Lu Charcoal Grill

It isn't very hard to find Northern Chinese BBQ skewers in the Lower Mainland.  There was an explosion of spots in the past 10 years starting with Happy Tree out on Kingsway (there are more, but this is the most well-known one).  For me, it has been awhile since I've had Chinese BBQ skewers.  This is partly because you can really start spending a pretty penny when you over-order.  That is quite easy to do when there are minimum amounts such as 5 or even 10 skewers of specific meats.  Recently, I visited Lu Charcoal Grill in Richmond that not only has no minimum per skewer, their pricing is rather reasonable too.

Unlike many other skewer spots, you do not order from a menu or order sheet.  Rather, you walk up to the refrigerated area where all the skewers are ready for you to choose.  Take as many or little as you want, pass to the servers and the kitchen will seasoned and BBQ them.  As you can see in the picture, there is a good selection including pork intestines, spicy beef, beef tongue, chicken gizzards, pork rib, chicken wing, beef, lamb, chicken, pork belly, chicken heart, chicken cartilage, enoki, chives, tofu, steamed buns, bread, corn, sausage, chicken feet, snake fish and beef aorta.  Not only are the prices reasonable, I felt that the amount of each skewer was more than sufficient.

Once BBQ'd, the servers bring the skewers out and place them on the platter that is kept warm with lit tea candles.  I thought the skewers were more or less cooked properly keeping the meat tender while having a slightly crispy exterior with caramelized spices.  My favourites included the pork intestines as they were tender with a chew.  Loved the thick cut.  Beef tongue was also good with a tender chewiness.  Good amount of spice and seasoning on it.  Chicken wing featured rendered skin and juicy meat.  Also enjoyed the chicken heart and chicken gizzards as they provided an appealing chewiness while not being dry.  I wasn't as enthused about the corn though as it wasn't plump.

In addition to the skewers, we also had a variety of dishes including the impressive Seafood platter.  It consisted of scallops, shrimp, clams, abalone and cuttlefish.  I think these are usually separate orders, but they combined it all into one platter.  The seafood got plenty of garlic and that meant things were flavourful.  Underneath, we found a mess of mung bean noodles, that had soaked up all of the delicious garlic and seafood juices.  That was probably even better than the seafood!  However, let's be real, this was all about the seafood and they were cooked just right with butter clams, scallops and cuttlefish.  The abalone was firm with its classic chew.

So we also got the new Tomato Egg Noodle Soup served in a hot claypot.  This came out bubbling and was filled to the brim with tender lai fun and a wealth of fluffy egg and tomato.  I thought the broth was not particularly tomatoey but it did have the aftertaste.  It was more mild and brothy with equal parts savouriness and sweetness.  I found the noodles to be fairly al dente while slippery.  The fluffy egg is what made this dish as it added so much texture.

Another bubbling claypot was the Seafood Pork Claypot with sauerkraut.  At first, I was confused why the broth was tangy, but double-checking the ingredients yielded pickled napa cabbage.  That made things rather appetizing and helped lighten the heaviness of the pork belly.  In that sense, the broth was fairly light and was not devoid of various flavours.  Cabbage was tender while not overdone and the shrimp on top were meaty and sweet.

Accompanying our skewer and seafood fest, we had some smaller plates to supplement as well.  This included the Chicken Nuggets and the Fried Stinky Tofu.  Although the chicken was heavily battered, it wasn't as dense as it appeared.  Rather, the exterior was crunchy while giving way to tender chicken.  It was fairly well-seasoned too.  As for the stinky tofu, it was indeed pretty sharp.  I don't mind eating it as long as it isn't super pungent.  This one was bordering on that, but I did enjoy the aroma and crispiness.

As our defacto veggies for the meal, we had the Garlic Cucumbers and the Deep Fried Taiwanese Cauliflower.  Crunchy and full of garlicky spiciness, the cucumbers were a nice interlude between skewers.  As for the cauliflower, they were crispy with some peppery salt.  They were fully cooked, but still had a crunch.  Overall, the food at Lu Charcoal Grill was tasty and well-priced.  It is a little more on the rustic side, so don't expect refinement.  But that is the draw here.  The food isn't complex, but it is served in generous portions and is generally delicious.

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

The Good:
- Fair pricing
- Generous portion sizes including the meaty skewers
- Seafood is fresh

The Bad:
- Tomato soup could've been more impactful
- Possibly put some saran wrap over the skewers to keep them fresh?

