Kosoo (AYCE Korean BBQ)

It never fails.  When we asked my son what he wanted to eat for his birthday, his reply was like every other birthday: "Korean BBQ".  That would be a great choice as it is never a bad idea to go for Korean BBQ.  Well, unless you needed to go somewhere after and not smell like grilled meat...  Anyways, this time, we ended up at Kosoo in Coquitlam.  They have added AYCE to the menu and there are several tiers starting from $29.99.  We went for AYCE C (for $48.99) since it had different cuts of short rib, as well as scallops and shrimp.

I was happy to see that they offered nearly the same Banchan as their a la carte menu.  We found pickled daikon, sprouts, stewed potatoes, kimchi, corn salad, quail's eggs and fried fish cake (in addition to the usual garlic, peppers and bean paste).  Only thing missing from prior visits was the anchovies and dried shredded squid.  Mind you, it could just be rotating daily items as well.  All were good and of course, refillable.  We also got a spring mix salad too.

We ordered the sides that came with the AYCE in the form of Fried Mandoo (Yangneom, Soy Garlic & Original), Japchae and Kimchi Pancake.  We thought the dumplings were good with a crispy thin exterior with juicy and tender meat inside.  The japchae was decent with a nice chewy texture while mildly-seasoned.  There was some fish cake mixed into it.  The kimchi pancake was fine, but was a bit doughy and thin.

One of the more surprising dishes we had was the Cheese Fries.  Those fries were pretty crispy and totally covered in cheese.  They were tasty on their own and if we weren't so full, we would've ordered more of them.  Included in the meal was both the Cold Noodles and Spicy Cold Noodles.  Sure, these were missing the egg and possibly meat, but whatever, we had enough food already.  Otherwise, they were solid with chewy bouncy noodles.

Of course we have to talk about why we were here in the first place...  The meat!  For our first order, we loaded up on Shrimp, Beef Short Rib, Beef Tongue, Beef Rib Finger, Chicken, Marinated Beef Short Rib, Marinated Beef Rib Finger, LA Galbi, Scallops and Mushroom.  We felt the meat quality was not any different than a la carte.  Nicely marbled, the short rib was tender while the marinated galbi was equally good.  Even the notoriously chewy beef tongue was nicely textured.  Although the scallops were thinly sliced, they were great and came with plenty of butter.

Round 2 of meat consisted of Pork Belly, Pork Jowl, Marinated Pork Shoulder and Marinated Chicken.  We added more scallops and mushroom for good measure.  Nothing amiss with these meats either with the pork belly being at its fatty best.  Pork jowl came in large slices and were buttery and bouncy.  We weren't shy about getting more scallops too.  However, to ensure they sear up nicely, we could only cook a few at a time, otherwise, the moisture leaking out of each scallop made it boil in its own juices.  Other than that, the AYCE at Kosoo was solid, well-priced and featured quality ingredients.  I will be back!

The Good:

- Pretty good quality meats for AYCE

- Although hurried, service was solid

- Lots of tiers of AYCE for everyone

The Bad:

- Some cold spots on the grill, so have to move meats around to ensure searing

- Scallops have too much moisture and are hard to sear

Deer Garden

When my parents used to live in Coquitlam, I remember frequenting Deer Garden for dinner.  That stopped as soon as my parents moved into Burnaby.  Mind you, I could've easily just ate at Deer Garden without them, but it was out-of-sight, out-of-mind.  Such a shame really as their food was generally solid and well-portioned.  Recently, along with other foodies, I was invited to try out a variety of dishes at their new location.  That's right, they are no longer on Westwood Street.  Rather, they've moved into Henderson Centre right across from the New Pacific Market.  

We started off the meal with an Appetizer Platter consisting of Salty Peppery Pork Chops, Fried Wontons, Honey Shrimp and Fried Eggplant.  Loved the crispy and light batter on the pork chops.  Inside, the meat was tender and not dry.  There was enough seasoning to flavour the pork chops.  The shrimp were also good with a starch coating.  Since it was tossed in sweet mayo, the exterior was just somewhat crispy.  The shrimp itself was meaty and buttery.  I found the fried eggplant to be cooked-through without being mushy.

