Harmony Donuts

The donut; such a simple food. What is the allure of this fried life saver (oxymoron)? Well, a long time ago, Rich Guy and I went to great lengths to acquire donuts. When we didn't have Krispy Kremes up here in the GVRD, we would drive all the way down to Burlington, WA to get some. In fact, we'd take orders from our friends and bring up over a dozen boxes at a time. The border guards were rather confused when all we declared were some glazed and jelly-filled donuts. I'm surprised we didn't get searched more often. Imagine 2 guys driving up after only gone for around 2 hours with a car full of donuts! Fortunately, we didn't have to travel very far to get some tasty donuts after our meal at Browns. In fact, Harmony Donuts is only up 10 blocks on Lonsdale at 29th. I have to give credit to Vandelay for this one. If he hadn't suggested the place, there is really not much chance I'd notice it. Located right next to the Starbucks, Harmony looks more like an old school card collector's shop than a donut store. Actually, it's a deli as well; but if you call a couple of baked goods and a whole cold turkey a deli, it wasn't much of one.

Once we walked into the place, we were transported back into time. No, I didn't suddenly have my mullet back; rather, it was packed with memorabilia such as old books, hot wheels, figurines and even a nice Pepsi-Cola clock. If you think 40-Year Old Virgin, but a bit less high tech, you will get the idea. In terms of the donuts, they are also quite old school. They are very similar to Top Pot Donuts out of Seattle, being fried until crunchy with many different flavour combinations. However, they are quite a bit smaller than those at Top Pot. One donut will run you $1.00, 1/2 dozen at $4.50 and a dozen for $8.00.

If you prefer the Krispy Kreme type of donuts, then Harmony may not be for you. But despite looking heavy, the donuts here are actually quite light. Despite the generous amount of glaze and toppings, the donuts aren't really overly sweet. This is definitely a little gem in North Van. You wouldn't expect such good donuts from an eclectic place such as Harmony.

The Good:
- Great tasting and relatively light donuts
- Very unique place

The Bad:
- Slightly pricey for smallish donuts
- Not sure of the deli part

Browns Social House

In about a week or so, Rich Guy will be leaving for Asia. He does this often, traveling back and forth. However, the first time he left for Asia for any extended period of time was back in 2001. We decided to throw him a going away party. Turns out he came back, so we threw him another going away party the next time he left. Suffice to say, we caught on pretty quick and decided that there would be no more "going-away" parties for Rich Guy! However, Rich Guy is well-liked, so anytime we have a chance to eat out before he leaves, we take it. Today, we were going to meet up with Vandelay and Donna Chang as well. Since they were already going to be in North Vancouver buying coffee beans, we decided to try Brown's Social House on Lonsdale.

Although Brown's is not known for being kid-friendly, they did their best to make it comfortable for us. While we were waiting for Vandelay and Donna Chang to arrive, Rich Guy was getting quite antsy, he kept hinting that he wanted appetizers. We ended up getting the Crispy Calamari and General Tao's Chicken to start. Resting on a bed of spicy tomato sauce, the calamari was ever-so-lightly breaded and cooked perfectly. I'm not sure why they describe it as crispy though since it was not crispy at all. However, that wasn't really a big problem because the texture of the calamari went well with the fresh tasting sauce. Although I tend to hesitate whenever there is Chinese food at a non-Asian restaurant, the General Tao's Chicken was not bad. The chicken was moist; yet a bit bland. However, the sauce made up for this being quite flavourful. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that I was merely eating fried chicken pieces tossed in prepackaged sauce (correct me if I'm wrong). Moreover, the crispy wonton skins would have been better served either on top or on the bottom unmixed with the sauce.

Viv decided to try the New Mexican-Style Hash which consisted of 2 poached eggs topped with tarragon hollandaise (really Bearnaise) resting on a bed of double-cooked mojo potatoes, pulled pork, cheddar, banana peppers and onions. The dish tasted quite pleasant; but we didn't expect that the potatoes would be French fries. It was a decent, if not unexciting dish. I opted for the Hickory Burger since I had been craving a burger for quite some time. It consisted of Canadian bacon, BBQ sauce, cheddar, lettuce and tomato. Although the burger did not "wow" me; it was more than decent. I particularly liked the use of Canadian back bacon which gave good flavour without being fatty. I really didn't like the fries as they were not crispy at all and a bit hard. Donna Chang had the Hollywood Burger and she echoed the same sentiments. Rich Guy went for the Eggs Benny and although it wasn't bad, the Hollandaise was quite rich. Well, rich sauce for a Rich Guy, what's wrong with that??? Anyways, I took a quick peek at the poached egg and it was almost solid. That is a no-no when it comes to Eggs Benny.

