Jimoco Café & Pasta

Wow, this is a ol' favourite on Austin in Coquitlam...  Jimoco opened shortly after I started this blog over 16 years ago.  This Korean-run pasta joint was famous for its 2-for-1 grand opening special that lasted what seemed like forever.  Now the menu has expanded and although the 2-for-1 is long gone, their dishes are still reasonably-priced.  I've been here countless times over the years and the food is great for what it is, especially for dining in.   It was a life-saver when the kids were younger as we would eat here economically while still having a good time.  Jackie and I dropped by recently and it was great to visit an ol' friend.

We started off with the Calamari which was served with a spicy tomato dip as well as a sour cream sauce.  Crispy and fairly light, the batter was mildly seasoned.  Inside, the squid rings and tentacles were bite size and sufficiently tender.  There was an appealing chew to them.  We also had the Meatballs sitting in a bright tomato sauce.  Although small, the meatballs were almost juicy inside with a tender meatiness.  A light oven-roasted sear on the outside was a bit crispy and aromatic.

We somewhat made a custom dish by taking the Linguine Soul and adding a Chicken Parmigiana to it.  This was a fairly spicy pasta that had lingering effects without being painful.  Beyond that, the sauce itself was tangy with some sweetness.  Despite sitting in all that sauce, the linguine itself was al dente while the brininess of the ample seafood came through.  The mussels and clams were both buttery and plump with all of them open.  The piece of chicken parm was quite thin where the meat was also firm but not dry.

We had 2 dishes that were nearly identical except one was the Rose Seafood and the other was the Seafood Rose Tteokbokki.  The biggest difference except for the carb involved was the addition of fish cake and the spice level in the Rose Tteokbokki.  Otherwise, both sauces were creamy and mildly tart.  Once again, the seafood brininess was there, but not overwhelmingly so.  The pasta was al dente while the rice cakes were chewy, yet soft at the same time.

For me, whenever I see Linguine Vongole on the menu, I must have it!  Despite almost everything we had was seafood related, I just couldn't help myself.  Good call on my part though as this was good.  Once again, the pasta was firmly al dente while sitting in minimal moisture.  Despite that, the dish did not eat dry and yes, the clams were abundant here.  Good clam flavour while the pasta itself was mild-tasting with just enough seasoning.

One of the more striking dishes was the Squid Ink Cream.  Yes, the sauce was black thanks to the squid ink, but if one closed their eyes, they wouldn't even know it.  For me, it tasted creamy and rich.  There has only been a handful of times I have actually tasted the squid ink in my pasta (it has the slightest seafoodiness and earthiness).  Once again, there was ample seafood that provided a taste of the sea.  The pasta was once again al dente.

So our one non-seafood pasta was the Beef Soy.  A bit similar to the Japanese Butter Soy, this was much sweeter and more saucy.  Lots of meat juices from the sliced beef meant this was full of umami and depth.  The umami was further reinforced by the addition of mushrooms.  By the same token, the sweetness was layered since we also had sauteed onions as well.  Pasta was al dente despite the moisture and the beef was easy to chew.

Even though there is a certain Korean influence at Jimoco, I'm not entirely sure that they serve "Korean-style" pizza.  It is true the crust was a bit thicker and there was a good amount of cheese, but the Pepperoni Pizza we had was pretty much a standard North American-style pizza.  The crust itself was crunchy and chewy while the centre was a bit soggy due to the generous amount of sauce, cheese and pepperoni.  Other than that, it was non-offensive and did the trick.

