Paul's Place Omelettery

An all-day ball hockey tournament. That's what Costanza proposed to a few of us via email. Boy, I haven't played ball hockey in quite awhile. It's been strictly ice hockey, in particular, playing goal. I do like ball hockey, but do I have the stamina to keep up? Also, if I recall, most of my injuries stemmed from ball hockey. Oh fine, why not, it was for charity anyways. Apparently, he was successful in filling the rest of the roster with familiar friends such as Chill, Bubbly, Rock Guy and Slash & Whack Girl. Now, any all-day activity requires nourishment and lots of it. Yet, with very little in the way of downtime, Costanza and I decided to grab some early morning breaky at Paul's Place Omlettery prior to the tourney. After we sat down, I took a quick gander at the dining room and something triggered my memory. Hey! This place used to be Magnum's! For those who are unfamiliar, Magnum's was a popular restaurant with the late-night post-clubbing crowd in the 90's. A bunch of us spent a lot of time in the early morning hours here... It was an alternative to Denny's.

With nostalgia out-of-the-way, we settled in on deciding what to eat. For Costanza, it was easy, he thought that trying out the Meatlover's Omelet would best represent the place. Boy, was the egg portion of the omelet ever thin. So much so, we could see the filling through it! For some, that would be too little egg. For us, it was perfect - more filling. That meant the bacon, sausage, ham, onion, cheddar, edam and romano cheese really showed up in terms of flavour. The side of pan fries was soft potato goodness. However, we would've liked to see more crispy bits and surfaces. For myself, I had a hard time deciding between the Pulled Pork Hash and the Traditional Eggs Benny (with black forest ham instead of Canadian back bacon). The solution? Have both! No need to be like Pippin and Merry with 1st and 2nd breakfast. Just have them both in one meal!

I tackled the Pulled Pork Hash first and it was concoction of pan fries, peppers, onions, pulled pork topped with 2 poached eggs and cheese. Although a tad greasy, I found the hash to be flavourful and satisfying. The pulled pork was tender and moist with a BBQ sauce that was tangy and sweet. The free-range eggs were poached perfectly runny. Onto my second breakfast, I had the Traditional Eggs Benny. Not sure if Black Forest Ham would've been my first choice of meat (I prefer back bacon), but it was okay nonetheless. I liked that the egg was poached free-hand and done perfectly runny. The cheese sauce (instead of Hollandaise) had a nice consistency and a hint of lemon (although I'm thinking was it really lemon? Not sure, it was good though). I didn't end up eating the potatoes on this place since I was stuffed. Our server was impressed that I finished that much. You know what was more impressive? That I didn't puke the whole thing up after a whole day of hockey.

The Good:
- Relatively good portions
- Above-average eats
- Comfy surroundings

The Bad:
- A tad expensive
- I know this is nit-picking, but I would've liked back bacon on the Traditional Eggs Benny

Sampaguita Cafe

It's always exciting to see new restaurants. For obvious reasons, it means I get to try new things and hopefully the food makes an impression. Now out along the Scott Road corridor, it is even more exciting if the new restaurant is not Indian. Again, I love Indian food, but variety is important! Fresh off trying out Maria & Maria Cafe nearby (which has since closed), there is yet another new Filipino restaurant. Located in the partially deserted Kennedy Heights Shopping Centre, we now have Sampaguita Cafe. Similarly to Maria & Maria, they are a catering business which also operates as a cafe. They offer the regular wraps and sandwiches in addition to Filipino food.

For me, there was no way I was going to have a sandwich. Instead, I went for 2 items and rice starting with the Caldereta (beef stew). This version was slightly bland and it was quite obvious it wasn't exactly ready since the potatoes were still firm and the meat slightly chewy. It was pleasant enough if not a touch mild (and I'm not talking about spice). There are different recipes to this dish and I once had it with coconut milk (which is rare) and that made it more rich. For my second item, I had the Afritada (chicken in a tomato-based sauce). This one was also quite mild with the pieces of meat being the chicken wing. Therefore, the meat was moist and tender with the skin being slightly rendered. The veggies in this dish were cooked down more so than the caldereta, which made it easier to eat.

