The Buffet @ River Rock Casino

Sounding like a broken record or merely just a shoddy CD player made in China, I seem to chime the same tune over and over again. "A buffet is never the best option to experience good food". Really, it isn't; but I seem to visit one every now and then. Of course, some are done for blog purposes like Kisha Poppo and Sui Sha Ya. Others are just out of plain stupidity such as Kawawa. Then we have others that remind me of my childhood (see: Royal Fork and Uncle Willy's). Yup, none of the aforementioned restaurants are on anybody's culinary radar. Maybe for quantity only. Even with tempered expectations, it is still very hard to "like" buffet food unless the ingredients are top quality such as seafood (especially served cold since it cannot further cook and become like rubber). In the GVRD, we find very few of these types of buffets other than the Sunday brunch variety such as The Hotel Vancouver, Pan Pacific, Waterfront, Sutton Place and Metrotown Hilton. Yes, we can certainly get seafood at these places; yet at a cost of $30.00+. With that in mind, I finally made it out to The Buffet at the River Rock Casino. With so few non-Asian buffet options in the GVRD, we can now look to the casinos.

Much like any other casino buffet, the layout of the restaurant is designed for that purpose. On an adjacent wall to the entrance, we find the Hot Food stations. At the very start, there is a mix of items which included Candied Yams, Garlic Mash Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, Broccoli, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Shanghai Bok Choy, Pesto Penne, Rigatoni in a Cream Sauce, BBQ Ribs, 5-Spice Chicken, Braised Brisket and Basa with an Orange-Tarragon Cream. Believe it or not, the most memorable item from this section was the mashed potatoes. Yup, not exactly a ringing endorsement of the food; but the potatoes were very creamy and garlicky. Predictably, the pastas were overcooked (sitting there in the sauce); yet the pesto was quite nice. Ribs were okay, quite tender while not really being all that BBQ'd. Brisket was not good, very dry and bland. Basa was decent, still moist and tender while the sauce was quite mild. Directly after this selection of food came the Roast Beef. We found the beef to be quite chewy and lacking flavour. I guess we shouldn't expect a better cut of meat considering it was lunch?

Since the River Rock is in Richmond, there was a large Chinese Food section. Too bad it really wasn't all that good though. There were 2 soups consisting of Hot 'n Sour and Cream of Corn. Both were forgettable. Then there were Potstickers, Steamed Chicken Legs, Spring Rolls, Sesame Balls, Stir-Fried Beef, Orange Chicken, Soy Rice Noodles, Ma-Poh Tofu, Fried Rice, Gai Lan and freshly made Onion Pancakes. Everything, as expected, was overcooked. Beef was tough, chicken was dry and veggies soft. I guess we can't blame them since it is a buffet. But I've had better Chinese at Panda Express. No joke! Reason being is the food we got here was both unappetizing to look at and poorly executed. When the thought of "I can do better than that" creeps in, then there is a problem.

We skipped the Salad Bar and went for the hot food first. We returned later to discover the usual stuff. You know, Spring Mix, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, Coleslaw, Bean Salad, Thai Noodle Salad, Pig's Ear... Pig's Ear?!?!? Yes, and add to that Seaweed Salad and Marinated Tripe too. Definitely a Chinese influence for sure. The rest of my table (who were non-Asian) stared at me in disgust as I gleefully chewed my tripe and pig's ear. I even dangled it in front of them to make my point. Yah I know, I'm immature... Anyways, all of the items in the salad bar seemed and tasted fresh. The Dessert section followed the theme of Chinese items integrated into more common sweets. Smack dab in the middle of it all is a Chocolate Fondue with various fruits and marshmallows. It was not really all that memorable since the chocolate was quite sweet and rather runny. Therefore, the chocolate never really adhered to the fruit. It looked more like fruit with chocolate sauce on the bottom of the plate.

As for the other items, there was Bread Pudding, Cheesecake, Strawberry Flan, Cream Puffs, Various Petit Fours, Cheesecake, Creme Caramel, Apple Strudel, Chocolate Brownie, Lo Poh Beng, Cream Swirl Cake, Lychee Jelly, Moon Cake and Sticky Rice Balls with Red Bean. Okay desserts in general; but nothing extraordinary, which pretty much sums up this buffet. Mostly subpar with a few highlights. Certainly not worth $16.95; but okay when discounted (20% off for a group 10 or more).

