Central City Brewing
13450 102 Ave
Surrey, BC

Bacon… Let’s face it, almost everything taste better with bacon (assuming it was prepared correctly, that is). In fact, I don’t know anybody who, after eating a well prepared piece hasn’t gone back for more. Yes, it is fatty, it might not be the healthiest of options. But, with some moderation, ahem, it is a thing of beauty. With that in mind, a couple of weeks ago, when I went to Pho Tam, Sherman made mention that Central City Brewing Co. had a bacon tasting menu. However, on that day, it was not to come true so I mulliganed it for a while. Until three weeks ago, that is. Since it was a monthly special (as in September, which means it is no longer available. However, we ordered other dishes!), I thought it was a now or never situation. In a try to get others to join, I dropped an invite to fellow bloggers; however, due to short notice, only Elaine and Sherman ended up joining me on this bacon adventure, huahahahahhaa!

Update: Elaine post here and Sherman’s post here.

Technically, I arrived first and was walking around the Surrey Central Mall when I ran into Elaine who was also in the mall doing some shopping. While walking around, I found an “interesting shop” which I decided to take a detour (with the caveat that I was going to be late for Central City Brewing). Since Elaine had plans to do some additional shopping, I guess it worked fine for us. Yeah, the organizer being late at the event…

When I arrived, one thing struck me right away. If you changed the name of the place from Central City Brewing Co to “Cactus Club” Or “Earl’s” or any of those infamous “casual fine dining” restaurants, it might have not made a difference. The high booths plus, ahem, uniform of the waitresses, plus the ambiance and so on. Had there been more customers (it wasn’t packed on the Saturday night we were there), you won’t have been able to tell at all!

When I arrived (late), Elaine and Sherman more or less had an idea of what to order and I was, basically, catching up. Originally, we thought to share a tasting menu and order other dishes to supplement. Since we have been breaking bread with each other so often, there are somethings that need not to be mentioned and we sort of had an idea of the other dishes to order. Feel free to call it freaky…

After we made our order, Sherman mentioned that his work colleagues were seated at a different table and suggested us to drop by to take a picture of *their* orders. At that point I couldn’t help myself think: (1) Has Sherman “trained” them so well that, even when he is not eating together, they ask him to take the pictures first? and (2) Do we have no shame on taking pictures of food of the *other* tables??? In my case, “me don’t know the meaning of shame!” Anyway, here are some of the dishes they ordered.

Sorry, I am not sure about the exact description (except of the last one, of course, being mussels). Back to our table, our dishes eventually started to arrive:

Bacon and corn cakes – part of the bacon tasting menu. Now, I am not sure if this is supposed to be regular size of an appetizer or, given they saw us taking pictures, it was served this way. If it is a regular size of the appetizer, I think it is quite a larger serving! Now, you might be asking, where is the bacon? There were some pieces of it in the corn cake; however, while it would have added some flavour, the key here wasn’t that much those pieces. Instead, we sort of agreed they use the fat rendered and added it to the corn cake mix because even the pieces without any bacon was full of smokey bacon taste. If you love bacon, this would be a thing of beauty… Except for one minor detail: had the corn cake not be so soft. Otherwise, we all thought it was a winner.

As an “appetizer” to share (overstating the obvious, we shared all the dishes), we thought about mussels, with the big question being *which* variation. In the end, the blue cheese one (may I say, with bacon???) was ordered. I will have to credit from several perspective here: only one mussel ended up un-opened, they used Pacific mussels, the blue cheese was there but did not over power, the bacon was there just to impart some flavour but not take away from the other ingredients and the use of fresh herb on top. There were some so-so points, like the use of bread rather than fries. I know, they didn’t call it mussels and fries but c’mon! Anyway, the bread wasn’t that bad – nicely toasted – but I have had better. For the most part, we thought this dish was a winner except for one small detail: $15. Had it been $12, I think I would have liked it a bit more but, at $15, not as much. Could it be because we are in Surrey?

The second dish of the bacon tasting menu was a real odd ball: country bacon terrine, served with bread, house pickled veg (sic) and condiments. I am not sure what was in the mind of this dish creator because: (1) a terrine is not something I would consider as an entree but an appetizer, (2) almost none of the characteristics of bacon came up. In fact, other than some bacon wrapping the terrine, I am not sure if it would be categorized as a “bacon” dish. But, moving on, the terrine was quite hard, not even “spreadable” by any means. At least the bread wasn’t really thin (as in crostini thing) which would have made these impossible to eat. Still, I am not convinced on this dish. I mean, rather than doing a terrine, how about braising some pork belly instead and serve it on top of mashed potatoes?

