Top Gun Hot Pot

Can you believe it? Snow in April! Talk about April Fool's. I'm not sure what was worse, the snow or the Pavel Bure joke on the Team 1040. Anyways, cold weather always accompanies snow and today was no exception. My friend DT was back in town and we decided to meet up for dinner tonight. We briefly considered Sui Sha Ya and quickly thought otherwise. What were we thinking??? Sui Sha Ya... Bleck! So we thought about where we were going to eat and we settled on Top Gun Hot Pot. That's something good to eat when the weather is cold! I have been to Top Gun for Dim Sum before; but never for hot pot.

There has been a polarization of reviews on the net regarding Top Gun. Some people really like it and some really do not. There have been a lot of reviews complaining about their service or lack of. Well, we go there tonight with an empty stomach (didn't have much for lunch, someone threw out my lunch!) and an open mind. Incidentally, I picked up my Canon SLR today and wanted to try it out too. However, I have never owned an SLR before and if you look at my pictures, they're not really all that good. I need lessons (I think I didn't set the depth of field right).

So we arrive at Crystal Mall (yes, the place with the crazy parking lot) and upon entering the underground parking, we find a space immediately. I think I'll only come here on weekday nights from now on... We were greeted by a friendly hostess in the front who brought us to our table. There are 2 types of AYCE (all-you-can-eat) dinners available. The first one is $19.95 and the deluxe is $26.95. I personally do not think that the deluxe is worth it, unless you really want an even bigger selection of food than the standard menu. It's much like that at the other Top Gun Group restaurants: Richmond Sushi, Top Gun Sushi, Kingsway Sushi and Garden City Hot Pot. One important note - the soup base is an extra $7.50 - $8.50.

Once we decided on which AYCE we were going to have, a friendly server wheeled a cart full of condiments over to us. We got to customize our dipping sauces. Some of the items included cilantro, scallions, chilies, sweet soy, sa cha sauce, and sesame sauce. We were then provided with checklists for us to order our items. Although the menu is in both English and Chinese, the checklist is only in Chinese. Thank goodness Viv can read it (although one could technically just match up the items on the menu and the checklist). Don't be shy about ordering lots off the checklist, most of the items are per piece or per 2 pieces.

The beef slices were well-marble and cut thinly. We thought they were pretty good. I'm not so into pork for hot pot, but I gave the pork cheek slices a try and they were quite good. The shrimp, oysters and fish slices were all fresh. The fish slices were tender and did not fall apart while in the boiling broth. We really liked the sui gow, they were filled with shrimp. However, the wontons were completely filled with pork. Other items we ordered were the ox tongue, bible tripe, honeycomb tripe, pork's blood, tofu, fried tofu, intestine, winter melon, spinach and watercress. Only 2 items from that list were disappointing. The watercress was a bit old; thus is was quite chewy and stringy. The bible tripe was also very chewy, despite efforts in varying cooking times. Overall, we enjoyed our hot pot at Top Gun, the food came out quick and the service was good (despite what others have said). It may not be as good as Landmark Hot Pot (which is not AYCE), but for the price it is a good value.

The Good:
- Food is fresh
- Decent selection of items
- Restaurant was designed for hot pot with built-in burners and proper ventilation

The Bad:
- Extra cost for soup base
- It's in Crystal Mall, site of the worst designed parking lot on earth

Top Gun Hot Pot
#2228 - 4500 Kingsway
Burnaby, B.C.
604-419-0788
www.topgungroup.com

Business Hours:
9:00am - 3:00pm, 5:30pm - 10:00pm (7 days a week)

Wings Tap & Grill

So what do you think a restaurant named "Wings" specializes in? Uh... Chicken Yakitori? No. Believe it or not, it's famous for its wide variey of chicken wings. Yes, it's as simple as that. There are not many restaurants that have wings on the very first page of their menu. In fact, it's a whole page with 15 different flavours of wings. There are 4 locations in the GVRD: Abbotsford, White Rock, Surrey and Vancouver. I made it out to the Surrey location today since I was going to Costco, which is nearby.

