Man Tung Cafe (Dinner Combo Menu)

Yes, this is not a repost of the last blog entry on Man Tung Cafe.  We have already established that they have a good selection of HK-style cafe dishes.  Prices are reasonable (generally under $20.00) and the portions are generous.  But similar to other restaurants of the same ilk, they also offer full-on Chinese multi-course meals.  Since they have Chinese BBQ as well, their Dinner Combos feature one of their BBQ dishes and a choice of either 2 or 3 dishes.  They range from $59.00 to $128.00.

We opted for the Man Tung Half Roast Duck Dinner Combo.  Hence, we started with the Roast Duck.  Nice colour on the skin with a lacquered finish while being crispy and fairly rendered.  There was an aromatic roasted flavour with both the skin and the meat.  Juicy and tender, the meat was also well-brined.  Overall, a solid BBQ Duck when compared to others in town.

The first of the 3 dishes we chose was the Chicken with black truffle sauce.  This was also quite good where the free-range chicken was moist with that classic firm meatiness.  In an appealing shade of yellow, the skin was gelatinized and was flavourful.  As you can see in the picture, the amount of truffle sauce was conservative and I didn't mind it as it was just enough.  The chicken itself was bordering on salty, but as such, it wasn't devoid of flavour.

We selected a veggie dish so we could feel a bit healthier.   It came in the form of Stir-Fried Scallops with Broccoli.  As you can see, they used the reformed scallops once again.  Personally, I'm not a fan of these as the texture is quite different than an actual scallop of that size.  However, since this combo was only $88.00, I shouldn't be complaining.  With all that being said, they were still cooked well with a nice wok sear and still being soft and bouncy.  Broccoli was on point too being cooked through but still crunchy.

The best dish of the bunch was the Satay Beef Claypot with vermicelli.  This one was loaded with tenderized slices of beef that still had natural meat texture.  The satay was briny and somewhat spicy.  Underneath, the chewy vermicelli was fairly loose and not clumpy.  Yet, they didn't achieve this by adding more oil.  Hence, it was easy to eat and took on the sauce evenly.

We ended up adding one more item to get a sense of their BBQ meats.  The Rice Plate that you see in the picture was topped with BBQ Pork, BBQ Duck, BBQ Goose and Free-Range Chicken.  With a balanced amount of fat, the BBQ Pork was juicy and tender.  The marinade mostly penetrated the meat with plenty of sweetness and slight smokiness from the bark.  Roast Goose was quite good since it was juicy and tender.  Skin was also nicely lacquered and crispy.  The chicken was very much the same one found in the truffle chicken, so the texture was gelatinous and meaty.  Lots of flavour from the saltiness.  Overall, this was a good meal with well-prepared food at a reasonable price.

*All food was complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Large portions
- Well-priced

The Bad:
- Once again, I would like to see an option for real scallops as the reformed ones aren't the same

café de A

Since I was picking up my car from DRX down on Hammersmith Way, I felt it was an opportunity to try out the new Hong Kong-style cafe that replaced Danny's Wonton in Ironwood Plaza.  I actually made 2 visits here since both times, there was only 2 of us.  Coincidentally, the second visit was when I dropped by DRX once again for their 10th anniversary car meet.  I guess this is where I'll eat from now on if I have to go to DRX!

The one thing I want to discuss right off the bat is the service.  When they aren't busy, it is proficient and decent.  Some servers are friendlier than others though.  But once it gets busy, then you will be lucky to flag anyone down.  That was the case for both visits.  Onto the food, we started with a choice of soup and for myself, I had the Cream of Ham & Corn with a side of garlic toast.  This was pretty typical, but good nonetheless.  It was semi-thick with the sweetness of milk and of course the corn.

For our first dish, we had the classic Baked Pork Chop Rice.  It was a decent portion where the fried rice base was dry (in a good way) and nutty.  It was the perfect recipient for the tomato sauce.  I found it to be rather mild-tasting in need of a bit more tanginess.  Possibly a bit more tomato paste in conjunction with ketchup would do the trick.  The viscosity was on point and the smattering of real shredded cheese was welcomed.  The pork chop itself was thick and tender while not being dry.

We also had another usual HK-style dish in the Baked Portuguese Chicken Rice.  This was quite good as the sauce also had the desired viscosity where it was just thick enough without being goopy.  It was creamy and aromatic from the coconut cream/milk and had that hint of curry.  Nice sweetness that was not over-the-top.  The pieces of chicken were tender while the potatoes were deep-fried first which prevented them from falling apart.

