New West Fish & Chips
413 6th Street
New Westminster, BC

Anny’s Dairy Bar
722 Sixth Street
New Westminster, BC

Ah, here I go to New Westminster again! It is as if suddenly I have that urge to visit that part of Metro Vancouver but, hey, if you think about it, if there is people in the area, there ought to be some restaurants, right? Of course, they can be good, they can be bad, it is a matter of dropping by just to find out (or, in lieu, check blogs!). In my visit to Pattaya Thai, Sherman made mention of a fish and chips place across the street. In my case, I was up for some good old fried fish, despite I knew it might not live up to the expectations of fish I had in Panama. But, Panama is hundred of miles away so I had to live with what is available locally. In this case, that place was New West Fish & Chips. (And, oh, since you can read from the header of this post, I also dropped by Anny’s Dairy Bar!).

Upon arriving, I wasn’t sure how to proceed. Customers aside, the only person in the store was at the cashier and was quite busy with another customer. At that point, I wasn’t sure how to proceed… Should I order at the cashier? Should I take a sit and the menu would be brought in? Eventually, she noticed I was there, gave me the menu and told me to take a sit. Now, one thing I noticed right away was the prices. Did time stop at this place? I mean, some single orders where ~$7 (or two can dine for $11!) with the caveat you had to order a drink, something that most people would have done anyway. But, wait, there is also an all-you-can-eat for $11! Of course, at that price, I would think portions will be small so I ended up ordering a lot of things, starting with…

Clam chowder, $1. No, no typo here! If you make an order, for an additional loonie, you could get this small cup of clam chowder. Of course, for $1, I had to keep expectations in check. It was your basic broth, some potatoes, some seafood and that is about it. Won’t say it was that great but it did what is is supposed to do.

As another “appetizer”, I went for Fried Mushroom. At just under $3, this is a large plate of battered and fried button mushroom. It is a really simple dish and I will have to admit it was quite well executed for this operation. (Oh, yeah, not that that one piece came out like that, I took a bite of that one!). I mean, the button mushroom by itself can provide some savoury tones but that is about it. However, the batter provided some complimentary taste to it in the form of salt and pepper. And, oh, some crispy crunchy notes. Yes, it was good in its own ways.

For my $7 order, I had several options… And not only fish, they also had some dinner-type items, like roast turkey, chicken, beef liver, curry chicken, roast beef, salisbury chicken, etc. etc. While I would have tried them as well, there was only one stomach and, given this is a fish and chips place, I would have ordered exactly that. In this case, the captain’s platter which had a little bit of everything, i.e., a (small) piece of fried fish, shrimp, clam and an oyster.

As mentioned, the piece of fried fish was a bit small and, despite the look of the picture above, the batter was actually cooked through. That same crispiness of the mushroom was also here as well; however, I have the odd feeling they used a different type of batter, as the batter was somewhat bland. I had to rely on lemon juice (!) as well the tartar sauce (which was borderline a ranch sauce rather than tartar). Still, it is something that I can eat without any problems. As for shrimp, it had a panko crust but the shrimp looked it was precooked prior to frying. Not necessarily good but it wasn’t bad either. The clam was more batter than clam but the clam taste was there so no complains. The oyster… Well, it had that strong oyster taste so you know what to expect. But, any shortcomings from the seafood was easily salvaged by the lemon and tartar/ranch sauce.

I will have to admit that it was better than what I thought. I mean, at those prices, you have to check your expectations in check but even better was the part that they delivered. One caveat, though. Considering this is New Westminster, don’t expect a hip ambiance. In fact, during the whole dinner, there were several tables (and take out) and I could have easily be the youngest person in the crowd… For more than 15 years… Ouch… >_<

After I was done with my meal, next was driving home. That’s until I noticed there was Anny’s Dairy Bar. I recall Jessica making previous reference to this place. So, I thought, why not! And, as you can see above, what was I was going to order was almost a no brainer…

That’s a maple twist, 100% pure Canadian maple butter on creamy soft serve ice cream. Canadian butter? It tasted almost as just pure maple syrup! And, see that piece hanging on the tip? It was like that during the whole 5 or so minutes I spent taking the pictures! It shows how the maple butter/syrup held the soft serve together. As for the taste…. Ah… If you ever had pure maple syrup by itself, it tasted almost exactly like that but, of course, it had that creamy soft serve texture. Drool… So, Jessica, you are right. This is goooooooddd.

So, another “successful” visit to New Westminster. Wonder what would be next. Greek?

Guantanamera Restaurant and Bar
334 Sixth Street
New Westminster, BC

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Delicias de Alicia for some Cuban food. I really wanted to like the restaurant, given the lack of such restaurant types in Vancouver but, in the end, I thought it failed to deliver. In the comments for that post, reader yoyo mentioned a new Cuban restaurant in the New Westminster area. So, to show some love to that part of Metro Vancouver, for the third time this week, I went to Guantanamera Restaurant and Bar.

