Nong's Khao Man Gai

Chicken and Rice. There are so many variations of this dish. You have the Chinese version which consists of plain poached chicken with plain white rice. I never understood why this was so popular. I guess it is highly dependent on the ginger condiment. Then you have the ever-so-popular Singaporean Hainanese chicken. It is also poached chicken; yet in a flavourful broth which is also used in the rice along with chicken fat. I really like this one. Then there is the Thai version which is very similar except for the accompanying sauce. This is where Nong's Khao Man Gai comes into play. A tiny food cart among the many near the corner of 10th & Alder in Portland, it serves up only one dish - Thai chicken and rice.

The cart owner is from Thailand and used to work at Pok Pok before opening up her chicken & rice cart. Last year, I attempted to snag an order of this famous grub; but was thwarted by supply and demand. You see, the demand was more than the supply. Yup, when they sell out, the cart closes. I was too late. This time around, I had a plan. I was there nice and early at 10:30am. Yes, a bit early for lunch; but I would get my prize. Indeed it was like a prize or gift will you. Wrapped in paper like a present, it opens up with the waft of ginger and the nuttiness of cooked rice. The chicken itself is nothing much to look at and to taste really. Neither is the rice. It is chewy and fragrant though. The thing that brings it all together is the sauce. Oh that sauce. A combination of ginger, garlic, vinegar, peanut, sweet chili and other things I couldn't figure out made the chicken & rice sing. I kept heaping spoonfuls of it into my mouth. It is as good as people say. Go get some.

The Good:
- Does one thing and does it well
- Inexpensive
- That sauce...

The Bad:
- Limited supply
- Without the sauce, it's only chicken and rice

Cheesecake Factory

Alright, you already know my thoughts about chain restaurants - not usually my first choice of dining destinations. Generally generic and uninspiring, chain restaurants do serve a purpose. In fact, there are a select few that I actually don't mind. Cactus Club is one of them (despite the high prices) and White Spot (due nostalgia and being kid-friendly). One other chain restaurant that I have nothing but love for is The Cheesecake Factory. Yah, I'll admit it and I'm willing to defend it too. I've eaten there many times and I've never come away disappointed. Naturally, they are famous for their cheesecakes, that is a given. They are also known for their extremely large and diverse menu which has a little of everything. Oh, and of course, the portion sizes are generally quite large as well. But then again, this is the US we are talking about, so that would just be normal.

The last time we visited the Cheesecake Factory, it was on Black Friday in 2008, when I first starting blogging. Unfortunately, I was using my Blackberry and the photos were as nasty as the floor of a Chinese restaurant washroom. Hence, I've been dying to do a return visit for awhile now. After doing some shopping at Washington Square, we were originally gonna hit up some sushi; but it appeared that there was only sushi on the menu which didn't really sit well with the kids. So we ended up returning to the mall and headed to the Cheesecake Factory. Since my last visit, they have finally added a kid's menu. I guess the multitude of families visiting the place gave them a hint. And guess what my son selected as his kid's meal? Yes, Mac 'n Cheese. He might as well try out for Kraft Dinner commercials. For a kid's meal, this mac 'n cheese was pretty good. The noodles were towards the al dente side and there was plenty of seasoning. There was just enough creamy cheese sauce to coat the macaroni without soaking it.

We got the Mini-Corn Dogs for our daughter and we think she ate some of it. She makes such a bloody mess, we're never sure if she ate anything or if she merely made a "Cookie Monster" mess. Despite looking cute, these were little nuggets of death on a stick. The wiener inside was really oily and salty while the batter was equally oily. I guess some kids would like these. As for Viv, she went for something "lighter", if there is such a thing here in the Thai Lettuce Wraps. This is actually an appetizer which she ended up ordering as her meal. Essentially a build-it-yourself dish, this is "fun" food. If the veggies are fresh and the chicken is cooked properly, you can't really go wrong. It consisted of satay chicken, carrots, bean sprouts, coconut curry noodles and lettuce leaves with three sauces including peanut, sweet red chili and tamarind-cashew. The sauces were quite good except for the tamarind-cashew, it tasted like liquid candy.

Since I've had nearly everything good on the menu including the Miso Salmon, Chicken Madeira, Chicken & Biscuits, Garlic Noodles, Shrimp with Angel Hair, Bistro Shrimp Pasta, Shrimp Scampi and Fried Mac 'n Cheese, I decided to go for one of their featured items. For some reason or another, I didn't write down the name. I believe it was the Spicy Shrimp and Rice. Whatever it's called, I do know is that it resembled a shrimp gumbo. As you can see, it is a combination of shrimp, sausage, peppers, onions and mushrooms in a spicy sauce. I quite liked this dish since there was plenty of properly cooked shrimp within a spicy, rich sauce.