Next dish was the Whole Lobster steamed with garlic.  Nothing complex with this dish and really, the most important thing is that they served a live lobster.  That was confirmed with the delicate bouncy texture of the lobster meat.  It was sweet and fresh-tasting.  The ample garlic on top did not overwhelm the lobster.  It only accentuated the already-present lobster aroma.  Absolutely loved that they put the lobster butter on the side so we could easily eat it.  So much umaminess!

Moving onto a classic dish, we had the Hainanese Chicken with chicken oil rice.  The free-range chicken was beautifully prepared with tender and moist pieces of both white and dark meat.  I found that the skin was perfectly gelatinzed while a bit of gelatin lurked underneath.  The pieces of chicken were delicious on their own but the accompanying condiments helped in that respect.  As for the chicken oil rice, it as nutty, a bit fatty and full of umaminess.  The rice itself was chewy and nutty.

Like many restaurants of this style (think Miu Garden) we also had the Coconut Curry Bef Brisket to go along with the chicken dish.  This was every bit as good as Miu Garden with big chunks of beef that were super tender and surprisingly not that fatty.  The coconut curry was rich and creamy with so plenty of aromatics and proper seasoning.  Really needed white rice for this and with the sauce, maybe a few bowls of rice just for myself!

Going in a totally different direction, we had the Seafood Congee with a side of salty donut.  The congee base was a bit more homestyle than other Chinese restaurants.  The colour was bright white and the seasoning was mild.  It was still thick though and the amount of seafood was generous.  I found the slices of fish to be tender and flaky while the prawns had a perfectly-cooked meaty snap.  There was also delicate slices of scallop.

We moved onto a pair of soup noodles after this including Beef Tendon & Tripe Noodles as well as Home-Made 4 Kinds of Meatballs Noodles.  Both featured chewy wonton noodles that had an appealing resistance to them.  The tendon and tripe were tender, but not to the point there was no texture left.  I found the soup base to be quite good.  As much as it isn't as good at a dedicated wonton noodle house, it was still flavourful with a sweet meatiness.  Not much to say about the meatballs other than there were a good amount of them.

We always go for the default with the Sweet & Sour Pork mostly because we enjoy the dish.  However, it is so beloved by everyone, I tend to judge most places with this dish in mind!  Well the version here was actually quite good.  It featured medium-sized nuggets of pork that were juicy and tender.  This was definitely fried-to-order, which meant the exterior batter wasn't hard nor was the meat overdone.  Sometimes restaurants par-fry the pork to make preparation faster.  They didn't here.  The sauce was on the sweeter side and could've used a touch more tang.

We moved onto the a pair of hot pot dishes in the Singing Pork Sparerib Hot Pot and the Satay Sliced Beef Vermicelli Hot Pot.  Both came out sizzling with still vibrant veggies.  I found the ample amount of spareribs to be meaty, yet tender without much in the way of fat of cartilage.  It was seasoned properly with a starch-thickened sauce.  As for the sliced beef, it appeared that the cuts were more with the grain than against the grain, so the meat wasn't as tender as it appeared to be.  It possibly could've benefited from more tenderization through a longer marinade.  It did taste good though with well-seasoned vermicelli.  Love the chewy texture that was not hard nor was it too saucy.

We had a HK-style dish next with the Baked Pork Chop Spaghetti.  Yes, normally, this would be a baked rice, but honestly, I like spaghetti more anyways.  This was a large portion that would be best for sharing.  The spaghetti itself wasn't exactly al dente, but it wasn't soft either, so that was a good thing.  I found the sauce having the right viscosity and having a pleasant taste including just the slightest of tomato tang with balancing sweetness.  There was so garlic notes too.  Served in cut up strips, the fried pork chop was tender and not dry.

