Nagoya Sushi

With all the random sushi joints in Surrey, it is really hard to get excited about any of them. C'mon, there is only that much difference between them. Most, if not all are pretty average and only serve the neighbourhood they are situated in. *Yawn* Excuse me if I seem completely bored. That was my attitude going into my meal at Nagoya Sushi. Think of it. The place is small and it's located in a fairly non-descript strip mall away from most other services. I wasn't holding out for much really. By shear coincidence, the day (Wednesday) I chose to visit Nagoya was the day they feature all their sushi with brown, white and black rice.

To get a true sense of the menu here, I decided to go for their Dinner Combo which seemed to include quite a bit of food (which I was about to learn...). As a bonus, they served up some Salmon Belly as an appetizer first. It was a pretty large portion and incredibly moist. It literally melted in my mouth with a nice crispy skin. Despite the large amount of sauce, it was neither too salty nor sweet. After that, I was presented with a really large bowl of Ebi Sunomono. I found the dressing to be on the lighter side with only a mild vinegar taste and an equally mild sweetness. The noodles still had a bite while the cucumbers were fresh and crunchy. The ebi were a touch soft, but not fishy.

After the 2 smaller appies, the Appetizer Tempura arrived. Despite the appearance of too much batter on the prawns, it was actually quite crisp and not heavy. I found that the veggies were perfectly cooked and of good quality. At this point, I was getting worried because I hadn't even gotten my main items yet. This was a lot of food! I was already getting kinda full and then I was presented with a really impressive plate of food. It included a whole Dynamite Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll and Sashimi. I gave the Sashimi a try first and it was pretty good. The texture of the salmon was pleasant and it was quite sweet. The tuna was good too, but I found it sliced a bit too thick (which is not necessarily a bad thing if it were down to portion size). It was a bit dense to eat, but then again, it was good nonetheless. Due to the use of rice other than plain ol' white sushi rice, it was a bit difficult to make a proper assessment. Predictably, the sushi was more heavy and filling. The Dynamite Roll was packed with imitation crab, cucumber and a relatively crispy ebi tempura. I enjoyed eating it. I'm not sure what happened when I got to the Spicy Tuna Roll because I couldn't eat anymore. Really. I was too full to eat another bite. This is rare. A normal dinner combo defeated me. Not that a spicy tuna roll is ever that spicy, but this one was a bit bland and the tuna was in big chunks once again and was rather dense. Again, I'm not sure if the fact I was super full had anything to do with it.

I really couldn't believe it. A measly dinner combo kick my ass. Well, I guess it wasn't so small after all... I was not only impressed with the portion size here, I was equally happy with the quality as well. The food was prepared with care. Furthermore, the proprietors are super-friendly. Fine. I'll concede that this Japanese food foray in Surrey was better than I expected and in fact, a candidate for a return visit. Now excuse me while I... *YAWN* And it is not because of boredom. More like a food coma!

The Good:
- Good portions
- Decent quality
- Friendly owner/operator

The Bad:
- Not a whole lot of seats, don't bring a big group

Fenders

You know what? I never really paid attention to how much gas my car was thirstily slurping up each month. Until now. One look at the total damage and I was about to freak out like I just lost my parking spot at Aberdeen. $500.00?!!?!?! WTF? You know how much food that can buy??? Yah, one meal at Tojo's! LOL... Okay, the gas consumption needed to change. Pronto! So without too much debate, we decided to take the plunge and buy a hybrid. Originally, I would've preferred buying the car at a dealership close by, however, it turned out that I'd have to wait until December at the earliest for it arrive. Ultimately, I had to head to the Richmond Auto Mall instead, where my car would be available in September. Originally, I had my heart set on Central Richmond for eats (LOL... The things I do for food...), but a longer than needed visit to Watermania meant we had to eat nearby. Well, the only "restaurant" that is close to the Automall is Fenders. Nope, not necessarily a place I would visit otherwise...

