The Victor (Mother's Day Brunch)

Normally, we don't celebrate Mother's Day on the actual day.  Being practical people that we are, we tend to avoid the crowds and the inflated prices that are generally found at restaurants.  Hence, we do it the day before or maybe even the week afterwards.  However, there are perks to do it on the actual day.  One of which is the elaborate brunches available at many of the hotel restaurants in town.  This year, we did do a proper Mother's Day at The Victor located in the Parq Hotel.  I've been to the Sunday Disco Brunch here before and it was great.  So we knew what to expect this time around.

To facilitate the Sunday brunch buffet, they have to spread out the food into different sections.  The main part of the spread is near the sushi bar, with the bar itself being the main focal point.  The "lineup" starts with some smaller items and Salads.  I didn't include the romaine and mesclun greens but they served as the base for the rest of the items and the salad dressings.  One item of note was the devilled eggs, they were really salty.

 

Once past the salads and little bites, we moved onto the Sushi Rolls as well as some Poké.  In general, the rolls were pretty typical, yet did feature some chewy sushi rice and fresh ingredients.  I thought the poke was quite good with large chunks of either salmon or ahi tuna mixed with their respective sauces.  I wished there was some rice to go with it.

 

Onto the showstopper section, we found a selection of Oysters on the half shell, Cocktail Prawns and split Snow Crab Legs.  Even though I would've preferred king crab, that would've put the cost up by a lot.  With that being said, the snow crab legs were pretty large and meaty.  Not bad.  Oysters were shucked well and they weren't too big, hence they went down easy.

 

Over at the Carvery, we found BBQ pork which was decent and BBQ Salmon, which was a bit over and dry.  The Ham was great being baked until super tender and buttery.  As much as it wasn't really a carvery item, the Shakshuka was tasty with silky eggs in a earthy, tangy and slightly spicy tomato sauce.  Right beside it, the Prime Rib Roast was tender, juicy and mostly medium-rare.

 

Adjacent to the Carvery was a selection of Breakfast Items that featured sausages, bacon, smashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.  As you can see, the eggs were completely runny and not cooked to oblivion.  Hence, they were silky and soft.  The bacon was lean and crispy while the sausages were meaty and well-seared.  Potatoes were crispy with a soft interior while tossed with peppers and onions.  Although I didn't have one, you could get a custom omelette as well.

 

Over at the bar, we found a Dessert Spread with different cakes, cupcakes and cookies.  I particularly enjoyed the carrot cake as it was moist, nutty and sweet.  Back across the sushi bar, we found a Power Bowl station with the usual ingredients as well as a bunch of fruit such as orange slices, green & red grapes, strawberries, pineapple and watermelon. 

 

Finally, one cannot leave any buffet brunch at The Victor without hitting up their famous Candy Bar.  Now the picture you see above is from their Disco Brunch because the one at the Mother's Day Brunch was super busy and some items were getting empty (although they were constantly refilling).  So this is a much better picture.  Overall, the brunch was quite good with quality items that were generally well-prepared.  Sure, it is pricey, but you must take into account the service, Downtown location, quality and selection of food as well as the beautiful dining space.

The Good:

- Generally solid eats

- Nice dining space

- Excellent service

The Bad:

- Since they have to makeshift their buffet stations, sometimes there is a bottleneck at the start of the lineup

- Dessert selection is fine, but could be more refined

Four Season Buffet

Way back in early January, we made our way to Burlington and paid a visit to Four Season Buffet.  Yes, we drove all the way there to eat.  I'm sure some people would like to point out that Wonderful Buffet in Bellingham is much closer and cheaper.  However, I would like to say that I've been to Wonderful many times and it is merely "okay".  I think the price is what lures people in.  So I was interested in how the slightly more expensive Four Season would compare.

Of course we would attack the Sushi Station first and there was a modest amount of sushi rolls, nigiri and marinated seafood.  This was a slightly bigger selection than Wonderful, but considerably smaller than what you'd find at Harvest Buffet in Tacoma.  Overall, this was acceptable with a balanced amount of rice for the rolls and nigiri.  The ingredient quality was good and things were constructed decently.  I liked how the specialty rolls were not all California roll based.

After grabbing our sushi plates, the next course of action is to do what we usually do - go get some Seafood!  We ended up with some snow crab legs, crayfish, mussels, clams, fried butterflied shrimp, salt & pepper shrimp, calamari and baked seafood in crab shell.  I would say the highlight was the snow crab as it was still springy in texture and briny.  The fried shrimp had a good snap texture while the clams were buttery.  Didn't like the baked crab shell as it was heavy and overcooked.  Off to the side, we also found a selection of soups including egg drop, hot & sour and wonton.  These were typical with the hot & sour being the best of the bunch.  The wontons were not very good.

Our third plate consisted of a random assortment of items that included BBQ Ribs, Walnut Prawns, Baked Mushroom Caps, Sausage, Orange Chicken, Stir-Fried Veggies and Fried Rice.  I wasn't a fan of the ribs as the meat wasn't that tender.  Nice char on them though.  Walnut shrimp was good with a sweet mayo sauce.  Orange chicken was tender but the batter was a bit bready.  Veggies were cooked properly where they weren't soggy.