Seeing how my first visit was a little
underwhelming, I wanted to see what some of the other dishes were like. Despite all indications they should be open at 10:30 (according to their website), they never seem to be. Thus, after a couple of fails, I finally caught them open (more like at noon). Since I had no time to actually sit down and eat, I got 2 items to go. Their rice was not ready yet, so I had to do the no-carb diet for lunch. I decided to to give the Laing (pork with taro leaves) a go and boy was it salty. Okay, to be fair, I didn't have it with rice and that would skew things a bit. Whatever, the case, it wasn't lacking in flavour. Lots of coconut milk in an extremely rich sauce with fatty pieces of pork. The taro leaves were predictably wilty, but I didn't mind it. Lastly, I had to try their Pork & Chicken Adobo. This was also not lacking in flavour although the potatoes were probably a tad too vinegary. Again, I ain't complaining since the meat was moist and the flavours seemed to have had time to meld. It was pretty obvious my second visit yielded different results than the first time. Textures were better and flavours were more pronounced. It could be that the food was more "ready" this time around than last. I would say Sampaguita is pretty decent place for lunch with not much in the way of competition nearby.

The Good:
- Decent amount of choice (that is ready to go)
- Prices are reasonable
- The ladies there are friendly

The Bad:
- The times I've been there, certain things are not ready for lunch (ie. the Calderta and the rice)

New Macaw's Cafe

Almost 10 years ago, I had a temporary gig at a company near the Great Pacific Forum. Now, if you are familiar with the area, it is not exactly a hotbed of culinary excitement. So for one month solid, I went on the Jared diet at Subway. No, I really wasn't on a diet, but other than Burger King and Tim's, there was not much to choose from for lunch. After a month of sandwiches, I'd had enough. Not only was it getting expensive (Subway is not cheap), I had actually gained weight. See what carbohydrates can do to you! So I went searching for alternative eats that didn't involve going upstairs at GPF. Little did I know, there was a small cafe hidden on Swenson Way.

Fast forward to the present and it suddenly hit me that this place still exists. I decided it was time to go back and as I pulled up, the sign read "New Macaw's Cafe". Was it just "Macaw's Cafe" before? Since the menu is so varied, I decided that more than one visit was in order. Thus, on my first go around, I went for the infamous Chinese combo lunch. No, it wasn't combo #5, rather it was Combo F. It included chow mein, sweet 'n sour pork, broccoli beef and lemon chicken. This was a relatively large plate of food reminiscent of places such as Hang Lee Wok and Manchu Wok. However, it costs significantly more at Macaw's. Granted, the food is prepared fresh and served steaming hot. And you know what? The food was pretty good North American Chinese. The chow mein was well-seasoned and exhibited good wok heat. Crisp and vibrant, the broccoli was good while the beef was tender. The sweet & sour pork was meaty and crisp. Although it was flavourful, I would've preferred the sauce to have a bit more tang. The lemon chicken was crispy and meaty with a tangy sauce.

On my second visit, I wanted to try their Sushi. Yah, it looked kinda shady since there was not a lot of choice and there was no sushi chef on the premises. With that in mind, I was prepared to be bitterly disappointed. However, that wasn't really the case. Sure, the sushi was pretty average and in fact, the tuna nigiri looked like it was prepared with a butter knife. On the positive. the rice was actually acceptable and the fish was okay. Seeing how some sushi might not be enough, I also ordered the Ma Po Tofu on Rice. This was actually pretty good. The tofu stayed in tact and the ground pork was moist. The mix of peppers and pickled veggies added some texture as well as hits of flavour. For a lil' cafe out in the middle of nowhere, this was not bad. In fact, the Chinese food in particular is a whole lot better than some actual Chinese restaurants in North Delta.