By virtue of being the only full-service restaurant in the Richmond Automall, Fenders tries to be everything to everyone. There is a little bit of diner, a dash of Chinese food, some Italian and breakfast items. One thing is for sure, they are really friendly here. From the moment we walked in to the time we left, they made us feel at home and valued as a customer. As for the food, I decided to try one of the lunch specials which included a choice of soup - I had the Clam Chowder. Now, if you've ever had clam chowder in a HK-Style cafe, then that describes this one. With no clam taste despite the presence of clams and a creaminess only reserved for starch-thickened broths, this would make most chowder purists cry. However, I have been exposed to this type of chowder all my life and I really didn't mind it. I merely accepted it for what it was - a starchy vegetable soup with clams. I opted for the Curry Beef on Rice as my main and it was a pretty typical Chinese curry. Ignoring the one piece of beef that was slightly rare (bottom right-hand corner), the rest of it was tender with still some chew. The curry had some spice, yet could've benefited from more salt. The chewy and dry rice was the perfect canvas for the plethora of sauce.

Continuing on the Chinese theme, we also got the Flat Rice Noodles with Beef. There were 2 versions to this dish - one with sauce and the other wok-fried. We had the "wet" version and hence, it would never be as flavourful as the fried version due to the lack of caramelization with dark soy. Therefore, this one is usually on the bland side and it was indeed light in flavour. It had the same tender beef and vibrant veggies though. Lastly, we moved away from Chinese and had the Meat Lasagna. Okay, we knew not to expect an authentic lasagna, so bear with me here. The tomato sauce was a starch-thickened concoction consisting of tomatoes, onions, meat and lots of salt. It was goopy and did not resemble a tomato sauce at all. With that being said, it was alright in a convoluted kind of way. It was a pretty large portion and the noodles were not too soft. Now if you have been paying attention, you would get the sense that the food is pretty mediocre here. However, with very reasonable prices and good portions, one can almost overlook that. Considering there are no other restaurants really nearby, Fenders does the job for people who are there and need food.

The Good:
- Wonderful people
- Large portions
- Low prices

The Bad:
- Food is pretty mediocre
- Decor is a bit dated

Tokachi Revisited

How many times have you heard that one can find good food in the strangest of places? Sometimes, that can be a gimmick that precedes the food. For example, Save-on-Meats is located in one of the most infamous neighbourhoods in Canada and the fact you can get a good burger for $6.00 makes the place "special". I can't vouch for the rest of the menu there; but you can see how the strangeness of the location almost becomes a draw. Well, I can tell you that this does not apply to Tokachi in Whalley. I'm sure many have driven by this place without even thinking twice about dining there (assuming that you actually travel out to Surrey). Awhile back, I stumbled upon this little gem tucked away in the forgotten part of the GVRD. Sure, the area is still in transition; but give it some time. Watch Whalley transform into a desirable place to live and do business. It's already happening... With that being said, the last time I wanted to revisit Tokachi, there was police tape around the plaza. Something about a shooting...

Besides, a little bit of danger has never been an obstacle before. So when Eternally Late Girl wanted to meet up for eats in Surrey, I suggested Tokachi. It's been awhile since we've seen ELG ever since she moved to Edmonton. Her nickname is very appropriate because we once waited for her at the Commercial Skytrain station for 1.5 hours. Better yet, Marshmallow waited 3 hours in the snow once at a bustop for ELG. Someone needs to buy her a watch with a shock device... Anyways, to show how much confidence I had in the area, I brought my whole family out including my hockey gear in the car (had a game after). Joining us was Sexy Nurse and Postman who decided to share items with myself and Viv. We started out with the Assorted Sashimi which included 3 pieces of salmon and tuna, 2 pieces of hamachi, tai, hokkagai and red tuna with one ebi. As evidenced in the picture, the fish had a nice sheen and were sliced in well-proportioned pieces. It was both visually and texturally appealing. This was good quality fish that was also prepared properly.

