Baba Sweets & Shivalik Restaurant

Finally, after a self-imposed ban on Indian food for a little while, I've finally decided to go back to the well. Yes, it is a pretty deep well at that. There are so many choices for Indian food out here along the Scott Road corridor. Don't get me wrong, I love Indian food and I was looking forward to eating it again. Joining me today were L-Pete and Pomegranate, which is a good thing since there would be more variety. Truth be told, I made sure there was variety... I'm so lucky people put up with my antics. Our destination today was Baba Sweets. If I am not mistakened, there is another location on 6th in Burnaby.

When we arrived, there was only a table of high school students. I guess the places doesn't do a lot of lunch business? The reason I mention this is because our food actually took a decent amount of time to prepare. However, that may not necessarily be a bad thing since rushing anything is generally not a good idea. We were originally planning on ordering a la carte off the regular menu; but at the last minute, we noticed their lunch specials. The significance of the specials is that they all include rice and naan. Normally, you'd need to add both naan and rice for an additional cost. Pomegranate decided to add a
couple of Beef Samosas as an appy, apparently not satisfied with his lunch combo. Personally, I thought it would be too much food; but hey, I'm not gonna stop him. He's ordering more food for me to try!

I thought that the samosas were only an average value since there are many more other places around that charge less than $1.00 per item. The samosas themselves were good and bad. The nicely fried exterior was good, the gritty and dry beef filling was bad. I'd like to try the vegetarian one next time. L-Pete went for the ever popular Butter Chicken. If you can see in the picture, the sauce is quite oily. I realize that butter chicken requires quite a bit of ghee, but this was greasy, not smooth. Moreover, the flavour (to me at least) seemed slightly off. Rather than the rich sweetness (and slight tartness from the tomato) that is normally associated with butter chicken, this one was almost like a regular curry.

On the other hand, I did like my Lamb Curry. It had a decent amount of spice and tasted like a rich curry should (as in multi-dimensional flavours). Moreover, the lamb was tender and fairly plentiful. Pomegranate had the Chicken Curry and although it seemed like the same sauce, this one was a bit sweeter and less spicy. Either my taste buds were deceiving me or the different meat made a difference in the flavour. Believe it or not, the best part of the meal was the Naan. It was hot, soft and fluffy. The food here ain't gonna win any awards and to me it was a bit average. But, it was alright and a fairly good value when having the lunch special.

The Good:
- Fluffy Naan
- Friendly service from the only front-of-the-house staff member
- Large dining area

The Bad:
- Food is on the average side of things
- Worn out interior

Tora Sushi

In my quest to try out every single Japanese restaurant in the GVRD, it has brought me to Tora Sushi out at Queensborough Landing. Of course, it'll take me a very long time to eat at all of the Japanese restaurants since there seems to be one every block. Well, #68 of 600 out of the way. LOL... Honestly, I wasn't holding out too much hope for this place since it doesn't seem to cater to the "authentic" crowd. After all, there is a Wok Box within the same complex. Hey, it's okay to have reasonable expectations for all types of food. After all, you can't compare Manchu Wok to real Chinese food, so I'm not going to do this here.

I thought about ordering a la carte; but it didn't seem like the most cost efficient way of doing things. The prices here are actually a tad high. Thus, I went for the lowly bento box consisting of 3 pcs each of California Roll and Dynamite Roll with Teriyaki Chicken, green salad, rice and miso soup. I added one piece each of tuna, salmon, unagi and inari nigiri. I must give it to them, the food came out pretty quick and that suits me fine since I don't have a lot of time for lunch anyways. At first glance, the nigiri looked decent; but #$)#*$#)!!! The sushi rice was awful. It resembled regular rice more than Koko Rose rice. It was hard, cold and devoid of vinegar or sugar. Too bad really because the fish was decent. Tuna was a tad mushy; but it tasted alright.

Of course the bad sushi rice continued on with both rolls. Again, that was too bad since the prawn tempura in the dynamite roll was quite crispy and the California roll filling was decent with fresh avocado. The teriyaki chicken was decent being moist and juicy. Not much to say about the salad and rice; yet, the rice in the box was pretty good. Not sure if that was a compliment or pan in this case compared to the sushi rice.

Now, I gotta be fair here. If you look at the bowl of miso soup, you can clearly see a spoon. Normally, a Japanese restaurant will not supply you with a spoon since they do not use spoons for soup. This alone indicates the intended clientele. Thus, if that is the case, then the food is not bad. If the "authentic police" had a say, well let's just not go there.