Now a visit here would not be complete without a slice of cheesecake. Despite being quite full, I pulled a Mijune and got the Original with fresh strawberries. The cheesecake here is baked; yet at the same time, it is not too heavy. As a dessert, I don't personally find it too sweet, so I can get a nice cream cheese hit. Unlike many other places, the strawberry topping is fresh. Well, another good meal at the Cheesecake Factory. I don't care what other people say.

The Good:
- Lots of choice
- Great cheesecakes
- Large portions

The Bad:
- Not exactly cheap (but the portions make up for it)
- When is there not a lineup?

Bunk Sandwiches

After driving straight down the I-5 from Bellevue to Portland, it was clear that everyone was quite hungry. We hadn't eaten since breakfast at Chace's Pancake Corral. That was over 3 hours ago! Yes, the horror. Now, we weren't really in the mood for a sit-down lunch since it was so late already. Furthermore, we wanted to go somewhere near our hotel. But of course, the place had to be interesting. Enter Bunk Sandwiches. Located just across the Morrison Street bridge from Downtown, this small little joint has made headlines including Triple D's on the Food Network. Now for some reason or another, I missed the Food Network part. Maybe I didn't watch that episode? It's possible. Too much of Triple D's can cause health problems, even if one was only watching the show! LOL...

So with that much notoriety, it is no wonder there was a lineup out the door even at 2:30pm on a weekday. Well, I patiently waited even though I really hate lineups. The sandwiches better be good! I ended up getting 4 of them, one for the kiddies, one for Viv and 2 for me! When we got back to our hotel, which only took 5 minutes, we attacked the sandwiches starting with the Meatball. One look at the thing and it is safe to assume why Bunk made Triple D's. This ain't diet food. In fact, let's just say it takes the word diet and stuffs it into the trash. The meatball was filled tightly with soft, nicely spiced meat soaked in a zesty marinara with plenty of melted mozzarella and Parm. This was ooey gooey and freakin' delicious.

But Viv and I both agreed that the Pork Belly Cubano was the best of all. With plenty of house-made pork belly that literally melted in our mouths, this was a heavy; yet satisfying sandwich. All of the elements of a Cubano were there including the cured ham, Swiss, mustard and pickles encased in a crunchy pressed bun. A nice balance of flavours from the salty ham, tart pickles and buttery pork belly. So if that was our favourite, then the Roast Beef was our least. No, it wasn't a bad sandwich per se. It probably suffered from the "too normal" phenomenon since it was merely roast beef with caramelized onions, horseradish and cheddar. Well, there were parts of the roast beef that could not be chewed due to some gristle. That turned Viv off a bit. With that being said, the good parts of the beef were very tender and meaty which went well with a natural condiment such as horseradish. For the kiddies, we got them the Grilled Tillamook Cheese. Lots of melted cheese between perfectly grilled bread. The kids liked it, end of story. Each sandwich came with a side of house-made kettle chips and those in itself were as much as a star as the sandwiches themselves. And about those sandwiches... Very good, nicely priced and generally unique. I want to eat them again.

The Good:
- Pricing is reasonable for the portion size and quality of the ingredients
- Full of flavour and full of fat = yum
- Excellent house-made chips

The Bad:
- If you hate lineups
- Small place, not a lot of seats

Chace's Pancake Corral

"Yee Haw!" Round up the children and mosey on down to the Pancake Corral, Chace's to be exact. Where the heck are we? No, not Texas. If you can believe it, in Bellevue. Yup, in this bustling, ever-changing, modern suburb of Seatte, we are kickin' it ol' skool. Driving down Bellevue Way, away from the Downtown core of trendy shops and restaurants, we find a lil' ol' shack of sorts in the middle of a residential area. You see, this place has been around for a very long time. Long before all of the other development that has occurred 10 blocks North. It is almost as if time has stood still. The place looks uniquely un-modern, the interior is much of the same. The real plus? Service that you can rarely find elsewhere these days.

Now what else would one order at this place? Well, pancakes of course! My son took one look at the menu and zeroed in on the Chocolate Chip Pancakes (yes, he is only 5 and can read easily, we are so proud...). Now if you are wondering where are the chocolate chips, they are actually on the underside of the pancake. The ones on top are only for show. I wouldn't say these pancakes blew us away; yet they were fluffy and did do the namesake justice. The really over-done-looking sausage link was much better than it looked by-the-way. My daughter ended up with the French Toast and if you were wondering what's with the pancake batter on it, you are not alone. I was a bit perplexed as well; but it worked in some strange way. Mind you, the other side did have the typical egg. As for the scrambled egg, just on looks alone, you can tell it was done properly. It was fluffy and buttery.

