Vancouver Sun Children's Fund

Normally, I'm not for one to post random stories or promotions. This is a restaurant blog and I generally like to keep it consistent. However, there are times when I feel the need to help. Often, in our daily lives, we forget that there are many people less fortunate than us. We get to enjoy the luxuries in life while many do not even have the basic necessities. It is even more troubling when many of these suffering individuals are kids. From first-hand experience, I have seen students who have come to school hungry on a daily basis. Can you imagine them doing well in school when they don't even know when their next meal is? The Adopt a School project by The Vancouver Sun Children's Fund aims squarely at helping the neediest kids. Every dollar raised in the campaign will be matched by The Children’s Fund.
In addition, if you "like" the Vancouver Sun Children's Fund on Facebook, $4.00 will be donated to B.C. needy kids. If you are able to, please support the Adopt a School project.

Hearty Boy

It is no secret I love diners. Something about them. Is it the simplicity of the food? Or maybe the friendly staff who usually make you feel at home? Could it be the value or the ripped booth seating? Possibly the attractive plastic plants? The layer of dust on the banisters? Or maybe I watch triple-D's too often? Yah, that could be it. I suppose Guy Fieri has influenced me to a degree. I gotta admit it, despite some suspect-looking food on the show, the places he visits do have character. Of course a restaurant cannot get by on character alone (or least it shouldn't, but then again, look at The Elbow Room...). So my love for diners and dives led me to Hearty Boy Restaurant out in Newton. Tucked in an expansive strip mall with far too much parking (which is completely opposite of what you'd find in Richmond), it is actually located right next to Akashi-Ya, where I've eaten before and didn't even notice Hearty Boy!

Well, to tell you the truth, there is nothing much to look at. The place is a typical dive/diner. It is run by a nice Asian couple who are extremely friendly. We put in an order of various items which they busily prepared for us while we soaked up the ambiance (LOL). Mrs. Spray Bottle decided to have the 2 Eggs and Bacon. Breakfast is such as simple thing to prepare, yet it is amazing how it can be butchered by some people. Not here though, it was done with care. The eggs were perfectly easy-over while the bacon was uniform and crisp. Home fries were aesthetically-pleasing and were crisp while soft inside. For myself, I couldn't merely have a breakfast and call it a day... So I went for their Works Burger which included a beef patty, cheese, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, onions, tomato and lettuce. The burger was not bad, if not pretty generic. Basically, it was WYSIWYG. I eye-balled all of the components and the burger essentially tasted like what I visualized. The patty was a touch dry though while the fries were fried up crispy. Good price at $6.95!

Not sure what possessed us to order the Eggs Benedict here, but we did it anyways. Predictably, it was mediocre. The eggs were fine though as you can clearly see. However, the Hollandaise was kinda gross. It had a weird texture and didn't taste like anything (I'm thinking this was powdered mix). If I were you, I'd stay away from this. The last thing we had was the BLT, which was well, a BLT. Toast was browned nicely, bacon was crisp, tomato and lettuce fresh. As you can see, nothing amazing here and really, we weren't expecting as much. What we did get was cheap eats which was more than edible (except for the Eggs Benny). Coupled with a hard-working couple who treated us like real customers (unlike some other more expensive places), then we could overlook some of its shortcomings.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Super friendly owners
- Lots of choice

The Bad:
- Food is hit and miss
- Ambiance? Well, did u expect any?

Ensemble Tap

*Restaurant is now closed*

Fresh from opening Ensemble earlier this year, Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay is at it again with his latest venture - Ensemble Tap. Located only one and half blocks down from his flagship restaurant, it takes over the space left by the former Azia. The "tap" part of the name refers to the 15 different craft beers on tap. Furthermore, Ensemble Tap attempts to be a higher end quasi- gastropub with emphasis on "sophisticated" pub food. As intriguing as this seemed, I was planning on visiting the place after Friday night hockey in the future. I say future is because my knee is still on the mend and that means no hockey until January at the earliest. But with Whipping Girl available for lunch, we couldn't' resist and decided to go try it out on their 4th day since officially opening. As such, we noticed Dale hurriedly making sure everything was running smoothly.

