Kam Wai Dim Sum

*Only a takeout and frozen Dim Sum store now*

I remember a time when dining in Chinatown was the the thing to do. Yes, people other than tourists, would flock down to places like Ming's and Park Lok. Not really that they were great restaurants; rather they were the only places that you could get decent Dim Sum. Oh how times have changed. We now not only have Chinatown #2 in Richmond, it's more like an Asian City. I swear, it is the only place in the GVRD that I can totally forget I'm in Canada. Furthermore, there are great places to get Dim Sum scattered all over the Lower Mainland. So, other than Floata, there is really no Dim Sum to be had in Chinatown. Mind you, I personally wouldn't even categorize Floata as an acceptable place to go other than there is no competition nearby. Until now. Okay, we are really comparing apples and oranges here. On one hand, you have Floata, which claims to be Chinese fine dining (which I think is quite funny) and then you have Kam Wai, which is your typical hole-in-the-wall. Whereas Floata can seat 1000, Kam Wai would be hard-pressed to do 50. But when we talk about what is really important, the food, Kam Wai wins hands-down.

If the name Kam Wai seems familiar to you, it is because they are known for their frozen Dim Sum store on Gore Street. When I used to live in Downtown, I was a regular customer. I just like to eat Dim Sum at all times during the day and frozen was the only way to achieve that. Ah, but wait. Kam Wai, the restaurant, offers Dim Sum from 9:00am to 6:00pm. All day Dim Sum! I really wish more places would adopt this concept since Dim Sum is really a form of tapas and you know how tapas is popular. Look at places like Bao Bei and Terracotta, they are charging 3X the amount of money for what is essentially Dim Sum. Of course, they have the ambiance, style and staff to justify the costs. However, for a purely food point-of-view, I'd rather just have real Dim Sum for less. Now, if we could only get Dim Sum late night...

At first, I wasn't even sure if I found the right place while I was pulling into the adjacent parking lot. From the outside, it sure doesn't look like a place where I could get Dim Sum. Walking inside didn't really convince me either. It looks more like a simple HK-style cafe than a Dim Sum joint. But rest assured, they do indeed serve Dim Sum. Like many places these days, they employ a checklist to order the Dim Sum. It seems logical in this case since it is all day Dim Sum. They can't possibly push carts around for 9 hours a day. So I ordered too many items as usual starting with the obligatory Shrimp Dumplings. I gotta admit, these were pretty solid. Filled with perfectly cooked crunchy shrimp and a slightly chewy wrapper, these would not be out of place at a higher end restaurant.

A little bit on the pale side, the Sui Mai were also very good. Consisting of pork and shrimp, there was a nice "bounce" texture to the meat. I liked how the seasoning on this one was not too aggressive. One of Viv's favourite dishes is the Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant and this one was excellent. Completely overstuffed with shrimp mousse, the eggplant was fried perfectly so that it was tender without becoming mushy. Each piece remained in one piece, even after being cut. I liked how the black bean sauce was not too strong and with the addition of peppers, the flavour was more multi-dimensional. Another measuring stick for Dim Sum are the rice noodle rolls. We ended up ordering the Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls. The noodle portion was a little on the chewier side; but the shrimp filling was both plentiful and cooked perfectly. Curiously, the BBQ rice noodle rolls are crossed off on the checklist. Guess it isn't a big seller?

Another item we usually get are the Beef Meatballs. A pretty simple dish really. Just pureed beef mixed with starch, baking soda, seasoning, water chestnuts and onion (sometimes cilantro). The trick to the beef meatballs is to achieve a smooth texture with a little bit of "bite". Some places fail when the meatball becomes mushy or too chewy. The ones here were quite good. There was the right balance of soft; yet retaining the "bounce" to the meat. Also, there wasn't copious amounts of onion which can overwhelm the meat. One dish that I rarely order at Cantonese Dim Sum is the Xiao Long Bao. It never seems to come out right. If I want my XLB fix, I go to Shanghainese Dim Sum. Sadly, this was the case here as well. Containing very little juice and with a gummy dumpling skin, these were your typical Cantonese Dim Sum XLB. Don't get me wrong, these XLB were good to eat as a regular dumpling; but they were not XLB.

