Havana Cafe
1212 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

On my University years, my schedule was the usual crazy one for those who were working and studying. In my case, my latest class was 10:30 p.m. and, a lot of times, it mean grabbing something to eat. There were some “usual” 24 hours places and, in one of such places, I always went for one thing: a Cuban sandwich. What I liked about that sandwich was that combination of savoury, sweet (*), sour/acidic and gooey cheesy. While there are great sandwiches here in Vancouver, I haven’t been able to find anything that resembles it yet. Now, it isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing, as I have learned to “appreciate” the other sandwich types. Instead, well, I miss it. When Sherman went to Havana Cafe and mentioned they make this sandwich, I was all up for it. Alas, it partially fell off the radar but, on one night, I was near Brittania Community Centre and that gave me a good excuse to drop by for that Cuban sandwich.

(*) This might due to the use of a braided bread, rather than the traditional Cuban bread.

When I arrived, I chose to seat outside. No particular reason other than, probably, lightning. But, even then, lightning conditions were not that good. Anyway, there wasn’t much need for me to take a look at the menu. Given the restaurant’s name, it was more a formality to check if they had the Cuban sandwich… And to check if it came with anything else! And here it is.

Their Cuban sandwich and I had the option of soup of the day, fries or salad. I went for the soup of the day which happened to be a corn and chorizo chowder. From a plating perspective, it is clean but there is something else… that bugged me right away, which confirmed one key note from Sherman’s visit. More of that in a moment.

I will have to give them credit for this one. The soup was actually good, as it had a good mix of sweet and savoury. Now, it wasn’t perfect by any stretch: I wish it was slightly creamier or slightly sweeter (due to the corn), not to mention spicier (due to the chorizo). But, I guess it is a case of cater to the masses which I will have to leave those preferences aside and accept the fact that it is still a good soup. Anyway, back to the soup, it had a good broth and a decent amount of vegetables plus the said corn and chorizo.

OK, let’s go through a checklist of the ingredients that are usually in this sandwich: Roasted pork? Check. Ham? Sort of check. Cheese? Sort of check. Pickle? Sort of check. Pickle? Check. Cuban bread? Fail, but will give it some leeway. Before I go to the major epic fail, let me add that, those “sort of check” can go either way. First, the ham. In their case, they used black forest ham. In my case, I am used more to either the honey ham, cooked ham, glazed ham or Virginia ham. The reason why I prefer these? Because black forest adds too much saltiness to the overall conction and, as a result, didn’t work for me. The cheese used is not something I worry too much about as it is partially “absorbed” by the rest of the flavours but, at least, it does provide something “gooey” to the rest. The resulting sandwich “as is” is still decent but it does no justice to the Cuban sandwich of my past for one reason: it wasn’t pressed.

See, it is that action of brushing some melted butter outside (or, in some cases, oil) and then press it, is what melds everything together. That is specially true with the cheese… By not doing so, it is just a plain sandwich that you can get even in Subway. (OK, exaggerating here, as the bread there is nowhere comparable to the Cuban or braid bread). The funny thing about all this is that, when I made mention of this fact to the waitress, she just dismissed it as “the sandwich being bigger”. Hmmmmm…. OK, you completely missed the point…

Because of that simple fact, I will have to say it is a fail for me. It is possible they have other good dishes but the fact they can’t make a sandwich related to their namesake is a let down. One other thing that does not help is their price. At $14, this ain’t a cheap sandwich; in fact, it just compounds to my overall issues. Oh, well, the “quest” continues? :/

Chez Meme Baguette Bistro
4016 Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boudin Bakery
Bistro Boudin
160 Jefferson Street
Fisherman’s Wharf
San Francisco, CA

Under “normal” circumstances, the burgers I had in In-N-Out would have sufficed. OK, probably had I made the fries animal style as well and order a 3×3 (i.e. three beef patties). So, here is the reason why I didn’t: Given I was on vacation, why not make the most out of it? How? Well, how about another restaurant in the area? With so many options, though with the caveat of it being a touristy area, the obvious question was… Where? How about something San Francisco is known for? Namely sourdough bread? How about clam chowder? Or, how about clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl? Given that Chris went to the sit down area of Bistro Boudin and it was a bit of a let down, Sherman and I decided to go to the quick order area instead…

In addition to this order-serve-and-eat-outside/cafeteria type of place, it was also a market of sorts full of books, souvenirs and so on. Again, this is a touristy area, what else should I expect? After making our order, it was wait for them to call my name.