The Good:
- Staff are friendly
- Food comes out fast with hot things hot and cold things cold

The Bad:
- Sushi rice is subpar
- Prices are a bit high

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Alright, the last time I paid $12.00 for a bowl of noodles, I felt a bit ripped off. Yes, if you guessed Chef Hung at Aberdeen Centre, you are correct. At the very least, I didn't have to lineup and honestly, the noodles were not bad. But certainly not worth the money I paid. Of course, when you're paying over $10.00 for a bowl of anything, one would expect quality over quantity. Once again, I was faced with paying $12.00 for a bowl of noodles. Creating much fanfare, the newest entry to the ramen scene in Vancouver is Hakkaido Ramen Santouka. Part of a much bigger chain of restaurants originating from Japan, there is much excitement and anticipation amongst ramen lovers in the GVRD. Located in the triangle of ramen down on Robson near Denman (Benkei, Kintaro and Motomachi Shokudo), it's the ultimate noodle showdown in one place. Santouka had been open for a little while already during their "soft launch". I decided to visit it on the grand opening date of March 5, 2010; but there was a substantial lineup. You see, lineups and I go together like Conan O'Brien and NBC. We ended up going to Guu Garden instead.

Undeterred, when I heard that Kim was going to visit it for a 2nd time on the following Monday, I decided to see if he would like a dining partner. As always, he's game for that and we met up slightly before noon. Lucky for us, not too long after we sat down, a relatively long line began to queue up. Kim encouraged me to get the Toroniku Shio Ramen which includes pork cheek and toppings served separately from the noodles. I added an Ajitama Egg for good measure. Kim went for a set lunch which included choice of ramen broth (in this case Shoyu), fully cooked egg and a Cha Shu Gohan. A short wait and our food arrived on 2 plastic platters. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be a lot of food for $12.00. But it is deceiving. There is a decent amount of noodles hidden in the broth. And about that broth... Immediately, before I even took a spoonful, I could tell it was nice. The cloudy colour, the hint of pork fat and the "thickness" of the broth indicated slow and meticulous cooking with rendered fat and bone marrow. One sip and it was obvious that the shio broth was indeed very rich. More sweet than salty, the broth was silky with rich meat/fat/marrow undertones. This is probably the best shio broth I've had so far in Vancouver. Although, I must reiterate that I still like Kintaro despite this. The reason is that they are not exactly alike and are good in their own way. But I must concede that the food here is much more refined than Kintaro. The noodles were on the softer side of al dente, which was fine by me. But I have to say that the deliciousness didn't end there. The pork cheek was absolutely divine. Being that it was pork cheek, the meat had a slight resistance in a gelatinous way. However, once past that initial chewiness (which is a good thing), it was very tender with a nice rich pork flavour. As for the Ajitama Egg, this is a picture of it on the second visit. Yes, I actually visited the place again the very next day! I wanted Viv to try and we paid $12.00 for a bowl of ramen again! Good thing too, in my haste on my first visit, I took a bite before taking a picture of it. The shame... Anyways, it was perfect. If not for high cholesterol, I'd have a dozen of these.

As for Kim's Shoyu Ramen, the broth was predictably lighter and since it has soy in it, a tad saltier. His Cha Shu Gohan was delicious. The slow-cooked pork had a "roasted" quality to it (even though its not roasted) and literally melted in my mouth. The rice had a nice consistency and the whole thing wasn't overseasoned so that the pork could do its thing. Honestly, this was a very satisfying meal. I knew I liked it since I wanted to have more of it and had thoughts of coming back once finished. And as mentioned, I did in fact return - the very next day! I got Viv to try the Shio Ramen and she thought it was very good. Her thoughts were that the pork cheek was a bit over seasoned, bordering on salty. I could see that; but it didn't bother me as much. I was lucky to try a previously unavailable product, which was the Tsuke Men. It's essentially a pile of cold ramen (apparently double the amount than a soup version) accompanied by a shoyu "dipping" broth with fatty pork and a fully cooked egg. The broth itself was quite fatty and salty; but it worked with the cold al dente noodles. The fatty pork hidden within the broth was delicious. Exhibiting the same "roasted" rich taste as the gohan, I only wished there was more than one piece and a couple of chunks. I originally asked for the spicy version; however, I think they messed up and gave me the regular one instead. Whatever the case, it was good; but nothing really all that special in the grand scheme of things. I'd stick with the Shio Ramen as the go-to meal here. You know what? I wanted to dislike this place because $12.00 is a whole lot of money for a bowl of noodles. However, unlike Chef Hung, these noodles were not just good, they were excellent. I have to admit that it was worth the price and I would gladly pay it again (which I did). Hey, even Kim likes it and since he hates everything, that means a lot.

