Luxe Chinese Seafood Restaurant

It's been like more than 11 years ago since I last had Dim Sum at Luxe Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Langley.   Well, the picture of the front is from 2015 since I forgot to take an updated one...  Anyways, the reason we came back here is that Guy Smiley lives nearby and this was the closest Dim Sum spot.  From what I remember, the Dim Sum is decent, especially for Willowbrook.

So they did away with the push carts and now we have to order with the server.   The first dish to hit the table was the Deep Fried Taro Dumplings.  This was a good version where the exterior was crispy and only moderately greasy.  Beyond that, the mashed taro was silky and well-seasoned.  Nice use of lard (yes, they use lard) mixed into it.  The ground pork filling was tender and mildly saucy.

One of our favourite Dim Sum dishes is the Baked BBQ Pork Pastries.  Sure, there is some good ol' lard in there, but that is what makes it good!  This one was indeed that with flaky & buttery layers.  It had a nice colour from the egg wash on the top.  Beyond the aromatic and nutty pastry, the BBQ pork filling was delicious.  It was sweet & savoury with chunks of lean BBQ pork.

After the pastries, there was a flurry of steamer baskets arriving including the Ha Gau (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings).  These were large and plump but the dumpling skin was a bit chewy.  I guess that was a whole lot better than being wet and mushy though.  Inside, the shrimp filling was decent with a meaty bounce texture.  It was well-seasoned with a good balance of flavours including the aromatic sesame oil.

Of course one cannot have the Ha Gau without the Siu Mai (Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumplings).  These were also rather large and stuffed full of bouncy sweet shrimp.  There was a good amount of it to compliment the chunks of pork.  I would've liked to see a bit more rebound with the pork as it was more on the meatier and dense side.  I liked how the tobiko on top was added after steaming and there was also some mushroom to provide earthy notes.

For those who don't know, I absolutely love offal and I was delighted we got both the Bible Tripe and Honeycomb Tripe.  Portion size on both were average compared to some others I've had lately.  Execution was pretty good as the bible tripe was soft with a tender chew.  Nice green onion and ginger notes.  The honeycomb tripe was pretty soft and didn't require much chewing.  Nice garlicky sweetness with a touch of spice.

One dish that could've been a bit better was the Steamed Chicken Feet.  The method here is to deep fry them first, then braise and finally steam.  I think theses were cooked a bit too long and hence, the skin was falling off in places.  However, being too soft is way better than being chewy.  The tendons and cartilage underneath were soft as well.  Flavour was good with garlic and spice.

I think the picture of the Beef Meatballs clearly shows how soft they were.  These were very fluffy and airy from the being in the mixer.  Naturally, the natural meat texture was non-existent, but that is the point of the dish though.  The combination of baking soda, starch and mixing create the fluffy meatballs.  These had a limited amount of greens, so it wasn't overwhelming.  If you like them airy, these would be your fancy.

One of the best dishes we had was the Steamed Pork Spareribs.  If you examine the picture above, you will notice most pieces were rib portions and short on the fatty ones.  The meat was marinated enough so that they were tenderized, yet still had a chew.  Nice rebound texture and the seasoning was on point with saltiness, garlickiness and spice.

For the kids, we got the Sticky Rice wrapped in lotus leaves. These were large and stuffed full of soft sticky rice.  Maybe there was a bit too much moisture as it was a tad mushy.  It didn't make or break the dish though as it was still tasty.  There was a plethora of ground pork that was sitting in a starch-thickened sauce.  That was enough to provide seasoning and meat into every bite.

Another favourite of mine is the Bean Curd Skin Rolls.  Happy to report the ones here were good.  The fried bean curd skin had a slightly chewy texture, yet was also tender.  Inside, the pork filling had a decent rebound, but was more meaty in texture.  Nice crunch from the veggies.  There was a bit of starch-thickened sauce, but not too much.  Maybe more oil than sauce (didn't mind that though).

For our choice of rice noodle roll, we went for the Beef Rice Noodle Roll.  As you can see in the picture above, they stuffed them full of whipped beef.  Texturally, the beef was light and airy like the beef meatballs.  As for the rice noodle itself, I would say it was quite thin yet a little on the firmer side.  There was still an appealing elasticity where the noodle didn't break on contact.

Surprisingly, my niece wanted the Deep Fried Squid Tentacles.  I guess it should've been obvious since she was getting in touch with her Taiwanese roots.  This dish was both good and bad.  The squid itself had an appealing chew and rebound.  However, the coating was a bit soggy in spots and was also rather uneven.  It did taste good though with a salty and garlicky spice.

