Beautiful Island

Awhile ago, Jenny had blogged about this small Taiwanese bubble tea restaurant out on Imperial called Beautiful Island. From her post, it didn't inspire me to visit the place anytime soon. However, the place is open late and you know I like to eat out after hockey. So... it suddenly reappeared on my radar, especially since there are not a whole lot of places to eat in Burnaby after midnight. From what I can recall, there is The One, Potter's Garden, Au Wing Kee, #1 Beef Noodle, Bubble World, Curry King and of course the chain restaurants. Chill used to be one option; but it has since closed down. If you read my post about it, you'll see why that happened. One problem with Beautiful Island. I wasn't sure when they actually closed. Easy, just call them. Yah, that would be ideal if they actually had a number listed! The number on Urbanspoon is wrong and there seems to be no other form of documentation on the internet about this place. I really didn't want to randomly visit the place to find out it is closed.

Yet, that is what we did. No choice. We wanted to eat, it was late and we wanted to head to Burnaby. Luck would have it, it was open. Open until 1:00am on Friday and 2:00am on Saturday. Oh and I still don't have the right phone number because they don't have a take out menu. I usually get the info that way. I didn't write down their phone number. Epic fail of sorts. The reason we chose Beautiful Island is because Apu, Gordo and myself reside in Burnaby. Thus, Milhouse and Boss Woman were the token Vancouver residents. When we arrived, there was only one other table. Maybe it was late? Maybe they don't have a working phone number listed??? Sorry, that just bugs me!

Boss Woman really likes to share food as a means to try more than one dish. Hey, so do I! Perfect! Hence, we shared 3 items starting with the Marinated Combo consisting of Beef Shank, Pig's Ear and Chicken Giblets. This would've been really good if the sauce actually tasted like anything. For some reason or another, the sauce was bland despite the rich colour. Therefore, the meat was flavourless. Where the meats were bland, the Salty Peppery Chicken Nuggets were a flavour explosion. As the name suggests, it was salty and peppery; but in good balance. I liked the moist chicken that still had a light crunch. This was very good. Surprisingly, the best dish, in our opinion, was the Shrimp Fried Noodles. The noodles were al dente and none-too-oily. Lots of crunchy cabbage and carrots with large butterflied shrimp (should be called prawns) made for a solid fried noodle dish.

Now we wouldn't visit this type of restaurant without trying the Beef Noodle would we? Well, I made sure that everyone knew this... Milhouse and Gordo both got an order to try. First off, the noodles were al dente and the broth actually had some kick to it. However, as Milhouse remarked, "the soup is flavourful; but I can still taste the water". Thus, the soup lacked any real depth. The meat was actually quite dry and slightly chewy. Not a bad beef noodle, just not a good one. Apu went for one of their set meals which includes 3 mini-side dishes (pickled cabbage, green beans and a severely overcooked boiled egg). His main dish was Stir-Fried Cabbage and Pressed Tofu. Although the plating was not the prettiest, the dish was not bad. The cabbage was still crisp and there was no absence of flavour or spiciness. Hey, I gotta agree with Jenny here. The food ain't bad; but it isn't memorable as well. Good for late night, not sure about other times.

The Good:
- Open late
- Drinks were not bad
- Pricing is okay

The Bad:
- Food is pretty average
- Service is not really that attentive

Nagano (Newport Village)

It's truly a wonderful day. The birds are singing. The sun is shining (well, the day before at least). And Rich Guy is arriving into YVR! Yes, that only means one thing - more eats! Gone for what has seem like an eternity, I had lost one of my "go-to" dining companions. Anxiously, I awaited his return. Naturally, I offered to pick him up from the airport. Scheduled to arrive at 4:00pm, it looked good that we could catch some dinner in the land of eternal traffic. Unfortunately, his flight arrived early and that ultimately kiboshed our dinner plans in Richmond. No matter, we made it to my house first and I gathered up the entire family to go out to eat. Besides, Rich Guy was treating! LOL. Since we had to give him a lift home to Coquitlam, we decided to eat in Port Moody.

Trying to stay away from heavy eats after sitting on a plane for 15+ hours, we settled on Japanese. Located in Newport Village, Nagano has a reputation for good eats; yet at relatively high prices. Once again, Rich Guy was treating, so that was perfect! LOL... One look at the menu and indeed the prices are a bit scary... $9.00 for an udon... That kinda says it all. But then again, we have an open mind and prefer to let the food do the talking. After we put in our order, we were given free head. Er, no wonder the everything is so expensive! ROFL! Okay, what I mean is we got a complimentary BBQ Salmon Head. Hey, not much to complain about since it was free. Mind you, it was pretty good too. The attached meat was moist and the rest of the parts were what you expect from a fish head. Fate would have it, the Ebi Mayo arrived after the head. Doused with an obscene amount of mayo, this was almost ironic after the head... Whatever the case, this has been one of the better versions outside of an Izakaya. The shrimp had the requisite snap texture while the light tempura was crisp. Despite the appearance of too much mayo, it was the right amount.