The Good:
- Refined broth and food items
- Friendly service (at least that's what we got)
- A good variety of menu items

The Bad:
- Bottom line is that it's still expensive
- Much like other ramen shops, it's cramped

Guu Garden

Originally, Rich Guy, Vandelay and I were hoping to try out Hokkaido Ramen Santouka on Robson. However, when we did a drive-by (no, not that kind, the only guns we have are plastic ones), there was a lineup. You see, it was the official grand opening today and I suppose people were curious, similar to how there was a lineup at Chef Hung. Hey, I love ramen; but I'm not going to lineup for it! In need of food, we decided to try out the newish Guu Garden. While driving by the original Guu on Thurlow, we were presented with an ominous sign. There was quite a lineup. Was Guu Garden going to present us with a similar situation? I hate lineups and it serves us right for trying to eat in downtown on a Friday night (albeit late). Never having been to the new Guu Garden, we weren't sure where the entrance was located. It's address indicates Nelson; but the actual entrance is a non-descript stairway located on Hornby halfway down the block. We were lucky to get a parking spot right across the street and proceed up to find that... there was no lineup! In fact, there was a nice table waiting for us! Now that is good luck for a change.

Unlike the other locations, Guu Garden is not dark and cramped. Rather, it is relatively spacious and well-lit. While looking through their menu, we noticed that it focused heavily on Oden and seafood. There was an obvious lack of meats. Thus, we ended up ordering a bunch of things we usually do not order while at Guu. We started with something similar to the Jellyfish Salad offered at their Robson location. Rather than just jellyfish, this salad consisted of Jellyfish, Chicken and Cucumbers. Naturally, with addition of chicken and cucumbers, the salad had a meatiness and fresh crunchiness that the other version lacked.

Something we had little knowledge of; yet decided to try was the Wasabi Mountain Potato. If my facts are right, this is not really a potato; rather, it is more like a yam which has the texture of a radish. I wasn't a huge fan of this personally. Other than the wasabi and vinegar marinade, the dish was a bit bland. I'm sure someone likes this; but I didn't. Next up was the Wasabi Marinated Octopus & Uni. The side of nori served as eating vessels. A bit sweet and with a nice contrast of textures, I liked this dish. Too bad it was a real chore to keep everything on the nori before we got it into our mouths. Rich Guy picked something that was more "ordinary" in the form of Fried Chicken with Mayo. Resembling chicken karaage, this was exactly as described. Crispy fried chicken with the skin accompanied by a side of mayo.

Since the specialty of Guu Garden is Oden and the fact it takes up a big portion of the menu, we decided to give a shot. There are 2 types of Oden (Miso-oden and Kanto-daki) with specific items. From that list, we picked out daikon, fried tofu, tamago and pork belly in a rich, slightly sweet Miso-oden. Not exactly that complex per se, everything was soft with the braising liquid completely penetrating each item. I particularly liked the pork belly (naturally!) since there was melt-in-your mouth fat and meat. Another one of Rich Guy's choices was the Tuna Tataki. He really never needs to vocalize his preferences since he always chooses raw meat and fish. Well, as expected, the tataki was well prepared and fresh. Served with onions, garlic chips, lemon and ponzu, the slices of tuna were sweet and had a nice texture (which was not mushy).

Naturally, the last item that Rich Guy ordered was another raw fish dish being the Marinated Seared Black Cod Sashimi. Due to its high fat content, we could really taste the "fish" flavour of the black cod. It could easily be mistakened for bad fish; but the texture was not mushy and still had a bit of "bite". I didn't mind it so much; but Rich Guy wasn't all that impressed. I guess this would be a case of personal preference. As with any Izakaya meal, I go for the Ebi Mayo. In addition to being fried perfectly, the shrimp had a nice crunch to them. I was happy to see streaks of sriracha on the plate with the big blob of mayo. This essentially created a chili mayo which I much prefer over plain mayo.

