be the shio. At first sight, it had its good share of slices of pork but lacking in toppings (aside from bamboo shoots, there was no other options listed. Nope, no egg, corn, leek, butter, etc.). Another notable is the fact the broth looked “clean”: while there were some fat aroudn, it wasn’t LOADED with bits of fat, like, say, Kintaro. Alas, that was about the end of the “good” part as the rest went downhill. The noodles were decent and not overcooked. However, somehow it felt… Salty? Now, because I was a bit sick, I had to confirm this with Sherman and he agreed that was the case. The pork was lean, which could be a plus depending on how you like them. However, it was a bit too lean for my liking. And, finally, the broth was sort of a double whammy. Having “natural salt” in their name would imply there will be salt; however, it was too salty… The other killer? I didn’t think the broth was hot enough. For this last one, I will give them some leeway because some people would say it shouldn’t be pipping hot either as it will further cook the noodles. But, I like my soups/broths hot! Moving on…

Bowl #2 was their miso flavoured ramen. In a way, it was pretty much the same as the natural salt except the broth had miso. In a way, this one ended up being a bit better but for other reasons. Granted, it wasn’t as salty but that was replaced by the miso flavour. Oddly, I thought there was something… Sweet? Of course, it is possible my tastebuds were playing with me. Regardless, it wasn’t too different compared to the other bowl while not providing too much on the positive side either, which, in a way, is a shame…

Along with the bowls, we ordered some of the sides available, starting off with the gyoza. From the visual perspective, I will give them credit: these were nicely prepared but, again, that’s visuals only. The inside was too crumbly. Now, this can go both ways: it could mean not much binding agent was used or it was sloppy. And despite the sauces which barely salvaged it, there is the issue whether $4 is worth it. And the answer for me would be no.

Finally, the odd dish: a pork bun. In a moment of “why not?”, we ordered it. Given it was a single piece, Sherman had the honour of “breaking” it apart. Result? A mess. First of all, it broke down when he attempted to remove the lining paper at the bottom. Not a pretty sight… In fact, the only time I recall that happening is when I reheat some pork buns in the microwave! (Even then, it seldom happens). So, we were drawing some wacky conclusions as to why that happened. Regardless if our conclusions were on the mark, in the end, the food was not.

So, verdict? I am not sure if there is a real need for me to say it: this case of “me, too!” didn’t work. Would I have taken into consideration it is in a food court? I could but, if I did, I should think also about the fact they are a Japanese owned shop… And they should know better.

Kintaro Ramen
788 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC

To those who haven’t been reading this blog for long, back in October, I celebrated this blog’s second anniversary. Looking back, I have seldom posted about restaurant revisits for other reasons. What I have implied for the longest is that, what I wrote was valid at that point in time but, as time goes, things might have changed. The restaurants have changed, my likes have changed, time has changed. Or, as an acquaintance yoga practitioner would tell me: “your body is different every day”.

For the longest, every time there has been a new ramen shop in town, something that has partially exploded in the last 24 or so months (Sanpachi, Santouka or Benkei, just to name a few), I have always used Kintaro as a reference (my original blog post, back over 2 years ago here). So, that begs the question: should a revisit be worth it? Have Kintaro kept up with times? Or is it still surfing over that initial popularity from eons ago? So, with high expectations, around lunch time at work, I decided to take that (short) walk to see how and if things have changed…

Not sure if this is something I should have seen coming but, arriving at just past noon (they open at 11:30 a.m., closed on Mondays), there was a small line outside. Now, unlike 2+ years ago, at least the line didn’t go to the corner: there were about 10 people ahead of me. Fortunately, in the communal table, I spotted an empty seat which meant that, as long as nobody ahead of me was going by themselves, it won’t be that much of an issue. And, indeed, all the people ahead of me were “parties” so, as soon as I was inside, I was able to claim that seat for me. See, people, you shouldn’t be ashamed to visit restaurants by yourself! (Something I do quite often when I travel for business).