For our first entree to share, we ordered pizza. We sort of agree about this (without much talking about it); however, what we did not agree was which one. They gave me the option to select and I chose the Margherita (Sherman and Elaine were thinking of a “meaty” one). However, upon further consideration, they thought it might have been a good idea, given its simplicity and because it would have been the only dish without meat.

The pizza wasn’t that bad, I will admit. Now, I won’t compare it to, say, Ah-Beetz, but, if I had to compare it to Ragazzi, this was actually quite decent. The way the toppings were added was a little bit disappointing; however, it ended up being a case of not being that bad because I have had worst. Not sure if that is a good sign in the end.

Entree number two to share was one I suggested to “add” and mainly to try yet-another-dish in the menu: their fried chicken – half a boneless chicken stuffed with cream cheese, caramelized onion and mixed herbs, coated with a blend of 9 secret herbs and spices served with coleslaw and baked mac’n'cheese. If there was a dish with a juxtaposition of strange, wacky, surprising and unexpected, it would have been this one. When this arrived at the table, all of us looked at it with a “WTFH is this?!”. I don’t know but, visually, I thought a bucket of KFC chicken would have looked better…

Starting with the sides, the coleslaw was literally a slop, as it had way too much dressing. At least it wasn’t really overpowering. If you leave it aside for the dressing to drain itself a little bit, it wasn’t that bad of a coleslaw. The one that struck odd to Sherman and Elaine was the mac’n'cheese: according to them, it tasted as if it was made from a box of Kraft Dinner. Before anybody bash me for not realizing that, in my defence, I must say that I did NOT grow up eating Kraft Dinners. In fact, I have eaten it only once (which I even blogged! Check it here) and it wasn’t baked. I will have to agree with Sherman and Elaine’s assessment: it was grainy and tasted one-dimensional, i.e., other that the “cheddar” sauce flavour, there weren’t other cheese flavour in it.

But back to the chicken, although the menu mentions it is a boneless fried chicken dish, I can’t help but to ask how they came up with that. Here is the reason: the bones help it with the flavour! But, at least I must given them credit that, to compensate, a cream cheese mix was added. It wasn’t a bad combination actually, though it didn’t help much in the odd visuals side. In the end, though, while a nifty trick, I have had better (from not so reputable places, according to the general population).

Finally, to conclude, the dessert from the bacon tasting menu: Maple chocolate bacon cheese cake. OK, let me try that again: MAPLE, CHOCOLATE, CHEESE CAKE AND BACON combined together! Who knew! And I will have to admit, other than the chocolate which was hard to notice, the combination of maple, cheesecake and bacon actually worked! Some creaminess of the cheesecake, sweetness of the maple and savouryness/crunchiness of the bacon. If there was something to make me want to eat dessert, it would have been this!

One thing I didn’t mention but, for compleness sake, was that the $35 menu includes beer: one for each dish. Since Sherman was driving and I have a low alcohol tolerance, that meant that Elaine would end up drinking these. One thing we did notice from the first was the lack of bubbles, which seemed to indicate a flat beer. But, again, since I didn’t try them, I will it to Elaine to comment, hehehe.

Had I been there by myself (a possibility had nobody agreed to join me), I wouldn’t have thought much about this place. However, thanks to Sherman and Elaine, things were “more interesting”. As for the different dishes, it was a bit of hit and miss – if you are there for the sense of adventure, it might not have been that bad. Now, if I were to do a straight comparison with Cactus/Earl’s/Joey’s and similar types restaurants, Central City Brewing might not fare as well (in terms of food). However, considering this is Surrey, with SFU next to it and near a transit/Skytrain hub (though an infamous one), I will have to give them some credit.

Pho Tam
10302 135 Street
Surrey, BC

In what seems to be a crazy trend for posts on this week, similar to what happened on my post on Tuesday, for today’s post, I ended up in the Whalley area of Surrey. Now, to those not familiar, this used to be (and, to a certain extent, still) considered a criminalised area. However, times have changed and with the SFU campus in the area plus new condo constructions, it can be considered an upcoming area of sorts. After running an errand in the area (which did not involve anything green, leafy or powdery), it was close to lunch time and had to consider possibilities. Given that I am not that familiar with the area, I dropped a text message to Sherman asking for suggestions. After all, he frequents the area so often that have had close encounters with the police! His first suggestion? “Pho Tam”. OK, that was good enough for me!

