Sanafir

*Restaurant is now closed*

Another Glowbal Group restaurant? Yah, I know. To many, the Glowbal Group is not exactly the first choice for incredible food. You have to understand 2 things though. First, the Glowbal Group is a chain restaurant that isn't. You see, all of their restaurants are "different", as they focus on different cuisines (except for Italian Kitchen and Trattoria). But at the same time, these restaurants do what most chain restaurants do, such as offer generally safe food in a predictable environment. That environment would be one of an attractive staff within a trendy, chic, youthful, modern, club-like or whatever you call it atmosphere. Secondly, Glowbal offers different methods of acquiring a discount which makes its restaurants accessible. For me, I'm just curious and want to try them all, which has finally brought me to Sanafir - the last one I had not been to. Coincidentally, I wasn't aware of their Tuesday 50% special, which was a pleasant surprise when I got the bill at the end.

Another common theme with all of the Glowbal restaurants is the art of sharing. There are generally a large selection of menu items which can be had in one large platter to be enjoyed with others at a per person price. With that in mind, Viv and I got the Mezze Platter. Starting on the bottom going clockwise, we have the Tuna Confit Crostini, Tandoori Prawn, Black Pepper Calamari, Vegetable Pakora, Braised Shortrib Crostini, Mediterranean Ribs, Lamb Kofta and in the centre, Watermelon & Valdeon Salad. As simple as a Tuna Crostini can be, we didn't mind this one. There was plenty of tuna with zing provided by the capers and the tapenade underneath. There was good flavour from the olive oil and the fried onions on top. Furthermore, the crostini was nice and crunchy. Nothing amazing; yet pleasant nonetheless. Next, we tried the Tandoori Prawn and for us, this was disappointing. What looked to be a plate full of flavour was actually quite bland. We could see the tandoori spices and the flavourful charred parts; but it all came out flat. Moreover, the most problematic thing was that the prawns were undercooked. It was especially noticeable in the head portion. The chickpea and arugula salad underneath was okay in my books; but Viv felt it was lacking in punch.

Moving clockwise around the platter, the Black Pepper Calamari was really tender and cooked perfectly. I liked the ample use of black pepper on most pieces. It really upped the flavour quotient. The lime aioli had a good zing and was a nice compliment while the peppers and red onion added another layer of spice. The one issue I had with this was the level of grease. Particularly with the pieces on the bottom, the grease was literally dripping off them. And on the topic of greasy, we had the Vegetable Pakora topped with sweet chili sauce next. No matter though, it is made with deep-fried chickpea flour, so it's not health food for sure. These were decent. Lots of cumin, very crisp and full of potato, peppers and chickpeas. Although we didn't mind the sweet chili sauce, it would've been preferable to have it on the side since it only served to moisten the perfectly crisp exterior of the pakora.

Onto our second crostini which was the Braised Shortrib Crostini. Similarly to the tuna, the shortrib was served cold. With the combination of dates and pequillo peppers, the flavour profile was distinctively sweet. I liked the grated egg on top, it looked nice. Not that I noticed it much while eating the crostini though. The shortrib itself was moist and tender. Normally, we gernerally like shortrib served hot; but this was alright in our opinion. Back to fried food, we had the Mediterranean Ribs with olive oil, Parmesan, espelette lime and fried herbs. The positive was that the ribs were very moist, fall-off-the-bone tender with a crisp exterior. Furthermore, there was great flavour from the Parmesan, black pepper and the herbs. However, once again, we found it to be quite greasy. One bite or one squeeze of the meat and the grease was quite visible.

The last savoury item that we tried was the Lamb Kofta which I ended up eating it all (Viv is not a huge fan of lamb). She gave it a shot; but it was indeed very gamy. For me, that was no problem at all since it just meant more flavour. I found that there was more than enough seasoning from the spices (particularly cumin) to compliment the lamb. The lamb was moist and the kofta was not overcooked. It rested on a bed of mint & parsley couscous, which I could've had more of. At the centre of the platter was a Watermelon and Valdeon with olive oil and pumpkin seeds. With sweet watermelon combined with the salty ingredients, it made for a nice refreshing treat from all the fried food. Strangely, the valdeon didn't look the part, it tasted more like Parmesan. Didn't matter though, it went well with the watermelon.

As if there wasn't enough food already (the 2 men sitting beside us shared this platter and didn't finish), we got a side of Fried Brussel Sprouts and Cauliflower. As it arrived, the aroma from being fried and tossed in chili, Parmesan and lime was intoxicating. I particularly liked the colour of the dish even though Viv had the opposite reaction. Similarly, she didn't like the dish while I did. I thought that the brussel sprouts were pretty good despite the fact I don't really like them. They were fried until crisp and there was just enough flavour from the cheese. As for the cauliflower, I still prefer the one from Nuba; but this was alright too. It was not mushy and again, had just enough seasoning on it.