Here is one caveat: knowing they have a live band on Friday’s, it might be an understatement that it is somewhat more lively than what I experienced in Delicias. However, this might be a case of apples to oranges. Had I gone on any other day, who knows what it would have been.

After been seated and given the menu, I started looking at the different dishes. Since they made no mention of anything, I would assume all the menu was available. To test that, I ordered lechón something that has to be prepared in advance – though it can also be kept for some time.

When I made my order, the waitress walked away right away without checking which sides I wanted. I though “well, it is not necessarily two sides of my choice!” Five minutes later, she came back and asked to verify. It happens she recently started and hasn’t yet familiarized with the menu. But, just to cover all the bases, I asked for a third side.

Not sure if these are complimentary or they gave it to me because they noticed I was taking pictures. Regardless, I had some funny feelings. I mean, it is not that they HAD to give these free (specially if it was the second case) but the fact that I don’t recall corn chips (or corn in general) is used often in Cuban cuisine! I might be wrong on this statement but, if I am not, it falls back into that Mexican stuff I have had problem in ages… Now, as for the pico de gallo/salsa itself, it was OK. Probably a bit too minced but otherwise average.

And here starts my order… I ordered congri, that Cuban rice and beans mixed version and, along with it, a side of ripe plantains (which was ordered as the third side). In some places, like the US South, rice and beans might be served on top (the beans side looking more like a stew), whereas in others they are cooked together. I personally don’t care which one it is, as it is usually delicious. However, it might be a bit of an acquired taste, as, by itself, it can be somewhat bland. Regardless, the rice and beans here worked quite well for my rice and beans fix. As for the ripe plantain, it was prepared in a way similar to how my mom used to. No, my mom is Chinese but, when she was working in restaurants, this is something she would make for customers – and they enjoyed it.

This is the second side: yuca al mojo. Yuca, aka, cassava root, which is use to make tapioca, is one of those tricky tuber used as food. Usually boiled before other preparations (here, with garlic “sauce”, cooked in soup or fried, as seen here in my trip to Panama). Again, it might be a bit of an acquired taste and I will have to say these were quite good. The texture is similar to that of a starchier potato with garlic goodness taste to it.

Finally, the pièce de résistance, the lechón, or roasted pork. It was a good effort but, unfortunately, there were parts that failed at the end of the day. It has some of the pork goodness I was expecting; however, it lacked *something*. Among things it lacked was some crispiness from the pork rind (I was hoping for cracklings) and I felt some of the juices were lost. It was moist, sure but, there was something missing. Sure, compared to Chinese roasted pork, this one was moister but far from the best lechón I ever had. But, it falls back to the issue of, given the few Cuban options found in Vancouver…

I am sure the question of comparison with Delicias will be made. If I have to say, Guantanamera delivers a better end result. The congri were about par; the two plantain dishes are apple and oranges (given one is semi-green, the other is ripe) but the yuca delivered and while there were faults in the pork, I believe it was way better than the ropa vieja at Delicias. But, then again, there is a bit of apple to oranges.

In my case, I think it will improve with time and, again, given the limited non-Mexican, Latin food, this place will be in my list of will be going back.

Pattaya Thai
406 Sixth Street
New Westminster, BC

It makes me wonder at times what is the general perception of the general readership about blogs. This is specially considering when I was personally attacked in two posts because my “lack of knowledge” on the subject. The funny thing is that I have never claimed expertise! (Even funnier is the fact some points in the comments are plain incorrect). Of course, that does not give me a free pass to freely say what I want, instead, I want readers to held me accountable, as I have mentioned previously. Of course, as long as you don’t go calling names, everything is fair game. With that in mind, that brings the question, what are the standards of printed publications? For example, when Karl wrote about Pattaya Thai, an editor from a local magazine attacks him. I have know Karl for some time and, while we might disagree on some things, I will have to also say he has really interesting insight and opinions about the food – and I respect him for that. But, still I knew I had to visit this restaurant and find out by myself what is so “special” about it. And that opportunity came when Sherman‘s hockey team (who, other than “Gadget Girl”, I won’t even try to list their names, on that note, Sherman’s post is here!) went there one night and checked with me to see if I wanted to tag along.

Given that I had a heads up notice of place and time, it won’t be a surprise I arrived first and snatched the parking spot right in front of the restaurant. And, indeed, it is a small place. Given Sherman’s team had already made reservations in advance, it was just a matter for me to look for the largest tables they set up together. The rest of the restaurant? It was mostly booths for 4 adults at most. Interestingly, if your party is greater than four, they may put a regular table next to it to “fit” the additional customers. Anyway, once Sherman’s team arrived, it was time to check for the food and drinks and what not.