I guess it's no surprise that I ordered 4 pounds of wings for my meal. Actually I shared 4 pounds of wings with Waffle Guy, I'm not capable of eating 4 pounds by myself anymore. That was possible 10 years ago! Actually, Vivian had 4 pounds by herself once and you gotta love a woman who can do that! Anyways, we decided to order 4 different flavours: Not-as-hot Buffalo, Jammin' Jamaican, Outback Cajun BBQ, and Hot n' Sour Shanghai. All the flavours were distinct and very yummy. The buffalo wings were mild, with just a hint of heat. The Jamaican ones were slightly spicy and a hint of sweet. The BBQ was pretty standard BBQ sauce, it was mostly sweet with some smokiness. The Shanghai sauce was tangy with a bit of spice. The wings themselves were cooked perfectly, they were large and very juicy. I guess if your restaurant is named Wings, they'd better be good. I can honestly say that these are some of the best wings in town; finer dining establishments withstanding.

We didn't have a chance to try the other food at Wings; but from what I've heard, we didn't miss much. One flavour of wings we did not try were the Wings of Fire, and for good reason. Apparently, everyone at the table must sign a waiver if you are going to order them. That's right, they are THAT hot. According to many online reviews, the service is supposed to be terrible at Wings. However, I would like to differ, it was attentive and friendly. We always had our drinks refilled without asking and extra napkins arrived as we needed them. I'm not sure if I'll ever have a chance to try the other food here since the wings are so good.

The Good:
- Big, juicy wings
- Good choice of flavours
- Attentive service (at least that's what I experienced)

The Bad:
- Heard that the other food is average (but I've yet to try it, so not sure if that's true)

Pine House Bakery

If you live in the GVRD, there is a good chance you've have eaten pastries from Chinese bakeries. Yes, there are the usual suspects: BBQ Pork Buns, Cocktail Buns, Pineapple Buns, Egg Tarts, Curry Puff Pastries and Chicken Pie. There are a multitude of places that bake up these tasty treats such as Maxim's, St. Germain, Anna's, New Town, Pine House and many other independent bakeries.Today, we were driving home from Dim Sum and I noticed we were passing by Pine House Bakery on Hastings near Nanaimo. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, I brake hard and zip into the first available parking space I saw. Yes, I am perpetuating the stereotype that Chinese people can't drive. I'm not sure what made me stop, was it that Pine House is the best Chinese bakery in the GVRD? Absolutely not. Then why did I go get 16 assorted buns and pastries from somewhere I don't consider to be the best? Well, Pine House isn't the best, but certainly is not the worst. I was no where near a Maxim and I was pretty far from Richmond. I really had no choice.

I had the attack of the "I want Chinese buns and pastries" cravings. Yes, it's an odd craving, but trust me, it does happen to people. You suddenly want to taste the sweet, buttery coconut filling of a Gai Mei Bao (Cocktail Bun), enjoy the crumbly mess that is the Bor Lor Bao (Pineapple Bun) or bite into the sweet, fatty pork that is in the Char Sui Bao (BBQ Pork Bun). So I head into Pine House and I get the nice lady to stuff the box full of 16 buns and pastries. It could barely hold it all. No matter, I was planning on eating one anyways. That would've relieved the pressure of the really full box. So what is the difference between all the bakeries anyways? Well, naturally there is a difference in taste, appearance and fillings (no, not teeth fillings).

For example, T & T Supermarkets is a perfect example of the buns looking the part, but not necessarily tasting the part. For some reason, the flavour in T & T buns are a bit off (and greasy too). Maxim is a good example of a good balance between appearance, taste and value. It also is probably not the best bakery out there, but it a solid choice. Anna's is a no-risk place to get pastries as well. St. Germain is possibly one of the most expensive chain bakeries. However, somehow I find that their buns and pastries to be average. They look nice and all, but there isn't an abundance of filling and they don't taste much better than Maxim in my opinion. New Town is a bit more old school, but their apple tarts and egg tarts rock. I think New Town could be the best of the bunch. So where does that leave Pine House? I think Pine House looks the part. Well, except for the egg tart, it has a heavy crust and slightly sunken egg centre. I think the buns taste alright; but I do wish that they would put more filling in some of their pastries/buns (ie. more bbq pork, chicken or beef). With that being said, Pine House is still a decent choice if you have the Chinese pastry craving.