Last dish to arrive was our "filler", as in the Yakiudon. Normally, Izakaya is not exactly the best way to get really full, unless you're ordering 3+ dishes for each person. After all, in Japan, it's not suppose to be an actual meal. The food is merely an accompaniment to the booze after work. But, we eat it as a meal here and a plate of carbs usually helps fill in the gaps of hunger in between small morsels of food. Therefore, we didn't expect much and I really have not much to say other than that the udon was nice and chewy with a smattering of flavour. Moreover, it wasn't greasy or slimy (unlike the cod roe and mayo udon at Hapa). So once again, another solid meal at a location of Guu. Guu Garden is definitely a bit different in terms of the menu and the layout of the physical dining space. Not really a classic Guu experience; but enjoyable nonetheless.

The Good:
- Predictably solid food
- Great service at this location
- Comfortable seating arrangements (unlike the other locations)

The Bad:
- Heavily focused on Oden and seafood, less meat items available
- If you don't know where it is, the entrance is extremely hidden

Bao Chau

To some people, a spring roll is a spring roll. Merely a fried cylinder of various meats and/or veggies encased within a flour wrapper. However, there are significant differences between a Cantonese and a Vietnamese spring roll. The first and most important difference is the wrapper itself. A Cantonese spring roll uses a wheat-based wrapper while a Vietnamese spring roll employs a rice-based wrapper. Thus, the actual physical appearance of the fried roll is quite different between the two. The Cantonese one is smooth and uniform while the Vietnamese one is blistered and irregular. The filling is quite different as well. The Vietnamese roll consists of cellophane noodles, carrots, ground meat and wood ear mushrooms. Sure, there are other variations; but those are the standard ingredients. Now with that in mind, it's incredible so many Vietnamese restaurants in town serve the Cantonese version. To me, that's akin to going to a Japanese restaurant and being served sweet 'n sour pork.

Thankfully, there are places that serve the authentic Vietnamese spring roll. Bao Chau goes as far as claiming that they are the place for spring rolls. Viv and I have been here before, albeit quite a while ago. We return to try the spring rolls again. As you can see in the picture, the spring rolls are indeed very crispy. Not greasy at all, these rolls had the perfect fried texture. However, I wasn't that impressed with the filling. It tasted fine with a hint of fish sauce; but it was way too mushy and loose. I would've preferred a bit more texture. For my main dish, I went for a Vermicelli Bowl with Grilled Pork, Chicken and Shredded Pork (aka pork rind, yum!). The bowl of food was enjoyable to eat with lots of well seasoned and grilled meat.

Viv had the House Special Pho which includes every meat possible. The noodles were perfectly al dente and the meats were good; but... the soup was disappointing. It was quite sweet and lacked any rich meat flavour. I still think Pho Tam has the most meaty tasting broth so far for me. Despite its faithful following, Bao Chau was only average for us. Maybe our expectations were too high? Don't get me wrong, it was plenty decent, just nothing all that special. At the very least, they do make a proper Vietnamese spring roll.

The Good:
- Authentic Vietnamese spring rolls
- Prices are decent
- Good portions

The Bad:
- Beef soup a bit one-dimensional in flavour

Nan Chuu Izakaya

Well, well, well... Look who's back in town... Rich Guy! The dude (another one of his nicknames) seems to come and go. Well, it's nice to see him again; but in all honesty, there is something more important to his return. Yes, it could only mean one thing - more eating! When both of us lived in Yaletown, we would meet up with Vandelay frequently for lunch (since he worked there). But those days are long gone (well, I do try to buck the trend...) due to change of residence and having kids. No, the carefree lifestyle is permanently in the rear view mirror. So with our busy schedules, it didn't look good for any meeting of any sort. Ah, when there is a will, there is a way! Seeing how Rich Guy had to pickup a Sony Walkman I had helped him purchase on boxing day and the fact I had to pay Vandelay a visit to borrow his parking pass (to see all the sights and sounds of the Olympics in Downtown), I devised a plan. The plan was for Rich Guy to come over to pick me up and head over to Vandelay's place. Then, we could go out for some late night eats... on a Monday. Hey, whatever works!

Vandelay suggested we go get some Izakaya since we'd all eaten dinner already. I originally thought we should try out Manzo; but he had a better idea, which was Nan Chuu. I have heard of Nan Chuu before; but for some odd reason, I didn't know it was run by Gyoza King. Well, that was welcome news since I love Gyoza King! And just like at Gyoza King, Vandelay went for 2 of his favourites which were the Large Green Salad and the Chikuwa Cheese. Normally, a green salad would evoke as much excitement as watching a rerun of the new Knight Rider. However, there is something about this "secret sauce". A generous amount of this slightly citrusy dressing lay hidden underneath the fresh slices of cucumber, tomatoes and mushrooms. For some strange reason, the chikuwa cheese was not very crispy. The batter was bordering on mushy. At least the chikuwa had a nice chewy/springy texture with cheese oozing out of the middle.