Vandelay, being the good friend that he is, ordered something completely different from the rest of us - Carbonara Linguine. It gave me an opportunity to take more pictures and to get a better feel of the menu. He took one for the team! Well, it turns out he did just that because the dish was not very good. First, the pasta was a bit soft. Second, the sauce was a bit clumpy and not very smooth. This was evident when I tried to sample the dish. The linguine ended up being stuck together due to the sauce. Furthermore, I thought the sauce was quite bland. We ended up ordering the Eggs Over Easy for the kiddies. Surprisingly, they separated the breakfast on to 2 plates for each child. By doing so, it seemed like a whole lot more food. Now something as simple as a breakfast which consists of eggs, sausage, "potatoes" and sourdough toast should be hard to mess up right? Well, yes and no. The positive was that the sausages were large and flavourful (Vandelay couldn't stop laughing when I made that statement). The bad was that the potatoes were fries again and the scrambled eggs resembled spatzle. When you can't make scrambled eggs properly, you have a big problem.

Trying to make a judgement on Brown's was really tough for me. On one hand, the service was really good and it's a nice restaurant. On the other, the food was a bit hit and miss. Vandelay said that I was probably not their target demographic since most people would go for the socializing and the food would be secondary. I partially agree with that statement; but compared to other similar restaurants such as Cactus Club and Joey's, I feel the food at Brown's lags a bit behind for roughly the same price. Ultimately, it still comes down to personal preference. This is especially true when a restaurant is not actually bad, nor is it actually great. Personally, if you are going to spend that kind of money, head over to The District Social House instead.

The Good:
- Great service
- Varied menu
- Nice dining space and atmosphere

The Bad:
- If you can't do scrambled nor poached eggs, you have a problem
- Food in general is hit and miss

Market

Originally, my friend Polka King had tipped me off about Market by Jean-Georges in the new Shangri-La Hotel. He had the inside track because his company was involved with the construction and operation of the new hotel. He even got to eat at Market at the pre-launch. He raved about the food and encouraged me to try it out when it opened. Well, it has taken me this long to actually dine there. Maybe it's because I ignore Polka King since he does go on an on about things. Whatever the case, I made a reservation for dinner for 5:30pm. Whoa, why eat so early? Well, if you want good pictures, you need good lighting; thus, earlier meant better pictures. One downfall for arriving so early is that there are very few options for parking other than the parkades in downtown. I used to work in downtown and unless you got the early bird rate or the evening rate, you'd be looking approximately $2.50 per 1/2 hour. Well, leave it to Viv for figuring out a way to save some money. The evening rate started at 6:00pm and only cost $5.00. So she bought 1/2 hour to cover 5:30-6:00 and then got me to go back out to buy the evening rate ticket for $5.00 right at 6:00pm. This saved us one-half of the cost; but it concerned our server when I abruptly left our meal at 6:00. He probably thought I was skipping the bill!

Before I left to pay for parking, we had already enjoyed one course of the tasting menu. I had my eye on that for quite awhile and figured it would be the best way to get a feel for Market. I believe for $68.00 each, the tasting menu is actually quite reasonable considering the dishes and the venue. You'll have to excuse the shadows and light from the pictures because I got more than I wished for when I requested a window seat in my reservation. There was a bit too much light! Anyways, we started off with the Rice Cracker Crusted Tuna with a Citrus-Sriracha Emulsion. Cooked perfectly, the soft tuna was contrasted by the crunchy cracker coating which was well-seasoned. Bringing balance to the dish was the tangy and spicy emulsion which did not overpower the delicate tuna. It was a light and delicious start to the meal. Good thing because the next dish was pure decadence. The Foie Gras Brulee with Balsamic Marinated Strawberries was a pure joy to eat. Another excellent study of texture contrasts was exhibited by the crisp crouton underneath the generous portion of foie gras, topped off with a crunchy brulee. The tart and slightly sour strawberries perfectly brought balance to the richness of the foie gras.