Onto the desserts, we had 3 of them including the Chestnut Tiramisu, Affogato and Basque Cheesecake.  I enjoyed the flavour of the tiramisu as it was lightly sweet and had nice aroma, but the chestnut was rather dense (as it usually is).  The Affogato was pretty creamy from the hard ice cream.  However, the coffee was strong enough to balance that sweetness.  As for the Basque Cheesecake, the texture on the top, bottom and edge was silky but firm.  In the centre, it was softer and almost a bit jiggly.  It was very subtle in flavour and maybe needed just a bit more sugar.  Overall, the food at Jimoco is exactly how I remembered it - solid and especially good for the price.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post* 

The Good:
- Solid Korean-style pasta
- Reasonably-priced (nothing over $20.00)
- Decent portion size

The Bad:
- Pizza a bit soggy in the middle
- Parking in front is hard to come by

Bahubali Biryani House Downtown

Awhile back, I had the chance to try out Bahubali Biryani House in North Delta with a few other people.  It turned out to be a tasty experience with the biryani being really good (yes, it is in the name of the restaurant right?).  There was a low-key dish that I am still remembering quite fondly.  That was the Crispy Corn which was "wow", super addictive and would go really well with a tall cool one.  Now, they have a Downtown location that serves some of the same delicious items, but also features a lunch buffet for only $19.95.  For those who want to take away, they offer "all-you-can-take" for the same price.  In this economy, that is a really great deal and super flexible as you can take it to go as well.

So we came here to try that exact Buffet and also sample some of their a la carte specialties.  As you can see, there was a good selection of items available as hot food in the buffet.  We found Butter Chicken, Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Curry, Saag Paneer, Chana Masala, Aloo Matar and Onion Pakora.  We also found both Basmati and Dum Rice on the side to compliment the curries.  I thought everything looked vibrant and fresh, which cannot be said about all Indian buffets.

The curries tasted as good as they looked and surprisingly with a good amount of spice.  The Butter Chicken was creamy with a mild tanginess and earthiness.  Chicken was in good sized chunks and tender.  Loved the Saag Paneer as the cubes of cheese were soft and squishy.  The cooked down spinach sat in a semi-creamy curry that was earthy and slightly gingery.  Chicken Curry was solid with fall-apart pieces of meat while being bathed in a spicy and sweet curry that had the taste of fall flavours.  Slightly gingery, a bit sweet and of course earthy, the Chana Masala was definitely flavourful.  Same could be said about the Aloo Matar with its tomato-based curry that was, once again, earthy and slightly spicy with the sweetness of the peas.

The last 2 items that I had to try from the hot items was the Onion Pakora and Tandoori Chicken.  The pakora was crispy and fairly light with completely cooked through onion.  Maybe needing just a bit more char, the Tandoori Chicken was juicy and tender while having some spice and tang.  The rest of the buffet featured some veggies, fruit, chutneys, raita, gulab jamun and kheer.  Those chutneys were a great condiment to the spicy curries, especially the sweet and sticky Mango Chutney and tangy Tamarind Chutney.

Since Naan should be eaten fresh out of the tandoor, they make it to order for the buffet.  You have a choice between Butter Naan and Garlic Butter Naan.  We had both and they were fantastic.  Look at that char and external crispiness!  That crunch gave way to a chewier, yet soft, interior.  So much nuttiness and aroma from these two fresh breads.  They weren't shy about the ghee either as they were glistening.  Naturally, the garlic naan had some more flavour.

Moving away from the buffet, we ordered a few dishes off the regular menu.  Of course we couldn't do without the Crispy Corn.  Marinated, battered and then deep fried, the corn was super crispy and super sweet.  Being tossed with fried curry leaves, we got some real earthy aromas.  Once again, I feel that this dish is perfect with a cold beer.  The wedge of lemon was there to cut through some of the deep-fried heaviness, but honestly, I didn't use it since the aroma would've been less apparent.

To my horror, Jackie decided to order the Cilantro Chicken.  Okay, I'm not the biggest fan of cilantro, but this looked to be quite the challenge for me to eat.  But something surprising happened...  I enjoyed this dish!  The tender nuggets of chicken were bathed in plenty of greeness but it wasn't overpowering with the cilantro.  Rather, it combined well with the rest of the ingredients to create a cohesive flavour that was partially earthy, a bit spicy, somewhat tangy and of course cilantro-tasting.

We ended up with 2 sizzling Tandoori platters including the Mixed Tandoori Platter and Tandoori Prawns.  Both did indeed come out sizzling (as some places do not) and the aroma was intoxicating.  Unlike the tandoori chicken in the buffet, these tandoori items were nicely charred and smoky.  I particularly liked the fish as it was flaky and full-flavoured.  The prawns were excellent too having an intense brininess and sweetness.  Good texture on them too.