We got my son's favourite item at Dim, which are the Shrimp Spring Rolls. However, he only eats the crunchy spring roll wrapper only. Fine, I get the shrimp, seems like a good deal to me! Once again, they were filled with properly cooked shrimp while being crispy and not oily on the outside. I only wish that they did not add green onion to the filling. I found that it detracted from the natural sweetness of the shrimp. Yet again, another classic Dim Sum dish is the Steamed Spareribs. I liked how most of the pieces were of actual rib; rather than cartilage. The pieces around cartilage are normally less tender and sometimes even quite fatty. The meat had the right texture of being soft enough to chew while still being chewy. Although I found it a bit on the saltier side. Another dish for the kiddies was the Pan-Fried Soy Rice Noodle Rolls. I didn't particularly like this version since it gets all cluttered by the sprouts, mushrooms, carrots and green onion. What it ultimately ends up being is a stir-fried noodle dish. I'm sure some people like it. I for one do not. Even grabbing a piece to dip into the hoisin or sesame sauce is a chore with all the other things clinging onto the noodles. With that being said, the noodles were quite oily; but with a good texture nonetheless.

Ah yes, one of my favs, Beef Honeycomb Tripe. It always seems like I end up eating the whole thing. What do people have against tripe? I guess looking like the way it does doesn't help. Well, the tripe was prepared correctly here. There was practically no gaminess and the texture was a good balance between tender and a touch of chewiness. It was aggressively seasoned being mostly sweet with some savoriness. Ending off the meal were the Egg Tarts. We were warned that it would take 30 minutes since they only serve them fresh. And fresh they were. Flaky with a semi-sweet egg custard filling, these delivered. And really, that is pretty much the story of Kam Wai. It really delivered, in the most unlikely of setups. I wasn't expecting much and it exceeded my expectations. Although inexpensive, I wouldn't say the Dim Sum is any cheaper than places like The Roc; but if you really must have Dim Sum in Chinatown, skip Floata and stroll down to Kam Wai.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Mostly well-executed food
- Friendly staff (unlike a supposed classier joint such as Floata)

The Bad:
- No ambiance whatsoever (if you care)
- Street parking only (which is hard to find and expensive)
- Lack of round tables (difficult to share if you are in a large group)

Enigma

For once, I didn't have food on my mind during our Monday softball game. You see, I had made a seafood soup prior and had a couple of bowls. Inevitably, my teammates would try to bring up the topic of food. Why? Well, I think they look forward to a food adventure too! But lately, I've been passing the buck to Bear so I cannot be blamed for a bad restaurant choice! Since last year, we've been meaning to visit Enigma. Getting dangerously close to UBC, this is not a place that was exactly close to me. So when we found out that our game was at Byng, it was time to take advantage of it being in the vicinity. Once again, we were not exactly looking and smelling our best; thus we stood out like a sore thumb. I'm sure we have a hand in clearing out restaurants when we arrive. But that could be just attributed to Lionel Hutz because he comes across as a hybrid of a gangster and a lawyer. Yah, a very scary sight indeed. This time around, there was a formal function of sorts that took over half of the restaurant. Everyone was dressed quite nicely. I felt a bit out-of-place strolling by with my shorts and t-shirt.

We didn't have any reservations and the place was quite busy for a Monday. As mentioned, there was some company event on one side of the restaurant. With the limited amount of seating available, the staff were very accommodating to seat us and then when people left, provide a better seating arrangement. One strange thing about the place is the location of the washrooms. Getting to them is akin to an episode of the X-Files. You walk across the restaurant, through a walkway, then down a flight of stairs, down a corridor and then washroom. I was surprised I didn't have to use any flashlights or run into an alien along the way. We had a pretty large group for dinner tonight with the likes of Bear, Judes, Milhouse, Lionel Hutz, Hot Chocolate, Miss Y, Silent Bob and former teammate TS (eating_club Vancouver). Apparently she decided to join us since it was within her restaurant radius. Anything out of that radius is considered "too far". No, we didn't invite Kim. We don't need a waterboy for our softball team...