Next up was the Salmon Sashimi and it was good. As you can see, it sure looked fresh. Nice colour and texture. We could actually taste a difference. The flesh was quite sweet. We decided to try 2 of their specialty rolls starting with the Moody Fever. Now if someone wasn't familiar with the fact they were in Port Moody, the name of this roll could elicit some strange thoughts. This could be one "emo" roll... So the actual roll was comprised of a prawn tempura roll with tobiko, tuna and avocado topped with smoked salmon and seared tuna. Despite its modest size, the roll was substantial. If you look closely, what amounts to an entire order of tuna tataki rests on top of the roll. I took a sample of the sushi rice and it was more than acceptable. Slightly on the drier side, it was chewy and had some flavour.

The next specialty roll was the Dancing Unagi. First we had a roll that had emotional issues, now the second one is a dancing eel. Not sure what they are smokin' here... But I can see why they call it as such. The large pieces of unagi almost appear to be "dancing" atop a real crab California roll. The whole thing is finished with radish sprouts and unagi sauce. Despite sounding good on paper, I'm not sure if it is necessary to have real crab in this roll, it gets completely lost. With that being said, the roll is a fantastic value since there was enough unagi to make several rolls over. If we thought this roll was big on the unagi, it didn't prepare us for the Deluxe Assorted Tempura. The darn thing was so large, I had a hard time figuring out how to take a picture of it. Look at it! It was a mound of prawn, fish, squid, yam, sweet potato and squash tempura. Although the batter was on the thicker side of the ledger, it was cooked all the way through and wasn't heavy.

Since the kiddies were with us, here is the requisite Chicken Udon. Although the udon was good in its own ways, I personally do not like it cluttered with so much stuff. Look at it, you can barely make out the udon from the myriad of veggies. Then again, I can't knock it too much since the noodles were still chewy and the soup was quite tasty, albeit not tasting like most other udon I've had. For our last dish, we ended up getting the Chicken Yakisoba as a "filler" of sorts. Little did we know that their portions are quite large. We actually didn't end up eating this dish at all since we were quite full. Of course I had to take a sample still! From what I tried, it was quite good. The noodles were chewy and it was delicious. A nice balance of savoury and sweet. Lots of chicken and other goodies mixed in with the noodles too. Rich Guy had it for lunch the next day and remarked how good it was.

You know what? I have been somewhat avoiding Nagano for awhile because I have seen the prices. Compared to many of the nearby Japanese restaurants, Nagano can be deemed expensive. However, after this visit, the portion-to-price ratio appears to be quite fair. In that respect, it offsets the prices. We thought most of the food was fresh and well-made. Compared to nearby Sango, Nagano provides a better bang-for-the-buck at roughly the same prices. Furthermore, Nagano has the slight edge in terms of service as well. A solid experience all-around.

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

The Bad:
- Can be deemed expensive

Q Go Ramen

Consider this scenario. I'm sitting alone in a corner at Q Go Ramen. I'm disturbingly giddy taking photos of my noodles. There is a Mandarin-speaking couple sitting next to me. Due to the nature of the table configuration, they are practically encroaching on my personal space. They really have no idea what the heck I'm doing. How did I end up in this situation? Well, I'm no stranger to eating alone. I do it all the time for lunch. However, for some reason or another, dinner seems different. Originally, I was going to try out Hida Takayama in Robson Market. But I had to push those plans a few days forward since I was going to meet Kim for lunch. Thus, I was alone, still hungry and craving ramen.

So as mentioned, I was seated in a corner of sorts, so at the very least, only the immediate people around me could stare and point... In addition to water and utensils, the friendly server presented me with some complimentary Edamame. A nice touch in my opinion. Undaunted by a free appy of sorts, I decided to start with some Gyozas. I wasn't expecting much; yet these gyozas were pretty good. The best part was the dumpling wrapper itself. It was thin, easy to chew through while still retaining some chewiness at the same time. The filling was also quite pleasant being non-gritty; yet still meaty. The filling was a tad on the bland side; however, I did get some sweetness and that's what the accompanying dip is for anyways.

