Ningtu

*Restaurant is closed*

It always seems like every Chinese restaurant that serves Dim Sum are completely full on weekends (some on weekdays too!). We honestly tried to think of a place that we didn't have to lineup. Well, there are places where you don't have to line up; but they are either not very good or very expensive. Seeing that we did not want to wake up super early to go for Dim Sum at 9:00am, we finally gave up on the idea. Alternatively, we decided on Ningtu for some Shanghainese Dim Sum instead. Unlike Richmond, where Shanghainese restaurants are a dim a dozen, surprisingly there are not many to choose from in Vancouver.

We met up with my brother-in-law, his fiance and my father-in-law at Ningtu right when it opened at 10:30am. Thus I was able to snag the only window seat in the house. We were meeting partly because my kids are going to be the flower girl and ring bearer. However, the first 2 times my son was supposed to be the ring bearer, it has been an epic fail. First time, he was so frightened, I ended up being the ring bearer! Second time, Viv had to keep giving him M & M's while walking down the aisle. Let's hope this time is better. Mind you, in practice sessions, he's been dragging his sister around like a rag doll. Okay, I'll stop digressing.

I've been to Ningtu a few times and their Shanghainese Dim Sum is way better than their dinner items. However, this is all relative because I believe that places like Shanghai River and Top Shanghai are better than Ningtu. Since I hadn't been to Ningtu for quite some time, we ordered an array of items to determine how it stacks up to the competition. We started with the Chicken in Wine Sauce. The chicken was cooked perfectly so that it was fully cooked; yet still tender. Flavour-wise, it was more salty than wine flavour. With that being said, it was still a good dish. Shanghainese Dim Sum would not be complete without Xiao Long Bao. When it arrived, my father-in-law made a comment that the Xiao Long Bao didn't appear to be hand-made. He used to run a large Chinese restaurant in town, so he's usually pretty knowledgeable with these things. He stated that the buns seemed way too uniform and perfect; thus leading to the speculation that they were not made in-house. However, we were not completely sure. As for the Xiao Long Bao themselves, they were actually really juicy and tasty. The only negative was that the outer skin was a quite chewy.

Once again, we ordered the Hot & Sour Soup. This is another great "indicator" dish to see if the restaurant knows what they are doing. It appears that they do because the soup was pretty good. It had nice depth of flavour in the soup base and there was a good mix of sour, salty, sweet and spicy. We also got a couple of noodle dishes, the Szcheuan Beef Noodle and Chicken Noodle. Underneath the generous amount of beef and tendon was a really large amount of noodles. The broth itself wasn't as flavourful as I would have liked; but overall, it was decent. The chicken noodles were for the kiddies, so we really didn't eat it. Another popular dish at Shanghainese restaurants is the Beef Roll. Some places wrap five-spiced beef with onion pancake with cucumber and hoisin; however, much like Shanghai River, the roll at Ningtu was more like a baked pastry. One major difference was the inclusion of kimchi-like cabbage along with the beef. You know what? That really changed the complexion of the dish. It added both spice and a crunch to the otherwise soft pastry.

The one item that we didn't particularly like was the Fried Salty Donut. The colour was unappetisingly dark brown and it was not crunchy at all. The whole thing was mostly chewy. Yet, most of the dishes were solid; if not a bit unspectacular. It may not be as good as Shanghai River and Top Shanghai; but it holds its own where it is located.

The Good:
- Decent Shanghainese Dim Sum
- Fairly decent service
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Dinner is not as good

Red Onion

*Restaurant is closed*

Honestly, I have to admit it. I really didn't feel like playing softball tonight since it was burning hot. Alas, the lure of eats afterwards keeps me going. Picked up Milhouse along the way and we ended up going to the wrong field. It wasn't bad, we were only at the adjacent field, so we didn't have to reroute too far. We're not as directionally challenged as Miss Y! The field we did end up playing on was terrible. The grass was so dry, even routine grounders became home runs. I'll officially use that excuse as to why we lost. After a brief discussion as to where to eat, we ended up going to an ol' standby - the Red Onion in Kerrisdale. In addition to the usual crew heading over to the Red Onion was Dr. 911 and Siena. She was not really all that thrilled with the nickname of Mrs. 911 for some reason or another, so we gave her Siena instead. Dr. 911 seemed quite happy with Mrs. 911; but he had no say in the matter