Viv ended up with the Strawberry Pancakes which ended up to be more crepe-like than anything. Rolled and topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream, these were pretty standard. Mind you, I would take these over IHOP any day. For myself, I didn't go the pancake route and went for the Corned Beef Hash. When it arrived, it looked more like a hockey puck than a hash. Maybe it was merely foreshadowing the absence of hockey for the 4 days I would be away from Vancouver. Anyways, once I played around with the "puck", it was a typical corned beef hash consisting of small diced potatoes and canned corned beef. Nothing particularly interesting about this dish other than the nice crispy exterior on both sides. They did poach the accompanying eggs perfectly though and it went well with the toast. However, the toast was a bit soggy. So as you can clearly see, the food ain't spectacular; but it is indeed solid. Prices are good and the service we got was reminiscent of yesteryear. Hey, especially with the kiddies in tow, works for me.

The Good:
- Homey place, homey service
- Inexpensive
- Food does the job

The Bad:
- Place is small, I can see a wait on weekends
- Food won't set the culinary world on fire and it isn't intended to either

Din Tai Fung

Finding good Shanghainese food in Vancouver is as easy as being cut off by a luxury SUV. When good Xiao Long Bao can be found anywhere from Richmond to Coquitlam, we really take it for granted. Now, on the other hand, if someone told you that good XLBs could be found in Bellevue, Washington, would you now be safe from dangerously-driven luxury SUVs? No, not exactly. But there really are good XLBs to found here. Din Tai Fung, the famous XLB joint hailing from Taiwan opened their brand-spanking new location in Bellevue less than half-a-year-ago. With a staff that boasts as many non-Asians as Asians, it might on the surface seem a bit distressing. Yet, that doesn't nearly tell the whole story. Take a tried-and-true formula, replicate it with well-trained staff (no matter the nationality) and you have authentic Shanghainese/Taiwanese food.

On my way to Portland, we decided to make a pitstop at Goose's house for one night. Hey, with kiddies in tow, this is a good idea to split up the 5 hour drive into 2 parts.  We headed out to the aforementioned DTF for dinner.  We got down to ordering and got a whole whack of food starting with the large Hot and Sour Soup. The portion size was full of tofu, wood ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots with enough for more than 10 bowls. The base broth was very meaty and full of depth. That in itself made the soup legit from the start. However, it was lacking in both hot and sour. But then again, that could be rectified easily with a few more drops of chili oil and vinegar. Naturally, we had to order the Xiao Long Bao. In fact, we got 3 orders! They were very smart about it. They brought 2 first and the 3rd much later to keep everything fresh. One order consists of 10 little XLBs. 1.5 of them is probably equivalent to one you'd find in a typical Vancouver Shanghainese restaurant. For almost $10.00, these were not exactly cheap. Immediately, we noticed the extremely thin dumpling skin with a slightly chewy top where the dough swirls. The meat filling was slightly gritty while the ample soup was very tasty without being salty. I found the XLBs to be very good; but not any better than the ones we have in Vancouver.

For curiosity sake, we ordered 2 dishes of fried rice. For the sole reason of sounding interesting, we got the Pork Chop Fried Rice. I thought it would be pork chop slices in fried rice; rather, it was a fried rice base with egg topped by a fried
pork chop. The fried rice itself was quite nice. With chewy discernible grains of rice, it was texturally pleasing while being properly seasoned. I wasn't a huge fan of the pork chop though. The coating ended up to be quite mushy and lacking in overall flavour. I would've preferred a crispy fried chop instead. The second dish was Shrimp Fried Rice and it exactly matched the description. With the same fried rice base, except for the addition of crunchy shrimp, this was a solid, if unspectacular dish. 

 For the kiddies, we got the Chicken Noodle Soup. Despite the obvious, this is not your Campbell's version. Rather than using salt as a primary flavouring agent, this soup base was light while still exhibiting enough natural flavour. The best part was the excellent noodles. They were fresh and cooked perfectly al dente. Tender chicken and crispy veggies rounded out the good bowl of noodles. The Spicy Beef Noodles were even better. Much like the hot and sour soup, the broth was very meaty and only mildly spicy. The noodles were once again perfectly al dente. The best part was the extremely tender pieces of stewed beef shank. It literally melted in my mouth; but it still retained its integrity.

