Happy Tree House BBQ (Kingsway)

It's been quite some time since the last time I visited Happy Tree House BBQ.  This was pre-pandemic and all I can remember is that they were really busy and the K-Pop music was far too loud.  However, I do love meat on a stick and when Costanza wanted to meet up (a bit of a pun regarding one of their competitors) for eats, we settled on the Kingsway location of Happy Tree.  It was a convenient drive for them, but I'm still not a fan of their parking lot.

Naturally, we ordered a variety of meat skewers, but the first thing to arrive was the Crispy Tofu served with a sweetened soy dip.  This featured small deep fried wedges of medium-firm tofu.  The outside was uniformly crispy without being hard nor greasy.  There wasn't any seasoning on the tofu itself as it left the heavy lifting for the soy.  Nothing very interesting about this dish other than it was fine and it served its purpose.

Onto the skewers, the Sausages, Lamb and Chicken Wings were the initial ones to arrive.  They really should label the sausages to hot dog wieners instead.  They were fine and dusted in a lot of paprika.  Same could be said for the wings as they were not as spicy as they appeared.  The skin was rendered and crispy while the meat was still moist.  The lamb skewers rocked as they were moist and delicious sporting the usual cumin and spice.

Interestingly, the Scallops arrived in a half shell and were BBQ'd as such.  I've been to other places before and the scallops have been bigger and were skewered. Hence there would be grill marks and much more caramelization.  For these ones, they were cooked right being soft and buttery, but they might as well been steamed.  Sure, these were too expensive, so I wasn't expecting big scallops.  However, I wasn't a fan of its preparation.

Back to meat on a stick, we were served the Pork and Chicken Skewers next.  As you can see, the chicken skewers featured peppers in-between the chunks of meat and that worked well.  Since chicken can be rather bland, this added both extra flavour and moisture.  Seasoning was mild, but had a bit of spice and earthiness.  As for the pork, it was less juicy than the chicken but was seasoned similarly.  The kids seemed to like them

The Angus Beef Skewers made up the bulk of our order since the kids wanted it.  Turned out to another good choice as the meat was tender with a meaty chew.  It was also seasoned well with plenty of aromatics and a touch of spice.  We also got some Chicken Gizzards and they were predictably chewy.  However, they were not dry and for those who enjoy that texture, it was good.  Once again, the seasoning was tasted similar, but still tasty.

Initially, we wanted to get a spicy fish, but since the kids don't prefer it, we ended up with the Fish with Pickled Veggie.  We added beancurd skin, quail eggs and tofu for good measure.  For $29.95 excluding the add-ons, this was a huge portion sporting flaky and moist fish with a broth that was mild, yet flavourful.  It did have a slight tang to it from the pickled mustard greens as well as the sweetness from the fish.

For no other than to add carbs to our meal, we got the Grilled Buns as well as the Chinese Donut with Cheese.  Nothing really special with the grilled buns.  We found them a bit dry though.  Nice crunch on the exterior.  The donut was a bit greasy, yet fun to eat due to the plethora of melted cheese in the middle.  In the end, the meal at Happy Tree was exactly how I remembered it being solid and decently-priced.  Yes, the K-Pop was still loud (maybe less loud this time) while the service was good if not indifferent.  Solid choice for BBQ skewers.

The Good:
- Decent eats
- Okay pricing
- Fairly big restaurant

The Bad:
- Service was fine but indifferent
- Parking lot sucks