We went for one of our go-to dishes in the XO Daikon Radish Cake.  However, I wasn't a huge fan of this.  For some reason, they wok-tossed the deep-fried cubes in a wet sauce (possibly soy sauce) and hence, the crispiness went away.  In fact, the texture was slimy and gummy, which was rather off-putting.  Normally, a wok-toss with just XO-sauce would've sufficed and since it is an oil-based sauce, it wouldn't have made the dish wet.

At the end, we got an order of the BBQ Pork Buns as well as the Egg Tarts.  Fluffy and light, the buns were texturally on point.  They were filled with the same lean BBQ pork found in the pastries.  As for the egg tarts, they were good.  The buttery and flaky puff pastry was fully-cooked through while the egg custard was silky and only semi-sweet.  Overall, the Dim Sum at Luxe is decent.  Sure, Richmond Dim Sum is better, but for Langley, Luxe continues to offer the best in the neighbourhood.

The Good:

- Solid Dim Sum for Langley

- Decent selection

- Fairly friendly service

The Bad:

- Not as good as ones found in Richmond, but great for Langley

Food by Fanta

If you've ever been to Baan Lao out in Steveston, you will know that they take Thai cuisine to a whole new level while still honoring the traditional techniques and ingredients.  I've been a few times and it has been fantastic, if not a major indulgence (it's expensive).  However, what if I told you that Food by Fanta out in Langley has similar elements while being significantly more affordable.  Jackie and I went out for a tasting and came away rather impressed.

This isn't my first time visiting Food by Fanta, but as you will soon see, I got to experience some carefully curated smaller bites.  This included the Miang Kham which literally translates to "one bite wrap".  This it was with pomelo, dried shrimp, ginger, pineapple, lime, peanuts and herbs in a betel leaf.  Combined with the sweet and savoury miang sauce, this had all the flavours such as brininess, sweetness, tang, nuttiness and herbaceousness.

Next little bite was the Kratong Tuna Tartare sitting in delicate pastry cups.  Delicate was the operative word here as the tuna was buttery and lightly sweet.  The other bite was the Yum Som with a mix of pomelo, herbs, toasted coconut, crispy shallots and garlic with Nam Prik Pao dressing and crispy prawn sprinkles.  This was aromatic and toasty with tangy sweetness.

Served on a handheld metal spoon/serving vessel, the Tom Kah Scallop Bites were one of my favourite dishes.  It featured a fairly large scallop that was beautifully seared.  It was slightly rare in the middle being buttery and soft.  Plenty of natural scallop sweetness that was concentrated due to the caramelization from the sear.  In addition to being properly seasoned, the scallop all benefitted from the creamy and aromatic tom kha which had balancing tanginess.

Another little bite that was neatly presented was the Shrimp Toast.  I was amazed that the toast was not greasy at all despite its thickness.  Depending on your preference, this could've been too dry also.  Personally, I would've liked to see the toast be less thick and surprisingly, a bit oiler.  However, it was still good since the shrimp mixture was bouncy and sweet while the layer of herbs provided plenty of flavour.

In addition to the shrimp toast, we had another trio of items from their high tea service including the Khanom Krok.  This crispy crepe was nutty and had a great hit of creamy coconut with the smoothness of blended rice.  I absolutely loved the Khao Kriap Pak Mor which was steamed rice-flour dumpling that had a beautiful soft texture with appealing elasticity.  It was filled with a tender savoury minced chicken mixture.  At the top, we found the Khanom Buang which was a crispy pancake filled with grated coconut, diced shrimp and lime leaves on top of lemon meringue.  This pancake had a light crunch coupled with the sweet and briny filling.  Lots of aromatics going on here.

One of their most beautiful dishes happens to be the Chor Muang Flower Dumplings.  These glutinous rice flour dumplings were texturally on point with a delicate chewiness with elasticity.  Inside, we found 3 fillings including chicken, pork and veggie.  Believe it or not, my favourite was the veggies with its combination peanuts, sweet radish, onion and cilantro.  It was not hurting for texture or flavour.  Loved the sweet tanginess with aromatics.

Colourful and presented as individual components (prior to mixing), the Khao Yum Salad consisted of 22 fresh-cut ingredients.  I'm not going to list them all here but the crispy rice made this dish.  Not only did it add texture, but the aromatics and nuttiness blended well with the crunchy vegetables, sweet fruit and herbaceous components.  This was dressed with tangy tamarind and that brought out even more sweetness and tang.

One dish I've had before was the Bechamel Taro Nachos.  Featuring thin waffle-cut taro chips, these were topped with tamarind prawns, melted Swiss and mozzarella and of course, an avocado bechamel.  Beyond the crispiness of the thin taro chips, the best part of this dish was the little bits of prawns.  Due to the cook on them, they were rather meaty and held up to the rest of the components.  They were sweet with a slight tang while the cheese held everything together.