While not on the menu, we spotted the Shrimp and Pork Potstickers advertised on a placard. We got 2 orders of those. When they arrived, they didn't look like any potstickers we'd ever seen before. Totally covered by a crispy skin of dough, these dumplings were pretty good. With similarly delicious pork filling as the XLBs combined with a whole cold-water shrimp, these had a just-thick-enough dumpling skin. One thing I was not fond of was the sweet and spicy dipping sauce. Stick with the vinegar and ginger on this one. Curiosity struck again when we decided to try out the Pork and Shrimp Sui Mai. We didn't know what to expect and it turned out to be essentially XLBs topped with a whole shrimp. Hence, there was the same tasty soup and thin dumpling skin. Still not convinced with the pork filling though. These ended up to be quite large with the addition of the shrimp. Not bad, I'd stick with the regular XLBs though. 

With already 2 noodles, I thought we should have a 3rd one. I really wanted to try their version of the Tan Tan Noodles. It turned out to be a good idea because it was excellent. The noodles were al dente as per the other dishes we had. But the thing that put it over the top was the excellent sauce. Just the right combination of peanut, sesame, spiciness, sweet and salty, this was a well balanced tan tan noodles. Furthermore, there was just enough liquid to noodle, so it coated all the noodles without drowning it. For our last savoury dish, we got the classic Shanghai Fried Rice Cake. Unlike many other places, these rice cakes slices were freshly made. We could tell the freshness from the texture and appearance. Slightly softer on the first bite while becoming slightly chewy at the end, the rice cake was also very good. From the just barely cooked veggies to the tender julienned pork and balanced seasoning, this was a properly executed product.

Finally, we ended the meal with Sweet Red Bean Steamed Buns. Something so simple was also done to perfection. The bun itself had the perfect consistency of being soft while having some chewiness. It did not stick to our teeth, which is an indication of proper execution. The red bean filling was only sweet enough without being overly so. That was a nice end to a surprising meal. Honestly, I was ready to hate this place. After all, there was so much hype surrounding the opening. Furthermore, from the perspective of a Vancouverite, we expect good Shanghainese and/or Taiwanese food, so DTF shouldn't be much of a revelation. However, what impressed me the most was not that it is any better than anything we have in Vancouver. Rather, it was the level of execution and high quality of ingredients. I guess DTF has a reputation to uphold and they take it seriously. I heard of some kinks when they first opened and I can assure you from the experience I had, they have ironed it out. We were thoroughly satisfied with our meal and went away not noticing the hefty bill of $132.00 before tip. Expensive? Yes. Smallish portion sizes? Probably. Good food? Absolutely.

The Good:
- Food is executed properly
- Excellent service
- Clean and modern

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Smallish portions
- Crazy wait

5 Spot

The last time we passed through Seattle on our way to Portland, we had originally planned on doing breaky at 5 Spot. Unfortunately, there was a wait out the door and with 2 hungry kiddies in tow, that was not exactly what the prevailing situation ordered. Hence, we went a block up and had a wonderful breakfast at Cafe Bonjour, which now has since closed. Fast forward 8 months later, we find ourselves heading to Portland again and in need of food in Seattle. This time around, we were arriving on a Monday and prior to lunchtime. Bingo! After only a short wait, we got a table and the one right by the window no less! 

Looking over the menu, it was a bit difficult to choose from the decent array of options. I was torn between the Plank Cut Fish 'n Chips and the Red Flannel Hash. So the solution was to order the Fish 'n Chips for my daughter. Hey, she won't mind me trying her food right? We ended up getting the kids portion and that worked out quite fine since it wasn't very big. What makes this fish 'n chips interesting is the cornmeal batter. It really gives a profound textural contrast to the soft, flaky fish. We like it and also the very crispy fries. We enjoyed the tartar sauce, although it could've used more zip.

As for the Red Flannel Hash, it is named as such because of the beets combined with potatoes and corned beef topped off by 2 poached eggs. As you can see the eggs were perfectly runny while the hash is noticeably red. I liked the addition of beets to this. It made the hash less heavy and added a whimsical colour. The potatoes were nicely done while the corned beef got kind of lost in the whole thing. Now lost would be the complete opposite of the Memphis Blues BBQ Pork Sandwich which Viv ordered. The shredded meat was absolutely in-your-face good. The meat was remarkably tender with just the right amount of sauce while hitting you in the gut with a pronounced smokiness. We felt the BBQ sauce had a good balance between the tang and sweetness. The only thing we would've liked was a sturdier bun because it began to disintegrate shortly into a few bites. The side of coleslaw as very good with a nice crunch and tang.