For myself, I needed to have the Goat Curry.  I just love the texture of goat and yah, I don't mind the gaminess either.   Actually, I didn't notice too much in the way of gaminess, but then again, I'm used to it, so it could be subjective.  Each piece of goat was tender with its usual gelatinous texture.  The curry was really flavourful bordering on salty but not being salty.  The spice level was great for me as it had a real bite.  Of course the usual earthiness and fall flavours came through.

We couldn't get out of here without having at least one biryani right?  So we opted for the Vijayawada Fry Piece Chicken Biryani.  As you can see, this was overflowing with basmati rice that was nutty and chewy.  Hidden underneath, there was a considerable amount of tender pieces of chicken that were the beneficiary of being fried.  Hence, they retained their juiciness and intensified their flavour.  This was pretty spicy but completely up my alley.  I could see it being a problem for some people, but I loved it.  The side of raita helped cool things down and the salan provide even more spice and nuttiness.

We also got an order each of the regular Paratha and the Spinach Paratha (only the spinach pictured) and these were good.  They were lightly browned on the outside with some leoparding while maintaining a soft fluffiness.  It had more body due to the whole wheat flour.  Nice aroma on them and with the spinach paratha being a bit more loose due to the moisture.  Overall, the food at Bahubali Downtown is fantastic with a high default spice level.  Portions are generous and the prices are affordable, especially for its location.  Would totally recommend.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Flavourful food with a high default spice level
- Affordable, especially the buffet
- Generous portion sizes

The Bad:
- A bit hidden and parking isn't the best, but most people would be in the area anyways
- Seating is a bit limited, was really busy when we were there

Pokerrito (Morgan Crossing)

Back in 2012, when the Poké craze initially began to take shape in North America, I was trying to keep up with all the new spots opening all over the place.  Seeing how it was growing exponentially, I decided to give up as I couldn't maintain the pace.  Predictably, many have come and many have gone as the market did get saturated.  However, quite a few have survived and are still doing well.  One particular chain is Pokerrito, which surprisingly I've never had a chance to do a visit.  With a menu tasting in hand, I finally got my chance at the Morgan Crossing location.

For those who aren't familiar, Pokerrito offers up classic poké bowls as well as some fusion bowls.  But as the name implies, they are known for their Poké + Burritos = Pokerrito.  Think of it as a really large sushi roll with all the goodness of poké inside.  In the picture above, you will find the Diamond Head   It was particularly impactful with the combination of spicy tuna, spicy seaweed salad, crab meat, ginger, masago, jalapeno, furikake, crispy onion and sweet chili.  Lots of spice with sweetness and tang.  This was the most flavourful of the ones we tried.

As for the Hawaiian Classic, it was much more subtle with marinated tuna, seaweed salad, sesame, radish, pineapple, sweet corn, pea shoots, tempura bits and shoyu.  As you can imagine, this was mostly sweet with some saltiness from the shoyu.and Hawaiian Classic Pokerritos.  In this picture, you will notice the nori casing and a thin layer of sushi rice. That meant we could totally taste the ingredients even more so than the bowl version.  Also, the textures were more apparent.

Now we had two different Pokerritos that resided at each end of the spectrum.  With the the Hanauma, we found something that fell somewhere in the middle.  We had it in both pokerrito and bowl form and they ate very differently.  The bowl version had much more rice, which in turn made each individual ingredient less apparent than the pokerrito.  Now it wasn't as if there was no impact.  In fact, it still tasted great with the buttery salmon, sweet imitation crab salad, ginger and wakame salad. I personally ate less of the ginger as it was sharp with a spicy and tangy bite.  In the pokerrito form, it was harder to pick out and that overshadowed the fish somewhat.  But then again, it was further enhanced by the lack of rice.

