Chili Pepper House (Surrey)

*Restaurant is now closed*

When you think of Chinese food in North America, I'm sure the first things that come to mind are Sweet & Sour Pork, Broccoli & Beef, Chicken Chow Mein and BBQ Pork Fried Rice. Hey, there is nothing wrong with that since I eat that occasionally as well. However, these types of dishes originated in the Canton region of China and that is only a small representation of Chinese cuisine. Add the fact that these dishes have become a bit watered down for North American tastes and you got something quite boring and bland. I personally like spicy food. Thus, I have a certain affection towards Indian-Style Chinese cuisine.

There aren't many of these types of restaurants in the GVRD; however, most of them are pretty good. Today, I finally made it out to the Surrey location of Chili Pepper House. There is a location in Vancouver as well on the corner of Rupert and Kingsway. With some may options, it was difficult to choose, especially since I was all by myself. Ultimately, I picked a dish which is one of my favs - Chili Beef. This time I got the "wet" version rather than the dry one at Green Lettuce. The tender slices of beef were coated with a deep coloured sauce which was a bit sweet, salty and slightly spicy. Personally, I can take more heat and I should've asked for it. In addition, I tried one of their lunch specials ($5.99), the Curry Fish which came with a bowl of rice. The fish was perfectly crispy and sat in a yellow-type curry sauce which was a bit sweet, garlicky and only slightly spicy. This sauce went really well with the rice. On a separate visit, I decided to double-up on their fantastically priced lunch specials starting with the Curry Shrimp. the shrimp had a cold-water snap and were coated with a very crispy tempura-like batter. With a yellow curry-type sauce very similar to the curry fish, this would've gone well with a bowl of plain rice. I didn't get a bowl of rice because for my second dish, I had the Masala Chicken & Shrimp Fried Rice. Oh I really loved this rice. It was the perfect texture being chewy with a nice bite. There was plenty of wok heat so that the flavours were able to mingle and caramelize. Strewn throughout the rice was tender pieces of chicken and cold-water shrimp. The curry seasoning gave the rice a very nice punch which made me want to eat more and more of it. I dusted it off very quickly. After both visits, it is clear that the food is well-balanced since it wasn't overly spicy to the point where I couldn't taste any of the other flavours. Personally, I could do with even more spice; but that can be arranged. The decor is nothing to look at and if you don't care, it shouldn't matter. Service was extremely friendly and the food came out really fast. Great value at $5.99 for their lunch specials.

The Good:
- Spicy, yet not to the point of insane
- Good lunch specials
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Not much in the way of ambiance
- Not really a bad, but if you were looking for tame Chinese food, you won't find it here

Fortune Court

*Restaurant is now Golden Lake*

Alright, why do the kids have to wake up so freakin' early on a Sunday? In my half daze while lying in bed; I heard the door open and instantly I knew that it was time to get up. Who needs alarm clocks when you got kids? They don't make snooze buttons on kids. Still trying to recover from an early morning as a result of hockey and eating on Saturday, the last thing I wanted to do was give up my warm cozy bed. Since we were up anyways, I figured it would be a good idea to go for Dim Sum. At 9:00am, there are usually plenty of parking spaces and no lineups. I'm not even sure when was the last time I had Dim Sum that early! Not feeling quite that chipper, we decided to go to a nearby place. Sometimes, these small Chinese restaurants serve some pretty solid Dim Sum on the cheap. Of course, one of the main differences between these places and the big guys is decor, service, ingredient quality and care put into the preparation of the food. If you can overlook some of the compromises, Dim Sum can be an inexpensive meal.

We hadn't been to Fortune Court for about 2 years and I suppose it was about time we checked it out again. Since we were there so early, we snagged a parking spot right in front and got a table right away. Apparently, they don't feel the need to have much staff present this early. At one point, there were only 2 servers for the whole restaurant. Don't you love smaller Asian restaurants? As long as there is at least one person, that can be considered "service". You get what you pay for... Believe it or not, Fortune Court still employs the classic Dim Sum push cart. It's both a treat and frustrating at the same time. On one hand, you can take a look at the food before you order it. On the other, it always seems like by the time the cart gets to you, all the Haw Gow are gone! Oh, on that note, look at the picture! The Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) are massive. The dumpling skin was a bit thick and chewy for my liking; however, the delicately seasoned shrimp had good colour and were crunchy. The same could be said about the Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling; but the scallop was a bit on the fishy side. Obviously they were frozen scallops and the fishiness overwhelmed the rest of the dumpling.

