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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bob Likes Thai Food
3755 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

We have had discussions about authenticity for a long time. How important is it? Does it matter if it is authentic is people enjoy the resulting dish? Over the last couple of years, my perception has changed: If people is enjoying it, I think that some leeway can be given. But, at times, when the modified version is a hacked job that you simply can’t help but shake your head. Such is case with Thai food, specifically Pad Thai. For the longest, we have “complained” a lot of restaurants serving Thai food making that dish using catsup rather than tamarind sauce; but, would people “know” any better? In fact, what if a restaurant make it the original version. Would people accept it for what it is? With that in mind, I kept hearing about Bob Likes Thai Food and that meant I should drop by one of these days…

Yes, you have to wonder where that name comes from. I myself didn’t inquire but, regardless of its origin, if I were to ask myself “do I like Thai food?”, the answer would be, for the most part, yes! Of course, I have made only dent on some stereotypical ones, from their pad see ew or pad thai to curries and so on so that “yes” might not necessarily be 100% true… But, in the end, and as usual, it is me falling back to what I ordered in this visit rather than generalizing to everything in their ethnic culture.

Arriving at Bob’s, I had some odd feeling about it’s location. For one, given the buzz, I was expecting this restaurant to be closer to the “usual suspects” area (Downtown, Gastown, Yaletown, Kits) but this is located instead in Main Street, near King Edward Ave. But, not only that, I have been to this place before. As in way back before it was Bob Likes Thai Food. Instead, I visited this locale when it was City Temple of Shanghai! When I arrived – around lunchtime on a weekday – I found it odd it was almost empty. Again, given it’s location, should I be surprised? Again, if it was closer to “the usual suspect” places…

Moving to the food, despite I was by myself, I started off with an appetizer. Here, their satay, off their “regular” menu. For $4.5, you get two chicken skewers with their peanut sauce. In the grander perspective of things, this can’t be considered a cheap appetizer but, at the end of the day, the major question would be: is it good? And in this case, it was sort of middle of the road. First, I would have preferred dark meat. There was a visible char and good coconut hint behind it. The peanut sauce was a bit of a mixed blessing. It added some different type of nuttiness compared to the coconut; however, at the same time, I thought it was a bit too sweet. In the end, I am not sure if I were to order it again…

Given all the “noise” about Pad Thai, it was destined I would order that dish, right? So, here it is from their lunch menu ($7.50 from their lunch menu). At first, I thought it would be carbs only; however, they added some side salad as well as fried wonton skin. This last one was a bit of an oddity but I will take it for what it is. The only “bad’ part was that it was a bit too oily. Then again, given I wasn’t expecting it…

As for the Pad Thai itself… Starting off with the consistency of the noodles, it came out drier to others, which I thought was a good starting point. I did feel a light pungent taste; just wasn’t sure if it was due to the tamarind or fish sauce or other ingredient(s). And, based on the picture, everything was there: tofu was there, shrimp was there, peanuts were there and so on. However, for some odd reason, something didn’t work. It was as if the ingredients didn’t “meld” together. Was it better than the catsup-y Pad Thai? Yup, from that perspective it was; just that it felt slightly short.

Then again, it begs the major question… Short (or better) compared to what? Given the yardstick is a bit of a blur (Khunnai Chang and Thai Basil, for instance), the answer will be extremely relative to my personal tastes. As for Bob, I feel it is a place I would do a revisit, not to mention I saw several dishes from their regular menu I would like to give try. And, if I were in the area around lunch time, I actually won’t mind, considering price seemed right (for lunch dishes).

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…

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.

Culina
6509 112 Avenue (Culina Highlands)
9914 89 Avenue (Culina Mill Creek)
9626 96A Street Northwest (Culina at the Muttart – Muttart conservatory, location visited)
Edmonton, AB

Before my trip to Edmonton, I checked with several people who lived there as well as natives for points of interests. Me being “me”, there were some usual “caveats”, one of them, for god’s sake, please, do NOT tell me West Edmonton Mall (WEM)! (And, yes, I indeed went there and, due to bad timing, I could skate in the rink at the Ice Palace). But, once they knew what I was looking for, i.e., walkable areas (with the warning Edmonton is not as walkable as Vancouver), something outdoors (yes, again, call me crazy…) and things that, because you are “local”, you tend to overlook it. One of such places ended up being the Muttart Conservatory. But, in addition to the flowers and plants, I knew there was a new location of Culina, a restaurant that seems to be well regarded. So, that’s how Dumbfries and I ended up having a brunch there.

