Paul Croteau Confections Chocolate Tasting

It's pretty obvious that I love to eat. After all, this blog is about eating and lots of it. One thing you might've noticed is the very small amount that I allocate to sweets. Hey, don't get me wrong, I like sweets, I just don't love them. That would be reserved for people like Mijune. So, when I was invited to the Paul Croteau Confections tasting, it didn't elicit an immediate response. I mulled around the idea for a time. In the end, I was curious enough to accept the invitation. The venue for this tasting was Refuel. Why this location? Paul Croteau happens to be the dessert chef at Refuel and Campagnolo. His resume is impressive, having worked at Lumiere, Boneta and currently with Refuel. It happened to be a rainy Thursday morning in Vancouver. What better to have sweets for breakfast?

Traffic was light and I arrived much too early for the tasting, so I drove around doing re-shoots of restaurant fronts. Yes, I'm pretty OCD about that. Walking through the doors into Refuel, Paul was carefully plating his sweet creations. They sure looked good! After a short wait, we were escorted to a long table with little bites waiting to be tasted. Starting from left to right, we started with the Passionfruit Jelly. There was an intense flavour with strong essence. It was very sweet, slightly tart and tasted exactly like passionfruit. The Raspberry Jelly had a deep flavour with several layers of taste finishing off with nice aromatics. Both jellies were soft. Next was the Nougatine with hazelnut, pistachios, almonds and cocoa nibs. At first bite, there was a definitive pistachio hit with a hazelnut finish. It was not too sweet and had a nice crunchy contrast to the chewy nougat. Lots of roasted nut flavour with crunchy bits.

Moving along, we made it to the Almond Square. Consisting of roasted almond slices, candied grapefruit with honey caramel, this was very buttery and sweet. This was partially balanced by the candied grapefruit. Waiting to be unwrapped, the Salted Caramel was very buttery. Naturally, it was also very sweet which was further intensified by the salt. It was very smooth and had a nice aftertaste. The last item on the plate was a pile of Hazelnut Grignotine. This was hands-down the best item in my opinion. These consisted of roasted
hazelnuts coated in dark chocolate and cocoa. From the first bite, my taste buds were greeted with intense roasted hazelnut and dark chocolate. Nutty, crunchy and only semi-sweet, these are addictive.

If that wasn't enough, we moved onto the Macarons. We had 3 to try, starting from the left, was the Pistachio filled with a white chocolate and pistachio paste. There was a sugary, understated nutty, pistachio flavour. In the middle lay the Salted Caramel consisting of a butter caramel with sea salt. It was very buttery with an intense caramel taste. A little too sweet for me; but then again, that's just me. Last up was the best of the Macarons - Valrhona Chocolate Ganache. Consisting of chocolate liquor on the outside and 100% chocolate on the inside, there was a rich, bittersweet chocolate hit. I liked how this was least sweet of the 3. Thanks to Vandelay, I've had Pierre Hermes Macarons before and of course it would be unfair to compare them with Paul Croteau (since Pierre Hermes is in Paris). But my point is that although Paul Croteau is nowhere near Pierre Hermes, the Macarons are still good (especially for Vancouver).

Pretty good. That's the bottom line here. Despite not being a dessert lover, I do know what I like and do not like. In this case, I generally liked all of it and not because it was free either. Paul Croteau is passionate about his work which in turn is translated into his products. Although he is just opening up shop with his new location above Campagnolo, Paul Croteau has already established himself as a someone to keep an eye on.

The Good:
- No lack of flavour
- Fairly reasonable pricing
- Paul Croteau is passionate and it shows in his creations

The Bad:
- Some items maybe a bit too sweet
- Macarons should be packaged in a box, so they won't be crushed

Purple Lotus

As we get further and further away from the Downtown core, there is a sentiment that the quality of food slides down a slippery slope (hey, I've used that opening line before... oh well!). In the case of Japanese food, there can be an argument for that, particularly with ramen. However, that is not the case with everything. Take Pho for instance. Almost as a paradox, there is hardly any good Vietnamese eats in Downtown itself. Mind you, there are plenty of good ones in all parts of Vancouver out of the Downtown core. Yet, there can be gems further out such as Song Huong and Pho Tam in Surrey. Today, we go on the hunt for good Pho in the New Westminster.

