Viet Sub

The Vietnamese sub, AKA Banh Mi, is one of my "go-to" foods. If I ever need a snack, it fills the void. When I need a meal, I just eat more than one of them. It's essentially a French Baguette stuffed with a variety meats mixed with cilantro, sweet butter, sometimes pate, pickled daikon/carrots, black pepper, hot peppers, cucumber and fish sauce. It may sound like an odd collection of ingredients; but once you give it a try, you may never go back to Subway or Quizno's. Considering they range in price from $2.75 to $5.00, it's a friggin' steal. Now, the most popular places to get these tasty sandwiches would be Ba Le, Tung Hing and Au Petit Cafe. Unless you included the Chinatown location of Ba Le, there are few good Banh Mis to be found in Downtown. Well, assuming you've been paying attention, the whole point of this post is to inform everyone that Viet Sub brings the humble, yet tasty Banh Mi into the downtown core. Yes, there are other places you can get these; but the ones here at Viet Sub are actually good.

Today, the whole family decided to take in the Olympic vibe in downtown and while we were on our way to try out Dougiedog, I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted Viet Sub. Suddenly, I was reminded of what Kim blogged about last July. I recalled that he recommended it. And for him to recommend something, it must be good! He hates everything else... LOL... So Viv and I decided to share the Special Sub to try it out. To our delight, it was indeed quite good. Lots of ingredients and a nice smoky BBQ sauce which gave the meats a "char sui" taste. The bread was crispy and warm; yet a a bit too chewy for me personally. I still prefer the airiness of Ba Le's baguettes or the right-out-of-the-oven ones from Tung Hing.

Not being satisfied with splitting one Banh Mi between the both of us, we returned later in the week. In fact, we braved a Friday in Downtown during the Olympics. Predictably, it was wall-to-wall people reminiscent of my visit to New York. I've never seen the sidewalks so full of people. This time, we got 2 more subs: BBQ Sub and the Cold Cut. Once again, both were doused with the same BBQ sauce from last time. It got a little boring because of it. Don't get me wrong, we love the sauce; but maybe only use it in the BBQ and Special sub, not the cold cut. Usually, the cold cut sub in any other Vietnamese restaurant would only have pate as the main flavouring agent. This way, you could taste more of the meat. Whatever the case, we enjoyed the subs and concluded that this is the place to get Banh Mis in Downtown Vancouver.

The Good:
- Inexpensive (especially located on Robson!)
- Good amount of filling in the subs
- The subs are comparable to other places in Vancouver

The Bad:
- The place is really small, not a place to linger
- The bread is a bit chewy (personal preference)
- Should take it easy on the BBQ sauce

Thai Hang

What began as a simple suggestion by Karl (the friday lunch) about meeting up for dinner at Song Huong for their Beef 7-Ways dinner, ended up to be a little more. How much more? Well, first of all, we had a venue change. Instead of Song Huong, we decided to try Thai Hang's version of the same meal. Also, we had a few more bloggers joining us for dinner. Kim had originally planned to join us. But now, we also were graced with the presence of Anita (La Petite Foodie) and Jessica & Mark (Yum-0-Rama). It almost seems like that we travel like a pack of wolves eating our way through the GVRD. Whatever the case, the more the merrier since we can eat more as a group and enjoy differing opinions (which is a great way to experience food).

Honestly, I knew about the Beef 7-Ways; yet I've never had it. It's actually quite difficult for one person to eat it and frankly, it's advertised as a dinner for 2. With 6 of us, it looked to be a good way to try it and it started fast and furious. Despite the large table, it was completely full from just the first course. We began with the Beef Toro, which we had to blanch ourselves in a hotpot on top of a portable burner. We had cooked rice vermicelli, condiments (peppers, nuoc cham, sriracha & anchovy sauce) bean sprouts, cucumbers, pickled daikon/carrots, mint leaves, Thai basil and perilla leaves (?) as suggested by Karl. In addition, the most important item, the rice wrappers were supplied dry. With a hot bowl of water, we soaked the wrappers just prior to using it to create our own beef rolls.