The Good:
- Nice digs
- A good variety of food
- Good service

The Bad:
- Food is pretty ordinary
- Layout for the buffet is scattered and cramped for the hot food section

Kisha Poppo (Richmond)

Alright, consider this scenario. We're in Richmond. We didn't get into a car accident. We didn't get cut-off. We got a parking space without incident. We're in a Japanese restaurant. The restaurant is full. Other than the staff, I'm the only Asian person present. Tell me what is the most strange thing that happened? Well, it can probably be all of the above except for being in a Japanese restaurant. However, it doesn't bode well if I am the only Asian at a Japanese restaurant in Richmond! Despite the repeated warnings from many different people, I have done the unthinkable. Yah, Kawawa was bad and so was Sui Sha Ya; but Kisha Poppo has often been grouped into that same category of Japanese AYCE that really should be all-you-shouldn't-eat.

Well, there are really some good reasons for this visit. Really! Honest! First, everyone pretty much agreed on Japanese AYCE. Second, there are very few Japanese AYCE joints I haven't blogged about. Third, I was the only Asian in the group. So what's the harm in going to Kisha Poppo? I guess we were going to find out... I ended up ordering only a modest amount of Tuna
Sashimi because no one else wanted to have any. I guess that was a good decision on their part because it was pretty average. I've had much worse, so this was actually passable. It was soft like tuna usually is; but not overly mushy. It was quite bland though. We also got some Nigiri and again, I practically ate all the tuna and salmon. Surprisingly, the salmon looked pretty good with a nice sheen. It was not particularly flavourful; yet it did have a fresh texture. Predictably, the rice was sub par being quite dry and bland. Amusingly, I've never seen tamago and inari be so popular before at our table. Oh yeah, they're cooked items... Although I did get a lot of "what the heck is this???" when referring to the Inari. I was surprised anyone touched it when I remarked it was tofu skin...

Now to the rolls... I know, I know, we have a "safe" selection of California Roll, BC Roll, Futomaki, Oshinko and Tekka Maki. Once again, I had to be the closer and finish up the remaining futomaki and BC roll. Apparently, they were too strange compared to the Cali roll. The rolls were pretty standard fast food Japanese fare which really didn't offend (except for the same sub-par rice). However, they weren't the most aesthetically pleasing things to look at. They seemed to be rolled haphazardly and probably in advance. Okay, here we go, one of the most popular items of the meal... Gyozas! I know, for those Japanese food connoisseurs, you are probably rolling your eyes right now; but please bear with me, we had some newbies and they were trying their best. These gyozas were fried up very nicely; however, they were greasier than the floor at Mr. Lube. Furthermore, the filling was loose and really mushy. I didn't like them particularly. It didn't help that we weren't supplied with any dipping sauce for them either.

Another popular dish was the Chicken Katsu. Fried chicken on a stick slathered in sauce. Not particularly the one thing we'd identify with Japanese food. Whatever, looking past that, they were actually quite good. Fried up crispy with moist chicken, we tried to order more. But every time, we got like one instead of the 4 we ordered. Honestly, I'm not sure how they messed this up really. I know since it's AYCE, you can keep ordering it until you get the requested amount; but if that takes a total of an hour, then what's the point? Moving on... Something that I thought would be popular really didn't materialize. No one seemed interested in the Tempura. Yah, they weren't missing much anyways. It was quite greasy with a bit too much batter. In fact, the veggies inside were just plain slimy. I really didn't enjoy eating this.

One dish that got a lot of play was predictably the venerable Teriyaki Chicken. Of course it did since you'll find it in most bento boxes. I must admit that this one was quite good. The chicken was fried up crispy while still being moist and tender. As you can see, it is not slathered in an obscene amount of teriyaki sauce either. Universally, this dish was well-liked and we had to order more. In addition to the aforementioned items, we got most of the other lunchtime AYCE offerings and honestly, they were okay. Despite the fact that Kisha Poppo is not somewhere I'd personally eat at again, it is an option for those looking for Westernize Japanese food. I say this only because there are worse places such as Sui Sha Ya and Kawawa. But again, if you really must do AYCE Japanese, go to Ninkazu or Tomokazu.

