The Keg (Yaletown)

So how was I able to score an invite to the pre-launch of the new Yaletown Keg? Well, it's a bit of a long story. You can read about it in my post about the Burnaby Keg. To recap, we were in downtown a couple of months ago for our Nexus pass interviews. The interview was quite a bit shorter than we had anticipated and when we returned to our car, there was a good 3+ hours left on the ticket. Thus, we decided to give it away to the next person who happen to park in that particular lot. Turns out the person we gave the ticket to was the BC Operations Director for the Keg. He graciously presented us with a $50 gift card to the Keg as a token of his appreciation. Viv and I enjoyed a nice dinner at the Burnaby Keg and naturally I blogged about it. The parking ticket that resulted in a $50 Keg gift card became the gift that kept on giving because I was invited to the pre-launch of The Keg Yaletown. Talk about karma! So to set things straight, as part of this pre-launch, we would be donating $5.oo each to Junior Achievement BC. In addition, we were on the hook for gratuities, taxes and any beverages we consumed, albeit at 50% off the regular price. Otherwise, there was no actual "payment" for the meal.

The Yaletown Keg looks pretty unassuming from the outside with its darkened windows and brick facade. However, once inside it is a totally different story. Walls adorned with textured materials are illuminated by modern light fixtures and a raging wall of fireplaces over 2 stories high. They sacrificed quite a bit of dining space to create a high ceiling which stretches from the main floor all the way up to the top of the 3rd floor. There is a basement level reserved for some wine and a private room with a large LCD TV. There is an open rooftop dining area directly above the 3nd floor complete with its own bar. I really liked how they were able to isolate certain dining spaces in all parts of the restaurant. Therefore, it felt much more intimate than the size of the restaurant would suggest. One part of the restaurant that I felt was a bit bare was the floor to ceiling wall right behind the ground floor bar. I'm not an interior decorator, but it looked almost incomplete. The washrooms were nice; but not as impressive as the rest of the restaurant. This could be partially attributed to the limits of space afforded for the washrooms.

As part of the trial run of the restaurant, we did not have a choice of what we ate. There were pre-assigned random meals for everyone. The menu that we received included Tempura Snap Peas and Asparagus for an appetizer, Sirloin Oscar and Mushroom Balsamic Chicken as our mains and a Billy Miner Pie as our dessert. I added a Peach Mojito as a beverage and Viv had the Key Lime Martini. We had actually ordered our drinks at the bar area as we were waiting for our table. The hostess who took us to our table actually had to carry both drinks and our menus up a long flight of stairs. To make things worse, she was wearing some pretty high heels, a tight dress and once up the stairs, she had to further navigate through a narrow walkway across the whole restaurant to our table. We were amazed she didn't dropped everything because she was teetering on collapse several times. Why didn't we take the elevator? Since this was a trial run to work out all the kinks, errors were to be expected. Our entrees arrived before our appetizer and my Sirloin Oscar was missing the Bearnaise sauce. All can be forgiven because this was the FIRST time they opened up this location to customers, albeit test subjects. Everyone was trying their best to make things work and were really trying to make a good impression. Hopefully they'll iron out all the wrinkles by the grand opening date of August 10th.

So I'll talk about my Sirloin Oscar first. As you can see in the picture, there was an abundance of large scallops and shrimp adorning the top of the perfectly medium-rare sirloin. The Bearnaise was served on the side. The scallops and shrimp were cooked perfectly, thus exhibiting the desired texture. The steak was prepared as per my request of medium-rare and was quite tender. When I first laid eyes on my baked potato, I was quite taken aback. There was so much butter and cheese, I didn't want to eat it. But once I dug into the soft and fluffy potato, I was hooked. Butter can really make everything better! Viv's Mushroom Balsamic Chicken was outstanding. Smothered in a rich mushroom, garlic and balsamic sauce was a large tender chicken breast on mound of smooth mashed potatoes. This was a really rich concoction and Viv couldn't finish it. The presentation of this dish left a lot to be desired; but there was lots of food and it filled the entire plate. A good value at $16.99 considering the venue and the location.