Okay, we weren't finished yet. We had also ordered the Paella Valencia consisting of grilled tiger prawn, mussels, chicken and chorizo. Now, if you are familiar with an authentic paella valencia, I'm sure you'll notice that this paella is more of a hybrid of different types of paella minus the snails. For me, authenticity is not an issue if the food tastes good. After all, who are we to tell people what they should like. If it tastes good to someone, nothing else matters really. Okay, for those who want to whine about the paella not being served in the pan it was cooked in and yada yada yada... Yes, we noticed that too. No big deal in this case as we weren't expecting as much. Bottom line was that the rice was not overcooked and there was plenty of seafood flavour. We could see the saffron; but it was quite mild (it could be the quality of saffron). As for the seafood, the clams and mussels were very good; however, the prawn were really underdone, especially the heads. In fact, the heads were predominantly still dark gray, which indicates that it was not cooked all the way through. We liked the big chunks of chicken and chorizo, except there was only like 2 pieces of chorizo though. Yah, the paella had its issues; yet at the same time, we didn't dislike it. We'll filed it under "not bad".

Lastly, we actually had room to share a dessert after all this food. We opted for the Rice Pudding which arrived steaming hot. The temperature of the dessert actually helped activate some really nice aroma that hit our noses before we even put a spoon in our mouths. The smell of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves was very appealing. However, once it hit our tongues, the overwhelming sugar rush from the brown sugar was overpowering. It was too bad really. If it had been less sweet, this would've been a really good end to the meal. Now, many would expect or assume that I would now dismiss Sanafir as another Glowbal restaurant that is merely interested in style and little substance. Okay, that is not necessarily untrue. Yes, Sanafir does have style. It has attractive staff and a beautiful decor. Is that enough to make a restaurant? Well, no. As much as the food had its issues, Viv and I didn't mind it. With all the money-saving opportunities that the Glowbal Group offers, it is a decent alternative to some of the really overpriced chain restaurants out there. At the very least, they are trying to be different. Now would it be our first option for eats at this price point? Not really. But for the half-price Tuesday, we considered it a good value.

The Good:
- Consistent with other Glowbal restaurants, great decor and atmosphere
- Service we got was good

The Bad:
- Some items sound better on the menu than in reality
- The ottoman-like stool we were sitting on was very uncomfortable

Savary Island Pie Company

There was a time when West Van was a place that I would frequent. You see, Rich Guy lived up in the British Properties and his place would be a meeting place of sorts for everyone. And why not really, the house was large complete with an indoor swimming pool, sauna and pool table. Ah... The life of a Rich Guy... Now that he has moved, West Van has become a forgotten place of sorts for us. We are rarely out there other than passing by on our way to Whistler. Even when we're somewhat close by (after our hockey game in North Van), we can't even eat here due to the fact everything closes so darn early. Last time I was in the area, I really wanted to give Savary Island Pie Company a go, but the lineup stretched out the door. And you know my love for lineups... So it hasn't been up until now that I had my chance.

Mijune was free to meet me for lunch and we had originally wanted to head to the new Pinkberry location in West Van. We never made it there because we paid a visit to Savary Island first and never left (something about Mijune and sweets...). We got a couple of things to share starting with the Grilled Chicken & Basil Sandwich. Gawd this thing was buttery. From the buttered bread and mayo to the pesto, it was artery-clogging goodness. Large hits of basil thanks to the green onion pesto and whole basil leaves sandwiched in between moist chicken breast slices, tomato and lots of pepper. This was one fine sandwich and would've been perfect if it weren't so salty. We also got a slice of the Chicken Pot Pie and despite its modest portion size, it was satisfying. The crust was rich and buttery while the filling was equally rich with moist chicken, peas, carrots and potatoes. I found the flavours in this pot pie to be well-balanced. I didn't feel the need to add more pepper, salt or anything else. Arriving on the same plate as the pot pie was a cup of Split Pea and Ham Soup. At first, we were trying to figure out what was different about this soup and it was due to the addition of dill. Although it gave the soup some character, I thought the dill didn't really go. In addition, the soup itself needed more salty-smokiness from the ham. It was a bit flat. What I did like was the chunkiness of the ingredients. Personally, I like this more than the smooth version.

