The Boss @ Metrotown

Ah memories... I've been a regular at this joint since I was a little kid. Well, at least the Chinatown location that is. The success of The Boss Bakery and Restaurant has always been based on good food, large portions, reasonable prices and efficient service. It was so successful that they opened a second location at Metrotown over 10 years ago. For those who are not familiar with The Boss, it is a Hong Kong-style cafe which serves up Chinese dishes (mostly noodle and rice dishes) and modified Western dishes.

These modified Western dishes are essentially Hong Kong versions of things such as breakfast, sandwiches and entrees. You'll find things that might confuse those who have not dined at a Hong Kong-style cafe before, such as having a hot dog weiner in place of a breakfast sausage. Yes, instead of sausage and eggs, you get an Oscar Mayer and "eggs". That's right, even the eggs may not necessarily resemble what you are used to. Scrambled eggs will most likely be more like fried eggs. Moreover, when you order a ham and egg sandwich, all you get is a fried egg with a slice of ham in between 2 slices of white bread (crust removed). You can easily make this at home, but for some strange reason, people like me actually order it and love it.

Anyways, I haven't been to The Boss for some time now and I decided to pay the Metrotown location a visit. Lots have gone on in the past year or so at The Boss. The restaurant went through a major renovation and expansion where it took over the unit next door. But that's when everything started to go downhill. After the renovations, the portions became remarkably smaller, service became impersonal and the lady in the front became really cranky. I've read many online reviews that echo this sentiment and I wholeheartedly agree. However, I've known the cranky lady back in the Chinatown days when I was in elementary school. She is actually a very nice person and it's unknown why she has become so cranky in the past couple of years. That's no excuse though, since a person in customer service should never let their personal lives affect their performance.

Now on this return visit, I am happy to report that the portions are larger; yet still not exactly as large as before. Service has improved, the servers were efficient and responsive to our needs. Also, the cranky lady was not at the front (according to others, she hasn't been there consistently for awhile). As like before, the food is solid. The noodle and rice dishes at The Boss have something we call "wok hay" in Chinese. This means that the wok is hot, producing food that is tasty since the heat helps produce good flavour and caramelization. This was exemplified by the Fried Vermicelli with BBQ Duck and Preserved Vegetables. We also ordered the Spaghetti with Ox Tongue in Tomato Sauce. I know, I know, ox tongue??? Yes, it's a Hong Kong-style cafe thing, it's an acquired taste. Moreover, don't expect a traditional Italian tomato sauce here; rather, imagine a watered-down ketchup sauce with plenty of sugar. I'm not selling you on this, am I? Again, you have to like this to enjoy it. For those who like it, there were 3 large slices of ox tongue which were tender, on a generous bed of spaghetti.

Although it was not morning anymore, breakfast is available until late afternoon, so we ordered the set breakfast. You have a choice of option A (Bread, Ham and Eggs, Coffee or Tea) for $5.00 or option B (which adds Macaroni and Shredded Chicken in Soup) for $7.00. This meal is pretty standard and there is really not much to say about it other than the Macaroni tastes better than it looks (in this case we substituted ham for chicken). I'm glad to say The Boss is still a solid choice for Hong Kong-style cafe food in the GVRD. Thankfully they have tried to improve their portion sizes and their service (I guess someone there has been reading the online reviews). It's also a plus that the renovations have made the dining room quite nice too.

The Good:
- Good food
- Decent portions (for now)
- Efficient service (for now)

The Bad:
- Crazy busy, you can wait forever (luckily it's in a mall)
- Portions used to be bigger
- Cranky lady may return?

The Boss Restaurant
4720 Kingsway
Burnaby, B.C.
604-438-2677

Business Hours:
10:00am - 9:00pm (Mon - Fri)
9:30am - 9:00pm (Sat)
11:00am - 6:00pm (Sun)

Beard Papa`s

Excuse me? What the heck is Beard Papa's? Well, that is what I asked the first time I heard of it. Also, what kind of English is that??? The story begins in Japan (explains the strange name), where Yuji Hirota opened up the first Beard Papa's in 1999. This shop was known for making the freshest and best cream puffs in the world. The reason is that each puff is not filled with the cream until the customer orders it. Thus, the puff retains its crispiness and the filling is still fresh.

