Top Gun Sushi

*This restaurant is closed*

Had a little more time for lunch today and reflected on all the food I had eaten in the last couple of weeks. Boy, was I feeling guilty! I really needed something that would be healthier, lighter and would rid me of the guilt. Naturally we decided on all-u-can-eat sushi! The closest one was Top Gun Sushi in New Westminster. I have been to this place many times and it is generally an okay place to have lunch and dinner. I definitely prefer Fish on Rice, despite their poor service.

Top Gun sushi is actually one of 3 Japanese restaurants run by the same company, they include Kingsway Sushi and Richmond Sushi. All of them are not run by true Japanese people, but if you are cognizant of that, you probably would not expect authenticity. I often wonder what the staff would do if someone actually wanted to order in Japanese? It would be like walking into a Chinese restaurant and the staff are Italian. Anyways, as mentioned in my other review of Kingsway Sushi, there are 2 menus for dinner. One is the regular AYCE and there is a deluxe AYCE. Although the deluxe AYCE has substantially more choice, it is not worth it if you do not like raw food. If you mainly like the cooked food with sushi rolls, stick with the regular menu. You will be paying a $6 premium for things you probably won't eat.

The AYCE lunch is a good value at $10.95. I know some people will argue that the Japanese food is generic, not authentic, mass produced, not refined etc... Let me state that $10.95 will get you only a burger and fries at most places (if you are lucky). So my colleague and I ordered quite a few things for lunch (since I want to eat less...). The Salmon Nigiri Sushi was fresh and had a good amount of fat, which I personally like (it tastes better and has a buttery quality). The Beef and Chicken Teriyaki came swimming in sauce and were a bit cold. The Oyster Motoyaki was also luke warm, but at least the oyster was fresh and it tasted alright. The sushi rolls (California Roll, BC Roll and Dynamite Roll) were pretty standard fare, neither very good or offensive. The Shrimp Bombs (which are minced shrimp balls coated with bread crumbs) were alright, the shrimp is barely noticeable since it has lost its texture and flavour from being ground up. They remind me of a Chinese Dim Sum dish called Shrimp Toast. Although the Gyoza was pan fried with a well browned bottom, I never have liked these AYCE Gyozas. They are way too stiff and are bland. The Chicken Karaage was fried nicely with a crispy skin and moist, juicy interior. The Ika or calamari were big rings of squid, but they were a bit chewy and salty. The highlight of lunch was surprising the Black Cod Collars. No, there aren't a bunch of collarless cods swimming around; rather these are the leftover pieces that are not used during dinner service. But unknown to many people, this is probably one of the tastiest parts of any fish (it's soft and a bit chewy at the same time).

The dining room at Top Gun is spacious and has nice views of the Fraser River. The restaurant was not always a Japanese restaurant, previously it was a bar/restaurant. Thus, it's strange to see the remnants of the old bar with the mural of cowboys splashed on the North wall of the restaurant. Essentially you have a Chinese-run Japanese restaurant in a Saloon. In front of the cowboy mural, there is a salad bar where you can serve yourself to Edamame (soy beans), green salad, spicy bean sprouts, cold whole shrimp, Sunomomo salad (vermicelli in a vinegar dressing) and mango pudding. The service is efficient since the staff uses PDAs to take your order, it goes directly to the kitchen. Overall, I would say the food at Top Gun Sushi is average at best. However, it is a real good value, especially if you take into account the environment, cleanliness and decent service.

The Good:
- Good value, especially at lunch
- Efficient service
- Comfortable dining room with a view
- Validated parking

The Bad:
- Food is pretty average
- Some dishes were cold
- For the same price, you get less selection than some other AYCE restaurants

Top Gun Sushi
#230 - 810 Quayside Drive
New Westminster, B.C.
604 523-3474
www.topgungroup.com

Business Hours:
11:30am - 2:30pm, 5:30pm - 10:00pm (Wed - Mon)