After seated, menu given, I looked around and, yup, not much have changed. Probably a bit worn down but, in the end, is the same ambiance (or lack of) of times past. When the waitress came back to take my order, I was sure of what I wanted to order: Shio BBQ Pork Ramen (my original visit was miso). What I didn’t recall, though, if the contents in it would be the same as my other non-blogged previous visits so I naively asked for an egg just to be told it was included. OK, that works for me! And, then, it was that dreaded wait…

Interestingly, on that wait, I noticed a customer getting a small bowl with chunks of pork in it. Then, I looked around again wondering if there was a special of sorts. While there was a a note about the hanpayaro BBQ pork, special it wasn’t, as it is the same price as in the menu. However, for $0.95, when was the last time you go so much meat in a bowl??? It had some really light sesame hint and token green onion on top but there was a small issue depending on how you like your pork: It was cold (not fridge cold, a bit under room temperature cold). Now, it can go both ways: by being cold, the fat was able to “bind” the meat but the fat texture was a bit too promiment. Had it been hitting room temperature or a bit over (thought, of course, that will hit that dreaded bacteria safe level), it might have been better. After all, isn’t it how Chinese BBQ pork is sold?

And here it is, my Shio BBQ Pork Ramen, ordered with “medium” broth and fatty pork. Right from the get go, I got some strange vibes from it, as if there was something… Wrong? Different? But, before going into details, some more pictures.

At almost $10, they don’t shy away on the slices of pork and they made good use of their word when “fatty” actually means fatty. However, and it is really strange for me to say this, it went a bit pass a threshold I didn’t existed I had in regards with pork fat (short of consuming chunks of lard). In the end, I ate only half of it; instead, ate the hanapayaro (which was leaner) instead. This, of course, could have been easily “fixed” had I ordered the lean slices of pork. As for the egg… Well, here might be sort of a depends on how you like it. As seen here, the egg is cooked through (which is exactly what I had in my first blogged visit) but other places now make with the yolk soft. I don’t mind it be done this way but others might disagree.

As for the noodles… Well, that’s were things went a bit south: It didn’t have that much of a bite I recall from eons ago. While it didn’t break easily (say, by using the chopsticks) and still had some stretchiness to it, that didn’t really made up for that lack of “bite”. Could I have ordered it differently? I am sure I could have; however, there are times where the question is rather how it is served by default. And while the I could live with the “bite” issue of the noodle, what really dampened it overall was the broth. I felt it failed in several aspects. While I don’t care the seemingly bits of fat floating, it lacked that semi-gelatinous consistency from Sanpachi and lacked that salty “kick” of the sea salt (i.e., the Shio part). To make it “worst”, it was just warm. Now, I am sure some purists will be claiming my head for saying it, as the intend is to not overcook the noodles; however, compared to the one I had in Santouka (which similar issue was mentioned), it was still not as warm as theirs. It is possible that was the reason the slices of pork felt flat?

While I was having my bowl, I was hearing some familiar voices on my back and, interestingly enough, PO went there the same day with some of his friends. Unlike me, he ordered one of the specials, the spicy garlic version. Then, back at the office, I inquired about it and, to quote him, “it wasn’t spicy nor garlic-y”. When asked how it would compare to Benkei spicy ramen, which you can then ask for garlic (as a free side), he thought Kintaro’s version was extremely inferior.

Overall, I will have to say it felt flat, as if they have rest on their laurels of eons past and the new offerings have overtaken them. It is too bad as it was an iconic place. Of course, it is still better compared to other places but, in the overall rankings, it is not as high as I made reference to in the past. In fact, pending a re-visit to Motomachi Shokudo, if I had to rank the places I have been recently, it would be Santouka (though only for the toroniku, otherwise, won’t be king of the hill), followed closely Sanpachi (highest overall if it wasn’t for the before mentioned Santouka’s toroniku), Benkei and then Kintaro. Now, it is possible they haven’t changed at all; instead, now that there is more competition, my likings have evolved. The question for Kintaro is whether they should stick with what they have done for ages or change. If the answer is the former, I guess my “ranking” answers that question. I guess until they change, then?

