Cosca

*Restaurant is now closed*

Sometimes, it seems like there is never enough time in a day to fit everything in. That's why I had to consider if I could even accept an invite to try a new Italian bistro out on Denman named Cosca. You see, the meeting time was at 6:00pm. Problem being was that my meeting after work would go until at least 5:30pm. Another issue was the location of the meeting - Ladner. So here's the deal. I had to make it from Ladner, through the George Massey Tunnel in rush hour all the way deep into Downtown within 30 minutes. The possibility of that happening is as good as Luongo stopping a shot on his belly. You know what? I made it by 6:05pm without breaking the speed of light... I guess I really should lay off Luongo, I am a goalie myself! I wonder what the players think when I let in goals from behind the net?

So as I walked into the place, which was formerly Dulcinea, Ronald from Eat Marketing was there to greet me. The deal was that we could order an entree of our choice in addition to sharing some appies as well as dessert. Once we made our selections, the dishes came out fast and furious. The first to arrive was the Antipasto Platter consisting of Prosciutto & Melon, Crispy Pancetta, Artichoke Heart and Tomato & Bocconcini. Well, nothing particularly amiss with this plate other than the fact it was really hard to divide the items. Everything was of good quality and honestly, that was expected since they were trying to impress. The next item I sampled was the Vongole in Brodo consisting of Manila clams braised in garlic, white wine, herbs, olives, capers and tomato. With all the acidic ingredients, there was a certain level of tartness which was good since it helped balance the saltiness of the dish. The clams were sweet and plump which made this a decent appie.

Next was the Calamari Livornese which had a very similar flavour profile as the clams. Once again, there was tomato, garlic, capers and olives. However, there was a spicy kick which really added another flavour dimension. Once again, the acidity from the ingredients were welcomed since it really livened up the dish. As for the squid, the pieces were tender and not overcooked. Continuing on with the tomato theme, we had the Malanzane Arrosto or roasted eggplant, basil marinara and smoked mozzarella. This was very well-executed. The eggplant was soft while still retaining its shape and some texture. It had depth of flavour from the roasting. The marinara exhibited, once again, a good level of tartness which was contrasted by the ample amount of cheese.

The last of our appies was the Funghi Selvatico consisting of a flat bread topped with mushrooms, caramelized onions and pecorino-romano. I actually quite liked this one and was probably the best of the bunch. The bread was soft and I thought the dough was properly seasoned. Furthermore, the mushrooms were nicely sauteed exhibiting a nice woodsy essence that meshed well with the sweet onions and saltiness of the cheese. Since we were all having a main all to ourselves, it would limit our exposure to the rest of the available dishes. Therefore, a few of us decided to share what we got with each other. Perfect! For myself, while I was listening to the daily features, the Lamb Osso Bucco caught my attention. When it arrived, I was rather taken aback at the portion size. At first, we surmised it was a "special order", but upon further inspection of the surrounding tables, it was indeed the actual size. The shank was cooked beautifully being fork tender while still maintaining a rich meat flavour. It rested on a huge bed of potato gnocchi which were of the denser variety. Personally, I don't mind it being heavier, yet in this case, it could've stood to be lighter though. Without trying to sound predictable like Luongo in a shootout (boy I'm rough on him!), the tomato sauce was once again tart and a bit salty. This time around, there might have been acidic overload since the red onion salad had a tart dressing as well.

Dee had the Pappardelle Boscaiola consisting of fresh egg pasta, wild mushroom ragu, smoked mozzarella and truffle oil. Due to the nature of the fresh pasta as well as it being of the egg variety, it was understandable that it was on the softer side. If the picture seems to indicate a very rich sauce, then your eyes are not deceiving you. This was a heavy and creamy pasta dish. However, that was the point and combined with the ample use of garlic in addition to the fantastic mushroom ragu, there was no absence of earthiness. Oh and the drizzle of truffle oil didn't hurt either. Sitting to my right was one of the writers from Coffee Foodies and it was a pleasure to meet her. Her choice of entree was another one of the featured items of the night being the Orange Saffron Risotto with duck and golden beets. Honestly, I didn't like this dish. First of all, the risotto was overcooked. Second, the orange was overpowering and almost tasted like marmalade. Third, the duck was slightly chewy in parts. The one positive was the nicely prepared beets.

