Sushi Mori

*Restaurant moved to a new store in the same complex after a fire*

Having returned from our trip to Portland, we needed to get our keys back from Rich Guy. Naturally, that meant meeting up to eat as a result. Once again, we were searching for a place somewhere in the between. Much like last time, we were thinking of Osamu Sushi. Argh! it's not only closed on Sundays; but Mondays as well! As an alternative, we settled on Sushi Mori. Now when I mean settled, I really mean it. There are other "better" choices out there for sushi in the Tri-Cities area; but due to the circumstances, we ended up here. At the very least, parking was an easy task. On a side note, people might think I'm obsessed with parking when it comes to restaurants. Well, I am. Generally, when you have 2 kids in tow, the last thing you want to do is to spend time finding parking or walking 5 blocks in the rain with 2 kids either. Hence, parking is a very real consideration when it comes to eating out. At least for me that is. I truly digress...

Rich Guy had arrived first and already waiting us at the table was a complimentary appetizer of sorts. On one side, there was pickled radish and the other there was what we thought was watercress with a peanut dressing. Between that and ordering, there was a significant delay since there was only one server working the floor. When we finally did get our order in, the food took a little while to arrive. We started with the Spicy Salmon Sashimi. It looked alright; but we found it underwhelming. I actually think the one at Sushi Town is better. And that is quite the statement since Sushi Town is not exactly the pinnacle of Japanese cuisine. The salmon was acceptable while the dressing was a little on the bland side.

We were pleasantly surprised at the size of our Assorted Tempura. From the large ebi to the big pieces of veggies, this was a mound of food. However, the tempura batter was quite aggressively employed; thus it got a bit chewy in the end. Now you've probably heard of hit and miss dishes; but how about hit and miss in the same dish? That would be the case with the Chicken Yakisoba. The noodles had a nice chewy texture while being sauced with the right amount of flavour. The chicken was plentiful and cooked properly. Yet, the whole thing was greasier than a oil disposal unit at the back of a Chinese restaurant. The oil collecting on the cast iron plate would make a pan-pizza at Pizza Hut jealous. What were they doing back there? I heard of stir-fried noodles; but this was like oil-soaked noodles.

We ended up getting a few rolls consisting of the Scallop & Tobiko and Unagi. The rice was a tad gummy and lacking flavour; but was acceptable. I found the scallop to be quite good with large pieces and being sweet. Not a bad roll. Now as for the Unagi, that was another story. As Rich Guy remarked: "there was not enough unagi". Yes, there was a unbalanced unagi-to-rice ratio. Hence, the roll didn't really taste like anything. Lastly, we decided to try out one of their specialty rolls. We found them to be rather expensive, with nothing under $10.00. We ended up with the Caterpillar Roll which is pretty standard in the "specialty" roll category. This particular version consisted of unagi, cucumber, imitation crab meat and asparagus tempura on the inside with avocado on the outside. The entire thing was decorated with a two-tone sauce. Aesthetically-speaking, the presentation was nice as well as the construction of the roll itself. Texturally, the dense rice made each piece substantial to eat. Not necessarily a bad thing if one was hungry I suppose. A pretty solid roll; but not particularly a good value considering the price. In fact, the prices as a whole are on the higher side. They are not out-of-line considering the nearby competition such as Nagano and Sango. Furthermore, there is Sushi Turnhouse nearby which is substantially less expensive, albeit poorer quality. With everything taken into consideration, I wouldn't necessarily choose Sushi Mori over them.

The Good:
- Pretty nice decor
- Lots of choice
- Food is alright

The Bad:
- Expensive for what you get
- Service is non-existent, not enough staff

The Salt Cellar

Lost in this recent "gourmet" sandwich craze are the what we call "original sandwich joints". No, I'm not talking about Subway, Skyway or The Sandwich Tree. Yes, those can be quite acceptable places to grab lunch; but Ben Stein has more character than them combined. What I'm talking about are those mom 'n pop places that have been serving up solid sammies in homey and friendly lil' places long before "hip" sandwich shops hit the scene. Okay, there are too many to count and it'll take awhile to hit all of them; but we have to start somewhere. That somewhere may not be the most obvious either. This place is the Salt Cellar in White Rock. It fits the homey, neighbourhood deli/sandwich joint to a T. Nothing fancy here. For those who are have issues with gluten, many of the items are available gluten-free.

