Dim Sum @ Golden Swan

Boy, we've been going to Golden Swan since it first opened. In fact, we went to it's previous incarnation as Golden Phoenix on Nanaimo and Broadway. Golden Swan first opened up as a small little one-unit operation on Victoria back in the 80's. Gradually, it began expanding by taking over neighbouring units until it has now taken over the entire plaza. Golden Swan is one of the few remaining places that employ push carts for dim sum. Most places give you checklists and you merely choose your dishes and they are brought to you. Now, I am actually indifferent to how the dim sum is brought to me, as long as it's good.

However, at Golden Swan, I would just rather they used checklists. Why? Well, the people that push the dim sum carts seem to have the PNE Showmart mentality where if they bother you enough, you'll want to buy 2 Sham-Wows or a vegetable slicer. If I don't want fried squid, I DON'T WANT IT. No matter how many times you ask me and tell me it's awesome, it won't change my mind. When I go for dim sum, I don't want to experience the same pressure I get at a furniture store. No, I don't want this couch and no I do not want to buy today. Do these ladies get a commission or something for the amount of Haw Gow they sell???

Anyways, dim sum is busy here at Golden Swan, so you'd better come early or later to avoid the 11:30 - 12:30 rush. Parking is also an issue, there are very few parking spots available and most of the street parking is restricted to residents only. Since we had 6 people for dim sum, we were able to order a wide variety of items. They included Haw Gow (steamed shrimp dumpling), Sui Mai (pork and shrimp dumpling), Spareribs, Beef Balls (ground beef and green onion), Dai Jee Gow (scallop/shrimp dumpling), Chicken Feet (it's really not that bad), Pork Knuckles (same, it's not as bad as it sounds), Beef Tripe, Cheun Fun (rice noodle roll), Rice with Spareribs, Seen Jok Geun (tofu skin roll) and Daan Tat (egg tart).

The Haw Gow was pretty good, the shrimp was crunchy; however, it was a bit oversteamed since the dumpling skins were stuck together. The Sui Mai and beef balls were quite good, flavours weren't too salty and the meat wasn't oversaturated with baking soda. However, the spareribs were horrid. It was swimming in sauce that mostly consisted of oil. They either put too much marinade or they steamed it too long. The scallop dumpling was a total miss as well. There was too much onion in the shrimp portion of the dumpling and it killed the sweetness of the shrimp. There is no need for onion in the dumpling. Also, one of the dumplings had pathetic pieces of broken scallop on top. That was aesthetically atrocious. Why the kitchen would let this happen is beyond me. I don't know about you, but I'm not paying good money for scraps . They should have refrained from using the leftover pieces of scallop.

The chicken feet and pork knuckles were pretty good, they were both soft and flavourful. The rice with spareribs was a bit mushy and it is probably due to the same reason the steamed spareribs were swimming in oil. The same spareribs probably saturated the rice with oil; thus making it soggy. The egg tart was very good though. The crust was flaky and the egg was soft and had just enough sweetness. However, the beef tripe was not tender at all, it was quite chewy. Although the tofu skin roll was pretty good, the dim sum cart lady made a mistake. We asked if there was shrimp in it and she confidently declared that there was no shrimp. We had someone at our table who is allergic to shrimp and guess what was in the roll? Yes, shrimp.

That was not the only frustration with the wait staff either. One of the dim sum ladies tried to force the aforementioned fried squid on us and actually had placed it on our table and marked it off on our bill. We told her we didn't want it and she forgot to take it off the bill! We had to track her down to get the item removed. She spent 5 minutes trying to count how many dishes we had. We had 7, and she marked off 8. I'm sorry to be mean, but how hard is it to count to 7? Then, we tried to order a small bowl of noodles. The server kept trying to tell us that they only had big bowls of noodles. Uh... no. All Dim Sum restaurants have small bowls of noodles, what if we only had 2 people??? If we ordered the big bowl of noodles, all we could eat are noodles! Then why come to Dim Sum??? Finally, we were able to order a small bowl of noodles after much trouble. So was there a perfect storm of negative events that made this venture to Golden Swan brutal? I would hope so. I've been to Golden Swan many times before and it's never been like this. So I need to be fair and think that this may be the exception. However, with such intense competition in Vancouver for Dim Sum, Golden Swan better not have too many of these off days.