We ended up getting both Shrimp and Beef Rice Noodle Rolls. The kiddies love this stuff and predictably, they ate quite a lot of it. The rice noodle itself was a bit on the thick side; but it was not chewy. There was plenty of shrimp and beef in their respective rolls. The Dim Sum cart lady talked us into trying the Fish Sui Mai and it was a mistake. Rather than the usual seasoned pork and shrimp, the Sui Mai was consisted of pureed dace. Texture-wise, it resembled fish mousse and flavour-wise, it was fishy. Not something I would necessarily order again. We got a "safe" dish to counteract it in the form of Black Bean Spareribs. There was a good amount of tender meat on the bones; but it resided on a big pool of oil. Not the most appetizing visual. I can only imagine how much fat the pieces of pumpkin soaked up underneath the spare ribs.

For curiosity sake, I decided to give the Soup Dumpling a go, even though I fully expected it to suck. Why? Well, usually the smaller Chinese restaurants don't put really good ingredients into the dumpling; thus it ends up to be ground pork in chicken broth. However, to my surprise, the dumpling was mostly comprised of shrimp and dried scallops. Moreover, there were 2 large shrimp and 2 scallops hiding in the broth. The broth itself was quite light and not salty at all. I gotta admit it was pretty decent. Only thing that I didn't like was once again the scallops. They were fishy. The final dish of the meal was the Shrimp Spring Rolls. Yes, usually this should be the first dish; but I guess they didn't fry them up until the restaurant got a little busier. These looked and tasted pretty good. They were crispy, not too oily and full of shrimp. Funny thing, my son only eats the crispy roll wrapper and my daughter prefers the shrimp. I guess it all worked out in the end.

For a smaller Chinese restaurant, I must admit the Dim Sum is pretty decent. They did not skimp on the ingredients or the portion sizes. Except for the fish sui mai, most of the dishes were more than acceptable. Of course, good service is not something one would expect at this type of restaurant; but they were doing their best under the circumstances. They weren't rude or anything. Table arrangements are a bit tight, due to the odd shape of the restaurant. But, for the price, compromises must be made.

The Good:
- Dim Sum is decent
- Inexpensive
- Good portions

The Bad:
- Not enough servers
- Tight seating
- Tight parking lot

One year??? Really?

How about that? This blog has lasted one year! What started off as merely facebook updates here and there about my culinary exploits has turned into something much more substantial. Honestly, I never set out to do a blog, let alone one that is so intensive. However, it has become an obsession. I started off taking pictures of my food with a Blackberry Curve and updating on Facebook. Now, I have gone to a DSLR.

During this year, I've tried many new things and have met some really awesome people. Food bloggers are so dedicated! They have helped me in my pursuit of interesting eats. Moreover, I really must acknowledge the many readers of this blog. Thank you for putting up with my rambling about many different topics. Furthermore, thank you for your feedback, it only helps improve what I do. Most of all, thanks to Viv for her patience with my insatiable appetite.

To celebrate this achievement, I am doing a random draw for all those who reply to this thread. There will be 3 prizes. Everyone will be put into the same draw and I will use Random.org to choose the 3 winners at the end of November. The 3 prizes will be $50 restaurant gift certificates. For local winners, it will be a local restaurant (a secret!). For out-of-town winners, I can arrange for a gift certificate that you can use in your city. These prizes are not sponsored in any way, shape or form. This is a thank you gift to those who are loyal readers. I hope to continue doing this in the foreseeable future; but maybe I should eat the occasional salad, it's healthier.