They also have Chinese BBQ available and we got the 3-Item Platter with BBQ Duck, BBQ Pork and Roast Pork.  Gotta say this was all legit.  By virtue of being the pork belly, the roast pork, was juicy, buttery and tender.  It was nicely dry brined where the salt penetrated the meat while the crackling was crispy and light.  The BBQ duck had a nice lacquer colour with crispy skin.  The meat was moist and tender where the star anise brine was present.  Lastly, the BBQ pork was also good being sweet and savoury with a moist texture.

On my next visit, I had to go for another typical HK-style cafe dish in the Spaghetti Bolognese.  This was decent with al dente pasta topped with enough meat sauce to coat.  It was thick and rich with a mild tang and meaty notes.  I could get the natural sweetness of the onions as well.  Once again, the melted real shredded cheese added nuttiness and of course, stringiness.  

Also tried their Clubhouse Sandwich and it as fully-loaded with bacon, fried egg, ham, chicken steak, cheese, lettuce and tomato.  Of course it was served on toasted crustless white bread.  Things were prepared properly with crispy bacon and juicy chicken.  The Cavendish fries in the middle were fried perfectly until crispy.  Overall, the food at café de A is competent with a few real stars (BBQ and the Clubhouse).  Would come back if I'm going to DRX.  However, the service does give me pause.  Not that they are rude or anything, but it just gets difficult to flag someone down when it gets busy.  That delays getting things packed and the bill.  I think for their benefit, they might want to get people out the door more quickly too as they do have lineups starting around 11:00am.

The Good:
- Competent food with some highlights
- Lots of parking (unlike many other Richmond restaurants)
- Fair portion sizes

The Bad:
- Service is fine when not busy, but when it is busy, it is hard to get any

Congee Queen

Having just landed in TO and having to drop off our stuff at the hotel, then needing to make the Jann Arden concert at Massey Hall, we decided to go simple for dinner.  On our way walking to Massey Hall, we considered a few options, but ultimately went to an ol' Toronto Cantonese standby in Congee Queen on Yonge Street.  This local chain sports 9 locations and dishes up large portions of Cantonese classics at reasonable prices.  They aren't known for their service, but hey, I got mostly decent servers on both visits.

Yep, we came here twice with the first time, we had to get their namesake.  We went for the classic in the Preserved Egg and Salted Pork Congee.  At first, I was a bit skeptical of how they diced the egg.  It was in little bits strewn throughout the congee.  The same could be said about the pork.  However, that meant each spoonful was loaded with both components.  That ensured we had the umaminess of the egg with the saltiness of the pork at full effect.  The congee itself was really good being thick, but not too thick, until the last drop.  It was well-seasoned too without being salty.

Going for another classic, we had the Wonton Noodles.  This was quite good with the wontons being plump and large.  The shrimp filling was meaty and had good brininess and sweetness.  There was enough seasoning and a touch of sesame oil.  Nice firm snap texture from the shrimp that was appealing.  The wonton noodles were bouncy with a nice chew.  The one part that could've been better was the soup as it was not as complex and aromatic as Wonton Hut.

Arriving as a huge pile, the Stir-Fried Vermicelli with minced beef and chives in XO sauce was really good.  Despite being so light and almost fluffy, there was barely any greasiness.  That was the result of good wok hei where things were cooked quickly at high heat.  There was some smokiness and definitely caramelization.  Seasoning was on point with some brininess and spice.  Textures were all there too including the chewy noodles, tender meat and crispy veggies.

We ended up with one more item in the Crispy Deep Fried Tofu Bites.  Another properly executed dish where the silken tofu was deep fried without falling apart (these are rather delicate).  Beyond the appealingly crispy exterior, the inside was classic silky and soft tofu.  There was enough seasoning on the outside in terms of salty pepperiness that we really didn't need to dip it into the side of mayo.  In fact, I'm not sure if the mayo was really needed at all.

Near the end of the trip, we went back to try a few more dishes including the Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice.  Once again, it was an enormous portion.  Even though the rice was beautifully wok-fried with a nice nuttiness and slight smokiness, the texture was not as chewy as I would've liked.  Despite that, it was still solid and none too greasy.  One thing that could've been better was the seasoning as the rice was not as salty as we would've expected.