The North Shore Bowl had some elements from the Hanauma Bowl as well as the Hawaiian Classic.  Instead of salmon, we found fresh tuna with wakame salad, radish, edamame, pineapple and masago.  This was fresh-tasting with subtle flavours.  The addition of pineapple added sweet brightness and the imitation crab salad provided creaminess.  I think this would be good in pokerrito form since there would be less rice.  The tuna and pineapple would stand out even more.  Also no ginger would allow the other components to shine more so.

Onto something that was a bit different than the previous bowls, we had the Torched Ahi Tuna Bowl with soba.  Naturally, this added smokiness and varied texture within the tuna itself.  We had some slightly cooked bits while most of it was still raw and buttery.  By virtue of employing soba and seared tuna, this ate much more like a composed restaurant dish rather than quick service.  Really enjoyed the chewiness of the noodles combined with the crispy tempura bits.

If raw fish isn't your game, they also have some cooked bowls too including the Torched Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl.  If you are wondering, yes, this piece of salmon was fully cooked.  Despite that, it wasn't dry though, so it was flaky and moist with a sweet and salty sauce on top.  Nice smokiness due to the torching and lots of bite from the ginger on the side.  That was the only competing flavour in the bowl since everything else was mild.  Personally, I would've liked a more rare piece of seared salmon for this bowl, but not sure if that could be done?

Here is where we start to see some Korean fusion with the bowls.  First, we had the Torched Bulgogi Bowl.  This was aggressively sauced and then torched, which further intensified the sweetness.  We really had to mix this into the rice as it packed quite the flavour punch.  The ample beef was sliced thin and tender.  Some kimchi on the side provided some tang and mild spice.  Another variation was the Beef Bul-Dog.  So essentially bulgogi in a hot dog bun with some greens and crispy tempura bits on top.

Our last bowl was the Torched Spicy Pork Bowl.  This was just as saucy as the bulgogi bowl while adding the element of spiciness.  Once again, we had to mix this quite well to distribute the sweet and spicy sauce.  There was ample amount of pork that was tender and moist.  To compliment, we found some edamame, cubed tamago and kimchi as well as spring mix.  Great alternative for people who don't eat raw fish.

We had one more thing at the end and it was their Matcha Tiramisu.  Sure, it was a prepackaged item, but it turned out to be quite good.  The masacarpone was creamy and light while purposefully sweet.  With just a slight amount of bitterness, the matcha flavour was present but not overpowering.  Overall, the stuff at Pokerrito is solid and there was so many options available.  I love how you can have your poké as a large roll too since it not only allows for a different flavour and texture experience, you can actually have your poké and eat it too while on the go.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- You can have your poké as a handheld
- You can also have it classic style too
- Cooked items available

The Bad:
- The sauces for the bulgogi and spicy pork were rather aggressive, best to ask for it on the side 

Hakka Momo Corner

I'm sure you are aware there are many many Indian restaurants in the GVRD.  Hey, that is a good thing since I love Indian food!  However, if you are familiar, most of them feature Punjabi cuisine.  That is mainly due to the influx of immigrants from the Punjab region of India.  This is not unlike the plethora of Cantonese restaurants here due to many of the immigrants originating from Hong Kong during the 80's and 90's.  So whenever I see an Indian restaurant featuring something different, I am so interested in trying it.  This is the case with Hakka Momo Corner.  With their Indo-Chinese cuisine combined with a dash of Southern Indian, they are the only place to find Dosas in Richmond.  For those who are not familiar, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) used to have a large Hakka Chinese population of about 25,000 before the 1960's.  Therefore, Indo-Chinese cuisine is a thing and one of the lasting legacies of the influences from those Hakka Chinese.

We began with something that would be quite familiar to Chinese palates in the Sweet Corn Soup with prawns.  This was essentially a cream of corn soup that was a bit creamy and aromatically sweet.  The pops from the niblets was enjoyable as with the pieces of meaty prawns.  Even though Honey Mustard Wings are not an Indian nor Chinese dish, we wanted to try them anyways.  They were good with crispy rendered skin and meat that was still moist.  The honey mustard was subtle-tasting as there was only minimal sauce on the wings.