Did you think we came all the way just for a single dish? Ha! In addition to the chowder, we ordered a pizza made with their sourdough. And to further make it simple, it was the tomato, garlic and basil pizza. Now, had we ordered a third dish, for certain, I would have gone for the crab cakes; alas, it was only the two of us… Or, my twin or my other ego or…

Were the topings good? Well, it is a matter of perspective: on one side, there was no shortage of soft tomatoes, which had a side effect of making the base cheese and dough slightly mushy after a while. The garlic was still a bit raw, so it might be offensive to some people. The basil didn’t really “show up” because it was added before baking (hence “cooked” through).

As for the dough itself, it didn’t develop leopard spots; however, since they were using a small electric oven rather than a larger, hotter one (to bake the breads?), I guess I shouldn’t have set my expectations too high. Now, it wasn’t bad but, as usual, it could have been better. But what I thought failed was that the key “feature”, the sourdough, well, I don’t think I tasted much of it.

Now, here is something that can be interpreted in more than a way: they served the chowder in the bread bowl as soon as the order came in to the prep area. It can go both ways because soup starts to get cold but, at the same time, the bread “soaks” the creamy soup. We were wondering if we should have asked them to prep a new one but chose not to in the end.

The chowder was mixed: while it had clam taste and noticeable pieces of clam, the pieces of potatoes partially overwhelm them as well. Furthermore, there wasn’t much of an expected bacon taste. Did I miss it? Finally, the one thing I wished it was different was the consistency. Rather than creamy, it was starchy, most likely from all the potatoes. In my case, well, I prefer mine creamy.

As for the bread bowl, alas, once again, mixed feelings. It didn’t have that “crunchiness”, crusty, hard texture I prefer from a sourdough. However, the bread did soak some of the chowder and, by itself, it had some airy consistency. All in all, by itself, as bread… Well, it wasn’t as good as people touted it to be.

In the end, Bistro Boudin failed in some aspects and ended up being your tourist trap. In fact after our meal, I was wondering if we should have gone to some of the other nearby places selling chowder in a bowl; however, in the end, we didn’t. Given the location, I wasn’t too hopeful they were that different. Of course, I could be wrong, so if somebody point somewhere else, I will give it a try next time I am there. Just not Bistro Boudin.

(Side note: I have been told that, due to its location, i.e., a touristy area, the final product is sold at this location is at a higher price than inside town. Whether this is true or not, it does not have any major impact in its hype and food).

Yu Kee BBQ Kitchen
111 – 2609 East 49th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Some of you might be wondering: Am I not the one who “complains” about Chinese restaurants and do not visit too many of those? True… So, why another Chinese restaurant post, then? Well, *another* might be stretching it but, while I can do Chinese for a full month, truth is, I do not want to bore you with visits to Chinese after Chinese after Chinese. Besides, there are a lot of other non-Chinese restaurants out there! Of course, there is another reason why I do not blog too often about Chinese restaurants: you can seldom go there by yourself (compared to say, Vietnamese where you can still get a decent meal).

So how I ended up in Yu Kee, a small Chinese restaurant in Killarney Market? While I have known of its existence for a long time, all the previous instances I have been there were a bit of a failed attempt: for the most part, I arrived too late. However, that was before they opened a proper restaurant side, which, unlike their previous iteration, they are open until 10:00 p.m. And the fact that Anita dropped me an email asking if I was interested in checking it out, that pretty much sealed the deal.

We arrived for lunch time and, given it was a Saturday, I was both surprised and partially confused as to why it wasn’t packed. But, it does not matter: what we care about was to be able to get a table! With that settled, it was a matter of checking the menu and make our order…

Normally I start off with my dining companions order; however, in this case, I will start with mine. More on that in a moment. So, above, their two BBQ meats on rice. I went for cha siu and duck. I couldn’t find an option for a third meat type, namely, roasted pork, so, alas, I had to settled for these two. The cha siu was a bit mixed: It had the pork taste to it; however, I thought some sweetness was missing and wished it was fattier. Now, I know some people will tell me “I could have asked for it that way!”. My answer would be, sure, I could; however, instead, think of how a regular Joe would have made the order – without specifying how. The duck was, well, duck-y but, similar to the cha siu, I wished it was fattier and juicier. In the grand scheme of things, I would say it is good, though not necessarily the best I have had. As a dish, there was one thing that I wished that, again, they did by default: add more sauce to it, as it started to drag down the dish.