Gyu Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant
219 – 755 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC

Let me start by saying that this might be one of the most image intensive restaurant post I have written in a long while. Why? Well, it is because of the nature of this beast. In this case, Gyu Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant, which I visited with some work colleagues for lunch. As the name suggests, this is a teppanyaki restaurant, which translates into a restaurant where you would sit around an flat iron plate/griddle and the chef/cook will cook your meal in front of you. As a “bonus” of this type of restaurant, there will be some show of sorts. Now, given it was lunchtime, such show wasn’t displayed but, still, there was a lot going on, hence all the additional pictures. As usual, I am not as interested in the show as the food itself but, as usual, that’s me!

So, how come I ended up in this place? As mentioned, some work colleagues and I had the idea of going out for lunch for some minor celebration. The question was the usual “where”. PO, whom has been a long time partner in crime for restaurant visits, suggested Gyu so why not!

While walking to the restaurant, I noticed that PO wasn’t wearing his usual coat; instead, he was bracing the “cold”. Well, in a move on the lines of the smart guy in the room, he knew there will be some smoke due to the cooking method which would lead into your clothing smell like food/fat/grease/smoke/who knows what else. Fortunately, that didn’t happen but, once again, we were there for lunch, not dinner and, depending on some extra, more smoke could have been generated and that dreaded effect could have happened. But, moving to the food…

Not sure this was PO’s initial plan but there was the suggestion for their all-you-can-eat menu. Since I was with others, oh, well, I had to tag along. While the description is that of “all you can eat” special, it ain’t necessarily so: Some items can be had only once, namely, edamame, prawn, salmon, squid and ice cream.

After we sat down and made our order, the food started to arrive, starting off with…

Seasonal green salad. Think of it of a lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad with a dollop of mayo and some Japanese style dressing. Should I have expected more? Nah, I will just leave it at it being the token greens for this meal.

Your standard miso. As it has been said a couple of times, “you can’t make this look sexy”. Sorry, it is what it is!

Edamame. Notice this is not a single serving but two servings. In this case, since some of us were seated together, they simply served this than split it. If you have had edamame in the past, you have a good idea of what to expect; if not, these semi-soft beans relied on the seasoning outside, as by itself it would have been relatively bland. In fact, as served, a bit more of seasoning in the form of salt would have worked better but won’t complain here.

Yes, there were a lot of sauces, with the last one being their XO sauce. As if when the cook speaking Cantonese to one of the customers wasn’t enough hint; yup, XO sauce as in that HK origin sauce. For an XO sauce, it was OK; though, it felt more on the lines of dried shrimps in oil. YMMV? As for the rest of the sauces, from left to right, a vinaigrette like sauce, a sweet chili-like and a tomato/salsa-like sauce. I mention “like” a lot as they were all bland and didn’t really add much to the food we were dipping them in.

Did I mention something about a show?

This is the preparation of the prawns and salmon. Yup, a single piece of both. OK, here is one thing that will be almost a constant of this post: despite there were some grinding of pepper (and salt?), it didn’t really translate into some something flavourful. In fact, I felt there was a desperate need for seasoning, something that, as mentioned above about the sauces, they didn’t really help. But, back to the seafood itself, texturewise, it was slightly past the done-ness I would have preferred but, otherwise, it was decent.

There was also some squid. I didn’t take a picture of it while it was prepared but, if you haven’t seen a 25cm (~10″) squid, you should have a good idea of what to expect. As for taste? Almost a blank palette.

Filet of chicken. If you are a white meat fan, turn around. These “filets” are dark meat, skin on. As seen, it is brought raw and it is then cooked; however, it took ~10 minutes and, in the meantime, we were just looking around and chatting. I guess if there is a “flaw” from this cooking type, it would be this. And, despite it is “all-you-can-eat”, given the pace things were prepared, you can only eat that much and time will tell your brain your stomach is already full. I have no problem with this approach; just make sure you schedule your lunch accordingly!

Anyway, after the “filets” are brought, they are seared on one side, then turned, then sliced in half so it can cook in the middle. After more cooking, some sauce is added and then finally cut into small pieces, which tasted something on the lines of well cooked chicken but lack some flavouring, which not even the bland sauces could salvage. Could it been better? Indeed, yes, it could have…

The next course was the beef usuyaki – “Alberta thinly sliced ribeye”. It started by having some fried garlic chips (couldn’t confirm) mixed with green onions. Then, thin slices of meat are placed on the hot iron plate, where some of the fried garlic and green onions mix would be placed over and then “wrapped”. While in principle sounds like a good idea, alas, the end product made a disservice to the beef: You could barely taste any of the beef or fried garlic for that matter. In fact, had it been pretty much any cut, it wouldn’t have made any difference. The only light flavour I could taste was the green onions. But, c’mon…!

