H5O Bistro & Bar

*Restaurant is permanently closed*

Alright, for some inexplicable reason, the food blogging community in Portland is not very active. Okay, let me rephrase that. Compared to Vancouver, there is no other place that has a more active food blogging community. Hence, everywhere else pales in comparison. That is probably why I get media releases for gastronomical happenings in the largest city in Oregon (although I am in Vancouver). I usually ignore them and just delete. Well, what am I to do about them anyways? I just can't get and head over to Portland on a whim to eat (well, technically I could). So when I got an invite to H5O Bistro & Bar from Sarah for a tasting of their new Spring menu, I simply ignored it. It wasn't until Sarah followed up with me that I actually took a look at it. Well, it was smack dab during Spring Break and I was planning on heading to Seattle already... When I mentioned that to Sarah, she convinced me to drive another 3 hours down the I-5. Well, it wasn't that simple really. She sealed the deal when she offered a 2-night stay at Hotel Fifty. You see, H5O is located in the hotel. Fine. That was an offer I couldn't refuse, so I dragged the kids and wife on a 3 hour detour to Portland. Would this be considered a working vacation?

When I looked the place up on the internet, it looked vaguely familiar for some reason. When we pulled up, I realized why. We had stayed at this hotel before when it used to be Four Points by Sheraton. Well, let me say this. The renovations are substantial and the place looks swank compared to what it was before. Previously, the restaurant in the hotel was just there "because". You know those types of hotel restaurants that only exist because they need one on-site. Thus, you could only imagine the food quality... Well, I guess this tasting would determine if the changes were beyond the decor. Now for those haters who would like to point out that the meal is free as with the hotel room, let me make one statement. If you read this blog, you know I'm fair and will speak my mind no matter if the meal costs me $0 or $500. I've personally spent over $25,000 of my own money on food. Much like anything else, I'm sure people can make their own judgment about things, so there is no need to hate on freebies. After all, most "official" media never pay for their food. Hence, do we suddenly consider people like Anthony Bourdain irrelevant because they get comped eats? I'm jus sayin'. I digress.

So back to the tasting... We started with an Amuse Bouche which was a Avocado Gazpacho that was accented with orange & grapefruit segments, sea salt and poppy seeds. It was very refreshing with a nice tang and a hit of salt. Next up was the Asparagus & Garlic which was comprised of grilled green and white asparagus tips, roasted garlic espuma, tonic #5, Parmesan and 20-year old sherry vinegar. Such a simple ingredient; but what a punch of flavour. First of all, the smell was intoxicating. The char on the asparagus gave a smoky flavour while at the same time being crisp. There was a little of everything in this dish including creamy, tart, savoury, sweet and umaminess. Very delicious.

We were presented next with a plate of Sweet Potato Ravioli accented by baby zucchini, cherry tomato, rosemary, sage and beurre fondue. Of course the flavour profile of this dish would lean towards sweet due to the sweet potato. The herbs somewhat balanced it out; but for me, I would've preferred some more savouriness. Again, I do realize this is not the intention of the dish, it's just my personal preference. Otherwise, it was a nicely executed ravioli. After this, the St. Pierre Fish arrived
(also known as a John Dory). Yes, the same one from Finding Nemo. We were eating Dory!!! So Dory was wonderfully seared and served with a side of clownfish... Wait. No it was served with a roasted lemon emulsion, radish, chive, lemon supreme's and lemon mint. The first thing I noticed was the appetizing fish oil smell activated by the sear. The fish itself was flaky and sweet while there was a contrasting crunch from the radish. However, for me, I felt there was too much acid on the plate. I suppose that could be alleviated by not eating it.

After we finished up Dory, we were presented with the Roasted Chesapeake Bay Bass accompanied by a carrot and white balsamic crema, watercress and chamomile tea & honey foam. For me, the thing that did it for me was the crispy skin. With a nice textural contrast to the buttery fish, it was a party in my mouth (especially with the hit of sea salt on top). Unlike some other foams, I could really taste the chamomile tea in this one. It was nice that nothing on the plate interfered with the delicious fish. Sauced tableside, the Muscovy Duck Breast was fantastic. It was served with house-made gnocchi, fennel pollen, tomato and English peas. As for the duck itself, it was cooked perfectly being tender with crispy skin. There was confit thigh meat underneath as well. However, the entire dish as a whole was too salty. The thigh meat itself was salty as with the demi-glace. Add some sea salt and you get the idea. With that said, the English peas helped balance the saltiness to a degree.

For our last savoury dish, it would be the largest and probably the best. The Beef Cheek Wellington was completely stuffed with shredded braised beef cheeks and mushroom duxelles. It rested on mashed potato with heirloom carrots. Normally, this dish would find a rare piece of beef tenderloin in the middle. However, I don't mind the substitution of beef cheek because it was fantastic. It was soft, gelatinous and very flavourful from the red wine, mushrooms and shallots. Furthermore, there was a pronounced meat flavour that was not salty. I also liked that the puff pastry was thin and flaky, which ultimately let the beef cheek take centre stage.

For dessert, we had the H5O "Candy Bar" served with a Thai Iced Russian. Consisting of crispy chocolate, chocolate brownie, chocolate ganache and raspberry mousse, this was like a chocolate millefeuille of sorts. Despite the appearance of sugar overload, it was only semi-sweet. It was definitely rich; but was nicely balanced by the mousse and the candied pistachios. The accompanying cocktail was very light and hence worked with the rich dessert. As I have said again and again, it appears that hotel restaurants are stepping up their game to compete with other fine-dining establishments. Executive Nicholas Yates has been given free-reign to do his food and it shows. This is certainly not your typical boring hotel food.