Estrella's

Whenever I get the chance, I try to look for hidden gems in the burbs of Vancouver. After all, the majority of the population live outside of Vancouver itself. Thus, there must be good eats out there. Being quite last minute, we took the kiddies to the Laity Pumpkin Patch out in Maple Ridge on Halloween. After all that rain, the patch resembled a swamp more than anything else. I really don't like mud. When I used to mountain bike, I would hate wiping out. Not because it hurt; rather, I'd get all muddy. Yes, call me a wuss. Since we were out near 200th already, I thought we should take another jaunt over the Golden Ears Bridge into Langley. Why Langley? Well, there is this little place called Estrella's Montreal Deli. Have you ever noticed that there are very few places that you can get real deli sandwiches? You know, the big honking ones you get in NYC or Montreal? And don't even put Kaplan's in that category. Their sandwiches are so small, you'd think they were vegetarian.

Well, if you crave those sandwiches you'd find back east, Estrella's is the place to be. They smoke their own meats and it shows with the final product. There are full slabs of smoked meat in the display case along with other items on the menu including Paninis; but I came here for the smoked meat sandwich. You can choose from several sizes: Petite, Classic, Large (The Montreal) and Extra large (Oh Canada!). I wasn't in the mood for a $17.99 sandwich, so I went with the Montreal for $12.49. For a little variety, I made Viv's into a Reuben adding $2.98 for sauerkraut and cheese, grilled on a press.

If you look at the picture, you can clearly see that they did not skimp on the smoked meat. Furthermore, it was truly melt-in-your mouth
goodness. You can choose how you like your meat: extra lean, lean, or medium We went for medium naturally! The Smoked Meat Sandwich (non-Reuben) was predictably just as good; but rather than crispy grilled bread, it was soft light rye. Eating this sandwich was like eating butter. It was soft, and literally melted in our mouths. This was indeed a pleasant surprise. I've had deli sandwiches in NYC and the ones here at Estrella's are not that far off. I would definitely drive out to Langley for more of these delicious sandwiches and I think you should too. And yup, I drove out again, with closet meat-lover Mijune. Well, I actually sorta kidnapped her and took her out to almost out of Langley to Hilltop Cafe Diner for their Everest Burger. After that, I gave her more meat... uh... at Estrella's. This time, I had no doubts in my mind and suggested we share the Oh Canada! It's a pound of delicious moist and tender Montreal smoked meat. It has just the right amount of seasoning where it doesn't taste salty at all. We went for half medium and half lean. Take it from me, go for the medium, there is no other way to eat it.

For a bonus, we also got an order of their Smoked Meat Chili and it was friggin' fantastic! They used the same spices from the smoked meat (or it was just the spices from the smoked meat) and it gave the chili a unique flavour from the peppercorns, cloves, all-spice and so on. It had an underlying heat and a nice tang/sweetness. Loved the melted cheese too. Sitting beside us were a couple from Montreal and they confirmed this is the place to go in the GVRD for smoked meat. The owner is from New York and went to Montreal to learn how to make it. It shows and I think everyone should make the trek out to give it a try!

The Good:
- They make their own smoked meat, which is melt-in-your mouth goodness
- With the larger sandwiches, they definitely do not skimp on the meat
- Prices are reasonable for the quality and quantity

The Bad:
- It's quite a small place, you might need to get take out
- Food takes a bit of time to prepare (which can be a good sign)
- Too bad for anyone not near Langley

Bin 941

Bin 941 has been on my "to blog about list" for quite awhile; but somehow it kinda got lost in the shuffle. It wasn't until Ben (Chowtimes) blogged about it that reminded me about it. Tonight, it was the perfect destination because it was our usual Friday night hockey and it was going to end late. Since Bin 941 closes at 2:00am, we had a place to do our late night eats. Wait, isn't there like an endless lineup at this place on a Friday night??? Remember when I said it was the perfect destination for tonight? My thought was that it would be dead because everyone would be preoccupied with their Halloween parties. Bear was a bit skeptical of this plan; but he played along and everyone agreed to take a chance. To my relief, I was right! Otherwise, I'm sure no one would really want to listen to my "plans" anymore.