As drum roll... Guess what my son had? Ah yes, the Mac 'n Cheese. What else? Arriving in a honking huge bowl, this was enough for both kids (which it turned out to be). The noodles were perfectly cooked being on the al dente side. Believe it or not, my kids prefer this over mushy, even though that is the safer texture for most. There was a subtle cheese flavour; yet maybe too subtle. Even the kids thought there needed to be more salt. And we did add salt. That made it sing. So not a huge problem. They might've done that on purpose to appease more kids. All-in-all a very pleasant meal at 5 Spot. Is it worth the usual wait? I'm not completely sure since I had lineups; but our short wait was fine. Food was solid, prices were okay and service was good.

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Uber kid-friendly
- Interesting and diverse menu

The Bad:
- Well, the lineup (good for them though!)

Kurumba

Normally, when my parents are out-of-town, I look after their place. Well, I also "borrow" their Benz for joyrides. I know. I'm pathetic, I still take my parents car out for a spin. As Viv has remarked on many occasions, I'll never grow up. In turn, when we are out-of-town, my parents look after our place. No, they don't take my car out for joyrides. LOL. But what happens when we're both out-of-town? Good question. That hasn't happened quite often. Normally, we'd call Wolvie since she lives quite close. But she is getting ready to pop with her first child, so no can do. Ah ha! Rich Guy. He's in town and I've helped look after his house a few times! In fact, a while back, I looked after his apartment in Yaletown. And yes, I took his M3 for joyride as well. Serves people right for leaving their car keys for me to see! So to get both of our house keys to him before we took off, we decided to meet for dinner. Yah, what else did you think we were gonna do? Hehe...

Since he lives in Coquitlam, we decided to meet halfway in Port Moody. Originally, we were planning to eat at Osamu; but it is closed on Sundays. As an alternative, we chose Kurumba. Similar to Banana Leaf and Tropika; but not really, Kurumba serves up specialties from South Asia, particularly Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thai. They also have a page on the menu dedicated to Chinese food. We figured that is merely there to satisfy the general population; rather than be representative of their cuisine. We decided to start with their Kurumba Platter which consisted of Roti Canai, Hot Garlic Wings, BBQ Pork, Calamari and Veggie Spring Rolls. The best part of this platter was the curry dip for the Roti Canai. Normally, it is sweet and exhibits only a hint of heat at Banana Leaf and Tropika. Not here. It was spicy and had a lingering aftertaste. The roti itself was crispy on the outside and somewhat doughy on the inside. In regards to the aforementioned restaurants, I do not blame them for "watering" down their food since most of the diners out here would not be able to handle the heat. We were a little less enthused about the Chicken Wings, the batter was too thick and crusty. However, the wok tossed ingredients that flavoured the chicken wings were pretty good - once again with heat. The Calamari was tender and the batter was light while the Spring Rolls were pretty much your typical spring roll. The BBQ Pork was on the slightly chewier side; but that was not too bad.

Once again, we did the order-too-much-food thing. We went for smaller sizes of their curries; yet they still turned out to be quite large. The Beef Rendang was pretty much a large bowl of meat. We thought the meat was moist and surprisingly not dry. The flavours were subtle with only a hint of heat. We realize that this is not supposed to be a spicy nor wildly flavourful dish; but it was bordering on bland. We liked the Yellow Basmathi Rice, it was very aromatic and dry (which is good for absorbing sauce). Next was the Chicken Green Curry. This particular version was coconutty without being too thick. There was a strong underlying heat to this and we absolutely loved it. Big pieces of white meat mixed with fresh veggies completed this well-executed curry. Let's see, we had beef and chicken; so naturally a Pork Curry was in order. The pork was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth soft while the sauce was mild and somewhat sweet. A nice change from the spicier green curry.

To fulfill our vegetable quota, we ordered the Sambal Green Beans. The beans were slightly soft from the flash frying, while the sauce was quite spicy. This was definitely not your typical Banana Leaf/Tropika version, which usually tastes much more sweet than anything else. Overall, the meal was quite good. We weren't wow'd per se; but we did appreciate the level of heat in most of the items. It might be a bit too strong for more conservative diners though. We also found that the prices were quite reasonable for the portion size. No wonder the Vancouver Sun puts Kurumba down as one of their featured restaurants for 25 meals under $25.00.

The Good:
- Plenty of spiciness (well, for us at least)
- Friendly service
- Good portion-to-price ratio

The Bad:
- Could be too spicy for some