We ordered wonton soup to share and we were both surprised at this serving: this ain’t the big order! Each wonton had its share of both pork and shrimp – unlike some places that ax the shrimp and still call it wonton. It was good, though, there was one thing they could have done to improve it: make the pork pieces chunkier, but this would be nitpicking.

Now, Anita’s order. See, the reason I left it for last is that I just want to bug her about her order. Yup, she ordered that, congee! I was thinking, c’mon, out of all possible orders, specially BBQ or something on those lines but congee? Why??? Why???? (Oh, wait, Sherman has already given the name “Miss Y” to somebody else… ). If you have had congee before, you know what to expect, so there isn’t much point on me trying to explain it, probably other than the fact it was smooth.

And, when you order congee in a Chinese restaurant, chances are you will order this: yau ji guai or youtiao, or simply Chinese doughnut. I haven’t had these in a long while but, still, I can say these were quite good. It was still crispy while partially doughy, good to drop into the congee. However, the most important part? It wasn’t too oily, the big issue I have ran into other parts.

Overall, while not necessarily perfect, Yu Kee still it is quite good, specially considering its location: basically in the middle of nowhere – or at least a place where most people won’t necessarily know it exists. It gives me an incentive to come back some other time but, given some things were a bit sideways, it would be more of a case of if I am in the area more than anything else.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle
2800-4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC

I think it is somewhat commonly accepted by food bloggers in Vancouver that the larger the hype, the higher the standards by which you will be judged against. Of course, when I mean food bloggers, I am referring to those who actually go there, sit, order, eat and pay as would any customers and then write what he/she thought about it. Among my peers, I have been considered to be the biggest ba$7@rd when it comes to “criticizing”, despite I have mentioned a lot of times I don’t do reviews but, what I write, are merely experiences of my own. The funny part about this was that a dear friend told me that, lately, I have not been as bashful and harsh as in the past and have mellowed out a little bit. How true this is, I will leave it up to you; however, it might also be because I haven’t be to any of such “hyped” restaurants in a long while. Until the day I had to venture to that driving hell hole called Richmond to pick up my car, which gave me the opportunity to go to Aberdeen (which, fortunately, was somewhat empty that night) and go to one of the most hyped Chinese restaurants in a while: Chef Hung.

When it opened sometime by the end of last year, there was something that you seldom hear for the type of restaurant Chef Hung belongs to, namely a noodle house: hype. It just happens it was the first franchise of a Taiwanese chain. I myself haven’t been in Taiwan so that is not an issue to me. However, what was an issue for me was that it is located in Richmond – and in Aberdeen Centre out of all parking hell-holes. Compounded to that was the fact people were actually willing to queue up for a bowl and, to make things “worst”, there was a time limit for customers to finish and get out of there. I could have been part of that crowd but given all these factors, I chose not to go. But, given this opportunity, I thought I might as well…

As mentioned above, I was in the area in the middle of the week and there were not that many people. Walking in revealed only a handful of customers which gave me the opportunity to choose a table to sit. Of course, given there is window area, I chose to seat there to obtain as much benefit from sunlight as possible. Once done, I was opened a sheet of paper with the different options plus a small pamphlet explaining the dishes with a greater detail. This method provides a good way to make sure you are ordering what you want and not have things lost in translation. Of course, on the flip side, that’s a lot of printing and wasted paper!

I was there obviously for a bowl of noodles; however, I wanted something else. I was coin flipping between chicken nuggets, cucumber, some form of offal but, in the end, not trying to go meat overboard and carb on carb, I chose their cold mixed dry seaweed. It had a nice initial gooey-ness to it, follow bit a light crunch. I only wished it had a bit more acidity or sweetness or some strong sesame oil taste into it. However, at the same time, I was afraid that would have overpowered the dish. On its own, it is OK, not much to talk about.