Presently, there are many Beard Papa's around the world, including Canada. There are 4 locations in the GVRD, including Aberdeen Centre, City Square, English Bay and Crystal Mall. Of course, being sick with the stomach flu, the last thing you would want to eat is a cream puff. Well, it's not Sherman's Food Adventures for nothing! I guess I'll have a different type of adventure later for eating that cream puff! So on my way out of the food court, I came to a grinding halt at Beard Papa's, which was conveniently located near the elevators. I enter the store and it's very clean, almost eerily clean, but that's a good thing. The menu is pretty simple, you can order the original vanilla cream puff or choose from 2 of the special flavours. Today, it was green tea and chocolate. Moreover, there is an éclair version and chocolate cake. I went ahead with half a dozen of the originals for $9.50. The cashier was very friendly and by the time I finished paying, the other staff member had filled all 6 puff and packaged it! That's some very fast service!

Personally, I'm not a big cream puff fan; however, I can put up with Beard Papa's version because it's not too sweet. Also, the puff is indeed fresh and crispy, it's best to be eaten right away. One thing I find as a negative is the price. I guess when you compare it to other bakeries, the price is in line; but since I'm not a cream puff lover, it's pricey for me.

The Good:
- Fresh
- Not too sweet
- Clean store

The Bad:
- Pricey
- Fattening (220 calories per puff)
- It's in Crystal Mall, location of the worst designed parking lot in the Universe, combined with clueless drivers


Beard Papa's
#2320 - 4500 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
(604) 434-6618
www.beardpapascanada.com

Business Hours:
11:00am - 9:00pm (7 days a week)

Fung May Chinese Cuisine

Okay, you'd think that heading over to Crystal Mall twice within 24 hours would be the last thing I'd do. Well, I did and the ordeal did not disappoint. Costanza and I were heading there to get some takeout. As we were pulling up to the entrance of the Crystal Mall parking lot, what do we see? How about someone actually trying to make a U-Turn right in front! Not on the street, where it's slightly more understandable. It was literally right where the cars enter and exit before the sidewalk! As you can imagine, traffic was backed up. And so it begins, the horror otherwise known as the Crystal Mall parkade. A circular torture from hell meant to test the patience of the most calm-at-heart. One entrance, one exit, narrow lanes and pie-shaped parking spaces only serve to exacerbate driving-challenged individuals. Please fire the person who designed this! Whenever I'm hitting up eats in this food court, it's Wang's and maybe something else. The something else is usually Fung May Chinese Cuisine. To the casual observer, this food stand doesn't impress; in fact, with all the hand written signage, it looks kind of dumpy. However, don't let appearances fool you. In fact, they are well-known for their rice hot pots.

We didn't get a rice hot pot, instead we got an order of the XO Soy-Fried Rice Noodle Rolls. Surprisingly moderately greasy, the noodles were flavourful and slightly spicy. Good texture and "wok hay" resulted in a good dish. For our second item, we went for the Singapore Fried Noodles. A combination of rice vermicelli, peppers, carrots, sprouts, onions, shrimp and BBQ pork with curry, this is usually a fan favourite. This particular version was flavourful, slightly spicy, not too oily and full of ingredients. A satisfying product. The last item was the Seafood & Pineapple Fried Rice. Although it the rice was sufficiently chewy and wok-fried properly, the entire dish lacked flavour. The pineapple gave a nice sweet tartness which was refreshing; but there was a lack of savouriness to balance it out. Furthermore, there was not really much seafood other than the imitation crab. Despite the rice, the rest of the food was good as with my previous visits. Fung May is a dependable place to hit if you're in the food court. Just park somewhere else.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Good portions
- High wok heat = flavour

