Memphis Blues (Broadway)

Seeing how we haven't been to Memphis Blues in awhile, I made it a point to go there sometime soon. I needed to treat Snake Eyes to a meal since he always seems to be there whenever I need something. This included helping me by climbing a 25 foot scaffold at my old place for renovation purposes. If it were me, it would take much longer or not at all. So tonight, Viv and I took him and his wife to the original location of Memphis Blues BBQ on Broadway. When we used to live in Downtown, I'd pick up the Memphis Platter all the time as take out. Vegetarians we are not! That was enough for 4 people easily. However, it seems like the portion size has shrunk and only seems enough for 2-3 people. Whatever, that's what the Elvis Platter is for! Twice as big and at $69.95, I find this massive plate of meat a good value.

I can see why Tony Roma's is not longer operating any locations in the GVRD anymore. Sure, it's a different type of BBQ; yet it's close enough. We could never get out of Tony Roma's without spending $20.00+ each. Memphis Blues is a very casual place. You order from the counter, grab your own drinks, plates and utensils. However, they do bring the food out for you. Thank goodness for that because I'd probably drop the Elvis Platter if I had to do it myself. Look at the thing! You got brisket, pulled pork, ribs, sausage, rib tips, a whole BBQ chicken, fries, cornbread, slow cooked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and housemade BBQ sauce. This is a fabulous value for $69.95. Remember, there are hardly any fillers on this plate!

Now, if you're not a big fan of dry BBQ where the meat cooks in its own juices at low heat for a very long time, this may temper your enthusiasm. I'm still not completely a big fan of their ribs since I find them a bit dry; but this is how its supposed to be. I dunno, call me blasphemous; but I prefer the boiled, then BBQ'd ribs you'd find at Montana's. A personal preference really. Otherwise, the rest of the meats are tender and go well with the smoky BBQ sauce. The sides are alright, nothing mind-blowing. If eaten in the restaurant itself, the fries are crispy and well seasoned. Bring them home and they become a soggy mess. The crunchy coleslaw needs more zing in my opinion and the potato salad is not bad. I really like the beans, there are bits of meat residing in the smoky, sweet sauce. It ain't perfect; but in Vancouver, there is little in the way of Southern BBQ. And at the prices they charge, I believe Memphis Blues is the place to go if you get the BBQ meat cravings.

The Good:
- Good value
- On average, pretty good meats
- Casual atmosphere

The Bad:
- Meats are a bit dry (that's the way they do it), some people may not like that
- Not for Vegetarians!

Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle

Generally, when there is a lineup, it draws attention. Much like a traffic accident on the freeway, everyone needs to take a look. Heck, even a broken-down car at the side of the road draws stares. Call it human nature. So, when I saw Ben's tweet about the absurd lineup at Chef Hung in Aberdeen Centre, I initially thought to avoid it like a "faux" lineup at a club. Compounded by the fact that many early reports indicated that the food didn't live up to the hype, I was skeptical. Now skepticism is one thing; yet that has never stopped me before. Even though it's in my favourite driving purgatory, I was determined to find out myself.

Ma was nice enough to join me even though I had a difficult time explaining that these famous noodles may or may not be good. Luckily for us, we arrived early enough to avoid the lineup. We shared an Onion Pancake Beef Roll to start. It was served hot with tender sliced beef shank, scallions and julienned cucumber. The pancake was soft and flaky and there was just enough hoisin. This was a good dish. I added a side of marinaded cucumbers and that was also very good. Crunchy, sweet, garlicky and a bit spicy, I could eat a whole bowl of these.

With suggestions coming from moi, she opted for the Beef Brisket Noodle in clear soup. As others have commented, the bowl of noodles looked really plain and tasteless. Upon taking a sip of the broth, it was indeed very light tasting. I could get a sense of beef flavour; but it was "shallow" at the very best. Now, I do realize this was their intention and I'm not going to knock them on it. On the other hand, the noodles were nice and chewy, while the meat soft and tender. Personally, I prefer spicy beef noodles. And that's what I got, the Spicy Shank, Tendon and Tripe Noodles. Now for those who complained that it wasn't spicy enough, I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Not that it blew my mind; but the broth was plenty flavourful and spicy. Extremely large pieces of shank and tendon mixed with soft tripe sat atop chewy flat noodles. Despite what others have said, I acutally liked my bowl of beef noodles. Now was it worth $11.00? That's debatable. If this is what you like personally, then it is. If you don't, then not. I know one thing is for sure, I wouldn't lineup for it.