So here it is, their bowl of noodles. Now, before I continue, a small note: as you can find from other fellow bloggers who have visited it, their “signature” bowl is the champion beef shank with noodle in spicy soup. I intentionally chose not to order it because, well, it has been made reference enough. Instead, I chose something more “mundane”: their champion braised beef shank, tendon & tripe with noodle in soup. Here is my reasoning: I will have to draw some comparison with some other places, namely Lao Shang Dong (aka LSD, and its offspring, The One), No 1 Beef Noodle House (and its offspring Beefy Beef Noodle) and ordering something that can’t be compared directly would be considered “cheating” in a way. So, this was the one I thought would suit better for comparison purposes. And, to make it “interesting”, I went for their flat noodles.

The first time I went to LSD, one thing that I really like was the consistency of its noodles; specifically, it had a bite plus a starchy texture when you tried to slurp it. Alas, that has sort of gone downhill since and The One didn’t really address that. This noodle brought back a little bit of that experience. So, indeed, it was good. The meats were a bit of hit and miss. There were a total of six pieces, two of each. I thought the shank pieces were cut a bit too long. Had they sliced it in three, it might have worked better from an eating perspective. The tripe and tendon had that chewy, mushy, gelatinous-like consistency so, from the perspective, it is what I expected. However, that brings the point of… How else would you make it? The broth was neutral for the most part, i.e., it was good for what it was but not crazy about it. One thing I wished was the broth to be hotter (as in temperature). Not sure if this is a one occurrence or intended but I wished they change it.

Overall, to me, it does and does not live up expectations. On the noddle side, actually it was quite good; however, I do not believe it would have been worth queueing up for. As mentioned, I thought LSD in the past would have done something similar (though not in the flat form). The rest of the soup was again a bit of hit and miss so, again, given the hype, I would have expected something more. That finally brings one point that almost everybody brought up: price. Is it worth the price? Well, my bowl was $11 so, from a perspective, it is considered expensive. However, on my visit, they were not charging HST so, in a direct comparison, it would be more on the lines of just under $10 and that might serve as an incentive. And that brings the grand question: would I go back? Hmmmmm…. Not in a hurry mainly due to compounding effects (including location). If I was closer, I might. But that would be a big “might”.

Mui Ngo Gai
2408 Nanaimo Street
Vancouver, BC

For quite some time already, I have wondered about dishes representatives of a culture. This is somewhat “important” because, when we go to an ethnic restaurant, we want to go there to have a taste of that culture. So, not sure how or why, in the case of Japanese, it ends up being sushi, though there is a showing of izakaya places lately. In the case of Greek, it shouts lamb. But similar to NY style pizza, chicago deep dish pizza (which, technically is a casserole), St Louis style or California style, each region has its unique version. So in a chain of emails with a reader who prefers not to comment, she made a note that “whenever you (as in food bloggers in general) go to a Vietnamese restaurant, you always end up ordering pho or bánh mì and, in-lieu, we should give bún bò hue a try instead. While I have unknowingly tried it once in Pho Maxima, when I went to Mui Ngo Gai, I consciously decided to give this dish a try instead. So, would it change my thoughts of pho and start ordering this other dish instead (if available)?

So that begs the question: why Mui Ngo Gai? Believe it or not, the reason is actually a really interesting one: it is among the few Vietnamese restaurants in Vancouver that actually have a website and have their menu on-line! With that option, I knew I could go there and be able to order it; rather than driving around Vancouver to find such a place. Hey, technology working for you!

Upon arrival, I was given the option to sit anywhere and I chose one of the tables closest to the window – sort of. Unlike a lot of restaurants where they let the curtain/blinds open for natural lights, they had their blinds closed, yet there was still some sunlight filtering in. Man, that was some crazy light conditions to take pictures I tell ya, specially when there was flourescent light inside! Anyway, bún bò hue it was, but it has never stopped me from ordering something extra, which ended up being…

A spring roll. Somehow, I wanted the wrapped version rather than the fried versions. Reason? Pork! (Specifically barbequed pork). Yup, I had the option to go for pork and that is what I end up doing. Nothing wrong with that, right? For the most part, not even the herbs managed to make it palatable – it was dead bland. Sure, there was some pork and the pork was actually quite tasty. By together, the rice dampened everything; it was similar to eating a bowl of plain rice cooked only with water. Yup, not even a pinch of salt… So, what “saved” it was the dipping sauce, which I didn’t take a picture but you can partially see from the background. It was peanut based and provided some nutty taste.