The Bad:
- Since it's a food court, you get crappy utensils
- It's in Crystal Mall, location of the worst designed parking lot in the Universe, combined with clueless drivers

Fung May Chinese Cuisine
#2301 - 4500 Kingsway
Burnaby, B.C.
(604) 438-6263

Business Hours:
9:00am - 9:00pm (7 days a week)

Little Nest

Got a message from my good friend Vandelay wondering if I wanted to have lunch at Salade de Fruits today. Well, I really wanted to go there; but, I wasn't sure if it would be a good experience if I brought both kiddies. That's when Vandelay suggested that we try Little Nest. Unlike Viv, I had no idea what Little Nest was about. Well, Little Nest is a cafe just off The Drive (Commerical Drive) on Charles. It serves up organic food in a casual setting where there is a play area just for the kiddies. A kid friendly cafe? I was skeptical. How good can this place be if it caters to parents with kids? Viv convinced me to give it a try even though it wasn't the "sexiest" place to eat.

So we get the family ready for a "family edition" of my food adventures. We arrive down on The Drive and we do what we always do down there - drive around looking for a parking spot. This is a frustrating exercise, especially when the restaurant of choice is not near Il Mercato. You see, you can park free at Il Mercato for the first hour (shhhhhh, it's a secret). Anyways, after endless circling, I had to do a "pull the car into a lane and reverse maneuver" to get my parking spot. Luckily for us, Vandelay and his wife Donna Chang (not her real name) had already scored a choice table right beside the children's play area. The play area consists of various toys and a kitchen play set on foam mats.

Looking over the menu on the wall, I decided to go for the Prosciutto Baguette which consisted of prosciutto, fig jam and Cambozola (combination of French cream cheese and Italian Gorgonzola). The saltiness of the prosciutto was perfectly offset by the sweetness of the fig jam and the smoothness of the Cambozola. However, the multigrain baguette was way too hard and it hurt my mouth when I bit into it. I also ordered the Confit Albacore Tuna Salad which consisted of Tuna on a bed of romaine, avocado, cilantro and pickled daikon/carrot. There was some chili-mayo on the plate for the tuna as well. I thought the Tuna was excellent, being just slightly cooked. The pickled daikon and carrots gave the salad a nice zing and the avocado contributed a level of smoothness to the dish. Viv had the Slow-Roasted Organic Chicken Baguette which consisted of free-range chicken, toasted almonds, arugula, pickled red onions and harissa-spiced mayo. It was also good, but again, the baguette was too crunchy and it was difficult to eat.

Vandelay had the Brioche French Toast with Organic Bananas, which was topped with cinnamon-whipped cream and toasted pistachios with a marsala-spiked butterscotch caramel syrup. I tried this and it was good. The French toast was soft and the syrup was flavourful without being too sweet. Donna Chang had the Middle Eastern Spiced Squash Puree Soup, which was topped with cilantro oil and toasted pistachios. She also had the Organic Chicken Baguette as well. Unfortunately, I didn't get a comment from her about the soup, but it appears that the regular baguette is less hard to eat than the multi-grain baguette.

Naturally, there are also items on the menu for the kiddies and we choose cheese sandwich; no word from the kiddies whether it was good or not. They just wanted to finish and start playing. So what's the verdict from this place that I was skeptical to visit? I must admit it is a pretty neat place, reminds me of some restaurants I've visited in Portland. It's pretty cool you can bring your kids in and the place is already setup for families. The food in general is pretty good, being organic is a plus. However, the food isn't cheap in relation to what type of restaurant this is. Although the service is friendly, it is a bit slow, due to the place being quite busy. But it states on the menu that "good food takes time".