Some of my colleagues ordered their meal with fried rice rather than white rice (no picture taken). It started by tossing some rice and, on the side, eggs were cracked and cooked, rolled and chopped and then mixed with the rice. Didn’t ask how it tasted…

“Fried” assorted vegetables. Think some cabbage and bean sprout tossed together and cooked. It was OK but it desperately need some seasoning, as it was darn bland. But, again, it served as vegetable filler.

After the vegetable, a last call for the meats were done so we went through a second round of the chicken and beef. In a way, we spent more time chatting than paying attention to how the food tasted. After we “finished”, our dessert was provided:

Mango, sesame or green tea ice cream. Don’t expect in-store made but, then again, should I have expected more? At least it wasn’t icy so I will leave it at that.

Overall, this is not a case of a place that you might necessarily go for the food – or, at least, the lunch we had, it wasn’t. Could a “regular” dish be better? One of our neighbours had one that included scallops and a prawn, in which case, the chef added some butter in the mix. But, even then, I didn’t look too appetizing. Could dinner be better and have more flare? Could be; however, I don’t care. Given they are open for lunch but didn’t deliver, what should I expect for dinner then?

Sanpachi
770 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

Originally, I had two more additional San Francisco posts; however, when people asks your feedback about certain restaurants, at times, you can’t avoid try to switch the post dates and have it as soon as possible. Such is the case of Sanpachi, the newest ramen shop on the block. Of course, if you look closely, shokutsu of Foodosophy, had already written about it but, hey, the more opinions the better, right?

One thing I will openly admit is that one of this blogs “issues” is that of amount of visits and/or amount of dishes I order. Given that I usually go to restaurants by myself, I can only eat that much by myself. However, as I have said repeatedly: this blog is about my restaurant experiences, not necessarily a review site (for that, I will defer it to fellow bloggers like Mijune). So, for kicks, rather than visiting Sanpachi once, I went there not two but three times! Of course, each time, ordering different dishes, hehehe. To start off, on my first visit, I ordered…

Cha-siu ramen with an egg (extra $1 side). OK, here is one language hiccup: When I got my bowl initially, it was topped with leeks. See, somehow they thought I ordered “negi-ramen” rather than “with an egg”. As for the broth, I ordered shio. Originally, I wanted tonkotsu but, for some odd reason, it wasn’t an option for the cha-siu ramen. Don’t ask me, it wasn’t listed!

The noodles had a bit of bite to it but, from what I have read, you can order it slightly more undercooked for that “bite”. Otherwise, “as is”, it works for me fine. The broth had a thickness to it, as if it was made up with some quality stock/bones to extract all that collagen but, at the same time, it still had a “clean” taste (i.e., no ingredients that “sinked” as you drank the broth). The one part that failed was the cha-siu: They were quite thin, too thin for my liking. I am not sure if it is due to Kintaro‘s (which I will admit haven’t been in ages now) or Santouka‘s, but in this case, it felt “strange” and/or minuscule. As for the taste of the pork, it was OK but have had better.

So, the following day, I mulled the idea of visiting them over again. In the end, I thought “sure, why not!” Of course, I wasn’t going to order the same order again so, for contrast purposes, I ordered their Yatai ramen, along with a side of nori-mayo. For $11, Santouka’s jowl version it ain’t; instead, it would be more on the lines of Santouka’s ramen + sides.

For the most part, the general qualities observed of the previous bowl can be applied to this one. In fact, I would say some standarisation was observed in regards to the broth and the noodles! As for the broth itself, it was borderline a shoyu type, i.e., soy sauce-like based. Not complaining but, let’s just say, I prefer tonkotsu and shio. As for the slices of pork, other than having three slices only, still the same issues…

Finally, the nori-mayo: some sushi-type rice on top of seaweed and pork drizzled with a mayo-like sauce. I will categorize this as interesting and, actually, it was good in its own ways. My only “issue” is that, if you order it, chances are you are ordering a bowl of ramen along. Translation? You can easily end up ordering carb with carb.