Upon walking, I realized why Sherman suggested it: This place was packed! I guess it is popular in its own ways not necessarily because of visuals but also (and hopefully) for the food. The fact that the other Vietnamese restaurant in the same block wasn’t full served as a testament somehow of what they could produce!

After I was seated in a two-seater table at the far back (some of the tables were side by side and could, if necessary, connected if required for a larger party) and was provided with tea. Well, a tea pot rather than a cup or a glass and that worked fine for me. Then it was time to decide what to order… For the most part, it had similar pho offerings; however, I realized something they didn’t necessarily mention in the menu: they have a a spring or salad roll plus a bowl of pho for $8.5 (?). Well, that solves my dilemma! Of course, that brings part #2 of the question: which bowl? More of that, of course, in a moment…

After making my order of pho and spring roll, almost in no time, I got this. I usually take pictures of the food “as is”, without any modification or changes or trying to make it pretty. After all, you want to show what will be given to you on the table! Anyway, this is one of the few cases I had to break my own rule. This spring roll was darn ugly! If you look at the two pieces (it was cut into four), you can have an idea of how bad it looked. As a result, I had to show case the filling. And, darn it was a good, meaty spring roll! Shee, skin here does not matter to me, it was the inside, which was on the meaty side rather than the veggie side. It tasted pork… And that is all what I cared for at that point! It was quite hot and had to dip it into the sauce to cool it down slightly but, otherwise, had I burned myself a little bit by eating this, I think I won’t have cared.

As for the bowl of pho, I ended up ordering bun bo hue rather than the usual pho. I am not sure if they were following some sort of trend here but, similar to the roll, this bowl was darn bloody ugly! Just look at all that oil on top! Past that, the broth was (initially) not as hot but it got spicier as I kept on eating. By the end of the meal, I was drenched! >_<

Other than the spiciness, the broth itself was quite light. There was some light meatiness taste plus so lemongrass-like taste. The noodles, on the other hand, was a bit of hit and miss. My main issue was that it ended up quite soft and broken into smaller pieces. Because of this, the droplets of broth was flinging around every time slurped a bit of the noodles (in fact, my shirt had several blobs of the broth/oil when I was done!). The meat was, again, a bit of hit and miss. Some of the meats had some sesame hint (which is good), other is pretty much bland. Could it be I missed something?

However, despite the hits and misses, I thought it was a worthy bowl of noodles. Granted, it could have been better but, to repeat myself again, those are details… Minor details! And, unlike Richmond, getting here is a bit easier (just take Skytrain) so I can actually see myself coming back. The only thing I need to remember is to bring a towel!

Marble Slab Creamery
Locations in several countries
142 – 12101 72nd Avenue (Location visited)
Surrey, BC

After Desi Dosa Madras, I was almost ready to call it a day; however, since I was in the company of Mijune, one thing was certain: we will have to stop for dessert! Alas, unlike, say, Downtown Vancouver, there are only that many such places in Delta. In fact, I would have been OK going to a DQ (for a Blizzard) or MickeyD’s (for a McFlurry). However, Mijune came up with the idea of Marble Slab Creamery. Since the idea of an ice cream wasn’t that far from a soft-serve (in principle, that is), sure, why not!

I might be boring you ad nauseum that I am not a fan of sweets; but, there is something I am even a less fan of is fuzzy, complicated food. To paraphrase somebody, I like simple things in life. I mean, what is wrong with the basics? Sure, splurge once in a while but, the more complicated you make it, in my mind, it better blow me off. Otherwise, it is just short of a cash grab. That’s why I have never been too enthusiastic of Marble Slab’s concept despite I had countless opportunities of visiting it. I just don’t see the enticement of taking some ice cream, mash it with some toppings, serve it and, as a result, charge double or triple. Am I missing something here? Well, I guess I was about to find out…

Since it was my first experience, I decided to make things “simple” and ordered one of their different preconceived options: here, their s’mores “tasty creation” – Swiss chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, marshmallow and graham cracker. I am not sure if it is because I am so used to eating dark chocolate (darker, bitter, the better), that going back to a chocolate coloured-concoction with a hint of chocolate flavour will cut it for me anymore. In this case, I thought it was extremely sweet (though, keep my sweet tolerance in mind).