Again, not satisfied by only one appetizer, I went for a Mini-Chashu Don as well. Hey, I was hungry! I found the rice to be on the drier side while not terribly so. I prefer this over mushy rice any day. The chashu on top was also a bit dry. A bit more fat would've been better. I found that there was not enough sauce for the amount of rice. After awhile, I was only eating white rice with no more meat nor sauce. When I did get sauce, mayo, green onion and nori, the rice did taste okay. Overall it was acceptable. Now for the main-event. I went for the Shio Ramen with a side of corn. Included in the basic ramen was 2 slices of chashu, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, green onion and half of a ajitama egg. For the price ($7.95) and considering the portion size, I consider this to be a decent value in comparison to other ramen joints. Now of course value and taste can be mutually exclusive things. In this case, I asked for fatty broth and meat. As you can clearly see, there were a lot of "floaties" intermingled with the oil slick on top. Unhealthy? Yes. Flavourful? Generally. I say generally because the broth was not a rich as I was expecting. It wasn't silky and lacked depth. No "porkiness" or slight thickness we would find at Kintaro. Sometimes I complain about too much salt in a shio broth such as the case at Sanpachi or Menya. However, I felt the broth here could've used more salt. With that being said, the broth was acceptable. The noodles were past al dente, being on the softer side.

As for the chashu, it was fatty alright, pretty much melting-in-my-mouth. So the texture was good and the flavour was decent too. I really liked my half-ajitama egg (not a whole one...). It was perfect. Of course not everything was perfect and honestly that would not be possible. I would say that their broth does not match up with Kintaro and Santuoka. Yet, considering the price and portion size, I would say Q Go is an okay place to go for Ramen outside of Robson Street. Although, if one is mobile, head over to Kintaro and Santuoka.

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

The Bad:
- Friendly server, but that was the only server
- Broth lacked depth and flavour

Beyond Restaurant & Lounge

Once again, it is our yearly conference in Downtown Vancouver. A time to learn new things, to get away from our job and to network. Yah right. For me, it a chance to kidnap a bunch of colleges to go eat with me for lunch! Originally, they were set on going to some salad bar place. Oh the agony! Leafy greens for lunch? In addtion to being boring, the pictures would monotonous. How I dreaded the thought of it. But somehow, I was able to "convince" everyone to join me at Beyond Restaurant & Lounge, which was across the street from the Wall Centre (where our conference was held). Originally, they had no clue where Beyond was located and really what it was. For me, I remember it to be the location of the long gone Roy's Seafood House located in the Century Plaza Hotel. Completely renovated and tres chic, this place is not out-of-line with the other Burrard Street hot spots such as Cactus Club and Joey.

We were seated right in front of the "open" kitchen. In reality, we were separated by a huge glass window; but we got to see all of our food being made. We all thought this was very neat and somewhat of a "cool" gimmick. After a difficult time choosing what to eat, due to the variety on the menu, I settled on starting with the Yam Fries. I know this is generally a generic starter usually supplied by Sysco. However, with a clear view of the kitchen, I spotted the tub of what appeared to be freshly cut fries. It's still possible they could be prepared; but at least to me, it seemed fresh. When it arrived, it was extremely large with an equally large side of cajun aioli. The fries were crispy and non-greasy. Unlike many ailoli dips out there, this one was very flavourful. For my main, I went for the Prawn Spaghetti. It turned out to be a linguine rather than spaghetti. No matter, I prefer linguine anyways. I found the pasta to be slightly past al dente; yet not terribly so. The tomato sauce was nice and thick being very mild. Normally, that would be a problem; but with the addition of whole olives and plenty of fresh Parmesan, there was no absence of saltiness. The real star of the dish was the ample amount of large prawns. They were perfectly cooked and naturally sweet.

I guess I wasn't really paying attention since someone else had ordered yam fries with their Chicken Burger. Normally I'm on top of this so I don't do duplicates; but I guess I dropped the ball on this one. Anyways, the chicken burger was extremely large with BBQ sauce on top. It was moist and good for what it's worth. The Salmon Burger was just as large. In fact, surprisingly large considering that the salmon fillet was actually bigger than the bun itself. Nicely grilled and still moist, it was a solid burger. As for their pizzas, we had both the Vegetarian and Asian Chicken Pizza. Universally, we all thought the pizzas looked the part with a decent amount of charring and colour. The consensus among those having the pizzas was that there was no absence of flavour or toppings. The crust was thin and crisp.