Thai Iced Coffee to the left; Thai Ice Tea to the right.

Considering my recent dinners meals with Victoria, our Vancouver Thai food expert, there has been some dishes/drinks I wanted to try ever since and, in this case, I started off with Thai iced tea. OK, this drink might be almost a staple but, let’s just say, prior to me meeting here, I wouldn’t have really thought about it. In this case, it was OK. If I had to compare it to the one I had in Tangthai, this one would be inferior. At least, it didn’t have that extremely sugary taste as the one in Thai House… And, probably not to be outdone, Emily asked for Thai iced coffee. For the most part, it was about the same but, rather than a more subtle tea taste, it had a coffee taste. It was also OK…

Now, here is the reason why I made mention of a printed publication earlier this post. According to Vancouver Magazine’s, Best Things to Eat and Drink – 2009 edition, Pattaya Thai’s prawn and crab roll is the number 1 item. At $10 for four rolls (we ended ordering two orders so everybody in the party had one), these are not cheap and expectations were high. The end result? Epic fail. First of all, if you compare the one we were served compared to the ones served for VanMag, you will see the shrimp tail is barely noticeable, which made me wonder about the shrimp count used here. After breaking it apart, I think I saw one little piece of it. But… But… No crab meat on sight… With a bit of skepticism, I took one bite and the only thing I was able to taste was the cream cheese… Take another bite just to double check. Once again, cream cheese. I am sorry guys… True, the spring roll was well constructed (i.e., retained is shape and it was hot, etc.); however, past that, I don’t think there was anything else positive worth saying to try to justify a $2.50/piece spring roll. Please, do not bring the price issue here. I had $3/piece spring roll at Spices and I thought they were actually good… Moving on to the rest of the menu.

As in my previous trips to Thai restaurants with Victoria, here is a dish she has ordered in the past which I would only order if there was a large group (as, I was certain the others will order the more well known fare): Larb Moo. Compared to the ones I had in Thaitang, they were pretty much the same, though here I did not notice as much pungency. That is when it hit me: Victoria added fish sauce to it. Since we already ate half of it already, I wasn’t sure if asking for it by then would be a great idea. Oddly, most people chose take only token scoops “just to taste” it. I wonder if there was another reason why they didn’t seem too keen on trying it… >_<

Moving on to other dishes, we have two stir fries – Pad Cashew Nuts, the first dish; and Pad Gra Prao, the second dish – and to tell you the truth, either we messed up by ordering dishes with somewhat similar descriptions or there was a lost in translation here. If you took out that cashews from the first dish and the thai basil from the second one, they would end up being your basic stir fry. To composite the problem, I didn’t find anything exciting about them. The one part that I found strange was the “doneness” level of the onions: it still had some bite to it, which indicates they wre not completely cooked through. In fact, some decided to leave the onions aside for that reason.

One somewhat odd dish was the pineapple rice. I call it odd because, well, it is odd! OK, that is no real explanation. Instead, this dish reminded me of eating fried rice with catsup. Feel free to call it wacky but that is what I though: regular fried rice with some sweet overtone thanks to the pineapple finished by some “wetness” provided by a sweet tomato like sauce. Meh in my books…

And then there were the curries. While this group was more adventurous that the group that went to Azia, they were still not willing to go all-in with some dishes. In this case, they asked the curries to be made mild, rather than having it hurt-me-bad spicy hot. As a result, I can’t say I really enjoyed it as some tones were a bit mute but, then, I won’t blame the restaurant for it. While I could live with that, the fact it was more vegetables than the meat was a bit disappointing. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not asking for a meat stew; however, when you have to mix it around just to find two or three significant pieces to take a picture, there is something skewed here.

Pad Thai (top) and Pad see iew (bottom). The pad thai was a bit bland, though, once again, I am not sure if it was because we ask for it mild. While the doneness of the rice noodles were good (slightly past al-dente but I can live with that in this dish), I found it a bit uninspiring. At least the pad see iew worked better, as the colour actually translated into some flavour.

And one dish to make it “different”: garlic pork. The best way to describe it would be stir fried pork with some garlic (or garlic sauce) over a bed of cabbage. Nothing too exotic and wished it had more wok hei notes to the pork. It wasn’t bad, just that it wasn’t good either.

While I can give them some slack on some of the dishes because they were asked mild, the execution of the rest of them were… Dubious for the lack of better word. But, my main pet peeve is that of the shrimp crab spring roll which they even have listed in their website and frontpage. If they were making so much fuzz, better be prepared to support it. In this case, the buzz given to them was exaggerated. Overall, there are some opportunities for improvement but given the current choices, Pattaya Thai is far from the top.

