I Love Sushi (Lake Bellevue)

Somehow, my yearly gift-exchange with Goose for our birthdays has turned into treating each other for dinner. It started roughly 3 years ago... when this blog started to take form. Coincidence? You be the judge... Anyhoo, since I was down in Seattle for Black Friday, it seemed like a great idea to finally take Goose and his family out for his birthday dinner, which was long overdue from August. Originally, he suggested we do Haiku Buffet (which I already did earlier in the day), but he suddenly had a change of heart. Thank goodness too, what's with the buffets all the time here? Oh right, there are so many of them here! So what was our eventual eating destination? "I Love Sushi", replied Goose. Oh? Yah, I know you love sushi, where are we going to eat? "No, the place is called I Love Sushi!". Really? Uh... The name, it sounds like some take out joint. Who the heck names their Japanese restaurant "I Love Sushi"??? OMG, where are we going for dinner? Costanza and I were scared.

Imagine our utter surprise when we pulled up to the place, situated on man-made Lake Bellevue, and it was actually swank-looking. One glimpse of the menu and indeed this was no take-out joint. All of the main entrees were between $20.00-$30.00! WTF? So I normally don't talk about Miso Soup because frankly, it's boring and pretty generic. Not in this case. The soup had depth and I could actually pick out the flavours from the dashi. Moreover, the soup was very flavourful without being salty. This alleviated my fears about the place and I was ready for their food. Not knowing the portion size of their entrees, Costanza convinced me to share some appies starting with the Paradise Roll. Consisting of yellowtail, tuna, salmon and avocado on the inside and topped with 4 types of flying fish roe, we could immediately tell that this was fresh by appearance alone. The colours were pleasing and the sushi rice was fantastic. A good balance of chewy while not being dry, the rice had good hits of rice wine vinegar and sweetness. As mentioned, the fish was high-quality and the pop of the roe added texture.

Our second appie was the Kurobuta Pork Gyoza. Otherwise known as the Kobe beef of pork, the Kurobuta was moist and tender. Coupled with the fluffy gyoza skin, which was fried up nicely, this was one fine gyoza. The only thing we would've liked to see was more acidity in the dipping sauce. Moving onto the mains, Goose's kiddies shared the Tempura Dinner which included a small side of sashimi. Actually, most of the meals had a choice of sashimi or tempura as a side. Naturally, there was no need for tempura as a side in this dinner. The tempura was pretty good with a light crisp batter which was not greasy. As expected, the ingredients were top-notch and cooked just right.

Mother Goose went for the Sashimi Dinner with a side of tempura. As evidenced in the picture, the sashimi was prepared carefully and plated as such as well. Since I had a side of sashimi included in my meal, I didn't have to steal a piece from her dinner. I can honestly say that the sashimi is some of the best I've had in a long time. Sliced intricately and buttery smooth, the salmon was both sweet and delicious. The red tuna was equally good. Costanza and Goose both decided to have the Sukiyaki Dinner and my goodness, it was a large portion. Due to the appies, Costanza struggled to finish his dinner and in fact had to give me the rest. Hey, I wasn't complaining. The thinly sliced-beef was super moist and tender. It soaked up the mild, yet still effectively flavourful broth. The tofu was silky smooth while the veggies also benefited from balanced broth.

For myself, I had the Kurobuta Tonkatsu Dinner consisting of 2 large pork cutlets. As you can tell from the picture, the cutlets were fried up super crisp on the outside. Again, it was not greasy at all. In terms of the pork itself, there was a mix of super tender and moist portions with a few bits of harder chewy parts. It could be due to the thickness of the centre as opposed to the end. In general, this was both a filling and satisfying meal. I only wished that the tonkatsu sauce to have a sharper acidic punch. Well, that was an unexpected meal, for a place with a name like "I Love Sushi"... What we got was top-notch food prepared with care and with great service to boot. Now, all of this came at a cost though. With the main entrees in the $20.00 range, it definitely qualifies as fine dining. Therefore, it will depend solely on one's threshold for Japanese food to determine whether it is worth it or not.