Ann had one of the other specials that I was considering in the Seared Red Snapper on a bed of linguine and broccolini tossed in white wine, garlic and herbs. Yet again, we were amazed at the portion size, these were not small fillets. I thought the fish was cooked properly, although the crust was quite salty. However, it was necessary since the linguine (which was a tad past al dente) was bland. If ate together in one bite, it worked. At the end, we were presented with a dessert platter consisting of Apple Cake, Tiramisu and Chocolate Torte. I found the apple cake a bit weak in flavour. There needed to be more tartness and even more sweetness too. With that being said, the apples had a nice texture. By far, the Tiramisu was the best item on the plate. It was light, not too sweet and had a good balance of flavours. I kept taking bites of it despite being very full. As for the chocolate torte, it was also not too sweet and had nice dark chocolate taste. However, the texture was slightly off. It was too dense. Overall, the food we tried was not bad. The one overarching theme was the portion size to price ratio. Nothing on the menu is over $20.00 and considering the Downtown location, that is very reasonable pricing. Sure, some dishes were better than others, but that is to be expected.

The Good:
- Good portions
- Reasonably-priced
- Loved the Tiramisu

The Bad:
- It's not a big place
- Some of the flavours seemed repetitive
- Risotto needs work

Penang Delight Cafe

It's official. Sunday morning summer hockey has drawn to a close. It means more sleep and most importantly, no more eats on Sundays. Since that was the case, we decided to go for something a bit different than the usual. Seeing how we hadn't done anything Malaysian, we settled on giving Penang Delight Cafe a go. It also coincided with Beebs joining us for the first time in search of nourishment. Beebs is Indonesian and the cuisine shares a lot in common with Malaysian food. I guess he was our "expert" or authenticity police for the day. This in itself brings up an interesting point. So many of us are so caught up in the authenticity thing that we tend to forget that if the food tastes good, does it really matter? I mean, it certainly doesn't matter to the many people who continually visit the Thai House for the last 25 years... My point is: restaurants are there to make money, not to satisfy the small group of people who exclaim, "I'm from (so and so a place) and this food is not authentic!!!". Good for them. A successful restaurant doesn't give a rats ass about that if they consistently make money. Banana Leaf and Tropika are good examples of this. Both have adjusted their flavours to appeal to a broader market locally and are often accused of doing so. However, I do not mind either restaurant and fully know well what I'm getting myself into when I eat there.

In the case of Penang Delight Cafe, I've heard everything from it is authentic to it is not authentic. For us, we didn't really care and set forth just to have a pleasant meal. We started with the "must order" Roti Canai. Although it was slightly more dense than the ones found at Banana Leaf and Tamarind Hill, it was far from doughy. It was slightly sweet with a nice crisp exterior giving way to the chewy inside. The curry dipping sauce was quite mild being sweet with only a hint of heat. We couldn't decided whether we wanted chicken or beef satay, so we ended up getting both. The Chicken Satay was cooked absolutely perfectly being moist, juicy and exhibiting a nice rebound texture. There was enough marinade that the meat could've been eaten by itself, but there was no way we'd pass up the peanut dipping sauce. It had a nice consistency with plenty of peanuts and a rich sweetness. As for the Beef Satay, the meat was predictably not as tender as the chicken. Yet, it was not difficult to chew. The meat was cooked medium-rare and had a nice flavour. My only wish would be for more charring on the outside for presentation purposes and some smokiness/
caramelization.