As per our server, we decided to start our meal with the Sausage Platter. At first, I was confused why a cutting board of 3 sausages would be so impressive. That question would be answered immediately after we bit into the house-made links. In reference to the picture, from left to right, we had a caraway sasuage, Thai sausage and finally a BBQ sausage. Grainy mustard and a fresh pretzel completed the platter. The moist meatiness was one thing in common with all the sausages. They were juicy (as the liquid on the cutting board illustrates) and not overly fatty. Definitely quality made sausages. We liked the Thai sausage the most due to its flavourful punch. As Whipping Girl remarked, "I could taste the Thai immediately as I bit into the sausage". Now with a comment like that, it could mean many different things... er... But let us focus on food. I definitely agreed as there was a definite basil kick. The caraway sausage was also very flavouful and there was no mistaking of its composition. However, the BBQ sausage was on the saltier side. Despite this, the finish was one of meaty-smokiness.

Since Whipping Girl can't go without her moules et fries, we had the Mussels and Fries (as an appie...). This was a fairly standard attempt with a mild Thai coconut broth. The broth was fragrant, yet could've benefited from more "punch". All of the mussels were open and most were plump with one or two smaller ones (not their fault though). The side of fries were fantastic. Fried until a dry crisp (in a good way), they were light and we kept on munching on them (because we had like 3 orders of them due to our dish selection). And that brings us to the Tap Burger. Consisting of a large beef patty topped with caramelized onions, Swiss cheese, mushrooms, fresh horseradish, butter lettuce, tomato and red onion, this was a very messy burger with juices flowing down our arms. This is what a burger should be with a big oversized patty, an abundance of toppings and a just-soft-enough bun. The meat was cooked all the way though, yet moist and juicy. There was a nice balance of flavours including a nice kick from the horseradish.

Lastly, we had Dale's famous Top Chef Pulled Pork Sandwich with apple-horseradish slaw and BBQ pulled pork beans. Seeing how I've already had this at Ensemble, I only took a small sample of this one. As expected, it was the same with moist tender pork with a balanced BBQ sauce and a tangy crunchy slaw. Whipping Girl had this for the first time and she was really happy with it. Yet, we were even happier with the pulled pork BBQ beans. At first, the texture was a touch gritty due to the mushed-up beans, but the finish with the pulled pork and the deep sweetness made for a tasty spoonful.

Alright, I know there will be the usual "it's too expensive" crowd out there. Hey, I hear ya. But let me ask you this: with prices that are inline with Cactus Club and Earl's, is Ensemble Tap really that expensive? Considering its prime Downtown location and with Dale Mackay's namesake, the prices seem reasonable to me. Portion size did not seem to be a problem either as we struggled to even put a dent into the mains we ordered (granted we ordered 2 big appies). For us, Ensemble Tap represents a more laid-back approach from Dale Mackay. It shows in the decor and the food. Service was really attentive and at times nervous and over-bearing (because it has only been open for 4 days!). The bottom line is that Chef Mackay tries to put his spin on pub food and succeeds.

The Good:
- Nice spin on pub food
- Relaxed atmosphere
- Good selection of craft beers on tap

The Bad:
- For some, it maybe pricey (but considering it costs the same as the chain restaurants, maybe not)
- Decor is a little bit stark

7 Sweet Sins

*Now closed*

After a disappointing meal at Rockford (yes this was in the summer), all of us needed something sweet to balance things out. We briefly considered Death by Chocolate down the street; but that was quickly quashed. Face it, the place is expensive and the desserts are not that impressive. So where to? I quickly remembered a place I had driven by after my visit to Verace Pizzeria down near Rogers Arena. With all the recent condo developments in the area, many new businesses have opened up along Abbott Street. One of them happens to be a dessert joint named 7 Sweet Sins. From the outside, it really doesn't look like a classic dessert place. And one look on the inside, it has got this quasi-blended look that resembles one-half Asian bakery and one-half ice cream shop. Honestly, the desserts did not look very impressive in the display. In fact, I was ready to turn around head out.

In the end, we stayed since it could accommodate our large group (including 6 kids). Furthermore, for a dessert place, the prices were incredibly cheap. Barely anything was over $5.00. For myself, I played it safe and got the classic New York Cheescake with whipped cream and a fresh glazed strawberry on top. Well, for the price, I thought the cheesecake was alright. It was somewhat smooth and exhibited a good baked cream cheese flavour. It wasn't too sweet either. For my son, he went for the Chocolate Lava Cake which was more like a mini-bundt cake with melted chocolate and gold flakes (courtesy of the microwave...). Since the cake was "reheated", it was soft and moist. The chocolate ganache was not bad really, considering the venue. Let's be honest here, we really needed to have reasonable expectations here... On that note, I did find the dessert to be quite sweet though.