Another nicely-plated dish was the Miso-Orange Roasted Carrots.  This consisted of a variety of carrots that had been butter-poached.  As such, they were super tender to the point they were almost breaking apart, but stayed intact.  The natural sweetness was definitely there with background earthiness.  Complimenting the nutty peanut sauce, we found a bright and tangy beet vinaigrette.

One of the more interesting dishes was the Seared Eggplant with Green Curry.  This acted almost like a vegetarian pate with a silky baked eggplant topped by poached carrots.  This was spread onto toasted and buttered ciabatta served on the side.  Texturally, this only worked because the toasted bread was the contrast.  Eggplant and carrots by themselves were very soft and hence spreadable.

Something a bit more usual was the Confit Chicken Leg Khao Soi.  The combination of delicate egg noodles and crispy noodles helped soak up the rich and coconut curry soup.  It was aromatic, slightly sweet, a bit earthy and plenty creamy.  The large chicken leg was definitely meaty and tender, but at the same time, it was maybe too tender?  I loved the crispy skin though.

One of the most impactful dishes we had was the Khao Khluk Kapi Bowl Thai Fried Rice.  This was not only due to the fact it was the beneficiary of smoky wok hei (high BTUs), but the fermented shrimp paste afforded plenty of umaminess.  With that being said, it wasn't so pungent that it was overwhelming.  Just enough of it.  As evidenced in the picture, the plate was also loaded with crunchy veggies as well as crispy shallots and fried garlic.  Lots of textures and further aromatics.

Encased with an egg lattice, the Pad Thai featured 2 large prawns on top.  They were meaty with a bounce texture.  Inside the lattice, the chewy rice noodles were coated with just enough homemade tamarind sauce.  It was quite balanced as the noodles weren't too tangy nor too sweet.  It had plenty of savouriness with smokiness from the wok hei.

I was happy that we got to try the Coconut Crème Brûlée since I enjoyed it very much the last time I was here.  Presented beautifully in a half-coconut, the dessert benefitted from the fresh coconut meat on the sides.  Beyond that, the custard was creamy and had a light thickness.  Sweetness was balanced and the brûlée was crunchy and caramelized.

Seemingly super simple, the Som Choon consisted of lychee, pineapple, strawberry, jackfruit, and orange in jasmine-scented syrup,

with orange zest, ginger and crisp shallots. The trick with this was to drizzle the syrup to your fancy and then serve it with ice. The result was something that was fruity, refreshing and pretty cold.  I loved it!

Colourful with a variety of ingredients, the Pandan Chocolate & Strawberry Khunafeh was full of different textures.  The crunch from the khunafeh was reminiscent of that in a Dubai Chocolate.  Heck, the chocolate drizzle helped it even more so.  The house-made pandan custard even looked like pistachio, but instead, it gave off a different form of nuttiness.  It was like a Jedi mind trick as it looked like Dubai Chocolate, but it had a twist of slightly different flavours.

A stealthily delicious dessert was the Gluay Buad Chee.  It featured a coconut cream mousse that was silky and rich.  It had plenty of aromatics and sweetness.  That in itself was quite satisfying already but we found a brûléed slice of banana on top.  The contrasting textures between the soft banana and the smoky crunchiness of the torched sugar was appealing and gave the dessert some body.

Of course we ordered some bevvies to go with our meal too. We thought the Watermelon Mule was the most refreshing with fresh-squeezed fruit.  Loved the natural flavours and the texture of the drink.  Mango Supreme was floral and also fruity.  The Mojito was refreshing from the passionfruit and also the mint.  Being savoury, the Tom Yamgrita was a bit spicy with the usual fragrances of lemongrass and galangal.  Overall, the meal was impressive as it featured traditional Thai flavours with some twists and a dose of modern presentation.  Definitely something to consider as the prices are quite reasonable given the quality of the food.

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

The Good:

- Traditional Thai flavours but with a certain refinement

- Reasonable pricing

- Unique dining space

The Bad:

- Confit chicken was far too soft

An Indian Affair (Willoughby)

We all know that Greater Vancouver is famous of its Chinese food (in particular Cantonese cuisine).  However, it is becoming a hotbed of Indian cuisine as well.  Now it isn't as if this was suddenly the case as there has been a long-standing Indian community (particularly Punjabi) in the GVRD.  Yet, there has been an explosion of nicer, higher-end Indian restaurants opening up all over the place.  Many sport elegant decor complete with a full-service bar and elevated dishes.  One of the newest is actually a 2nd location of An Indian Affair in Willowbrook.  We made our way out to Willoughby Town Centre to check it out.