The Good:
- Wide variety of Dim Sum
- Always lots of carts coming by your table

The Bad:
- Pressure sales from Dim Sum ladies
- Clueless wait staff
- Some issues with food quality

Golden Swan
5380 Victoria Drive
Vancouver, B.C.
604-321-6621

Desi Junction

*Restaurant is closed*

I was originally going to meet Toolman last Tuesday for lunch at Desi Junction; but I was stricken with the stomach flu. Therefore, we met up today for lunch at the mysterious restaurant I pass each day on my way to work. The reason it is mysterious (at least to me) is the fact that it's very hard to see inside. To me, it always seems like a nightclub - brick exterior and very dark looking. Well, upon entering, I was pleased to see that it was nothing like the outside. We were greeted by an expansive dining room which resembled a White Spot to a degree.

The staff here are quite friendly, we were quickly shown to our booth and the server spent time explaining the menu to us. In addition to the regular menu, there are daily lunch specials for $9.95. The lunch special includes choice of 2 entree items, rice, choice of Naan or Roti, Raita (yogurt sauce) and choice of Ras Malai or Gulab Jamun for dessert. There are 2 special entrees every day of the week. Today's entrees were Fish Curry and Shahi Paneer (cheese in a cream sauce similar to Butter Chicken). In addition, there are 2 everyday entrees, which are Butter Chicken and Dal Makhni (pan-fried lentils). Toolman chose to have the Fish Curry and the Paneer with Naan. I had the Butter Chicken and Fish Curry with Roti.

Before I even got a chance to try my food, I picked up what I thought was a green bean and popped the whole thing in my mouth. I was thinking to myself that this was the worst green bean I've ever..... #$)#* &)#*$#)$* THIS IS NO GREEN BEAN!!! It was a hot chili pepper! I spat the wretched thing out and that began 10 minutes of pain in my mouth. I am not sure why I had such a big brain cramp; but I will actually look at my food before I eat it next time. Anyways, 10 minutes later, I continued eating my meal.

The butter chicken was pretty good, the flavours were quite mild and the chicken was very tender. However, I thought that this version of butter chicken was quite rich. I know it is supposed to be rich, but this one seemed to have more cream (some versions don't even have cream). The fish curry was mild, even though I asked for spicy, either I really like it spicy or the pepper could've killed my taste buds. There was a pronounced cilantro flavour in the curry and it reminded me of a Vindaloo minus the vinegar. The fish itself was quite tender and cooked perfectly. We ordered a side of garlic naan and it was fantastic. It was soft, fluffy and full of real slices of garlic. I could've eaten them plain and I would've been happy. However, I wasn't a big fan of the roti since it was a bit gummy. The main difference between roti and naan is that roti is unleavened, which may have been a factor with the gumminess.

For dessert, I choose the Gulab Jamun, which is a fried pastry ball made of cream and flour. It is soaked in a very sweet sugar syrup flavoured with rosewater. Although I am not a big fan of this particular dessert, the one at Desi Junction was a little less sweet and I managed to finish the whole thing. Toolman had the Ras Malai, which is flattened paneer soaked in rosewater-flavoured cream and topped with pistachios. BC thought it was good and it looked very mild to me. Lastly, for the purposes of freshening our breath, we were presented with toasted fennel seeds with colourful candied seeds. Overall, I thought the meal was a good value for the price. The service was excellent, the server was always very personable and she kept checking with us if everything was alright. Moreover, the restaurant is very clean, including the washrooms. Other than my own stupidity with the pepper, Desi Junction was a good experience.

The Good:
- Great service
- Decent food
- Clean restaurant

The Bad:
- Uninviting stark, exterior

Desi Junction
8821 120th Street
Delta, B.C.
604-592-6360
www.desidowntown.ca

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

*Restaurant is closed*

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)

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

Jane`s

*Restaurant is closed*

Okay, let's get this out of the way first. Jane's is a dive. Upon entering the place, we were greeted with wood paneling, red vinyl booths and an array of mismatched chairs with duct tape on them. Ah yes, my youth, circa 1970's - 1980's. However, don't let the retro decor scare you, there is something more to this. Jane's is a Chinese-Canadian food restaurant. That designation alone would send most people running for the hills, since this type of restaurant (especially in the GVRD) is slowly becoming extinct.

Well, I'm not here to talk about the quasi-Chinese food at Jane's. In fact, Viv and I were not impressed with the fried noodles that the next table ordered. We came to Jane's to have their $3.50 breakfast. Similar to other cheap breakfast places such as Bon's Off Broadway and Joe's Grill, the breakfast is cheap, but never to be confused with other places such as White Spot, IHOP and Denny's. However, some people might even argue that the breakfasts at the aforementioned places are not very good.