Marshmallow's son had the Chocolate Walnut Cake which he devoured within 3 bites. Of course asking a kid what he thought of chocolate cake would akin to asking if a foodie liked eating. Hence, I can only ascertain that it was alright. Right next to me, Rich Taiwanese Guy (yes, this is a different rich fellow), had the Chocolate Caramel. This hard shelled chocolate cake/brownie- like thing had a soft caramel centre. He remarked it was quite sweet, which was not at all surprising. In the end, he thought it was dense while still alright. His indifference sort of said it all. And really, what would one expect with desserts that are around $5.00? Also, the microwaving of the lava cake illustrates what 7 Sweet Sins represents. So if one is not too picky and wants a place to hang out while munching on so-so desserts, then 7 Sweet Sins is your place.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Lots of choice

The Bad:
- Desserts are hit and miss
- Decor is so-so

De Fresh Bakery

I'll admit it. I am a masochist. Why else would I keep returning to Crystal Mall? Furthermore, why do I insist on parking in the spiral lot of hell when I could easily park across the street? Do I like the pain? Do I enjoy watching Corollas try to navigate the pie shaped parking spots only to be completely crooked off to one side? Do I love the fact I have waited 10 minutes watching that Corolla going back and forth in front of me? Oh wait. I know. I just love the enjoyment of being pushed out of the way when I'm trying to exit the elevator at Crystal Mall. Don't people understand that the elevator must VACATE before there is room to enter? I guess not, might as well enjoy the door slammed in my face too as I was expecting someone to hold it open for me. How naive I am. So here I was at Crystal Mall again... ready to take my lumps.

The real reason we were here was to buy food. In particular some Chinese pastries for the kiddies. For the longest time, we would walk past De Fresh Bakery on our way down to hell, er... I mean the parking lot and have never tried it out. This time, we stopped and grabbed some buns... For some reason or another, there weren't any BBQ Pork Buns available, so we had to make due with what they had. My daughter loves Chicken Pies, so we got a few of those. They were okay with a buttery crust which wasn't too heavy. However, the filling was pretty one-dimensional as you can see in the picture. Was it a bad mix? There wasn't anything other than chicken in it (which I'm sure some people prefer anyways).

The kiddies also love Egg Tarts, so yes we got some of those as well. Call this a personal preference, but for us, we like the puff pastry type of tart shell over the one you see here. Something about the dense pastry we don't like with the light egg custard. And this custard was sure light, in fact, a touch thin. On the topic of personal preferences, my son absolutely loves Pineapple Buns. Despite its name, there is no pineapple in them, rather, the sweet topping resembles the exterior of a pineapple (I suppose...). We were disappointed with these ones though. The dough was far too chewy and dense. Even after a quick nuke, it was still chewy (and yes, it was quick. I know that it gets tough if nuked too long). On the positive side, the sugary topping was not mushy and tasted quite good. With such "tough" dough, it was predictable that the Ham and Corn Bun would be a fail. Too bad really since there was a good amount of ham and corn. In the end, we had a few more different buns, but I'm not going to talk about the Weiner Bun since the common theme was the overly chewy dough. Was this a bad batch? No idea. One things for sure: with so many different Chinese bakeries around, I probably would steer clear from here and it has nothing to do with the parking lot either!

The Good:
- Easy to access location
- Fillings were adequate in portion size

The Bad:
- Dough is too chewy and dense

Aroma Indian Restaurant and Lounge

Not too long ago, Viv's co-worker raved about an Indian restaurant in Port Moody. That both piqued my interest and confused me at the same time. Well, that is not a stretch, Viv thinks I'm confusing in general. You see, I wasn't aware there was an Indian restaurant in PoMo and furthermore, the location didn't seem to ring a bell. However, when I met up with Rich Guy for eats at this mysterious Indian restaurant, it all made sense. When I pulled up to the place on Queens Street, it was very familiar. Formerly S Restaurant, then Hogan's, Aroma Indian Restaurant and Lounge is the latest attempt to make it work at this location. Well, at the very least, they have an existing following. They were formerly located on Coast Meridian in PoCo.

Since S Restaurant was upscale, the decor remains modern and classy. When we arrived, the place was roughly a third full (and in fact past 9:00pm), but we were seated at a small table for 2 in a corner. We asked for a bigger table (which there were many) and were accommodated. I know this is being picky, however, it was confounding to us why we were seated at that table to begin with. Good thing we had a bigger table since we ordered a lot of food! We started with 2 of their Veggie Samosas and an order of Tandoori Wings. We liked the large samosas since they were crispy, not greasy and were comprised of a great tasting filling. There was a decent amount of spice, yet I would've liked to see more peas. As for the wings, the meat was still moist while the "sauce" was flavourful with only a slight hint of spice. I say "sauce" because the wings were pretty wet. For tandoori, that is a bit unusual. If they were more dry, they would've been better.

