Royal City Thai

*Restaurant is now closed*

Is it just me or are food bloggers roaming around in packs from restaurant to restaurant? Could it be safer in numbers? Is it a pack mentality? Well, it certainly takes away the awkwardness of taking pictures when you have many more people doing the same thing. So once again, we have a few of us, armed with our DSLRs, meeting for another meal. The destination this time around was thanks to Karl. In the former location of Royal City Cafe comes Royal City Thai. Yah, I know, not very creative with the name; but it gets the point across. Of course New West is not the hot bed of Thai food; yet there can be gems found here and there, such as Lhy Thai in Burnaby. Also joining us were Kim, Jessica & Mark.

I brought my daughter with me this time since Viv was busy. I didn't bother bringing my son because he doesn't even eat hamburgers, let alone Thai food. For a Sunday morning, I struggled mightily to find a parking spot on Columbia. I must've circled quite a few times before I got one right in front. So even before we got down to ordering the food, I did my usual spiel about how good Kim's pictures are. Once and for all, he wanted to stop my endless gibberish about his pictures. So he proposed that we switch cameras for today's meal. Naturally, I was a bit apprehensive since the usual questions bothered me, such as: what if the pictures I take suck? Or what if they are good? Do I even know how to use his camera?

Well, I must add that Kim was at a disadvantage since my camera settings in manual mode are a mess since I don't really fool around with them much. Kim's camera was already setup and all I needed to do was take the picture. Furthermore, he has a much more superior lens. With that out of the way, we all decided to try their all-you-can-eat lunch for $12.95. Looking over the menu, it reminded me of Thai House and their AYCE that they no longer offer. The server asked us what we wanted to order and unanimously we all replied, "Everything!" And one by one, everything arrived. We started with the Tom Kah Gai. This for me was a bit average. It was a bit bland with neither a strong coconut or spice flavour to it. I realize that they do not want to make it too bold since it might alienate some customers. Thus, if you like it spicy, just ask. That's what we did for the second round of food.

Next up was an order of Calamari. This was not bad with soft squid in crispy breading. The dipping sauce was pretty standard sweet chili. In the form of more fried goodness, we go the obligatory Spring Rolls. They were crunchy and filled with veggies and vermicelli. What can I say? They were spring rolls. I wasn't that fond of the diluted sweet and sour sauce. I dipped it in the sweet chili instead. The sweet chili sauce accompanied the Fried Chicken Wings as well. It went well with the crispy wings. The fried appies were decent; but we all know that the main event are the curries and stir fries. The first to arrive was the Chicken Red Curry. It was quite pleasant if one was looking for a mild curry. Let me rephrase that, if one was looking for a coconut sauce. Yah, once again, to appeal to the masses, this tasted watered down without much in the way of spice. Our bad for not asking at the start of the meal. Otherwise, it was alright with chicken, bamboo shoots, peppers, onions and basil.

Next up was the Basil Beef Stirfry. I know this is AYCE; but there was a serious lack of meat in this dish. Try looking for it, it's like "Where is the Beef?" Once again, this was pretty decent with fresh veggies and tender beef. And again, not much spice to speak of. However, in the second round of food, this dish was much spicier which made it ultimately better. On a personal note, I could've eaten spicier. Although that would've put the flavour profile of the dish into an unbalanced state, which some people may not like. That once again explains the blandness of the dish - to not alienate the majority of people who do not eat that spicy.

Next up was the Pork Yellow Curry. It was slightly more spicy than the red curry. Furthermore, I felt that the meatiness of the pork added more depth to the dish. Somehow I find chicken to be a bit bland and it really doesn't enhance a dish. On that note, I still like the texture of chicken over pork and beef when it comes to curry. I guess you really can't have the best of both worlds. This curry was predominantly sweet with underlying heat. One particular dish I didn't care about was the Chili Pepper Fried Rice with vegetables. It's partially due to the fact that fried rice was probably the lest interesting dish other than the white rice. It was a tad dry with not a whole lot of flavour. I had to put some curry on it to liven it up. I did like the texture of the veggies, they were still a bit crunchy.