Next we had the Deep Fried Roll which consisted of salmon, snapper, scallop and avocado fried with tempura batter. For the price, this was a substantial roll which was done very nicely. The salmon was still moist and since the rice was "protected" by the salmon, it remained chewy. Usually, with a fried roll, the rice becomes quite soft otherwise. Furthermore, there was just enough crispy tempura batter to coat the roll; rather than overwhelming it. We also ordered 2 regular maki rolls - Spicy Chopped Scallop and House Roll. The SCS was pretty standard with chopped scallop, mayo and tobiko. It really wasn't all that spicy though (and it normally isn't). As you can clearly see in the picture, the roll had plenty of large scallop pieces which were fresh. As for the House Roll, the name was kind of deceiving. We envisioned something bigger. Instead it was merely a roll consisting of steamed ebi with cucumber and radish sprout with smoked salmon on the outside. It was very modest looking. However, the roll itself was very good. The ebi had the perfect bounce texture which contrasted the soft ingredients quite well. The smoked salmon didn't overwhelm the roll either.

For myself, the best dish of all was surprisingly the Tonkatsu. The 2 pork cutlets were fried perfectly with a crispy, non-oily exterior. On the inside, the pork was moist and juicy. The relatively thick pork cutlets were meaty while not being too heavy. Continuing with the deep-fried items, we also got the Assorted Tempura. Again for the price ($9.95), it was a large plate of food. Just like the others, this was a well-prepared dish. All the veggies were still intact while cooked. The tempura batter was crisp and light (despite its appearance). I particularly liked the fried piece of fish, it was super moist and flaky. Continuing on with even more fried items, we next had the Chicken Karaage. Arriving as whole wings without the tip, these were juicy (by not cutting them up probably helped them keep moist). Definitely the right amount of seasoning where it was just salty enough. I liked the fact that there was not a huge amount of starch on the outside. The skin was crisp while not being overly heavy.

If that wasn't enough fried items, Postman added an order of Agedashi Tofu as well. I guess there goes the "Japanese food is healthier" mantra due to our menu selections... Although the tofu had a nice texture and consistency, it probably could've used a bit more frying since it the exterior wasn't that crisp (and that's accounting for the top pieces not soaked in the dashi sauce). For the kiddies, we got them an order of the Chicken Udon . It arrived pretty plain looking, which is exactly how we like it. For me at least, I am not really looking for the versions out there that are filled with napa cabbage, carrots, onions and whatever else they can find in the fridge. Just gimme a nice tasting broth and perfectly cooked noodles, which was the case. The broth was not salty and in fact, a bit on the light side. Despite this, there was still an underlying depth to it. The only thing I didn't like about the udon was the chicken, it was a tad dry.

At this point we still had a bit of room in our tummies and did a second round of food. We ended up with the Gyozas. Right from the get go, these probably needed just a touch more time on the grill. The colour and texture of the bottom was just a bit off. Looking past that, the gyoza wrapper was thin and nicely textured. The filling was equally good with non-gritty meat which was seasoned properly. For our last dish, we weren't very creative. It was partly due to the simple menu since there are not a whole lot of choices. However, the biggest reason would be *gasp*, we like California Rolls... That's right, although we like variety and some of the more exotic stuff, there is nothing inherently wrong with a Cali Roll. And this one was done right with plenty of ripe avocado and shredded imitation crab meat that wasn't too heavy on the mayo. So there you have it. A successful revisit of Tokachi where I got to try more of their dishes. Of course it wasn't perfect, but considering where it is located, the quality and execution was solid. I wouldn't hesitate to return for another visit down the road.