The Good:
- Perfectly cooked noodles
- Large, rightly done meats
- Decent service (despite what others have said)

The Bad:
- Is it really worth $11.00?
- What's with the lineup?

Happy Family

On our way to Pho Hoa a few months ago after hockey, we noticed a Chinese restaurant open quite late nearby. In fact, it was Boss Woman who spotted it and she was lobbying to try it rather than going for pho. You see, she doesn't like pho. In fact, she doesn't like much at all other than Chinese food. Hey, I hear her. It's cheap, hits the spot and usually open late. However, doing it week after week gets a bit boring. So we filed it away for another time. Well, tonight would be that time. Funny thing is that Boss Woman didn't join us since it was so late. It always appears that she seems to miss the times we actually go to a Chinese restaurant. Milhouse has another theory - we do it to spite her. Nice. Now let's hope she's not reading this!

So we head over to Happy Family at the really early time of 1:30am. Fortunately for us, the place is open until 3:00am. In addition to their regular menu, they had "da lang", which is essentially Chinese late night consisting of smaller dishes served with plain congee. Despite the presence of Milhouse and Polka King, who are Chinese as well, I had to do the ordering. Apparently, I'm the most Chinese of all, knowing how to order... Probably the one dish we had to get was the Fried Silverfish. No no, don't worry, it's not the little buggers scurrying around in your kitchen (or a Chinese kitchen...). Rather, they are small little fish that are lightly battered, fried and then wok-tossed in chili-salt. They are especially good mixed into the plain congee! The ones here were a bit larger than the usual and were quite flavourful from the chili, pepper and garlic. We also got something that had the exact flavour profile (since it's tossed in the same spice mix), the Fried Tofu. These were alright, although fried a bit too long.

Bear finally came out of his Winter hibernation and joined us as well. He, being the short rib king, naturally ordered the Black Pepper Short Ribs. Greasy, peppery and plentiful, these were pretty decent. Not as tender as in the Korean-prepared version, the short ribs were still decently moist. I just wished that the whole thing wasn't glistening like a teenage boys' forehead. Milhouse went for his favourite Chinese dish, the Sweet & Sour Pork. Let's see, he can't speak the language and loves S&S Pork, is he really Chinese??? It was actually quite good. Too bad that every other piece was pure fat. Not the most appetizing thing when you bite into it. For some inexplicable reason, Polka King got the Curry Chicken. We were not sure how you would eat that with congee... Ultimately, we had to order a bowl of rice. It was alright, your typical Chinese version of curry which is not spicy, very yellow and mostly sweet. For me at least, I found it a bit bland (since I like it spicy). I did like the tender pieces of chicken; although, the texture was indicative of baking soda marination.

The food was pretty much on the good side of average here and that's not really a bad thing. The reason? If you can get half-decent food early in the morning hours, it's all that you can ask for really. I know service at Chinese restaurant is generally a crap-shoot under normal circumstances, let alone the early hours. However, we found that the staff were more interested in socializing with friends or regular customers than actually trying to provide any service whatsoever. Getting tea or the bill took forever (at least they were friendly). This begs the question: Would I eat here at regular hours? Probably not; but I would return if it was early in the morning and not much else was open.

The Good:
- Open until 3:00am
- Cheap
- Edible

The Bad:
- Food is a bit greasy
- Non-existent service

Joe Fortes

I hadn't been to Joe Fortes for quite some time and I had commented on Kim's post that I was in no hurry to return. Yet, it suddenly reappeared on my radar while I was searching for a restaurant in Downtown. I know, there are a lot of choices in Downtown; but the most important criteria is food that my son is willing to eat. No no, we're not going to eat Japanese food again. Besides, we were meeting up with Wolvie and Italian Stallion. You see, Italian Stallion isn't particularly adventurous. Taco Bell is exotic to him! In fact, I'm not even sure he likes anything but his mom's cooking. But really, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just ask Kim! Furthermore, we weren't going to suggest a overly expensive place since they were treating.