Continuing with more stir fries was the Gai Pad Namman which consisted of snow peas, peppers, pineapple and chicken in a black bean sauce. As expected with this dish, it was not spicy. Not much to really complain about it. The veggies were crisp, chicken was tender and an interesting sweetness provided by the pineapples. As you can see from the picture, the whole dish appeared quite glossy which is from the coating of oil on all of the ingredients. I guess that helps the food slide down your esophagus?

The last curry to arrive was the Beef Green Curry. Somehow, this one had a lot of beef in it. Maybe that's where the beef is? I not sure if my taste buds tricked me or not; but I found this curry to be the mildest of all (which shouldn't be the case). Not really all that spicy nor much coconut flavour, I found this one almost bland. However, I did like the pieces of tender beef and eggplant. It's interesting that the AYCE menu did not have the ever-popular Pad Thai. Rather, there was Pad See Ew available instead. This is nothing remotely close to Pad Thai since the flavouring is predominantly soy sauce rather than tamarind. Furthermore, there are veggies in the form of broccoli, baby corn and carrots in this version. Although we like our rice noodles al dente, this one was bordering on uncooked. But I really didn't seem to mind it that much, much better than mushy. The second time around for this dish, it was significantly spicier and the noodles were a bit softer.

In a nutshell, my initial reaction was that both the menu and food was very similar to Thai House (especially seeing how both AYCE menus are alike). Now, they can either take that as a compliment or an insult. However, it really depends on expectations and the clientele. For people who crave spicy, flavourful Thai food, the normal iterations of each dish are quite conservative (like Thai House). Not necessarily a bad thing considering where it is located and the majority of their customers will not want tongue-burning food.

The Good:
- Food is decent for its location
- Nice decor and wide open seating
- Friendly staff and efficient service

The Bad:
- Food is on the safer side of things, although you can request to have it spicier
- Reminds me of Thai House (can be a compliment if that's what you're looking for)

Kim Saigon Sandwiches (in Golden Garden)

If you were strolling by on Main Street, it would be very easy to miss Kim Saigon Sandwiches. Hey, that's exactly what has happened to me. I wasn't even aware it existed even though I've probably walked past it a number of times. The reason for this apparent oversight is that Kim Saigon is located within another restaurant, which happens to be Golden Garden Vietnamese. Well, it is all one restaurant per se; but a Banh Mi stand greets you when entering the place. Returning from downtown, I was going to pick up some food for Viv and suggested that I get some Vietnamese subs. Knowing Viv, I had her at banh... Seeing how I've already tried Viet Sub and Ba Le (Chinatown), something different was in order. I quickly punched in "banh mi & Chinatown" into google and there it was - Kim Saigon Sandwiches. However, the address made me think since I didn't remember any banh mi joint at that location.

Pulling into a parking spot in front, I realized that it resided in a former wonton noodle joint. In fact, Golden Garden is fairly new being roughly a year old. So I decided to get one each of the Cold Cut, Chicken and Meatball. Yah, it wasn't all for Viv! While waiting for my order, the sandwich making process was interrupted more than a Windows Vista user doing file management. What should have taken only 3 minutes took longer than 10. I don't blame them because it got really busy in the restaurant. However, not necessarily a good thing if someone was in a rush for take-out.

When I finally got the sandwiches, I opened up the wrapping to let it breathe so that it didn't moisten up too much on the ride home. It turns out that the subs remained crisp and crusty, at least on the outside. If you look at the pictures, the bread itself is a bit dense and is not as airy like the ones at Ba Le (Kingsway location) or Tung Hing. However, that did not mean that the subs were bad. Conversely, I thought they were quite good. I particularly liked the cold cut as it reminded me of Ba Le's version (which I like). There was a good amount of fish sauce added so there was lots of flavour. The meatball and chicken subs were also quite good with a decent amount of meat. Not the best banh mi I've ever had; but pretty solid nonetheless.