The Good:
- Quality ingredients
- Properly prepared food
- Really good service

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Fairly limited selection on the menu

Haiku

After being awake for over 24 hours and shopping from 9:00pm Thursday to 7:00am Friday straight, Costanza and I were completely wiped. I think I blacked-out for 5 seconds on our drive to Goose's house. Safe? No way! Got all of our Black Friday shopping done? Yup! Thanks to Goose, we had a chance to crash for 3 hours or so. Upon waking up from our short morning nap, we were hungry. Not learning our lesson from the night before eating at The Sizzler, we headed to another buffet. Located in the former location of Todai, Haiku buffet sounded delicious. AYCE sushi and Asian food... Wait... Did I say delicious? WTH? I meant "suspicious".

As we walked into the place, we were greeted by some pretty nice digs with seemingly an endless selection of eats. Oh how looks can be deceiving... Since Costanza and I were pretty darn hungry, we attacked the food immediately starting with the Dim Sum. It sure looked legit with all the individual bamboo steamers. Although, we started worry as some of the dumplings looked rather pale and unappetizing. No matter, we took a sample of almost everything which included a pathetic attempt at a Haw Gow. It looked more like a pale Sui Mai than anything else. The texture reminded me of eating minced pork fat. Yuck. The Xiao Long Bao made me do something right out of Dumb and Dumber. Remember how Jim Carey began spitting out his food? That was me. Can you believe what was in the XLB? How about minced BBQ pork? Oh, the dumpling skin could've passed for Playdoh. I can't remember the last time I could toss an XLB onto a table and watch it bounce and remain completely intact... I could go on and on about the Dim Sum, but I'll let it die a quick death here. I'm not going to waste my time talking about it anymore.

Moving onto the cooked Asian Food (which had elements of Chinese and Japanese food), I tried to sample everything. At the very least, some of the offerings were alright. The Black Bean Clams were a bit chewy, but I give them kudos for having them. It was a bit comical that they had many dishes labelled incorrectly. I think they mixed up the salmon and the chicken. I wasn't a huge fan of the food in this section, so there is no sense in really talking about it anymore. At the very end of this particular buffet line, there was a made-to-order noodle bar. I wasn't in the mood to fill up on carbs, so I didn't bother with that. I did go for the soups though, including the Mock Shark's Fin Soup. For what its worth, I found it to be not bad. The texture of the soup was silky and the vermicelli was predictably soft. There was a meaty flavour to the broth which in turn made it taste okay. I also sampled the Hot & Sour Soup and it was alright. More vinegary than anything.

Moving onto the Salads, there were 8 to choose from and well... they were salads. Nothing particularly exciting, but they looked fresh. I only ended up trying mushrooms and the pickled cucumbers. At least I got my veggie intake for my meal. Adjacent to the salads was probably the 2nd most prominent section in the buffet (to the cooked food). The Sushi Bar consisted of various nigiri and maki sushi. In particular, the maki sushi was of the specialty roll variety at the far end of the bar. First off, I know my expectations had to be reflective of the venue, so please keep in mind that I'm not comparing this to sushi that can be found at a Japanese restaurant. Therefore, I found the sushi to be acceptable for what it was. Sure, the rice was dry and bland, but at the very least, it had a slight resemblance to sushi rice. As for the fish atop the nigiri, it was pretty marginal. The specialty rolls were dependent on the sauces which more or less made it okay to eat. I didn't go back for seconds, so that probably says it all. In fact, you can probably tell by my "enthusiasm" or lack of, pretty much illustrates what Haiku is about. I realize expectations need to be reasonable, yet I found the food lacking. If I had to compare with 2 other Asian buffets in the Seattle area, I'd much rather hit up Mandarin Buffet or Bluefin. Now, that's only if I had a hankering for mediocre Asian food...