For our veggie intake of the day, we got the Sambal Green Beans. Once the plate hit the table, we were greeted with the wonderful smell of shrimp paste. Of course, everyone had to wait while I took a photo of it first which was excruciating to say the least. The beans were on the softer side, but not mushy. The aforementioned fermented and pungent shrimp paste was balanced by the chili and sugar. This was a very flavourful dish. At first, the colour of the Beef Rendang looked a tad pale and that concerned me a bit. One bite of the moist and tender beef, all the concerns went away with a powerful coconut kick. There was also the bite from the galangal and aromatics courtesy of the lemongrass. Furthermore, I could really pick out the star anise and clove as well. The dish was filled with so many different flavours except it was quite mild. We could've used a bit more heat.

Another standard of South Asian cuisine is the different variations of Hainanese Chicken. The Malaysian version is very similar to Singaporean version except the chicken rice is often served in a ball. Moreover, it is served with a hotter chili sauce and sometimes accompanied by blanched bean sprouts. Everything was true with the one we ordered here except we got 4 bowls of Chicken Rice (the balls of rice are found only in the individual portion). The rice was a tad drier than other versions I've had. That was not a bad thing though since the texture was perfectly chewy. We loved the flavour. It was nutty and had just enough chicken stock flavour without being salty. As for the chicken, it was super juicy and just barely cooked. It was served warm and deboned just like the Singaporean version.

Now for our final item, it was almost a given we'd have to try their Curry Laksa. Universally, we though the laksa was quite good. The broth was very flavourful with hits of coconut milk, lemongrass, shellfish and spice. Both types of noodles still retained a bite while all of the ingredients from the chicken to the shrimp were cooked properly. By now, we were pretty full and contemplating dessert. We waffled back and forth finally deciding to take a pass. However, the nice lady who was chatting up all the tables insisted we try dessert. So much so, it was on the house! Okay, not sure if it was my good looks... Wait, it was definitely not that. Viv would pretty much shoot me down anyways... And I'm not sure if it was due to my camera or they were just being plain nice. Whatever the case, we were served an order of Malay Kuih. In this case, I believe this was a Kuih Talam which consists of pandan juice and coconut milk. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Whatever it was, the texture was quite appealing. It was soft while still exhibiting some gelatin-type qualities from the tapioca flour. The best part was the coconut milk layer on top. It was aromatic and naturally sweet. The dessert itself wasn't too sweet and it was a nice end to the meal. Now getting back to the authenticity debate, we noticed that the majority of patrons at the restaurant were of South Asian descent. So does that mean it was more authentic? Beebs seemed to enjoy the meal, although he did point out that his home-cooking is a bit different (naturally restaurant food is never the same as home-cooking). For the rest of us, we were happy with the food and isn't that what is most important?

The Good:
- Attentive and friendly service
- Flavourful, albeit mild dishes

The Bad:
- Flavourful, albeit mild dishes
- Tight seating arrangements

Thai by Thai

Have you ever driven by a restaurant that never seems to have any customers? You know, the one that looks a bit shady and remains empty every hour of the day. It is even more obvious when there is an empty parking lot in front too. How do they stay in business? Or is serving food not their "main" reason for existing... Well, for the past 7 years, I have passed by this Salvadorean joint which could pass for a VCR repair shop (in looks and in terms of business potential). Finally, after all this time, it closed and a Thai restaurant has taken over. I was pretty happy with this development because it meant another food
option and the fact there is are only 2 other Thai restaurant in the area (which are Crystal Elephant and it barely qualifies as a Thai restaurant! There is also Sandar's). Before I even knew it was open, I got an email from a reader suggesting I give it a try. Well, I didn't need much convincing!

Since the place has been only open for about 3 weeks, the parking lot was empty like it was before. Let's hope it doesn't stay empty for long. Apparently, the place is run by Manop, who was a long-standing chef (over 20 years) of the Thai House Group. This was quite evident in the food except with a few subtle differences. When I decided to order 2 meals for lunch, the nice fellow there was a bit taken aback. Well, I need to sample more than one item right? I started with the Spicy Pad Thai which was served with the daily soup, one spring roll and green salad. Much like the Thai House, the pad thai here was saucy. Now, before people get up in arms about this, I really didn't mind it since I was not expecting anything less. Furthermore, there was a decent amount of spice and the rest of the components were cooked properly. I wasn't a huge fan of the spring roll though. It was really dry on the inside which made the entire roll a bit tough to eat. However, on a subsequent visit, it was perfect, so I guess it was a one-off.