The last item was the daily special which happened to be the Chorizo Quiche. In theory, this should've been a slam dunk. Think of it, quiche is usually mild-tasting. Add spicy chorizo, the flavours should explode. Well, the flavour was actually decent; but the most important part of the dish was not. The quiche itself was extremely dry and crumbly. Despite the disappointing quiche, the rest of the food was actually quite good. The prices in general were not anymore expensive than Cactus Club or Joey. In fact, it was probably a bit less. Keeping in mind that the place is nicely decorated with attentive service, we were more than pleased with our lunch. Of course dinner service could be another story. Yet, if this is any indication, then Beyond is more than acceptable for what it is.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced lunch given its location
- Good portions
- Attentive service

The Bad:
- Nothing ground-breaking here
- It's in a hotel, what did you expect?

Be 'wiched Cafe

The whole gourmet sandwich craze with the back-to-back-to-back openings of Meat & Bread, the Dirty Apron and Big Lou's is taking the Downtown core by storm. If you take Finch's, Re-Up, all the Vietnamese Banh Mi shops, La Ghianda, Las Tortas, La Grotta Del Formaggio, Chez Meme and Thomas Haas into consideration, there is much choice to be had. However, there hasn't been much noise made out in Surrey other than La Charcuterie, Veneto's and the Salt Cellar (and Estrella's in Langley). Why Surrey? Personally, I feel there is no love given to the next biggest city other than Vancouver proper in the GVRD. Yah, Surrey is always the butt of jokes and lets not even mention what people think of the culinary scene. By virtue of eating out in Surrey quite a few times in the last 5 years, I have gained an appreciation for the diversity and surprising gems that are not known to people other than the locals.

That would describe Be 'wiched Cafe to a T. When I first pulled up to the place in the same complex as the Big Ridge Brewing Company, it really didn't seem like I could find great sandwiches there. Little more than a small coffee shop, the place is deceiving. Inside its modest digs is a place where almost everything is made from scratch. As I waited for my order, I noticed how all the customers walking in were greeted personally. Repeat customers, a clear sign that they are doing something right. From their diverse choices of sandwiches, I decided to try the Cubano for myself. Now, whenever we see any attempt at a Cubano up here, it is generally disappointing (see Havana). Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be pretty good. It was the classic combination of roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese and pickles on ciabatta then pressed. I added a Clam Chowder as a side and that was good as well. It was not a creamy chowder; rather it was more of a broth. I liked how it wasn't heavy and had a subtle clam taste. The veggies were vibrant while being soft and there was plenty of tender clam meat.

To get a better sense of the place, I got 2 more sandwiches to go starting with the Corned Beef. Made in-house, the meat was tender and moist. Nice flavour too. For the price, they were not shy with the amount of it either. Now for the star of the show - the Pulled Pork Sandwich. I thought I was ruined for any other pulled pork sandwich after Re-Up. This changed my mind. The house-made pulled pork was melt-in-your-mouth soft while exhibiting a certain level of smokiness. The bold apple-butter BBQ sauce was both sweet and tart. The acidity and crunch of the coleslaw was a perfect compliment to the sweet sauce and moist meat. Although the bun looked like it was from Costco, it was nothing like it in texture. Firm enough to stand up to the ingredients while soft enough that it didn't destroy the sandwich in one bite, it was perfect. In fact, everything that I tried was very good. What a pleasant surprise. I can't wait to go back.

And guess what? I did go back, with Mijune no less. She loves this place too and it's a whole lot easier to tackle it with 2 appetites. One of the specials of the day was the Pulled Pork Chili. Apparently this is not available all the time. I hazard a guess that if there is any pulled pork left over, then it goes into the chili. But since their pulled pork sandwich is so popular, there are not many chances we will find leftovers. So consider us lucky to try this hearty chili. Essentially consisting of meat and little else other than a few token kidney beans, this was very filling. The flavour was not "hit-you-in-the-face"; rather it was subtle and there was an underlying heat that showed up at the end. We could definitely taste the elements of a regular chili; but it was amped by the considerable amount of meat.

The last time I was here, I really wanted to try their breakfast items. Too bad there was one of me and 20+ items on the menu. This time, Mijune and I split the Breakfast Burrito to start. It consisted of a whole wheat tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, bacon, jack cheese, peppers and salsa. As you can clearly see in the picture, the whole thing was a bit wet. That made it messy to eat and soggy in texture. The individual components were prepared find, especially the fluffy eggs; however, I found it to be somewhat bland and uninteresting. Maybe more kick? A combination of hot sauce and tomatillo might do the trick.