We were started off with some complimentary French bread and it was fantastic. Pillowy soft on the inside, crusty on the outside and served warm, this was an above-average complimentary bread. For myself, I decided to get the Baked Brie Dip to start. I figured for $10.00, it would be a modest amount of brie with some bread. I figured wrong. The dip was freakin' huge with a nice mix of brie and cranberries. The result was a lighter-than-expected mixture that was slightly sweet. Our server offered more bread since there is obviously not enough on the plate. For those who tried the dip, they all agreed it was pretty good and a great value. For my main, once again I went for lamb - Braised Lamb Shoulder with rosemary demi-glace, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. There was a generous portion of lamb swimming in an aggressively seasoned demi-glace. I had mixed feelings about the sauce because on one hand, it was so flavourful I lost the taste of lamb. On the other, it was extremely tasty with a predominant hits of red wine and rosemary. The lamb itself was quite tender while dry in a few spots.

Miss Y continued her "alternate reality" when ordering her food. She went for the Lamb Curry. Just like her quiche at the Red Onion, regular hot dog at Japadog and wonton noodles at Copa, she loves to go off the beaten path. However, in this case at least, she felt that the curry was quite tasty with plenty of lamb. Not so much with the naan though. TS went for the Beef Carpaccio and a side order of Yam Fries. Apparently she was too busy socializing to really pay attention to what she was eating. Thus, all she could come up was that the carpaccio was decent. The yam fries could've been more crispy; yet they were decent as well. Boss Woman had the Beef Burger and it was pretty much your standard burger. It was prepared correctly with no surprises either way. The fries were the starch-covered type; thus being crispy. Lionel Hutz went for the Spinach Salad... again... He had it at Chill Winston last time we ate together. I'm beginning to wonder about him! Anyways, he thought the salad was alright' but the chicken was a bit dry. He did remark that the dressing was on the sweeter side and the accompanying bread noHot Chocolate also had a bt all that great.

Milhouse decided on the Guinness Stew. I guess he went for this since he knew very well that if he actually had some Guinness, he'd get drunk. This was the safer route for him. However, much to his dismay, the stew was pretty much devoid of any Guinness flavour. Instead, he though it tasted like Stagg Chili. I tried a spoonful and although it was lacking Guinness flavour, it was thankfully better than a can of Stagg Chili. What he meant was that the meat had a processed flavour to it. With that being said, it was still very tender and not too bad as a regular stew. Bear ended up with the Salmon Caesar. He admittedly chose this dish so he could splurge on dessert later. Honestly, if he had a choice, he'd just go to a dessert shop and eat Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner there! So naturally, he was not overly enthused about his dinner; but did concede that the romaine was crisp and the salmon cooked perfectly. Hot Chocolate had the Salmon Burger and she essentially echoed the sentiments saying that the salmon was moist while being cooked all the way through. She substituted yam fries and once again, she was in agreement with TS. Decent; but could've been crispier and hotter.

Judes ordered something that I thought was quite peculiar. It's not that the dish was strange at all; but with all the choices she went for the Chicken Tenders with fries. Apparently, she just wanted something regular and wasn't in an adventurous mood. Hey works for me. Presented in a unique bowl, the chicken strips were accompanied by 3 dips which included sweet chili, plum and a peppery honey mustard. The chicken strips were fried nicely and the fries being quite generic. Silent Bob went for the Rigatoni with chicken, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. He really enjoyed the pasta because the sauce was flavourful and fresh tasting. The chicken was tender and moist while the pasta was perfect.

