Taste of Africa

My random restaurant adventures led me to Dan Sung Sa a few weeks ago and it turned out to be a pretty good find. While exiting the parking lot, I noticed another interesting place named the Taste of Africa. Hmmm... African cuisine eh? Interestingly, I'm not even sure what African food is all about since there are like 53 countries within the continent. I've been to Simba's and it's mainly Eastern African cuisine, where there are Middle Eastern influences. From what I can gather (and correct me if I'm wrong), I believe the Taste of Africa is Western African food.

As per usual, I was the first customer for lunch (I have an early lunch hour). Warmly welcomed by what I figured as the owner of the place. Well, her picture is on the sandwich board outside... She assumed I was there for the lunch special and she was right. At $6.99, it seemed like a good deal to me. I decided on the Jollof Rice, Beef Kehbab and Salad. The kebabs were cooked quite thoroughly. Something that I normally don't prefer; but it is how they prepare it here. The sauce was only slightly spicy with some tang. Despite the rich colour, the rice was on the dry side and only moderately seasoned.

The meat patty that I got to go was extremely flaky, buttery and light. The meat filling was soft and only moderately spicy. I would've preferred a bit more meat; yet at the same time, I can see how that would make it too dense. Compared to a Jamaican patty, this one is bigger while actually being less filling. Definitely not as spicy and a whole lot flakier. In general, none of the items I tried were outstanding. With that being said, it was inexpensive and a departure from the usual. That in itself makes the Taste of Africa unique and a place to try if you're in the area.

The Good:
- Good value
- It's definitely different
- Friendly owner

The Bad:
- Personally, I like my food with a bit more moisture; however, I'm sure that's not how they prepare it here
- Minimalistic dining space (if you care about that)

Dougiedog

*Location is now closed*

The hot dog. Such a simple food. A tubular oasis of ground up "you don't want to know" wedged within baked leavened dough. Hey, I'm not knocking it. In fact, I'm standing up for the humble, often ridiculed wiener in a bun. Think of it. It's easy to make. It can be BBQ'd, grilled, pan-fried, boiled, baked, nuked or even eaten as is. It's portable. Kids love it, adults love it, seniors love it. It transcends socio-economic and cultural boundaries. Ah yes, the simple hot dog has gone global. First it was Japadog, then Tikka Dog, now there's Dougiedog. Dougiedog??? Wait, that doesn't sound very exotic. In fact, it sounds as exotic as a HK-style breakfast (complete with it's own wiener in place of a sausage).

Well, when Mel (Gourmet Fury) alerted us of this new hot dog joint out on Granville (just around the corner from The Dogfather), I had to try it. Well, as per usual, Kim made it out there first and laid the groundwork. He had tried the Seoul Dog and the Tokyo Dog. Hey, I decided to try the exact same ones. Fresh from splitting a Banh Mi from Viet Sub, we were going for meat in a bun overload. It was like the time when I had La Taqueria, Finch's and 2001 Flavours all in one shot. Doug himself prepared the tubular delights for us. The claim to fame here is that their wieners are made with no preservatives and with fresh meat. They are never sitting around in a factory too long. Furthermore, these wieners exhibit the "snap" usually reserved for those you find in Chicago or New York. Unfortunately, we don't get much of that here. The only one that I've tried that is remotely close is Japadog's Kurobuta pork wieners. But I find those more chewy than snappy. Think of the ones here akin to European wieners.

Viv and I both agreed that the Seoul Dog was better than the Tokyo Dog. Nothing against the latter; but when compared to Japadog's Terimayo, this one was missing something. Maybe the grilled onions? With the addition of Bonito flakes combined with the shredded Nori, it's definitely fish tasting (I personally liked it). In the Seoul Dog, you get flavours normally not seen in a hot dog. You have spicy Kimchi, Bulgogi (BBQ Korean beef), pickle and sesame. Nestled in a soft steamed bun, the flavours in this dog really worked. You could really get the Korean flavours even with the weird addition of a dill pickle. For the price they charge ($6.95 for the specialty hot dogs), you get a pretty big hot dog (it's actually 2 small wieners). Their regular dogs are much more moderately priced at $4.50ish. But I must note that the Terimayo at Japadog (what the Tokyo Dog aspires to be) is only $4.50.

The Good:
- I like the steamed bun
- High quality wieners with a snappy casing
- Lots of different choices

The Bad:
- With such a diverse selection, it'll yield some good results combined with mediocre ones
- Some may balk at spending $7.00 for a hot dog

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