Jack's Chowder

Back in 2016, we did a trip to the East Coast of Canada and New England.  In addition to the sights and sounds, we feasted on lobster rolls, chowder and the sort.  That was a dream come true since that type of cuisine is one of my favourites.  There haven't been too many choices for spots that focus solely on chowder and the sort.  Now, from the good people who bring us the Shameless Buns food truck, we have Jack's Chowder, located in their former B&M store.  We finally got out there to check them out.

Getting right to the main event, we did indeed try their New England Clam Chowder in 2 ways.  First was their humongous bowl and then also, served in a sourdough bowl.  To further amp the flavours, we found some lobster oil and meaty bacon (from Crack-On).  Gotta say this chowder was thicc!  Lots of tender potatoes and carrots along with buttery clams.  The broth was creamy and rich with the smoky saltiness of the bacon coming through.  Of course the lobster oil added even more aroma.  Ah yes, we must not forget about the oyster crackers on the side too!  One observation is that there is more chowder in the regular bowl, so if you didn't care about the sourdough, this would be the way to go.

They also have fish & chips available, but we tried it in a different form with the Fish Burger.  The large piece of fish featured a uniformly crunchy batter that encased flaky and moist fish.  Loved the tartar sauce as it was creamy, mild-flavoured and full of dill.  The addition of pickles and banana peppers provided tangy and spicy notes to really kick up the flavour quotient.  Furthermore, the bun was well-toasted so that it held everything together without being soggy.

Of course, if we were treating this as a de facto fish & chips, we need to have the Salt & Vinegar Fries right?  These may seem familiar to you and if you have had them before, you would know how great they are!  They were super crispy but not greasy while totally seasoned with the tangy saltiness we love with salt & vinegar.  In addition to the tartar sauce, I would recommend you try the Mango Tamarind Hot Sauce.  Such a fruity and spicy compliment to the fries.  Other sides that we added were the Curried Slaw and B&B Pickles.

For me, I really enjoy a good order of Popcorn Shrimp and the one we had here was really good.   The best part was the actual shrimp itself as they used the Argentinian variety.  If you are familiar, these have a strong aroma and are very shrimpy.  So each piece was flavourful even before the tartar.  Texturally, the shrimp had a meaty texture (that is common with Argentinian shrimp).  I really also enjoyed the batter as it was very crunchy while giving way to soft fluffiness.

For dessert, we had both options including their version of Coconut Cream Pie Pudding and Sticky Toffee Pudding.  Both of these were creamy and light while being purposefully sweet.  Hence, I couldn't stop eating them since I never thought it was too much or too sweet.  The toasted coconut was nutty and aromatic while the sticky toffee pudding had delicious caramel vibes (and caramel crunch too).  In the end, the food at Jack's Chowder was really good and well-portioned.  Great to see a spot offer this type of food and isn't located on a dock or some touristy spot.

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

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Good portions
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Not many seats here  

Earl of Sandwich (Langley)

In Canada, we are left out in the cold when it comes to popular chain restaurants.  Sure, there is a Cheesecake Factory out in Ontario, but we are not usually privy to nice things (especially in B.C.).  We are still waiting for In-N-Out, which might take awhile since they have only made it up to Keizer, Oregon so far.  However, we have finally scored our first location of Earl of Sandwich in Langley, specifically out in Willoughby.  That's right, a fan favourite found in such places like Downtown Disney and Vegas, we now have one here!

I was given a sneak peak many weeks ago and came away impressed.  It is exactly like the ones in the US, partially due to the fact they source the ingredients from down South. Before we got to the sammies, we had a cup of Tomato Soup and a Caprese Salad.  Loved the soup as it was creamy enough that it took the edge off the tanginess.  It was nicely spiced and the croutons on top added crunch.  As much as I don't really like talking about salads, this one was pretty substantial due to the amount of cheese on top.

Off to the sandwiches, my personal favourite is the Holiday Turkey with a complete meal in a sandwich.  Yes, there was tender turkey, spiced stuffing, cranberry sauce and the delicious gravy.  Think Friends and the "Moistmaker".  The flavourful gravy soaked into the bread and things were just so saucy and pillowy soft.  I would've liked just a bit more cranberry sauce to give it a bit more sweet tang, but this was still exactly how I remembered it.

Another one that we tried (but I've never had before) was the Cuban featuring the usual ingredients including carnitas, ham, Swiss, pickles & Cuban mustard sauce.  So yeah, other than the bread, all of the components were there.  Hence it had great flavour and texture.  Was it like a Cuban I've had in Miami?  Well no, but for what it was worth, I enjoyed it.