So, finally, to be diligent, I went to Sanpachi for a third time. WTF?! Going to the same restaurant on the same week for third (not straight) times?! Oh, well, whatever it takes to write a “good” post! So, due to the snafu on my first visit, I chose to order the their negi-ramen to find out what’s so interesting about it. And indeed, the leeks give it an interesting herbiness and crunchiness to contrast that noodle feel. And, given this time I had the option, I ordered their tonkotsu version… And, in this case, it definitely delivered: it had a strong pork taste to the point it could be offensive to some people, so caveat emptor!

While everything sounds good, here is one “fail”:

I will let you judge it…

Overall, I will have to say Sanpachi produces good bowls of noodles. If I have to compare it with the other noodle shops, it felt slightly short but it is still a good offering. OK, let me try again. Santouka’s noodles are OK; however, there is only one dish that really stands out. Sanpachi, on the other hand, based on the three bowls I had, can be considered good across the board. What does that mean? I think I had my share of ramen this week and might not want to touch one for a couple of weeks. OK, kidding! So, unless you are ordering Santouka’s noodle with the jowl, the remaining ones from Santouka do not necessarily compares quite well. So, in the end, I welcome this new addition… Until I want ramen again, that is! OK, let me rectify that: Given they have other dishes not yet available when I went, I might drop back “sooner” to try those. But, until then…

Robson Mongolian BBQ
1234 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Restaurant business is, in a way, survival of the fittest… Wait, that is not necessarily true. At times, it does not matter if the food is good or has good value; for the majority of the population, that plays a secondary role. In the case of an area like Robsonstrasse, it is what the public demands and not necessarily good food. A Cafe, a small HK-style cafe was a bit of an odd ball in the area, surrounded by restaurants that in a way are popular (sushi, tacos, Japanese store), cheap (donair/shawarma) or simply places to be seen (one too many to be listed). In fact, PO and I had a bet last time we went as to when (not why) they would fold and, despite we didn’t want that to happen, it closed in late summer. So, given the prime space, it was a matter of what would replace it. That “what” ended up being Robson Mongolian BBQ…

So, question #1, is Mongolian BBQ better than A Cafe? In terms of food, that will always be a question mark; however, for some people, it works better. In fact, the day we went (and subsequent instances I walked pass by), the place was quite busy so that should mean something. As for the food itself, given that instead of somewhat standardized dishes you can create your own, it could lean both ways. In a standard restaurant, if you don’t like it, you can “blame” the kitchen. In a Mongolian BBQ place, you choose the ingredients/ratio/sauce so, if it does not turn out, well, don’t blame the cook! Having said that, since not long ago I went to such place in Geat Wall Mongolian in Denman Street, I think a fair comparison can be made this time… Anyway to our dishes.

Since this is mostly serve-yourself, we indeed served ourselves, including the soup above. While called a miso soup, forget about it. It wasn’t as much as savoury as sweet… Likewise, there was a self serve mini-salad bar of sorts. Again, it was minimal…

The meats available were beef, pork, lamb and one that I don’t remember. Since it was sliced, frozen and, to use up as much space as possible, “rolled”, it was a balancing act to fit as much as possible in a bowl. This time, knowing that rice would be provided alongwith the meal, we didn’t load much noodles in it as much as meats. However, in the end, I thought rice would be a subpar replacement as carbs in this dish, as the noodles would “soak” the sauces while being cooked. So, for the most part, PO (who tagged along on this trip) and I had pretty much the same order, except I added some leafy vegetables and we used different sauces.

So, how was this compared to the Great Wall Mongolian? Pricewise, the Robson Mongolian prices are slightly higher, which I assume this is because it is located in a primer space. Also, given it opened recently, shows it is “newer”; however, I found the food at the Great Wall cooked “better”, despite neither one really achieved the wok-hei effect – but again, with the caveat that rather than for standarization, I chose the ingredients myself. That aside, Great Wall location serves a spring roll, whereas the Robson Mongolian does not; and Great Wall location prepares fried rice rather than plain rice. And a token price different rounds up the differences between the two. So, in the end, would I come back? It is a case similar to that Great Wall Mongolian: in a hurry and hungry, may be thought I might end up overeating. Otherwise, I think I can think of better places to have lunch/dinner.