We were a bit less enthused with the appetizer (Tempura Snap Peas & Asparagus). The positive was that there were lots of it - another good value at $6.99. However, we didn't finish it because it was too much fried goodness and the dip was extremely salty. The whole dish would have a been a bit lighter and easier to eat if they had used an authentic Japanese tempura batter. The appetizer was probably the only blip in the food because the Billy Miner Pie was delicious. It was essentially mocha ice cream on an oreo crust. It was light, flavourful and not too sweet. The roasted almond slivers added the necessary texture contrast for the dessert.

Well, what can I say? I've always liked the Keg and the Yaletown location has made me like it even more. I think they did a commendable job with the decor in creating a trendy and upscale environment. Considering the location and the venue, I believe the prices are more than reasonable if you take into account that you will have enough to eat. Like any other restaurant, the Keg isn't perfect. Some items on the menu may need to be re-evaluated, especially the appetizers. However, if you want a good steak at a reasonable price, I have no problem dining at the Keg.

The Good:
- Really nice venue
- You won't starve here, good portions
- Reasonable prices
- Great steaks for the price

The Bad:
- Some of the appetizers need some work (ie. Tempura Snap Peas, Spinach Dip)
- Due to the limitations of the existing building, some areas are tight
- Finding parking is not fun in Yaletown unless you want to pay for valet

Chen's Shanghai

Last Monday was an extremely sad day for me. No, the Canucks didn't lose, the season hasn't even started yet. No, Miss Y didn't get out of that cal-de-sac. And no, I'm not moving to Richmond. The sadness emanated from the conclusion of the regular softball season. That meant... GASP! No more Monday night food adventures with the team! The agony, the horror, the pain! But with some quick thinking, I "organized" a practice for the team in anticipation of the softball tournament this month. Yes, I used the "practice" as a cover for more eating out!!! Suffice to say, I was not that into the "practice". Rather, I had dumplings dancing in my mind.

Still thinking about dumplings, when Bear mentioned that we should head to Chen's Shanghai in Richmond, he had me at "Xiao Long Bao". Not really knowing the exact location of the place, we all sort of wandered in different directions on the Richmond roads, driving aimlessly and a bit confused. Excellent, we blended right in! Finally heading down Cooney and just barely spotting Park, I took a hasty right turn which mad Boss Woman yelp. Hey, once again, when in Rome, do what the Romans do. I explained that being in Richmond, I had carte blanche to drive terribly. When we arrived at the parking lot, it was almost completely full; but I was able to snag a space right in front of Chen's. To my horror, the restaurant was completely packed and it was already nearing 9:00! There were suggestions about leaving and heading to a different restaurant; yet we decided to wait for the only table that could fit all eleven of us.

The people already occupying the large table were not really rushing to leave; but we really had a chuckle when the lady manager yelled out real loud, "Just sit at this smaller table for now, and you can take the large table when they leave!" Bear whispered to us that she was merely telling the other diners to leave indirectly. Hey, good for us because we got the table shortly afterwards. By then we were very hungry and that would probably explain our haste in ordering a bit too much food. The lady manager was nice enough to point out that we would never finish the food and told us to remove some items.

The first item to arrive was the Chicken in Wine Sauce. Exhibiting distinct wine flavour, the chicken had excellent texture and a good bit of yummy gelatin underneath the skin. I just wish they had put more wine sauce on the plate, I can practically drink that stuff. We got 4 orders of the Xiao Long Bao because they let Barry and I order. It turns out we were a bit too greedy and ordered too much. I'm going to let someone order next time because I suffer from the "eyes too big, pants too tight" syndrome. The Xiao Long Bao were filled to the max with tasty juice. Despite being quite soft, I found the outer wrapper a bit too thick. I still prefer the ones from Shanghai River the best.

When the Beef Roll arrived, we couldn't even recognize what it was! The pancake was so soaked in grease, it was either pan-fried with too much oil or heaven-forbid deep-fried! We were all scared to try it; but fortunately it tasted a lot better than it looked. There were nice slices of beef layered between scallions and hoisin sauce.
The next dish was a quite the topic of discussion. Okay, on the surface, there shouldn't be much to talk about Spicy Wontons; yet they were a bit too spicy for Boss Woman and Judes. I personally like spicy, so I really enjoyed them since there was a hit of saltiness, sweetness, tartness and then a real wallop at the end of spice. However, I can understand their point of view because my tongue was still stinging throughout much of the meal.