I ended up paying for a few sammies to take home for the kiddos (since they love EOS too...).  I got the Italian since we've had it before and there was a good amount of meat in this one.  It consisted of salami, capicola, ham, pepperoni, mozzarella, Roma tomato, Italian seasoning & dressing.  Other than the spice and saltiness from the meats, we had zesty tang from the dressing.  This was plenty filling.

Staying with lots of meat, I also got the Canonballs! with meatballs, mozzarella, Italian seasoning & marinara sauce.  Moist and meaty, the meatballs were plentiful in this sandwich.  The soft bread enveloped all of the wet ingredients and kept things tight.  Lots of tanginess and melted cheesy goodness.  In addition to the seasoning within the meatballs, the Italian seasoning provided more oregano goodness.

For those who want to cut down on their carbs, there are wraps instead.  Personally, I love the soft bread, but the wraps are solid too.  This fully-loaded Cobb Wrap sported greens, grilled chicken, bacon, cheddar, Roma tomato, cucumber, cranberries and ranch dressing.  This was fresh and crunchy due to the greens and plenty saucy from the dressing.  Lots of chicken and bacon for meatiness and salt content.  So as you can see, the sammies look identical to the ones found in the states.  In fact, they taste the same in my opinion.  Therefore, it is nice to have the option of satisfying my Earl of Sandwich cravings nearby rather than heading South to get it.  Now let's hope we can get an In-N-Out here in the future!

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

The Good:
- Just like the stuff you find in the States
- No absence of filling
- That soft bread

The Bad:
- I don't find it particularly expensive, but hungrier appetites might need more than one sammie
- Parking in the complex is tough to find at times

Sooda

When it first opened, I had visited Sooda, even before they had removed all of the previous "Firepots" table burners.  Since I was with only one other person, we ordered the Sooda dakgalbi (that big hotplate of rice) and one more dish.  I never blogged about it because that was not representative of their whole menu.  I did enjoy the rice, despite it costing like $40.00.  It took me until recently to visit it again with my family (more people = more food!).

So before we got to our dishes, we had some of the complimentary Banchan including cabbage and onion salad, cabbage kimchi and seaweed salad.  These were fine where the kimchi was very lightly dressed.  Not the typical version, but okay.  We actually started with some Honey Butter Korean Fried Chicken consisting of chicken wings.  I found the batter to be lightly crunchy and sauced enough.  However, the skin wasn't rendered enough.  The meat was tender and juicy though.

One of their signature items is their Sooda Box, so we ordered the full 46cm version.  This featured premium Korean steak tartar atop boxed sushi rice.  It was drizzled with spicy aioli and then torched.  A slice of jalapeno graced each piece.  This was really good witch chewy rice and buttery tender beef.  Lots of spice and spiciness to go around.  We didn't stop there and also got the full Cheese Sooda Box with melted and torched mozzarella on top.  We enjoyed this one very much since they didn't skimp on the cheese.  Much more rich and heavier than the regular sooda box.

We also had some Korean BBQ in the form of Beef Belly and Pork Jowl.  This was a reasonable amount of quality meat for the price.  Using their induction burners (that replaced the old firepots branded ones), the BBQ got hot enough for searing.  Hence, the meats came out well and were tender.  The pork jowl had the usual rebound texture.  As for the fatty beef belly, it was soft and buttery.  Not bad for a place that doesn't specialize in Korean BBQ.

Lastly, we had the Sweet Pork Ribs with Mozza.  The description said it all where the ribs were fall-off-the-bone while maintaining a meatiness.  They were sauced with sweet soy.  The side of melted bubbling mozzarella was a cheesy accompaniment to the pork.  Rather heavy dish, but it is meant to be shared anyways.  So I didn't get to order the rice again since we had enough food and also there was not enough table space either.  I can confirm it is a large order best shared by more than 2 people.  For the rest of the food we had, it was more than acceptable and I can see why the place is busy.  Things aren't exactly cheap, but portions make up for it.

The Good:
- Some unique dishes
- Fairly large portions
- That Sooda Box is a must order

The Bad:
- Prices are on the higher side, especially for the signature items (but portions are large)
- Place gets busy and you will need to lineup

Menya Ultra (Mira Mesa)

Initially, I wasn't planning to check out Menya Ultra while I was in San Diego.  You see, I wasn't exactly staying anywhere close to it and it required me to drive in possibly rush-hour traffic.  However, when I was in the Bay Area, my uncle was raving about the place non-stop.  So after switching hotels from Downtown to Escondido, we decided to head over to the Mira Mesa location.  Pro tip, make sure you put your name on the Yelp wait list before you leave the house.  So what exactly is Menya Ultra?  It is a chain out of Odate City in Northern Japan where their first locations in the US have been in San Diego.