Of course, we were already a bit weary since the place we had in mind advertises Chinese, Western and Vietnamese food. Fusion? Hardly. Trying to appeal to masses? Probably. Yah, there was the usual diner items such as breakfast, burger and sandwiches. Now unless they were "Banh Burgers", we weren't interested. Now, if Miss Y were here... We'd be watching her chow down on a Deviled Egg Sandwich in a Vietnamese restaurant... Well, fortunately for me, Pomegranate and Pops were not going to eat "Canadian Food" as the menu listed. Rather, we got the a little of everything starting with the obligatory Spring Rolls. We were a bit dismayed with the wheat-based wrapper (it really should be rice); but they were still quite decent. Burning hot, as exemplified by Pomegranate almost blowing a gasket, they were crunchy and not too oily. The filling had a good mix of meat, vermicelli and veggies. Pomegranate should stop popping things in his mouth before looking at them. Much like the time at Fu Lin where he ate a raw dumpling...

We also ended up sharing a House Special Pho which comes with all the fixins' such as beef, brisket, flank, meatball, tendon and tripe. Pomegranate doesn't do tendon and tripe, so I ended up eating it. However, he accidentally got some tripe and picked it out. For someone who randomly puts things in his mouth without looking at it; he picked out the tripe pretty handily! As for the Pho, the noodles were good being slightly chewy; however, the broth was strange. It was... gritty. Yes, that sounds wrong right? Well, there were peppery bits and other spices at the bottom of the bowl which interfered with the taste and texture of the soup. Thus, the soup was actually peppery which wasn't to my liking.

Next up was the Lemongrass Chicken on Rice. This was a solid dish. The chicken was grilled perfectly and had good lemongrass flavour. It wasn't too sweet or salty. Nice balance. I liked how the rice was still a bit chewy without being hard. Now from the category of "WTF" was the Chicken & Vegetable Chow Mein. We asked for the noodles to be crispy; but we ended up with what looked like a loose bundle of hay. The noodles were so skinny and fried that the thin sauce merely sat at the bottom of the dish. This was nearly as bad as the one I had in Roseburg, Oregon where they used prepackaged chow mein. I know this is a Vietnamese restaurant and it serves us right for ordering chow mein; but seriously... Pops ordered something much better than the chow mein being the Stir-Fried Prawns and Mushrooms. The dish looked great with lots of prawns, mushrooms and brightly-coloured green peppers. He thought the items were cooked properly. So this was a strange one. The food was either good or it was bad. So I guess if you hit the right dishes, you'll be fine. If not, you probably won't be coming back. I'll file this one in the "not good enough" category.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Good portions
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Really hit and miss
- When a places offers too many types of cuisine...

The Fish House

So imagine this scenario. It's April and Christmas has long passed. We were cleaning up the house and found some Christmas presents we had never opened. Somehow they got pushed to the back pile of stuff. Yes, there are piles of stuff everywhere in our house. When you have kids, stuff begins to accumulate. Excitedly, we start to open some of them. Hey, it's Christmas all over again! Finally, we get to a large gift basket from Guy Smiley. Okay. Blanket, cookie ingredients, chocolate, gift cert from the Cannery, marshmall... WTF?!?!!? The Cannery! OMFG! The place is closed! Oh no! This can't be happening! Free food gone down the toilet. Wait. Not all is lost. The Fish House belongs to the same group that used to run the Cannery. Maybe I can use it there. One quick email and yup, they were going to make an exception. Phew, that was a close one! And hey, I can use my Entertainment coupon as well. Score!