The Good:
- Many locations in the GVRD
- Cakes are good
- Good selection

The Bad:
- Some good pastries/buns, some not-so-good
- Lack of filling

Pine House Bakery (Various Locations)
2462 Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-215-3370

Business Hours:
8:30am - 6:30pm (7 days a week)

Dim Sum @ Red Star

We're very lucky to live in Vancouver. There are a lot of really good places to go for Dim Sum in the GVRD. Some of them include: Kirin, Victoria, Spicy Court, Fisherman's Terrace, Fortune House, Sea Harbour, Imperial, Sun Sui Wah and Red Star. I believe all of them are pretty good, you really can't go wrong with any of them. Although I have been to dinner at Red Star, I haven't had a chance to go for dim sum.

Goose wanted to meet up with my family (including kids and grandparents) for Dim Sum and I took the opportunity to suggest Red Star. We decided to make an early reservation (11am) because I've heard that it gets quite busy at around noon. Also, much like Fortune House, a reservation only puts you in a queue for a table with other people who made a reservation. The early reservation worked like a charm, we got a table immediately. However, the tables are crammed together and there is very little room to get by. We decided to order a few dishes first, then put in a second order later.

The first order consisted of: Haw Cheun Fun (Shrimp Rice Roll), Char Sui Bao (BBQ Pork Buns), Ngow Yiuk (Beef Meatballs), Fong Jow (Chicken Feet), Pai Gwut (Black Bean Spareribs) and of course Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings). The shrimp rice roll was probably one of the best I've had, it was soft and packed with a lot of big, crunchy shrimp. The sweet soy sauce was served hot on the side which helped maintain the temperature of the warm rice roll. The pork bun was soft and full of sweet BBQ pork. The beef meatballs weren't over saturated with baking soda and had the right amount of green onion, so that it didn't overwhelm the beef flavour.

The chicken feet were some of the best I've had. You're probably wondering: a) Why are you eating chicken feet, don't chickens run in their own poop? b) What's the difference between "good" chicken feet and "bad" chicken feet? Well, for question A, luckily, the first layer of skin has been removed, it's all clean! For B, bad chicken feet are over steamed to the point where the skin is broken. Moreover, bad chicken feet is over fried, where the tendons underneath the skin are melted away. Lastly, bad chicken feet are merely salty, with no distinguishing taste. I'm happy to report that the chicken feet at Red Star are none of those, it was both fluffy and flavourful in a sweet, salty and garlicky way. I bet for some of you, that was too much analysis of chicken feet!

The spareribs were... as you guessed it, good! They were very meaty, flavourful and had limited amount of fat. Most of the pieces were attached to a rib bone; thus, being very tender. Too many places put in crap pieces that are all fat or cartilage. Dim Sum wouldn't be Dim Sum without Haw Gow, so we ordered 2 steamers. Okay, I might sound like a broken record, but these are the best shrimp dumplings I've had in a while. First, the skin on them were super thin, to the point it was translucent. Second, the filling was completely filled with lots of whole, crunchy, cold-water shrimp.

Okay, after that, we were ready for more food! This is where it gets interesting. We asked the manager for another order sheet; but he tells us to use the old one and just circle what we want. Fine, we did that and handed it over to the server and we wait. We wait some more, and finally after 30 minutes, we figure out that he didn't put in our order! I guess we should have paid more attention since we didn't get a receipt that the order was put through; but they really should have better communication among staff. How can one person tell us one thing and the other not know we had filled in the order sheet? Anyways, to their credit, they put a rush on our order and it came out pretty fast.