Charlie Don't Surf

It's a bright winter day here in the lower mainland with the threat of snow tomorrow. Living all my life here in the GVRD has taught me one thing - if there is sunshine, you'd better take advantage of it. Thought long and hard of where to eat for lunch today and we drew a blank. Looked in the Entertainment book and alas, Charlie Don't Surf! What better place to spend a lunch hour than the sunny surroundings of the strip in White Rock! I hadn't been to Charlie Don't Surf in ages and we made the trek there for lunch. The dining room at Charlie Don't Surf is quite eclectic, with a bit of everything. It almost looks like a garage sale; yet it comes across as inviting. We were lucky to have a seat right by the window to enjoy the spectacular view of the water. On a sunny day, there is nothing better than the view on the main strip in White Rock. We decided on 2 appetizers, Dry Ribs and Calamari. The dry ribs were plentiful and meaty. Unlike most other places, the ribs were actually ribs and were not the cartilage type (which are not as easy to eat and are more fatty). The calamari was a miss, it was plentiful and tasted quite good. But, it was a bit greasy and there was more batter than squid. For our entrees, I had the West Coast Bouillabaisse, which had a generous amount of shrimp, halibut, salmon, prawns, clams and mussels. The extremely fresh seafood was bathed in a saffron spicy tomato pernod broth. The broth was outstanding, it was a complex combination of flavours - fresh tomatoes, basil, licorice (from the pernod), seafood (naturally), and a hint of saffron. No flavour was too strong to overwhelm the dish. Despite the rather messy appearance of the dish, do not let that fool you, it's very tasty! My colleagues had the Halibut and Chips and the Chicken Burger. The halibut had a very light batter which was not oily at all. The fish was again, very fresh. However, the fries were not very good. The chicken burger was a butterflied breast and was cooked perfectly, still maintaining a juicy texture. After our meal, we were completely stuffed, the portions are more than adequate and the prices are reasonable. However, the food definitely is not gourmet. You come here for the view and the late night. The service was friendly and efficient, our drinks were refilled promptly and our food was expedited properly. Charlie Don't Surf is a decent place to eat; but there are better choices on the strip in White Rock.

The Good:
- Good portions for the price
- Great view
- Good service

The Bad:
- Food is hit and miss
- Parking could be an issue
- Dining room is a bit tight
- Charlie don't know food presentation

Charlie Don't Surf
15782 Marine Drive
White Rock, B.C.
(604) 538-1988
www.charliedontsurf.ca

Business Hours:
11:00am - Late (7 days a week)

Lin Chinese Cuisine and Teahouse

We planned to visit my grandmother-in-law at Vancouver General where she's recovering from hip surgery. Funny how she thinks that she didn't have the surgery because her hip hurts. We tried convincing her that it hurts because of the surgery, but she insists it hurts because it wasn't operated on. Go figure. Anyways, she seemed quite docile today, maybe she has accepted that she's actually had the surgery? Of course anytime I have an excuse to go out, eating at a restaurant is in the plans. We took advice from Snake, who recommended Sushi Town to me and went to Lin Chinese Cuisine on Broadway near Granville. He had heard a friend raving about this place and relayed the information to me. Of course I had to try it!

The one thing that defines Lin is their handmade fresh noodles and Xiao Long Bao. We started with with a fairly large bowl of Hot & Sour Soup (a pretty good value at $5.99). On the surface, the soup looked pretty appetizing with a nice rich colour and plenty of ingredients. However, we felt that there was way too much sesame oil and not enough hot & sour. Therefore, the flavours were not remotely balanced. Good soup; but not hot & sour at all. Of course, a visit to Lin cannot go without having their famous Xiao Long Bao. Recently voted the #1 XLB in Vancouver (as of 2010), these teamed Shanghainese soup dumplings are indeed very good. With a super thin dumpling skin and bursting with juice (more like pork gelatin), these were comparable with those from Shanghai River and Shanghai Wonderful. Depending on your personal preference, there can be a debate about which one is the best.

One dish we got that was a little off-topic, since it's not exactly related to the other Shanghainese-style Dim Sum items, was the Honey Prawns. Usually found on appetizer platters in a Chinese wedding meal, these fried prawns are tossed in a mayo-honey sauce. The result is a predominantly sweet product. In this case, the prawns were cooked perfectly crunchy and there was just enough sauce. The Szechuan Beef Noodles arrived in a mildly spicy broth, and had a generous helping of tender beef. The noodles themselves were fresh, being quite soft. A solid bowl of noodles; but it was missing something. Probably a bit more spice would've intensified the broth. We got a bowl of the Chicken Noodles for the kiddies (not something I'd particularly want to order for myself). It arrived in a very flavourful chicken broth. Despite tasting very much like a rich chicken soup, I couldn't get over the fact it maybe the result of MSG. I hope I'm wrong... The noodles were accompanied by strips of chicken and vegetables. The kids like it and in fact, so did the adults, which is rare since we are not that usually that enthused with chicken anything.