Staying on the same theme, we had the Chicken Lolipops that were very different than the honey mustard wings. Being Frenched, the wings had the bulk of their meat at the bottom of the drumette.  It retained more moisture and hence it was almost juicy.  The skin was crispy and coated with a slightly spicy and earthy sauce.  Of course we had to try their Steamed Momos and we got it with a chicken filling.  These were really good with a medium-thick dumpling skin that was delicate and not dense.  Inside, the moist and fairly light chicken filling was slightly sweet.  It was served with a spicy chutney that also had some tang and sweetness.

Sure, Butter Chicken originated in Dehli, but there is a version from Kolkata.  It is generally sweeter and definitely creamy like the original Delhi dish.  Since we were there on a Monday, it was actually on special for only $16.00.  This included rice and naan.  I found this one here creamy and rich with a few spices that weren't familiar compared to the Punjabi version.  It had a nice sweetness that helped temper the spices and tang.  Since they do not have a tandoor, their naan was more of the soft pita-like version.

As you can clearly see in the picture above, there was an egg in the Chicken Biryani.  This is distinctive to the Kolkata version.  Also, you will also notice that the overall look of the dish seemed to be lighter.  That was intentional as the Kolkata dish has less spices, hence it was more fragrant and subtle.  This was definitely the case here where the rice was fluffy, but not wet while the flavours were aromatic.  The large chicken leg was fork tender and naturally sweet.

We ended up trying one rice and one noodle dish that truly encapsulates the Indo-Chinese cuisine that originated in Kolkata.  We had the Chili Garlic Fried Rice as well as the Street Style Hakka Noodles.  Of the two, my preference was the noodles as they were perfectly textured being chewy and not very greasy.  In terms of taste, there was good smokiness from the wok hei and caramelized sweetness.  There was some mild spice and a bit of earthiness.  As for the rice, it was more flavourful with more spices and heat.  The rice itself was nutty and dry which was the desired texture.

We moved onto a few dishes including the Chili Prawns.  All of these dishes could be had with your protein of choice or be prepared vegetarian.  I really enjoyed the flavours of this dish was it paired well with the side of included basmati rice.  It definitely showed its Sichuan influences with spiciness and savoury-sweet tanginess.  The large prawns were perfectly cooked with a nice meaty snap.

One of my favourite dishes of the meal had to be the Crispy Honey Chili Garlic Fish.  This reminded me of the dishes I used to eat at a Sichuan restaurant out on Denman called Won More.  It was spicy, sweet, savoury and plenty aromatic.  Definitely a dish that needed plenty of rice (which was included).  The ample pieces of fish were still a bit crispy despite being wok-tossed in the thick sauce.  The meat was flaky and moist.

Okay, before you bring the pitchforks out, there was a method to the madness in ordering the Kung Pao Chicken.  It might sound like some Westernized dish, but rest assured, it is authentic (as long as it isn't ordered in a mall food court).  This was was garlicky, plenty savoury and somewhat spicy.  The chicken was in large chunks and plenty tender.  The flavours had pentrated into the meat.  Once again, a bowl of rice on deck was the perfect compliment.

As a bonus, we were served some true Southern Indian cuisine with the Dosa (with potato curry), Idli, Vada and Sambar.  The typical Southern Indian breakfast all on one plate as the Dosa combo.   The dosa featured a thin and crispy lentil crepe filled with a lightly spicy potato curry.  Hence, it was vegetarian.  The vada was crispy with a firm and spiced interior while the idli was also firm with its classic spongy texture.  Naturally, these were accompanied by Sambar, which was mild with some tanginess.  On the side, we found the classic coconut chutney which had some spice, aromatics and hits of ginger.  Right beside it, we found another common chutney in the red chutney that was the spicier of the two.  Overall, the food at Hakka Momo Corner is solid and well-priced.  Definitely something different and completely unique for its location.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Classic Indo-Chinese flavours featuring a combination of Chinese and Indian spices

- They have Southern Indian breakfast (Idli, Vada and Dosa)

- Well-priced

The Bad:

- Wasn't expecting them to have a tandoor for one item, but the naan wasn't my favourite