So what exactly is Bin 941? It's essentially a tapas bar where you can hang, have some drinks and munch on tasty food. Don't confuse this with a traditional Spanish tapas joint though. You won't find Paella or the sort here. Rather, Chef Gord Martin has created a menu which is both sophisticated; yet accessible. Of course, being a tapas bar, everything is meant to be shared amongst the people at your table. However, Dr. 911 decided that he was going to be Dr. No-Share and eat his own dish. Was he afraid of H1N1? Whatever the case, we gave him a hard time about it. The rest of us (Lionel Hutz, Milhouse and Bear) decided to share 6 items with the first being the Pomme Frites. Unlike the usual frites we might associate with, the ones here are of the shoestring variety and drizzled with a balsamic reduction. Definitely different and absolutely delicious. Being that I recently had some fry bread at Beaver Tails, I suggest we try the Navajo bread (which is another variation). Hot, fluffy and lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper, these little pockets gave out a small puff of hot steam when bitten into.

There was actually 2 orders of the Flank Steak; but guess who had one and didn't share? Yup, Dr. No-Share! I'm afraid to think what would happen if we took him to Dim Sum. I can see him munching on 3 orders of Haw Gow to himself (reminds me of an old Sam Hui Cantonese song, "Tsim Sha Tsui Susie"). Topped with the same excellent frites, the slices of perfectly cooked and tender flank steak were sauced with maple syrup chipotle glaze. One bite and it was sweet; but then you got hits of cinnamon and chili from the spice rub. Continuing on the beef theme, the Beef Tenderloin arrived next. Majestically present, these babies were done Wellington style resting on a bed of delicious mash potatoes. The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender; however, the sauce was not as flavourful as it looked. I'm not sure if it was just me; but it was more sweet than savory. Dr. No-Share decided to chime in on this dish and remarked how difficult it was to cut the 2 pieces so we could share. Anything to justify himself!

He continued to make his point when we received our next dish - Lamb Sirloin with a mini spanakopita topped with feta and marinated olive slivers. He was laughing at us as we were attempting to cut everything into 4 equal portions. Honestly, he does have a point. If these were meant to share, they were not exactly share-friendly. Anyways, the lamb was ever-so-tender and the sauce was rich. The last dish was probably the easiest to share. We got the Mussels done in a Chirizo Smoked Tomato Broth. The hotpot which it arrived in was filled to the brim with fat, juicy mussels. We were supplied grilled focaccia to soak up the broth. I personally loved the mussels and the fragrant broth; however, Lionel Hutz commented that the broth did not hold up to the mussels very well. He thought the dish was a bit fishy. After eating it a bit more, I would tend to agree that the classic garlic white wine broth would've been much more successful.

Overall, the food was pretty darn good. Everything was made with care and consisted of top-notch ingredients. If you take into account the venue and the time of day; it's pretty impressive to get food of this quality. Furthermore, unlike Abigail's Party, the staff were plentiful and seemed interested in providing consistent service.

The Good:
- Quality ingredients and well executed
- Great service despite the lack of space
- Funky atmosphere

The Bad:
- Very small place
- Usually quite packed, hard to get a table

Go Fish

There's a certain charm with eating outside at a food stand. For example, people flock to places such as Pajo's and Japadog (however, there is an actual store opening up). Is it because there is a novelty factor involved? Possibly, but the food needs to deliver as well. Today, I wanted something quick and I was bouncing ideas off Vandelay. One of his suggestions was Go Fish out near Granville Island. Technically, it really isn't all that fast despite being a food stand. The reason is that it's so popular, lineups have been know to exceed an hour. As you know, I hate lineups. However, it's not really all that warm now and it's raining Vancouver-style. With that in mind, I suspected that there would not be the usual lineup.

When I arrived, not only did I score a parking space, there were only 3 people in line! Furthermore, there was a break in the rain. This was the perfect situation for many reasons. The most important? Lighting for pictures! You see, overcast weather that isn't too dark is the perfect lighting for pictures! With that in mind, I scoped out a nice table in the corner. I ended up ordering a Grilled Albacore Tuna Sandwich for Viv. She wasn't with me, but for picture purposes, I took a picture of it before I got it packed up. She absolutely loved the sandwich. Fresh and perfectly grilled (still a bit rare), the tuna was dressed in sweet chili ponzu glaze, salsa and wasabi mayo. The result was predominantly sweet flavours with slight undertones of heat from the wasabi.