The Good:
- Expert execution
- A combination of classics with some risk-taking
- Not shy on the flavours

The Bad:
- A tad over-aggressive with the sea salt at times
- Pricey

Legin

Last summer, I did something that was a bit daring. No, I didn't go on a diet. And no, I didn't do a return visit to Kawawa. Rather, I attempted to find respectable Dim Sum in Portland. Okay, okay. Stop laughing. I really did end up finding decent Dim Sum at Wong's King. Of course it doesn't compare to Vancouver; but it did the job. Roughly half-a-year later, I get this comment on the Wong's King post that I really should've tried Legin instead. Also on Division street, Legin serves up inexpensive Dim Sum daily. Well, here we were in Portland once again and well, why not give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen? Famous last words...

So we arrive at the place and headed inside. Wow, for such a relatively big restaurant, the tables were spaced out quite spaciously. Unlike the restaurants in Vancouver, one could actually do cartwheels in between the tables here. On the topic of carts, this place is really ol' skool. From the decor, to the push carts, all the way down to the food. We started with the 2 staples of Dim Sum - Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) & Sui Mai (Pork Dumplings). I would say these were pretty average haw gow. The dumpling skin was quite thick and chewy while the shrimp inside was a little overdone and didn't exhibit that snap texture we normally see. With that being said, it did the job. Normally, the sui mai has some shrimp in it; however, these ones were all pork with a bit of shiitake mushrooms. These were also passable with slightly chewy mild-tasting pork.

What was not passable were the Beef Meatballs. Egads! These were plain terrible. Viv bit into one and gave me a really funny face. She immediately told me to try one. So I did. Wow, these balls were all wrong. Normally, one would expect the meat to be slightly resistant with a bounce-like texture. Here, it was plain mush. Even mashed potatoes have more texture than these balls. But the worst thing about them was the taste. Viv thought they had the essence of hamburger meat. And yes, there was a certain aftertaste that gave off hamburger meat seasoning. My word. These were very substandard balls. The disappointment didn't end there. The Pork Spareribs were also pretty bad. Typically, these are marinated until they are tender with a slight chew. However, these were far from tender. In fact, they were just plain chewy. Furthermore, there was little in the way of flavour to them as well. It was as if they didn't put anything other than salt on them. Sure, there were a few black beans; but there was no distinguishing flavour. Totally missing the garlic on this one.

It didn't get much better with the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll either. Unlike what I am used to, this rice noodle roll was thick and chewy. Typically, a good rice noodle roll should be somewhat thin and pillowy soft while still maintaining its integrity. This one was so hard, I could barely divide it with my chopsticks. I had to resort to borrowing the kiddies food scissors to cut it. At the very least, the shrimp was pretty good. It was surprisingly cooked perfectly and had a nice snap. Okay, back to disappointment with the Honeycomb Tripe and Daikon. The tripe itself was not cooked long enough; hence it was akin to chewing on rubber bands. I eventually broke it down enough to swallow it; but honestly, that was not fun. Furthermore, it was a bit gamy, which indicates improper cleaning and rinsing prior to cooking. At least that provided some flavour because it didn't have much otherwise. Also devoid of flavour was the Bible Tripe. Yes, I really like tripe and I'll take it any which way, even if it's mediocre. Well, maybe I am going to revisit that belief because the bible tripe was also very marginal. Also a bit gamy, due to a lack of rinsing, the tripe was bland. Furthermore, it was overly chewy once again.

Normally, we get the Spring Rolls for my son since he likes crunchy things. Too bad he only eats the outer wrapper. So Viv and I end up eating the filling. That is not really a bad trade-off since the filling can be quite tasty, especially if it is shrimp. Not here. The filling was very dense. Furthermore, the pork was not really all that tender. We basically ended up not eating the filling my son left behind. Despite this, the outside was fried up quite nicely without being oily. I guess my son got it right this time. Another item the kids really like is Congee. They had the usual preserved egg and salted pork congee in a heated push cart. When we started to spoon some of it out of the bowl, we were wondering where is the egg and pork? It was there; but the egg had totally melted into the congee while the pork was in little bits no bigger than a Tic Tac. This is very similar to home-made congee where everything is boiled together rather than having a plain congee base, then adding the ingredients. However, the picture clearly shows that there is barely any ingredients at all. Might as well call it plain congee. It was a little on the thin side while exhibiting some flavour.

Lastly, we got the Pineapple Custard Buns for the kiddies. There is actually no pineapple in these buns; rather the sweet topping looks like a pineapple when baked. My son seemed to like this quite a lot, so this was not a bad dish I suppose. But honestly. Even for Portland, this is substandard Dim Sum. The experience I had at Wong's King was much better than this. Sure, it is cheaper; but this has to be one of the worst Dim Sum experiences in my life. I do realize that since I am completely spoiled by the wonderful Dim Sum we have in Vancouver, everything else pales in comparison (other than in Hong Kong). With that being said, if we look at the food as a stand-alone, it was poorly executed. Just do yourself a favour and stick with Wong's King.

The Good:
- It's cheap
- Service is quite friendly
- Wide open dining area

The Bad:
- Dim Sum is just plain bad
- Place is a bit dirty

Nong's Khao Man Gai

*Food carts are no longer operating*

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