The beauty of this meal is the interactiveness. There is something novel with making your own food despite the fact you are paying for it. Count Chinese hot pot, Japanese sukiyaki and Korean BBQ as other ways to joyfully cook for yourself. Our second course consisted of Beef Satay. It had nice grill marks and was a bit sweet. The meat was relatively tender and provided a much different flavour profile than the blanched toro. We were all furiously constructing our very own masterpieces with the rice wrapper; but honestly, they were the furthest thing from works of art. Working with the extremely sticky wrapper, most of us ended up with rolls resembling intestines spewing out puss (sorry for the analogy). Being very hard to keep together, the only solution for Karl and myself was to stuff the whole thing in our mouths. Made for an interesting chew. At least it stayed in one piece.

Our 3rd, 4th and 5th courses consisted of rolled meat/meatballs. Hey, I'm all for rolled meat or meatballs or anything of that sort. In fact, serve me meat on a stick, in a cone or in a spoon, I'll like it! The Bo La Lop resembled Greek dolmathes (except consisting of meat), however this one was not wrapped in grape leaves, rather an herbal pepper leaf. One bite into the sweet juicy meat revealed onion and lemongrass flavours.

The next roll of meat appeared to wrapped in pork fat or so sort of lining. On the menu it indicates it was supposed to be Cha Dum; but this was obviously grilled as opposed to steamed (like it usually is). Similar to the Bo La Lop with the addition of wood ear mushrooms, I was too busy to carefully analyze the taste. All that I could recall it was also a tad sweet with fish sauce mixed in. At this point, I was being a bit of a brat and decided to tweet something tongue-in-cheek. I madly typed into my Blackberry that "Kim was enjoying sausage on E. Hastings". His reply was that "He enjoyed it". I'm sure some people were thoroughly confused by these tweets...

It's important to note that 2 of the 7 courses were unavailable. We did not get to try the Beef Tendon or the Shaking Beef. We did get one more course in the form of Beef Congee. Loaded with scallions and minced beef, this was similar to Chinese congee except being sweeter and a little thinner. By this time we were stuffed beyond belief. The combination of carbs and meat left us moaning and groaning. And we still had dessert! Once again, an interesting and satisfying meal shared with like-minded people (well, in Kim and my case, twisted...).

The Good:
- Good value (cheaper than Song Huong)
- Beef 7-ways (5-ways in this case) was good
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- In this case, we were missing 2 courses

City Central Palace

*Restaurant is now closed*

Have you ever looked at the outside of a restaurant and had the reaction - "There is no #$)*)# way I'm going to eat there!!!" You know, a place that looks so sketchy, that it'd send you to the first McD's you see? Well, one particular place is the Central City Palace. I've driven by this place a few times and dismissed it in my subconsciousness. By merely looking at it, you'd have a hard time figuring out what the heck it was. Chinese? Indian? Thai? American? Japanese? What if I told you all of them? Alright, if you are still reading this, I guess you're not the type who would run away screaming. Yah, with all of the types of cuisines listed, at first glance, it doesn't look promising. When we walked into the place, it didn't look all that promising either. Resembling a place from the 70's, it really had a retro feel except for the big screen LCD. Apparently, the place has open mic and there are bands who perform here.

As for the food, the menu is an eclectic mix of different Asian cuisines mixed in with burgers and pasta. Juan Valdez (no, not really the coffee guy) played it safe and went for their burger. In all honesty, it was a pretty good burger. The large homemade patty was moist and the bun soft. The homemade fries were not too bad either; although they could've been crispier. In the category of "what the heck was I thinking?", I ordered a Pad Thai. Yup, something that even Thai restaurants may not do right, I picked it out from many other "safer" dishes. And predictably, it was not even close to being Pad Thai. Now, if they just called it fried rice noodles with chicken and shrimp, it would've been more accurate. So it was a lousy Pad Thai since it had very little tamarind flavour and no spice whatsoever. The noodles were a bit soft as well. Now, with that being said, if I looked at it as just fried rice noodles, it was actually not bad. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and there was quite a bit of chicken in it. So by another name, this was alright.