The same sliced beef from the hot pot showed up in the Beef with Egg Sauce on Rice.  Hence, it looked great on the place being cooked perfectly.  However, it as still chewy due to the combination of cutting with the grain and not being marinated long enough.  Despite this, the dish was still tasty and went will with rice.  The eggs were silky and the starch-thickened sauce was flavourful and the right viscosity.

We ended off the savoury part of the meal with the Fried Rice with shrimp paste, shrimp and chicken & the Supreme Fried Kuiteow.  The noodles were pretty good despite missing the usual flavour profile of a true chow kuiteow.  It had good wok hei which meant it was a a a bit smoky without any residual moisture.  I would've liked to see some brininess but it still tasted fine.  I found the rice to be quite good with plenty of ingredients.  It had enough of a hot wok fry that it had some caramelization and colour.  The ample amount of shrimp were cold-water crunchy.  I would've liked maybe more aggressive seasoning with this though. 

For dessert, we had the HK-Style French Toast with butter and syrup.  Classic Hong Kong Cafe-style, these French toast bites were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  There was a layer of sweetness already between the white bread, but the addition of syrup made this a satisfying dessert. In the end, we were quite satisfied with the combination of classic Chinese dishes and HK-Style cafe favourites.  Things were generally well-prepared except for the beef.

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

The Good:
- Well-prepared dishes
- Good portions
- Fairly large menu

The Bad:
- Unfortunately, the beef was not tender
- Kuiteow didn't taste like one, but really, it was still delicious

 

M Cafe

Unless you live in Richmond, there seems to be a limited selection of good Hong Kong-Style cafes in the city.  Even with that, I personally believe there aren't enough HK-Style cafes in general and that includes Richmond.  This is especially true where I live, in North Burnaby.  Thankfully, there is a Happy Valley opening up in the ol' Swiss Chalet soon, but otherwise, I have to go all the way to Metrotown to the Boss for HK-style eats.  One other option is to head into Coquitlam and either hit up Copa or M Cafe, which we did this time around.

We've been here before many times, but I decided that an updated post was in order.  Like with all places like M Cafe, there is usually a soup included with most meals.  The choices range from borscht, cream of something and Clam Chowder.  This is what I had and if you've ever had a HK-Style version, you will know that it is less of a chowder and more like a cream of clams and veggies.  I found this just thick enough and loaded with clams and soft veggies.  Flavour was mild and it wasn't briny at all - a good version in the end.

For my main, I had the Dual Steak Combo and selected a chicken steak and a ribeye steak.  This came with crunchy fries, mixed veggies and I went for the black pepper sauce.  This was quite a bit of food where the chicken steak (deboned chicken leg) was juicy and well-seared.  The ribeye was medium-rare as requested and was sufficiently tender.  I found the black pepper sauce to be salty enough and quite peppery.

We had to get the classic Baked Pork Chop Rice.  This is a HK-style cafe staple with fried rice base topped with pork cutlets coated with a crispy breading.  I found the pork chops to be juicy and tender.  As for the tomato sauce on top, it was textbook being only mildly tangy (maybe could've been tangier) with plenty of sweetness.  It was thick enough to coat all the pork chops and some leftover for the rice.

Continuing on with the tour of HK-style cafe staples, we also had the Baked Spaghetti Bolognese topped with melted cheese and served with garlic bread.  For those who aren't familiar, this isn't an Italian bolognese.  Rather, think of a meat sauce with onions and carrots but with the addition of star anise (sometimes) and soy as well as some other Asian ingredients.  The sauce here was a bit tangier than usual, yet still tasty.  The noodles were al dente and overall, this was a solid.

We just had to also include the Baked Seafood Rice which also featured the same fried rice base.  It was topped with a mushroom cream sauce and assorted seafood.  Again, for those who don't know, the cream sauce found at HK-style cafes are mostly starch-thickened milk-based sauces.  With that being said, this was still flavourful and the sauce was just thick enough.  The seafood was not overcooked either.