The Good:
- Food is edible (I'm lowering my expectations here)
- It's a fairly comfortable dining space
- The hot food was hot and the cold food was cold

The Bad:
- Food is edible; but not really all that good either
- Service is sparse
- Some items are a bit greasy

Sunshine Diner

There is an app on the iPhone that specifically deals with planets and constellations. My son is completely fascinated with it. With that in mind, we felt that a visit to the Planetarium would be a good call. And why not? You got your planet show with "Harold" and various displays that deal with space. Looks great on paper doesn't it? While on our way to the "mushroom" as we referred to it when we were kids, lunch was in order. I didn't give it much thought since we were rushing out the door. Thus, it was the "drive around until you spot something" routine. Hey, we spotted a lot of stuff; but none were open until 11:30am. We were getting pretty flustered and resisting hard not to visit White Spot (been there too many times). I'm glad my son didn't see it, he would've nagged us until we would give in. Driving down that same block, the Sunshine Diner caught our attention. With "Elvis" at the front door and colourful red and white decor, it sure looked inviting. I stopped, parked the car and grabbed the family to a random food adventure. Diner food... Now that's something my kids should eat.

Without even looking at the menu, I really liked this place. C'mon, there's Elvis! Furthermore, you got booth seating, jukebox and retro decor. The place looks like a diner. Seems to have the whole Johnny Rockets thing going on. As expected the menu consisted of breakfast, burgers and sandwiches. Although my son already had pancakes earlier, he wanted to have them again. Wow, that's really boring. No matter, that is something he'd eat and that's good enough for me. We got the Pancake Breakfast for him and his sister to share. It came with eggs and sausage (or bacon or ham) as well. Although he was eating them willingly, I thought the pancakes could've been fluffier. The eggs were scrambled perfectly. And I mean perfectly. Fluffy and barely cooked, this is a lot harder to do than it looks. The sausage was also very good, it was meaty and not fatty at all. Good meat flavour too.

Viv went for the Clubhouse and even though it is a simple sandwich, this one was done right. Bacon was crispy and lean, veggies fresh, real chicken breast and real cheese, what's not to like? Fries were crispy too. For me, I had to have the Mushroom Burger. It's a diner right? Gotta go for the burger... As you can see in the picture, it was loaded with mushrooms, pickles, cheese, lettuce and tomato. The patty was moist despite not being juicy. The burger tasted great with lots of meat flavour except the pickles were much too salty. Take that out and it would've been much more balanced. Naturally, by virtue of being a diner, the food ain't gonna knock the socks off anyone. However, there is definitely good diner food and bad diner food. I would say this is good diner food since it wasn't greasy, overall execution was good, prices fair, friendly service and pretty welcoming environment.

The Good:
- Cool decor
- Generally well-made food
- Okay value considering location

The Bad:
- Pretty standard fare, not much innovation

Octopus' Garden

Omakase, a Japanese tasting menu of sorts, is quite the experience. Other than taking into account certain dietary restrictions or allergies, anything goes. The menu is left up to the chef and you merely go along for the ride. Most often, you are looking at $100.00 per person for the good stuff. Now, one of the first places that come to mind in the GVRD is Tojo's. And why not? He has received a lot of fan fare for his cuisine on TV, internet and print media. However, whenever there is hype, there comes a price. Recently, Pomegranate and I went all out for the "no limit" Omakase at Tojo's. That means sitting at the sushi bar with Tojo himself supervising and making many of the courses. Basically, we kept eating until we told him to stop. At that point, we had already spent almost $500.00 between the two of us for food, sake, taxes and tip (around $350 on food alone). Was it worth it? Well, that really depends on the point of view. In terms of value, of course not. But if someone wanted to buy a Ferrari, are they looking for value? That would be the same with Tojo's. It's for the experience and the right to say you've eaten at Tojo's. Now, there are those who would like to point out that a true Omakase experience which will cost you much less can be found at Octopus' Garden. Completely the antithesis of Tojo's, Octopus' Garden is a small place run by sushi chef Sada-san. He is a humble man who is both skilled and creative. He will greet you with a friendly smile and make you laugh with his honest humour. There is no pretentiousness and certainly no arrogance. The food does the talking here, not the hype.