But of course, I really shouldn't be too picky. It is not a place that is advertising its authenticity. It's a diner of some sorts that serves large portions of everything at a very reasonable price. The owner is a very nice lady who seems to care and will take care of you while you're there. So, if you want to get full for cheap, this is your place.

The Good:
- It's cheap
- Big portions
- Friendly owner

The Bad:
- You must have reasonable expectations
- Interesting decor

Tokyo Ken Sushi

I haven't done a random food adventure in a while. Usually, more often than not, the experience will end up being disappointing. I wasn't really trying to do so today; but on my way to Kyoto Sushi on 72nd, I had to turn onto a side street to make a U-turn of sorts. While doing so, in some random strip mall, I noticed another Japanese restaurant called Tokyo Ken. It looked busy and there was plenty of parking, so I figured why not? When I first walked in, I took the table right at the entrance. But it wasn't really a great spot since it was quite cold every time someone opened the door. Furthermore, I was right out in the open for everyone to see my mad picture taking. I ended up moving to the back of the restaurant, hidden from the staff. Somehow, I'm a bit more brazen when dining in a group; but not necessarily alone.

Originally, I was considering ordering a la carte; but noticed that the bento boxes seemed to have everything I wanted to try. Thus, I selected Dinner Box C which consists of 5pc sashimi, dynamite roll, ebi sunomono, miso soup, green salad, chicken teriyaki and tempura for $13.99. As expected, the sunomono and soup came quickly. I was pretty happy with the sunomono, it was very vinegary and sugary while the cellophane noodles had some bite. The miso soup was alright, I just wish there was some wakame. Now, after I quickly scoffed that down, it was relatively long wait for the box. Not a horrible wait; yet a bit too long for someone needing to eat lunch quickly and leave.

Arriving on a separate plate, the sashimi was not very good. Both the tuna and salmon were quite mushy and bland. However, the most disappointing item must've been the teriyaki chicken. I don't think I've seen a piece of chicken that thin before. This resulted in the chicken being very dry and hard. I couldn't even chew parts of it. I wasn't particularly fond of the sushi rice either. The dynamite roll looked good and was actually properly prepared except the rice was mushy and gummy. It wasn't all bad news, the tempura was very good. The batter was light and crispy and the veggies were perfectly cooked. To be fair, I am comparing the food here to some of the best Japanese food I've had. It wasn't really all that good; yet if you are in the area, it's inexpensive and edible. Once again, it's expectations based on location.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Food execution is a bit lacking
- A little cheap on the meat

i-Cafe

The Hong Kong-style cafe - a world of food all in one place. Albeit with some interesting interpretations. Generally, most work out fine while some miss the mark completely. Where else can you find breakfast that feature a hot dog wiener in place of sausages? How about borscht that resembles vegetable soup or spaghetti bolognese that is so far removed from being a ragu, it could be mistaken for Hamburger Helper. But wait. It may all seem a bit scary; yet it is a type of cuisine that many love despite its extremely unauthentic multicultural menu. Count me as one of them. Yes, I know it flies in the face of good eats if compared to the real thing; however, I grew up on this stuff. It has a place in my heart past and present. A more practical reason would be that my son eats this type of food too. That in itself is a reason to like it.

All along, my mom has been bugging me to try i-Cafe. She is a HK-style cafe connoisseur (is there such a thing?) and raves about it. Somehow I never made it out to the old location (now the new London Drugs complex) on Broadway and Cambie. The reasoning for my visit today was due to my aunt and uncle wanting to eat Chinese food. Yes, I know it's not Chinese food as we know (particularly at a HK-style cafe); but it was close enough. You see, they are from San Francisco and since Vancouver has reportedly the best Chinese food in North America, they wanted to take advantage of it. We'd already done a meal at Victoria Chinese Restaurant, Nancy Wonton House and AYCE at Tomokazu. You'd think they might want something non-Asian. Nope, no-can-do. Even his own daughters lament it's all about the Asian food with him. LOL!