The Good:
- Okay pricing (especially lunch)
- Lots of choice
- Spacious and comfortable digs

The Bad:
- Food in general is pretty subpar, even for a buffet

Sizzler (Southcenter)

Black Friday. The true definition of chaos where people get hurt trying to score a deal. In fact, some have even died in the stampede of deal-hungry shoppers. Why would someone subject themselves to something so ridiculous? Well, that would be Costanza and myself. Determined to shop til we dropped, we headed down to Seattle right after work on the American Thanksgiving. Arriving too early for the store openings, we had to grab something to eat. After circling Southcenter for awhile, it appeared the only choices we had were fast food and the Sizzler. And if you can believe, we went to the Sizzler. Oh man. I haven't been here since they closed their location at Westview in North Vancouver. Mediocre cuts of meat and a salad bar that would make Taco Bell look good were all the memories I had of the place.

Looking over the menu, we had a difficult time deciding on what to order. You see, other than their value picks, most of their choices are pretty expensive (considering what you get). Alas, Costanza did the honours first and went for the Steak and Fried Prawns (he also added the salad bar as well). Well, as expected, his steak was not exactly super tender. However, it was edible and didn't require too much chewing. As for the fried prawns, they were the typical frozen butterflied-type. Hey, it was still crisp and fairly enjoyable to eat. Yet, since they were fried from frozen, they took on quite a bit of oil. For myself, I had the Malibu Chicken and Steak. I asked for medium-rare and it was closer to medium. Again, the steak was not exactly great, but it did the job nonetheless. The Malibu Chicken was essentially a fried breast topped with ham and melted Swiss - their version of a Cordon Bleu if you will. It wasn't bad since the chicken was moist and there was plenty of ham and cheese.

Now for the salad bar... I wanted to try the spaghetti, but there was only a few strands of dry pasta sitting in the warming tray throughout our meal. Maybe it was best I didn't eat it... There were 2 soups - Clam Chowder and Beef Barley. Surprisingly, the chowder had a good clam flavour. Too bad it wasn't exactly creamy. It was more starchy than anything. The beef barley was not very good. Sure, it had lots of beef in it, yet it tasted like Puritan beef stew (which for me, is not very good). What we did like was the very hot and crispy Chicken Wings. They were quite large and totally juicy with a crisp exterior. Well, we knew what to expect from this meal which in the end, left us with realistic expectations. Sure, the food ain't going to light any culinary fires, but we were hungry and it did the job. One thing of note is that the prices are not exactly cheap. That doesn't bode well since one could eat practically anywhere else. Considering the food quality, we probably would have if anything else was open.

The Good:
- As much as the salad bar is pretty "meh", it is a good value
- Predictable

The Bad:
- Food is pretty "meh"
- Not exactly cheap

Naanbites

While munching on mediocre Japanese food at Tora Sushi over a year ago, I spied Naanbites across the parking lot. Maybe I was being overly judgmental, but I merely dismissed it as a place that was not high on my list to visit. After all, it's a restaurant located in a shopping complex. Not exactly a place where you would necessarily find good food. Case in point, there are the usual fast food joints, the Wok Box and the aforementioned Tora Sushi. I rest my case... Fast forward to the present and everything that I hear about Naanbites points towards the positive. Hence, that piqued my interest and of course I made my way out there. The place is pretty basic - you head to the counter, make your order, pay and take a seat. Since it is primarily a take-out joint, some of the serving vessels are plastic. That didn't really phase me since it is pretty much the same at such places like the food court stalls at Crystal Mall and the Richmond Public Market.

Looking over the extensive menu, I figured that one visit would not be enough. This time around, I decided to start with the Tandoori Chicken Bites. These little morsels were beautifully charred and bursting with flavour (a bit of spice and plenty of smokiness). The meat was super moist and tender (due in part to the use of dark meat). I'm not afraid to admit it - these were some of the best tandoori chicken bites I've had. And of all places... Moving onto my main dish, the Lamb Rogan Josh was also pretty good. With large chunks of tender, yet still slightly chewy lamb bathed in a flavourful onion-tomato sauce. I liked how it had flavour without being salty (although, I would've preferred a touch more flavour). I gleefully (really?) soaked up the curry with the pillowy soft, yet still slightly chewy Naan. I would've preferred a bit more charring though.