While we were dining at Tojo's, Pomegranate and I had already planned to do the Omakase at Octopus' Garden as a comparison. Due to circumstances beyond our control, it has taken us nearly 4 months to do so. Better late than never I suppose. No longer advertised on the website nor printed on their menu, the Omakase is still very much available. There are two choices: $60.00 and $100.00. Naturally, the more expensive option comes with all the bells and whistles. Of course we went for the bells and whistles! We're men and we like shiny things... Actually, we did start with something relatively shiny in the Oyster on the half shell. Simply presented, the Kumomoto was sweet and fresh.

Up next was a Bluefin Tuna Salad. Another simple dish consisting of mesclun greens with a few pieces of beautiful tuna dressed with a light ponzu shoyu. Mixed together, there was a nice balance of salt and acid to accent the natural sweetness of the fish. And about that tuna... The simplicity of the salad allowed the star of the show to shine with its smooth meaty texture. Delicious. Onto one of Sado-san's signature items - The Uni Shooter. Consisting of mountain yam, rice, quail's egg and uni, this is a very unique offering. Although the egg and uni share a similar consistency, somehow it all works. Very delicate tasting with natural sweetness from the uni, the mountain yam offers up some much needed crunch as a textural contrast. Served on the side was a Bluefin Tuna Skewer with green onion. Honestly, I didn't care much for this. It's almost a shame that such a beautiful fish would be overcooked on a skewer. Lost is the wonderful meaty texture and rich flavour. Instead, what we got was a hard piece of tuna with salt.

A very delicate Matsutake and Geoduck with spinach broth was presented to us next. We drank the aromatic broth first with a touch of lemon and then proceed to eat the ingredients. The flavours were very subtle with some sweetness derived from the geoduck and unique aroma from the matsutake. A refreshing interlude before the wow kicked in. That's right, up until this point, we were happy with the meal; but hardly kicked in the gut with flavour nor blown away by anything. That all suddenly changed with the Monkfish Liver with Tako Sashimi. A combination of monkfish liver atop wakame, daikon and topped with tako sashimi resulted in both a texture and flavour revelation in our mouths. There was crunch from the daikon, chewiness from the tako, smooth "foie gras of the sea" from the monkfish liver and umami from the wakame. Outstanding.

To further kick it up a notch, we were served Wagyu Beef with grated spicy daikon. As you can see, the beef was not completely cooked all the way through. This is significant. Since Wagyu beef is so well-marbled, any instance of rareness will result in some chewiness. Thus, the beef wasn't as tender as one would expect. But, in the end, this did not matter because the high-fat content only resulted in an abundance of flavour. The spicy grated daikon complimented the delicious beef very well. As we were still licking our lips from the tasty Wagyu Beef, an enormous Sashimi Platter arrived at our table. The "wow" factor x 2. Beautifully arranged with super fresh components, we were chomping at the bit to dig in (after I took photos of course). There was a plate of Albacore Tuna, Tuna Tataki, Amberjack, Mirugai, Wild Salmon and Tako. A whackload of fresh Uni and 2 Spot Prawns. The centrepiece was a whole Lobster with the tail served as sashimi topped with Ikura and edible gold (yes, gold). What a treat I tell ya. Everything, and I mean everything was fresh and delicious. I needed very little soy and freshly grated wasabi for the sashimi. So naturally sweet.

Then a strange dish of sorts arrived next - Braised Red Snapper Head with bean curd skin and Shanghai bak choy. Hey, I love head, er... I mean fish heads... But it really didn't seem to fit within the flow of the meal. With that being said, I liked it - from the gelatinous skin, soft cheek, to the soft belly. The sweet soy braising liquid was a nice flavouring agent. And as if we didn't get enough head already, we got the Fried Spot Prawn Heads. For those who haven't tried this, it is a real treat and not scary at all. Fried until super crunchy, the whole head can be eaten. Only seasoned with some salt, it is almost like a shrimp cracker of sorts. For awhile there, I was worried that I wouldn't get a chance to sample any sushi or nigiri. I was really happy to see the next dish which consisted of 2 pieces of Nigiri, one geoduck and one bluefin toro (with a piece of tamago). Once again, simple; yet delicious. The geoduck was sweet and had a nice crunch while the bluefin toro was nice and fatty. The sushi rice was nearly flawless with a nice chew while not being too dry. Vinegar and sweetness was easily apparent as well.