The Good:
- Enough filling
- Fresh ingredients
- Crusty, if not a bit dense, bread

The Bad:
- Sandwich maker doubles as hostess and cashier, can be interrupted often
- Crusty, if not a bit dense, bread

Chill Restaurant & Lounge

*This restaurant is now closed*

For quite a while now, I've been eyeing Chill Restaurant & Lounge as a potential late night destination after hockey. However, their kitchen closes at midnight and since our games have been rather late, it's a no-go. Lately, we've run into a string of games that are actually quite early; thus it opens up a whole set of potential dining options. Seeing how Ben and Karl had visited Chill recently, it was on my mind once again. After our game, I suggested it to the team (more like told them) that we go try Chill. They all seemed quite willing, so off we went. Joining me tonight were Polka King, Milhouse, Boss Woman, Emilicious, Mr. Blueberry and Gadget Girl. That was awesome since we could try out so many more dishes! Yah, I don't mind their company either...

For a Friday night, the place was extremely busy and there was definitely a buzz. It could be the fact that most of the clientele were younger and/or the place is licensed (hence, alcoholic bubble tea!). Due to my expeditious driving, Polka King and I arrived earlier than everyone else and were lucky to secure a large table. As everyone began filtering in, we were given takeout menus since all of their other menus were being used. This was the first sign that they were really busy (an omen of things to come). Is it just me, despite the takeout menu being more or less the same as the regular menu, I find it less appealing to look at? Totally psychological I'm sure; but I wasn't even interested in anything until I got to look a the actual menu.

And about that menu... It's a real mix of items. There is a collection of "Asian" tapas mixed in with Taiwanese Beef Noodle and a whole whack of drinks and bubble teas. In some cases, the word tapas is used loosely to describe what is essentially "da lang" or Chinese late night portions of food. Mr. Blueberry and Gadget Girl decided to share a few "tapas" plates including the Beef Roll, Fried Capelin, Chill Tempura and Sweet & Sour Pork. The beef roll arrived nicely plated on a bed of shredded cabbage. Mr. Blueberry liked it and said it was nice texturally and taste wise. However, both the fried capelin and tempura were a bit off. Although the capelin was fried up nice and crispy, there was some odd taste in the oil. That was the same for the tempura. And about that tempura... Uh... Is it just me or does it just like a pile of poorly made fries? Actually, it is fish cake cut into strips and then fried. I can't see what does tempura has to do with this dish. Texturally it was neither crunchy nor tasty. Gadget Girl suggested that there should've been both a spicy dip and garnish on the plate. But the biggest problem was the odd oil flavour again. We can only guess that there was something cooked in the oil beforehand that contaminated the flavour. They disliked it so much, it was sent back. To the restaurants' credit, they took it off the bill. As for the sweet & sour pork, it was quite good. Rather than using fatty pork, we were amazed to find out that they used pork chop to make this dish. The result was a meatier version of this dish. Furthermore, there were nice big chunks of pineapple, peppers and onions within the tangy sauce. This dish was surprisingly a winner considering this would be the last place you'd expect find good sweet & sour pork.

Emilicious went for one of their specialties - Beef Noodle. However, when it arrived, it was a Tomato Beef Noodle. Again, to their credit, they took it away and returned with the correct version. With big ribbons of just past al dente noodles in a somewhat flavourful broth, this was an okay bowl of beef noodles. I found that the beef was actually quite tender, although they were in little pieces. Boss Woman wasn't all that hungry and ordered the Pineapple Shrimp. Presented as a fairly large portion for the price, it was good. She said both the shrimp and flavours worked well together being sweet. Not sure about the "oil" problem that plagued the other 2 fried dishes; but possibly the plethora of sauce hid any odd flavours. Now by this time, no one but Milhouse had received their drinks. We had ordered 4 bubble teas and only got one. He got the Cookies and Cream BBT featuring real Oreos. He thought it was fantastic.

For me, I started with the Mix & Mash. Okay, it's not a drink nor is it a box of Betty Crocker instant mash potatoes. Rather it is a mixture of items such as bean curd, seaweed, beef tripe, beef shank, chicken gizzards and beef tendon. I got to choose 3 for $6.99. I think they were trying to imply "mix & match" or "mishmash". Or maybe they meant to do that and combine the two. Just sounded funny to me... I ended up with tendon, gizzards and tripe. No one seemed too interested in trying it. Their loss! Everything was quite good with everything being tender and well seasoned. Thus, it was a bit of overkill to have so much salty sauce on top. I also liked the side of pickled carrots and daikon, very vinegary. Portion-size, I personally thought there should've been more considering other Taiwanese BBT joints give you a big plate full for the same price. I also added the Nikutofu Noodle as per Emilicious' request. She wanted to see and try it out. Resembling a type of Ja Jeun Mein, there were chewy noodles with a sauce consisting of dried tofu, pickles and meat with Shanghai bak choy and sprouts on the side. Not bad, probably better with thinner noodles; but alright nonetheless. I liked the sauce, it provided a bit of salt and sweetness without overpowering the noodles.