Before we got to the food, we had quite the fun experience with their cocktails (and mocktails).  We had the flaming Tikki Baba as well as a Zero Proof Kiss My Lips.  Featuring a flaming half-lime, this drink sure had the theatrics.  Yet, at the same time, it was went down super-easy and hence, dangerous!  The guava and lime made this tropical and sweet, hiding the Old Monk rum pretty well.  Served in an equally interesting vessel, Kiss My Lips was fruity and refreshing.  Loved the hanging serving vessel with the opening for a straw!

Onto the food, we got the Palak Patta Chaat to kick things off.  I've had this many times before, but this has to be one of the best versions.  The crispy chickpea flour-battered spinach leaves were crispy and light.  This was topped with sweet yogurt, tangy tamarind chutney and mint sauce.  The combination of flavours were a little of everything and very appetizing.

I was super happy about the next dish as Chicken 65 is one of my favourites.  If you are wondering about the name, the dish was created in 1965 at Hotel Buhari.  This particular one was a tasty with meaty pieces of chicken that were doused in an earthy sauce that was slightly spicy and tangy.  The chicken itself was not dry and had a firm exterior.

Up next, we had the Mixed Grill Affair consisting of lamb chops, tandoori prawns, tandoori chicken, chicken tikka and tandoori fish.  Nice char on the each item that was smoky, yet not burnt at the same time.  Lamb was succulent and well-spiced while the chicken was tender and juicy.  Prawns were meaty with lots of aromatics.  The fish was tender and flaky.

So Bubble Cosmo and Paan Affair were both smoke shows, but in different ways.  For the Bubble Cosmo, it was revealed as the cloche was lifted, with smoke filling the air.  Due to the dry ice, the Paan Affair kept smoking as we were enjoying the drink.  Due to the passionfruit, it was tropical and sweet, but tequila was still lurking in the background.  The Bubble Cosmo wasn't as strong as other Cosmopolitans I've had due to the balanced amount of cranberry juice.

The Affair Malai (Coconut Prawn Curry) was served in a whole coconut.  Not the best to see in a picture, yet I assure you, it was plenty tasty.  Aromatic and creamy from the coconut milk (and cream), the gravy was also nicely spiced with some earthiness and slight spice.  The prawns were juicy with a meaty snap.  Best of all, the young coconut meat added another layer of texture and bright sweetness.

We added some more dishes including the Chicken Tikka Masala and Goat Curry.  Unlike Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala is more robust and spiced.  That it was with tender chicken with an earthiness and balancing tanginess.  As for the Goat Curry, it had classic fall spice flavours with cloves and cardamom.  There was the usually earthiness from the cumin and some gingery notes.  The goat itself was tender and gelatinous.

Out last entree was the classic Palak Paneer.  With house-made paneer, this benefitted from the soft and appealingly squishy cubes of cheese.  They were bathed in a rich spinach gravy that was balanced with gingery notes.  It had equal parts sweetness, savouriness and earthiness.  We had some Garlic Naan to go with the curries and it was fantastic.  Well charred and blistered on the outside, without being burnt, the naan was nutty and crispy.  Inside it was soft and fluffy.  There was plenty of garlic as well as ghee and salt.  Hence, it ate very well even without being dipped into the sauces.

The fireworks continued with our cocktails with the Kambakht Ishq.  It was served surrounded by a cindering steel wool.  The drink itself consisted of smoky mezcal, aperol and lime with cherry infusion.  The  Lycheeni had layers of pretty colours and was fruity and of course, lychee-forward.  It came in a pretty glass with a built-in straw, but was a bit unstable.  Be careful when moving it!

We ended off our meal with desserts that were not the usual.  Rather, we had the Mango Cheesecake and the Paan-e-Bahar.  Fluffy and light, the mango cheesecake was semi-sweet with only the slightest of cheeseiness.  As for the Paan-e-Bahar, it was a total surprise.  Again, it was also not super sweet while being plenty herbal-tasting.  The sponge cake was light and fluffy.  In the end, we were quite impressed with the food, drinks and overall vibe of An Indian Affair.  There are many nicer Indian restaurants in the GVRD these days, but this one seemed to put it altogether for a reasonable price.  One doesn't need to have a special reason to dine at An Indian Affair because their prices are less than most chain restaurants.

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

The Good:

- Well-prepared eats

- Reasonable prices

- Showstopping drinks that actually taste good

The Bad:

- Parking in Willoughby Town Centre can be difficult at times