Arriving at consistent intervals, the third dish was the Crispy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Avocado and Passion Mustard. The impressively large shrimp were beautifully executed exhibiting the perfect "crunch". Bringing plenty of salt to the dish was the crispy bacon. The saltiness was offset by the tart and sweetness of the passionfruit mustard. Other than being a texture contrast, we felt the avocado didn't really add too much to the dish. After finishing the shrimp, the wait for the Roasted Red Snapper with Sesame Vinaigrette, Radishes and Ginger, took quite a long time. We could only surmise that maybe the restaurant got busy? Good food takes time? Anyways, the snapper was moist and flaky. It was topped off with sea asparagus, fresh ginger slivers, sliced radish, lavender and tulip bulbs (?). Combined with the sesame vinaigrette, there were a multitude of flavours at work in the dish. However, none of the flavours happen to overwhelm one another.

After another extremely long wait, we were presented with our meat dishes. Since Viv isn't a big fan of lamb, we asked if her dish could be substituted with something else. The kitchen obliged and changed her lamb chop to the Soy Glazed Short Ribs with Julienned Green Apple and Rosemary Crumbs. Despite being fork tender, the short ribs were extremely salty. Even the tart green apple wasn't strong enough to cut the saltiness of the meat. Unless we were mistakened, the side of crumbs tasted more like sage than rosemary. Being that I absolutely love lamb, I stuck with the Barbecue Lamb Chop with Potato Puree, Spring Peas and Mint. The Frenched lamb chop was cooked perfectly medium rare as I requested. However, I personally didn't enjoy the barbecue sauce that accompanied the lamb. It was a bit tart and had the "Kraft" barbecue sauce aftertaste. If the sauce was a bit more rich or smoky, it would have added more depth. With that being said, the side of potato puree and spring peas were enjoyable.

Finishing off the meal was the Butter Cookie with Raspberry Coulis, Coconut Cream and Fresh Raspberries. An extremely simple dessert; yet very pleasant. Despite the heavy butter cookie, the dessert was light due in part to the coulis and fresh raspberries. It was a nice touch to put the cookie on top, so it did not moisten from the wet ingredients. Overall, a very enjoyable meal which seemed well-planned and executed. The service was top notch (attentive, friendly and professional), contrary to other reviews I've read. Only complaint would be the slow expedition of dishes at the end of the meal. Otherwise, I have no reservations in dining at Market again.

The Good:
- Attentive, knowledgeable and professional wait staff
- Majority of dishes had great balance
- Comfortable dining space

The Bad:
- Expedition of food was a bit slow at times
- A bit nit-picking, but the rolls were a bit hard

Hawker's Delight

Having finished our lunch at Nikkyu in the sweltering heat, we decided that cooking at home would be a bit warm. So we decided to pick up some take out from Hawker's Delight. For those not familiar with this place, it is the epitome of a dive. As Ben (Chowtimes) described the place, it is one of the ugliest restaurants in town. Add into the fact it was boiling in there on a hot day, you'd wonder why anyone would eat there. Now, as Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food!) pointed out, most of the food there is pretty good for the price, it starts to look less and less ugly. For roughly $20.00, I got Hainanese Chicken with Rice, Laksa, Mee Goreng and Curry Chicken! Too bad I didn't get to eat it until I got home because some of the food would've been better fresh. However, eating at Hawker's Delight is more of an order, pay, eat, leave affair.

While I was waiting for my order, the place was always bustling with activity. People coming in for takeout or to grab a quick bite. And this was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. I ended up getting my order quite quickly and I headed home. Not wanting to take pictures of the food in the takeout containers, I actually staged the food on my own plates. Unfortunately, the Hainanese Chicken became a bit overcooked while in the container with the hot rice. Also, the cilantro on top essentially melted and made a big green blotch on the chicken. Gasp! Certainly, I can't take a picture of that! Imagine that, when I first started blogging, I was content with using my Blackberry to take pictures.

The Mee Goreng had a good kick of spice. The fried noodles were fried up perfectly without being oily. The Laksa was bursting with noodles, chicken, fish cake, egg, shrimp and tofu puffs in a fragrant coconut broth. What a fantastic value at $5.25! The Curry Chicken consisted of a whole thigh and drumstick with potatoes. By looking at it, you wouldn't know it was a yellow curry because a massive red oil slick covered it completely. It's scary looking, but really, that's where some of the best flavour resides. Be careful of this dish, the curry was quite spicy. Lastly, the Hainanese Chicken was accompanied by more than enough chicken oil rice to fill even the hungriest of people. The chicken was pretty average; but the ginger chili sauce was an excellent condiment. I much prefer the Hainanese Chicken from Prata Man; yet everything else at Hawker's Delight is better. Moreover, the place is family-run, so you get honest, friendly service. If you factor in the great prices to go with the good food, you some pretty incredible deals at Hawker's Delight.