Moving to the bún bò hue, if you go by visuals only, I am sure it would have already detracted a lot of people from going for it. Yes, that it is what it is: chunks of cooked pork blood! Huahahahahaha ! In addition to it, there were “sliced beef shank, pork balls, Vietnamese ham and seasoned pork roll”. Alas, the description sounded better what was actually served on the table. Despite the description was to be a spicy beef soup, I didn’t even break a sweat. The meats were OK, nothing extraordinary – hint of sesame was what “saved” it, as it was what provided most of the flavour to the meats. In other words, for the most part, it was… Average?

Now, given the main difference between bún bò hue and the rest of the menu, i.e., it being a Hu? dish compared to the other regions, I am not sure if it would be a good yardstick for the rest of the menu. However, looking at the rest of the customer, for the most part they seem to be enjoying their pho so it seems there is a target audience here. As for myself, actually I see myself coming back to try bánh xèo…

Giovane
1038 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC

For some reason, embedded in my head is that concept that most hotel restaurants are… Well, disappointed. Of course, given that I travel on a budget, the hotels I end up staying aren’t necessarily a five star hotel; instead, they are usually your regular hotel chains, i.e., Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, et al. And, then again, even if they have fancy locations, I seldom end up staying in those. After all, why should I? If travelling on business, it is my customer’s money, not to mention I spend the whole day at the customer’s site; if it is leisure, chances are I am only there to sleep and some basic necessities.

But, even when I stay in the “fancier” locations of those hotel chains, more often than not, the food has been average at best. But, then again, Fairmont is a luxury hotel chain so comparing them to the other chains might be akin to comparing apples to oranges. With that in mind, I went to Giovane, the “cafeteria” located in the recently opened Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and little sibling to Oru, the main restaurant in the hotel. Hey, I wasn’t in mood to fork big bucks to Oru, given the mixed feedback!

From what I have seen, Giovane can be “broken” down into three distinct sections: a coffee shop, a pastry/bakery shop and a deli. Now, deli might be stretching that definition, given they have salad, soups, pizza and sandwiches. Now, I will focus a little bit in the deli part given I am not much of a coffee drinker and I am not crazy about sweets. Having said that…

Instead, I am a tea drinker. Here, a cup of, you can guess it!, Earl Grey. I will have to say their leaves they use are actually quite good. A nice hint of bergamot oil yet not to “dry” to the taste. It was quite enjoyable. The only thing that puzzles me is the leaf strainer. It looks “barbaric”… I mean, how about getting me a small teapot? Hmmmmmm…. OK, being nitpicky here!

For this visit, I was there for breakfast and I ended up ordering their Italian Sausage Strata – onion, sausage, tomato, sweet pepper, parmigiano, croutons. The reason I went for this was that their breakfast sandwich didn’t look too exciting. Why? I had that odd feeling I would have gotten better value if I had gone to Timmie’s for the breakfast sandwich! And, while there was also their “Giovane” Breakfast – Soft poached eggs, asparagus, prosciutto, piave vecchio, toasted croutons, I had some wacky feelings about it and ended up ordering the strata instead.

To me, strata is a savoury version of a bread pudding but this one felt more on the lines of a quiche – or, to be more technically correct given this is “Italian”, a frittata. The reason is that I didn’t feel anything that had a bread texture. But, putting that aside, I didn’t particularly liked the combination of flavours. In a way, they didn’t really add up; instead, it felt like each component was fighting for supremacy over the other. Furthermore, that eggplant layer created a “divide” between the top and bottom layer: the top having the vegetables and the bottom having the sausage. The crouton, was actually quite interesting but, hey, I was there for the quiche, I mean, frittata… I mean, strata…

To go along, I also ordered a side salad, here, a tomato and bocconcini salad. I put it in that order because over half of the “salad” was bocconcini! Now, the day I went (over a month ago), tomato wasn’t really in “season” yet so they weren’t that sweet. Given the case, I won’t be too harsh on them. The one part that was odd was the basil. Notice it is staring to get brown? Well, it seems they had it prepared ahead of time and had the basil tossed by then. Probably I am being too demanding? :S

At this point, I will have to say I wasn’t particularly impressed by their breakfast options. But, at the same time, people was telling me that wasn’t necessarily their forte. OK, I thought. Let’s give them another chance. So, on another day, I was there again and debating what to order: either pizza or sandwich (and salad/soup).