We ended up moving some tables together in order to accommodate our table of 9. I was a bit concerned with the lack of light where we were sitting. However, I was scoping out a neighbouring table which was right next to the window. Like a hawk, once the table opened up, I snapped it up and forced everyone to shift their tables over. They are such understanding teammates! I ended up getting a Cheeseburger and a large order of fries which I shared with Milhouse. There is an option of adding $2.25 for a side of fries with your burger; however, if you can find someone to share the large ($3.75), you get substantially more fries. And those very fries are pretty darn good. They are freshly cut and quite crispy. Much like some other good burger joints such as Moderne Burger, Vera's and Splitz, the burgers at the Red Onion are fresh. They're not the biggest nor juiciest burger; but are good because they are made with care and choice ingredients. Of course, Miss Y had to order something completely random at a burger joint - Quiche. It's just like the time she had a REGULAR hot dog at Japadog. Predictably, the quiche was passable, if not forgettable.

Judes and Hot Chocolate had the Chicken Burger. Rather than a chicken breast, the bun revealed pieces of chicken. No matter, the chicken was moist and flavourful. Almost everyone else had a burger (are you listening Miss Y?); thus, I didn't bother taking pictures of their food. I'm sure they were thrilled because that meant they could eat right away without waiting for me to snap a photo first. Boss Woman especially gets annoyed at that, it's probably why she stole the egg from the Bibimbap last time at Jang Mo Jib. Everyone seemed quite satisfied with their meal at the Red Onion. However, my personal favourite burger joint is still Moderne Burger. After that filling meal, we headed over to Vivo! Gelato for dessert. We walked there in hopes of burning off a few calories.

The Good:
- Freshly made burgers and fries
- Reasonably priced

The Bad:
- Only a small selection of toppings
- Other food does not stack up to the burgers

O Raw Bar & Grill

*This restaurant is now closed*

When I met up with Rich Guy last time at Pasta Polo, I noticed that the old Anducci's had become a Japanese restaurant. Honestly, I couldn't make out the name because there was a large hand-drawn circle on the signage. Well, it turns out that the big circle is the name of the place. It's actually O Raw Bar & Grill. Once again, Rich Guy met me for lunch (doesn't he need to work or something? Oh wait, he's a Rich Guy). Remnants of the old Anducci's decor mixed with a substantial amount of renovations create an odd, but trendy atmosphere. Rich Guy and I particularly like the turbo hand drier in the washroom. In fact, Rich Guy washed his hands twice, just to use the dryer. Both of us actually had a hard time finding the soap dispenser because it's the same colour as the wall and is well hidden. I actually mistakened the complimentary mouth wash as soap. Well, at least my hands smell nice.

When we first took a look at the menu, we were a bit worried since the prices seemed a bit high for an Izakaya-type Japanese restaurant. There was really nothing under $10.00 other than the individual rolls and Nigiri. Thus, with Izakaya portions in mind, we ordered 4 items for the two of us. The server notified us that they had really fresh oysters. Well, we both like oysters, so we went for a half dozen of the Premium Oysters on the half shell. Honestly, the oysters were a bit small; but the freshness and sweetness made up for the lack of size. We were also served a complimentary appetizer dish which consisted of Roasted Garlic, Marinated Wakame and Shoestring Yam Fries. It wasn't a lot; but it was still a nice little treat. Presented on a long platter, there were 8 Crispy Prawns coated in corn flakes. For $10.00, the dish was an excellent value. The prawns were indeed very good with a nice crunchy coating. However, we would've preferred a spicy mayo instead of the common and boring sweet chili sauce.