So off we went with the whole family including the Grandparents. It was another glorious summer day which is perfect for a Sunday at the Fish House. We got a few appies to share before our mains. The first was the Steamed Mussels in a coconut milk, tomato, cilantro, lime & chili pepper broth. Finishing off the dish was raw sea asparagus and a papadum dome (I had to remove it to take the picture). This was a solid if not unremarkable order of steamed mussels. Nothing amiss, the mussels were sweet and the broth was a nice compliment providing contrasting flavours with the lime and cilantro. I'm not sure why I picked the Shrimp Spring Rolls as our other appetizer. Being that we could easily order this dish at a Chinese restaurant for Dim Sum at more than half the price, this probably didn't make much sense. With that being said, the filling was pretty tasty with a combination of shrimp and veggies. The rolls could've been a bit more crispy though. I think the moisture from the filling compromised the wrapper. I didn't really bother with the dip, it was a combination of sweet chili and peanuts.

For my main, I had the Westcoast Benedict which is essentially Eggs Benedict with crab meat, tomato and avocado. There first 2 things that struck me about the dish was the plethora of crab meat and the obvious use of a mold to poach the egg. Although the egg was poached perfectly with a nice runny centre, there is just something about a free hand poached egg that I'm impartial to. I really like that there was plenty of crab; but as my mom remarked, it would've been better if it were lump meat. Lots of crab; but little in the way of crab flavour or texture. The Hollandaise sauce was not bad with a nice buttery/lemony flavour. I just wish there was more of it. So much crab and other ingredients that need saucing. Now the side of fried smashed potatoes was just crazy! Look at it! 5 whole (albeit small) potatoes. They were good being soft inside and crisp outside; but no way I could finish it.

Dad had the daily feature being the Grilled Swordfish with a skewer of shrimp. Swiss chard, asparagus and a corn/crab butter sauce finished off the plate. As expected, the swordfish ended up being quite dry. This is by no means a criticism since swordfish is very lean. The shrimp were grilled perfectly and the multitude of items in the sauce added sweetness. Viv went for the Croque Monsieur which is egg dipped brioche griddled with shaved ham, Gruyere & Dijon
mustard. As you can see, there was no absence of ham. She liked the soft brioche; but thought there wasn't enough mustard (which can easily be rectified). It was served with the same potatoes and she could only finish one of them.

Mom had the Big Breakfast which included 2 eggs, 2 turkey sausages, bacon, toast and once again, the smashed potatoes. This was your typical breakfast, except the for the turkey sausages. Despite appearing quite dry, the sausages were very juicy and moist. She requested her eggs be done over-easy and as you can see, they were executed properly. By looking at the next picture, you might think we ordered 2 full-sized breakfasts. However, that was not the case. The second one is actually a Kid's Breakfast believe it or not. It came with scrambled eggs, choice of meat (we got 2 turkey sausages) and 2 smashed potatoes (I think we cleaned them out of their potatoes!). Seeing how this also included choice of beverage and dessert, not a bad deal at only $8.95. Once again, don't let the dry appearance fool you, the turkey sausages were moist. We found the eggs to be scrambled perfectly being fluffy while cooked all the way through. This is not small feat. It's not often we get good scrambled eggs.

Of course, we go from good value to not-so-much. While my daughter attacked the kid's breakfast, my son settled for... Pancakes. Well, at the very least, they were fluffy and light. As if Denny's didn't provided an obscene amount of butter for their pancakes, there was enough here to make a loaf of pound cake. Whatever the case, my son didn't bother with any of it. In the end, I was lucky enough to be able to use the old Cannery gift cert. I'm not sure if this is applicable universally. Best to email them directly to check first. I also used a couple of Entertainment coupons which made the total bill obscenely low. However, I didn't find the regular prices to be out-of-line for brunch. Remember, it is located in Stanley Park and the food is quite decent. Nothing great, but not bad either. As for dinner, the prices are on the higher end; yet once again, you are paying for location as well. You can't expect a restaurant to cover the cost of operation in Downtown without charging a bit more. With that being said, ultimately they still have to provide a good product. Our visit for brunch was pleasant accented by good service.