Before we got to the ramen, we started with the Nagoya Fried Chicken with house made sweet soy and black pepper.  Think KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) and you will get the gist of it (but it isn't KFC because purists will argue this).  I would say the batter on this was pretty light and beautifully crunchy.  Beyond that, the chicken leg meat was juicy and bursting with natural sweetness.  What made this dish was the impactful glaze where it was salty, sweet and peppery.  A real flavor explosion.

My daughter went for her favorite with the Miso Ramen.  The pork broth was accented by housemade Miso, fish flavored oil and garlic oil.  On top, we found pork chashu, bean sprouts, green onion, wood ear mushroom, grated ginger, roasted sesame seeds and red pepper.  The fermented flavor of the miso really came through with a deep salty richness (without actually being salty).  There was plenty of umami and aromatics.  Noodles were al dente and the chashu was sliced thin and tender.

My son and Viv both had the Tonkotsu Ajitama Ramen with the same pork broth base (of course without the miso).  This way, we could really get the porkiness of the broth as well as background taste of the fish oil.  Broth was rich but not thick, so it could be completely drinkable (which my son did and finished it).  Being fatty enough the chashu easily melted in his mouth.  Ajitama egg was custardy and marinated just enough where we could taste the mirin, but was not salty.

For myself, I went for something different in the Paiko Tantan Men.  This broth was much more robust with the addition of miso, sesame paste, chili oil and vinegar.  Mildly spicy, the broth had depth and umami with the nuttiness of sesame.  A little dollop of seasoned minced pork added more body to the dish.  This completely flavored the chewy noodles. For my choice of protein, I chose the chicken cutlet which was a touch dry, but still delicious.  So was it worth the drive to visit Menya Ultra (as per my uncle)?  I would say yes.  The ramen was really good with the broth being the highlight.  Loved the richness without being too thick while the flavors were pronounced without being salty.  Service was on point too.

The Good:
- Flavorful broth that was not overly salty
- Well-prepared components
- Excellent service

The Bad:
- A little rushed since they are super busy
- Always a lineup, but you can get on the Yelp waitlist  

Wong Ga Ma

Boy, haven't been back to Wong Ga Ma in 8 years!  Even though I really enjoyed that visit, I never returned until now...  Call it the curse of "too many good restaurants to visit" phenomenon.  I guess it is also with regret I ate at some places that were mediocre during that time.  Maybe I do need to dine at some of my favourites more often.  Then I know my money is going towards something guaranteed to be tasty.  I have done that with Mauna Sushi lately, so maybe it is a start of a trend...

Anyways, the menu at Wong Ga Ma is pretty standard with all the usual things like tofu soup, noodles, rice dishes and grilled meats.  However, one has to order at least one soup because they are good!  As such we started with the Bbeodagi-Gamjatang that sported 3 large and meaty pork bones.  This thing was served boiling hot (like it should be) and topped with perilla seeds.  The soup was fantastic being meaty and full of depth with a background spiciness.  Loved the pork bones as the meat melted in my mouth.  It was served with a hot stone bowl of rice that eventually sported a crunchy socarrat.  The trick is to soak it with the soup after you eat the rice.

We also got the Yuk Gae Jang with shredded beef, green onion, bracken, bean sprouts and potato starch noodle.  This was noticeably spicier and due to the use of beef, featured a completely different flavour profile than the gamjatang.  It was not porky and had an almost meatier and robust taste.  As for the beef, it was actually rather tender despite being a little bit dry.  Both the bracken and bean sprouts added a crunch texture to the whole thing while the noodles were slippery and soaked up the broth.  This was also served with a side of hot stone bowl rice.  Best to leave the rice in the stone bowl for a while without touching it to create that socarrat.

To get something noodley, we ordered the Spicy Cold Noodle Soup.  This was a bit clumpier than usual, but I was able to get it to loosen up after some aggressive noodle tossing with my chopsticks.  Texturally, the noodles were on point though being the usual chewiness with a tonne of rebound.  Great mouth feel and the ample amount of spicy sauce kept things sweet with some heat.  Completing the dish was pickled cukes and daikon, half boiled egg and sliced beef shank.

To add even more meat to the meal and to go with the rest of our rice, we got the Kalbi served on a hot cast iron plate.  As much as it arrived sizzling, the short ribs were not exactly caramelized.  Hence, the flavours were not very intense and there was a lack of smokiness.  The ribs themselves were meaty and fatty.  Naturally, some parts were more tender than others, but that is the way short ribs are.