Now, as mentioned, Bear saved some room for dessert by having a salad. Would all his hard work and commitment in watching his calories pay off with his chosen meal-ender? His choice was the Apple Pecan Filo Bundle with ice cream and strawberries. Actually, he's had this dessert before, so it wasn't that much of a risk for him. He remarked that the filling was a tad drier than the last time he had it. However, the pastry was really flaky and the flavours were well-balanced. He was happy with the dessert and any thoughts of eating a salad for dinner, especially for a Bear, faded away.

Milhouse was coerced into the Sticky Toffee Pudding also served with ice cream and strawberries. He was debating on dessert, waffling back and forth. Bear told him to join him in having a dessert while I (being much like Bart) was just egging him on so I could take a picture and taste of it. He buckled under the pressure like a poorly made chair from China (hey, I had one that did that!). Lionel Hutz chimed in that Milhouse didn't need to order anything sticky since his keyboard at home was already so. We smartly stayed away from that discussion... Anyways, he thought the cake was sticky, sweet and quite rich. Exactly how a sticky toffee pudding cake should be; yet he personally thought it was just okay. I'm glad he ate it since I avoided all those extra calories! Looking very much like Milhouses' sticky toffee pudding, Miss Y's Warm Ginger Pear Pudding was good. She noticed that the sauce was very gingery. The sharp ginger was a nice contrast to the sweet ice cream. With Bear needing to eat a salad to even think of dessert, Miss Y eats a full meal and a full dessert. Despite these eating habits, which include 3 Krispy Kremes at times, she remains remarkably thin! We all hate her...

Remarkably, Silent Bob had dessert too. He doesn't strike us as a sweets guy. But due the lack of conversation, maybe we didn't realize he is the sensitive, silent type. And of all things, he chose the Cheesecake. I guess he's not as "testosteronie" as he presents himself! As for his cheesecake, it arrived plated vertically. He really liked his New York-style cheesecake. Although he did state that he'd prefer more strawberry sauce on the side. If it looks like we demolished most of the menu here at Enigma, we did. The consensus is that it is a great neighbourhood joint to grab a drink and a bite to eat. Nothing is mind-blowing; yet most of the food is pretty solid and reasonably-priced. Of course with the sheer number of dishes and desserts we had, it would be easy to be critical of certain components. However, with that being said, it also has to be said that nothing turned out terrible. That in itself is an achievement.

The Good:
- Friendly service
- Decent portions
- Diverse menu

The Bad:
- Nothing mind-blowing, so don't expect to be wowed
- Some items get up there in price

New City Diner

When we use the word "diner", it can mean many different things. If we look at the classic diner that we normally find in the U.S., it brings up images of booths, a long counter with chrome stools. It can also merely mean that it is a place that serves up traditional American food such as burgers, shakes, breakfast and the sort. However, up here in Canada, the "diner" may not fit into either category. In fact, it is so muddled up, it can resembled something like the Snak Shak where, in addition to burgers, we get Wor Wonton Soup and Teriyaki Chicken. Ah yes, Multiculturalism at work... What we have here are diner-type joints run by Asians. Thus, we get a bit of this and that in addition to a hearty breakfast. The New City Diner is another example of this. Run by a friendly staff of Koreans, this place generally serves the nearby lunch crowd.

Here you will find breakfast, sandwiches, burgers and California rolls. We weren't in the mood for diner Cali-rolls today, so we stuck with the regular fare. Seeing how no one wanted to try the Breakfast, I decided to order it for variety purposes. I got the 2 Plus which consisted of 2 eggs, 2 sausages, 2 ham (or 2 bacon strips), hashbrowns, toast and coffee. As per usual, nothing ground-breaking with this breakfast; yet it was quite good. The eggs were prepared correctly and the ham was quite thick. Normally, I'm not a big fan of hashbrowns; but I really liked this one. It was ever-so-fluffy with a nice crisp exterior. Waffle Guy went for the Cheeseburger with baked potato wedges. As you can see in the picture, that is real cheddar atop a well-charred patty. Combined with incredibly fresh toppings and a soft bun, this was an unexpectedly good burger. Although they will never replace actual fries, the baked wedges did the job. Incidentally, they pride themselves on fresh ingredients and healthy food (as healthy as you can get considering the menu).

