The Boss (Chinatown)

It goes without saying I love to eat.  Yet there was a time when I had a ferocious appetite.  Yes, even more so than now...  In my teens, I could down 4 Big Macs easily or even a whole Church's 10 piece.  When it came to Asian food, I remember dusting off a plate of rice, noodle and a whole dinner combo at The Boss to the shock of my parents and their poor pocketbook...  Gosh, thankfully my kids don't eat that much yet...  So to do a bit of reminiscing.  JuJu and Kaiser Soze joined my for a visit to The Boss after our last Sunday hockey of the year.

In an attempt to relive my youth, I decided to tackle a lunch combo and another dish.  I started off with a bowl of "Borscht" and a roll (I chose a mini-pineapple bun).  The use of "borscht" is a loose association when dining at a Hong Kong-style cafe. Don't expect beets nor sour cream, instead think vegetable soup.  And that it was being hearty with lots of veggies and a very mild tomato broth.  For my main, I had a choice between 2 items and I ultimately went for the Baked Seafood Rice because my Chineseness prescribed that I pick the best value item.  On that note, why did I park in front and use pay parking when I could've gotten free parking from the parkade?  Did I lose my mind?  I digress...  Anyways, the fried rice base was topped with plenty of well- prepared seafood including fish, shrimp, scallops and squid.  Being more goopy then creamy, the starch-thickened sauce was mild and did the job in providing moisture.

My second dish was the Fried Vermicelli with Duck and Pickled Vegetable.  Interestingly, the plate of food was noticeably bigger in portion compared to the Metrotown location.  It exhibited good wok heat where there was caramelization of flavours.  There was an adequate amount of duck meat, but it was a bit light on the pickled veg and soy.  Hence, the flavours were too mild bordering on bland.  Not to be outdone, JuJu had 2 dishes as well starting with the Fried Satay Rice Noodle with Beef.  A little on the greasy side, the plate of noodles was also a good portion consisting of tender beef and just cooked peppers.  The flavours were good with the sweetness of pineapple and the slight spice from the thick sauce.  However, we detected a bit of curry which may or may not have been intentional.  Don't get me wrong, we liked the taste, but we were just not sure it was a mistake (leftover flavours from the previous dish in the wok, or it was supposed to have curry in it).

Ironically, his second dish was Chicken Curry with Rice.  The dark hue of the sauce gave intentions of spiciness and bold flavours.  Alas, it was actually quite mild with a certain level of sweetness.  It had a good consistency and an appealing taste.  The chunks of chicken were surprisingly moist while the fried potatoes did they job.  Kaiser Soze ended up with the Baked Ox-Tongue on Rice.  He offered some of his tongue and I bit.  Uh.  It was moist with a bit of chew and was bathed in a tomato sauce which exhibited more tomato paste than ketchup.  Therefore, it wasn't as sweet with more of a tang.  Remarkably, The Boss has not changed much from years past.  The menu items are all still there and tasting very much like they did before.

The Good:
- Decent portions
- Decent eats across the board
- Food comes out quick

The Bad:
- Service is pretty basic
- Can be quite busy