To make matters worst, the toppings did no justice to the name s’mores (and this is coming from somebody who didn’t experience the real s’mores experience during childhood!): the marshmallow were flat, almost doughy, the few pieces of graham crackers had the feeling of soggy, heavy cake (think pound cake) and the pieces of chocolate chips were hard. Well, the chocolate chips was an attempt from me to make it overkill – even the McFlurry or Blizzard would have those pieces hard as well. However, the other parts simply didn’t work. I would have preferred to get a pint of ice cream, a bag of marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate chips and make it myself. Granted, it might be more expensive but, by then, I still have enough material to make more than one serving!

Since Mijune knows her stuff better than me, she went for a sweet cream ice cream which sort of allows her to mix things based on the topping she wants. If memory serves me right, Mijune went for pistachio, pecans and pound cake and had that served in a waffle. I am not sure if I tasted the pound cake but the nuts were good (well, the only way to go bad would be off, old nuts… And calling a peanut a nut!). Then again, should I have expected something different? Regardless, at least this was somewhat better than my s’mores (again, Mijune knows her stuff!)

One common issued shared by what was served is the consistency of the ice cream: As seen in the pictures above, they were quite soft by the time we were eating them, almost to the point of a soft-serve. Was it on purpose or because I took a bit of a long time in my photo shoot? Regardless, I prefer my ice cream harder (though not frozen) so that was yet another point that detracted me. I mean, if I wanted something this soft, I would, once again, fall back to a McFlurry or Blizzard!

Overall, my original opinion didn’t change. I do appreciate Mijune’s effort to try to bring the best but, alas, my bias trumped over. While even with a bias I could have given them a bare pass, one thing really did not work for me. At $7 each of these, I believe there are way better options: at a cheaper price, the before mentioned soft-serve offerings, not to mention Mijune’s version; at the same price, offerings like gelato. As a result, marble slab is a pass for me.

Fireside Cafe – House of Cheesecake
13593 King George Highway
Surrey, BC

After we finished our meal at Afghan Chopan, Sherman suggested “cheesecake!”. Well, since we were already in Surrey, hey, why not! I mean, with some exceptions (ahem, Jenny and Sherman), the rest of us seldom go there right? So, in the end, R, Jenny, Miss Y and Sherman went to Fireside Cafe – House of Cheesecakes.

Now, JS and TS didn’t join us due to other reasons; however, I am not sure what would have their reaction be… OK, let me put it this way: there were some interesting characters there, namely drag queens who were there for a live show later that night. If you aren’t used to it, you might feel quite uncomfortable. In fact, that is actually what happened. Given I am not that familiar with Surrey, I arrived last by several minutes. When I park and start walking, I turn around and see Sherman and Miss Y still in Sherman’s car. I walk to his car and he looks at me funny, as if he had second thoughts about this place. I look at the place and look back and Sherman with a confused face. In the end, I think it was because I was looking at them with a “well, we are already here, we might as well go in” face that we decided to go in. And, then suddenly, R and Jenny jump out of their car. WTH?!

When we walked, we noticed a display with several single pieces of cheesecake. The oddity is that, just after they sell one, another piece pops out. IS this a case of one WTH followed by another WTH? My guess is that they do not want the whole pie out there and put a piece as they are ordered. I am not sure if that’s the best approach but, oh, well, it is not my business… As for my piece, I went for the “regular” NY cheesecake naked, i.e., no chocolate shaving or whipped cream. To repeat what I told Sherman: this is a textbook cheesecake, specifically, as Jenny suggested, probably purchased from GPF/Sysco/Neptune.

Jenny went for the white chocolate blueberry cheesecake and Sherman went for the key lime cheesecake. In the case of the blueberry cheesecake it was OK, though it was a bit too sweet for the liking of most of us. As for the lemon one, I told Sherman, while it had qualities of its own, it had a hint of that lemon/lime smell from dish washing liquid, that is, artificial. The killer was that the key lime cheesecake was still frozen in the centre. Mass produced and stored in the freezer until the piece outside is sold? Hmmmmm….

Here is where a somewhat odd situation happened. As mentioned above, there was going to be a live drag queens performing on stage later that night. Now, nothing strange but singing and similar acts in a small stage. The oddity is that we caught their attention while we were taking pictures of the cheesecake (as if, by then, five Asians are eating cheesecake in Whalley wasn’t strange enough). We might not have attracted much attention if it wasn’t because somebody was using flash… ^_^;;; So… WTH situation #3???