Unlike the other days in my visit, this one was more on the lines of a typical winter day in Edmonton. Snow… Snow… Did I say snow? How so? Driving there was a bit of an adventure for Dumbfries (whom I will have to, once again, say thanks for driving me there on a day that would have otherwise stayed at home!) but we eventually made it. When we arrived, I will have to admit: I was quite underwhelmed by how the restaurant is set up. Hmmmmm… Let me take that back: It does NOT look like a restaurant in the straight sense of the word: it appeared more like a cafeteria. Of course, this might be due to the setting, after all, it is located in a conservatory, not Metrotown or WEM!

We were originally seated in a corner but, after some tables near the glass window cleared, we requested to be moved there. Hey, natural light! One thing I did observe during our meal: The other customers were families with toddlers in hand. Whether they were going to the conservatory later (don’t think they did, don’t recall them inside) or they are from the neighbourhood, it means the restaurant can cater to all type of customers.

Now, to the food! Because we were there for brunch (which, actually ended being more on the lines of lunch), I do not expect the food to be representative of a meal at Culina in their other locations. However, it would be the question of execution: If they are able to produce good eats in a more constrained environment, what would it be in their regular one? But, let’s not jump ahead and first the dishes we ordered:

Dumbfries went for something “light” in the form of smoked salmon and egg salad on croissant with fruit salad. The dish is as described. Nothing more, nothing less, almost down to a T. OK, probably aside from the greens in the croissant. First, the bad: the croissant. Now, it wasn’t “bad”, except it could have been better had it, as Dumbfries pointed out, been warm. It wasn’t crispy (compared to Panda Bakery) but that soft airy texture worked fine. The salmon wasn’t really strong but you could tell it was salmon. And the temperature of the egg salad (room temperature) didn’t take away from the rest. So, in a way, it felt Zen-like, i.e., a bit sweet (from the croissant), a bit savoury (from the salmon), extremely light acidity (from the mayo) and a bit bitter from the greens (but, similar to the acidic tones, it was really light). Not difficult to make but it was well done. As for the fruit salad, it was a mix of fruits and a dollop of mascarpone cream (which I might have it confused as vanilla yogurt, as it tasted as such!) on top. Won’t say more about it as it would be what you can expect from such combo.

To share, we had the soup of the day: split pea soup. I have a bias for this type of soup, as I am a sucker for legumes. And I will hand it to them: aside from temperature (I would have prefer a more pipping hot version), it was a smooth and savoury soup. And they didn’t hold back in terms of smoked ham, as you could have easily have had a bit in every spoonful. The sweet peas on top was a nice touch to finish it. I had a discussion with Dumbfries about this, specifically how difficult it is to make. While it is relatively easy (mirepoix, split pea and hock of ham, top with water and cook until soft), at times, the legume does not break up as intended or some other things happen. And, if it breaks correctly, you might not need a stick blender; however, now that I am writing this, it is possible Dumbfries might be correct that it might have been used to achieve the smooth(er) texture… But, in the end, a good soup.

However, the one part of the soup order that didn’t work that much was the sweet potato bread on the side. In a way, I felt it was your regular plain bread, colour aside, that is. Did I miss something? :/

Now, my dish. In my case, I went for something heavier: bacon and eggs – scrambled eggs, smoked bacon, rosemary-cheddar potato hash, sweet potato toast. Let’s start everybody’s favourite… Bacon!!!! In this case, I don’t know, it was OK but nothing extraordinary. It was a bit salty, a bit smokey but that’s about it. While it wasn’t extremely greasy (ha!), that aside, there wasn’t anything else. However, while that and the sweet potato toast as mentioned above, didn’t work that well, the scrambled eggs and the potato hash stole the show. In the case of the eggs, it was still slightly runny and it had a quite light, almost custardy feeling to it. However, the interesting note is that it didn’t feel as if it was over cooked nor too airy. In a way, I would love to be able to get the recipe for this! As for the potato, I am not sure if a “hash” would be the best description. From a recipe perspective, it looks like as if some new potatoes were boiled/cooked and then mashed in a heavy cast iron skillet over some heat. Add some light seasoning and serve! And, in this case, it retained some crispiness as well as some of that starchy feeling as well. In other words, a combination of textures.

Again, as mentioned above, while they do have stoves tops and what not, I don’t think I should compare the food represented here to their other Culina restaurants. Having said that, what they served here was quite well executed. And, for that reason, I would certainly want to come back. Or better yet, their other locations!