Rich Guy's choices were the Gyu Tataki and Marinated Salmon. I have to say the tataki was probably the best dish of the meal with tender slices of meat accompanied with a citrus ponzu shoyu. Unlike the one I had at Irashai recently, the thin slices of meat needed barely any chewing. The salmon was a bit sweet and slightly tart from the shoyu vinaigrette. It had a nice buttery consistency and merely melted in our mouths.

For my choices, I convinced them that we needed 3 more dishes and they wholeheartedly agreed. Such compliant dinning companions! I opted for the Takoyaki, Ebi Mayo and Usugiri Gyu Tan (Grilled Beef Tongue). The takoyaki was pretty good being soft and fluffy (maybe a tad too soft) with a good amount of bonito on top. There was just enough sauce and a side of mayo accompanying it. I thought the ebi mayo was fantastic. Unlike the one I had at Hapa Izakaya Yaletown a few weeks ago, these ones were crisp (where there wasn't any mayo) and the prawns were cooked perfectly. A tad heavy on the mayo; but it did taste good nonetheless.

Naturally, I would gravitate towards the grilled beef tongue because you can never get enough tongue... I think Viv is getting tired of this joke... Seems like Rich Guy and Vandelay didn't mind getting tongue either (geez, that doesn't sound right). We ended up with the thinly sliced version and it really helped enhance the experience. Otherwise the thick cut would've been a bit hard to chew. These ones were still chewy; but pretty easy to eat. Taste wise, they were butteryish since tongue has a high fat content. As expected, with Nan Chuu being run by Gyoza King, the food was solid and the prices were reasonable. In addition to Guu, I think that Gyoza King and Nan Chuu are the best combination of quality, taste and price when it comes to Izakaya in the GVRD.

The Good:
- Good value
- Most dishes are consistently good
- Service was actually quite good

The Bad:
- As with most Izakayas, it's cramped
- It's located on Alexandra Road in Richmond, good luck finding parking without getting towed

The Pen

*Restaurant is now closed*

Back in my Pho Tan post, I joked about how I was tailed by a police cruiser while I was circling in Whalley. I remarked that if arrested, it would become Sherman's Jailhouse Adventures. While I'm in no rush to be incarcerated, especially given the lack of food choices, Viv and I did come as close as we could to a corrections institution. How about a former penitentiary now housing a restaurant? Yup, the premise behind "The Pen" is it's jailhouse theme. Located in the now defunct BC Penitentiary, the restaurant is complete with barred windows and servers with prisoner numbers on their backs. Yah, there is a certain charm with the place, especially with its quaint location and nice view of the Fraser.

Seeing how we were without food on a Sunday morning, we decided to take the whole family out for breakfast. Well, that's not totally true, we did have eggs, sausage and pancake mix at home; however, that's not very interesting. So off we went to The Pen! Of course, a breakfast is not a breakfast without pancakes. At least that's what my son would like everyone to believe. Thus, we ordered The Works Pancakes for my son and daughter to share. In addition to the 5 fluffy pancakes topped with berry sauce and whipped cream, there were 4 sausages and scrambled eggs. Breakfast is not rocket science; but it was nice to see that the eggs were indeed scrambled and the sausages cooked without being burnt.

Viv went for the Eggs Benny with bacon and tomato. Nothing particularly amazing about this breakfast; but nothing bad either (well, except for the squishy hash browns). English muffin was toasted, tomato fresh, bacon crispy and poached egg runny. Hollandaise sauce was not bad, could've used a bit more lemon. Otherwise a decent eggs benny. For myself, I went for the Cheese and Mushroom Omelet. Served once again with the squishy hash browns, the omelet was a bit small. Furthermore, I found the eggs to be cooked a bit too long. I did like the toast though, it was crunchy and well-buttered.

Overall, I thought the food was alright. Once again, breakfast is not rocket science. I'm not sure if it warranted the price we paid; but the real draw here is the location and the "uniqueness" of the place. Looking out the window, there is a view of the Fraser River and honestly, on a sunny day, it made for a pleasant breakfast.

The Good:
- Quaint location
- Fairly comfortable digs
- Hey, there's a parking lot (good for those who don't want to look for parking)

The Bad:
- A bit pricey for what you get
- Although friendly, the service is quite sparse