The Good:
- Lovely environment, especially on a sunny day
- Kid-friendly with a kid's menu
- Acceptable food

The Bad:
- Dinner is pricey (although there is an Entertainment coupon)
- Parking is pricey

Fu Lin Hot Pot

Probably the warmest and nicest day of the year so far. Perfect day to eat something that can really take advantage of the weather. Picnic? Fish 'n Chips on the wharf? A sandwich from Finch's eaten at the seawall? Nope, nope and nope. Pomegranate and I went to eat hot pot. That's right, a boiling vessel of steaming broth. That's exactly what we needed today. Yah, call us weird, call us strange; but never accuse us of not putting food first before function. Besides, the place is air-conditioned. Hot pot anytime baby! It reminds me of the time we had hot pot at Costanza's house in mid-July. Halfway through our meal and dripping with sweat, we figured that it was not exactly the best idea. Just like the time we lined up for Boxing Day whilst eating Yogen Fruz. Fine, we make bad decisions. Maybe we'll go for a sno-cone in December.

Thinking that they had AYCE hot pot for lunch, Pomegranate and I proceeded to Fu Lin in Coquitlam. My cousin had tipped me off about this place and Jessica blogged about it as well. For $18.99 for dinner, it is a relatively good value considering its location. However, on our way there, I was almost side-swiped by a Volvo while exiting the Trans-Canada. The Volvo was well past the exit ramp and had to cut in, barely avoiding the median and a hitchhiker to exit. If I hadn't caught the glimpse of what is the equivalent of a Swedish tank to my left, I would not be blogging about hot pot right now. Well into full rage, I opened my sunroof and appropriately "saluted" the idiotic driver. Maybe I'll reconsider my shots against Richmond drivers and now proclaim Coquitlam as Richmond North...

To add insult to injury, Fu Lin doesn't offer AYCE for lunch. However, there were a few lunch specials for under $10.00. Each special comes with a choice of dipping sauce. We got our items pretty quickly and I put some Dumplings and beef slices into the boiling broth. I look down for a second and Pomegranate proclaims that, "it's cold and frozen in the middle". Cold and frozen? Huh? The beef slices are really thin and they should cook... OH NO! "You didn't eat the dumpling did you???". Apparently he plopped the whole thing in his mouth and had swallowed it. The dumpling had only been in the broth for less than a minute. Well, pork sashimi is not dangerous is it? Anyways, the cooked dumplings were quite good with a soft skin and meaty filling. The super thin slices of Fatty Beef cooked on contact with the boiling water. Very tender; but gone very fast. It looks like a lot more than there really is.

We really enjoyed the Fresh Noodles. Since we could control the cooking time, we pulled them out when they were al dente. Mixed with the dipping sauces (satay and spicy soy), the noodles were actually one of the highlights of the meal. As for the veggies, we had Napa cabbage and Shanghai bak choy. Both were fresh and properly cleaned. For my combo, I got some shrimp, mussel and squid. As for the other items, they are your typical prepackaged foods such as meatballs, fish tofu, imitation crab and vermicelli. Nothing much to say about them other than they were fine to eat. In terms of being a hot pot restaurant, Fu Lin does the job for a reasonable price. What we really look for in these type of places is freshness and value. Considering that there are not many choices in Coquitlam, Fu Lin is pretty good. Furthermore, the AYCE for $18.95 is a more than acceptable price given all the mitigating factors.