So, for the second round, we had: Ja Leun (Rice Roll w/ Fried Donut), Haw Chuen Guen (Shrimp Spring Roll), Ngow Yiuk Cheun Fun (Beef Rice Roll), Hai Yiuk Choy Mui Gow (Crab, Shrimp and Vegetable Dumpling), Fish Maw with Shrimp Puree (the Chinese description did not translate well to English...) and Daan Tat (Egg Tart). Curiously, the fried donut in the Ja Leun was quite soft and dense; yet, it was still very pleasant to eat. The spring roll was crunchy and not oily on the outside; but was a bit greasy on the inside. The beef rice roll was excellent, packed with lots of beef. The crab topped shrimp dumpling was good; but wasn't all that memorable. The fish maw (fried fish air sac) was a bit over steamed and it became mostly melted mush. However, the shrimp puree on top was both plentiful and sweet tasting. Lastly, the egg tart wasn't very good, the tart shell was soggy.

Service at Red Star is quite attentive and efficient; yet, it's impersonal and robotic. Much like what I said at Spicy Court, you can replace all the staff with cyborgs and no one would notice the difference. In general, I think the Dim Sum at Red Star is very good. There are much more highlights than low lights. Moreover, dinner is pretty good too. For the time being, I would say it's one of the best in town (if money was no object). However, I need to revisit Imperial, Sea Harbour and Fisherman's Terrace to compare.

The Good:
- Excellent Dim Sum
- Good portions
- It wasn't too salty

The Bad:
- Expressionless staff
- A bit pricey
- Cramped seating arrangements

Red Star
8298 Granville Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604-261-8389

Business Hours:
10:30am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri)
10:00am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:00pm (Sat & Sun)

Toyotomi

*Restaurant is now closed*

So you think that after eating a big lunch at No. 1 Shanghai with tonnes of carbs would stop me from eating again? Wrong! How about going to eat Japanese and more carbs! That's exactly what Viv and I did tonight as we decided to try Toyotomi. People keep raving about this place and I really wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about. For the longest time, I didn't even know that Toyotomi was located near the corner of Hastings and Gilmore in Burnaby. It's not a really big restaurant and the front is quite unassuming. Inside, the place is downright small. You can barely get into the place since the entrance is narrow and there are people either waiting to pay or for a table. Also, you'd better like the people who sit near you, it's almost like they are sitting with you. However, the whole point of Toyotomi is not the comfort of your seat; rather, the quality of the food.

Looking around, there are 2 things that are apparent, the portions are good and the appearance of the food is inviting. Toyotomi has many of the deluxe rolls that are popular these days. These rolls are usually a fusion of flavours and are visually appealing. Moreover, they are larger with more than the standard 6 pieces. We started with the 2 daily specials: the Salmon Tartar and the Tuna Tempura. The tartar was very pleasant to eat, it was lightly flavoured with mayonnaise, lemon and chives. The salmon itself appeared to be the leftover or reject pieces of sashimi. But, that didn't matter, it was very fresh and tasted great. The only thing I would've added was a slice of lemon or lime for more acidity.

The Tuna Tempura was very delicately flavoured with just a splash of tempura sauce. Although the tuna was moist, it would've been better if it was not cooked completely through. We also ordered the Maple Roll, which consisted of spicy tuna on the inside and salmon, sesame, mayo, tobiko, tempura bits, and maple sauce on the outside. The roll on its own without soy/wasabi was a good combination of sweet and spicy. However, if you dipped it in soy sauce, the saltiness brought out more of the sweet maple flavour. In addition, we had the Combo 601, which consists of a BC Roll (4 pcs) and a Spicy Salmon Roll (6 pcs). This combo was huge, with the biggest BC Roll I've ever seen. It was served with warm and crunchy pieces of salmon skin, it was an excellent contrast in texture with the rice. The salmon roll was full of very spicy salmon; however, there was a bit too much rice for my liking.

Lastly, we had the Seafood (large filet of salmon, 2 prawns and 3 slices of fish cake) Ramen. The broth was very light and the ramen was al dente. Viv thought it was a bit too chewy, but I liked it. The salmon was moist and not overcooked; but, the prawns were overcooked. Service is as efficient as it can be with the limited amount of serves for such a busy restaurant. As busy as they are, the servers are pleasant and friendly. As I mentioned in my review of Akira Sushi, I categorized it as a "plan B" type of restaurant. Well, I can positively say that Toyotomi is a "plan A" restaurant. The prices are reasonable, the portions are large and the food quality is generally really good. I heard the table beside me exclaim that they hated Sushi Town. Now that I've tried Toyotomi, I am less enthusiastic about Sushi Town as well.