Well, the charring issue was not a problem the next time I visited Naanbites. Seeing how I needed to try a few more items, I went for their Tiffin Combo which included a choice of meat curry, veggie curry, rice and naan. I got it to go with Butter Chicken and Palak Paneer. I found the naan to be perfect this time around. With a tandoor on premises, they were able to combine the good points from last time with a perfect char. As for the butter chicken, there were large chunks of tandoor-cooked chicken bathed in a flavourful sauce. I would say it leaned towards the tomato paste end more than creamy, yet at the same time, it was tasty. I wasn't as enthused with the palak paneer though. Although I'm sure some people would prefer it, I don't personally like the spinach to be so smooth and blended-looking. I want some texture. Furthermore, it was kinda bland with lack of spice. However, that was probably the only thing that I could really nitpick about. Who would've thought: an Indian fast-food joint nestled within outlet shops producing more than respectable eats. Shocking but true.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Food is pretty solid
- Personable staff

The Bad:
- When busy, food is not really all that fast
- Some items could use more punch

Golden Lake

Restaurants open and close. That is a fact of life. It's a tough business and with the current economic climate, it comes as no surprise that some just don't cut it. So when I drove by the former location of Fortune Court on Hastings one day and noticed a big trash bin in front - that was an indication of something new was in the works. Days passed. Even months passed. Those renovations were taking forever! It was akin to following a Corolla down a residential street (with lots of intersections, stop signs or not). Then, out of the blue, I got an email from the restaurant itself. I say this with some surprise because it is not very often I get emails from Chinese restaurants. It is nice to see that they are finally seeing the benefit of promoting themselves other than the Chinese newspaper. The email was mostly informational and stating that I should try them out since they were open. Sounded good to me. So I grabbed the family and headed out to see what their Dim Sum service was like. Of course, a dinner visit would follow eventually.

Looking over the interior, it became clear why they took so long to renovate. The place received a complete overhaul (however, they might want to look into less slippery washroom floor tiles...). After ordering on the flashy dim sum order sheet, complete with pictures, we got the Egg Tarts to start. This was the 3rd Dim Sum meal lately we've had dessert first. Oh well... Despite the thick puff pastry, the tart was light and flaky. The filling was almost airy and only semi-sweet. On the menu, it described it as a milk custard, and it definitely showed in the texture. Next, we had the Shrimp Mousse-Stuffed Eggplant. One look at the sauce and we were not really sure what it was. Usually, there would be some sort of black bean sauce on top. This sauce had a one-note flavour (which was salt) and really not enough punch. On the other hand, the eggplant was thick-cut and fried perfectly. It still retained some texture while being completely soft. The large clump of shrimp mousse had a nice bounce texture and was seasoned well. Again, this dish would've benefited from some peppers and true black bean flavour.

For the kiddies, we got the Chicken Rice served in a hot pot. This was a pretty large pot of perfectly cooked rice. It was slightly dry, chewy and had a nutty taste. This was exactly the desired texture and flavour, unlike some other places which merely stuff pre-cooked rice into a hot pot and call it a day. As you can clearly see in the picture, there was a good mix of moist flavourful chicken, Chinese preserved sausage and a token piece of broccoli. I have to admit this was one of the better versions of this dish we've had in awhile. And when we order stuff for the kids, we cannot forget my son's favourite - the Pan-fried Soy Rice Noodle Rolls. Again, this was a large portion due to its relatively neat plating. Most times, the rolls are haphazardly chucked onto the plate resulting in broken pieces and ultimately smaller portion. Sure, places such as Come Along would place the rolls parallel to each other, but this was neat enough already. Furthermore, the noodle was soft while still retaining some bite. Yet the best thing of all was the good sear and caramelization of the sweet soy on the exterior.