Now, to finish this post, a picture (yes, one and only one!) that I took of the conservatory itself… And, I did enjoy my trip there!

Delux Burger Bar
9682 142 Street NW
West Edmonton Mall (Location visited)
Edmonton, AB

I have an issue with restaurants which takes something “simple” and, for the heck of it, they complicate it by changing its name. Such is the case of gastropub. What is wrong with pub fare? OK, if you want a fancier environment, fine, just call it a “restaurant” instead of a pub. Of course, that’s my line of thought and it hasn’t stopped anybody from opening fancier versions of regular fare. In this case a “burger bar”. So, while in Alberta, which produces tons of beef, well, why not give this a try? And that’s how I ended up going to Delux Burger Bar.

I have the fame of doing crazy things and I will admit, for this trip, it was no exception. Delux has two locations and the one I ended up going was the one in West Edmonton Mall (WEM). Nothing crazy about it. Except I walked 11Km from Downtown Edmonton (where I stayed). Did I mention winter conditions? Heck, even local Edmontonians thought I was crazy! I guess I wanted a reason to go all out eating and that 11Km walk should have given me that “buffer”, hehehehe.

Located in the Bourbon Street of WEM, other restaurants include Hooters, Old Spaghetti Factory and Earl’s. I guess some restaurants can be found pretty much anywhere… Since it was a weekday, it was quite slow and was given the choice to sit anywhere. This place is not necessarily for me but, oh, well, since when these types of restaurants are??? However, I am always good to try new places so that was good enough excuse.

From the menu, I ordered their namesake burger, their Delux burger. It was pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. And, I will have to say, it has the largest pieces of sauteed mushroom I have seen in a while! How big? About the size of a toonie (about 2″/5cm for my non-Canadian readers)! The bacon was there but… Nah, it lacked crispiness. As for the lettuce and tomato… Well, it is lettuce and tomato. The bread was actually good, in the sense it hold the burger in place plus it didn’t get into the way of dampening the rest of the components. However, after that, it is where the epic fail kicked in. If you look closely, that ain’t a burger in the same sense a “burger” would be defined to me and most of you: This was a meatloaf. See, if it is a burger, I would expect meat that could crumble, i.e., the “grounding” part of the meat – in this case, beef. However, here, it was almost a solid pieces bound by an agent. Stale bread? Bread crumbs? Egg? Whatever it is, the end result is completely different, to the point I could say a McD’s one would better qualify it as a burger than this.

The sweet potato fries didn’t help much either. In this case, they were not large pieces; rather these were small chunks which, in the end, I had to end up eating with the fork. The chipotle mayo-like sauce was actually decent, as it was creamy and a bit tangy. However, saying a dipping sauce was the best part of a meal might not be a good thing to say in the grand scheme of things.

So, how bad it was? It was bad. And the $11 price tag was just insult to injury. Could it be a case of high expectations? It could be but, given that Chris’ (Eating is the Hard Part) thoughts sounded as if he was holding something back didn’t help (not to mention another source warned me about it yet I partially “forgot”). In the end, it is a real shame…

(On a side note, before somebody says Romer’s Burger Bar in Vancouver, yes, I have been there but, due to a technical “glitch”, I need to return. Based on the original visit, it is slightly better than Delux; however, that might not mean much, as it had it’s bad moments as well).

Tau Bay Restaurant
10660 98 Street NW
Edmonton, AB

To most of us, pho appears to be that quintessential Vietnamese dish, along with banh mi. It is can appeal to almost everybody and can easily be adjusted to even neophytes to this cuisine. After all, if we break it down to basics, it is noodles, broth and some meat. Toppings in the form of bean sprouts, Thai basil, ngo gai (sawleaf herb), jalapeño, et al, plus some lime are on the side for the dinner to adjust to suit his/her taste. However, because a lot of people haven’t been to Viet Nam, myself included, I have no yardstick; instead, I can only make assessments base on what I like. However, there are also times where you have fanatics, people who deem that a restaurant has a certain je ne sais quoi… That is the case of Tau Bay Restaurant. How popular is this place? How about it not being open year round and, as a result, people have even created a site just to confirm it is open/closed… At that point, well, you simply can’t help to find out why people has reached that point. I guess the only way for me to find out is to visit it.

I arrived just before 12:00 and, by the time the bowls arrived, the restaurant was 3/4 full. Now, the interesting part is that not all customers were Asian; yet, those who are not, were enjoying their bowls the same way as those who are. So, to those who say that over half of their patrons have to be of that particular ethnicity, here is your exception.