Continuing on spicy, the Dan Dan Noodles had its own level of zing as well. Bear, Milhouse and I found it to be a perfect balance of spiciness, savory and smooth peanut flavour. But Dan Dan noodles vary with each restaurant and in this case, it was a bit spicy. The first real flop of the meal was the Stir-Fried Shanghai-Style Rice Cake. The sauce was a bit wet and was not really flavourful. Furthermore, the sliced rice cakes were not chewy; rather they were soft and mushy. Again, Shanghai River makes a better version of this dish. One dish I was really looking forward to was the Ja Jeun Mein or Noodles with Bean Paste Meat Sauce. In fact, I was eyeing a table eating these noodles while we were waiting. Not sure if the people at that table saw me salivating. They probably thought I was psychotic. Anyways, the sauce itself was excellent. It was rich and flavourful without being salty. The freshly julienned cucumbers added a nice refreshing crunch to the dish. Only thing is that I would've preferred thinner noodles such as the ones in the Dan Dan Noodles. It's just a personal preference since I know most places use this type of noodle for this dish.

We originally had ordered the "small" dish of Fried Pork Chops; but the lady manager pointed out that the regular order was only $8.99 and it was much larger. It was indeed quite large with big juicy pork chops perfectly fried. They were wok-tossed in a very tasty salt, garlic and chili mixture. This dish was quite popular with my teammates. One dish that was curiously not that popular was the Szechwan Beef Noodle. It looked good, with big chunks of beef on top of a good portion of noodles. Once I tried it, I figured out why - it was spicy. Again, I like spicy; but not everyone else is in that boat. One problem I had with the noodles was that it was more spicy than flavourful. I much prefer a more rich tasting broth. Once again on the spicy theme, the Spicy Green Beans were really good. They were perfectly fried being cooked all the way through; yet still maintaining a fresh crunch. I thought that there was a good balance of sweetness, salty and spiciness.

Okay, if you were thinking that there was too much food for 11 people (2 were kids!), you are right! However, there was much more food to come. We had mistakenly ordered Potstickers instead of Pan-Fried Shanghai Buns. It was our fault though because we couldn't read the Chinese (where's Viv when I need her???) and there was something lost in translation with the English menu. No matter, the Potstickers were fried up nice and crispy. Another nice and crispy dish was the Fried Tofu tossed in salt, pepper, scallions and garlic. The tofu was fried a bit too much resulting in a very dry interior. Yet, it was still very tasty and would've went well with a beer.

While we were ordering, Siena suggested we order the Deep Fried Buns with Condensed Milk. Turns out that they didn't have the ones we had in mind. Rather, they had fried mini-buns. Didn't matter to anyone at the table because they were demanding it like a pack of hungry wolves. Being fried a nice golden brown, the mini-buns were pretty good, especially with the condensed milk. However, we still prefer the large fried loaf, the soft inside of the larger loaf gives a better texture contrast. Alright, we didn't finish all the food; but we almost did it. Yes, we were that hungry! Overall, the food was pretty good at Chen's. Compared to a place like Shanghai River, Chen's is definitely less refined. Consider it a home cooking version of Shanghainese food. With that being said, Chen's is also considerably less expensive than Shanghai River as well. With all this food (we had duplicates of 6 of the dishes!), it only cost each person $16. Thus, it is like comparing apples to oranges. Each has their niche and that's a good thing, because I like both in their own way.

The Good:
- Inexpensive, a good value
- Generally good food
- Honest service (if not absent-minded, took 4 tries to get water)

The Bad:
- Small restaurant, gets full quickly
- Food lacks a bit of refinement (more home-style cooking)

Dutch Wooden Shoe

We woke up today with the munchies and without food in the fridge. Originally, we were going to take Whipping Girl's advice and try Fantastic Restaurant. Apparently they have all-you-can-eat Dim Sum. If this makes some of you cringe, I hear ya because we have been to Fantastic before. It was a long time ago and we were not overly impressed. Maybe it's better now? I'm not even sure if AYCE Dim Sum is a good concept since there are quite a few inexpensive Dim Sum places. Well, it was a moot point because we ended up going to the Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe instead. When I had asked Donna Chang where she wanted to eat, the Dutch Wooden Shoe was near the top of her list. Apparently, Whipping Girl had wanted to try this place as well; but she had already turned down the offer for some morning eats. She was choked that we went without her. She learned her lesson - never turn down a dining opportunity!