For lunch, I decided to go for the soup and sandwich. I went for the home-made Vegetable Soup to start. Now, for some people, a vegetable soup might elicit as much as excitement as a bingo game at a senior's centre. However, this vegetable soup was very good. Gimme a "B-9"! Sorry, I actually do like bingo, especially on cruise ships. Anyways, there was a plethora of chunky veggies in a naturally flavourful broth. It was very evident that this soup was made with fresh ingredients and with care. For my sandwich, I selected the Smoked Meat on whole wheat. As you can see, it is not fancy. No artisan bread, the meat is not piled ridiculously high nor are there any fancy sauces. It is a regular sandwich with fresh ingredients. No, it didn't blow my mind; but it was satisfying nonetheless. Now faced with a deli full of products, you know I wasn't going to leave merely trying one sandwich and a bowl of soup! Therefore, I went crazy and got a few things to go. They have a wide selection of dinner ideas which are ready to be packed up or they can warm it up for you to eat in as well. I picked up a portion of their Beef Bourguignon which was very meaty. In fact, it was mostly meat with some carrots and onion. There was a rich red wine flavour combined with the beef juices. As a result the whole thing was flavouful and all-around tasty.

Not satisfied with only one savoury item to go, I also got a slice of their Meatloaf. I didn't actually get to try any of this since Viv had it for lunch one day. From what I remember, she said it had a pronounced onion flavour while the meat itself was slightly dry. At the very least it wasn't too fatty. Due to the way it is meant to be packed up and sold, there was not enough of the ketchup-based sauce to go around for the slice of meatloaf. As I was picking out the savoury stuff, the desserts caught my attention. Well, not really, I'm not much of a dessert guy; but I figured to get some for research purposes. The first dessert was the Carrot Cake. It looked pretty good and in fact, it was good. I found the cake to be quite moist and nicely spiced. Lots of carrot and raisins hidden inside while the cream cheese frosting was modest, which meant that the cake was not too sweet either. Viv had the other half and basically echoed the same opinion. She is much more into cakes and really enjoyed it.

Now for my favourite item purchased at the Salt Cellar - the Lemon Square. Well, it is really a lemon bar; but it came as a square. It looked pretty and since I love lemon desserts, I had to get it. One bite and it was obvious there was a high-lemon content. It had a zing that hit me right away. There was just enough sugar to temper the tartness. Yet, other than the lemon, the most pronounced flavour was of butter. That, to me was slightly too much. Don't get me wrong, I love butter, especially on bread and in pound cake. I just don't like so much it begins to conflict with the other flavours. The last dessert item was a classic Chocolate Cake. We found the cake itself to be pleasing to look at it. We do eat with our eyes, so it is pretty important. The rich dark coloured cake was actually quite moist. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate icing; but then again, I'm not much of a sweets person. Whatever the case, the stuff here at the Salt Cellar is just plain solid. Sure, it doesn't have the glitz of modern touches of a Dirty Apron; yet it doesn't have to. Now I wouldn't suggest anyone actually make a special trip out to White Rock; but if you're in the area, go in and say hi. The warm welcome from the proprietors, reasonable prices and food that is made with care and quality ingredients are enough to keep the locals coming back.