Another popular Shanghainese Dim Sum dish has got to be the Potstickers. So, why not, we ordered some of those too. Nicely plated, these arrived golden brown on the bottom - exactly how they should be. The nice crisp bottom is a nice textural contrast with the rest of the soft dumpling. Although these are not known for their juice like the XLB, there was a decent amount of juiciness. Combined with an excellent filling with a good balance of pork and veggies, these were quite good. Last but not least, the carb overload continued with an order of the Shanghainese Stir-Fried Rice Cake. Just like the name implies, the dish consists of sliced rice cake (which is very similar to the Japanese mochi) which is stir-fried in dark soy accompanied by spinach and pork. Exemplified by good "wok hay" (or a really hot wok), there was a nice caramelized flavour while the spinach was still crisp.

Service at Lin is generally quite friendly; albeit the staff are very busy and overworked. For a small restaurant, the 4 staff members should be sufficient, but they always seem a bit hurried. Decor seemed updated, but the orange walls seemed a bit odd to me. Not sure if there was a clearance sale after Halloween on paint. Also, it seemed that the renovations ended at the washrooms. It was like walking from Yaletown into a Vancouver Parks and Recreation public washroom in one trip. Despite being clean, the washrooms are old and in need of updating. Parking could be an issue with Lin because it's in a very busy area of Broadway; so there is limited street parking. The food in general is not bad for Vancouver; but may have a hard time competing with Richmond.

The Good:
- Excellent Xiao Long Bao
- Good prices considering the prime location
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- The staff are hurried and always busy
- Parking is scarce
- Dining room is super cramped

Lin Chinese Cuisine and Teahouse
1537 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.
(604) 733-9696

Ba Le Vietnamese Subs

This... to me is an institution in Vancouver. Sure, there are a lot of Vietnamese sandwich shops around, but I believe that Ba Le is the best (well, not anymore, I like Kim Chau more). They have 2 locations in Vancouver, one in Chinatown on Main Street and one on Kingsway at Fraser. Today I visited the Kingsway location after helping Costanza take things to the city dump. After that tasteful experience, I needed something yummy to get the taste of crap out of my mouth. Luckily for me, the truck rental place is a block away from Ba Le, so off we went. Costanza was gracious enough to pay for my sandwiches after the city dump experience.

So, what is a Vietnamese sub anyways? Well, thanks to the former French occupation of Vietnam, we have a fusion of French and Vietnamese foods. The sub itself is a french baguette with pork pate, Vietnamese ham, headcheese, pickled carrots, daikon, cucumber, hot peppers, cilantro, butter-mayo and fish sauce. This may sound like an extremely weird combination of ingredients, but trust me, it works. If you are adventurous, skip Subway and Quizno's and try a Vietnamese sub!

Also, they are dirt cheap, one deluxe sub will only set you back $3.25. There are other varieties such as grilled pork, grilled beef, chicken and Vietnamese ham. In addition to the subs, there are other Vietnamese specialties as well. There is Bahn Cuon (rice noodle with pork and wood ear mushrooms) accompanied with a vinegar/fish sauce dressing and sticky-rice with sausage (don't know the proper name for it).

The service is efficient, they try to get the sandwiches made quickly and send you on your merry way. However, be warned that sometimes they are preoccupied with really large orders and you might have to wait awhile. In terms of eating at Ba Le, I don't recommend that, just take it home or eat it at a park. The dining area and counter have recently been renovated, so it's nice and clean. If you have never tried a Vietnamese sub before, do yourself a favour and try it. I'm sure that you'll be surprised how good it is. Moreover, get it from Ba Le, my favourite Vietnamese sub joint.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Sub is very yummy
- Ingredients are fresh

The Bad:
- Not open late (since that would be the best time to eat one!)
- Seems to be always busy, lineups are long

Ba Le Sandwich Shop
#21 - 701 Kingsway
Vancouver, B.C.
V5T 3K6
(604) 875-6322

Business Hours
9:00am - 6:00pm (Mon - Fri)
8:00am - 6:00pm (Sat & Sun)