The Dutch Wooden Shoe Cafe resides at an old De Dutch Pannekoek House location. The menu and concept of the restaurant remains quite similar to De Dutch; but with a few different twists. In addition to some fusion Pannekoeks influenced by Mexican and Italian cuisine, there is a certain Indonesian flair as well. I can only surmise that the Dutch colonization of the East Indies has some influence. Consequently, you see things like Nasi Goreng and Bahnmi Goreng on the menu. I went along with this and ordered the Nasi Goreng which was a Pannekoek filled with Indonesian fried rice and ham topped with a fried egg. Spicy Peanut Sauce, Hot Sauce and salad were served on the side. First off, let me say I've had Nasi Goreng and this was no Nasi Goreng. With that being said, if I just accepted it for what it was, the Pannekoek with the side sauces was pretty darn good. Definitely something a bit different. On a side note, they actually messed up my order and made a Vegetarian Pannekoek instead. The HORROR! Well, not only did they quickly fix my order, they gave me the vegetarian one for free. I poked at it and gave some to my daughter; but I really didn't eat it. Viv had the Boeren or Farmer's Pannekoek. Piled on top of the Pannekoek were 2 Eggs, Ham, Bacon, Smoked Sausage, Hash browns and a side of Hollandaise. Almost exactly the same as De Dutch, this particular breakfast is a good amount of food. However, it is $3 cheaper here and practically the same.

Vandelay opted for the Windmill Waffle which was topped with Smoked Sausage, Spinach, Tomato, Fried Egg, Hollandaise and Edam Cheese. He generously gave me a sample so I could try it. The waffle was a perfect balance of crispiness and softness. Combined with all the ingredients on the plate, this was one delicious breakfast. Donna Chang went for "THE" French Toast with Apples. Presented beautifully on the plate, with a side of baked apples, the french toast was delicate. The nicely baked apples were slightly sweet and a bit tart, an excellent compliment to the buttery egg toast. I normally do not make a big fuss about my son's food because it is either quite standard or he doesn't really even eat it. He's a really picky eater. Today, he chose the Dutch Wooden Shoe Shaped Pannekoek with Chocolate Sprinkles. Nothing really exciting you say? Well, he finished the whole darn thing! This is significant because he NEVER finishes his food. Suffice to say, it was a major event, at least for us. Well, if even the pickiest of eaters ate all of his food, albeit not a lot, it bodes well for the restaurant. The adults of the table concurred because the food was indeed good. With slightly lower prices than De Dutch and serving essentially the same things with a few twists, how could you not be happy? We sure were!

The Good:
- Something different from the usual breakfast fare
- Reasonable prices compared to the De Dutch
- Good Portions

The Bad:
- Seating arrangements are a bit cramped

Dinner @ Kirin (City Square)

For Viv and I, we honestly thought that the wedding blitz for us was well over. We watched as most of our friends got married year after year. For the last few years, it has been rather sparse. So it was much to our surprise we'd being going to 4 within a month and half. In fact, this was the 2nd wedding in 2 days for us! Tonight, it was my brother-in-law's wedding at Kirin (City Square). I used to frequent this location of Kirin quite often when I still lived in downtown. Now the closest location is in Coquitlam, which in my opinion is not as good, especially for Dim Sum. We got to the restaurant quite early because the actual wedding ceremony was being held there. My son and daughter were going to be the ring bearer and flower girl respectively. As you can imagine, Viv and I were quite nervous as to what would happen because the first 2 times my son was not very cooperative. This time, we had to rely on him to guide his younger sister down the aisle without incident. Even the officiant gave us a "good luck with that" during the rehearsal. As if on cue, just before they were supposed to walk down the aisle, both kids had meltdowns. It's amazing how candy lego blocks can suddenly be the magical cure! To our utter amazement, both kids made it down the aisle without incident. It's like going to Richmond without being cut off, it was a miracle!