With another rice dish, we had the Roast Pork and BBQ Duck on steamed rice.  Gotta say that the BBQ meats were quite solid.  This was especially true with the Roast Pork as it was the belly and hence was super buttery and tender.  It was well-salted and ate well on its own.  The crackling was crispy and not overly hard.  One of the best versions of this I've had in awhile.  As for the duck, it featured crispy lacquered skin that had fairly well-rendered fat.  The meat was tender and moist.

Our last dish was the classic Sweet and Sour Pork.  The portion size was somewhat normal here, but each chunk of pork was not.  Look at the size of those things!  Also, since this fried from raw, the meat remained moist and tender.  Some places par-fry the meat and the second go around yields something too fried and dry.  The sauce was balanced with equal parts sweet and sour.  Overall, we quite enjoyed the food at Congee Queen.  It came in large portions and was reasonably-priced.

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Large portions
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Service is hit and miss

Liuyishou Hot Pot & BBQ (Robson)

Okay, you might be wondering why there is yet another Liuyishou post on my blog.  Also, why is it at the Robson location as I've visited it not that long ago.  Well, there are a few reasons for this.  First of all, I've never had the AYCE dinner menu at this spot before and more importantly, they now have the option to add AYCE BBQ in addition to the hot pot for only for $32.99 (+$2.00 on weekends and holidays).  I don't know about you, but just having the AYCE hot pot alone for that price (in Downtown by-the-way) is a steal.  Add in BBQ, then you really have an affordable meal that isn't just a burger and fries (if you haven't seen lately, that will cost you $25.00+ at most places).

In addition to their AYCE menu that you check off and hand over to the staff, there is also a Self-Serve section that consists of noodles, fish balls, tofu products and the sort.  This is a great way in cutting down the time waiting for items and being able to get cooking right away.  Next to it is the Sauce Bar, where you can make your custom dip for all the food you cook.  It isn't the most comprehensive selection, but you can create a pretty tasty concoction.  Over to the left of this section, you will find some braised pork bones as well as a jelly dessert.

Right beside the Sauce Bar, we found a few items including Boiled Peanuts, Grape Tomatoes, Pickled Daikon & Carrots, Orange Wedges, Spicy Chicken and Shrimp Chips.  Next to it, we found a selection of hot food too with fried chicken wings, salted crispy chicken and spring rolls.  There was also an adjacent chaffing tray with fried rice and 2 stir-fries.  However, that particular tray was never refilled for the 2 hours we were there.  The highlight had to be the juicy chicken wings.

So the BBQ plate sat atop the exhaust of the hot pot.  This was a space-saving way of having both types of cooking vessels.  For our hot pot broths, we chose Pork Tripe with black pepper and the Golden Chicken Broth.  Loved both as they were flavourful and naturally sweet.  Great for those who don't want spicy.  They put a piece of parchment on the BBQ plate and it was necessary as the meat got stuck on pretty hard on parts without it.  As you can see, we had the Liu's Beef & Lamb Platter that looked impressive around the hot pot.  Meats were sliced thin and cooked up tender.

In the pictures above, this was just a sample of the items that can be ordered from the AYCE menu.  These included cooked items such as Deep Fried Pork and Fried Chinese Donut.  There was also an assortment of tripe and beef aorta.  In addition, we found freshly made meatballs and also crispy sausages.  There was also a BBQ meat section that featured Signature Marinated Beef (also spicy version) and Black Pepper Chicken.  Overall, the combination of Hot Pot and BBQ with broth included as well as the wide selection of ingredients and cooked food makes this an absolute steal.  With the unaffordability of eating out these days, it is nice to see something so fulfilling for under $35.00.  Would totally do this meal again.

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

The Good:

- You get both AYCE Hot Pot and BBQ

- Reasonable price

- Lots of choices

The Bad:

- Food does get stuck onto the grill where there isn't parchment

- Self-serve area is a bottleneck and some cooked food doesn't get refilled enough  

Cantonese BBQ

There are some pretty good choices for Chinese BBQ within Greater Vancouver.  Naturally, the first thought that comes to mind is HK BBQ Master or the one across from it at Parker Place.  However, there is a another in Vancouver that could be spoken in the same breath.  It is Cantonese BBQ on Kingsway near Joyce.  I've been here countless times and finally got to eat in (rather than merely taking out, things are fresher when eating in of course).  We ended up with one of their lobster dinners that included some other dishes.