The Good:
- The items we tried were fresh
- Pricing is reasonable
- Service is friendly

The Bad:
- No AYCE option for lunch
- Not a big restaurant, cannot accommodate large groups

Maple Leaf Prime Recipe Contest

Believe it or not, despite the fact that I eat out so much, I do enjoy cooking. Recently, I was contacted by Maple Leaf to participate in a recipe contest using their Prime Pork products. Now, my blog is mainly focused on dining out, in particular, at restaurants in Vancouver. At first, I hesitated. Then after a follow up email, I figured why not? So after thinking about what I should make, I formulated the dish in my mind. After a few tries, the final product became Miso-Honey Ginger Chili Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Mango Mint Salsa & Quinoa Salad. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Maple Leaf Prime Pork Tenderlion
4 tbsp. Honey
2 tbsp. Miso Paste
1 tsp. Chili Flakes
3 tsp. Lime Juice
1 1/2 tsp. Grated Ginger
1/4 tsp. White Pepper
1/4 tsp. Sesame Oil
2 tbsp. Olive Oil (regular, EVOO too strong)
Salt & Pepper

1 Cup Quinoa
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Diced Cucumber
1 Cup Diced Tomato
2 tbsp. Olive Oil (EVOO here)
2 tsp. Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper

1/2 Mango Diced
2 sprigs of Chopped Mint
1 tsp. Lemon Zest
1 tsp. Lime Juice
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds

Procedure (tenderloin):
1. Combine miso, honey, lime juice, chili flakes, white pepper, sesame oil and grated ginger in a ceramic bowl. Whisk until all mixed. You can adjust the flavour as you wish by adding any of the aforementioned ingredients.

2. Coat pork tenderloin with olive oil, salt and pepper. Heat BBQ to 500° F and spray grilling surface with vegetable oil. Place tenderloin onto the grill uncovered and turn after 3 minutes.

3. Baste tenderloin with glaze and then turn it over. Repeat after 5 minutes. Be sure to NOT to close the cover. The tenderloin will burn if unattended. Keep basting the tenderloin as it cooks. Once it reaches an internal temperature of 140° F, remove from grill and rest for 10 minutes.

4. After 10 minutes, cross cut tenderloin into 1 cm thick slices.

Procedure (quinoa salad)
1. Place quinoa and water into a pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes and then let it rest for 5 minutes. Use a fork to fluff the quinoa and wait for it to cool.

2. Dice cucumber and tomatoes and combine with cooled quinoa in a mixing bowl. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly.

Procedure (mango salsa)
1. Combine diced mango, mint lemon zest and lime juice. Spoon over sliced tenderloin and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

This portion serves 2-3 people. So if you like this recipe or just want to vote for me for the heck of it, go to the Maple Leaf Prime Facebook Page. You can vote once a day (so vote for me everyday! LOL... Shameless plug!). For your troubles, you get a 50% off coupon for voting from Maple Leaf.

VOTE FOR ME!

Paris Bakery

While slurping up Pho at Red Pagoda, JuJu remarked that he really wanted a Banh Mi. However, there was none on the menu. I proceeded to point him in the direction of Paris Bakery across the street. I remembered walking by it while on my way to Brado a few weeks ago. I was intrigued by the thought of a Banh Mi shop on the Drive. So despite being quite full from lunch, we headed over for some sandwiches. Emilicious was more in the sweet mood, so she headed over to Dolce Amore instead. Reminiscent of Thu Mai, there were quite a few people in the store playing cards and smoking. However, it was less intimidating this time around. It's old hat for me now! As we approached the counter, one of the ladies scurried from her laptop to help us. I glanced over and ah yes... Farmville... What a colossal waste of time. I often look over at Viv and wonder why she spends so much time on it. Furthermore, I really don't care if someone bought a cow or something like that!

JuJu picked out the Meatball and Shredded Chicken sandwiches. While sticking to my policy of trying to order the opposite someone else has, I got the Special and BBQ Pork. What I really liked about these subs was the ample amount of meat. As you can see in the special sub, there is a good amount of Vietnamese ham, headcheese and pickled daikon & carrots. In terms of taste, I got quite a bit of fish sauce despite the presence of pate. The pate got lost as a result. I found the bread to be on the denser side; but the exterior was still quite crunchy. Pretty solid Banh Mi in a location which is more well-known for Latin and Italian cuisine.