And here are the bowls. Now, to those who have read this blog for a long time, would have expected some of the sides in form of spring rolls first. Yup, that usually would have been the pattern; however, here is the reason you don’t see it here: they don’t serve it. In fact their menu is extremely limited: one page for pho, one page for desserts and one page for drinks. No spring rolls, no banh mi, no rice dishes. Now, out of the pho, they even only limit themselves to two types: beef variety and pho ga, the chicken version. Nope, not even Bun Bo Hue or some soupy vermicelli dish.

The first bowl is the dac biet, aka, “special”, aka, almost all but kitchen sink version. Specifically, “special combo with steak, well-done brisket, flank, tendon and tripe” . For the popularity of this place, I will have to say outright the rice noodles were overdone. From that perspective only, I will have to already qualify it as a fail. Moving on with the meats, they were cut quite thin but still enough to be considered chewable. Nothing wrong but nothing spectacular. So… Why people have such high opinion of this place? One reason: the broth. I will have to say it has one of the cleanest, yet meatiest and savouriest broths I have had. I almost ended up drinking most of that broth but had to hold back a little bit. Furthermore, I didn’t use the lime, mainly because I didn’t want to alter that Beth taste (actually, I forgot about it but, hey, the other reason can be used as an excuse as well!).

The second bowl was their number 9 – “steak, well-done flank and brisket”. The major difference, aside from having well-done flank rather than well-done brisket, was that some of the meats are cubes rather than sliced. Otherwise, it would be about the same.

One item ordered at the end but I forgot to take pictures of is a durian shake. While I haven’t had the real thing, as for this version, it was a bit sweet, yet didn’t have that strong pungent taste people “hate”. It was icy, similar to a smoothie, but, past that, I can’t think of another way to describe it.

Overall, while the broth was really good, I wonder if that would make up for the rest. The rice noodle is an easily fixed one, but, given it’s fame, I would have expected it perfected from the very get go. Still, because I like that broth, I am willing to return some other time to give it a try – assuming they are open…

Elephant & Castle
Chain restaurant, several locations
385 Burrard Street (location visited)
Vancouver, BC

A small reminder from 11 months ago: During the Winter Olympic Games, due to what was perceived as “difference in culture”, some restaurants imposed a mandatory gratuities to the final bill. As a result of that, I banned myself from some restaurants. Whether I will continue not supporting them, well, that might be up in the air; however, for this post, I ended up with PO in Elephant & Castle, one of those restaurants in that said list, for convenience purposes out of all things. Damn me…

I arrived first because PO had to make a small detour (part of the reason why we ended up here). Walking in… Well, you could easily tell it is not a restaurant similar to, say, Earl’s or Cactus Club or similar kin. The feeling was different. I would have said “British pub!”; however, since I haven’t been in a real one, saying that might be wrong. The restaurant itself was larger than what you can imagine from outside. In fact, there was a second level, which is where we ended up seated.

Here is something that we had to crack a joke at. When was the last time you were served Guinness with a straw?! Nah, actually, I just ordered pop but we couldn’t help but laugh at the fact it was served in a glass with the Guinness logo in it! Now, also as a note, see the far back to the right? Well, it is not soy sauce nor Worcestershire sauce; rather that is a bottle of malt vinegar. Did I say it was a British pub???

As an appetizer, we were debating between several options until we spotted the “Curry Chips”. Of course, the “chips” here are in reference to fries. These were crispy on the outside while fluffy in the inside; however, that fluffiness was a bit flat. Instead of that starchy texture, it simply collapsed. It wasn’t bad but I have had better thick cut fries. As for the curry sauce, it still had chunks of tomato and onions (both cooked through) which would indicate good curry, but that didn’t translate very well into the sauce itself as it had a powdery like feeling to it. Yes, I know, curry is made from different grind spices to form a paste so there could be an explanation. Well, no, that powdery feeling was more on the lines of a powder mix. It did complement the chips but it could definitely been better.

PO went for the blue cheese and bacon burger. Now, the description in the menu was a bit strange, specifically, that of melted blue cheese. I can’t imagine the blue cheese being melted unless in a sauce form, but oh, well… Past that, PO thought the burger was juicy and not bad at the posted $10.50 price range. The soup, which I sampled a little, was a corn chowder. Unlike the one I had in Havana Cafe, this one was on the creamy side but, similar to the one from Havana, it had its layer of sweetness.