The Good:
- Food is prepared right
- Japanese sushi chef, if that matters to you
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Friendly staff, but not enough of them
- Can get pricey

Aree Thai

Authentic Thai food. Does that really exist in Vancouver? Well, I'm not about to tell you I've been to Thailand and blah blah blah blah. I haven't and I can only speak from experience and guidance from those who do know authentic Thai food. Let's take the Thai House for instance. That, my friends is not authentic Thai food. Yes, they do have Thai chefs and staff, but that doesn't mean they are serving what someone would eat in Thailand. And should they? Well no. That chain of restaurants didn't become successful by being stupid. As I have said over and over again, restaurants are out to make money. NOT to satisfy a select few people who slam them for their feeble attempt at authenticity. There are many that want mild, unoffensive Thai food, then Thai House will always have a clientele. Besides, does authentic always mean good? Absolutely not. I've been to my fair share of authentic food and it has been forgettable. If someone can't cook right, it doesn't matter if it is authentic or not (doesn't this sound like the rant from Penang post?).

Well, Rich Guy, Viv, Herbie the Lovebug, Lana Banana and I were all in search of authentic Thai food at Aree Thai. Seeing how Herbie has eaten his fair share of South Asian food and Rich Guy hails from South Asia, we had some form of "authenticity" police present. To be frank, the meal didn't start off particularly well. The Chicken Satay was far too salty where it became the dominant flavour. Even the sweet peanut sauce didn't do much to quell the stinging saltiness. On the other hand, the satay sticks were very meaty and not overly dry. Despite being slightly rubbery, the Fish Cakes were pretty good. There was definitely a fishy taste to them, in a good way though. Furthermore, there was a hit of lemongrass which was aromatic. We really liked the accompanying cucumber dip consisting of crisp cucumbers, sweet chili sauce and ground peanuts. The one thing that stood out was the predominant fresh cucumber taste.

Back to the topic of authenticity, there are actually 2 choices for Pad Thai: Original Pad Thai or Pad Thai with tomato sauce. Naturally, we chose the Original Pad Thai prepared with tamarind. First and foremost, we were happy to see a version of Pad Thai without the use of ketchup and sweet chili sauce. Therefore, the flavour was pretty spot on with the natural sweetness and zing of the tamarind. Personally, I would've preferred a bit more spice. It was too bad that the noodles were on the softer side. Curiously, it was missing the normally present preserved turnip. By virtue of having it recently, Herbie the Lovebug suggested we try their Massaman Curry with beef. This was a pretty creamy curry due to the copious amount of coconut milk used. We had our curries prepared medium spicy and it did have a kick while not totally killing our taste buds (secretly, I would've preferred spicy though).
For our second curry, we got the Chicken Green Curry. I really liked this a lot. The curry had a good consistency which was neither too thick nor runny. There was the usual coconut milk, but it wasn't overbearing. Much like the Massaman curry, there was some spice to it. With all of the components prepared correctly, this went well with the equally good coconut rice. Our next dish was not something I would normally order - Spinach with Peanut Sauce. Although the spinach was not overcooked while the chicken was still moist, the overly sweet peanut sauce made this dish taste like some weird rendition of spinach gomae. Lastly, we had the Goong Ob Woon Sen or shrimp with glass noodles in garlic sauce. The dish itself was cooked perfectly with snappy shrimp, crisp veggies and chewy al dente mung bean noodles. Flavourwise, they were far too aggressive with the salt. After eating this dish, I was super thirsty, as with the others. The menu clearly states that they do not use MSG, so we can only assume it was too much salt.

So was this an authentic Thai meal? Well it depends what you consider as authentic. Does it have to be super spicy? Well it was spicy, but by virtue of our choice of medium, we'd never know right? Besides, just like any other form of cuisine, every dish is up to the interpretation of the chef. In this case, there were some winners (the curries, fish cake and pad Thai) and some "meh" items (satay, spinach and glass noodles). So where does it put Aree Thai? Well, if you order the right dishes, it can be a solid experience.