The Chicken Burger was equally good with a nicely charred; yet tender chicken breast. Same fresh ingredients made for a solid burger. In addition to their hot food, there is a large selection of sandwiches and subs. As you can see in the picture, the Chicken Salad Sandwich is not your typical bits of chicken slathered in mayo. Rather, there is a modest amount of dressing. Consequently, there is more meat and less fat. Combine this with the same fresh veggies as the burgers and really soft bread (it was really fresh!), it's a good sandwich. The burgers and sandwich were part of a lunchtime special that included soup. There is not much in the way of style or food that will blow you away; yet, it is carefully made and inexpensive. Definitely a great find for breakfast and/or a quick lunch.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Everything is fresh
- Nice staff

The Bad:
- Nothing fancy here (neither should it be)
- I wouldn't drive far to come here, it mostly serves the locals

Boomer's Bar & Grill

Gosh, I was really torn about whether I should blog about this or not. After all, it is merely your run-of-the-mill bar located in an ice rink. Most people would not visit these establishments if they weren't there already (ie. playing a hockey game, watching a hockey game, stuck watching spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/child play). However, food is food and my teammates thought that I should. So here it goes... We had actually visited this place twice during our tournament. The first being in between our 2nd and 3rd games. Yah, boozing and eating fried greasy food ain't the best performance-enhancing activities. However, what do you do for 3 hours while waiting for the next game? Well, we could have aired out our equipment I suppose. Putting wet, stinky equipment on is never a great exercise.

So rather than grabbing a sports energy drink or a banana, we took the $50.00 complimentary gift certificate courtesy of tournament organizers. There wasn't much debate as to what to order since practically everything required the use of a deep fryer. Instead of fighting it, we succumb to the typical fried-Sysco-supplied pub food. Everything arrived at once, so I just hurriedly took pictures of the oil, err... I mean food. I'm not sure what they call the first thing we got; but I'm sure it's some form of Chicken Nuggets or Bites or Poppers... Hey, they were fried nicely and the accompanying fries were your typical generic frozen type. The Team Platter consisted of chicken wings, onion rings, nachos, fried mozza sticks, dry ribs and fried shrimp. Once again, the deep frying station did their job and everything went great with my Diet Coke. Yah, no beer... I actually wanted to be sober for it.

Let's do one more fried item! The Yam Fries once again were your typical generic frozen type. Alas, once again, the deep fry guy or gal did a good job. They were crispy and yammy (is that a word?) in the middle. Finally we have a non-fried item in the Pizza (I have no idea what type it was). I wasn't a big fan of the doughy crust; but there were plenty of toppings and cheese. Despite my ramblings about fried food, there are other items like pasta and sandwiches. For what its worth, the food does its job here for a reasonable price, topped off with friendly service.

The Good:
- It's generic; yet done right
- At least it looks pretty decent inside
- Service is friendly

The Bad:
- Despite other offerings, it is your typical pub fried food
- It's not located near anyone specifically, so normally you'd have to be there to eat there

Cafeteria

*Restaurant is closed*

With a name like Cafeteria, you would expect a counter serving mystery meat, potato paste and the requisite jello (complete with whipped topping) in a refrigerated display. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Residing on the former location of the now defunct Ping's Cafe, Cafeteria is another venture by the La Buca Group. It boasts finely crafted eats at a reasonable price all in a classy; yet casual atmosphere. Nothing here is over $20.00. With the rising prices of chain restaurant food these days, I'm beginning to wonder why people would overlook places like Cafeteria. Seriously, one could get a 3-course meal at Salade de Fruits for $21.00. With that amount of coin, you can only get one entree at most of the chain restaurants such as Cactus Club, Earl's, Milestones and Joey's.