When we first took a look at the lunch menu, the Sashimi Set Meal caught our eye; but at $15.00, it seemed a bit pricey. Our concerns turned into awe when it arrived at our table. Presented on a large square platter, there was a huge amount of sashimi accompanied by a Smoked Salmon Roll, Tempura and Salad. The sashimi consisted of 3 pcs wild salmon, 3 pcs spring salmon, 2 pcs mackerel, 2 pcs red snapper, 2 pcs tako, 2 pcs tuna, 2 pcs Hokkigai and 2 pcs tamago (not really sashimi but it looked good). Normally, the sashimi alone in this meal would be enough to warrant the $15.00 price tag. The purple (cabbage juice I assume) rice roll was quite good, I didn't even notice it was not regular sushi rice. In addition, the tempura was light and crisp. The only thing I'd change would be the salad. It was mixed with a balsamic vinaigrette that made the lettuce look dirty. They should either put the dressing on the side or stick with the traditional Japanese ginger vinaigrette. The last dish, Hoisin Braised Short Rib, was another surprise. For $13.00, we weren't expecting a whole lot; yet when the dish arrived, it was one of the biggest pieces of short rib I've ever seen. It was a massive amount of tender meat on a bed of veggies and roast potatoes. However, the hoisin sauce was a bit weak and dirty looking. It definitely needed more depth and colour.

Rich Guy and I were barely able to finish all the food, there was just so much of it. If we had known about the portion sizes, we could have sufficed with 2 dishes. The fears we had about the prices here at O Raw were totally quashed with the portion sizes and quality of the food. Furthermore, the staff were very friendly and attentive. Add into that a trendy and comfortable dining space, you have a pretty solid restaurant. There is really no restaurant like O Raw in Coquitlam, so at least they have no immediate competition. I only hope that they succeed because no restaurant has done well at this location.

The Good:
- Big portions
- Food is made with care
- Most of the food is quite good

The Bad:
- Some of the fusion items didn't work (ie. salad dressing, chili sauce for the prawns)
- Can't compete with the Downtown Izakayas, but okay for Coquitlam

Le Petit Saigon

Having gone to Au Petit Cafe earlier this month, I decided to make it complete by going to Le Petit Saigon as well. Once again, it was burning hot and we decided to go for hot Pho. That probably explained why Le Petit wasn't really busy. They had a couple of fans going; but it was a bit warm. One thing that struck me while we strolled in from the back entrance was how clean it was. I mean, the washrooms were so pristine, I would be comfortable eating in there. Of course I didn't really mean that; but it sounded good. The same could be said about the rest of the place, it was practically spotless. This was indeed a pleasant surprise for a Vietnamese restaurant.

While we were waiting for our orders, I decided to run across Hastings to get a shot of the front. I think some people were wondering what the heck I was doing. I tried to look as natural doing as I could; but I'm sure it really didn't help. Settling back into my seat, the first few dishes were arriving. Rich Guy ordered the Lemongrass Chicken and it was presented on a long, modern looking plate. I love it when restaurants go the extra mile and think about food presentation. It may seem like a small detail; but we eat with our eyes and noses too! I sampled some of the chicken. It was both moist and flavourful without being salty. For once, I didn't get to sample Viv's food because we were too busy attending to the kiddies. She had the Skewered Beef with Spring Roll Vermicelli Bowl. It looked to be a decent amount of food. She indicated that everything was pretty much how it should be.

Since I was sweating just sitting there, I opted not to go for the Pho. Instead, I decided to try the Seafood Dry Noodles. There was actually quite a bit of seafood resting on a modest bed of noodles. The shrimp were perfect, crunchy and sweet. I wasn't a big fan of the imitation crab sticks though, they were a bit cold and lifeless. In the end, we did get a bowl of Chicken Pho for the kiddies. I've actually never ordered chicken pho before and it's not bad. The soup base here was not salty at all; in fact, a bit on the sweet side. I ended up finishing the Pho that the kiddies didn't eat.

By now I was quite warm. Maybe they wanted to create the atmosphere of being in Vietnam? Whatever the case, the service was very friendly and efficient. Despite the lack of A/C, the restaurant itself was quite comfortable, unlike the other little hole-in-the-wall Pho joints. Add that with overall cleanliness, pretty good food and free parking at the back, it was a good experience.

The Good:
- Carefully made and presented food
- Friendly staff
- Clean and spacious restaurant

The Bad:
- No A/C, it's a sweatfest while eating hot Pho

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

*Has moved to Lower Lonsdale*

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

*Restaurant is closed*

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