Chongqing Noodle

Needing to get a quick lunch before we headed out for the day, we made the short drive to Chongqing Noodle closeby to the nearly-deserted Newpark Mall.  For those who are unaware, Chongqing Noodles is a popular dish from, well, Chongqing in China.  For me at least, there aren't many places to get this dish in Vancouver, B.C., but it is nice to see there is a restaurant dedicated to it down here in the Bay Area.

Before we got to the noodles, we had a couple of cold dishes to whet our palats.  The first was the Spicy Cucumbers which were devoid of their skin.  That made for a muted crunch, yet at the same time, the marinade penetrated into each piece more effectively.  Hence, there was noted spice and some tanginess.  I would've liked a bit more salt though.

I was so delighted to see Spicy Beef Tripe on the menu and yep, that was a no-brainer to order it.  Consisting of thin slices, the honeycomb tripe was tender, yet still maintained a soft chewiness.  To me, this is the ideal texture for this type of tripe.  There was textural contrast from the crunchy celery and added aroma from the cilantro.  Unlike the cucumbers, this was more savory and spicy.

Here we are with the Chongqing Noodles.  The most distinguishing feature of these noodles is the inclusion of tender yellow peas.  For this version, they were served whole rather than being smashed.  We also found some the usual minced pork as well.  When combined with the chewy white noodles, this bowl had numbing spice and nuttiness.  Some creaminess was provided by the soft peas.

We also had another bowl of noodles in the Stewed Pig's Feet Soup Noodles.  Cooked until the skin was soft and gelatinous while the fat being rendered, the pig's feet also featured melt-in-my-mouth meat.  These were flavorful on their own, but the mildly spicy broth helped things along with some nuttiness to go with the heat.  Noodles were al dente and stood up to the broth.

Lastly, we went for the Vegetarian Buns.  These featured a fluffy bun that was fairly thin.  Hence, there was a wealth of tender, yet not mushy, greens in the middle.  They were seasoned just right to provide enough flavor for the entire bao.  Overall, the food at Chongqing Noodle was solid and reasonably-priced.  People were nice there and the portion sizes were generous too.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Well-portioned

- Nice people

The Bad:

- Limited menu

A Bao Time

*Restaurant is permanently closed*

I'm sure you have noticed that many restaurants are pretty pricey these days.  Even going for congee and noodles can cost you a pretty penny.  So really, eating out is a luxury, even if it is fast food.  Well, there is a form of fast food that is still quite affordable and tasty.  The stuff from A Bao Time (love the pun...) is definitely affordable for most people and they don't cheap out on the ingredients and the size of their baos.  They are also conveniently located steps from Brighouse station in Richmond.

So let's get straight to the bao where there are 12 different versions to choose from.  We had them all so it would be too many to post all the pictures, but the 3 in this picture were Bolabola Chicken Deluxe, Spicy Crayfish and Spicy Pork with Long Bean.  As you can see in the picture, they were shy with the filling.  The bao itself was fluffy and light while still holding up to the wet ingredients.  In additon to the good BBQ pork bun, my favourite was the Bolabola with a juicy pork, salted egg yolk and sausage.  It was like the Dai Bao at New Town Bakery.  So full of stuff, it was meal in itself.

Beyond the bao, the other prominent items on display are the Ha Gau (Shrimp Dumpling) and Siu Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling).  These are ready to go just like the bao.  We sampled both of them and you know what?  These were pretty solid with all things considered.  The ha gau had a semi-thick dumpling skin, but it wasn't too chewy.  Inside, the shrimp filling was decent with a nice shrimpy bounce.  The sui mai were quite good with tender pork and a whole shrimp on top.

Digging deeper into the menu, there was also a selection of Congee.  We went for the Seafood Congee with shrimp, squid and fish.  As for the congee itself, it was on the thinner side, but was properly seasoned.  The amount of seafood was modest, yet it was cooked just enough.  So the congee itself was average, but the Salty Donut was excellent being soft and a bit chewy with a crispy exterior.  It was well-salted and could've been eaten by itself.

We also noticed they had Xiao Long Bao available and of course we had to try those too!  Turns out they were decent as well.  The dumpling skin was fairly thin (despite being stamped and not pleated) where the amount of soup was significant.  It was sweet and not greasy.  Other things on the menu included Cured Sausage, Chinese Tea Egg and Salted Duck Egg.  These items were worth a shot if you wanted to supplement your congee. So there you have it, all the food you can get at A Bao Time!  I think the bao for $2.25 - $2.99 are a good value considering the size and amount of filling.  Definitely a good snack or a meal if you eat a few of them.  One of the last cheap eats we have these days.