As for Vancouver Magazine, tell me guys, was it the same dish??? C’mon, really???? Did we eat the same dish?????

King Sushi
410 Sixth Street
New Westminster, BC

New Westminster… A part of Metro Vancouver with its own pocket of interesting places. In the last week or so, I have been going to some restaurants in the area, somehow starting with Royal City Thai, which was blogged two weeks ago. This time, King Sushi, a sushi restaurant in Sixth Street based on a suggestion from Sherman. Would it be another good eats or a flop? One way to find out!

I arrive just before lunchtime and ended up being the first customer. To those who believe sushi restaurants ought to be managed by Japanese can skip the rest of the post: it is Chinese operated. However, while it does not have that Japanese greeting and what not, the service was at least workable during the meal. And, on that topic…

I started with goma-ae. Sometimes I just have to remind myself: what is my tolerance level for this dish? I mean, it is mostly spinach – how difficult it is to prepare? In theory, it is straight forward and, as long you don’t go overboard, for the most part it should be fine. In this case, the top was overdressed with that sauce.

While excessive sauce can be bothersome at times, excessive water still in the spinach is unforgivable. Reality is, that made the spinach a problem to eat. In the end, I thought it was a bit of a fail.

In the past, I would have ordered a sushi combo type order. For a change, I decided to go for the chirashi don. It came with two pieces of tuna, salmon, tamago/egg and one piece of shrimp and octopus. It wasn’t the fanciest presentation and the baran (the grass looking piece of plastic) looked really out of place. While this is visual, it leave the question about the fish…

I will have to say that, aside from the thickness of some of the pieces, the fish itself was quite good. Since I was there just before noon and was served around noon, it means there was somebody looking after them, making sure it is thawing in a control environment. Since we are eating this fresh, that was a good sign. Unfortunately, the octopus was, well, odd. You could “taste” it had some moisture leaking out of it, as if it wasn’t handled with the same care as the other pieces of seafood.

After the meal, I had to do some mental comparisons. About the only nearby decent sushi place I have been to is Ki Sushi further down the road. Here, well, if I were to compare it to some place is Vancouver, it will be somewhat subpar. But, for New West, it might be acceptable. Execution might not be the best but you won’t leaving in disgust. Of course, I still have a lot of other sushi places to visit but, given New Westminster standards, it has its high points.

Royal City Thai
634 Columbia Street
New Westminster, BC

The first time we met Karl (of The Friday Lunch) was at the bò 7 món (beef seven ways) in Thai Hang. Being the good fellow blogger he is, when he was aware of a new Thai restaurant in New Westminster, he decided to check with Jessica, Sherman and myself if we wanted to give it a try. Hey, food? I am there!

Aside from it being in New Westminster, in my opinion, a place that can have good eats but you must know where to look (Burger Burger, Burger Heaven, Ki Sushi, et al), it was the fact they offer buffet lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. What?! All-you-can-eat? In a way, this is the first time I heard of a Thai restaurant offering this so I was curious as well.

When we arrived, there was something “not right” about the buffet part: there wasn’t any hot plates outside! Instead, we found out they prepare each individual dish you order. I am certain this generates a lot of overhead; however, from a customer perspective, at least that provides some guarantee the food will be fresh. Once all of us arrived, we made one thing that we never thought we would do in a restaurant: we ordered everything (literally) in the menu! Given that there were 5 of us (plus Sherman’s little daughter), we were sure we would be able to tackle that easily there 15 dishes available. And, we started with…

(Sidenote, Sherman and I make a swap here: all the food pictures below were taken with *his* Canon XSi. If some pictures look strange/different/odd, that is because I was in the process of changing camera settings.)

Tom Kah Gai – hot and sour soup with coconut milk, galanga, lemon grass and mushroom. Gai (chicken). Now, I am not a Thai food expert but I am sure this is your normal Tom Yum soup, given the comparison between the description and what was served. This is because I don’t think there was any coconut milk at all, instead the pungency I am more used to in the tom yum. Regardless, it was an interesting way to start off things.

They have a set of appetizers type dishes and this is their calamari. I wished they were using smaller ones rather than these. That is because I prefer the crunchy tentacle side rather than the ring side. Regardless, these were not cooked fine without any hint of it being rubbery. Unfortunately, I wished they added something (herbs, spices, et al) to the flour mixed they used before frying them, as it was a bit on the bland side.

Spring rolls. These were quite interesting, as they were quite well packed. It had a mix of noodles, cabbage and carrots, which works fine. Not necessarily the best but workable.

There is one additional dish we also had but it seems I don’t have a picture of it and that was the chicken wings. They were better seasoned than the calamari and well fried. It was quite good to the point we ordered a second (big) plate!