For my second dish, I had the Beef Red Curry. There was plenty of crunchy bamboo shoots and peppers intermingled with basil and tender beef within the balanced curry. There was a mild spiciness to the otherwise smooth tasting sauce. As mentioned, I made another visit within a week to try out at least one more item to get a feel of the place. The friendly server suggested I try the Basil Chicken prepared Thai style, which meant a nicely fried egg graced the mound of rice.
Interestingly, such a simple addition made this so much more enjoyable to eat. I guess it adds a little something something to an otherwise pretty common Thai combo. As for the basil chicken stir-fry itself, the veggies were vibrant and crisp while the chicken was moist and caramelized. The dish was mild with only subtle hints on heat.

As with my other visit, the meal included soup which was a veggie Tom Yum this time around. Wow, this was really flavourful with huge hits of lemongrass and fish sauce. It was very fragrant and a touch spicy. I just wanted to keep drinking it. In fact, I don't really care if there is nothing to blog about if I do any subsequent return visits. This is the best Thai restaurant in the North Delta area. Mind you, the closest competition nearby doesn't even come close... Sure, to some, the food does bear a striking resemblance to the Thai House with a few tweaks (after all, the chef did work there for over 20 years). However, you can request for more authentic preparations (and the spice level) of every dish. And besides, they must cater to the local tastes to stay in business.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Friendly owner/chef
- Bold flavours (and can be more spicy on request)

The Bad:
- As with most ethnic restaurants, they must cater to the local tastes first to survive

Fortune City

It is often said that Vancouver has the best Chinese food in the world. Well, I guess that depends what type of Chinese food (since there are many different regional cuisines) and personal preferences. Now, my parents recent foray to China and Hong Kong have pretty much confirmed this sentiment to a degree. The food in Hong Kong is pretty darn good too! So let's just say that Vancouver has some of the best Chinese food in the world; rather than declaring it the best. The predominant type of Chinese food in Vancouver is Cantonese, so we should further refine that declaration to Vancouver has some of the best Cantonese food in the world. With that in mind, the question is: if Vancouver has such great Cantonese food, is there much room for mediocre-to-poor Cantonese food? Now, I'm not talking about the 'burbs either. This is Vancouver proper. I guess Darwinism would take over in this instance since only the strongest survive, right? The weaker would ultimately meet their demise one way or another. That was probably one of the factors for East #1 Chinese Restaurant closing.

Let's just say that when Viv tried the food there, it was less than impressive. I went to see for myself with Rich Guy and we came away disappointed. For once, the low % on Urbanspoon was reflective of the overall product. And just like many Chinese restaurants, as fast as one closes, another one opens up. With slight changes to the decor and the elimination of the push carts, it is now another Chinese restaurant named Fortune, Fortune City to be exact. We met up with my in-laws for Dim Sum on a weekday and it was bustling with activity. Apparently it was 10% off with free tea during this time. Against our will, we started with the Egg Tarts. Serves us right for ordering it with the rest of our food since it inevitably shows up first. It's a catch-22 though because if you divide your order into 2, it might take awhile and to actually flag someone down would be a chore. Well, the egg tarts were mini-sized versions that had a flaky shell that was slightly crisp. The egg custard was actually kind of bland.

Not that I dislike the Fried Glutinous Pork Dumplings; but I really wished we hadn't ordered them. You see, I actually love them. It is that they are the greasiest things you'll ever see. And these were really greasy. Either the oil wasn't hot enough or they left it in the oil too long because they were dripping with grease at the bottom. Moreover, the outer glutinous rice shell was far too thick and not crispy either. So it was chewy, oil-logged and not crunchy. Suffice to say these were a complete fail. On the other hand, the Chicken Rice Hot Pot was a winner. It was a fairly large portion with properly cooked rice, which was chewy and not mushy, and lots of tender chicken on top. Although the chicken was good and properly seasoned, the fact there were bones (fragmented ones too) was not good, especially for the kids. I couldn't believe that this rice was the same price as an order of Ja Leun (salty donut wrapped in rice noodle). Seems like the Ja Leun is a rip off...