We must not forget the Kimchi that is included with our meals.  It consisted of the usual napa cabbage kimchi as well as daikon radish.  These were pretty solid being packed with flavour and spice.  It was just tangy enough and the textures were appealing.  Loved the crunch of the daikon.  Overall, it was another solid meal at Wong Ga Ma.  Would've liked to see the ribs prepared a bit better, but the soups were the real treat.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Must get soup!

- Good kimchi

The Bad:

- Not too sure about the ribs

 

Gangnam Tofu Soup

Okay, let's get the joke out of the way first...  Yup, I recently visited Gangnam Tofu Soup in Coquitlam - "Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style".  Alrighty, with that taken care of, I'd like to say that I do enjoy a good Korean tofu soup and according to my friend, Gangnam Tofu Soup & Korean Grill does it well.  Better than House of Tofu Soup apparently (but honestly, that isn't a high bar IMO).  Well, we met up for some tofu soup and other eats on a Monday night.

So I'm not sure if it is the pandemic (supply issues and/or not wanting to carry too much inventory) or it was a Monday night, but they didn't have many of the dishes we wanted to order.  Well, they still had some Banchan for us in the form of kimchi, bean sprouts, stewed potatoes and tofu skin.  I gotta say that their kimchi was legit where it was flavourful without being sour and had a nice balanced spice to it.  Stewed potatoes were soft and full-flavoured.

Of course we had to indulge in some soft tofu soup since that was the point in dining at Gangnam.  We ended up having the spicy Beef Brisket Tofu Soup.  Gotta say that this was pretty darn good.  Broth was spicy and had depth that exhibited some brininess as well as spice from the kimchi.  I thought this was pretty spicy but not to the point it was overwhelming.  The brisket was super tender and the tofu was buttery soft.

As part of the tofu soup, one could make it a combo with a side of Beef Bulgogi and rice for a total of $19.95.  That we did and it really made the whole thing a filling meal.  There was a considerable amount of rice (which was meant for both the bulgogi and the soup) served in a stone pot.  The bulgogi itself was served on a cast iron hot plate on a bed of white onions.  Sweet and well-seasoned, the beef was tender and went well with the rice.  Could've used a bit more searing, but it was still delicious.

We didn't end there with the soup as we also got the Gamjatang (Pork Bone Soup).  This came steaming hot with the usual perilla seeds on top.  Oh, I really loved this soup as well where it was full-flavoured and also exhibited depth.  I could really taste the meat and also the sweetness of the veggies.  The large pork bones had plenty of buttery and tender meat falling off of them.  I also enjoyed the soft chunks of potato.

 

So there was one order of boneless chicken left, so we had to make a decision as to what flavour we should choose.  We ended up with the Soy Garlic Korean Fried Chicken because the kids said so (yes, they matter the most...).   Although the colour was a bit pale, the batter was crispy and the dark meat chicken was tender and juicy.  I found the sauce to be sticky and sweet with only a bit of saltiness.  Plenty of fresh garlic though.

 

Going for the usual dishes we order at Korean restaurants, we had the Dolset Bibimbap.  This came sizzling and we were able to get a rice crust.  The trick is to mix everything and then push the rice against the bowl with nothing really in the middle.  There was plenty of ingredients and they were well-prepared.  The rice was a little on the wetter side so the parts not touching the stone bowl was soft.  Of course we mixed in some gochujang (but after the fact because the kids don't prefer it.  The server was a bit horrified that we didn't originally mix it in.  LOL).

Continuing on with the usual, we also got the Japchae.  Portion size was decent, but wasn't huge by any means.  It was $21.00, which is pretty standard at most Korean restaurants.  However, I still think this particular dish is usually pricey at most places.  Anyways, as for this version, it was very black-pepper forward.  I personally enjoyed that as it was flavourful and not overly sweet.  The noodles were not clumpy nor greasy.  Plenty of ingredients too, so all-in-all, solid dish.

Lastly, we decided to try the Rice Cakes with Cheese which was indeed very cheesy.  However, we thought there was a bit too much in the way of white onion.  As such, the flavour profile was sharp rather than merely being cheesy.  There was a bit of spice and the rice cakes were nicely textured being soft with an appealing chewiness.  Overall, we thought the meal at Gangnam was solid where the tofu soup was excellent.  People are super nice and the place is spacious with lots of parking.  A good choice if you are in the Coquitlam Centre area.

The Good:

- Excellent tofu soup

- Super nice people

- Generally solid eats

The Bad:

- I guess this might be a one off, but they didn't have much stock in certain things (not blaming though because Covid, high food costs and supply chain issues might have contributed to this)