The Good:
- Good prices
- Generous portions
- Food tastes good

The Bad:
- Cramped quarters
- Friendly, but hurried service

Toyotomi Japanese
4121 Hastings Street
Burnaby, B.C.
604-676-1506

Business Hours:
11:30am - 10:00pm (Mon - Sun)

No. 1 Shanghai

We met up with Ben and Suanne from Chow Times today at No. 1 Shanghai restaurant in Richmond. It was the first time meeting up with them and I really have to say I enjoyed the company. It's nice to have another blogger with a family that we can meet up with! Despite the fact I have been eating non-stop for the last little while, I was quite hungry. I woke up pretty late today and had not eaten since I slept at 3:00am after Congee Noodle House. With the pleasantries out of the way, we got down to ordering.

I guess we kind of ordered randomly and ended up with a whole lot of food. Well, no problem, just more to take pictures of and more to blog about! Although... I did have camera envy, Ben has a very nice Canon DSLR. I really must go out and get one soon! We ordered so much, I actually had to take notes. I was getting confused as to what we ordered and what some of the items were! So here is the list of what we ordered: Xiao Long Bao (2), Szchewan Beef Noodle, Tan Tan Noodles, Shanghai Thick Noodles in Soup, Fried Pork Chop with Rice Cake (Neen Goh), 8 Treasures Spicy Noodle Soup, Pickled Vegetable and Pork with Rice, and Sticky Rice with Flavours (the flavour was most sweet red bean).

The Xiao Long Bao were quite juicy and had lots of meat flavour. However, the skin was ever-so-slightly thicker than the ones from Shanghai River and Shanghai Wonderful. The Szchewan noodles were okay, but the soup was curiously sweet and a bit thin. The broth was not as rich and full of meat flavour such as the one at #1 Beef Noodle House. However, the beef and the tendon were quite soft and flavourful. The Tan Tan noodles were quite good. It was a good balance of chili oil, peanut sauce, vinegar, sweet and salty. The noodles themselves were not overcooked and had some elasticity to them. The Shanghai noodles in soup were very good. The soup base had depth and the noodles were not mushy. The cabbage was still firm and the meat was not too fatty.

However, the pork chop with neen goh (rice cake) was not so good. It sure looked impressive, with big slices of neen goh buried beneath large pieces of fried pork chop. But, since the neen goh was in such large pieces, it was very chewy and hard to eat. In addition, it was difficult for the flavours to penetrate the large pieces of neen goh. The pork chop itself had way too much batter. There was more batter than pork chop. The 8 treasures noodle soup was a curious one. It arrived with the 8 treasures on a separate plate from the noodles. We spent some time figuring out what that dish was until we noticed that one of the bowl of noodles was quite lonely without any toppings whatsoever. I thought the 8 treasures were very good and supplied plenty of flavour to the plain noodles.

The pickled vegetables and pork with rice didn't do much for me. I guess it was a bit bland for my tastes. It wasn't bad, but it really lacked flavour. The sticky rice was an interesting dish. It arrived with a sweet glaze on top and was filled with sweet red bean, lotus root and gay jee (it's a red seed). The rice was very soft and slightly sweet. It was a pleasant dish to eat, but it was really a bundle of mush, so there was not much in the way of texture.

The meal as a whole was enjoyable. Nothing was really terrible, but nothing was all that memorable either. However, the prices were very reasonable. Moreover, the dining room itself is nicely decorated and modern. Even the washrooms were very clean and modern (think a la Cactus Club). The service was pretty good and efficient (despite what I read from other reviews). No. 1 Shanghai is not my first choice for Shanghainese Dim Sum, but it is a decent place to eat nonetheless.












The Good:
- Decent food at reasonable prices
- Comfortable dining room
- Good service

The Bad:
- Lack of parking
- Some other places have better food

No. 1 Shanghai
#120 - 4200 No. 3 Road
Richmond, B.C.
604-279-1728

Business Hours:
11:00am - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:00pm (7 days a week)