Normally, Joe Fortes is quite pricey especially during dinner. However, much like other restaurant these days, Joe Fortes has a prix fixe menu: 3 courses for $16.95 and 2 courses for $13.95 Monday thru Friday. To me at least, it seems like a pretty good deal. When we arrived, we had to wait briefly for our table. The reason? I had requested a window seat for 5 and with the restaurant layout, there is only one of two places where that can happen. Credit to them that they gave me exactly what I requested. Once we were seated, it became quite theatrical. No, the staff did not break into song and dance such as the T-Mobile commercial. However, wouldn't that be awesome? Anyways, what I mean is that the service was so attentive and good, it almost seemed like it was over-the-top. Don't get me wrong, I was thoroughly impressed with the service we got, it just seemed a bit contrived.

I must give them kudos for getting the Mac & Cheese out quickly to keep my son happy. This particular version was big and hearty. It came out piping hot. It was extremely cheesy and smooth. My son kept asking for extra Parmesan and the staff quickly obliged every time. He's such a tough customer! For myself, I went for the Fish 'n Chips. Yes, I know, there are other things I could have possibly ordered here, especially the oysters and steak. However, I've been here before and I just wanted to order something different. It turns out that I made a good choice. The two fresh cod fillets were lightly batter and perfectly cooked. Most of the batter was crisp except when I got closer to the middle of each piece. Probably the moisture from the fish (and it was moist) conspired to soften the crisp coating. The tartar sauce was decent; if not pretty standard. Adding a bit more fresh lemon helped improve the flavour. I really wasn't a big fan of the fries, they were cooked quite "well" and lost a bit of its potato texture.

Viv opted for 2 courses, with the first being a Caesar Salad and the main being the Steelhead Salmon with roast potatoes. Not being Sockeye nor Coho, the Steelhead is not one of my favourites. Essentially a ocean trout, it is milder tasting and has less fat (thus less flavour). Despite the material limitations, it was moist while being cooked all the way through. I personally would've liked it a bit undercooked. Wolvie also had the salmon and she added that the roast potatoes were a bit inconsistent. One was perfect, while the other was a bit hard and undercooked. Italian Stallion went for the 5oz Sirloin with mash potatoes. For a smaller size steak, it actually was a decent size. I gave it a try and it was perfectly medium-rare. The meat was moist, flavourful and easy to eat. Not bad for a lunch special.

For the price, I believe that the lunch specials at Joe Fortes are an excellent value. Sure, it's not going to blow your mind and in fact, there will be a few disappointments. However, their food has never really been in direct competition with the finer establishments in town anyways. They are all about the seafood (particularly oysters) and steaks. There will better other options for dinner (especially at their price points); but I have no problem grabbing a bite here for lunch, especially at these prices.

The Good:
- Really attentive service
- Good value (for lunch)
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- Don't expect ultra-refinement (it's a steakhouse and seafood after all)
- Dinner is considerably more expensive

Hot Pot @ Victoria Chinese Restaurant

*No longer available*

Boy, I used to frequent Victoria Chinese Restaurant quite often before my food blogging. It happens to be my parents' favourite Dim Sum spot. I guess it's difficult to be a regular customer when I'm busy running around trying new places. Generally, Victoria is known for it's Dim Sum and wedding banquets. But little do people know, they also have all-you-can-eat hot pot. I've had it a few times and I find it a fabulous value since it's only $19.99. Tonight, we were invited (including my mom and dad) to a hot pot meal courtesy of the manager. I guess being a faithful customer all these years has it's benefits. Of course, we made it clear that I could say whatever I wanted in my post about the hot pot. Viv didn't join us for the hot pot as she was eating out with some friends at Red Fort (formerly Rubina). As a side note, she and her friends were bitterly disappointed when they refused to accept more than one Entertainment coupon even though they had a party of 4. I find this act despicable since that is essentially a bait and switch. I mention this to warn others of their unethical business practices. I digress.