The Good:
- It's nice to be at a place where you really are welcomed
- It's not fancy; but solid nonetheless
- The food is honest

The Bad:
- Kinda far for everybody except the locals
- Nothing mind-blowing here

Sushimoto

Seeing how we've done almost all the local sushi restaurants near our house, we were reserved to the fact that we'd need to re-visit a place. Originally, we threw around some ideas such as Akira and Sushi Town; however, both did not elicit any enthusiasm from Viv and the kids. Well, the kids don't really care, so I guess that is a moot point. Then I suddenly remembered that there was a fairly new small sushi joint at the Holdom Skytrain station. I did an immediate left turn down Holdem and voila - a new restaurant to visit! Now, if you are familiar with this location, there is actually pay meters! Being Chinese, it is in my MO to find the free parking spots. It was pretty cold and Viv remarked that we should just pay for parking; but I remained stubborn and parked a block away in the dark. Hey, it's only one block!

Seated right next to the window, I noticed that the flash was rebounding, creating all kinds of bad lighting. Furthermore, with the high ceiling, it was not helping matters. The horror! Well, I did what I could and the pictures turned out alright. So we started with the Daily Assorted Sashimi. As you can see, it was neatly cut and plated. Not the biggest of pieces; but nothing was amiss with the fish. We thought the Tai was a bit chewy; however, it is usually like that, so a pretty good start. Next was the Beef Tataki. Thinly sliced and resting on a bed of spring mix, the only flavour that truly stood out was the onion. In fact, there was too much pungency from the onions. On a positive note, the beef was very tender and easy to eat. It was sliced thin and still rare in the middle.

Since the menu leans heavily into the sushi and little on the cooked food, we decided to get 3 orders of rolls starting with the Sunshine Roll. Consisting of 2 prawn tempura, cucumber, mayo and masago on the inside with smoked salmon and mango on the outside, it was a visually appealing roll. A slight drizzle of mango sauce finished the presentation. This was not bad. The prawn tempura was still crispy and it went well with the sweet mango and savouriness of the smoked salmon. I thought the sushi rice was acceptable while it could've had some more flavour. However, with a price tag of $12.00, I'm not really sure the portion size warranted the cost.

For our other 2 rolls, we went for some good ol' standbys - Dynamite Roll and Spicy Scallop. Now the Dynamite Roll was fairly large in size and a much better value than our special roll. It was uniformly made and didn't fall apart when I picked it up. As for the Spicy Scallop Roll, it wasn't all that spicy; but that was fine since I could still taste the scallop, which was good. I understand most special rolls are generally larger, have more expensive ingredients and look prettier; but honestly, more than double the price of a similar roll save the mango and smoked salmon? You be the judge of that. Near the end of the meal, our server presented us with a complimentary small dish of Tako Wasa. For me, I like tako. And it is especially interesting when it is not in the cooked form we usually find it in sashimi and nigiri. Slimy like Ika, while infinitely more crunchy and chewy, I liked this, especially with the heat from the wasabi and tang of the pickles. The food that we had here was generally quite decent and the service was very friendly. However, I could not get over the prices. They are quite high in relation to the portion sizes. But then again, it is in a convenient location at the skytrain station with a high rise attached to it.

The Good:
- Generally well-made food
- Enthusiastic service
- Pretty nice interior

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Limited cooked items

Cattle Hot Pot

*Restaurant is closed*

Whenever Rich Guy is in town, it is a real treat. Yes, he does willingly eat with me at almost anywhere - that is a benefit for sure. However, the real treat is that he hits his bro up for Canuck tix. You see, Richer Guy owns a suite at Rogers Arena and he has tickets to give away to clients. Well, I'm not exactly a client; but that is where Rich Guy comes into the picture... So he was able to secure tickets to the Columbus game. We met up at Richer Guy's place and he gave us a lift in his Benz to his personal parking spot at Rogers Arena. Interestingly, the gate attendant asked where his Ferrari was at... They know what car he drives??? Boy, he is definitely Richer Guy! Now as for the game, it was as boring as watching molasses strain through a sieve. If it weren't for the shootout win, we would've fallen asleep. Hey, I shouldn't complain. Game tickets, parking spot underground and driven to and from in a Benz. Hey... we should've asked him to take the Cayenne instead!