Whenever I'm at HK-style cafe, I go straight towards the set meals - the one with lots of meat in particular. I went for the Mixed Grill which consisted of an egg, spaghetti, pork chop, chicken steak and beef steak with a borscht to start. As you can see, the dish is not devoid of meat. The chicken steak (de-boned leg) was fried up crispy while still being tender and juicy. The pork chop was a bit thin and thus dry. As always at a HK-style cafe, the beef steak had been marinaded with some baking soda; thus it did not resemble a "steak" texture. But I'm used to it and it was tender due to the marinading.

My mom loves lamb (that's probably why I like it too) and she ordered the Lamb Shank meal. Surprisingly, it came with 2 large lamb shanks on a bed of spaghetti and veggies. The lamb was decently tender; but not in a gelatinous manner normally found at say, a French restaurant. The sauce was a bit weak giving way to the gamy taste of the lamb. Again, it is what it is and it was decent. Viv went for the Spaghetti Bolognese and it was pretty much horrible. The spaghetti was mush and the sauce was oilier than a used oxy pad. In addition, the sauce was flavourless except for some tartness.

My dad got the Portuguese Chicken, which is essentially a light coconut curry with chicken. The sauce was a tad thin and not really all that strong. Definite hints of curry in the predominantly coconut based sauce. The chicken was quite tender; but didn't show any absorption of flavours. My uncle had the Malaysian Curry. I'm not sure what made it Malaysian to tell you the truth. But it was indeed more spicy than the regular yellow curry you'd normally find at a HK-style cafe. I though the brisket and potatoes were both tender yet still retaining their shape.

My aunt had the Baked Seafood Rice. I never got a chance to try it; but there appeared to be quite a good amount of seafood. In fact, all of the dishes were well portioned; but for me at least, something seemed lacking. I guess the flavours were a bit off, even for a HK-style cafe. Especially for the prices they charge, everything should have been spot-on. Nothing was completely horrible (except for the spaghetti), yet, I would much prefer Alleluia or Angel Cafe, with Alleluia being much cheaper.

The Good:
- Decent portions
- Decent service
- Clean and comfortable environment

The Bad:
- A bit pricey
- Lack of execution with some dishes

Namoo

Port Moody, a relatively sleepy suburb of Vancouver. Often overlooked in favour of Coquitlam, it isn't known for being a food mecca. However, if you look closely enough or if you are fortunate enough to live in the community, you will find hidden gems such as Rehanah's Roti and Rosa's. With the huge representation of Japanese cuisine in the lower mainland, this may be one of the last places you would find good Japanese food. Today, Pomegranate and I put this to the test in our visit to Namoo, which incidentally is run by Koreans. Hey, I have no issue with that since I don't mind going to Sushi Town and Sushi Oyama. It's not really all that important who makes the food, the food does all the talking.

We started with something that is usually one of the purest indicators of freshness - sashimi. As you can see in the picture, there is a nice fresh gloss to the tuna and salmon. And it was fresh in terms of texture and taste. No mushiness here. Pomegranate wanted to try the Ebi Gyoza and when they arrived, they sure looked good. However, it was a complete miss in my books. First of all, there was no indication on the menu that it would be fried. There is a big difference between deep-fried and pan-fried gyozas. Secondly, the dumpling wrapper was way too thick resulting in a crusty and doughy texture. It was akin to pie crust, whereas it should have been crunchy and light. One positive was that the shrimp were big and just cooked.