When Polka King got his Satay Lamb with Vegetables, we were confused as to what it was. He didn't even know it was the dish he had ordered. Somehow the description didn't lend itself to the actual product. However, he checked the menu and the picture was indeed a match. It's probably because the meat didn't look or taste like lamb. Good for those who don't like the gaminess since it didn't taste as such. The dish was okay; yet would've been better if there was less liquid. Funny how this dish was actually the first to arrive at our table and his second dish arrived last. Not sure how they expedite their food in the kitchen... So his second dish was the Salmon Rollies. It's basically blanched asparagus wrapped in smoked salmon. Pretty simple and okay except that the outer skin of the asparagus was a bit tough. Milhouse also had an order of the sweet & sour pork and he concurred that it was very good. In addition, he had the Tomato Beef with Rice. If you look at the picture, it sure doesn't look very tomatoey. In fact, it looks much like a brown sauce with bits of meat; however, upon tasting it, it did taste like tomato beef. That is very strange, especially since we didn't see much of any tomato at all. My personal thoughts are that it was passable; yet needs a little work on presentation and more meat.

So believe it or not, almost near the end of our meal, I got my Mango Milk Tea with coconut jelly. A full 20+ minutes after Milhouse got his drink. Once again, the drink was very good. Smooth, and not too sweet with plenty of mango flavour, this was refreshing. At this moment, Polka King set his timer to see how long it would take for his drink to arrive. Yup, another 20+ minutes and his Blueberry Tea showed up. Also very good. Poor Boss Woman, her Pina Colada slush arrived as we were all finished. I must credit the restaurant for offering her a fresh slice of cheesecake as compensation. Despite her long wait, she was in good spirits since her drink was also very pleasing. But still no cheesecake. 10 minutes pass. No cheesecake. Remind server. Another 10 minutes, no cheesecake. What? Are they making the cream cheese or something??? Mercifully, after another 10 minutes, we all gave up and just left.

Alright, to be fair, all the servers were extremely polite and apologetic for the slow food delivery, wrong noodles, odd tempura and even slower drink arrival. We had absolutely no problem with the service (despite the errors). However, it was essentially a comedy of errors and screw-ups. Yes, I realize that it's a Friday night and the place was packed (with one large birthday party as well). However, this is prime time for them and it's their opportunity to shine. Instead, they struggled mightily with every facet of their operation. C'mon, drinks should not come in 20 minute intervals and halfway or at the end of a meal. That's plain inexcusable. No matter how busy you are. Their drink menu is a page full, so if that is one of their specialties, there should be enough resources in place to produce them expeditiously. In terms of their food, it was hit and miss. Some things were good (S&S Pork, Beef Noodles, Pineapple Shrimp, Beef Roll), some were mediocre and some not so good (Tempura, Tomato Beef, Capelin). So there is definitely potential there. I must give kudos to them taking back the tempura and taking it off the bill. Of course a restaurant should do that; but that's not always the case at an Asian establishment. Also props to the complimentary cheesecake offered for the approximately 1 hour wait for the pina colada slush. Too bad it didn't arrive nearly 30 minutes after it was offered. I don't get it. Honestly I don't. I know it's a lounge and we're supposed to hang out and "chill". But it's very difficult to chill when waiting is not only a virtue, it's a necessity for drinks, food and even comps to make up for the wait in the first place.