The Good:
- Banh Mi are okay given that there is not much in the way of competition nearby
- It's inexpensive given the location

The Bad:
- Much better can be found on Kingsway
- What's with the people hanging out gambling?

Red Pagoda

Sunday morning hockey is always a welcomed activity in my books. Think of it. I actually do something productive on a weekend morning and get some exercise out of it. Sure, I could probably sleep or sit around surfing the net instead; but I'd miss out on eating. Eating? What does that have to do with Sunday morning hockey? C'mon any team sport is not worth playing if there is no eating involved afterwards! I'm particularly interested in the location of Sunday as well - Britannia. Yup, right next to a multitude of eating options on the Drive! You see, my sports activity schedule is strategically planned around location. Friday hockey is on the North Shore and Monday softball is generally on the Westside of Vancouver. That's pretty good coverage!

Of course eating would not be very fun without willing participants. Sure, I regularly eat alone and it's not that big of a deal. However, I often wonder what people think when I'm "creepily" snapping photos of my Bean Dip in the corner of a restaurant? I can only imagine... So thankfully, we had JuJu and Emilicious out with me for some Commercial Drive eats today. My wish was to give Red Pagoda a try. I promised JuJu that it was only a few blocks away from Brit. Turns out it was more like 4 blocks. He kept whining about how he was getting tired. I'm not sure how he managed 1.5 hours of hockey! We finally got to Red Pagoda and as if it was meant to be, we got the last window seat. Really good day for it too with an open window facing the nice sunshine and light breeze. Oh, and also the rabid German fans cruising in their Volkswagens celebrating a win in the World Cup. Hey, that's the atmosphere you get on the Drive!

Being quite hungry after the game, I went ahead and got both the Shrimp Brochette and the Chicken Brochette. They were both served separately with vermicelli, sprouts and greens. I thought that the shrimp was cooked perfectly with a nice crunchy texture. The chicken was also done properly with a charred exterior giving way to a moist interior. However, I though that both, and especially with the chicken, were quite sweet and that was the predominant flavour. JuJu got the Shrimp Salad Roll and there must've been the whole head of lettuce in it. So much so, the other end looked Carrot Top, except it was green. Too bad there was so much lettuce and not enough shrimp. Otherwise, it would've been more balanced. It look more like a lettuce roll than anything. The peanut sauce was good though since it was thick and very peanutty. He continued on with something a bit different in a bowl of Spicy Pho. He thought it was pretty flavourful; yet not too spicy. The rest of the ingredients are the typical ones you'd find in a regular bowl of pho. Well-executed all around though.

Emilicious and I decided to go for the regular pho instead. I'm not sure which one she had; but I got the "everything" version - Pagoda Special Beef Noodle Soup. Consisting of rare beef, flank, brisket, meatball and tripe (no tendon!), this bowl of noodles was pretty good. The noodles were still a bit chewy and there was a decent amount of meat. The beef soup was a little on the thin side being predominantly sweet.

Just like the last time at Le Do, I got a dish for Viv to go. I asked for it to be brought to the table first before packing it up. Hey, I wanted to take a plated picture of the food! I know, it's bordering on OCD... If you look at the picture of the Lemongrass Chicken on Rice, you can barely see any rice because there is so much meat! Viv turned this dish into 2 meals. She thought the chicken was a bit on the dry side and predominantly sweet. She didn't get much in the way of lemongrass flavour. Sure, the meal wasn't perfect; yet it was decent all-around. Prices are fair considering the location and service was friendly. Despite being satisfied with our meal, we spotted some Banh Mi across the street... Much like Lord of the Rings, in the words of Pippen and Merry, "time for 2nd breakfast!"

The Good:
- Decent food
- Friendly service
- Good portions

The Bad:
- As with any restaurant on Commercial, parking is an issue
- Slightly pricier than other Vietnamese joints