The Good:
- Food is both plentiful and tasty
- Incredible value

The Bad:
- With cheap prices, there are compromises

Nikkyu

Why does it always seem like such a chore to decide on a restaurant when meeting up with people? I guess it's due to people having differing tastes and expectations. We were trying to figure out a place to meet a friend who was visiting from Taiwan. We also had to take into consideration the 4 kids that would be eating with us as well. Since our friend was staying around the Main Street area, we looked at options around there. We went through quite a few options until finally settling on Nikkyu Japanese. Honestly, I wouldn't have even known about Nikkyu if I hadn't bumped into a family friend in front of the place last month. There are so many Japanese restaurants in the GVRD, it's not funny.

Upon entering the restaurant, I noticed that their air conditioning was not on. This was not particularly a good sign since it was a really hot day. This was the same problem we had at Pho 101, and it was made worse because we were eating hot soup! Luckily for us, Japanese food isn't as sweat-inducing. A quick look at the lunch menu and most of the combos were priced under $10.00. I decided to order the Grilled Black Cod, Scallops with 3pcs Tuna Sashimi. The dish arrived with a mound of rice, a small piece of cod and 2 scallops drowned in teriyaki sauce. The tuna sashimi was served on a separate plate. Although the cod and scallops were cooked perfectly, the teriyaki sauce overwhelmed any natural flavours that existed. This would've been a whole lot better with a different sauce, maybe a light Ponzu.

Viv went for the AAA Beef Steak with Salmon Sashimi. Her meal was essentially the same as mine, with beef substituting for the seafood. Again, the food was drenched in teriyaki sauce. It was too bad since the beef was actually grilled perfectly rare. It really didn't seem like a lot of food, but if you take into consideration that it was only $10.00 and the raw materials were high quality, it was alright.

We got the Chicken Udon with 3pcs Nigiri for the kiddies. The udon was pretty good being full of chicken and properly cooked noodles. The broth was quite light as well. There was no way my son would eat the nigiri, so we ended up eating it. Good thing too, because we weren't full. That was partially the reason we added a Yam and Prawn Tempura. Well, the real reason was that my son wanted it. Yes, he is spoiled. Surprisingly, the tempura was actually quite good. First, the batter was light and fried up perfectly. Second, the prawns were de-veined and had good elasticity. Our friend's son had a Bento box and it looked like a good value.

The food at Nikkyu was decent and the prices were reasonable. However, there is an inherent problem which Nikkyu faces due to its proximity to Toshi and Zipang sushi. In order to compete, Nikkyu has to either offer something different or be better than Toshi and Zipang. It achieves neither. If you put Nikkyu at a different location, it would probably rate much higher; but seeing where it is, there is no immediate threat to the competition.

The Good:
- Reasonable prices
- Friendly service
- Delivery available

The Bad:
- Food is average compared to the immediate competition
- Turn on the A/C!

Pearl Castle

It was the last day for my cousin here in Vancouver, he and his wife were headed back to San Fran. While dining with them at Hapa Izakaya on Sunday, they lamented on the fact they would not get a chance to try anything in Richmond before they left. If you are thinking that I would be taking them to Richmond before their flight, you guessed right. Yes, I did the ultimate sacrifice and drove them around Richmond in the middle of the day and during rush hour. I might as well give up and just assimilate. Where do I lineup for the full-face visor?

The plan today was to pick them up from the Sutton and head over to Shanghai River for some lunch. The whole idea of eating Shanghainese food can be attributed to a discussion regarding Joe's Shanghai in NYC. While they were in NYC, they had tried it on a friend's recommendation that they had the best Xiao Long Bao. Well... Viv and I have eaten at Joe's Shanghai and were not overly impressed. We wanted to show my cousin where the real deal could be found. Suffice to say, they were impressed with Shanghai River and its Xiao Long Bao. After that, we headed over to Pearl Castle for some refreshment. I have been meaning to visit Pearl Castle for some time; but it's one of those places that I never made an effort to go to.

Being in the middle of the afternoon, Pearl Castle was not its usual crazy busy. Good for us, we got to sit at a table of our choice and we took our time. I decided to go for the Strawberry Bubble Tea. Normally, fresh fruit would be my first choice; but I wanted to kick it ol' school. The drink was quite smooth and milky; but I couldn't get over the fact it tasted like Strawberry Pocky. My cousin got the Fresh Watermelon Slush. I didn't get a chance to ask him how it was; but he seemed happy with it. His wife had to settle on a Lychee Slush when her first choice wasn't available. Not a bad second choice, because Lychee is one of her favourites. The drink appeared to be blended well and she remarked that it was very good.