Now, as for the Steamed Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll, it was equally as good except the noodle roll could've stood for a touch less thickness. Otherwise, it was stuffed to the max with a shrimp-shrimp mousse mix. I felt that the mousse was a bit too prevalent which took away from the whole pieces of crunchy shrimp. Overall, it was a good value since it was big and full of filling. One of my personal favourites of Dim Sum is the Steamed Pork Spareribs. You'll notice that I did not add "black bean" into the name. The reason for this is because there wasn't any. Hence, we felt the spareribs were mostly one-note in flavour (which was salt/MSG). Despite this, the meat itself was tenderized perfectly. It was a good balance between being moist and still have some chewiness. Loved the pumpkin underneath. Too bad it was mushed into little pieces. In addition to the spareribs, we always go for some offal. This time, we chose the Steamed Bible Tripe. We liked how it was presented in a glass bowl since it meant 2 things: more tripe and no spillage. Normally, when it is served in a small sauce dish, the liquid spills all over the place and the tripe subsequently falls out into the steamer. The tripe was well-seasoned with plenty of ginger, however, it was too chewy. It could've stood for more tenderizing.

Mainly for Viv, we tried the Supreme Seafood Dumpling with Shark's Fin. For me, I've stopped eating shark's fin, so Viv ate it (she did remark it was too crunchy though). However, I did get to try the dumpling and it was good. The skin was thin while there were chunks of crunchy shrimp and scallop mixed with pork. The flavour was mild and so it should be since this is usually a delicate dish. The consume was silky, yet on the saltier side though. Normally, one would order the Salty Donut without congee. Not us. We weren't in the congee mood except my son really wanted it since he spotted it at the next table. He kept pointing at it in excitement. Boy, is he easily pleased... A stick of fried dough... Anyways, it was a good thing we ordered it though. The fresh crispy, non-0ily exterior gave way to a fluffy and airy inside. Despite the lightness of the donut, it still had the signature chewiness of the dough. Really good.

Nearing the end of the meal, we finally got the 2 items which usually make or break a Dim Sum service. Starting with the Haw Gow I would say they passed this test. These massive shrimp dumplings were plump from the whole shrimp. The dumpling skin was pretty good being cooked just right where it was slightly chewy, yet gave way to the shrimp with not too much effort. The shrimp inside had a nice snap texture and was not overly seasoned. If the haw gow were any indication of size, then then one look at the Sui Mai, it was no surprise. These very large dumplings were chalk full of pork, shrimp and shiitake mushrooms. I really liked the fact they weren't shy with the shiitake since it helped break up the pork flavour. Of course, the pieces of snappy shrimp also didn't hurt either. With that being said, I felt that the dumpling could've been less dense. By no means was it bad, since the pork was properly tenderized and seasoned, it just could've been "looser".

As much as I have broken down each dish and it might appear that there were many criticisms, that does not tell the whole story. In a nutshell, Golden Lake offers up more than decent Dim Sum at a very reasonable price. With the current renovations, the place went from ho-hum Chinese restaurant to mid-range. So with an enhanced dining room, more staff and above average food, Golden Lake fills a niche the area since there are not a whole lot of good Chinese dining options nearby.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Updated decor
- Parking lot

The Bad:
- Due to the nature of the existing building, the seating plan is tight
- Love that they have their own parking lot, too bad it is equally tight

Soho Road Naan Kebab

Once again, a meal did not satisfy me. Nope. I was still hungry after a visit to Sunset Burgers. Since we still had time on the meter, I convinced Vandelay to take a walk with me in search of more food. Time for second lunch! So with no plan and no particular ideas for my second wind of eating, we roamed the streets of Downtown aimlessly... until we noticed a food cart in front of the Law Courts. It was shiny and new, yet with no distinguishing signage. It turned out to be Soho Road Naan Kebabs which as the name suggests, naan wraps with kebabs stuffed in them. Hidden within the cart lies an actual tandoor where they make fresh naan and tandoori chicken. We were greeted by 2 friendly guys who offered us some complimentary Chai while we waited for our order. A touch sweet for our liking, yet full of spice, it hit the spot for a cold, brisk day.