Of course we had to order the Butter Chicken as a baseline of sorts. It was full of big chunks of chicken which was neither dry nor moist - somewhere in the middle. We found the sauce to be a touch too sweet and leaning towards the tomatoey-side of the butter chicken continuum. Despite the tomato paste slant, it was still sufficiently creamy. I would say it was decent. On the other hand, the Lamb Rogan Josh was more balanced. The lamb was again in large chunks except it was tender and not very gamy. Rich Guy commented that the flavours were balanced with a good amount of familiar Indian flavours, except it could've been more pronounced. Furthermore, the one thing that we noticed, as with the butter chicken was the lack of heat. We were given the option of mild, medium and spicy. We went for medium and it was felt more like mild (and Rich Guy doesn't like it too spicy either). I guess we needed to try spicy? So for those who like it hot, ask for spicy x 2.

Lastly, we ordered a vegetarian dish since Rich Guy was bringing some back for Rich Gal. We decided on the Eggplant Bhurta, which surprisingly, was our favourite dish of the meal. Naturally, the eggplant cooked down and became a mush, yet it was a good mush in this case (if that makes sense). Combined with the peas, there was a natural sweetness that really went well with the spices. Again, we would've personally liked more heat though. Overall, the meal was pleasant enough and really, there is no other Indian restaurant nearby (except for The Bombay, which is in Poco).

The Good:
- Nice dining space
- Food is decent considering its location
- Prices are okay given the decor and location

The Bad:
- Flavours could be more pronounced

Cafe Zen

"Where's a good place for brunch?", queried Whipping Girl via MSN Messenger on a Saturday night. Boy, that was a loaded question. So many choices, but only a few really good ones. The first thing that came to my mind was Cafe Zen. Now, that was a strange recommendation, especially since I've never personally been there. Well, everyone seems to like the place, so I figured that it would be a "can't miss" for brunch. However, upon further reflection, it was pretty lame of me to suggest it to her without trying it first... So, to make things right, the family and I made the trek over to Kits. Oh how I love this part of Kits... When one would think Richmond is the equivalent of parking hell, there can be worse. For the amount of people who live near the beach and as well as the businesses, there are very few parking spots. Reminded me of nights of circling around and around, so we could score 25 cent turkey wings at the King's Head. Or the AYCE wings at Malone's (where Viv dusted off 4 dozen by herself!).

Finally, with parking spot secured and $4.00 poorer, we headed up Yew towards the predicted lineup at Cafe Zen. Not too bad, there was only a couple of parties ahead of us. And as if it was meant to be, the party of 3 ahead of us got a smaller table, which allowed us to be seated right next to the window. As for the food, Viv decided to go with the Omelet Bomme Femme consisting of bacon, mushrooms and cheese. We found the eggs to be overcooked which in turn led to a relatively "hard" omelet. This was partially offset by the abundance of filling. Therefore, the omelet did not lack flavour nor texture. We liked the homefries, they were potatoey and not greasy while crisp on the outside.

For myself, I went for a mix and match with the Crab Benedict and B.C. Benedict (smoked salmon). Although the eggs were made in a mold, they were cooked perfectly runny and soft. I found the Hollandaise to be rather thin due to their use of margarine. Yet, the flavour was pretty balanced with a nice lemon hit. The crab was mild as expected and while the smoked salmon provided a nice salty kick. Lastly, for the kiddies, we got them the Chocolate Crepes. Honestly, these were not very good. The crepes were thick and gummy. Furthermore, the chocolate filling was far too runny and made it difficult to eat without losing it all to the plate. On a positive note, the chocolate was not to sweet and was quite tasty. Okay, I'm probably going to anger the faithful who frequent Cafe Zen, but I'm thinking that the place is slightly over-rated. Not that we didn't like our breakfast, it was mostly fine except for the crepes. However, it really didn't leave a lasting impression. With all that being said, the place is quaint, prices are reasonable given its location and service was friendly.

The Good:
- Prices are okay considering where it is located
- Friendly service
- Quaint

The Bad:
- Tight seating arrangements
- Not sure why there are so many glowing reviews (not to say the food isn't good though)