I guess they had to have some salad and this is their dish. It was decent but, given it is just putting some raw vegetables together, and some dressing, that is all I can say.

Since the curries can be ordered in three types – yellow, red and green – plus different types of meats – pork, beef, chicken or mixed veggies – I will admit that I got confused with the three. For some reason, some of the characteristics of some of the curries didn’t really develop, like the sweetness and spiciness of the green, the creaminess of the yellow and so on. Now, I liked them, just that, colour aside, I had problems telling them apart from a taste perspective. The collective thought was that, to try to satisfy the masses, they dumbed down them a little bit which resulted in similar dishes.

Pad Bai Grapao (basil) or Pad Khing (ginger), again with the same option of chicken, pork or beef for meat. Probably because I wasn’t paying attention, I don’t recall if it was one or the other (or I didn’t take a picture of the “other”). My best guess is that this is the pad bai grapao given it had basil in it. I will have to say this is almost your standard stir-fry, though they did manage to cook the meat very well, aka, certain degree of wok hei – the meat was caramelized yet it was still tender.

Chili Pepper Fried Rice with vegetables and egg. Not sure about the egg part but there was vegetables. Now, I thought it was odd baby corn and cabbage out of all possible veggies. I guess cost might be an issue here. Regardless, there wasn’t that much of egg I could tell but I liked how the rice was able to retain the shape. It wasn’t bad but, then again, it is fried rice…

Sorry, I took this picture after it was, ahem, “attacked”. Here we have Gai Pad Namman – boneless chicken with seasonal vegetable, pineapple and black bean sauce. Once again, similar to the Pad Bai Grapao/Pad Khing mentioned above, this was your regular stir fry, though the sweetness of the pineapple was odd.

Pad See-Iew. Now, there is reason why there are two pictures here: in the second “round” we asked to kick it up a notch and asked for them to make it extra spicy. Hence, the reason the second picture has some chili peppers in it. It was when I was eating the second version that I finally started to sweat a little bit! Regardless, I thought these crunchy vegetables didn’t work with the rice noodles as well as leafy vegetables. But, then again, it is the issue of cost…

Similar to what happened to the chicken wings above, there is (at least?) one more dish that I don’t think I took a picture of and that might have been the mixed season vegetables. If that was the case or not, it does not matter that much as I don’t it made that much of an impression. And just when we thought we over did it, “dessert” came…

In the form of Coconut Tapioca. For a moment, we all thought this will be a cold version (similar to mango tapioca) but, surprise, it was hot version! It wasn’t that sweet but served to finished the meal.

In perspective, I believe the restaurant went quite far by providing a buffet menu of this type, specially by cooking the (small) dishes individually. Some defaults decisions taken were a bit odd until we actually requested them to be made differently (i.e., the spiciness level). However, again, that was probably because they want to attract the masses. If it was located in next neighbour Burnaby or, hell, Vancouver, the food will be subpar but, considering this is New Westminster, it is actually a decent option. As for myself, if I am back, I will go for a la carte rather than the buffet. Sure, it gives better options, just that, several of them didn’t really work for me.

Pho Maxima Restaurant
822 20th Street
New Westminster, BC

OK, it has been almost two weeks since I came back from Seattle and I am not finally starting to catch up with my post on Vancouver restaurants. I think that, for comparison purposes, Seattle can give a run to Vancouver’s Canadian dollars in terms of food but, in the end, I am biased towards Vancouver, hehehehe.

Anyway, after I was back, the eternal question popped out the following morning: Hungry… Food… Where? The truth is that I need something “soft” to the stomach. After all, I ate way too much fatty/fried food while in Seattle! So, in a way, I short listed myself to soup, congee and noodles. But, since I was doing errands in the Edmonds area, I decided to drop by a pho place that might easily fly over almost everybody’s radar simply because it is in an odd place: a strip mall in 20th Street – a street that usually carries heavy traffic (because it directs you to the Queensborough bridge) but not much else.

After I walked in, I was given the option to sit anywhere. However, some of the tables still haven’t been cleaned up yet so it wasn’t a “sit anywhere” situation. It is a funny note I should mention this as it wasn’t that busy, despite it was a 2 person operation (from what I could see during my visit; I am sure there will be more in dinner time). I chose a table in the middle with some access to natural light and was set to go.

Yes, the picture above sort of tells the whole story: I was up for pho once again. Sure, that was the intent from the very beginning; however, I think I should start trying other Vietnamese dishes, like rice/vermicelli dishes or banh cuon! (OK, I have already had my share of banh mi). However, rather than the usual beef pho or my recent adventures with pho ga, I went for something pho but not the usual pho either.