As for myself, originally I wanted to go for the kidney and steak pie; however, I was told they might not have it (something on the lines of only that many prepared per day). Since it took them quite a while to get our orders, I told the waitress to get me a Shepperd’s pie if the kidney one wasn’t available. Yup, that’s what I got. Right from the get go, it was quite evident they weren’t holding back in terms of gravy. It was quite thick but, similar to the curry, I was wondering if this was whipped out from a powder pack due to that consistency. As for the mash on top, when I hit my fork, it was quite smooth and was starting to wonder, likewise, if this was made from dehydrated potato. That question was answered when I hit a chunk of the tuber. As for the ground meat, well, it was just OK. In a way, it was the gravy which took over almost everything. And, as a result, it was OK but not much for me. In fact, I didn’t finish this!

Overall, some of the dishes seems better than others but, in the end, it was average/decent at best. Given it is a pub, should I have expected more? Of course, if you are for beer, that might be more suitable, probably not for the food. And, as a result, for me, not in a hurry to go back.

Aladdin’s Cafe
720 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

I have mentioned in the past that Middle Eastern restaurants have been creeping around Downtown Vancouver. While not as “noticeable” as, say, Starbucks, you could easily find one every couple of blocks. And what is not to like? Meat spinning in a spit, carved when order (OK, not always) or falafel, which are then dressed with tahini and hot sauce. Well, aside the fact that a lot of these places are small and tend to be packed. On a day for lunch, I was just walking around and ended up near Robson and Granville. And looking for a place for a quick lunch, I eyed Aladdin’s Cafe, which happens to be right next to a Babylon Cafe

How come I went to Aladdin’s Cafe rather than Babylon? My experience at their other location (namely Robson Market) has been inconsistent. Depending on who is preparing your dish (either wrap or plate), time, humour, position of the star or what not, the dish served can be paltry or loaded. While this is a different location, there are no guarantees the experience will be the same. Instead, I chose to try “something else”, which ended up being Aladdin’s Cafe.

Upon walking in, you could see the spit there spinning and cooking the chicken. Ah… I would hate to work in that area considering you will spend the whole day smelling food. Anyway, I went to the back of the restaurant to make my order. One thing that was noticeable right away was that prices were a bit wacky: Prices of wraps (or donair or… Whatever you prefer to call it) are similar to that of other nearby similar shops. However, the plates are easily over $1 if similar comparison was made. Given the plate provides all the components from the wraps and more, I went for this option.

Wait! Not only that, I went overkill here! Normally, one would order either a falafel plate or a chicken shawarma (or, as they have it spelled, shawerma). However, they also offer a combined version called “shawafel”, i.e., it has both falafel as well as chicken. Given it would be just $0.50 extra… Why not?

One note about the falafel. This is an odd beast to tame. While most of us would prefer food to be prepared fresh, in the case of the falafel, except for some limited places (Babylon if they are just making their batch for the day or Abdul’s), chances are you will be hearing that microwave beep. I have no issues with this one if it wasn’t for one issue at Aladdin: they were bone dry. Now, I know some falafel might not be moist and that is fine, that’s why you have the sauces on top. No, in this case, it was dry beyond salvation… >_<

The chicken, while it was cooked fine, I felt it was sliced a bit too thin and somehow ended up a bit dry. While the sauces were partially able to salvage the situation, in the end, it was to no avail: the chicken itself was “lost”. It is funny this happened as it can be easily addressed, which brings the major question: Did they even realize the “issue”?

As for the rest of the components, it was a bit of hit and miss. The salad was a bit odd in the sense the lettuce was shredded way too thin for my liking. On the flip side, the rice was decently flavoured, but was similar to the parboiled version. And then the hummus. Now, I like mine a bit thicker, the way it was served, for a restaurant of this type, it is OK. The pita wedges it was served along was from a bag so not much to comment about.

In the end, I felt a bit cheated. After walking from the West End, still with a lot of other options, I was disappointed with the food served, specially considering its higher price, compared to similar businesses. Would I go back solely for their wraps? Well, considering how the meats/falafel were served, I think I would rather go to Babylon instead, if not be adventurous and try other options instead.