In the end, the food is just average at best; however, if you go, you might not necessarily be going for food. Even then, I won’t deny I actually had some fun. But, again, if you are uncomfortable with that, it might further discourage you from going. So, for the show, give it a chance. It might change your opinion. (On that note, just before we were leaving, the drag queen was “performing” Anne Murray’s Daydream Believer).

Afghan Chopan
104 – 12888 80th Avenue
Surrey, BC

For the X time, it was time again for a food bloggers dinner! This time, the task to organize this event felt into the hands of Jenny and her suggested place was a bit… Different. Sort of following the trend of visiting non-Chinese places (let’s face it, there are enough, let’s check other restaurants!), Jenny chose an Afghan restaurant… Nope, not Afghan Horsemen near Granville Island. Instead, it was Afghan Chopan in Surrey out of all places!

In addition to Jenny (and R), coming along for this visit were TS and JS and Sherman (who invited Miss Y as well). I guess the fact it was in Surrey was a bit of detraction for people to go. C’mon, people, it isn’t THAT scary, not to mention not all good eats are concentrated in Vancouver or Richmond… *shakes fist!!!*

On the day we went, there was *something* going on on the space next to the restaurant. A wedding? I am not sure if the restaurant was really prepare for this because, at one time, the circuit breaker tripped and left us in the dark! Furthermore, I am not sure if they left enough staff on the restaurant side, as things were quite sparse…

Oh, one really important note: We notice at least a table where the customers were wearing burka (sp?) and… Let’s just say Miss Y felt she was showing a bit too much skin… So, caveat emptor… Anyway, to the food!

JS and TS chose to order tea. I won’t say much about this because they were seated at the other side from where I was seated and I didn’t ask for a sample… Yeah, shame on me…

We started with several appetizers to share. In this case, their bolani (?). Now, here is a small detail: when it arrived at the table, there weren’t enough pieces for all of us. So, another order was made… Except it never came… Did I mention sparse service? Fortunately, somebody chose not to eat their piece and, when I had mine, well, it was just a crispy piece of “bread”. Given I ate it not it is optimal conditions, I won’t say much about it…

Raita and “chatnee”

Mantu and anshak; basically dumplings, the difference being the filling. The mantu has a meat filling; the anshak has a chive filling (though, oddly, a meat sauce on top so it is not necessarily a vegetarian dish). It was OK but, given it was quite similar to a Chinese dumpling, it would be an unfair comparison. However, if I were to compare it to the one I tasted at East is East… Well, I thought that one was better. Not sure if it was because it had a gamier taste but even when it was vegetarian. Oh, well…

Qabeli Pallow – Tender pieces of beef shank beneath Afghan steamed basmati rice with raisins and carrots served with your side order of the day. If you asked me, I would have said “biryani”! Some of the components here, namely the raisins and carrots were token at most. For the most part, it was the beef shank… OK, for some reason, I didn’t think it was beef shank, as it was quite bone-y to be shank and I wasn’t sure it was even beef because of the gamey taste! But, putting those details aside, this rice dish was quite good! Again, as mentioned, if you like biryani, you will like this. Just it is not as heavily season compared to the Indian counterpart.

Served with the qabeli pallow was Afghan naan. Now, this is not a single order. We also got these from our main dish. It was quite… Interesting. It is a bit difficult to compare it to Western type bread because it wasn’t that fluffy; however, it had borderline savoury. If you like crispy breads, this will work well for you; if you prefer fluffy ones, you will not care too much about this.

Another side was eggplants; in this case, it resembled almost an Italian version… Regardless, it was a quite well cooked eggplant dish. Miss Y even asked for “permission” to clean it up! (Darn, I am starting to sound like Sherman and giving Miss Y a hard time!)

Ordering individually was a no-go right away so we focused in ordering a “large” platter. I was suggest the House Special Combo but that got “overruled” (too much food). So, behold, their chef’s table. Truth is that’s a lot of meat! To be more exact, 3 skewers of tekka kebabs (chunks of top beef tenderloin), 3 skewers of chicken kebab, 3 skewers of shami kebab (ground beef), 2 skewers of Chopan kebabs (chunks of lamb) and 2 pieces of chaplee kebab (marinated ground beef). Now, I know the the shami kebab and the chaplee kebab sounds similar but, well, they are not. Now, based on visuals only one is shaped like the regular skewer, while the other was shaped originally in the form of a patty; otherwise, the difference in terms of taste would be that the shami was more heavily spiced.