As if we could actually eat any more food, we were surprised to see the Mango Lobster Roll (or Lobster on Vacation according to Sado-san). A balanced combination of lobster, mango, snow pea, tempura bits, tobiko, avocado, nori and ikura, this roll was very good. Different textures and flavours really made this roll interesting to eat. The sweet mango finish left a pleasant aftertaste. By now, we were so full, it was not funny. I really couldn't eat anymore. In fact, I was too full to eat prior to the lobster roll. Hence, when we were offered a choice of desserts - either to have the small or large - we chose small... until we asked what they were. The small was only ice cream, while the large was Fried Banana with ice cream. Pomegranate and I immediately changed our minds and went for the large dessert even though we could not eat another bite. It turned out to be a good choice since the tempura fried banana was yummy. Perfectly fried crunchy tempura gave way to sweet soft banana. Topped with ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and a strawberry, we scoffed it down like you would think we were still hungry.

OMFG. What an outstanding meal. We got twice the amount of food for nearly half the price we paid at Tojo's. Of course, Tojo's and Octopus' Garden are not really all that alike in many ways; but the bottom line is that the omakase here is both superior and less expensive. The quality and selection of ingredients was fabulous. Think of it: Wagyu beef, monkfish liver, bluefin tuna (and lots of it), geoduck, lobster, uni, spot prawns and the list goes on. I would not hesitate to say that the $100.00 represents a very good value. Take into account that there is no pretentiousness, hype, and unrealistic expectations at Octopus' Garden compared to Tojo's, there is absolutely no contest as to which one has a better Omakase. But in the end, if you have money to burn and people to impress, then Tojo's it is. However, I would gladly do the omakase at Octopus' Garden again because it is awesome and the fact I can actually justify spending the money on it.

The Good:
- Food is just excellent
- Friendly, honest service
- Outstanding omakase

The Bad:
- Prices are on the higher side; but worth it in my opinion
- Super small place is not really all that great for big groups
- Parking is an issue here

Meat & Bread

The sandwich is a simple thing really. Meat & bread. Or for vegetarians, veggies and bread. So for something that we can easily make at home, what is the rationale behind going out to buy one? Convenience is definitely a factor. That's why Subway is so popular. But don't even get me started on Subway... Other than that, I think an establishment that specializes solely on sandwiches better made a damn good one. There has to be something special about it, especially when we have to shell out close to $10.00 for one. Off the top of my head, Finch's definitely hits the mark in that respect. Located not too far from Finch's comes the new kid on the block. Meat & Bread serves up only 4 choices of sandwiches from the Grilled Cheese at $6.00 to the Porcetta at $8.00. Right on the fringe of the Downtown Eastside, Meat & Bread attempts to be something different while at the same time providing something familiar.

Pomegranate and I were somewhat nearby and decided to grab a few sandwiches. We weren't really hungry and in fact, were scheduled to eat dinner in about 2 hours. But whatever, we'll take a few bites and save it for a snack later. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, they ran out of chicken sandwiches. Hence, Pomegranate went for his backup plan in the Meatball Sandwich. More like a sloppy joe than meatball, it was freakin' delicious. Lots of tender, crumbly well-seasoned meat mixed in with a spicy tomato sauce, gremolata and parm on a fresh ciabatta bun made for a messy; yet delicious sandwich. For me, I was here for only one thing - the Porcetta. Sinfully fatty with cracklings that provide both texture and taste, this is a work of art. Slow-roasted and hand-carved to order with a dollop of salsa verde, I didn't only want to take one bite or even two. It took strength on a Herculanian level to stop eating. Try stopping midway during sex and you'll understand the pain I suffered. Alas, I still had dinner to eat and I could not continue biting into the soft ciabatta and tender fatty pork still glistening in its own juices. So good, so simple, no need for anything else. With prices that some food carts are charging these days, I'd take the sandwiches from Meat & Bread any day (well, except for Re-Up).