So after the game, there was only one thing left to do. Eat! Since we were getting close to Richmond, we decided to head for late-night AYCE at Cattle Hot Pot. For $17.95, it looked like a decent value. However, much like any other hot pot joint, the soup base nor the special sauces are included. Personally, I find this misleading. Nothing against Cattle Hot Pot per se since every place does the same; but if you're going to charge for broth other than boiling plain water, then just add it into the price. It is just a pet peeve of mine. So we ended up with half Satay and half Ching Bo Leun (it's a herbal soup). We ordered as many items as 2 people could eat, especially late night!

We started with the Fatty Beef which was well-marbled, fresh-looking and extremely tender when cooked. For me, it always tastes better when boiled in the satay side of the soup. As with most hot pot places these days, the meatballs are freshly made, not frozen. The Beef Meatballs were indeed a nice colour and had the perfect texture. When cooked, they had an excellent bounce texture when bitten into. As for the fresh Shrimp Meatballs, these were my favourite. A mix of shrimp puree and whole cold-water shrimp, it was like eating a shrimp wonton without the wrapper. Very tasty too, nice and sweet. We also got some Sui Gow which are quite similar to wontons except for being bigger and with the addition of wood ear mushrooms. These were good since the base of the filling was the excellent shrimp puree/shrimp mix.

As with any hot pot, seafood is a must, so we got some Basa, Oysters and Shrimp. Other than the large oysters, the other items were previously frozen. This is not a negative though because there is no live basa here and it is not spot prawn season (let alone they would actually serve that in an AYCE). So what it was, it worked and that's that. A relatively popular item these days is the Pork Cheek. Well, actually anything cheek is trendy, whether it be a halibut cheek or lamb cheeks. Why is it popular? Well, the cheek has a unique texture that is not readily found anywhere else. When cooked briefly, it is slightly chewy with a rebound-type texture. By no means is it tough, it just has some bite. Now if you braise it, suddenly, the texture becomes a bit gelatinous. Of course, at hot pot, we would've just boiled it quickly and it would have the aforementioned qualities. Next, we got a plate of mushrooms consisting of Enoki and Shiitake. Well, what can I say, they were good mushrooms and when cooked, they were good as well. Just don't over boil the enoki, it's gross that way.

For me personally, I need to have some offal at hot pot. The more the better actually. However, not everyone shares my love for "the best parts of an animal". Rich Guy falls into that category. So I only got a conservative amount including Bible Tripe and Beef Tendon. The tripe boiled up to be easy to chew while the tendon was precooked enough so that it was soft to eat once boiled. I liked that the tripe did not have any gamy flavour which indicates it was properly washed beforehand. Oh, the corn on the same plate was really good. Not sure where they got fresh corn from; but it was sweet while each kernel was not not tough. We actually got a few more items such as tofu, watercress and bean curd skin; but they are hardly picture worthy. You just have to trust me when I say they were good as well. Again, hot pot is not a difficult thing to do. What you need is a good flavourful broth, fresh ingredients and decent service. We got all 3 this time around. So that would mean we would do a repeat visit.

The Good:
- Fresh ingredients
- Broth tastes good
- Service is efficient

The Bad:
- Although service is efficient, it is generally indifferent
- Not a very big place, I can imagine it gets really busy

Ursu Korean BBQ

*Cart is no longer operating*

Quick. What do Mexican and Korean food have in common? Dog meat? No, that's not it, despite what you hear. If you were thinking of carbs, spice, beef, grilled meats and the sort, I guess you can make a compelling argument. However, let me rephrase the question - what do they have in common within the GVRD? Simple. The Roaming Dragon and Coma food trucks (and Cartel Taco). These mobile outfits have combined the 2 cuisines hoping to offering something tasty and different. Now we have another in the form of a cart with a consistent home. Ursu Korean BBQ food cart sits on the corner of Georgia and Richards (which is a bit tight for that sidewalk, I might add). If the Roaming Dragon and Coma represent modern fusion cuisine, then Ursa would be the rustic, less-refined version.