Town Hall
1032 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC

In a couple of previous posts, I have mentioned the company I work for, like to “celebrate” the end of a project. Recently, I finish such a long project and, after a couple of delays, we were finally scheduled (as in any typical company, even work lunches are scheduled…!) Of course, being located in the downtown area, the usual question pops: Where? Since this is a work lunch, there are some limits – budget aside, make sure we are back at the office. It is a lunch, not the rest of the afternoon off! Of course, there is the usual question of where while making the most out of the trip. After shuffling some options, we ended up going to Town Hall, which used to be Saltlik

In our party there were five; however, due to how we were seated, alas, I could only that take many pictures. Now, here is one “detail”: Unlike Sherman who has openly disclosed to his friends and work colleagues, that’s not my case (for the most part), as I separate work from private life. Anyway, in this visit, I just told them I wanted to take pictures of the food and they were OK with it. Now, whether they know I blog or not, nobody has asked. Until then… But, moving to the food.

Wok-fried calamari – charred serranos and poblanos w/ sea salt and pepper. Here is where the infamous F word (aka: “fusion”) kicks in: Does it have to be called “wok-fried”? What’s wrong with the regular fryer fried calamari? Regardless of the name, the pieces of calamari wasn’t of the thin cut variety; rather it was particularly thick cut. That’s not really a problem; the “problem” was the batter: it didn’t really stick to the mollusk and and some piece of batter were falling here and there. A somewhat nice touch was the “cooked” piece of lemon but it seemed a gimmick more than anything else. The stir-fried onion and peppers were, again, nice but, a better prepared calamari would have worked better for me…

SB ordered their house flatbread – mozzarella, provolone, balsamic roasted peppers, chiles, fancy prosciutto & baby arugula – as appetizer. It was borderline between doughy and crispy, leaning more towards the crispy side. If I were to compare it with the one from Sciué, these would fall a bit short; however, it still had some qualities of its own. For example, the roasted peppers used retained a lot of its sweetness, which I thought was good. However, the prosciutto didn’t really show up. So, in the end, it was a toss-up (no pun intended!).

The last appetizer was oyster mushroom tempura – asian salt, green onion & basil mousseline (not shown in the picture). The basil mousseline was actually herb-y, in fact, I dipped the calamari in it! As for the mushroom itself… Well, it was a bit of a hit and miss. It had some meat-y characteristics but unlike button mushrooms when fried, the texture was too soft to the point it was almost gone. And, unlike the batter from the calamari, it was quite light and didn’t fall down… Not necessarily one that I would order; however, I can see some people who would.

Now, the total party was 5; however, once again, because of where I was seated, I could only take that many pictures, here, the smoked bacon, asparagus and sweet pea linguini with lemon cream sauce and parmesan. I didn’t ask but the owner of this dish didn’t complain or say much but looked OK with it. As a result, i won’t say much…

Next to me, SB ordered the oven roasted chicken breast supreme and pan jus with red, yellow and orange vine tomatoes, gremolata, marinated “fior di latte” mozzarella & baby arugula. No offence but, won’t have been it easier to have just said “chicken breast and tomato, mozzarella and arugula salad??? Oh sorry I took this picture while it was being eaten. Again, because we were talking about other things, I didn’t ask much about the dish but no major complains.

Finally, my dish – Pacific ling cod wrapped in prosciutto with slow roasted vine tomatoes, lemon aioli served with sweet vidalia onion rings & baby arugula. Again, too much description for what was served. Now, unlike the others, I did eat it so I think I can provide better notes! Now, the roasted vine tomatoes ended up being a thin slice tomato which ended up being both sweet and slightly acidic. The onion rings on top… Well, this was nicely fried and crispy, and I could easily a big pile of these, alas, there were only that much! As for the fish, unfortunately, it was the weakest link. How so? While it was flaky, it was slightly fishier than what I wanted it to be. The sauce managed to cover it a little bit but I wasn’t particularly impressed.