Behold, their “HUE’ Spicy, beef brisket, ham with thick noodle soup”. Yeah, so much for going something “soft” to the stomach. The truth is that I wanted to go originally for a beef pho but somehow I thought it might be a good chance to try this. The spicy part was really enticing but, in the end, it wasn’t as spicy as it could have been, despite all the (chili?) oil you could see on top. One thing I found out later was that, had I squeezed the lime from the very beginning, it would have provided an interesting contrast between the light spiciness and some acidity. The beef was OK though I did not have high expectations out of it, since it wasn’t rare but (well done) brisket. Still, it had some beef taste to it so no complains in the end. The one part that really disappointed me was the noodles. If you look in the picture above, it was more on the lines spaghetti than thick noodles, specially considering that the rice noodles I am used to are almost the same thickness as the ones shown above (which begs the question, what would be “thick” in this case). Furthermore, they were really fragile, as in a couple of instances, they broke apart while I was grabbing them with the chopsticks. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Once again, so much for going “soft” with my stomach… Yes, I had to order their vegetarian spring rolls. And, let me tell ya, this were quite good spring rolls. They were pipping hot, though also slightly oily on the outside. In my first bite, it started to ooze out some juices (oil?) which, in a way, shows they were made to order. Also, it was pack somewhat tightly, a characteristic which some consider bad, but, in this case, it worked fine. And the fact the filling was evenly distributed made every morsel enjoyable.

Given I did not have that much high expectations of the place, I must mention I quite enjoyed my meal. That is despite the thick noodle incident. (Though, I must mention, looking at the other dinner’s bowl of pho, their regular noodles are the same ones you would commonly associate with pho). Furthermore, when customers kept walking in, the waitress treated them as family, as if they have been customers for a long time. So, in a way, it is a hole-in-the-wall but a family one.

Cockney Kings Fish & Chips
6500 Hastings Street
1005 Columbia Street (Location visited)
New Westminster, BC

Despite there were interesting options during my trip to Scottsdale (again, there were several dozen restaurants in the couple of block radius near my hotel), I have to mention I wanted to come back to Vancouver. Sure, weather was nicer in Scottsdale but Vancouver is the place I now call home. The night after I came back, I wanted something “Vancouver” and, being a coastal city, what “better” option that fish and chips? Of course, given all the options in the city, the usual question is “where”? Not wanting to drive to Steveston, I looked for other options and, as a result, I ended up in Cockney Kings Fish & Chips.

I must mention they have two locations, one in Hastings in North Burnaby and another one in New Westminster. I chose to go to the New Westminster location as I was planning to do something nearby after dinner. I mention this because the location is a bit… Strange. I think this has something to do with New West as it looked empty, yet there was people around (shopping at a local grocery store, for example). But, then again, I am not a person who gets bothered by things like this… Enough of this, to the food!

When I walked in, I was given the option to sit anywhere. Let’s just say I have a really bad track of choosing the worst possible sit in an subconscious attempt to shield myself from the staff (and me taking pictures). However, in this case, I will blame the time of the day as my seat was quite good when I sat myself but as soon as it got “dark”, lightning started to be an issue.

After perusing the menu and made my order, I took my usual condiments snapshot. Being a British type establishment, you have the usual suspects, specially the malt vinegar. However, there is one that might freak a lot of people: the leftmost bottle which had tartare sauce. Of course most of us know that tartare sauce has mayo as base but left in the open and not refrigerated??? Well, I am almost sure they used commercial mayo; if that is the case, since there is acid added (in the form of vinegar, et al), that might kill some of the bacteria. This is not something that can be assumed if it is homemade. As a result, you might not necessarily get food poisoning from unrefrigerated commercial mayo, though, if let outside long enough, it might get funny flavours, too (at which point I might just as well skip it).

I ordered the seafood platter which has shrimps, fried oysters and a piece of fish of my choice and, in my case, I chose salmon. Along, there was a roll and the coleslaw. I will leave the bun out because, well, it was mostly a token piece of bread which I could live without. The coleslaw was good and I wish there was a bit more. Hey, I need my veggies, you know! It had a mix of creamy and vinegar-y taste but, most importantly, it kept certain level of crunchiness. I won’t say too much about the fries other than it could have been better. The shrimps were, well, flat. I found them overcooked and, as a result, had the odd thought they might have used cooked and then frozen shrimps. Might be mistaken here… And then the oyster. They did not have that strong cooked oyster flavour which I think could suit people who are have not get used to its taste yet. And, as expected, it had a slippery, almost custardy texture to it. Should I say acquired taste?

I found the salmon to be somewhat overcooked which appears to be a constant on what I had that night. However, it kept some of that salmon flavour most of us is used to. One thing that really made it was the batter. Unlike a lot of places where it would call the batter “tempura batter”, here, they do not make such claim. Instead, it was regular batter, but a really light one. Furthermore, it was cooked evenly, i.e., no semi-raw batter. Could it be the reason the fish was slightly overcooked? In the end, nothing the tartare sauce couldn’t fix. (Though, in this case, a wedge of lemon could have done wonders).