Anyways, what does $3.50 get you at Janes? Well, you get 2 eggs, a choice of 3 bacon strips, 3 sausages or a ham steak, with home fried potatoes and toast. Honestly, that's a lot of food for $3.50. For the kiddies, we ordered the 2 pancakes with scrambled eggs and a ham steak ($5.95). Of course for $3.50, there will be some trade offs. First, although the pancakes were extremely large, they were rubbery. Second, the scrambled eggs were not really scrambled, they were more like fried scrambled eggs (a la Hong Kong cafe-style). But really... for $3.50, I ain't gonna care! The service is quite friendly and efficient. Looks like a family-run operation. To sum it up, despite the 1970's retro decor (it's probably the same decor from then) and the issues with some food items, in the words of Snake, "When you can pay for a meal with loose change, that's a plus."

The Good:
- Cheap breakfast
- Ample portions
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- It's a dive
- Not sure about the Chinese-Canadian food

Jane's
4217 Hastings Street
Burnaby, B.C.
604-293-1343

Business Hours:
9:00am - 9:30pm (7 days a week)

Anastasia

*Restaurant is closed*

KDee had been bugging me for awhile to try out Anastasia Steak & Seafood out on 72nd near King George Hwy. One problem is that I live nowhere near there. However, I saw an opportunity tonight as I was going to attend my school's play in North Delta. So Viv and I trek out to Anastasia in Friday rush hour traffic. Upon entering Anastasia, we were greeted to a decor that was stuck in the 1980's, complete with big flower arrangements. By no means was it uninviting, we were just amused by it. Looking around the restaurant, we were surprised by the amount of seniors in the restaurant. I suddenly felt such much younger!

Since Anastasia is a steak and seafood restaurant, I choose to have Prime Rib and Viv chose the Chicken Souvlaki. First, we started off with the Calamari. It came hot, but curiously not crunchy. This could be attributed to the fact the rings of squid were quite large; thus making it harder to fry. Actually, I prefer larger rings of squid, so that didn't really bother me. My meal came with a choice of soup or salad, and I chose the clam chowder. It was cream-based and I liked it. However, it reminded me of the clam chowders I've had in Hong Kong-style cafes in the past. These type of clam chowders are exemplified by starchy milkiness rather than creaminess.

My prime rib was done perfectly (medium rare) and it came with the bone. This is one of the few times I have received the rib still attached to the meat. For me this was a bonus, since I really enjoy the meat around the rib itself. The baked potato that came with the prime rib was also done very well; however the vegetables were definitely a miss. They were spongy, a clear indication that they were frozen vegetables. For $21, I think one would expect fresh vegetables. Another miss was the garlic bread, it looked like a leftover pontoon from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It was totally soaked in butter.

Viv had issues with the Souvlaki. The chicken itself was tender (except for the end pieces), but it was quite salty. The bed of rice was a bit cold and hard. However, the most disappointing part of the dish was the Greek Salad. For reasons unknown, there was basalmic vinegar in it. There shouldn't be balasmic vinegar in Greek salad (although there are versions with it), it stains the vegetables and cheese. In addition it overpowers the flavours. The acid should be only lemon juice. Also, the feta cheese (if it was feta cheese) consisted of small shavings on top of the salad. The feta cheese should have been in cubes or crumbled on top of the salad. Now, I'm not even sure how they were able to shave the cheese. Then, on top of the whole mess was dried oregano. It was not mixed into the salad, it was just dumped on top. I could say that this was the worst and the least authentic Greek salad we've ever seen.

So it's really hard to say how the food is at Anastasia from only trying 2 dishes and an appetizer. We saw the table beside us have the Seafood Dinner for 2 and it looked fabulous, with a bounty of seafood on a big platter. I'm sure there are some good dishes mixed with some bad dishes as Anastasia. This is where I have a concern. The prices at Anastasia are a bit pricey. I have no problem with that; however, the food quality as a whole must reflect those prices. For the 3 items we ordered, the food quality as a whole did not justify the price. I am not saying the food was terrible. In fact, my prime rib was excellent, but, for the price I paid, I could've eaten at the Keg and would have gotten fresh vegetables. As for the service, I would say that was the highlight of the evening. It was efficient, friendly and professional. It's just too bad the food has too many issues.

The Good:
- Service was excellent
- Dining room was comfortable, despite being in a time warp
- Prime rib was excellent

The Bad:
- Food quality is not in line with the prices
- Worst Greek Salad we've ever had
- Frozen vegetables

Anastasia Steak & Seafood
13486 72nd Avenue
Surrey, B.C.
604-594-2322

Business Hours:
4:00pm - 10:00pm (Tue - Thu)
4:00pm - 11:00pm (Fri - Sat)
4:00pm - 9:30pm (Sun)