The Good:
- Great for families
- Food is organic
- Creative menu items

The Bad:
- Food comes out a bit slow
- If you hate kids, don't come here

Little Nest Cafe
1716 Charles Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-251-9994
www.littlenest.ca

Business Hours:
9:00am - 4:00pm (Tue - Sun)

Alleluia Cafe

Having already played a full session of floor hockey, eating Japanese food and having some Marble Slab; I was ready for some ice hockey. Hey, I need to work off all this eating somehow! But then again, playing late night hockey means late night eating afterwards! I used to play with this group every Saturday night in Richmond; however, with my league games I haven't been playing with them for awhile. We used to go Alleluia Cafe after hockey since it's open until 2:00. I guess I was looking forward to the late night eats since I didn't play very well at all! When food is on my mind, it's similar to the Arby's commericals, I forget about the task at hand.

We met up at Alleluia after hockey. I almost drove right by it since it's not right on Westminster Highway. I think it's one of the cleanest and nicest Hong Kong-style cafes in the GVRD. Compared to places like Honolulu Cafe and Golden Award, you'd think that Alleluia is a different class of restaurant. However, the prices at Alleluia are in line with other Hong Kong-style cafes; in fact, I think it's a bit cheaper. Their 3-item meal is only $9.25, and it includes your choice of 3 meats, spaghetti or rice, vegetables, your choice of sauce, soup and a choice of drink with free refill. This meal (add garlic bread and dessert) at Angel Cafe is an additional $5.75. Moreover, their late night mini-set meals, which consist of a choice of dish (usually it's a fried rice or noodle) and a drink with free refill, costs roughly $6.

As you can see in the pictures, the portions are far from being "mini". Not only are the portions generous, the food actually tastes pretty good. It's not gourmet, but for the price, it's good. I went ahead and ordered the 3-item meal and chose Duck Leg, Ox Tongue and Rib-eye Steak. I went with the spaghetti as my side and Russian Borscht (Hong Kong-style) as my soup. The duck leg was not as tender as I would've hoped. By no means was it tough, it was just difficult to eat (since it wasn't falling off the bone). The ox tongue was tender and it was conservatively seasoned. The steak, as expected, was marinated. This changes the texture and taste of the steak. It's a very Chinese thing to marinate steak and I personally don't like it too much. The steak was tender due to the marination process; but then it lost the natural beefiness you'd expect in the steak. There was plenty of black pepper sauce on the side and I essentially used it on my spaghetti.

Other dishes we had were the Rice with Tofu and Fish, Fried Rice Noodles with Beef and Fried Rice with BBQ Pork and Shrimp. The verdict on all of the dishes were positive and they looked good too. Although, everyone was raving about the tofu and fish rice. I guess I need to try that next time! However, I still laugh at the sandwiches at Hong Kong-style cafes, they are essentially white bread without the crust with a fried scrambled egg and a slice of ham. It is so simple that you can make it at home, but it's so good at these places. The same could be said about a lot of the food. Gernerally, the service is not all that personal, but it is efficient. However, the main attraction here is good cheap eats, late into the night (or morning).

The Good:
- Good value
- Clean and modern, you really don't have to put up with filth
- Open late

The Bad:
- It's a bit hidden, if you don't know where it is, you'd miss it

Alleluia Cafe
8131 Westminster Highway
Richmond, B.C.
604-271-8266

Business Hours:
9:00am - 2:00am (7 days a week)

Marble Slab Creamery

After some Japanese food (again, I seem to eat a lot of that), I wondered if anyone wanted dessert. I was considering going down to Save On or Safeway to pick up some pie. But Nikita (that's what I'll call her from now on) suggested I go to Marble Slab which was nearby. Ah yes, I've been to Coquitlam Marble Slab since it's the closest location to my house. There are quite a few people who will argue that the copycat (I've learned recently), Coldstone Creamery, is better. Well, even if it is, we don't have Coldstone up here in Canada.