Now a visit to Savary Island would not be complete without their pies right? Well, that and the fact Mijune was around. Like we could leave without dessert... We kicked things off with a classic Apple Pie a la Mode. This, my friends was a very good slice of pie. The crust was super flaky, buttery and not soggy in the least. The apple filling was perfect consisting of a nice balance of tart and sweet. I really liked how the pie stayed intact even after slicing and plating. At first, they served the pie cold and it was pretty good. We got them to warm it up and *bam* - this is when the flavours hit us. Definitely get them to serve it warm. The vanilla ice cream on the side was filled with vanilla bean and was super creamy. We were shocked when it was revealed that it was from GFS. I guess GFS has higher-end ice cream too...

For our second slice of pie, we had the Lemon Buttermilk with berries. The best way to describe both the texture and flavour would be to call this a lemon cheesecake flan (with a poorly made flan). Now I'm not dissing the pie because it wasn't a flan; but the texture was that of a badly made flan. In this case, it didn't matter because we liked it. It was smooth and creamy. The flavour was very similiar to a lemon cheesecake which suited me just fine. I really liked this slice of pie. As if this wasn't enough sweets already (since I'm not really a dessert guy), Mijune walked back up to the counter and ordered 4 more items! We tried the Cranberry Orange Pecan Muffin first and it was fantastic. Once we got past the huge crispy muffin top, it reveal a moist semi-sweet center that was bursting with hits of orange and cranberry. Definitely a good deal of zing which acted as a good balance to the sweetness. The crunchy pecans on top were a great textural contrast.

Moving along, we sampled the large slice of Carrot Cake next. It was super moist with lots of carrot and intermittent chunks of apricot. At first we thought the green bits in the cake were zucchini. Upon further inspection and inquisition, it was actually carrot. With some research, we found out it could be due to the use of organic carrots which react to baking soda and could make it turn green. Now this is just speculation. We weren't exactly sure why the carrots turned partially green. Whatever the case, the cake was good and the cream cheese icing on top was perfect. It was super smooth and creamy while not being too sweet. Yum. By now, I was in a food coma; yet there was still more to sample. We moved onto the Apricot Almond Scone which looked great visually. Too bad the scone itself was a bit too dry. I suppose if we slathered it with butter or jam, it would've been better; however, I was either too lazy or too full to go through that trouble. I did like the crunch of the exterior and hits of sweet apricot though.

Lastly, we had the Chocolate Granola Bar. This thing was pretty huge, barely fitting onto the plate. It was chock full of chocolate chips while having a nice balance between being chewy and slightly crunchy. Due to the high chocolate content, the bar was rather sweet though. In the end, Mijune and I thought it was well worth the drive out to West Van for Savary Island. The place is quaint and has got that eclectic feel (a la Portland) to it. It is quite apparent that they take real care in their food and really know how to bake. Only problem is the place is small and it gets busy. Not good for people who hate lineups; but it is a good indication there is something good happening here.

The Good:
- Very good pies and baked goods
- The place has a certain charm

The Bad:
- Place is tiny
- Had a tough time getting information out of staff (seems like a few are very green)

Venice Garden

For those who have ever watched Seinfeld, you are well aware of Jerry's arch-nemesis. Yes, he is affectionately known as "Newman". He bears a striking resemblance to that dude who gets killed in Jurassic Park... Anyways, Milhouse has a Newman of his own. He is one of the managers at the former Happy King Restaurant. Milhouse swore never to return due to the fact that this manager would not only rush us out the door when we were there for late night "da lang", he actually removed a dish Milhouse was in the middle of eating. Ever since that incident, he did not want to return, even if it was the only restaurant open. Fast forward to the present and Happy King is no more. It has given way to a new joint named Venice Garden. Enter classier furnishings and a much cleaner floor. Apu suggested we head there for late night after Friday night hockey. He indicated that the place was under new management. Okay, sounded good to me. Although, it did take a bit of convincing for Milhouse to join us. And guess who was there to greet us when we walked in the door... Newman.

I guess the place is not under new management after all... In fact, other than the addition of a new floor, new furnishings and a build-your-own-noodle menu, everything else looked the same. With that in mind, we didn't do the da lang thing though. We ended up ordering our own things. We'd just have to see if Milhouse would be able to finish it without it being removed from the table. Originally, Milhouse, Ginseng and I were wanting to share a Chinese Salty Donut (this sounds incredibly suggestive...), hence we all got congee. Turns out they didn't have any salty donuts left, even though there was one sitting in plain view for all to see. I guess it was either stale from sitting there all day for all to see or they were saving it for themselves. Anyways, Milhouse and Ginseng both had the Preserved Duck Egg and Salted Pork Congee. From all reports, the congee was more than adequately seasoned (with lots of MSG) and full of salty hand-shredded pork. The congee started off thick; but became watery at the end. For myself, I had the Fish Congee and it was full of tender Basa slices. I found the congee a bit too flavourful; but in the end it was decent. I wasn't satisfied with just a bowl of congee, so I added a order of Wonton Noodles as well. I wasn't expecting much and to my surprise, it was a solid bowl of noodles. The soup base was flavourful and steaming hot while the noodles were just a tad past al dente. There was still a slight chew to them though. The star of the show was the humungous all-shrimp wontons. They were bursting with whole crunchy well-seasoned shrimp. These were really good wontons.