Behold, their green onion, chorizo and corn soup with a porchetta sandwich – Braised pork, shaved fennel, garlic aioli, fontina. The reason I chose soup and sandwich over the pizza was because the pizza was prepared and left on top of a counter which would be reheated when order. I guess that’s what you get for $9… However, that wasn’t enough reason; instead, it was rather because they didn’t really look that good which lead me to go for the sandwich instead. Granted, the sandwiches are also in a cool display case rather than outside but I believe sandwiches can last longer than pizza under this condition…

Despite I shouldn’t, I was actually quite surprised by the soup! Well, corn is in season, right? Here, the corn wasn’t completely creamed, instead, you could still feel some texture of the corn kernels. It was sweet but not excessively so. That sweetness was “cut” by some spiciness from the chorizo. A really good combination. The green onion was somewhat odd, though. Given it was sweet and a bit spicy, the “freshness” of the green onion didn’t work that well. Fortunately, you could easily scoop it out.

Out of all sandwiches, I chose to go for porchetta. As a reminder, one of the best porchetta sandwiches I have ever had is from Salumi in Seattle (though the other sandwiches were just average…), not to mention I believe I can make a good enough oven version of a pulled pork. So, in a way, high expectations. In this case… It disappointed. For one, I thought the amount of pork was a let down. Furthermore, there wasn’t much of pork taste and the cheese, while there, didn’t help much in terms of flavour. The saving grace was the bread, which was quite good, as it was crispy but, c’mon, I am not here for the bread; I am here for the pork!!!

So, after having giving Giovane two chances, I believe there are better options. In fact, recently I went to Creme de la Crumb, a just opened pastry shop, and their similarly set up sandwich was better than this. However, I am also sure people will be saying something about pastry/bakery and coffee. If that’s what you want, by all means, go ahead. Since I am not much of a coffee drinker nor a sweets person, I had to go for the remaining option. In this case, their “deli” didn’t really work for me. And, with that, my thoughts of hotel restaurant/food. (I guess I have to go to hotels in Asia before this opinion change…)

The One Restaurant
5908 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

On Tuesday’s “bonus” post, I showed some pictures of “interesting” dishes and hinted they will be for next week. I am sure some of you suspect what is coming but (and probably) overstating the obvious, yes, I was out of town. OK, let me rephrase that: I was out of the country/North America. But, as usual, there is that “last meal” concept, a place you might want to visit before leaving town. In my case, there was no particular reason for going out and getting something to eat (which, by now is not necessarily and excuse). Instead, I was too lazy to do dishes and throw the garbage afterwards… So, in this instance of laziness, I chose to visit one place that I suggested Anita the day we ended up going to Burgoo: The One Restaurant (TOR), which is a fork of a Burnaby favourite – Lao Shan Dong (LSD). The question is of course whether it lives up to its roots…

If you don’t know this area of Burnaby, you might easily (and I do emphasize on the easily part) drive by without noticing it. That is because it is in the far end of a strip mall barely east of the Kingsway/Imperial intersection and not that visible within the normal visual angle (unless, of course, you are looking that way). If you drive eastbound and are already driving by a Wendy’s, you are already too far. Probably the best landmark (current, as of the date this post goes live) might be the Blockbuster, i.e., drive as if you were going to Blockbuster and you should be good.

Upon entering, it is really noticeable the emphasis given to decoration. I mean, this is not your old school noodle shop where there could be a mismatch of tables and/or chairs. In this case, they seem to have spent a decent amount of money trying to make more modern, as if they were trying to catch up to newer restaurants (compared to LSD). While this is all good, I encountered a major problem: the tables (or at least the one I was seated) are not for somebody of my size. As a reminder, in terms of Chinese born people, I am fairly above average sized, and, after I was seated, I felt the table was at least 5 cm higher than it should be. I don’t want to imagine how it would be for somebody more “average” (Chinese-wise), given that it is that the population the restaurant supposedly caters. Of course, I am not sure if it was that specific table I ran into this problem but, given the layout, a visual inspection tells me the tables are about the same height…