After all that, we made our way to the Mongolian Grill section of the buffet.  I went ahead and chose my items and then went over and presented it to the grill chef.  I also selected the sauces I wanted (Garlic and Teriyaki in this case) and waited for it to be prepared.  The noodles were nicely caramelized and al dente.  Shrimp had a sweet snap while the veggies were more or less a bit soft.  As for the beef, it was sliced too thick and hence, was on the chewier side.

Onto the Dessert Station, we found various pre-packaged cakes, Jello, mango pudding and fruit.  Nothing particularly amazing here, but it did the job.  I loaded up on the fruit because it was a refreshing way to end the gluttony.  There was also soft-serve ice cream available.  Overall, Four Season Buffet is a great value in my books.  The food is acceptable enough and the selection is pretty good for the price.  About that price (as of January 2025), well, it is quite complex:

Mon - Thurs Lunch $11.99

Friday Lunch $15.99

Saturday Lunch $16.99

Monday - Thursday Dinner $18.99

Friday Dinner $20.99

Saturday Dinner $21.99

Sunday All-Day $22.99 

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Decent
- Good variety

The Bad:
- Well, it is a buffet, if you don't have reasonable expectations, then some things will be subpar

Gyubee

Two Summers ago, we were back East visiting Quebec City and Montreal.  We've been there before and it is always a pleasure to revisit the sights and sounds.  Naturally, we also had some excellent eats, particularly in Montreal.  Changing it up a bit, we made our way to Ottawa as well.  Strangely, this was our first time in our Nation's capital and well, it was fine.  TBH, Quebec City and Montreal are much more interesting.  Sorry Ottawa.  However, we did try Gyubee for the first time in Byward Market.  We came away mighty impressed with AYCE hybrid Japanese grill.  I say hybrid because they feature quite a few Korean items as well.  Finally, we get a location in Richmond and of course, we made our way out to try it!

So they do have an online wait list, but all of your party has to be present to be seated.  You have a 2-hour limit and they enforce this diligently.  If you are arriving at peak times, be prepared to wait for an hour plus.  So we got right down to eating and ordered everything we could.   Yes, Gyubee is a Japanese Grill, but in reality, it is Korean-style.  Hey, nothing wrong with that as we had some Banchan (Kimchi, Tofu, Spinach & Sprouts) and Takoyaki.  I wasn't a huge fan of the kimchi as it was more sour than spicy.  Furthermore, this was not the version with shrimp paste, so there was no complexity to the flavours.  Otherwise, the rest were pretty typical.  Takoyaki was decent being soft and fluffy.

I'll get right to some of the cooked dishes before I talk about the meats.  These included Bibimbap, Steak Cutlet, Nagoya-Style Chicken Wings and Tantan Noodles.  No joke, the Bibimbap was really good.  From the chewy rice to the delicious veggies, the bowl just worked.  We had enough gochujang for sweet spice and also a runny egg yolk for silkiness.  Steak Cutlet was okay being a touch chewy.  Wings were great, they were crispy with lots of flavour and juicy meat inside.  Tantan Noodles were forgettable as there was an absence of spice and nuttiness.

As for the meats, I'm not going to cover all of them because it got chaotic at the table with everything hitting the table at once.  I'll talk about my favourite cuts including the Prime Kalbi.  These fatty slices of short rib grilled up well and were buttery soft.   The same could be said about the Black Pepper Kalbi as it shared mostly the same properties except with a more robust bite.  I also enjoyed the Pork Belly as it was a good mix of fat and meat.  It cooked up buttery and had great flavour.

There were some items served in tin foil containers that cooked on the grill for designated minutes.  These included the Sake Clams, Butter Corn, Salmon and Enoki Mushrooms.  Really enjoyed these as the time suggested on the tin foil lids were exact (as long as they weren't pushed off to the side of the grill).  Clams came out buttery and sweet while the corn was also sweet and even more buttery.  The salmon was cooked just enough and was flaky.

Unlike the location in Ottawa, the one here in Richmond does not serve Melona for dessert.  Rather, they have Chapman's Sundaes in addition to their fantastic Crème Brûlée.   For this one we had the crème brûlée was not torched enough, but still featured a crunchy sugar topping.  The custard was rich and creamy while purposefully sweet.  Overall, our meal was decent, but somehow, I enjoyed the one in Ottawa more.  Maybe with some time, they will get up to speed and I won't be thinking that.  I do wonder if the higher prices here (generally $10.00 more than Ottawa) would make this not "worth it".  It is $50.99 on weekdays and $53.99 on weekends for adults.  This is quite similar pricing to AYCE hot pot at Chocho, so it isn't outrageous.  I guess it depends if you want the variety and actually can eat your money's worth.