Now the rice was our first indication that the portion size here might be a bit ludicrous and when the Sui Mai arrived, it was confirmed. They were barely able to stuff the 4 dumplings in the steamer. In fact, trying to remove them was quite difficult. Now, portion size and quality can be 2 mutually exclusive things. In this case, I would say that it was somewhere in the middle. I found the pork to be slightly on the chewier side; yet not terribly so. There was a decent mix of shiitake and shrimp in it that actually made the sui mai a bit loose once bitten into. I would say it was a good value sui mai. Now the Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) were quite large as well. The dumpling skin was good, not too thick and steamed just right. The filling was a mix of shrimp mousse and pieces of shrimp. For me, the mousse to shrimp ratio was a bit off and it became less of a shrimp dumpling as a result. Now, don't get me wrong, it was still alright and once again a good value. It seemed like they used the same filling for the shrimp dumplings in the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll. If you look at the picture, there seems to be an inordinate amount of filling in the roll. Well, that is the result of the mousse filling in the space that would normally be left by the whole shrimp. There is 2 ways of looking at this. Either this is wonderful because the roll is full of filling or it is all wrong because it is a mixture of shrimp and mousse. For me, I thought it wasn't too bad; yet the texture was a bit off. The same could be said for the rice noodle itself. It was rather sticky and when I picked up a piece, everything fell apart.

Now when we talk about Beef Meatballs, it is as exciting as a prostate exam... Wait... Bad analogy... However, when these balls arrived, they were so big, it drew a lot of stares. I mean, look at the balls, they were enormous! Now, big balls aside, they need to be good too. Well, these were not bad. The texture leaned towards the softer side; yet the meat still had a slight bounce. I liked the use of water chestnuts, it added a good crunch. However, there was too much green onion. In fact, there were clumps of them inside. As for our offal dish of the day, we had the Tendons and Tripe. I found both items to be too soft. Not horribly so; yet there was not much in the way of any texture left. With that being said, I much prefer soft than too chewy. There was plenty of seasoning though in the form of garlic (and MSG I'm sure).

Now for some ribs, starting with the Blackbean Pork Spareribs. There was a good mix of meat and bone with little in the way of fatty or cartilage pieces. The texture was bang on with a nice resistance while being tender. Once again, seasoning was not a problem with a good amount of blackbean, peppers and garlic. And also once again, for some reason or another, we got the Beef Shortribs. I'm normally not a huge fan of this at Dim Sum because it is rarely prepared properly. In fact, the last time at Sun Sui Wah, it was downright awful. It can turn out quite chewy and due to the tendons, it can be pretty hard to eat. This one here was somewhere in the middle. It was a large portion, like most of their dishes, and there was plenty of meat (rather than fat and tendon). The meat was not exactly tender; yet it was possible to chew it without too much effort. I found the seasoning on this one to be a little more conservative, possibly due to the amount of ribs on the plate. Some of the marinade must've dripped to the bottom of the plate during steaming. It still had a good amount of garlic and a touch of chili flakes, so there was flavour.

Similarly, the Phoenix Talons (or chicken feet) were flavoured with garlic, chili flakes and blackbean. These were slightly overcooked where some of the skin detached from the bone. Still, this was a decent effort. Now one thing that annoyed us all was the use of frozen French fries underneath the last 4 dishes I've talked about. There was this odd aftertaste and texture that was very unappealing. Lastly, we ordered Fried Wontons for the kiddies. Essentially a shrimp spring roll in another form, this was not bad. The pocket of shrimp was quite large, which was a rarity. So has it changed for the better with Fortune City replacing #1 East? Slightly. The Dim Sum is definitely a good value considering the portion size and prices. However, execution is still hit and miss.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Large portions