So, if I had to “guess”, from 9:00 o’clock clockwise, they would pieces of the chopan skewer, followed by chaplee, shami, chicken and tekka. Out of all these, the one I liked the least was the chaplee (lamb): It was a bit too overcooked for my liking. As for the one I liked the most, that would be the shami, as mentioned above, it was more spiced compared to the other.

Now, here is a big curveball: Miss Y asked for catsup! OK, it wasn’t actually her who ended up asking the waitress, it was me. What happens is that the waitresses ended up MIA for a while and, in the meantime, it became sort of a running joke. I mean, catsup? Really? However, we ended up eating our words (literally), as the catsup they served was more of the vinegar-y variety and it gave a sharp contrast to the meat.

Overall, the food was quite interesting and, based on what was served, the big caveat would be that it looks that if you do come, it might be a good idea for you to come in a small group (like we did). Had I gone by myself… Well, it is just that, solely on description, trying to find out which skewer is “better” is sort of a challenge and ordering a plate like this end up working “better”. So, by myself, my answer would not necessarily, else, it looks like a good option!

La Charcuterie Delicatessen
19080 96 Ave
Surrey, BC

“Have you gone to Le Charcuterie, yet?” – That was a question Sherman of Sherman’s Food Adventure kept asking me every once in a while. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying he was nagging or anything like that. Instead, that peaked my curiosity. After all, why would he keep asking me if he did not think it was good? In fact, I wanted to try it, except there was a big problem: from Vancouver, it was easily a 30+ minutes drive! It does not help the fact they are open from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. – though, fortunately, they are open on Saturdays. So on a day of, I chose to make the drive…

Now, the rest of the blog will be set up in an “unusual way” – instead of going through the how I got the food and so on, I will give my thoughts first and what happened in between afterwards. Why? Because this post is R rated (no, this is not R rated posts week!) due to coarse language and profanity, as per this warning on the door:

After making my order and so and so, I got this sandwich:

Was it good? Actually, there was one problem, although Salam (the owner) warned me about. In this case, before I made my order, he told me there was no fresh bread; instead, they only had day-old bread. How often do you hear this before your food is prepared? So, other than that fact, i.e., the bread was a bit chewy and have he had other dressing options (in addition to mayo and mustard), the sandwich was good. Overload with different cold cuts (though, oddly, ended up making the sandwich slightly on the salty side. No balance of cold cuts?) and, as a result, difficult to eat. Hey, there was absolutely no way I could open my mouth that wide to take a bite! Otherwise, a satisfying sandwich. In fact, I couldn’t finish it in one seating; instead, I took the second half and had it for dinner later that night. Would I come back? If would, if it wasn’t for that long drive… -_-;;;

(Having said all that, the rest of how I got the sandwich. Again, it contains coarse language and “nudity”, so continue at your own risk!)

Last chance!

Are you still here? Good, hehehehehe. Now, I was warned by Sherman about the colourful owner of the shop. If you read his post, sexual references are all over. For example, the different breads

• Italian Fuccacia. Say it right, FUU-KA-CHIA, and not FUK – KAT – SHIA.
• French sourdough. Long and hard but soft inside.

Of course, with more male than female customers (during my visit, there were 6 male customers), the “jokes” would be on the line of sexual/gay innuendo. For example, when I walked in, he asked me “is this your first time here?“; I “innocently” replied “yes”. I didn’t even finish saying it when he shouted to everybody “OK, we have a virgin here.“. Of course, rather than “get angry” at him, I just say “oh, yeah, that’s why I am here!”. And, if you check the “menu”…

It seems Brokeback Mountain is his favourite movie…

To make things “interesting”, I ordered the “Salam’swich” or “whatever he wants to put on your buns“. After I made the order, he wanted to make sure I wanted “everything he got” and, if so, I should “bend over“, to which I replied, “you know what, how about you bend over first so that I show you how I like it?“. In this case, he just cracked over and said “(me) being Chinese, he won’t have any problems as my hands ought to be soft“. Similar exchanges went on and on while he was preparing the sandwich, like him telling the story of his life (that he used to be an electrical engineer and that his current business was the best he could do for his life). Just don’t get offended; it is similar to the bully you have in high school, the more you try not to be noticed, the more he will pick on you. Instead, just “fight back”. In the end, he will just laugh, who knows, what he might put in your buns might be something better than the “regular” sandwich, hehehehe.

Taste Nice Caribbean Restaurant
13448 108th Avenue
Surrey, BC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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