The Good:
- Really nice decor and vibe
- Excellent drinks
- Pleasant staff

The Bad:
- Waits for food, drinks and even makeup items take excruciatingly long
- Pleasant staff; but slightly disorganized
- Some food items get lost in translation

Bistrot Bistro

*Restaurant now closed*

Alright, I must admit. I can be a little twisted and demented at times. No, no, not serial killer demented, more like twisted humour (well, maybe a serial eater). As such, I felt it would be a great idea to celebrate Easter. You might think that would mean going to church or do an Easter egg hunt with the kiddies. Nope. Didn't do either. Rather, my great idea was to eat the Easter bunny itself... Okay, if I've offended or turned you completely off, you can stop reading now. No, not that person in the bunny suit at the local mall handing out chocolate eggs. Instead, I was thinking along the lines of dining on rabbit at a restaurant. I bounced this idea off Kim and he being equally twisted agreed to join me. Mijune and Darina rounded out our dining party. Now with the main dish settled, we needed to find a place that actually serves rabbit. I really didn't do a lot of searching to tell you the truth. I've always had my eye on Bistrot Bistro and one look at their online menu yielded our desired protein. In fact, Darina really likes Bistrot Bistro and changed her plans to make it for dinner. That in itself is a fine vote of confidence for the place. I ended up arriving a tad early and was able to snag a parking spot right in front of another restaurant that I like - Dae Bak Bon Ga. In fact, there are several really good restaurants nearby on 4th Ave.

Whenever a bunch of like-minded individuals meet, it's always chit chat and we never really get to ordering. It took us awhile since we wanted to make sure there were no duplicate dishes. Hey, we want to try as many different things as possible. This is probably the best way to get a read on a restaurant. We started off sharing the Baguette with Tapenade. Presented on a long wooden board, the crusty baguette was huge. I'm not sure if the portion of tapenade was enough for so much bread. Despite a nice olive flavour, the tapenade would've benefited from more salt. It would've kicked up the flavour quotient a few notches. For myself, I had to try the Warm Caramelized Onion Maplewood Smoked Bacon Gruyere Tart. Hey, its got bacon! However, I didn't get a real sense of bacon in the tart since the sweetness of the onions was the dominant flavour. Don't get me wrong, I liked it. I just wanted more bacon. Darina got the Escargots in Butter Garlic and for $6.00, we felt that there were a good amount of snails. Although we could see the butter and the garlic, the dish wasn't all that flavourful. It was pleasant to eat; yet lack enough impact. It probably also needed a bit of salt.

For my main, I went for the Lamb Shank with Spiced Apricots in Tomato White Wine. For me, I thought the meat was tender and had that slightly gelatinous/fattiness that is associated with braised lamb shank. Everyone else thought that the meat could've been braised a bit longer. In hindsight, I agree; yet the meat was far from being tough. I thought the sauce was "gentle" and was definitely a bystander to the gaminess of the lamb. This was not necessarily a bad thing since I like a strong lamb flavour. The one apricot was integral since it added a necessary sweetness. For my side dish, I added the Bacon Brussels Spouts. Hey, I love bacon! Fortunately, there was more bacon flavour here than the tart. In fact, there were nice gems of fatty bacon hidden between the soft; yet not mushy sprouts. I believe either balsamic or red wine was used in the preparation of this dish.

Mijune went for another dish I was considering - Duck Confit Macaroni & Cheese. To me, that sounded really good. Somehow by the description, we were thinking that the duck would be in the mac 'n cheese, not on top of it. It could be that this was a way to retain the moisture and texture of the duck without drying it out. However, we felt that there needed to be actual duck flavour in the mac 'n cheese itself (maybe even use the duck fat itself in place of butter as suggested by Kim). As for the macaroni itself, it was a little on the softer side (not a big deal in this case). Personally, I liked the flavour of the mac 'n cheese; but Mijune would've liked more cheese itself.

For her side dish, she went for the Braised Squash with Pearl Onions and Raisins. Interesting that she'd order this since the last time I had dinner with Mijune, she was expressing her disgust over the pureed squash at East is East. Well, this version is much better since the squash remained in whole pieces which were braised in a curry sauce. I liked this quite a bit since there was a nice marriage of sweetness from the squash and raisins with the slight spiciness of the curry.