The Bad:
- Service is lacking, our plates piled up and weren't dealt with until the end
- Food is hit and miss

Bo 3 Mon @ Le Petit Saigon

For many, visiting a Vietnamese restaurant involves slurping some rice noodles bathed in a slow boiled beef broth. Add a dash of sriracha, sprouts, lime, chili pepper and basil - sounds pretty standard eh? Well, much like most of the ethnic cuisine in this city, it is what you call the "tourist" approach to food. We are mercy to whatever the restaurants want to serve us. That is why we see an over-representation of certain items on menus. One particular meal that we are only beginning to see in more Vietnamese restaurants in Vancouver is Bo 7 Mon or "Seven Courses of Beef". Normally served only during a celebration such as a wedding, it certainly is a feast. Having already tried the Bo 7 Mon at Thai Hang (more like Bo 5 Mon), Song Huong and the Surrey location of Song Huong (again, Bo 5 Mon), it was time to go for Bo 3 Mon.

So when Karl suggested we meet up to do the Bo 3 Mon at Le Petit Saigon with Rey, Anita and Grayelf, I was there with bells on. Now, I've been here before; but I did the regular Pho thing (in the sweltering heat no-less). Fortunately, it was not as hot this time around. Not surprising since the summer we've had so far has been nothing but a rumour (I know, this is an old post!). Now, we weren't going to merely share a Bo 3 Mon, so we ordered a whole bunch of things starting with the Bo Tai Chanh or beef tartar. At first, they were worried that we were ordering this dish. They reiterated that it was raw and we kept nodding in affirmation. Even with that, the lady seemed concerned. LOL... Anyways, the flavour of the tartar was intense with hits of acidity, fish sauce, sweetness and herbiness. However, the beef itself was not exactly that tender. It required quite a chew which I was not a big fan of.

After this, we then moved onto the Bo 3 Mon. With any of the beef meals, there was the requisite plate of veggies and herbs consisting of sprouts, pickled carrots, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, basil and perilla. The trick to enjoy this meal is to take the beef and wrap it with the veggies, herbs and vermicelli in a rice paper sheet (which you soak in hot water). All 3 courses of beef arrived on the same plate consisting of Bò lá Lốt and a double order of Mỡ Chài. The Bò lá Lốt is the one in the middle and is beef wrapped in lot leaves (similar to grape leaves). The predominant flavouring for the beef is lemongrass and fish sauce which are quite evident in the flavour profile. On both sides, we had the Bò Mỡ Chài, which is essentially the same sausages wrapped in caul fat. All of the sausages were moist and flavourful (and quite filling too). We were full from sausages! Er... right...

By virtue of ordering other beef dishes, we created our own Beef 7 Ways meal (of course missing the some of the other dishes). We got the Bò Nướng Vĩ or Grilled Lemongrass Beef. The menu stated that it would be grilled table side; but I guess due to space limitations, it was served already grilled. I wasn't particularly fond of this one. The beef was chewy and really didn't exhibit much in the way of any flavours. This could possibly be due to the lack of charring and caramelization. Lastly, we had the Bò Nhúng Dấm or rare beef cooked in a vinegar broth hot pot (at the table). And once again, although the beef looked really good, it was chewy when cooked. I experimented with undercooking it and overcooking it with the same result. I guess it is the meat they use since all of it was chewy. One thing I must note is the Mam Nem (fermented anchovy dipping sauce) was not bad. It was sweet, salty and had the nice sharpness of raw garlic. I love this sauce in general and probably could drink it as a beverage. With that being said, I still like the one from Song Huong more. So basically, this was a self-created beef meal that ultimately had 6 courses. It was not bad in general; however, I do prefer the ones from Song Huong and Thai Hang more.

The Good:
- Friendly staff/owner
- If not looking at this meal, the rest of the food is pretty good

The Bad:
- Just like last time, it can get warm in there
- Bo 3 Mon is a bit pricey compared to Song Huong