Anyways, back to the hot pot. Similar to any other hot pot, you have to pay for the soup base. I know this sounds like an added cost on top of what you are already paying; but it just seems like an accepted practice. Personally, I'd prefer all hot pot places to just factor in the cost of the broth into the final price. We ended up getting the clear soup base and the spicy soup base. Unlike proper hot pot restaurants, there is no ventilation devices installed. Luckily, they have a very high ceiling (at least half of the restaurant) and the evaporated water has somewhere to go. Otherwise, the place might get quite hot. In terms of selection, there is an impressive checklist.

We started with a plate of Fish Tofu, Fish Meatballs, Beef Tripe, Pig Stomach and Fatty Beef. Don't be fooled by the name, the fish tofu is made of fish and starch containing no real tofu. Despite this, I really like it since it's quite soft and butteryish (not a real word, I know...). Both the tripe and stomach were in a shade of gray which didn't look at all appetizing. They were precooked since you can't soften tripe up in that short of a time. I think they should have eased up on the precooking a tad, there was no texture left in them. The star of the plate was the fatty beef. With a quick dip into the hot broth (once it changes colour, it's done, don't leave it in too long!), it yielded buttery soft meat. The fish balls were fish balls, nothing more to say about them.

The next dish consisted of Greenshell Mussels, Bible Tripe and Fish Slices (Basa?). Nothing much to say about the mussels since they come precooked. The tripe was good. It was properly washed (lots of cold water rinsing), so that there was no gamy taste. The fish slices were not fishy and stayed in one piece when cooked. Continuing with the precooked theme, the shrimp were not raw. They had already been blanched. Again, we can only guess that the reasoning behind this is to prevent spoilage or there was no fresh shrimp available. The final product was still sweet and had a chewy texture, so not a big deal I guess. The plate of pork cheeks confused me at first because it was pale and not pink like it's supposed to look. Again, the colour was probably the result of a baking soda marinade. No matter, I actually enjoyed the slightly crunchy texture once cooked.

With Enoki and Shiitake Mushrooms with a side of Fried Wheat Gluten, we finally got a meatless dish. Mushrooms were fresh and devoid of dirt (hey, some places have really dirty mushrooms!). I love gluten, there is something about that chewy texture. Thus, I practically ate all of it. Not the healthiest thing; but I seemingly can't get enough of it. I used to buy the assorted gluten from Bodai and ate it all by myself! Alright, the last dish consisted of various items such as Pork Blood, Silk Tofu, Winter Melon and regular tofu. I know, the pork blood thing scares some people. Well, I happen to like it and I suppose if you never grew up on the stuff, it can gross you out just by looking at it. Nothing much to say about this plate really other than it did the job.

We also had the Wakame Seaweed, Udon, Vermicelli, Chrysanthemum Greens and Watercress. The greens were fresh; but I wasn't a big fan of the seaweed. Personal choice really, didn't seem to go well with the hot pot thing. What we ordered was only a small sampling of the items available. For $19.99 and AYCE, it's a great value, especially considering the venue and location. Realistically, there are better hot pot restaurants around. Considering that Victoria is not an actual hot pot restaurant, they do a pretty good job in offering a good selection of items for a reasonable price.

*Note: This was an invited dinner where all food was comped*

The Good:
- Reasonably priced, taking account of the location, level of service and food quality
- Free dessert
- Validated parking

The Bad:
- It's not a true hot pot restaurant, thus some condiments and items are not available
- Without built-in burners, the temperature goes down as the gas canister empties

Tangthai

*Restaurant is now closed*

"Free Food". That usually gets the attention of most people, especially foodies. Of course, not everyone is game for a comped meal. It may lead to biases or a lack of objectivity since we really did not pay for our food. Obviously, that can be true in some cases. Personally, I've been a bit selective when deciding whether to accept an invite or not. It gets me a bit nervous when a marginally-rated restaurant wants me to try their food and then blog about it. Not that it should matter; but we're only human and one would fell a bit uneasy about blasting a place that just paid for your meal. Ben (Chowtimes) was gracious enough to extend an invitation from Tangthai for a tasting. Joining us were Jenny (My Secret Eden), Kevin (604 Foodtography) and Mijune (Follow Me Foodie).