For myself, I had to try the Halibut and Chips. I gotta say that these were very good. The halibut was fresh and the batter was not too thick and crispy. If you look at the picture, you can see that there is barely any batter surrounding the big piece of fish. I particularly liked the tartar sauce since it had a nice sweetness to it, partly due to the addition of dill. Unlike quite a few run-of-the-mill tartar sauces, this one had a nice zing to it. It was also perfect to dip the really crispy fries (or pomme frites as they say). Usually the coleslaw is almost an afterthought, much like red lights in Richmond. However, this coleslaw was quite different. There was no creamy mayo dressing on this cabbage; rather it was definitely Asian-inspired with the zing of rice wine vinegar and the aromatics of sesame oil. Not traditional in any way; but a welcome change to the regular.

For no reason other than to try more items, I also got the Fish Tacone which is a play of a fish taco that is in the shape of a cone. Ingredients were fresh and it works as a light meal or snack. Interesting... This may be merely a shack across from Granville Island; but the eats scream out quality and creativity. I have to give credit to Gord Martin (Bin 941/942) for his interpretation of the outdoor fish n chip stand. Just don't come when the weather is nice, you'll be waiting awhile.

The Good:
- Not the run-of-the-mill flavours you'd expect
- Fresh ingredients
- Beautifully executed food

The Bad:
- If you like lineups, this is for you
- Not really a lot of places to sit, best to do takeout

Take Sushi

When you live in a particular neighbourhood long enough, you begin to discover local favourites. Most of these places are not well known to other people unless by word of mouth. Finally, I decided to try a local Japanese restaurant called Take Sushi. Technically, it's a Chinese-run Japanese restaurant; but I'll reserve judgment until after I try the food. Whatever the case, after the meal I had at Kawawa, there really can't be anything worse. Formally Jun Sushi, Take has quite a simple; yet attractive awning in front. For some reason, I love the simple white-on-black signage. I can never understand the red-on-yellow signage of some Chinese restaurants. Did they ever look at it and consider that it's just plain ugly? I digress.

Inside, the place is not very big; but they effectively use the space. We were warmly greeted by the staff and immediately seated. One scan of the menu and I noticed that the prices were quite reasonable, especially the combos. However, we decided to order individual items since the combos came with California Rolls (not really our favourite). We started with an order of Salmon Sashimi. The pieces were pretty decent in size and the fish itself was quite fresh. No sliminess, fishy taste or mushiness. In addition to the sashimi, we ordered some Nigiri. I gotta tell you, ordering it was quite comical. It went something like this, "I'd like 2 pcs Inari...". "What? Ina..ri?" "I'd also like 2 pcs Unagi". "Un... what?" "Unagi". "Okay, 2 pcs of Toro". "Uh, can I check the menu?" "Alright, finally I'd like one piece of Uni". "???". "The special, behind you on the menu board"! That was a bit painful. You know you're not dealing with Japanese staff when I know Japanese better than the server.

The Nigiri was pretty good with well-prepared sushi rice and fresh toppings. I liked the Uni; but Viv really didn't care for it. She said the aftertaste resembled garbage. I never knew she ate garbage before... If I had known, our dates would've been a whole lot cheaper! We also got a Chopped Scallop Roll and a Spicy Salmon Roll. Thankfully, this was ordered in English and the server didn't have any trouble with that. The rolls stayed in one piece and there was a minimal amount of rice on the outside. However, the spicy salmon should've been called the sweet salmon since the sauce was quite sweet.

As per usual, we got an udon for the kiddies. We decided on the Nabeyaki Udon. It was a pretty solid bowl of noodles with plenty of ingredients. However, I thought the soup was a bit sweet and lacking depth. But other than that, the meal was quite pleasant and the prices were reasonable. Despite the ordering difficulties, the service was very friendly and attentive. It's not great Japanese food; but it's decent for Burnaby North.

The Good:
- Warm and friendly service
- Decent eats
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Some staff don't know the menu or Japanese food???