Alright. This is what we were really here for... The Stuffed Apple Pie French Toast. This dessert-like breakfast item is comprised of apple butter and cream cheese sandwiched in between 2 slices of brioche dipped in egg custard and coated in granola. The result is an almost decadent breakfast item. Despite the wet ingredients, the whole thing works. The granola provides a nice crunch which gives way to the soft brioche and sweet cream cheese filling. I didn't even need the syrup to eat this. Yet, with a slight drizzle, it really made the thing sing. I'm not a fan of sweets; but I do like this. On the topic of sweets, we were presented with some Lemon Citrus Bars and hey, they had me at lemon... It's like they knew the only desserts I get excited for are lemon ones. Wow, the lemon curd in this was intense. Very tart with a sweet finish, it works well with the toasted coconut on top. One of the best I've had. The last thing we tried was the Chocolate Caramel Cookie. Think of it as a chocolate cookie with the Caramilk filling. The cookie itself had a nice crisp exterior that gave way to a moist interior. There was a rich cocoa flavour that was kicked up a notch by the runny caramel in the centre. Very good. I'll say it again. This place rocks. Sure, not everything is killer; but most of it is. It would put most other similar shops to shame if it were located in Vancouver.

The Good:
- Personable proprietors
- Practically everything is made in-house
- Not skimpy with the meat

The Bad:
- Location is not really close for most people, other than the locals (but please go try it!)
- It's small, mostly takeout

Pho Vinh

"Cash Only". That is pretty much a given with hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Hey, everyone needs to earn a living right? With a smaller operation, there is an inherent need to cut as many costs as possible, namely credit cards. However, dare I say under-the-table activity as well? I won't speculate; but c'mon... who are we kidding? I'm not judging at all. Once again, everyone needs to make a living and pay the bills. That's the bottom line. However, for us consumers, it is a real drag when all you have in your wallet are receipts and lint. Even worse when the nearest bank machine is not within walking distance and a $2.00 service charge is in order. That was the case last time Pomegranate and I wanted to grab some eats at Pho Vinh. No cash, no Pho. We tried Bubble World for some TBN. Once again, no cash, no TBN. We settled on Maguro since it accepts credit cards.

This time around, it was Viv and I attempting to eat at Pho Vinh. Once again, no cash. But they accept debit! Good thing too, we were in a Pho mood. Before I discuss what we ate, I found it interesting that they included Saw Leaf Herb along with the usual basil, sprouts, peppers and lime. It's very similar to cilantro, probably even a bit more pungent. There are not many Vietnamese places in town that serve this herb. In a role reversal, Viv ended up with the Pho Dac Biet (with almost every meat). Apparently, it included a Spring Roll. I guess we didn't read the menu correctly. We were dismayed that they used a wheat wrapper rather than rice. Despite this, the spring roll was decent with a good amount of filling that had a nice onion/fish sauce taste to it. As for her Pho, there seemed to be a serious lack of noodles. After a few bites, she was only left with meat. It's good that they provided enough meat; but curiously not enough noodles (which are not very expensive). The meat was good, generally tender and pretty typical. We felt the broth was too much on the sweet side and a bit too light. Not a bad broth, we just wished there was more meat flavour to it. For some reason or another, I went for the Bun Bo Hue again for the second time in 2 weeks. I just had the one from Pho Tam and it was so good, I was craving for more. Unfortunately, the one here paled in terms of portion size. Once again, there was a serious lack of noodles. Noodles are inexpensive, put more in! At the very least, the noodles were good. Nice rebound texture, albeit slippery suckers as per usual. I felt the broth was quite good with plenty of spice and some tang. Much like Viv's bowl of Pho, the meats were good and I liked the addition of a pork knuckle.

Now, for some reason or another (probably I wanted to try it), I ordered a Lemongrass Chicken on Rice with egg as well. Turns out that it was a great decision since my bowl of noodles was not enough for me. I think the one at Pho Tam is easily double the size. I thought the rice dish was fantastic. It was a lot of food. I didn't finish it. The chicken was tender with a good amount of charring. Great lemongrass flavour as well. A good end to a relatively okay meal. I would say the food here is middle of the road Vietnamese. Maybe I'm stuck on my love for Pho Tam; hence, I'm always comparing places to their standard of quality and portion size. It could be unfair to do so all the time. However, I do think that Pho Vinh should put more noodles in their Pho considering their slightly higher than average prices. But if you're not a big eater, the place does the job.

The Good:
- Food is generally quite decent
- Accepts debit, that one step above "Cash Only"

The Bad:
- Stingy on the noodles
- Prices are slightly high for the amount of food