The Good:
- Great service
- Some good flavours going on, just pick the right dishes
- Reasonable pricing

The Bad:
- A little heavy on the salt

Yummy Yummy Sushi

*Restaurant is now Osaka*

At one point, I tried calculating how long it would take to try all of the Japanese restaurants in the lower mainland. Assuming one would not eat Japanese food everyday (let's say once a week), it would take over 14 years since there are at least 700 of them. Strangely enough, most of them are not even Japanese-run. Does that matter? Well, it depends on who you ask. A sushi connoisseur might be very concerned if the sushi chef was not Japanese. To the rest, if the food is decent with good portions at low prices, that would probably be all that matters. Hey, if you don't believe me, look at places such as Samurai Sushi. They are doing killer business doling out huge slices of sashimi and oversized maki rolls at a reasonable price. The place is Vietnamese-owned and operated. Does that matter? Once again - only to a small minority.

So when we needed a quite bite to eat with Viv craving sushi, we headed over to a local spot nearby. Yummy Yummy Sushi was one of the last remaining Japanese restaurants I haven't tried in the area. It is Vietnamese-owned and operated, for those who care. I really do not if the food is good. Besides, the family who run the place are extremely friendly. However, friendly is one thing because a restaurant can't just run on smiles (well, I guess there are some of those I guess). As for the food, we started with the usual Salmon and Tuna Sashimi. It was nice to see slices of fresh-looking sockeye salmon along with large pieces of tuna. The texture and taste of the salmon was on par with its appearance. Same with the tuna except it was a little on the cold side being slightly frozen. For our maki rolls, we got one order each of the Futomaki and Scallop & Ebi Roll. The futomaki was rolled relatively nicely packed with plenty of attractive ingredients. All of the usual items were there including imitation crab, cucumber, avocado, oshinko, sweet shiitake mushroom, tamago, beni shoga and pickles. We found the rice to be on the wetter side which made the roll a bit dense despite the modest amount. The scallop and ebi roll was quite good with again, a good amount of filling (scallop, ebi, tobiko and avocado.

The Assorted Tempura was hit and miss all on one plate. The veggies were fried perfectly crisp with only a conservative coating of batter. However, the ebi were not very good. The batter was thick, dense and gummy. This was confusing to us since it was the same batter in the same batch of cooked food. The ebi itself was fine, the batter just destroyed it. The Oyako Don was another item we had mixed feelings about. The rice itself had the desired chewy texture while it was mostly penetrated by the mirin, soy and sugar mix. Moreover, there was plenty of chicken, mushrooms and egg on top. The real miss in this bowl of rice had to be the overly dry chicken breast slices. For me, it appeared that the chicken was overcooked rather than it merely being white meat. On the positive side, the bowl was quite substantial and there was a lot of chicken meat.

With the dry chicken meat still fresh in my mind, I guess it wasn't a surprise to discover the same problem in the Yaki Udon. The chicken meat was equally dry and the noodles were on the softer side. The udon needed a bit more seasoning as it was quite mild tasting. Again, it was a fairly large portion though. At the end of the meal, it was pretty clear what was good and what was not. The sushi and sashimi were actually more than acceptable in terms of quality and price. The same could not be said about the cooked food. There certainly was value considering the amount of chicken in both the oyako don and yaki udon. However, portion size is one thing while execution is another. So my thoughts about Yummy Yummy Sushi are this: go for the raw stuff and you'll be satisfied. Just stay away from the cooked food.

The Good:
- Really friendly owners
- Raw stuff is above average
- Decent pricing

The Bad:
- Cooked food is sub-par
- Place is tiny, keep your party small

Royal Star Buffet

Awhile back on my way down to Seattle, I noticed that the Royal Fork Buffet in Mt. Vernon had shut down. Not that it was surprising though. The food was distinctly below-average (even for a buffet) and the selection was pretty boring. Still, there was a part of me that was lost forever with the closure. Royal Fork was part of my childhood. We'd head down to the Bellingham location (long gone) for the good ol' American buffet on our shopping trips. Now with the Mt. Vernon location gone, there are no more physical reminders of times past. Then all of a sudden, the place was open again. Driving back from SeaTac, we noticed it was now Royal Star Buffet. Well, I guess that was a cost-saving name change with only the fork becoming a star.