Rather than the usual younger operators found at food carts, this one features older Korean ladies serving up tacos and quesadillas. There was a small gathering when I arrived and as we were all waiting for our food, it quickly donned on me that this is not exactly "fast food". It took over 20 minutes for me to get my order. When I did get it, the ladies behind me asked for their money back since they could not wait any longer. To get an idea of their offerings, I got a little of everything. I got a BBQ Chicken Soft Taco as well as a BBQ Beef Taco. In terms of a better value, I would recommend going for the soft taco since they can put more "stuff" into it. Furthermore, the soft taco was the better of the 2 in general. The problem with the hard taco was that they did not toast it first; hence it had a "stale" texture to it. Not that it was stale though, it just wasn't crispy. In terms of the meat, both were quite sweet while the chicken had some spice. For some reason or another, I found the un-melted cheese a poor compliment to the Korean BBQ meat. Texturally, the chicken was tender while the beef was quite dry. I think the beef taco could've benefited from some type of sauce.

Also in need of some sauce was the Bulgogi Dog. Essentially replacing a taco shell with a hot dog bun, the whole thing was far too dry. The dry bun combined with the dry meat with no form of moisture whatsoever made it hard to eat. I needed water to help me swallow. As mentioned, the meat was quite sweet (which is not really that usual for Korean BBQ) and could've benefited from some contrasting flavours. Lastly, I got the BBQ Chicken Quesadilla (yes, I ate all of this). Unlike the taco, the cheese worked well with the spicy chicken meat. Since it was melted, the flavours kinda melded together. I did enjoy this since there was all the typical ingredients to a chicken quesadilla except with a Korean twist. However, I can't see many people paying $6.99 for this. That is probably why I'm not that excited about this latest Korean-Mexican fusion food cart. Personally, I would probably go with the Roaming Dragon or Coma Food Truck ahead of Ursu.

The Good:
- The Korean ladies are quite friendly
- The option of some smaller items may suit those with smaller appetites

The Bad:
- The wait for food is too long (especially for people needing to get back to work)
- For me, some of the items seemed to be thrown together without much thought
- It doesn't seem pricey at first; but it can get up there if you want to be full

The Jade

*Restaurant has moved to #280 - 2811 #3 Road*

For those who are unfamiliar with Dim Sum, it is a form of Chinese tapas that is normally served for brunch/lunch. In the GVRD, there appears to be 3 distinct levels of Dim Sum. First, we have the hole-in-the-wall, inexpensive Dim Sum which normally runs around $2.50 - $3.00 per dish. Second, we have the middle-of-the-road pack that serves up these dishes at $3.00 - $4.00 each. Lastly, we have high-end Dim Sum that sees an average price of $4.00 - $5.00 per dish. Now what does the premium get you? Well, a nicer venue which normally includes washrooms that are not dangerous to your health. Hey, it's an important feature to many! I honestly cannot understand why so many Chinese restaurants treat their washrooms like the bottom of their shoes. In fact, I think the bottom of their shoes would be cleaner... I digress. In addition to nicer washrooms, the service is relatively better. I say relatively because even the best service at a Chinese restaurant would be considered embarrassing at other places. Lastly, the raw materials are expected to be better as well. Is it worth paying for? Well, Rich Guy and I were about to find out on our visit to The Jade for Dim Sum.

Now, Dim Sum is not complete without having their CRA-winning dish - Mushroom Dumplings. A combination of mushrooms encased within a thin rice flour wrapper, these are in fact very good. I wouldn't go as far as to say it is necessarily a "wow" thing; but it's good nonetheless. Something about the umami-ness of the mushrooms make the dumpling. Of course the perfectly cooked wrapper helps too, it's slightly chewy/gummy while still easy to eat. We were curious about their version of the Dumplings in Consume because it was not like the usual "goong tong gau" we are familiar with. Rather than one big dumpling, there were 3 shrimp "wontons" with wood ear mushroom. They sat in a flavourful chicken broth with one piece each of dried scallop, baby abalone, sea cucumber and dried fish maw. This was a very upscale version and it delivered. Good quality ingredients and perfect execution. However, I'd prefer one big dumpling over the small little wontons.

The Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) were very good. The dumpling skin was the perfect texture exhibiting a slight chewiness. It was neither gummy or too thick. As for the filling, the whole shrimp had a nice snap and the natural sweetness of the shrimp and sesame oil just tasted great. Now for the ying to the yang, the Sui Mai (Shrimp & Pork Dumplings). These were equally as good. A good combination of bouncy pork and shrimp, these also tasted quite good. Continuing on the dumpling theme, we decided to give the Crab Dumplings a try. Often, whenever "real crab" is used in such things like sushi and dumplings, it seems to get lost. It's such a delicate ingredient, it doesn't take much to overwhelm it in terms of flavour and/or texture. The same could be said about this dumpling. With a mix of cilantro and ground pork, the crab seemed to be MIA. Not a bad dumpling by any means, the crab was just not apparent.

What was not lost was the shrimp in the Rice Noodle Roll. The perfectly cooked cold-water shrimp had a nice snap and were encased in soft rice noodle. Although soft, the rice noodle still had a slight resistance; which kept it intact once picked up with chopsticks. I liked the addition of yellow chives as it both gave colour and flavour. Now, the excellent rice noodle couldn't save the Ja Leun or Salty Donut Rice Noodle Roll. Despite the equally soft rice noodle roll with the addition of green onion, the salty donut itself killed the dish. The donut was greasy, overfried and too crispy. I realize this dish is more about textural contrasts then flavour itself (since the main flavouring agent is sweet soy and hoisin/sesame sauce); however, this was way too much of a contrast. Another dud was the Pan-Fried Taro Cake. A close cousin to the daikon radish cake, this is remarkably more dense and rich in flavour. Now being more dense is one thing; but this particular version was very hard and dry. When we were chewing, it became mealy and if we didn't have tea on hand, it would've been a bit difficult to swallow. Flavour-wise, it was good though. A rich taro flavour accented by dried shrimp and Chinese sausage, it was too bad the taro cake suffered from a lack of water when they made the paste. One thing they did get right was the pan-frying. Although uneven, it was crispy and aesthetically pleasing.

On the flip side, the Steamed Spareribs were very good. First of all, the ribs were quite meaty and there was very little in the way of cartilage and fat. Secondly, the texture was a good combination of a slight chewiness and being tender. We liked the addition of peppers as it added a level of sweetness to compliment the black bean and garlic. Lastly and yes, it actually arrived last, was the Egg Tarts. I guess that is one of the benefits of paying more for Dim Sum, there is a chance that the proper order of food expedition will occur. Despite their modest size, the egg tarts did pack a punch. The flaky pastry yielded a good amount of egg custard that was semi-sweet and the right balance of soft; yet not watery. With that being said, these were amazingly small.

This brings up an interesting point. With the high prices and modest portion size, The Jade services specific clientele. Consider this, we shared 10 dishes and we were not stuffed. We weren't hungry by any stretch of the imagination; but we could've eaten more. The total bill including tip came to over $65.00 for 2 people. Now with that high price tag, there is a certain level of expectations in terms of food quality. On the whole, Dim Sum was quite good except for 2 dishes. Rich Guy and I discussed that fact. We came to the conclusion that if 80% of the dishes were good, that is acceptable. On the other hand, the prices don't allow for much room for error either. Is it acceptable to have 2 sub-par dishes at roughly $5.00 each? We really couldn't come to a consensus. That is probably why I will remain indifferent despite some really good dishes.

The Good:
- Food is made with care
- The service we got was attentive
- Large parking lot exclusively for The Jade

The Bad:
- Expensive
- You can get the same quality of stuff elsewhere for less