But, enough about decoration, I was there for the food! Upon checking the menu, once again, it is obvious that TOR is also trying to expand their menu. No longer limited to appetizer dishes, boiled dumplings and noodles. Now, they have full plates, including fried items, rice dishes and so on. Again, I might be overstating the obvious but they could be aiming to the likes of Beefy Beef, No 1 Beef Noodle and so on. So, while I wanted to compare their beef noodle against is parent LSD, I also wanted some dishes that were not available previously there. And, given that I needed some sort of comparison, I started off with…

Their Salty Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets. I am not sure about those who grew up in North America but I did not grew up eating chicken nuggets. In fact, I never grasped the concept of eating boneless chicken meat, specially considering that the best parts are the dark pieces with the bone. Furthermore, if it was chicken, it was supposed to be an actual *real* piece of chicken. As a result, I had mixed feelings ordering it. However, what was served was actually better than the name of the dish. Here, there are pieces of chicken dark meat, dusted with flour or (most likely) corn starch and fried lightly. No, it wasn’t raw, rather, it wasn’t as crispy as you could find in a lot of other places. Instead, it was still quite juicy inside. While the fried Thai basil provided a different note, a little bit of peppery tones would have helped, as well as a wedge of lime/lemon. One thing that I must admit I was really surprised was the portion size: given the price, this could be easily shared between two (or even three) as an appetizer!

As mentioned above, I wanted to try their beef noodle to compare it against LSD and that’s exactly what I ordered. Not sure if there was a lost-in-translation here but I asked it spicy. Unless I have become more spice tolerant in the last couple of weeks, I barely detected any spiciness. I did sweat a little bit; however, it might be due to the fact I did not remove my jacket after walking in and/or because the soup was hot (temperature-wise). From a noodles perspective, they are about the same, i.e., with some bite and stretchiness, though I noticed the exterior didn’t have the same starchy feeling as the last time I was in LSD (which was around January). The beef was also similar, though it seems the pieces were cut somewhat smaller (and might have fewer pieces than LSD). Under normal circumstances, I don’t have preference for one or the other; however, when it comes to stewed/braised-like meats, I prefer a more decent size cuts than smaller sizes. Furthermore, they held back somewhat in the pickled mustard. And, finally, the broth…

In the past, I quite like to go to LSD, mainly because some of the competition had some hell of an issue with parking (No 1 Beef comes to mind). However, that was also because I preferred their broth over the ones from the beef noodle competition, as it had a strong, savoury taste. However, in the case of TOR, it had a slight sweet taste… Now, it was good in its own ways; however, my preference here is for that stronger, more savoury taste instead. As a result, I found it not as enticing…

One thing that LSD did decently was service speed. Though a lot of people will accuse them of being too rustic (i.e., providing only the basic), at least, things will come quite fast compared to other restaurants. Then again, it is a smaller restaurant. However, things here took forever to come and, a lot of times, timing was particularly bad. For example, after I finished my meal, I had to flag several waiters/waitresses before I was given the bill. At that moment, there were only six tables occupied… And, the worst happened to the table next to mine, were customer A was given his order (a meal with the before mentioned chicken nuggets) but his partner didn’t get his order (a rice bowl with Chinese sausages) until easily 10 minutes later. I know this is no Western restaurant where timing has a greater deal and everybody is served (almost) at the same time but, at least, 10 minutes wait is simply not acceptable.

In a way, given its LSD background, I had some high expectations and they couldn’t deliver. From the noodle side, I would rather go back to LSD. From the other dishes perspective, it looked quite good but, depending if I am going by myself or with others, it might be a bit of a coin flip (specially if people are ordering different type of dishes, which might drag the others down).

Huaxi Noodle
2126 – 4500 Kingsway
Crystal Mall
Burnaby, BC

Chong Lee Market Kitchen
3308 E 22nd Avenue
Vancouver, BC

This was supposed to be two short post but I thought, rather than two short posts, how about having a longer one, specially considering these two places shared some things in common? Namely, me needing a meal; however, I wasn’t THAT hungry? OK, that might be an overstatement… Basically, I had a somewhat heavy meal earlier that day and needed a snack/light meal. And based on posts from other fellow bloggers, I thought I should drop by Huaxi Noodle (in Crystal Mall’s food court) and Chong Lee Market…

My visit to Huaxi Noodle is thanks to a post from gastronomydomine (of the Foodosophy team). While I have had my share of visits to the food court and there are several interesting stands, at the same time, there are some dubious ones and, at times, it can be hit or miss. However, given gastro’s feedback, hey, it sounds good! So, on an afternoon, relatively close to the mall’s closing time, I dropped by there for a quick “light” dinner.