We never got a chance to try the food because we were pretty stuffed from lunch. However, according to friends, it's pretty good. Service was alright; but the servers seemed more interested in talking with each other than checking on tables.

The Good:
- Excellent selection of beverages
- Well-blended and not overly sweet drinks
- Spacious and comfortable dining space

The Bad:
- Service wasn't bad, but it wasn't that attentive either

Italian Kitchen

I had to take my car in for servicing again; but this time it was only for warranty purposes. Rich Guy was nice enough to pick me up again which meant we get to go for lunch! Knowing this well in advance, I had made reservations at the Italian Kitchen in downtown. Joining us for lunch were Vandelay, Snake, Costanza and TS (eating_club Vancouver). While we were waiting for our table, low and behold, Emad Yacoub, the owner of Italian Kitchen and the rest of the Glowbal Group appears right in front of us. He was apparently taking a dish from the Italian Kitchen over to Coast (which is across the street) because a customer demanded it. Talking about service and from the head cheese too!

We were seated expeditiously on the second floor; however, too bad for me, far away from the window (lighting wasn't the best for pictures). Since Costanza had an afternoon meeting to get to, he had to eat and run. So we decided to order first and share the Pasta Platter. Thus, it arrived quickly before all the other dishes. It's so unnerving to eat while everyone is looking at you even though they really might not be. We offered food to everyone else as a courtesy; but no one took any. So uncomfortable! The platter itself included Spaghetti & Spicy Kobe Meatballs, Agnolotti Stuffed with Squash and Mascarpone
Pappardelle with Lamb Sausage, Cabbage and Potatoes and Penne Pommodoro. The Pappardelle was a bit too much on the al dente side. It was also quite rich from the lamb sausage and potatoes. Probably the highlight of the platter was the Spaghetti & Kobe Meatballs. The meatballs were very luxurious and flavourful. They were on the softer side of the meatball continuum; yet that was probably the result of the tender meat. The Agnolotti was a bit heavy with a massive amount of pesto on top. It was a bit of a mushy mess. All of these rich pastas overshadowed the lighter Penne which was almost an afterthought on the plate.

TS talked me into sharing a Beef Carpaccio Pizza with her. Mind you, there wasn't that much arm-twisting required. It definitely looked impressive, with plenty of beef, arugula and shaved asiago on top. However, as Vandelay remarked as well, there was something missing. We discussed this with TS and thought maybe it just needed more salt. There was plenty of pesto underneath the beef, so we got hits of basil, but not much else. Furthermore, we really didn't like the crust all that much either. It was dry and a bit overcooked. For reasons unknown, TS ordered the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad for her meal. Exhibiting regret, she lamented on how a pasta would have probably been more appropriate at the Italian Kitchen. Whatever the reason that led to her brain cramp, the salad did look good and the tuna looked fantastic.

At this point Costanza and Snake had to leave for their respective meetings. The rest of us were left to consider whether to have dessert or not. It didn't take long to decide that all of us were going to order a dessert each! The server was a bit surprised. I guess not many people have dessert at lunch? TS opted for the Strawberry White Chocolate Panna Cotta. Being probably the prettiest and most colourful of all the desserts we ordered, the panna cotta was decent. TS and I both agreed that it would've been better if there was less Zinfandel jelly and more panna cotta. For myself, I chose a classic - Tiramisu. This version was both plentiful and very light. The ladyfingers were soaked in espresso which gave the dessert a nice aroma. Although enjoyable, nothing really special about it. Rich Guy went for the Lavender Creme Brulee which was not bad. It was smooth and creamy; although there was nothing that set it apart. Vandelay ordered the Zeppole di Cioccolato, which are donuts filled with chocolate ganache. They were served piping hot (watch the filling). Again, quite pleasant to eat; but the dough could've have been a bit softer. The ones from Fuel were better.

Overall, it was a pleasant, if not uninteresting meal. Unlike other internet reviews, I do think that the pricing and portion size are not completely out of line when you take into consideration the cost of the operation and its location. For instance, I believe the flavours at Marcello are better; but the portion size and pricing are relatively similar. Furthermore, if you look at a place such as Anducci's where their prices are dangerously close to $20.00 as well, then you can see that Italian Kitchen is not necessarily overpriced. In fact, if you take into account the ambiance (a matter of personal taste), location and service; it's really not all that bad. With that being said, the food had its highs and lows; but it's not as terrible as some people put it.

The Good:
- Attentive service
- Central location in downtown
- It's got style

The Bad:
- Food is hit and miss