Stepho`s Greek Taverna

We had an educational conference at the Wall Centre today and since we were in the Davie Street area, there were many restaurants to choose for lunch. In reality, there was only one restaurant on our radar from the beginning - Stepho's. When I used to live in downtown, I would frequent Stepho's every now and then. I would brave either the heat or cold and line up for an hour to eat there. Now you ask why on earth would I do that? Simple, Stepho's offers decent food at a great price and humongous portions. I cannot understand why other restaurants do not use this formula for success more often. Some restaurants are so cheap, you'd think they ran out of food when they present you with a dish where you can see more of the dish than the food. You won't have that problem at Stepho's. From the pictures, you can see that the dish is completely filled. Now portion size is not important if the food ain't good. Of course there are better Greek restaurants to be found in the GVRD; but the food here at Stepho's is more than acceptable for the price. After all, we always have to go into a meal with reasonable expectations that coincide with how much we are paying.

My esteemed colleague and I shared the calamari as an appetizer. Not sure what possessed us to do that, since we knew our entrees were going to be large. Anyways, the calamari was tender and fried perfectly, being light and crispy; yet not oily. However, the batter was a bit too salty and even dipping in the tzatziki didn't help. For my entree, I choose the roast lamb, which was excellent. The lamb was tender and moist with plenty of garlic flavour. The vegetable briami and rice were pretty standard, nothing much to say about them. However, the potato was a bit hard and lacked lemon flavour. I substituted my Greek salad for a Caesar salad and it was pretty good since the romaine was still crunchy and it was not slathered in too much dressing.

Another person at the table had Spanakopita for her appetizer and it was the size of an entree. It was very good being flaky and filled with plenty of spinach and cheese. For her entree, she had the Mousaka and it was the largest portion of Mousaka we've ever seen, it was packed with meat, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes and a hefty layer of Bechamel on top. The service at Stepho's is average, you can get lucky and it's pretty good, or otherwise it's a bit indifferent. It's not excellent service, but it's not as bad as some other people have remarked. On past visits, we have never been disappointed with the food or service. It may not be the best Greek food in town, but it's definitely the best combination of taste, portion size, and price. The only downside to Stepho's would be the lineups and lack of parking. You can avoid the lineups if you show up for lunch right when it opens at 11:30 and arrive for dinner before 5pm.

The Good:
- Food is good for the price, since some items are definitely average
- Portions are large
- Prices are reasonable

The Bad:
- Huge lineups
- Hard to find parking on Davie Street
- The dining room is cramped

Stepho's
1124 Davie Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-683-2555

Greek Village

*Restaurant is permanently closed*

A favourite restaurant of mine is Greek Village in North Delta. Honestly, I don't have a lot of favourites out here, other than Taste of Singapore. I suggested it to Pomegranate and he loves Greek food, so it was all good. However food with lots of garlic would probably not be the ideal meal before a meeting. I'm not sure if I subconsciously did that as a prank or not...

Greek Village is right on Scott Road near 80th and it a neighbourhood favourite. In fact, one of my friends (who is Greek), raves about the place. I don't know about you, but I generally would trust the opinion of someone who is of that ethnicity in regards to any food. Mind you, it can also be argued that any one person can just have bad taste as well, regardless of ethnicity! The decor of Greek Village is similar to a lot of other Greek restaurants, lots of blue and white, columns and plenty of greenery. It's a comfortable dining room, spacious and you do seem to have some privacy. Service is friendly in a family-run sort of way - unpretentious and attentive. We were originally led to probably the darkest spot of the restaurant; but as usual, I requested to be moved to somewhere with light.

Looking at the lunch menu (I've only been here for dinners in the past), I realize that there was no roast lamb. I decided to go for another favourite of mine, the Moussaka. Before that, Pomegranate and I shared a Calamari. Crispy, lightly seasoned and easy to eat, the calamari was a great start to our meal. I loved the Tzatziki, it was thick, smooth and garlicky. The moussaka was plain excellent. A perfect amount of rich bechemal sauce covered tender pieces of eggplant and flavourful meat. It was the perfect consistency, being moist while maintaining it's shape and not being watery. The lemon potato was fork tender while still being firm. It tasted really good with lots of lemon flavour. The Caesar salad was fresh and not overdreshed. However, the rice was a bit on the softer side. It was not mushy; but just not as firm as I would've liked it. Pomegranate had the Beef Gyro and it looked quite good with plenty of meat and fillings nestled in a soft pita. The Greek salad looked really fresh and colourful.