As per gastro’s suggestion, I ordered dish #8, Guizhou Style Beef Noodle Soup ($5.95). And, not necessarily noticeable in the picture above, I added some huge scoops for garlic. I will have to admit that, for $6, this is quite a decent serving. Hell, you pay more if you go to MickeyD’s! And, if you take a look at it, there is a good amount of herbs on top, which, interestingly enough, did infuse a little bit of its taste to the broth.

I am not sure if it was supposed to have two types of meats but, considering they are different cuts, each provided a different type of consistency. The leaner/grayer cut (shank?) had a slight chewiness, while the more fatty piece (brisket?) had a more tender, fatty texture. For some reason, I thought it had some gaminess in it, which worked quite well with the herbs mentioned above. Because I added a lot of garlic, it also imparted some of its pungent taste to the broth but, because I added before I tasted the broth (one of the few rare instances I have done that), I can’t say how it would be by itself… Finally, the noodles… I will have to admit mine were served slightly past the al dente texture, or at least slightly past how I would have preferred it. No harm, though, it still had a slight bite and, again, there was a decent amount given the price.

Given the limitations of the food stand and its cost, I am quite surprised at the end product. I really wished I had visited them before! It is starting to look like some xiao long bao from Wang’s Shanghai and a bowl of noodles will really hit the spot!

Now, moving on to the second “restaurant”, a couple of weeks ago, Alex of Chef’s Night Out, made mention of banh mi (Vietnamese subs) in a really odd location: inside a market in 22nd Avenue in Vancouver. That market is Chong Lee Market, which shouldn’t be confused with its Victoria Drive’s location. As I mentioned once:

1. Open a restaurant in a weird location/setting
2. Make it ethnic (bonus if Japanese)
3. ???
4. Profit!

OK, not necessarily profit here, the question instead is how good it is. Actually, I had to go through a small problem first: after I walked in, I couldn’t find the banh mi stand. I walked to the back and they have a mini butcher, cafeteria like Chinese food (think Kent’s kitchen). After walking back and forth, I gave up and started to walk out, just to find it was right next to the entrance! Had I turned left as soon as I walked in, I would have found it right away.

As mentioned, I was there for banh mi and ended up ordering three: One of them to eat it almost right away, the other two for later that day. I know I was taking my chances, after all, a lot of times the baguette used in banh mi degrades really fast if not eaten right away. However…

Actually, all of them looked pretty much the same…

Unlike banh mi shops like Ba Le or Tung Hing, they don’t have a bakery to prepare their breads on-site (or, as far as I could see/tell). So, the bread isn’t necessarily fresh but they do have an oven to reheat them. So, which banh mi I ordered?

The first one (and the one I ate right away) was the chicken version. Because it was still “fresh”, the exterior of the bread still had some “crunchiness” in it but it is not even close to the ones from Ba Le or Tung Hing. One thing I found quite surprising (and it is common among all the subs here) was the amount of pickled vegetables, though I wish it was a bit more pickled (i.e., a bit more acidic/sweet). But, back to the sub itself. The chicken was a bit plain; however, the pepper managed to provide some balance. I won’t say it is the best but acceptable.

This is one I had later that day and, by then, the bread started to be chewy, though not on the lines of sourdough. Now, I am not sure if I will call it meatball or even meat sauce. More than anything else, it was a cross of minced meat, Chinese style (on that note, reheated in a microwave), and meatball. Similar to the chicken, the meat didn’t have that much taste by itself but the pickled vegetables and peppers were doing a major job.

Finally, their “special”, which had different type of cold cut type meats and, as seen in the picture above, a decent serving of pâté. It actually was tastier than the other two above and, despite the meats were able to hold its own, it still needed a little bit of support from the pickled vegetables. Howeve,r once again, because I had it later that day, the bread was somewhat chewy by then.

Overall, I found these banh mi were decent, provided your expectations are not high, specially given its location and price. Yes, did I mention these were $2.75 each, except for the special which was $3.25? However, since it is not that accessible to me, I am not sure how often I would frequent it… >_<