It seems that I order lamb all the time, which is quite predictable. Well, somehow it seemed obvious that Darina would pick the Mussels with White Wine, Shallots and Parsley (she had it the last time we dined at La Brasserie). She added a side of Pomme Frites as well. The mussels were plump and fresh; yet there was a slight bitter aftertaste. Darina suggested that the wine may have not been cooked off enough. Whatever the case, we didn't think it detracted from the taste too much. As for the frites, they were outstanding. Resembling shoestring fries, they were crispy all the way through while maintaining a nice potato-ness. The side of house-made mayo provided a nice smooth addition to the crispy fries.

Now here comes the main event! The Easter bunny! I know, it's sick... Anyways, Kim ordered the Rabbit Cooked in 2 Mustards, White Wine and Cream. By far, we felt that this was the most successful dish. And it's not because we were going for the twisted Easter theme either! First of all, the rabbit (similar to chicken, everything does taste like chicken eh?) was tender and moist. Yet, the star of the show was the sauce. I thought it was delicately well-balanced. It was flavourful, with only hints of wine and mustard (not even sure if I tasted that much of it honestly). It was creamy without being heavy. In fact, we poured it on top of the remaining mac 'n cheese and it was fantastic!

For his side, he went for the ever reliable Ratatouille. Full of the usual ingredients such as zucchini, peppers, eggplant, onions and tomatoes. For me, this was alright. Nothing against it per se, other than everything being quite mushy. I guess it was nothing exciting compared to other dishes. So solid ratatouille; but lost in the mix of everything else. At this point we were decently full from our meal. After all, the portions were quite good for the price. However, we were dining with Mijune, the queen of desserts. In fact, she already had the dessert menu sitting near her throughout the meal. Yah, she knows her priorities! Thus, we carefully planned out what desserts to order so we got to try a good variety. Wait, scratch that. In reality, Mijune just ordered the desserts for us and we took whatever was chosen.

Arriving on a large plate were 2 decently-sized Profiteroles with Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce. The profiteroles themselves were a desirable texture of a slight crustiness on the outside and airy tenderness on the inside. Although the ice cream sandwiched within them was pleasant tasting, it was a tad on the icy side. The chocolate sauce had a nice consistency and was indeed very chocolaty; yet it was a bit too sweet. Despite this, we felt the profiteroles were the hands down favourite of all the desserts we sampled.

Impressively served table side from an extremely large mixing bowl, Kim's Chocolate Mousse ended up to be a very big portion. Look at the picture. That is easily 2-3 times larger than any other portion served at similar restaurants. Quite chocolaty with a slight bitter aftertaste, which is a good thing, the mousse was a tad sweet; yet not overly sweet. Kim tried to finish it all; but alas, it was a bit too much. Maybe Mijune would done better... As for my dessert, Mijune "helped" me order the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee. Its appearance was quite appealing. One tap on the top with my spoon yielded the much desired hard caramelized sugar coating. Breaking into the custard and it was not exactly what I was envisioning. For me, I personally like my creme brulee to be a bit thicker. This was slightly runny. Despite this, we all thought it tasted quite good with a level of creaminess and understated sweetness (although the sugar topping provided plenty of sweetness). Although we could see the vanilla bean on the bottom, it didn't provide the "punch" we were looking for.

Darina ended up with the Lemon Tart which was served with berry compote and whipped cream. I thought that the lemon filling was a nice balance of tart and sweet. There was a good amount of buttery tart shell which was thick; yet easy to eat. It helped temper the tartness of the lemon which helped bring further balance. The desserts were a nice way to end a generally pleasant meal. The service was solid throughout the meal, although it was inevitable that they'd figure out what we were doing. It's hard to keep 2 DSLR's discreet in a small bistro! Also, thanks to the understanding couple beside us who had to put up with our picture taking as well. For the level of pricing combined with the overall food quality, Bistrot Bistro offers incredible value. In general, the food is well-portioned, properly prepared and made with care. Despite not taking advantage of the prix fixe menu (at an incredible $26.00), we still made it out of there with all the food we ate at $42.00 each inclusive. For a restaurant in trendy Kits, with solid service and great food, it's indeed a winner.

The Good:
- Very reasonably-priced
- Generally well-prepared food
- Attentive service

The Bad:
- Being a small bistro, seating is naturally tight
- If you want sides, it's an extra cost