I tried to convince my softball team to try Cafeteria the week before; but for some reason or another, they preferred E-Bei's all-you-can-stuff-your face sushi. Quantity over quality once again... This week was different. They all agreed to go, even though I did a lousy job selling them on the idea. Heck, I didn't even really know what was on the menu. You see, the menu changes daily and all I could make out on the fuzzy picture on Yelp was schnitzel. So schnitzel for everyone! Deep down inside, I seriously hoped there were be more choices since there is a wide range of tastes on the ball team. Of course, when we arrived, I was face with a focused menu. Let me rephrase that, a REALLY focused menu of 5 entrees. Hey, that can be a positive. When you only have 5 dishes, there is a much better chance they'll be good. Some of my teammates didn't seem to care and commented on the lack of choices. Fair enough.

For myself, I started with a cup of the Tomato Broth with Clams. As opposed to a clam chowder, this was much lighter since it was a broth and had no potatoes. I found all the flavours to be very understated. Usually I would call this bland. Not in this case though. I felt that the lightness helped accentuate the fresh ingredients. The clams were both plentiful and plump while being tender. No easy feat for non-canned clams. For my main, I went for the meatiest item on the menu being the Prime Rib Steak with mac 'n cheese. At just a shade under $20.00, I wasn't expecting anything large. Yet, nearly taking up the entire plate was this massive bone-in steak. It was done a perfect medium-rare despite the fact I was never asked how I preferred my steak. I found the accompanying sauce to be quite flavourful without being salty. I wasn't a huge fan of the mac 'n cheese though. It was both bland and a tad gritty. The arugula added a nice bitter/freshness though.

Since there were only 5 entree choices, 3 people went for the Smoked Salmon appetizer, although, Silent Bob and Judes had it as an entree size. Despite being the "entree" size, it was still very small and not all that filling. Judes thought that the fried potatoes (a la Chinese bird's nest) were a bit too crispy. She did like the sauce, it was a good balance between sweet and salty. However, she did note the sauce detracted from the perfectly smoked salmon. Bear ended up ordering the Duck Confit with Port au jus and we were very surprised it came with 2 legs (a nice surprise that is). He enjoyed both the crispy skin and tender meat. The meat was flavourful without being salty. This was a complete contrast from the disappointing duck confit at Avenue Grill. He thought that a risotto would've went better with the duck; but the lentils were fine anyways. Boss Woman and Milhouse opted for the other meat dish being the Veal Schnitzel. Thinking that it would rival my steak in terms of quantity, they were quite disappointed by their portion size. Milhouse said it best when he remarked that it wasn't that the size was too small, it just wasn't filling. If we focus on the food itself, the veal was beautifully fried and the accompanying sauce delicious.

For dessert, a few of us tried the only 2 that were offered. Miss Y had the Greek Yogurt with sour cherries. I gave this a try and enjoyed the smooth yogurt with the cherries. A relatively light and refreshing dessert. I didn't want a whole dessert to myself and ended up shared a Raspberry & Cherry Crumble with Bear. Not that it wasn't good or anything, we just found that it was your typical crumble. I have to say that it was nice to have 6 other people with me for dinner. There was a wide range of opinions regarding the food. On one end, you have some who were disappointed with the portions; while still enjoying their food. Then on the other, you have Bear and Myself who not only enjoyed our food, the portions were very good. So depending on what you order on the limited menu, your meal could be filling or lacking. In my personal opinion, I thought that the portions across the board were fair considering the quality of ingredients and execution. One could easily spend the same amount of money at one of the aforementioned chain restaurants and still be hungry. At the very least, we pretty much agreed the food is good at Cafeteria.

The Good:
- Focused menu allows for focused food execution
- A good value (in my opinion)
- Unpretentious

The Bad:
- For some, too few choices
- Not a particularly big place and they don't take reservations