The Good:
- Pretty good meats
- Service was pretty efficient
- Their Crème Brûlée is pretty good with all things considered

The Bad:
- Crazy busy with a long wait time
- Is it worth it? Depends on what you are looking for

CHOCHO Hot Pot

I am really late to the party when it comes to blogging about Chocho Hot Pot.  However, better late than never right?  One of the reasons it has taken me so long is the difficulty getting a reservation.  I finally remembered the day I needed to book in advance to get the date and time I wanted.  So you know, there is 2 hour free parking at the back as long as you register your car.  Situated in the old Earl's, there isn't very much space for the serve-yourself portion of the AYCE hot pot.  We got a front row seat as we were sitting adjacent to it.

Most of the items are at the self-serve bar, but you must order the Soup Base and Meats from the supplied tablet.  We ended up having a variety of broths including my half-Tomato and half-Tom Yum.  I thought the tomato was decent with enough impact I could taste the tanginess.  However, it could've been even more powerful in my opinion.  Reduce it a bit more perhaps?  The same could be said about the Tom Yum.  It was fragrant but I was missing the bold flavours such as lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime.  It was quite muted.  However, the Pork Broth was quite good with meatiness and natural sweetness.  We also had the Sukiyaki, which was balanced in terms of saltiness and sweetness.

Onto the meats, we ordered all them including the Rib-Eye, Fatty Beef Slices, Flat Iron Beef, AAA Chuck Slices, Pork Belly, New Zealand Lamb and Chicken Thigh.  Other than the Flat Iron, the rest of the meats were disappointedly chewy.  No matter how we cooked it (just barely cooked or cooked for a long time), the beef just wasn't tender.  On the other hand, the pork belly was quite nice being meaty with just enough fat.  It did come out tender and buttery.  Lamb was also good with just the right amount of marbling.  Chicken was great too, being tenderized and cooked up nicely, no matter how long you left it in the pot.

Onto the self-serve Sauce Bar, we found a modest array of options that do the job for most people.  For some odd reason, our server provided us with the house blend sauce that wasn't everyone's preference.  We ended up going to get a second custom sauce for ourselves.  There were the usual things like soy, sriracha, vinegar, oyster sauce, garlic, cilantro, green onion, chilis, seafood sauce, satay sauce, sesame sauce, sesame oil, chive sauce and chili oil.  On the side, we found some kimchi, edamame and fruit.

Over at the buffet bar, we had 2 sections dedicated to Vegetables, Soy Products and Noodles.  These were well-stocked and kept orderly by the staff.  These included Cabbage, Tong Ho, Spinach, Napa Cabbage, Fried Bean Curd Roll, Rice Noodles, Quail's Egg, Woodear, Seaweed Knots, Raw Egg, Bamboo Shoots, Yam Noodles and Tomatoes.  Across from these options, we found Corn, Pumpkin, Shiitake, Broccoli, Enoki, Taro, Lotus Root, Bean Curd Skin, Wintermelon, Tofu, Frozen Tofu, Yam and Carrot.

Other than the Meats we ordered from our tablet, there was a selection available in the self-serve section.  These included Mussels, Black Beef Tripe, Beef Tripe, Fish Ball with Roe, Crab Stick, Spam, Pork Blood, Fish, Head-on Shrimp, White Shrimp, Fish Tofu, Cuttlefish Balls, Pork Balls and Beef Balls.  Most of the items were pretty typical with the fish being tenderized.  The tripe was pretty chewy and needed to be cooked for a long time to soften.

Adjacent to the raw stuff, there was a selection of Dim Sum including BBQ Pork Buns, Salted Egg Yolk Buns, Ha Gau and Siu Mai (they were steaming the Siu Mai, hence none in the picture).  I thought these were all pretty decent with the salted egg yolk buns being on point with a runny aromatic centre.  Next to it, we found Portuguese Tarts, Beef Tarts, Fried Shrimp & Pork Wontons, Fried Cheese Wontons, Fried Sesame Balls, Brown Sugar Rice Cake and Yogurt Twist.  Really enjoyed the egg tarts where the shell was buttery and flaky.

Right next to these fried items, we found a section mainly dedicated to Noodles.  They had an array of fresh multi-colured noodles, dried noodles, udon and steamed rice.  I particularly enjoyed the fresh noodles as they had a chewy texture (as long as you don't overcook them). Moving onto the desserts, we had a Candy Station with various gummies including Fuzzy Peach, Coke Bottles and Worms.  These were still soft and a nice bite after a filling meal.

Right across from the gummies, we found the builid-your-own Tasty Iced Jelly dessert station.  It had all of the beans, jelly and syrup to make a custom dessert.  Due to all of the syrups around, the floor was rather sticky in this area.  That was fine and dandy but the Soft-Serve Ice Cream Cone is what we were waiting for at the end of our meal.  It was great, soft and silky with a real sweet milky taste.  Great finish to a surprisingly average meal considering all of the great reviews.  I do think it is still a good value considering that it is related to Dolar Shop, but compared to another AYCE such as Liuyishou, I think it is unnecessary to spend the extra money.  The meats at Liuyishou are more tender in general and you get most of the same items for about $20.00 less per person.

The Good:

- Personal hot pots are great IMO

- Lots of choice

- Service was great

The Bad:

- Meats were generally not tender

- Self-serve stations are cramped (too bad given the existing layout from the previous restaurant)