Now, the name change was not the only thing different about the place. Apparently, the place is now Asian-run and is reflected in the food. The most major renovation to the inside of the restaurant has been the addition of a Mongolian grill. Otherwise, it looks exactly the way it did before. Now you might be wondering why I returned here in the first place. After all, buffets are never really the best places to find great food. Well, this is exactly what happened... We were at The Outlets and our stomachs were growling. I suggested the Mexican taqueria which was met with indifference. Then we drove by countless chain restaurants such as Applebees, Red Robin and Olive Garden, which did not interest us in any way. Then, I threw the idea of Royal Star out and Viv was like, "you want to go there???". When I mentioned that lunch was only $7.69, she reluctantly agreed. For the price of a supersized McD's meal or a foot long at Subway, we got variety. Oh and was there a lot of different items to choose from.

Let me start listing some of the available items and bear with me, it's a lot... Starting with the first picture from the left, there was Cheese and Imitation Crab Casserole, Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms, Mussels Motoyaki, Stuffed Crab Claws, Fries, Fried Zucchini, Potstickers, Spring Rolls, Garlic Bread, Fried Mantou and Pizza Bread. Of these, I totally avoided the casserole. As for the mushrooms, they were okay while the mussels were salty and the sauce was far too eggy. The crab claws were completely laughable since they were very tiny claws stuffed with fish mousse. There were 5 different soups right next to this station consisting of Hot & Sour, Egg Drop, Wonton, Clam Chowder and Chicken Noodle. I only gave 2 of them a try since the egg drop had an unnatural-looking yellow hue to it and the wonton soup looked downright scary with its monstrous dumplings. The hot & sour soup was actually hot and sour, however, it had no depth whatsoever. Surprisingly, the white clam chowder was pretty good. It was full of clams and potato while being sufficiently creamy.

Directly across was another station with Poached Pollack and Salmon, Fried Fish, Broccoli, Corn, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Biscuits, Fried Wedges, Riblets, Pizza and Fried Chicken. Most things were forgettable here other than the 2 meats. The riblets reminded me of the ones served at Applebees except the BBQ sauce was a tad bland. The large pieces of fried chicken were pretty good. The meat was moist while the skin was nice and crispy. Moving along to the next station was Stir-Fried Cauliflower with Seafood, Steamed Clams, Egg Foo Yeung, Chili Shrimp, Chili Salt Shrimp, Chicken Yakitori, Fried Wontons, Fried Chicken with either lemon or sweet 'n sour sauce and Stir-Fried Veggies. The highlights here were the clams (which were a bit overcooked, but still decent) and the chili salt shrimp (they were small, yet had lots of flavour).

Onto yet another section was the Chow Mein, Fried Vermicelli, Sauteed Mushrooms, Mongolian Beef, Sweet 'n Sour Meatballs, General Tso's Chicken, Green Beans, BBQ Pork and Fried Rice. The best way to describe this section - move along, nothing to see or eat here. The food was surprisingly bland despite its appearance. The fried rice was soggy while the noodles almost seemed to be unseasoned. The last row consisted of salads and Peel 'n Eat Shrimp which were actually quite good. They were properly cooked with a nice snap. Personally, the best section of all was the Mongolian Grill where you can pick your meats, veggies, noodles and sauces. The chef cooks it to order and it suddenly becomes the freshest item in the buffet. In fact, if I ever were to return, I'd just hit up the Mongolian grill for $7.69. That would be worth it in itself.

Lastly, the dessert station was pretty much the same as before in terms of location and unappetizing appearance. These were essentially "courtesy" items since they only existed for the purpose of being. None looked particularly good and I didn't even feel it warranted a picture here. However, I'm going to be reasonable. The price is dirt cheap and if you stick to the stuff that is okay, you'll be satisfied. Yet, if you really want to try everything... Well, it might leave a bad taste in your mouth - literally.

The Good:
- Mongolian grill with fresh ingredients
- Dirt cheap
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Most of the food is pretty below-average
- Desserts are an afterthought