After a brief ceremony, the officiant announced that they were man and wife. Their kiss was one of the longest I've ever seen! Usually with people watching, newly married couples often do a short ceremonial kiss. This one lasted what seemed like an eternity! Go get a room already! Well, that certainly takes all the fun out of clinking of the glasses during dinner. And talking about dinner, it started quite expeditiously which was another pleasant surprise. First up was the requisite appetizer platter which consisted of Vegetarian Goose, Smoked Salmon, Braised Beef Shank, Marinated Jellyfish and Roasted Suckling Pig. Not much to complain about this dish, the jellyfish was well-seasoned and had good elasticity. Tender and not too salty, the roasted pig was delicious. I particularly liked the vegetarian goose since it was filled with plenty of tender mushroom pieces.

The appetizer platter was followed up by the Sauteed Scallop, Geoduck, Chicken and Organic Mushrooms. This dish was a curious one. The snap peas were cooked perfectly exhibiting a sweet crunch; however, some of the scallops were a bit overdone. Viv had a nice juicy one; yet some other people had some chewy ones. Despite this, the dish was seasoned conservatively, which allowed us to taste each individual flavour. To be brutally honest (I hope my brother-in-law doesn't read this!), the Fried Crab Claws were horrible. Either they fried them too long or they were refried because the outer coating was as tough as a leather jacket. Everyone had great difficulty chewing through. The one positive is that the shrimp inside was not too bad. Thankfully, the Shark's Fin Soup with Crabmeat and Fish Maw was pretty good. Every bowl had plenty of large pieces of crabmeat and shark's fin. It was quite thick; yet was delicately seasoned. Since my son didn't want his, I had a second bowl. Too bad for him!

Of course, after the soup comes the star of any Chinese wedding banquet - the Lobster in Consomme Sauce. Overall, the lobster was cooked well and the sauce was a nice compliment. Much like the other dishes so far, the sauce was not over-seasoned which allowed us to taste the lobster itself. Up next was the Sliced Fresh Abalone Braised with Shiitake Mushrooms. For some people at our table, the dish was a bit too bland. Personally, I didn't mind it so much because I really am not a big fan of salty Chinese food. Also, depending on which piece of mushroom, some where quite soft and some were not. However, the texture of the abalone was good, being slightly chewy and soft at the same time.

If you've ever have been to a Chinese wedding banquet before, I'm sure you can guess what the next dish is - Crispy Skin Chicken (sometimes substituted with Squab). Don't you love the picture I took? I emphasized the head. Enough to give vegetarians (and even carnivores) the heeby jeevies. The chicken was pretty good. The skin was crispy and the meat wasn't too overcooked. A pretty standard dish really. The Steamed Whole Live Rock Cod was also a tad overcooked; but it was still pretty good. The flesh still had a bit of elasticity around the fins and the fillet meat was a bit soft.

The next 2 dishes are what we call the fillers - Special Fried Rice (Fook Jow) and E-Fu Noodles (Yee Mein). When we get to this part of the wedding banquet, not many people have the appetite or the will to eat both a bowl of rice and noodles. More often than not, these dishes are packed up as leftovers. Well, I was pretty full at this point; but decided to give the rice a try just because it looked pretty tasty. Well, it turned to be surprisingly good. The delicate sauce on top was accompanied with shrimp, BBQ pork, veggies, shiitake mushrooms and squid. For the purposes of this blog, I took a quick taste of the Fried E-Fu Noodles in Abalone Sauce. No, I didn't have a whole bowl, I passed the bowl of noodles when Viv wasn't looking. Besides, it probably would've caused me to puke. Honestly, regurgitated noodles do not look very good. On that wonderful note, the noodles were also quite good. They retained some chewiness and once again the flavours were delicate.

Suffice to say, I had no room for dessert. I never got to try any of it; but it looked good. The 3 desserts consisted of Mini-Almond Cookies, Taro Coconut Jelly and Sweetened Red Bean Soup. Although I'm pretty sure they were almond cookies, there was a piece of walnut on top. So, without trying it myself, I could be totally wrong. Overall, the meal was decent and pretty standard. No real surprises other than the crab claws. There were some issues here and there; but that happens with most meals, especially one that involves serving a whole restaurant full of people. With that being said, currently I enjoy Red Star's execution of this menu. Mind you, I will get to relive the Red Star menu in a couple of weeks because that is the restaurant of choice for the next wedding. After that, I get to do the Kirin wedding meal again at the Richmond location next month. That's a whole lot of shark's fin, lobster and abalone! But I'm not complaining!

