Tri-Bull Noodle

Ever since Gordo suffered his injury, we were not only down a man on our hockey team, we were down one in our eating crew.  Consider the fact that many of the regulars do not play the Spring season, it leaves only Milhouse and myself to look for eats after the game.  So gone are the grandiose plans for visiting a place with a large menu or an Asian restaurant that requires sharing of many plates.  Hence, we didn't travel very far and checked out the newly-opened Tri-Bull Noodle located in the former Hot Luck.

We ended up ordering a couple of bevvies including a Milk Tea for myself and a Vancouver Sunset for Milhouse.  Normally, I'm not a huge fan of milk tea, but I thought this was one had a good balance of milkiness and natural tea flavour.  It wasn't overly sweet where I could taste the ingredients.  Milhouse thought his drink was refreshing and light as well as easy on the sugar.  In terms of eats, we shared the Crispy Salty Peppery Chicken to start.  These were rather large in size which helped ensure there was juicy and moist chicken to be had.  However, the exterior was not crispy at all.  Although well-salted with a touch of spice, we didn't notice any other distinguishing flavours.

I got one more appie in the Marinated Platter consisting of beef shank, tripe and marinated tofu.  This was fairly standard, but good at the same time.  I found the shank to be tender and gelatinized with some hits of 5-spice.  The tripe was toothsome while still cooked enough to be tender to chew.  Firm and well-seasoned, the tofu was sliced thin.  As for my soup noodle, I went for their signature House Special Beef Noodle and although the intent of the broth was to be clear and clean, it was far too mild for my tastes.  I could barely detect any meat flavour or salt for all that mattered.  On the positive side, the noodles were al dente while the thin strips of meat melted in my mouth.

Milhouse went for the Tomato Beef Noodle Soup and there was more impact than the one I had.  Mind you, it was all relative since mine didn't have much flavour to begin with.  With that being said, the tomato was definitely there is a light sweet manner.  I would've preferred more tang and salt though.  The chunks of fatty beef were super moist while the noodles were on point.  In the end, I guess the ol' adage that food is subjective rings true.  For us, the food was decent, but the broths are far too mild and lacking impact for our tastes.

The Good:
- Drinks are okay
- Spacious dining space

The Bad:
- Bland broth
- Inattentive service