The portions were adequate, but not as large as some other places. This is true for dinner as well, I think the portion is good, but doesn't compare to other places like Stepho's (but I guess Stepho's is an anomaly). Prices at Greek Village are reasonable for the portion size. However, the quality is quite a bit better than most other Greek restauarants. Food is fresh, perfectly seasoned and prepared. One strange thing is that they do have adequate parking spaces, but the spaces get filled up real fast, despite the restaurant not being full. I wonder people visiting other businesses in the complex are using their parking.

The Good:
- Food is fresh and prepared properly
- Service is friendly
- Comfortable dining space

The Bad:
- Despite other reviews, I find the portions not huge, just average
- Surprisingly, their parking lot fills up fast even though it is not small

Greek Village
7953 120th Street
Delta, B.C.
604-597-1515

Curry King

*This restaurant is closed*

*This is an updated post on the original as of 10/20/09* On my way home today, I dropped by our local IGA and picked up some items intending to cook dinner. However, as the clock ticked down to 6:00pm with Viv nowhere in sight, I knew that it would be dinner impossible. When she finally called at 6:15pm, I made it clear I wasn't going to start cooking since our usual dinner time is at 6:00pm. Therefore, I got the kids ready and bundled everyone into the car. With the kids, generally going to anything exotic is a bad idea since they probably won't eat it. Let me rephrase that, my son won't eat it. Therefore, Greek, Indian and anything Latin was out of the question. We needed to go to something safe... such as a HK-Style Cafe! Ah yes, where you can get Western food that looks and tastes nothing like it's supposed to!

We needed to go to Metrotown, so we went for something nearby - Curry King. With a name like Curry King, you'd think it exclusively served Curry. Wrong. It's a Hong Kong-style restaurant that does serve curry, but also Chinese rice and noodle dishes. In addition, it the aforementioned "Western" food. We were lucky to get parking right in front since there are usually a lack of parking spaces in the area. We were greeted to an extremely colourful dining room, complete with non-trendy colours. On past visits, it has been late night and their mini-meals are around $8 and are a bit smaller than the full size versions. Included with the mini-meals is a choice of drink and soup of the day. Tonight, it was the regular dinner menu.

I've had the curry brisket in the past and it is indeed very good. With a name like Curry King, it'd better be! Although, I much prefer the curry at Mui Garden and Cafe Glouchester. The curry is smooth and only had hints of heat, this is typical of Chinese versions of yellow curry. The brisket is fairly tender, and has an acceptable amount of fat. Tonight, there was no curry; rather, Viv had the 2-item Set Meal dinner which includes a soup, rice or spaghetti, choice of sauce and hot drink. She picked the Rib Eye Steak and Chicken Steak as her 2 meat options. We were not surprised to see the steak overcooked when it arrived since HK-Style cafes rarely get steak right. They either cook it wrong or *gasp* marinated it until it's too salty. The meat was also not really all that tender as well. However, the chicken steak (really a deboned leg and thigh) was juicy and tender. Not much to say about the frozen fries and veggies underneath. only table left. For once, the side spaghetti was not a mush and mixed with the garlic sauce, it was pretty good.

I chose the Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice, which is one of my favourites. The rice was pretty firm and there was a good amount of tender chunks of chicken. Despite the salted fish, the rice could've used a bit more seasoning. For the kiddies, we got an Unagi Udon. Okay, don't ask me how this made it onto the Curry King menu; but it was surprisingly good. The udon was still a bit chewy and the soup was quite flavourful, if not a bit peppery. A large piece of tasty unagi rested on top of the noodles. A pretty decent meal at Curry King. Nothing outstanding; yet nothing was horrible - a predictable meal. Service was decent except there was like only one server for the whole place and it got kinda slow when more people came in. Only in a Chinese restaurant you'll find one server covering an entire restaurant!

The Good:
- Good portions
- Food is generally decent
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Parking is hard to find
- Hong Kong style of Western food isn't for everyone
- Service was friendly; but there was only one server???

Curry King
#5 - 4250 Kingsway
Burnaby, B.C.
Tel: 604-437-3638