In all honesty, when I spotted the ratings of Tangthai's Broadway location on Urbanspoon, I was not feeling all that confident about the impending meal. Yet, we were assured that there was no obligation to say nice things. With that in mind, I was just about to leave work from North Delta when Toolman emailed me the bad news... The Alex Fraser Bridge was closed due to an accident. Great. I needed to make it to Downtown in 1 hour and my only hope was either the Massey Tunnel or the Patullo. In a split second decision, I opted for the Patullo even though it would mean backtracking quite a distance. Turns out I was very lucky since the tunnel was backed up quite badly. Good for me, bad for Mijune. She was stuck in the lineup entering the tunnel for a good 30 minutes. This ultimately led to Ben being late as well. We were supposed to start at 5:30; but it was more like 6:30 before we started eating.

We began with the Prawn Skirt which is essentially a spring roll with a whole prawn stuffed inside with pork, crab meat and water chestnut. Not sure if the crab was necessary since it was completely lost, especially since the whole thing was quite peppery. Despite the absence of crab flavour, I did like the spring roll since it was very crispy, not oily and flavourful on its own. Up next were Satay Chicken and Beef. The beef was predictably tougher than the chicken. If you look at the picture, there is an obvious tinge of turmeric on the chicken satay. I know it is an integral part of the satay marinade in addition to ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander; but somehow there was too much of a "curry" taste. However, that wasn't the main issue. The peanut dipping sauce was quite strange. Rather than the usual chunky sweet peanut sauce we were used to, it was more like peanut butter.

We were then served Tom Kha Kai which is a spicy chicken coconut soup. It was indeed a bit spicy with a refreshingly light coconut aroma. Taking a few more sips, there was a discernible flavours such as lemongrass, fish sauce and ginger (which turns out to be galangal). I thought the soup had good balance. Presented beautifully with a hand-carved daikon bird, the Pla Rad Prik (fried whole tilapia) looked impressive; yet I thought the fish was overcooked with the meat being completely dry. Now, I realize this is the way it's supposed to be since some of the bony parts were crispy enough to eat. I guess it is something personally I didn't like. However, I didn't mind the sauce, it was sweet, sour, tart and peppery all at the same time. It went well with the rice.

The next dish, Pla Muk Pad Prik, was a quite interesting. It's essentially a green curry with vermicelli and chicken stuffed squid. Complementing the squid were Kadota figs (we originally couldn't figure out what these were), galangal (thought it was ginger at first) and tiny bitter figs which we thought were peas at first. I'm still not sure if those are figs to tell you the truth. Figs aside, the squid was tender and the green curry was quite spicy with fresh Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves. The next dish was described to me as lemongrass beef or Nua Pad Takhai. Honestly, I didn't taste much in the way of lemongrass here since my mouth was too busy with the flavours from the other dishes. The beef was decently tender and the sauce exhibited a spicy, sweet quality. It was pretty good, I probably wouldn't have ordered it myself though.

Next up was a dish that didn't exist on the menu. I guess it's probably a daily featured dish. Consisting of fried Basa on top of a bed of breaded eggplant, it appeared to be topped with a Massaman curry. I thought the eggplant stole the show. It was perfectly fried being wonderfully crispy while maintaining its integrity. The curry was slightly spicy and sweet. If we didn't have enough food already, the Roast Chicken arrived. On its own, the chicken was nothing really much to look at. In fact, I thought it was a quite dry and overcooked. However, the main event for this dish were the 2 sides of dipping sauce. We tasted the sauce over and over again to get a read on it. After much tasting, we figured it consisted mainly of lime juice, cilantro, chilies, fish sauce, and sugar.