The Good:
- Superb service (even for a wedding)
- Nicely decorated and kept
- Plenty of validated underground parking

The Bad:
- Restaurant is extremely cramped
- Execution of food could've been a bit better (usually this location is quite good)

Iki Japanese

What a beautiful day for a wedding! Yes, the endless days of sunshine for the GVRD have been a blessing for all those who are getting hitched. Fortunately for us, today's wedding was indoors at the Vancouver Museum. However, much like all weddings, we had to wait around for photos, while my stomach was growling. When it was over and done, we headed back to the car and I did my best "Superman" routine and changed into casual wear. Not fun being in a black suit on a warm summer day! Since we were in Kits, we headed out to Iki Japanese Bistro for some lunch. I've tried to visit Iki for a while now; but nobody on my softball team seemed too interested. Every time I mentioned about going to Iki, I get the usual, "It sounds like icky!".

When we arrived, it actually took a little while to find a parking spot. There were actually quite a few spaces available; but most of them were under trees. You might be wondering why that is significant. Well, I have this thing about parking my car under trees where it subsequently gets "sapped". So, I would rather circle around for treeless parking spot than park closer. I was lucky to spot one nearby and all was well. It's good that I didn't take too long, because not long after we got seated, the restaurant began to really fill up. Since Iki is a relatively small restaurant, it doesn't take a lot of customers to fill the place. On that note, I think there ought to be more staff because the servers seemed overworked. Despite this, they provided friendly service and attended to everyone the best that they could. What sets Iki apart is their brown rice sushi. Yes, there are other places that serve brown rice sushi; but Iki supposedly was one of the first and one of the best.

One dish that they are known for are their Yam Fries. I noticed almost everyone in the place ordering the fries. It's much like Phnom Penh where everyone orders the fried chicken wings, you can't go there without eating it. Well, there is a reason why everyone orders the yam fries because they are in one word - awesome. For $4.oo, you get a mound of these delicately battered fries that are kissed with a balsamic reduction. I really liked how crispy they were; yet the yam was still a bit firm. Served on the side was a Hollandaise sauce, which really tasted more like honey mustard. We much preferred the spicy mayo on the bottom of the dish as a dipping sauce. One item that caught my eye and I really wanted to try was the Lobster Miso Bisque. When it arrived, it wasn't really what I was expecting; but it did have a nice fragrance to it. Essentially, it was miso soup infused with lobster (possibly using the shells). At first, I was a bit disappointed since it just tasted like miso soup. Viv was having the regular miso soup and told me to compare. After I did that, I began to appreciate the taste of my lobster miso a bit more. However, I still enjoy a traditional lobster bisque much more.

Still on the lobster theme, we decided to try the Lobster Roll. For $9.00, it was a pretty good value. Wrapped in a crispy tempura coating, the roll consisted of lobster meat, asparagus and avocado with lobster miso sauce on the side. The roll itself was a bit bland and even the lobster miso couldn't bring it to life. However, with a touch of soy, the roll tasted much better. Seeing how an 8-piece sashimi order would cost $10.00 already, we went for the Bento Box F ($11.50) which included 6 pieces of Tuna and Salmon Sashimi, Chicken Teriyaki with Brown Rice, Edamame, Tempura, California Roll and Salad. This seemed like a much better deal and offered a good selection of items to sample. The brown rice California Roll was really large with a plethora of imitation crab nestled inside. The texture of brown rice isn't for everyone; but we didn't mind it. With perfectly cooked white meat and only modestly dressed with sauce, the teriyaki was solid. Much like the yam fries, the tempura was crispy without being oily. Although being only modest in size, the slices of sashimi were fresh and sweet. As you can ascertain, the meal at Iki was solid all around. The prices seemed reasonable for the quality and quantity of food. I most certainly do a return visit. Now only if I could convince my softball team to try it...

The Good:
- Food made with care
- Available choice of brown rice
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- They need more staff
- Not really good for big groups