You may ask what exactly is Marble Slab. Well, it is essentially an ice cream parlour with freezing cold slabs of marble where they mix in goodies with your ice cream. Think of it as a Blizzard or McFlurry, but Marble Slab uses hard ice cream instead of soft serve. Moreover, you have a choice of several flavours of ice cream other than plain vanilla. The cold slabs of marble ensure that your ice cream doesn't melt into a gooey mess while the mixing takes place. To my surprise, the staff at this location of Marble Slab were not only inviting me to take pictures, they knew exactly what a blog was and asked about it! These employees are in the know!

I ordered a couple of items: a sundae, vanilla ice cream with apple pie pieces and a double dark chocolate ice cream with Skor Bar. The staff were very friendly and had my order completed before I even had a chance to finish taking all of my pictures. The staff made sure I had utensils for my order and lids as well. So how does it taste? Well, the ice cream at Marble Slab is pretty good, it's creamy and has plenty of flavour. However, if you start adding goodies to the ice cream, it can get rather sweet, but I guess you wouldn't be getting Marble Slab if you didn't want sweet anyways. One possible negative of Marble Slab is that it can get pricey. One order of ice cream with one mixin' (that's one item), is $4.95. You have a choice of it being served in a cup or a waffle cone. This is not incredibly expensive, but knowing that gourmet gelato at places like Vivo, Amato and La Casa cost less, it may not be worth it for ice cream "connoisseurs". However, I personally like it. It's a fun, tasty treat, as long as you don't do it too often.

The Good:
- It's fun
- It's sweet and sinful
- Your kids will love you for it

The Bad:
- A bit pricey
- It's sweet and sinful

Marble Slab Creamery
Various Locations
www.marbleslab.com

Simon Sushi

Nikita, who introduced me to Bombay Palki (now Sohi's) invited us over to her place in Langley for some sushi. There is this new Japanese restaurant that opened up next to their subdivision called Simon Sushi. My first thought was: Simon Sushi? Sounds like someone's name or "Simon Says". But I know that she and her hubby have good taste, so I trust their judgment. So, off we go to Langley! We head over to pickup our food at Simon Sushi and my first thoughts are: where are the other stores? Simon Sushi sits in a little mall all by itself with very few tenants around it. Upon entering the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised by the modern decor and the cleanliness of the place.

It was a bit comical to me that all the staff wore "Simon Sushi" apparel in bright colours, particularly the lime green caps. The staff there seem very friendly, they didn't even stare at me when I began snapping pictures. I guess they figured I was a Japanese tourist? Anyways, we headed back home with our food which consisted of: Salmon Sashimi, Crunch Avocado Roll, Alaska Roll, Spicy Salmon Roll, and Dragon Roll.

The generous slices of Salmon Sashimi were very fresh. The same could be said about all the other rolls as well. The Crunch (have no idea why it's not called Crunchy) Avocado Roll was good, it had tempura bits rolled on the outside. This gave a nice contrast in texture to the soft avocado. The Alaska Roll was tasty; however it was very odd. First, the salmon was on the outside and then it was topped with something that resembled miso/ginger dressing, which is usually found on Japanese green salad.

The Spicy Salmon Roll was quite spicy, if you don't like heat, don't eat this one. Lastly, we had a specialty roll, the Dragon Roll. The roll was pretty good; however, much like the other rolls, it was smaller than expected. The Dragon Roll costs $9.95 and I didn't think it looked like a $9.95 roll. Although it was quite tasty, I think the same roll at Tomoya is 1/2 larger for the same price. One of the reasons the rolls seem smaller is that Simon Sushi, unlike Samurai Sushi House, does not use a lot of rice on the outside of the rolls. But, I do think they could use a bit more rice just to give the rolls a bit more substance. With that being said, I still think Simon Sushi is a solid choice for Japanese food out in Langley.

The Good:
- Food tastes good
- Friendly staff
- Inviting dining room

The Bad:
- Prices are a tad high
- The rolls are a bit small

Simon Sushi
#5 - 20178 96th Avenue
Langely, B.C.
604-888-5055

Business Hours:
11:30am - 3:00pm, 4:00pm - 8:30pm (Mon - Sat)