While having my meal, I started to notice something about the tables next to me: Based on their accent, I could swear they were Brits. If they would come here for fish and chips, I would it be good for me? I will have to say, despite some soft negatives, in the end, it was good for the price point – the meal was ~CDN $14. Too expensive? They also have all-you-can-eat cod on certain days of the week at $10 so you might want to go on those days.

Vienna Treasures
909 – 12th Street
New Westminster, BC

When given the option, I would rather call shotgun rather than drive myself. However, when push comes to shove, I have no problems being behind the wheel. On a hot day, I took a leisure drive in the suburbs scouting for places that might look interesting to blog (yes, I try to find holes-in-the-wall, out of the way places). One of those places is the topic of today’s post: Vienna Treasures.

The truth is… I couldn’t take a better picture of the store front. There was that post and the traffic…

I was aware of this place before this visit – they had a stand in the Scandinavian Mid Summer Festival but I forgot completely about them (blame the Scandinavian goodies). However, their baked goods looked quite good so I knew I had to go to their store some other time.

When I walked in, I was greeted by the owner, along with a group of people who was sitting in the small dining area. And that might be an overstatement, as there are only two tables inside (plus a couple outside since it is summer). They did their best to keep things cool with an additional A/C inside. But, alas, it was a sunny and hot day (by Vancouver standards, of course!). I will have to say the owner was quite accommodating about her customers. When I asked if I could take pictures (no way around this one, as, again, the shop was really small), she was more than happy. European hospitality?

After giving a long thought, I decided for two slices of mocha cake. Actually, they weren’t that big and looked more like the leftover pieces (as it was “on sale” that day and they were the last pieces). Well, I don’t mind the “ugly” pieces – after all, food is food! I was able to taste both the coffee and the chocolate, though more of the later. One thing I noticed at the first bite was its moistness (sp?); however, I will blame it to the butter! When I grabbed a piece with my hand (rather than using the fork), it was really “greasy”. Hmmmmm…. Butter!!!!

I also bought something to go, here “Hazelnute Suprise”. As for what the surprise is supposed to know, I can’t say; however, they were good. It was not crumbly like a cookie, nor soft as a timbit – I would say it falls something in between. One thing that I noticed afterwards was the knot: I am not sure if it could have been done by a machine, as it was “turned” around first and then the knot was made. If it was not machine made, does that mean these were individually packed? Talk about dedication…

Overall, I really liked their goodies and most of my work colleagues whom I shared the bag of Hazelnut Surprise (whether they were happy because somebody was giving them treats or they were actually good, I can’t tell, but I liked them nonetheless). Though their baked goods might not be as cheap as most bakeries found in malls, I could feel they were made with pride and love – and that is not something you would easily argue against. If it wasn’t because it was in the a remote location, I think I would visit this place more often…

Finally, to close this post, here is a picture for H.Peter of GF Patisserie – The Celiac Husband. Enjoy! ^_^

Ki Sushi
31 8th Street
New Westminster, BC

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on Rikka Japanese Restaurant where, despite I had a good meal, I wondered why the restaurant was empty. One of my theories was the restaurant across the street, Ki Sushi. Needless to say, I knew I had to pay a visit.

I arrived one night around 8:00 p.m. While it was not packed full, it was far from empty. Compared to Rikka, it is obvious the owners of Ki Sushi had a larger decoration budget. But, then again, I was only there for the food!

Not really noticeable from this picture but there is a small fountain in the middle of the restaurant.

For the food, I wanted to make a direct comparison to what I had in Rikka and, although there were similar dishes, such comparison was not possible. So, instead, I went with what caught my attention the most, a combo called “Zest Combo” ($20). According to their menu, it is composed by:

Miso soup

Ebi sunomono. I had the option for edamame – baby soybean in pods – but chose this instead.

Assorted tempura. There were 1 piece of eggplant, zucchini, button mushroom and 2 shrimp.

Rolls, sushi and sashimi.

Now, a close up of this plate:

Salmon, tuna and ebi (shrimp).

Their rainbow roll (left) and dragon roll (right).

Salmon, tuna and hokkigai (surf clam) sashimi.

Tai (red snapper) sashimi.

Finally, the dessert (and bill along with it):

Mango ice cream. It seems they ran out of lychee, as that was an options for the table next to mine. Just OK.