Hey, what's Thai food without Pad Thai? Therefore, it was a given that it would show up eventually. Ben remarked that his Thai friend tried it and hated it. Well, I'm not Thai; but I didn't care for it very much either. I personally thought it lacked enough tamarind for that zing we all look for in Pad Thai. Furthermore, I would've also liked more spice. The lime seemed to help a bit; but there was no saving this bland version. On a positive note, I did like the texture of the noodles, they were slightly chewy. The last hot dish of the meal was something I also wouldn't personally order. The Cashew Chicken was mostly sweet with little in the way of spice. There was nothing inherently wrong with this dish. After all, the veggies were still crisp and there was indeed flavour, albeit mild. But for me, it's something you'd find at a food fair, not a dish that stands out.

As for dessert, we got Tea Pudding and Sweet Tapioca Soup. The pudding was not very sweet; rather being quite aromatic. I found that the flavours developed in stages. At first, it was slightly sweet, then as it melted in my mouth, the tea flavour kicked in. I realize that there should be some salt in the tapioca dessert; but for some reason, it was noticeably salty. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be the case. If it is, someone please correct me. Due to the high salt content, it masked the coconut milk and negated the sweetness; rather than heightening it. Honestly, I thought the food at Tangthai was better than I expected it to be. It was indeed authentic; but I found some of the flavours quite mild. I do realize not everything has to be spicy and they are trying to appeal to a wide range of diners. I would say it is authentic and decent enough for you to check it out since it's certainly better than some other "Thai" restaurants out there.

The Good:
- It's authentic (owner and staff are all Thai)
- Reasonable prices for what you get
- It's clean

The Bad:
- Flavours could've been even bolder (I guess you could easily ask for this)
- Desserts are a bit weak

Triple Coconut Tree

Boxing day - the ultimate homage to consumerism at its very best and worst. Regular, calm, polite human beings morphing into hungry, ravenous shoppers early in the morning just to score a deal. They fight for parking spots. Fight for their space in a lineup. Fight to be the first to get into the store. Fight to get to the sale items first. They even fight to lineup again to pay. Hey, it's a normal day in Richmond; but on boxing day, it's everywhere. For me, the only fighting I was planning to do was to click with my mouse for the online sales. I succeeded in purchasing everything I wanted at NCIX, Futureshop and Bestbuy. For once the websites for FS/BB did not crash and the ordeal was little more than 15 minutes. NCIX was another story... I stuck with it and eventually got what I wanted. However, there was one thing I could not get online and needed to get on boxing day itself. The item? A Canon Speedlite 430EX II with diffuser. A what??? It's an external flash for my DSLR so that my nighttime pics will finally look half-decent, such as Kim and Wilson. Well, at least closer... They're still better!

There was one problem, I had to take my daughter with me since Viv was heading out to shop as well with our son. Off I went to Broadway Camera fairly early in the morning. Getting the flash was one thing, lining up to pay was another. It took 45 minutes to checkout! I was originally going to eat at Sha Lin since it was nearby; but it wasn't open so early. Thus, we headed back and met up with Viv. Remembering Kim's post on Triple Coconut Tree, I decided to give it a try. Well, that and my son usually eats Pho too... I've been to this location before; but back then it was a Chinese restaurant.

We started with the Spring Rolls, which incidentally are the real deal. However, I thought they were a bit too greasy for my liking. They were crispy though. We also got a House Banh Mi and it was a bit disappointing. If you look at the picture, you'd find more meat on Kate Moss than this sandwich. The bread itself was a bit crispy and a tad chewy. I did like the carrots though, they were crunchy and tart. Trying to sample something different, I gave the Spicy Pho a go. Honestly, it really wasn't all that spicy; but I do like my food on the spicier side. To me, it was a regular bowl of pho with some a spicy oil slick on top. On a positive note, there was plenty of meat and I did like the noodles as they were al dente.

Viv had a regular bowl of pho and curiously, the soup wasn't all that hot. Furthermore, we didn't find the broth particularly flavourful. There was not much meat taste or spices you'd normally pick out such as onion, star anise or ginger. For those who like a light broth, this one would suit you fine. The food wasn't bad; yet it was missing something. With so many pho places around, the food has to be above average to stand out. For us, this one didn't.

The Good:
- Very friendly staff
- Good amount of meat and noodles

The Bad:
- Soup wasn't exactly hot
- Regular broth was a bit too light