For me, I always try out the nigiri at Japanese restaurants. Since there is a big piece of rice underneath each piece, it is a great way of assessing if the sushi rice was made properly. We got 1 pc of tuna, 1 pc inari and 2 pieces of unagi. I found the sushi rice to be a bit dry; although I could detect some flavour which is a good thing. Tuna and unagi were decent, so the nigiri was passable. We ended up ordering 2 specialty rolls which consisted of the Dragon and Red Dragon. Essentially the same roll inside (California Roll), the outside was quite a bit different. The dragon roll was pretty much like any other variation at other Japanese restaurants. California roll on the inside with avocado, unagi, tobiko and teriyaki sauce on the outside. With the same dry sushi rice, the roll suffered a bit texturally; but made up with a nice balance of ingredients.

The Red Dragon Roll was a bit strange. At first, we couldn't even see the darn thing since it was covered completely by fried taro. I tried removing the taro in hopes of taking a nicer photo with no success. What I did do was destroy the roll by removing the spicy tuna sitting atop the California Roll. We actually liked this roll. With the combination of a standard California roll, with the spicy tuna on top combined with a sweet dressing and crisp fried taro, there were many different flavours and textures at work. This was a pretty nice way to finish off our meal at Namoo. Overall, it was non-offensive and decent. Sure, there were a few issues, such as the dry rice and the gyozas; but nothing was terrible. In fact, there were a few surprises. Of course, there are better choices for Japanese food such as Fuji Sushi which is nearby. Yet, Namoo is alright considering its location.

The Good:
- Ingredients are fresh
- Service is efficient and friendly

The Bad:
- Sushi rice can be better (a bit dry)
- It's not cheap

Jimoco Cafe

A while back, I had visited Las Tortas and struck up a conversation with a total stranger about food. Gee, that's not really a stretch for me eh? Well, I was obsessed with getting the window seat that I had to squeeze by her and then with my picture-taking, it was natural that someone would be curious. I gave her my card and she eventually emailed me some choice restaurants to try. One of them resides on Austin Ave out in Coquitlam. Jimoco Cafe is quite non-descript and I passed right by it the first time. I swung around the block and parked my car in the one of the spaces in this "strip mall". Literally, it's a small strip of stores with a recessed parking lot on a major street.

So the "draw" here at Jimoco is the "special" (which has been running since it opened last year) where you can get 2-for-1 pastas. It appears that the special does draw in many different types of customers, from young university students to older couples. Viv and I scanned the menu and thought that they must be kidding about the 2-for-1. Why? Well, the prices all hover around $10.00-$14.00. That means both of us can have our own pastas for roughly that price. That's a freakin' steal! Wait... I guess we really should try the food before we pass judgment eh?

Feeling a little bit guilty of the cheap prices, we added a Calamari to start (isn't it this always the case?). For $6.00, we thought it was cheap (just like X-Site Bistro). However, too bad it was so oil-logged, the plate resembled an abstract piece of art with oil replacing the paint. The calamari itself wasn't too bad. It was tender and the batter decently light despite the copious amount of well-used oil. Unfortunately due to the oil, I would say this was a miss.

For my pasta, I chose the Linguine alla Vongole and I give them high marks for using fresh clams. However, there was an absence of clam flavour in the dish. I did like the al dente (quite al dente actually) pasta with plenty of garlic and olive oil. In addition to the absence of clam flavour, there should've been a bit more white wine as well. I think adding a bit of clam juice or a touch of canned clams would've helped. Viv had the Penne al Forno and it was nicely baked with tonnes of oozing cheese. Predictably in this dish, the penne was not as al dente. There was plenty of flavour in the form of bacon and tomato. There was quite a lot of grease due to the large amount of cheese. Overall, this was a pretty average pasta. But whatever the case, for the price we paid, it was decent. Of course if we had to pay the regular prices, I might not be as enthusiastic. Yet, once again, we need to be realistic about our expectations when considering that 2 people could potentially eat for less than $15.00, tax and tip inclusive.

The Good:
- Dirt cheap
- Pretty modern and clean dining space
- Cheery staff

The Bad:
- Portions are small; but 2-for-1, who cares?
- Limited menu other than pastas