Naturally, we started with some of their famed BBQ including the Roast Pork and BBQ Duck.  As you can see in the picture, both looked pretty legit.  I've had these before but first time dine-in and yes there was a difference.  The duck skin was low in fat (must be the breed of duck) and whatever fat there was, it was rendered.  Hence it was crispy and delicious.  The duck meat was moist and well-brined as well.  As for the roast pork, it featured crispy and light crackling with juicy pork.  Very good.

So they have a couple of Lobster specials and we picked the one that included 2 Lobsters on Sticky Rice.  These were pretty small lobsters, but there was enough meat to go around.  Lobster was cooked right and it was coated in a flavourful starch-thickened sauce.  Might've needed a bit more of it since the sticky rice underneath was a bit bland and dry.  Overall, it was decent, but the one at Ho Yuen Kee is superior.

For our 3 dishes, the best of the bunch was the Peking Pork Chops.  Just on appearance alone, the sauce looked on point, especially with just enough of it to coat each piece.  Despite the sauce, each pork chop still had some crispiness on the outside while the meat itself was juicy and tender with a rebound texture.  As for the sauce, it was nicely balanced with sweetness and tanginess.  I feel this is one of the better versions I've had lately.

Since my son loves beef brisket, we decided to go for the Beef Brisket and Daikon Hot Pot.  This ended up to be pretty brothy, but we didn't mind.  Some places tend to thicken the sauce a bit more.  The pieces of brisket, which was more like beef rib finger meat, was tender and full-flavoured from the stewing.  Since the daikon was cooked separately and then added to the hot pot, it didn't take on as much flavour, but better than being too salty.

Being a bit boring, we got some veggies into our meal with the Yau Choy in consommé. This was merely whole stalks of yau choy cooked in broth with some ginger and fried whole garlic cloves.  As you can imagine, this was quite light in flavour and unless we actually ate one of the garlic cloves, it was almost undetectable.  The point of the dish is to be more "ching" or clean.  The yau choy was cooked properly maintaining a light crunch.  I won't add the pictures of my takeout orders in the past, but I can say that the BBQ Pork is just "okay" here.  The marinade doesn't penetrate the meat enough, hence it relies heavily on the dextrose glaze for impact.  I went for half-fat, half-lean and it was still not completely juicy.  Stick with the BBQ Duck here, it is one of the best in town.  In terms of dining in, the food is above average and of course you get to eat the BBQ at its optimal state.  Be aware that they are very busy and the seating is very tight.  Also, the BBQ Duck usually sells out before dinner time, so either come earlier or reserve one.

The Good:

- Excellent BBQ Duck

- Roast pork is good too

- Other dishes are above average

The Bad:

- Very busy, things sell out and seating is tight

- Horrible parking lot

The One BBQ Kitchen

For a city with so many Chinese restaurants, it is quite interesting that there aren't many more superb Chinese BBQs.  We all know the usual suspects, but the really good ones don't even number 10 in the GVRD.  So it is always nice to see new spots popping up, especially in the not-so-obvious-locations.  This would be the case of The One BBQ Kitchen out on Victoria Drive at 57th in Vancouver.  If you weren't paying attention, you might even drive right past it.  Alas, we didn't do that as we were invited to try out their wares.

To get a sense of their BBQ, we went ahead and ordered all 3 versions of their BBQ Pork including Devil's Char Siu, First Cut Char Siu and the regular BBQ Pork.  Gotta say that all 3 were on point.  With that being said, the Devi's Char Siu was our favourite.  I guess it had a lot to do with it being pork belly as well as being prepared expertly.  There was balanced charring on the outside that ensured we'd get smokiness, caramelization and crispy bits.  That gave way to tender, yet not overly fatty, pieces of pork.  Loved the honey glaze as it was sticky and addictively delicious.  As for the First Cut Char Siu, it was much leaner, yet at the same time, was still moist and tender with a tasty bark.  It was firm on the outside with plenty of sweetness as well as balancing meaty savouriness.  Surprisingly, the plain ol' regular BBQ Pork was almost as good as the Devil's Char Siu.  It was fatty enough to provide a luxurious and soft texture, while not being flabby.  It was also charred nicely and coated with the honey glaze.

We went big and ordered the Whole BBQ Duck which was quite impressively plated.  It was large and well worth the $50.00 as the breast meat was substantial and meaty.  However, the thing that wowed us the most was the uniformly rendered skin.  It was not fatty underneath, even where it is usually quite fatty (ie. the breast).  Hence, they must've used the right breed of duck (with less fat) and also roasted it perfectly.  With crispy skin, it was a delight to eat in itself, but it also revealed tender and moist meat underneath as well.  The duck itself was also brined properly where the flavours penetrated into the meat.