Now, some comments on the food. First, the miso. OK, I will skip this one, as there is nothing outstanding. The second part, the sunomono, well, it is a bit difficult to say because I seldom, if ever, order this. Having said that, I found it quite acidic, while the noodles retained some bite, an interesting way to start the meal. The tempura was quite good, as it did not feel greasy at all. The button mushroom was a nice change to the usual “suspects” in a tempura dish. As for the rolls, sushi and sashimi…

I have a mixed feeling. First, I am not fan of krab (used in California roll and, hence, in the rainbow roll). Sure, I will eat it, just that I would rather have something else. The dragon roll was too sweet for my liking – this is due to the sauce used in it. The pieces of sushi was quite decent, though they held back on the wasabi a little bit. As for the sashimi, well, it suffers the sin a lot of places here in Vancouver commit: too big slices. The tuna, while not melt in your mouth, at least it was decent enough. The other pieces were better: I particularly enjoyed the surf clam.

Overall, it was quite an interesting dinner. Food was better than expected, despite my crazy comments about the rolls, sushi and sashimi – the center piece of the meal. And, assuming my thoughts are true – that of people thinking Japanese food equates to sushi – that would explain why Rikka is not packed full…

To close this post, there is a caveat emptor for this post. In the menu, this combo does NOT come with 3 pieces of tuna, salmon and tai sashimi; instead, it should come with 2. Whether this was by mistake or because they noticed I was taking pictures I can’t say for certain. But I thought to mention this in the case it was not a mistake but an attempt to skew my dining experience compared to that of a regular diner.

Rikka Japanese Kitchen
28 8th Street
New Westminster, BC

My quest for good restaurants outside of Vancouver, specially that in Downtown Vancouver, lead me again to New Westminster. Burger Heaven – the place I dropped by in my previous visit to this area – was a really good spot. Would Rikka Japanese Kitchen be able to match that visit?

I arrived around 7:30 p.m. and the only other customers were a couple in another table. Other than that, one another customer walked in for take-out. This is usually a flag but I decided to have dinner anyway.

The place itself was odd. The furniture, although functional, felt like something it was made in a hurry and/or they ran out of budget. I think this is the first time I have been to a place where I thought IKEA furniture would have worked better…

I quickly browsed the menu and, although extensive, there was one category I thought I could not go wrong: their dinner specials. Specifically, I ordered the Rikka Dinner, aka the “Chef’s Daily Special”.

The staff was just a waitress and the chef. The food took easily over 20 minutes to come out, starting with the already expected…

Miso soup. Feel free to call it stereotype… Until I have a miso soup that can be considered “groundbreaking” or different enough, I think I will just say it was average. One of these days I will order clam miso soup for a change…

That night’s dinner special was short ribs and fish teriyaki. Now, I was not sure what exactly the fish was, as I swear one piece was salmon and the other could have been another fist (saba, most probably). In both cases, they were good. Does it look like a big meal? Well, it is. According to the menu, the dinner specials “comes with nigiri (3 pcs), Sashimi (5 pcs), Tempura (2pcs), Salad, Daily Ohitashi, Rice and Miso Soup“. So now, a close-up of the components:

Salad, the dressing was tangy but not overdressed.

I am not sure what “component” this would be. Ohitashi is not be because “ohitashi” refers to boiled greens and, obviously, this ain’t. They were pieces of fried fish wrapped in shiso leaf.

Sushi, 3 pieces.

Tempura. In the bottom shot, a vegetable hash tempura, the first time I have seen it in Vancouver.

Sashimi. Nicely set-up, in my opinion…

As for the taste, I can’t help myself say it was mixed. During the wait, I could hear the oil sizzling. Also, I noticed the chef slicing the fish. Unfortunately, because I took a bit too long to take the pictures, the tempura lost a bit of its crispness. My fault, though. However, the sushi/sashimi was a bit of a let down. There wasn’t enough vinegar in the sushi rice (if there was any, there was not enough for me to “taste” it) and the slices itself was… Odd. While on the picture above the slice looks “perfect”, the side under was a bit jagged, as if the knife used to cut it was not sharp enough.

During the wait, the waitress left the restaurant and the only two people there was the chef and myself. While I was taking the pictures, a funny situation ensued: The chef started talking to me in Japanese and I had absolutely no idea what he was saying, other than he said shashin (photograph) a couple of times.

Overall, I have a really wacky feeling about the chef and, as a result, this place. My theory is that the chef’s specialty is tempura. However, because the public thinks Japanese food equates to sushi, he has been forced into that field, though the fact there is a bigger (sushi) restaurant across the street (Ki Sushi, formerly known as Kirin Sushi) must have something to do, too. So yes, based on my meal, I have to say, unfortunately, their sushi offerings were sub-par. To those who think Japanese chef can’t go wrong with their own food… But, don’t be discouraged by my description. The meal as a whole was quite good. But, if I come back here, it won’t be for the sushi.