Kadoya
1063 Davie Street
202 – 1184 Denman Street (location visited)
Vancouver, BC

Sherman: “U working today?”
Me: “Yes, working today. Wait, do you know what that is??? ”
Sherman: “LOL, Rich Guy and I are going for lunch in Downtown, if u want to join us”
Me: “Where?”
Sherman: “Not sure, was gonna go to Toyama… Do you want to join us? I can pick u up to give u more time”
Me: “What time are you guys planning to go? PO might join us; however, he has a call until noon”

(Couple of minutes later)

Me: “How about Kadoya if not all-you-can-eat? English Bay”
Sherman: “Have u been there?”
Me: “No”
Sherman: “The one in Denman right?”
Me: “They opened a second location in English Bay, across Raincity Grill”
Sherman: “Rich guy says he can make it around 12:30 p.m. Is that too late? Do we need a reservation?”
Me: “12:30 p.m. is fine. So Tomoya or Kadoya? Given the party size and despite I don’t like it, Tomoya might be a better option”
Sherman: “No, Kadoya is fine. I’ll make a reservation for 5?”
Me: “Sure, English Bay location, right?”
Sherman: “Yah”

Once again, if you wonder how some of us food bloggers get together for a meal, more or less this is how it works. One day, Sherman, dropped me that text message and that’s what ended up in Kadoya’s location in English Bay. Next question?

Kadoya has been a well know place of sorts to “sushi” aficionados. However, I personally haven’t been there for one reason – the same reason why I have it in quotes: their specialties are the rolls, aka, maki sushi, not that much nigiri sushi. I have mentioned in the past that rolls is something almost anybody can make and it is a matter of tossing things together hoping it works. If the fish is not cut properly or it is somewhat fishy (no pun intended), it is covered somehow and most people won’t notice. But, the fact they have opened a second location would indicate people have been going there and, as a result, the restaurant felt a need to expand to accommodate the additional customers. So, it ends up being “majority rules”. So, despite my hesitation, of course, we had to give it a try so this could have been that opportunity.

If people look at the address, this place used to be occupied by Sakari Sushi. The fact they are no longer there means something. Anyway, went I arrived, I noticed they did make some minor arrangement in the layout so, if you have been in that restaurant, your ambiance experience might be different. Given I was first, I tried my best to do what Sherman would have done: take the best spot with natural light. Alas, that table was already occupied so I had to settle with the next best thing which was the table beside it. Hey, at least I didn’t take one of the booths (which was the table they were originally planning to give us!).

Now, to the food!

They have daily specials and, on the day we went, this was it: Spicy chopped salmon. Part of the interest on ordering this was related to the fact we wanted something non-roll and this fit the bill quite well. Having said that, this was actually quite good. Temperature was fine (i.e., no frozen texture), good texture, good sauce, which did not overpower the salmon. No complains at all and the fact it was $9 was icing.

Once again, another non-sushi dish: yakisoba, in this case, we chose beef as the meat. For what it is supposed to be a sushi restaurant, I will give them some credit as it was decent. Not necessarily the best but the fact that it didn’t suck. My only criticism was that it had a bit too much sauce, something that the noodles itself sucked by the end of the meal. Not my first option in the end but workable at least.

Yet another non-sushi dsh: chicken teriyaki – which arrived to the table sizzling. Similar to the yakisoba, I will have to give them some credit, plus the fact the chicken wasn’t fried and the sauce not extremely sweet as done in some places. Otherwise, there wasn’t anything extremely outstanding. Serviceable but that’s about it.

One interesting note about Kadoya is that they have a lunch and late night special. For $10, we had options for some appetizers (your usual suspects, including goma-ae, edamame, seaweed/wakame, etc.), nigiri sushi (3 pieces), rolls, sashimi and, more importantly, their specialty rolls (4 pieces) and, out of these options, we choose three. While we could have gone for sushi, the fact we were a party of 4 (PO couldn’t make it in the end) and I am sure people would give us hell for not trying their maki/rolls, meant we should give these specialty rolls a try. In the end, we made two order of these specials and they ended up being: Dragon, Kadoya, Volcano, Paradise, Canuck and King. Here is one problem: Tell all came at the same time and no description was given as to which one is which!

With all these specialty rolls, for kicks, we ordered a regular roll with a twist: their California Tempura roll, which is, basically, a deep fried California roll, with the drizzled sauce somewhat similar to catsup. Oddly, it wasn’t that bad but not something I would order again, as there wasn’t anything exciting about it.

Overall, some of my initial conceptions didn’t change: if their specialty are rolls, it didn’t necessarily wowed me. The cooked items were workable so I will leave that as neutral. The one that actually caught me off guard was spicy chopped salmon, which was indeed quite good. But, is that enough to make me come back? Well, given it is a dailiy special and not available on a daily basis, it is somewhat of mixed feelings. So, in the end, I will have to say it is not necessarily for me but might not necessarily be against to coming back – provided I have the option of ordering non-roll dishses.