Going for something more of a Chinese dish, we had the Curry Beef Brisket.  Although this can be found at most Cantonese restaurants, it is also another HK-style cafe staple.  This was served with a plate of rice.  Another solid dish where the pieces of brisket were mostly tender and not dry.  It appeared to be a mix where there was some beef finger meat too.  The curry itself was on the thinner side, yet was still plenty flavourful with only a mild amount of spice.

Another Chinese dish was the Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp on stir fried flat rice noodles.  My son actually wanted this one as scrambled eggs and shrimp is his favourite Chinese dish.  However, when it is served atop rice noodles, it is more of a starch-thickened sauce with egg drop and shrimp in it.  This was good though as the noodles were not mushy nor clumpy while the sauce had plenty of cold-water shrimp and delicate egg swirls.

Our last item was staying on the theme of classic HK-style items with the Clubhouse Sandwich served with fries.  This was stuffed with a fried chicken cutlet, bacon, fried egg, cheese, tomato and lettuce all on crustless toasted white bread.  It was fulfilling and the ingredients were on point where the chicken was juicy and the bacon was crispy.  As you can see, the food at M Cafe is pretty solid and they have all the favourites and then some.  Prices are reasonable for the portion size too.  Don't have to go to Richmond right?

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Fair portion size
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Admittedly, Richmond HK-style cafes are better, but not significantly more

Lee Garden (Coquitlam)

For those who are familiar with the Lee Garden chain, their first location opened on Kingsway in Burnaby back in 2014.  They added a second location in Surrey on Scott Road a few years later.  However, that one didn't really last as it quietly closed during the pandemic.  Alas, it is still a 2-restaurant chain as it took over the vacated Grand Palace in Henderson Centre in Coquitlam.  Before that, it originally opened as Kirin.  I guess 3rd times the charm right?  So we decided to check it out one day after the biggest snowfall of 2022.  Good thing we have an SUV with snow tires!

Interestingly, the first item to arrive was the Lo Mei Gai (Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves).  I guess they had some on the go already.  This one sported some wild rice which added both colour and texture to the soft and glutinous rice.  Hidden in the middle was an equal amount of moist ground pork that was mildly seasoned.  There was enough starch-thicken sauce to add some extra flavour to the rice.

One of our "go to" items is the XO Lo Bak Goh (or Daikon Radish Cake) and as such, we ordered it as usual.  They prepared this dish with enormous chunks of radish cake and hence, the texture was a bit softer and delicate.  We didn't mind this as a denser variation would not be pleasing to eat.  The exterior was a bit crispy and not overly greasy.  We would've liked to see more XO brininess and spice though as this dish was a bit flat.

Since my son loves brisket and noodles, we got the Crystal Noodles with Brisket and Tendon Hot Pot.  As you can see, there was much more tendon that brisket (to my son's dismay...).  However, I love tendon, so it didn't bother me one bit.  It was especially good that the texture was just right being soft while retaining a bite.  The brisket was equally good being tender and not dry.  I wish there was a bit more sauce to go with the slippery and chewy noodles though.

Another one of his favourite dim sum items is the classic Char Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Bun).  Yep, we got that too and it was pretty good.  Looking at the picture, it is clear that there was plenty of BBQ pork filling nestled in the soft steamed bun.  There was the random fatty piece, but most of the pork was fairly lean.  The filling wasn't overly saucy, but there was enough glaze to keep things sweet and moist.

We ended up getting 2 rice noodle rolls in the Prawn Rice Noodle Roll and the Crispy Fish Paste Rice Noodle Roll.  Sporting a medium thickness, the rice noodle was slippery and somewhat soft.  It did have some elasticity and chew.  The prawn were of a good size and exhibited a meaty snap texture.  Loved the addition of flowering chives as they added both brightness and texture.  We weren't huge fans of the crispy fish paste as it was rather dense and inundated with far too much green onion (do we really need it on both the rice noodle and in the paste?).

Now to the one of the, if not the most important Dim Sum dish - Ha Gau (Steamed Crystal Prawn Dumplings).  These were decent in size and featured medium-thick dumpling skin. The skin could've been a bit thinner, but it did exhibit some elasticity and was not overly dense.  Inside, the shrimp filling was moist and buttery.  There was a good snap texture where the pork fat added aroma and the aforementioned butteriness.