Boss Woman had 2 dishes starting with the Chow Gwei Duy or Singapore Fried Flat Rice Noodles. This was a fairly large serving of noodles; yet there was very little in the way of shrimp, BBQ Pork or peppers. It was mostly noodles. The noodles were cooked alright remaining in one piece while still soft. In terms of flavour, there needed to be both more curry powder and salt. For her second dish, she had a small dish of Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp. This was a well-executed with lots of cold-water shrimp and perfectly prepared eggs. The eggs were just cooked being slightly runny.

Lastly, Bear had the ever exciting bowl of BBQ Pork on Rice. Since this was essentially the end of the day, the BBQ pork was predictably dry. He didn't elicit much response to this standard item. I guess it did the job for late night eats; but it wasn't anything that could rival HK BBQ Master. So there you go - Venice Garden appears to be a renovated version of Happy King. At the very least, the food quality as a whole seemed pretty good for what we ordered. I was particularly impressed with the wontons especially since this is not a place you'd associate with good wontons. For the time of day, the food did the job and now it is a whole lot cleaner too. Oh and Milhouse got to finish his meal without it being prematurely snatched from him.

The Good:
- Pretty good wontons and congee
- Open late
- Renovated

The Bad:
- Indifferent service
- The other items we had were so-so

Hakkaku Ramen

Here we go again. Another attempt at doing a ramen joint in Burnaby. We first had Kawawa Ramen, which is alright, but nothing special (not to be confused with Kawawa Restaurant). Then Miki Ramen came along and completely underwhelmed. Well, the fact that Miki is no longer open for business is an indication of their mediocrity. It really does seem like the only good ramen in town is found down on and around Robson Street. For me, Hokkaido Ramen Santouka still reigns supreme. However, we can never expect that quality in the burbs. So the next challenger is Hakkaku Ramen where Lalibela Ethiopian used to stand on Hastings at Willingdon. Joining me this ramen adventure was Karl, who was in the area.

The menu is simple here with 5 types of ramen to choose from: Miso, Shoyu, Shio, Curry and Spicy Miso. For the first 3, they could be had in a combo with either a Green Onion Don ($9.50) or with a Chashu Don ($10.50). For me, I went for the latter and chose the Shio Ramen. Much like Kintaro, there was a choice of lean chashu or pork belly. Furthermore, the broth could be had in fatty or non-fatty. Personally, you either go big or go home, I went for full fat on both. As you can clearly see, there were a significant amount of floaties in the broth. Despite this, the broth was thin and rather weak. A bunch of fat does not necessarily make the broth better. In fact, it was very watery. No silkiness or richness associated with a pork bone broth. Now for the supposed "pork belly", it looked much more like pork butt. Moreover, it wasn't melt-in-your-mouth quality, rather it was on the drier chewy side. I did like the noodles though, they were toothsome and perfectly portioned. The Chashu Don was completely forgettable. Other than the texturally sound rice, there was nothing else to be positive about. The chewy chashu was extremely salty. It was so salty, I could not taste anything else. Despite this, there wasn't any moisture to flavour and moisten the rice. So the whole bowl of food was chewy, dry and salty. Not good.

Karl went for something a bit different in the Curry Ramen. When it arrived, there was no mistaking the curry. We could see it and smell it. For me, the broth had plenty of curry flavour, yet it was still weak. No depth. Very watery. Once again, the noodles were al dente, yet the same dry piece of pork kinda brought the bowl down. And guess what? The same chashu was the downfall of the Chashu Burger as well. First off, the steamed mantou was fluffy and soft. However, the dry salty chashu didn't do anything for this "burger". If the predominant flavour is only salt, then you might as well just put anything in there and salt it. Couldn't even tell it was pork.

At the very least, the Gyoza were not bad. They were nicely crisped up on the bottom bordering on being burnt (which is better than pale). The dumpling skin was not thick while the filling was not gritty. Probably the only "good" thing we had. It's really too bad though. Hakkaku is probably the closest ramen joint to me, yet it is one of the more mediocre to poor places I've tried in town. I seriously hope they get their act together because if this is the best they have to offer, they might not last very long.