At first sight, when I walked in, I thought it would be similar to another Cactus Club and other similar type restaurants. And, for the most part it was but, and I am not sure if it was because of the composition of our party, the waitresses weren’t particularly, ahem, aggressive and things were done the way it should have been. That aside, the food was a bit of hit and miss, leaning a bit more towards the miss side. However, still, given I only tried that many dishes, for some odd reason, I am willing to give it a second try but, based on what I had, not necessarily in a hurry.

Arturo’s Mexico to Go
775 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

Last week, in my Fresh Local Wild post, I made a comment saying Arturo’s Mexico to Go, specifically they should create a Twitter account to notify when they are open/closed. While that hasn’t been address as of the day of this post, I was advised Arturo’s is now back in business so, finally, I was able to drop by!

What I mentioned previously about Dim Sum Express‘ location applies to Arturo’s as well: it could have a lot of foot trafic which could result in potential business opportunities. Of course, what’s good about it, if the product is not good? Well, the only way to find out is to try it yourself!

In a way, it is relatively easy to say how the operation is setup is would indicate it should be efficient; however, similar to a chain, it is as strong as its weakest link: on the day I went, the last person, i.e., the person who would take my cash to pay for the order was daydreaming a little bit. I ordered a can of pop separately and, after giving me my change, it took him a while to realize he didn’t give me the can. Oh, well…

As for the picture above, to the left, there is whom seems to be the boss as well as a woman who might be the main cook (as was checking the quality of some beans in the back). Could it be Arturo (whom this is named?) I can’t say. However, I can vouch for one thing: they were speaking Spanish…

Moving to the food, I ordered tortilla soup to start. It had a light broth with some tortilla chips, some cheese and a piece of avocado. The soup was good and not so good at the same time. The “not so good” side was that they added the cheese and tortilla before they served it. In my case, since I asked it to go, that presented a problem: If it took a while to open and serve it, the crispiness of the tortilla chips would have been long gone and be instead a mess. Fortunately, I just took the stairs upstairs and opened it almost right away so was still able to enjoy a little bit of that tortilla crispy texture. As for the good, the broth was actually quite good. Think of it as a flavourful, not too salty vegetable soup. For $3, it was actually well priced, I would have to say.

For the other options, I had burrito, salad bowl, quesadilla or tacotino. I dismissed the tacotino as I would have ordered them in multiples and, at $4, I wasn’t sure how many would be enough to fill me up. And, normally, I don’t do salad so that left me with the quesadilla and the burrito. I ended up going for the burrito, though I will have to admit I am curious whether the quesadilla is the American version or the Mexican version… I guess a re-visit is necessary regardless?

As for this burrito, according to their menu has “your choice of meat or veggie. Rice, beans, fresh salsa, lettuce, corn, bell peppers, cilantro, mozzarella cheese, sour cream, lime“. For meats, in the menu sandwich board lists rotisserie pork, sirloin beef and tinga chicken. However, out of these three, they only had chicken and beef. I asked for their favourite and beef it was.

Based on the description of the dish, well, it delivered what was supposed to be there so from that perspective, I won’t complain. As for the burrito as a whole, unfortunately, I have to use a really strange comparison point: Steamrollers. Yeah, I know, how can I compare Arturo’s with a chain? Well, I had to use something as a reference so it couldn’t be helped! (Or no matter how bad it can be!)

Having said that, all the components were more flavourful than Steamrollers. For instance, the rice, which normally would be bland, managed to soak some of the sauces and other flavours rather than staying bland. However, that created an odd problem for the rest: it felt too individual. For example, the corn was there but didn’t really mingle well with the beans or lettuce or the bell peppers. In other words, it was a wacky mix. But, the “main” item, namely the beef was actually quite good. It was slightly stringy, which reminds me of ropa vieja, aka, stewed flank beef. Now, this is not a negative (the meat is really soft and flavourful); rather, it brings some memories.

Now, at a $7 for the burrito, it hits an odd spot. It is not “cheap” (compared to, say, CSK) but, pricewise, close enough to Re-Up sandwich, yet, at the same time, the end product is not as good. However, I have mixed feelings of the end result as it wasn’t bad, as it felt slightly short (but this might be due to my Mexican bias). Still, I do find some incentive to come back as I still want to try their quesadilla or tacotino.