Wait...  Where is the Siu Mai???  Well, you'll have to wait because we had to!  Anyways, let's get to the offal part of the meal with the Steamed Chicken Feet in house special sauce.  These were a bit on the smaller side, but okay nevertheless.  The skin was tender while the cartilage and fat underneath were also soft.  They weren't as plump as I would've liked though.  Flavours were good with a garlicky sweetness.

Right next to it was the Steamed Beef Tendon and Honeycomb Tripe.  This was a bit small in portion size as you can clearly see in the picture.  Not much in the way of tendon and not really all that much tripe either.  At least we got our fill of tendon in the noodle hot pot.  Texturally, both ingredients were on point with the tendon being soft while the tripe having a certain meatiness to go with its soft chew.  This was plenty seasoned with equal parts saltiness and sweetness.

Off to another one of our favs, the Steamed Pork Spareribs with Pumpkin. Normally, we like to order this with rice in a clay pot, but since we had some noodles coming our way, we just got them on their own.  I found these to be a bit over-tenderized where the bouncy chew of the ribs was missing.  Now they were super tender though, but a little soft.  There was plenty of garlicky goodness though and it would've went well with rice.

Yes, just like we always do, we ordered the Fried Shrimp Spring Rolls with garlic.  If the kids had their way, we'd order 3 of them!  But we got just one and they were pretty good.  These were served hot where the wrapper was wound decently tight enough for a firm crunch.  Greasiness was modest with some glistening parts.  The shrimp filling was moist with a nice rebound.  Lots of garlicky savouriness as well.

As mentioned, here is the Braised E-Fu (Yee Mein) with assorted seafood.  This was supposed to be spicy, but due to some people at the table not wanting spice, we chose for it to be plain.  That didn't mean it did not have any taste though.  It was definitely salty enough.  The noodles were soft but still had a chew while the small pieces of seafood were cooked properly.  I liked how they added small chunks of eggplant as well.

Another larger item was the Seafood Congee.  This came in a much bigger bowl, but for my own serving, I had pieces of squid and prawn in mine.  The congee base was a bit on the thinner side, but still good.  This was drinkable rather than being too thick.  Seasoning was mild where the seafood provided much of the sweetness.  They were cooked properly with flaky fish, tender squid and bouncy prawns.

One of my favourite Dim Sum dishes is the Bean Curd Skin Roll.  I always order it, but not everyone likes it as much as I do.  So I end up eating most of it.  Oh poor me...  LOL...  This one was pretty good with tender, yet still chewy bean curd skin.  Inside, the pork filling was meaty yet tender with more of a natural texture.  The starch-thickened sauce was mild, but still provided some saltiness.

Looking a bit flat, the Beef Meatballs were much better than they appeared.  The whipped meat was bouncy and tender, yet we found little bits of meat that provided natural texture.  They didn't overdo it with the green onion, so it wasn't overly green and herb tasting.  It was mildly seasoned though and it truly needed the side of Worcestershire sauce.  On a side note, why do they always give too little of that? 

Lastly, we had the missing Siu Mai (Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumplings) that I mentioned earlier.  We waited an extra 20 minutes from the time we received our previous dish.  Maybe they were short-staffed due to the snow?  Anyways, these were also good with bouncy shrimp and meat chunks of pork.  Texturally, they were buttery and well-seasoned.  We didn't end up having dessert due to the amount of dishes we ordered.  Yes, we can actually be full sometimes...  We felt the Dim Sum here at this location of Lee Garden to be acceptable and generally above average.  Service as a bit slow, but I'm sure they were short-staffed due to the snow.

The Good:
- Generally above-average food
- Nicely appointed dining space (same as before with Grand Palace and Kirin)
- Indoor parking so you don't have to brave the elements outside

The Bad:
- Things were a bit slow, but maybe due to the lack of staff