Seeing how the menu only consisted of 3 items, with one being vegetarian, I went for the only 2 meat options starting with the Tandoori Chicken Naan Kebab. After a brief wait, since they prepare the naan to order in their tandoor, we received our piping hot naan kebabs. By virtue of an onsite tandoor, there was nice leoparding (or charring) on the bread. Although the chicken exhibited good flavour, it was pretty dry. And combined with the relatively chewy naan, the whole thing was screaming out for moisture. That was alleviated somewhat by the fresh and crunchy bits of cucumber, red onion and tomato. The second meat choice was the Butter Chicken Naan Kebab. By using the same meat from the tandoori chicken naan kebab, except doused with butter chicken sauce, this was a much more moist product. Since the chicken was pretty dry, the sauce was a welcomed addition. Again, with the same mix of veggies, there was a level of crunch and freshness that cut through the richness of the sauce. Now about that sauce... It was pretty thick (which was a good thing because most people eat this on the go) and did not leak out of the wrap. For what it was worth, the sauce was pretty good with a nice tang and only a mild hint of spice. Put together in a one bite, I found that this was much more successful than the tandoori chicken wrap.

Although the individual components could be improved such as the dry tandoori chicken and the overly chewy naan, when eaten as a whole, the butter chicken naan kebab was pretty damn tasty. I quickly overlooked the shortcomings and enjoyed the wrap for what it was. Hey, it doesn't hurt that Top Chef Dale Mackay considers Soho Road as one of the best food carts in the city...

The Good:
- Tandoor on site
- Freshly made naan
- Super friendly proprietor

The Bad:
- Although freshly-made, the naan could stand to be less dense
- Chicken could be more moist
- $8.00 price point is probably a touch high

Sunset Burgers

*Now closed*

Driving down Nelson in Downtown Vancouver about 2 months ago, I noticed a new burger joint next to the Commune Cafe. That was shortly after my visit to Stackhouse and it made me think, "another burger joint?" I filed it away in my mind and made a point of it to try it out soon. Well, somehow I either had amnesia or just got distracted with other eats because it took me this long to finally go eat there. In fact, I only remembered the place after passing by it once again after grabbing some eats with Vandelay. Fate would have it, a Living Social deal for Sunset Burgers showed up online. I quickly bought the voucher and went the week after, again with Vandelay.

Their beef burgers are exclusively made with Kobe and are reflected in the prices (ranging from $5.49 - $7.59 without fries). Vandelay went for the Bacon Cheeseburger and made it a combo (fries & drink) for an extra $3.29. As evidenced in the picture, the burger was not very big. In fact, without the lettuce and tomato, it would come close to the size of a Nimby burger. The meat patty was fairly loose and moist due to the high fat content. Nothing particularly bad about the burger, yet nothing memorable as well. However, the bun was fantastic. It was soft and had a pleasant airy texture while still holding up to the ingredients. As for the fries, they were of the fresh cut variety. We found they fairly crisp and pretty good.

To change it up a bit, I went for the Chicken Burger with mushrooms (no charge) and a slice of Swiss cheese. Despite going for a whole wheat bun, it was still very good much like its regular counterpart. The chicken breast was decent being not overly dry and kissed with a touch of seasoning. Instead of regular fries, I opted for the Poutine, which seemed to be short on the cheese curds. Furthermore, the gravy was a touch salty for my tastes. Yet in the end, it was okay I suppose because I did like the fries. I'm not sure what to make of Sunset Burgers. It's not like we disliked our meal. However, we were neither really full nor impressed with the value. Sure, they do use Kobe beef, but in our opinion, it would be better that they used regular chuck and lower their price points.

The Good:
- Funky 80's decor
- Loved their buns (the bread, get your mind outta the gutter!)
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Expensive, despite the use of Kobe beef
- Not really a bad, but playing 80's music would greatly enhance the overall theme