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

The Good:
- Cheap eat
- Bao are big and have lots of filling
- Dim Sum is decent

The Bad:
- Congee is too thin
- Mostly a walk-up spot, parking is not that easy to find  

Bao Down

*Restaurant is closed*

While I was in Miami a couple of years ago, I was planning to visit Sayaka Kitchen.  Sure, it was featured on Triple-D's and that was one reason I even knew about the place, but I was really curious about their Bao Buns (a bit repetitve as bao means bun...).  Now I never made it out there, yet it made me curious as to why there wasn't something like that here in Vancouver.  Yup, we can find Bao all over the place in the GVRD, however, most are authentic Asian restaurants.  Well, look no more, as Bao Down has come to town.

Meeting up with Sean, we decided to try nearly all of their Baos except for the vegetarian option (I wonder why?). To start, I tried the Jaws consisting of coconut-crusted Ocean-Wise Vietnamese catfish, kimchi tartar sauce, Food Pedalers microgreens & cabbage in a Thai Vinaigrette.  I found the catfish to be prepared beautifully with a crunchy shell.  Inside, it was flaky and moist.  Creamy and zesty, the tartar sauce went well with the fish as well as the slightly acidic salad.  Next up was the YVR with sesame-seared albacore tuna, wasabi mayo, baby pea shoots, avocado, sweet soy and double smoked bacon.  As evidenced in the picture, the tuna was seared lightly, hence sporting an appealingly rare centre.  It was buttery and soft which contrasted the crunchy bacon.  I didn't get much of the wasabi while the smooth avocado added a certain creamy brightness.  I felt this bao was missing something.

Onto something not from the sea (unless you think like Jessica Simpson), we tried the Bao Chicka Bao Bao with fried lemongrass and garlic marinated free-range Fraser Valley chicken breast, crispy garlic, palm sugar & fish sauce glaze, fresh cilantro, garlic scape mayo, pickled carrots and scallions.  Hidden beneath the ingredients was a large piece of chicken breast that was neither dry nor juicy.  Crispy and nicely soaked with a sweet and salty glaze, the chicken was further accented by the aromatic mayo and acidic carrots.  Appropriately named, the McDowell featured some familiar ingredients such as AAA Alberta beef patty, cheese, special sauce, onion, pickle and crisp lettuce.  Yes, think Big Mac in bao form.  You know what?  It did taste like a Big Mac where the patty was well-charred while still moist.

Back to the fish, we tried their other featured bao being the Mahalo with Ocean Wise tuna poke, crunchy taro sticks, shiso, BBQ pineapple salsa, avocado and jalapeno buttermilk slaw.  Similar to the YVR, this bao was very subtle in taste.  In fact, I had a hard time discerning any flavours other than the pineapple and herbal shiso.  The poke could've used a bit more soy in my opinion.  I enjoyed the fresh creamy avocado though.  We then moved from delicate to outright in our faces with the Two Worlds Collide!!! featuring star anise & ginger braised Paradise Valley pork belly, chicharon and crispy pork belly with hoisin glaze, carrots, daikon, scallions and gochujang.  It was indeed a contrast of textures as the braised pork belly was super soft and fatty while the crispy belly was crunchy (albeit rather dry and hard).  I definitely got the sweet hoisin hit as well as the background anise from the braised belly.  Interestingly, the gochujang was not noticeable.

Last but not least, we limped into our last bao (cuz we were full duh!).  The Flip Side was constructed of sweet soy marinated & grilled Paradise Valley pork loin, crispy garlic, pickled carrots & radish with shoyu fish sauce dressing.  I guess this was an attempt to emulate Filipino BBQ pork.  Although it wasn't as charred as I would've liked, the flavours were there.  As with all of the bao, they were a bit on the lukewarm side.  If they were served steaming hot, I think it would've gone a long way in achieving that pillowy soft texture associated with Chinese mantou.  From all the bao we tried, I thought they were not bad.  Of course some were better than others (and that is subjective) where the pricing was fair in my opinion.  Unlike others have remarked, I thought the 90's music blaring out was on fleek (LOL) as it brought me back to my youth.

The Good:
- Fair pricing
- Interesting combinations
- Loved the 90's tunes

The Bad:
- Bao were a bit cold and stiff
- Flavours could've been more bold