Moving away from the BBQ items, we dove into some classic casual Cantonese dishes including the Sweet & Sour Pork.  Yes, it seems rather defaultish, especially all of us at this tasting were well-versed in traditional Chinese eats, but hey, we love Sweet & Sour Pork and do not pass off any judgements!  Well, it was a good move anyways as this plate of S&S Pork was very good.  The large chunks of pork were tender and moist without being super fatty.  The batter was medium-thick but was not doughy.  In fact, it still had a bit of crunch left despite being coated with sauce.  About that sauce, it was balanced with plenty of acidity and sweetness.

One of the most majestically-looking dishes was the Prawn in Soybean Paste with Vermicelli Hot Pot.  Butterflied and deep-fried, the prawns were meaty with a sweet snap.  Since it was fried in-the-shell, it was possible to eat it whole with a nice crunch on the outside.  There was a good amount of al dente and not clumpy mung bean vermicelli underneath that had soaked up all of the flavours including the fermented saltiness of the soybean paste.  Naturally, there was some background brininess as well.

We went for another hot pot dish in the Sizzling Chicken Hot Pot.  This was chock full of dark meat chicken that was just barely cooked-through.  Hence, the chicken was juicy with a meaty bounce texture.  It was also well-seasoned with equal parts of sweet and salty with some pepperiness and slight gingeriness.  This was almost prepared similarly like a Taiwanese 3-cup chicken without the same seasonings.

Of course we wanted to get some veggies into our diet, so we went for the Vegetable & Buddah's Feast featuring bak choy, lotus root, mushrooms, baby corn, carrot, wood ear, white cloud fungus and water chestnuts.  All of these ingredients were cooked properly where they retained their crunch and vibrancy.  Seasoning was mild, but that was welcomed as many of our dishes had plenty of bold flavours already.  Only thing I would've liked was the starch-thickened sauce (residual cooking moisture) wasn't so gooey.

Even though we didn't order any congee, we just had to get the Salt & Pepper Deep Fried Noodle Fish.  Sometimes this is identified on menus as "Silverfish" but I'm sure that doesn't sound as appetizing as noodle fish...  Anyways, these little fishies were actually quite large and battered up nicely where they were crunchy and light.  There was enough chilis, garlic, onion, salt and pepper to give these fish plenty of impact.  Would like to dunk these into plain congee next time!

Another classic Cantonese dish we had was the Stir-Fried Clams in Black Bean Sauce.  There was a good amount of manageable-sized clams that were all open.  Coated with just enough sauce, these clams were buttery and tender being cooked just right.  I think they might've water-blanched them first, hence, I didn't get any sand in my clams.  As for the sauce, it was properly thickened and had a balanced saltiness to go with the garlic.  Dish wasn't overly greasy either.

One of the most surprising dishes was the Kung Pao Chicken as it was actually spicy!  I can't tell you how many times I've had this dish and all I taste is sweet and maybe a bit of tanginess.  This had heat that lingered!  On first glance, the dish looked like some peppers with a tonne of roasted peanuts on top.  However, upon digging deeper, we found little nuggets of chicken that were super tender.  The veggies were still vibrant and crunchy too.

For some carbs, we ordered the Seafood Fried Rice which was pretty jacked with shrimp and bay scallops.  These were cooked beautifully maintaining some bounce and butteriness.  The rice itself was seasoned enough, yet still allowed for complimenting the bold flavours of some of the dishes.  I wished that the rice was a bit more dry though as it was on the softer side.

Seemingly a side order that was destined to not be talked about, the bowl of Lai Fun was the talk of the table!  Usually, when we get Lai Fun anywhere, it is soft and breaks on contact.  Not here though as each strand was al dente with a bouncy chewiness.  Such wonderful mouth feel and it stayed that way despite sitting in broth.  The broth itself appeared to be the BBQ duck bone broth.  I would eat this plain!  But we ended up dunking some BBQ duck into it and we had our small bowls of BBQ Duck Lai Fun!  Overall, the food at The One BBQ Kitchen was quite impressive, especially the BBQ.  Prices are fair and the portions are medium-sized.  Definitely a good place for a casual meal with the fam.

*This post features complimentary food

The Good:
- Excellent BBQ
- Solid eats
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Portion sizes are fine, but on the smaller side