The Good:
- Okay pricing
- Friendly staff
- Spacious

The Bad:
- Broth has no depth
- Chashu is super salty and dry

Okonomi Sushi (6th Street)

Awhile back, I had noticed that The Orange Room in New West was covered up by a really big banner advertising the new location of Okonomi Sushi. Hmmm... It appears that New West is still not ready for a place like The Orange Room. Rather, places like The Waffle House a few doors down continue to flourish. While I was there, I did sense the faint smell of Ben-Gay though. Make what you wish of that information... So on a random Monday, Karl and I decided to take advantage of Okonomi's 30% off grand opening special. So what do 2 people order to get a sense of the menu? Well, fortunately for us, Okonomi has quite a few "Complete Meals" which, for allintents and purposes, offers up a little of everything.

We decided that Special Assorted Combo A had the right mix of things for our lunch. This included a choice of specialty roll, Chicken Karaage, Nigiri, Sashimi, Salad and Dessert. Also, all of these meals included either Chawanmushi or Sunomono Salad and Miso Soup. For this combo, we chose the Sunomono Salad which as you can see was neatly prepared. It was almost perfect with chewy noodles, cold water shrimp, fresh cucumber and julienned carrots. But the vinegar dressing was a bit bland and really needed more sugar and tartness. On a side note, I love it when a Japanese restaurant (well Korean-run in this case) throws in complimentary Edamame. Next up was the Chicken Karaage which consisted of 3 fried mid-sections of the wing. I found these to be a little lacking in seasoning and a touch overdone. Not a huge problem though. The meat inside was still quite moist, it was just the parts near the skin that were dry. I also didn't find them very crispy, possibly because they didn't serve them right away?

Moving onto the Sashimi and Nigiri, it was apparent that they are very generous with their cuts of fish. Looking at the salmon and tuna nigiri, it was almost as if there wasn't any rice underneath since the slices of fish were that big. Indeed there was rice and in fact, the rice was purple, the benefactor of red cabbage juice. I found the rice to be slightly gummy; yet decent. As for the fish, it wasn't bad. I wouldn't go as far as saying that it was bursting with sweetness and flavour; yet it was better than average. Furthermore, the texture of the salmon was pretty firm and the tuna was not mushy. Decent sashimi. The specialty roll we selected was the Okonomi Special House Roll consisting of imitation crab meat, cucumber and avocado all wrapped up with bacon, then the purple sushi rice and deep fried. It was topped with spicy tuna, tempura bits, house sauce and aonori. The picture doesn't do this roll justice. The darn thing almost stretched the width of the table. Each of the 8 pieces were large and filling. Due to the aggressive drizzle of the sauces, not much of the other ingredients came through other than the spicy tuna. No matter though, this fried roll was more about textures than anything. If one was to order this a la carte, it would be only $8.95 - a very good value if you ask me.

For our second combo, we got the Okonomiyaki and Tempura meal. Since we already had the sunomono, we went for the Chawanmushi. We found it to be silky; yet bland. The ebi was cooked nicely and sweet having a nice snap texture. Somehow, this wasn't served really hot either. Could it have been premade and reheated? Next, we had the Tempura which was very good. The batter was crispy and not greasy. The veggies and shrimp were perfectly cooked. The grand finale of the meal was the much anticipated Okonomiyaki. When it arrived on the table, it sure looked impressive. It was of a decent size and topped by a generous amount of bonito flakes, mayo and sauce. Furthermore, as you can tell in the picture, it was packed with seafood, meat and cabbage. So this was good right? Nope. Nothing could be further from that. The darn thing was so dense, I could've chucked it across the room like a Frisbee. In fact, it could've hurt an innocent bystander. It was that dense. The texture was highly unappealing being doughy and heavy. It was really too bad since the flavours were fine due to the high amount of ingredients and toppings. In the end, I forced Karl to take the leftovers.

Lastly, we were presented with our desserts, which were included with the combo meals. We got one each of the Tempura Fried Banana and Tempura Fried Ice Cream. I decided to only include the picture of the ice cream because they were practically alike in appearance. Both were fried in tempura batter and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Karl and I agreed that the desserts were forgettable since the batter was doughy and not really all the crispy. It's really too bad our meal ended in this way with the okonomiyaki and dessert. If we didn't look at these items, the meal as a whole was decent (especially for New West). Yet, the real draw here are the reasonable prices and large portions.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Reasonable pricing
- Friendly service

The Bad:
- Food is largely hit and miss