The Good:
- Quality ingredients = good sandwich
- Constructed-to-order
- Cool, minimalistic dining space

The Bad:
- Sandwiches are on the smaller side (but fair for the price)
- Not really a bad, but I wish it were open later than 5:00pm

Seb's Market Cafe

*Restaurant is now closed*

I have to admit it. This meal (much like many) happened a while back in the summer. However, for some reason or another, I wrote half of it and did not finish until now. No rhyme or reason really. Much like in the past, I would push schoolwork that was due at the end of the term until the day before. Procrastinator? Absolutely! Okay, with that out of the way... Last year, Viv and her coworkers crammed into Seb's Market Cafe across from Anna's Cakehouse on Broadway for some brunch. She remarked that the food was pretty good and of course I filed it away in my "to eat" list. As circumstances presented itself, it took me a year to finally make it out for brunch. Hey, it's not like we didn't want to pay it a visit, it just seems that always something else comes up. Well, more like something newer and flasher that piques my interest. Fine, I'll put my "get caught-up in the hype" hat down for today. Sometimes, the small little places dish up the best food despite no glitz whatsoever.

Reminiscent of the many eclectic establishments in Portland, Seb's certainly has character and charm. It's quite homey and so is the service. I'm not really sure of the overall theme of the place since the menu seems all-over-the-place. Case in point, I had the Seb's Benny on a savory biscuit with crab meat and Thai coconut sauce. Certainly sounds interesting eh? Usually, this type of fusion is disastrous; yet it was certainly not the case here. Consisting of a perfectly free-hand poached egg, sweet crab meat with a mild and fragrant coconut sauce - this was a tasty Benny. The crab was in no way masked by any of the components including the sauce. In that way, the entire dish worked.

Viv got the French Toast which comes with a choice of banana bread or French bread. She went for the latter. Nothing particularly amiss with this dish. Maybe slightly aggressive with the pan fry on the egg; but it didn't adversely affect anything. The main thing is my son ate it, so all is good. With the 2 dishes we sampled combined with Viv's previous visit, Seb's offers up some pretty solid food with some twists. Definitely homey and personable service to boot. I will be back.

The Good:
- Some interesting options
- Mellow, homey vibe
- Personable service

The Bad:
- Not expensive; but not cheap either
- A bit crowded inside

Findlay Convenience Store & Cafe

Other than pure randomness, it is very hard to find hidden restaurants. What? You see, we know all the usual places to eat. They are in everyone's top-10 list, blogged extensively about and/or heavily promoted. The small little places are usually either ignored or only known by regulars. For someone like me, to find out about these places, there are only a few ways. I could merely spot it while driving, research the internet or read about it from one of the many other food blogs in Vancouver. However, probably the most valuable resource are other people. This is the case here. While slurping on noodles at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (yes, for the 3rd time, I like the place...), Rich Guy's friend tipped me off about a small convenience store that serves up good Banh Mi. When he explained that it is located right behind the Croation Cultural Centre off of Victoria Drive, I was thoroughly confused. I really don't recall a Vietnamese sandwich shop around there (and I know the area well!). Obsessively curious, I made it a pit stop on the way home.

From the outside, it looks very much like any other family run corner store. Except, there is enough posters plastered on the window to enhance the "shadiness" quotient. Rich Guy was a bit nervous since he is not one to visit hole-in-the-walls or dives. McDonald's is a stretch for him! We eventually made it in and were greeted by a very friendly couple. Surprisingly, this little store has a pretty diverse menu. In addition to Banh Mi, there are burgers, noodle & rice dishes and regular sub sandwiches. Trust me, no one would expect this by just looking at the outside. I got one each of the Special, BBQ Pork and Chicken subs. The Special consisted of Vietnamese ham and roast pork with pickled carrots, lettuce, butter-mayo and a savoury hot sauce reminiscent of Viet Sub. Despite the simple ingredients (no cilantro, onions, hot peppers, fish sauce or pate), the sub was quite good. The bread is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside (much like Empress Bakery). What makes the sub is the sauce - lots of flavour and a bit spicy. The BBQ Pork sub added a touch of sweetness from the processed meat and the Chicken sub ended up to be similar to the Special. Despite not the resembling Banh Mi you'd find at Ba Le or Tung Hing, these were still good in their own way. Enough so, I'd probably get them again.

The Good:
- Bread is quite good, crunchy outside, soft inside
- The spicy sauce makes the sandwich

The Bad:
- Not expensive; but there is cheaper
- Like most Banh Mi joints, it's take and go (even though there are tables)