The Good:
- Lots of choice from Chinese, Japanese and American food
- Food is actually pretty good (particularly the Chinese food)
- Friendly family-run operation

The Bad:
- Not as cheap as you would think
- For those who care, it's mostly serve yourself (get your own cutlery, water, condiments)

Fortune Garden

After a crazy visit to Seattle for Black Friday, I swore to not go out on Boxing Day here in Vancouver. Even after purchasing a few items off Futureshop and NCIX on their online Boxing Day sales, I still held steadfast on the notion of sleeping in on Boxing Day. Well, I did end up sleeping in. But Viv suggested we head out anyways... and with the kids! Okay, it wasn't that bad since we weren't going to visit any big box stores nor the mall. Seeing how it was almost time for lunch, I suggested we head out for some Dim Sum first. We decided on Fortune Garden since we had just talked about it. You see, Viv and I were across the street at McD's a week prior and remarked that it has been at that location forever (in one shape or form). It was about time we paid them a visit considering the last time I was here, my age was in single digits.

Being a Szechuan restaurant, we decided the Szechaun Beef Noodle was a must try. It arrived first and it was hit and miss in one bowl. We really liked the beef, since it was super tender and not overly fatty. The thin noodles were al dente, yet gooey for some reason. The soup was pleasant enough, not lacking flavour per se, but it was not in the least spicy. So much so, my daughter ate it without complaints. This was an okay bowl of noodles which could be a whole lot better. We then proceeded to some Cantonese Dim Sum items starting with the Haw Gow (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings). For a Szechaun joint, these were pretty good. Although the dumpling skin was a touch sticky, the shrimp filling had a good snap and was seasoned just enough that it didn't overwhelm the shrimp.

As a filler of sorts, we got the Pan-Fried Daikon Pudding Cakes. I use the word "filler" because it essentially fills up your stomach, which means you order less. Not sure why we did this since it was only Viv and I with the kids. And no, we didn't finish it. It was not bad though. A touch on the stiffer side, yet fried until crisp on the outside, there was enough slivers of daikon and Chinese Sausage for flavour. From the
subtle-tasting back to Szechuan, we got the Spicy Wontons. I wouldn't necessarily have called these bland, but it wasn't as impactful as I would've liked. Sure, there was chili oil as you can clearly see in the picture. I guess we could've just used a bit more. I'm pretty sure they make this dish to appeal to as many people as possible. Thus, someone could easily asked for it to be prepared spicier. As for the wontons, they were pretty standard pork wontons which more or less did their job (as a blank canvas for the spicy oil and soy mixture).

Now drumroll... Yes, it is the ever-so-ordered Soy-Fried Rice Noodle Rolls. Although I am completely indifferent about this dish, my son can't do without it. These were pretty typical. The texture was about right where it was chewy while soft at the same time. They were quite greasy though and could've stood for more browning. Also, for some odd reason, there was no accompanying sauces such as the usual hoisin and sesame. Onto something that my son wouldn't even considering eating (which is not a stretch because there are many people who are probably in the same boat) was the Phoenix Talons or otherwise known as Chicken Feet. For those unfamiliar, these are first fried, then tossed in an oyster-based sauce with garlic and peppers, then steamed. What makes a good chicken feet dish? Well, first of all, the skin should be in one piece and not shriveled up and peeling (yes, not a great gastronomical description). Furthermore, the gelatin underneath the skin should be intact since that what makes this dish so good. This was more or less the case here and it was surprisingly decent.

Another decent offering was the Steamed Black Bean Spareribs. Despite its compacted appearance, the meat was tenderized enough so it was easy to chew. Yet, there was still plenty of meat texture left. For those sparerib connoisseurs, you will notice from the picture that the pieces were good quality. There was a minimal amount of cartilage and fat while most were actual rib pieces. Although there was not a whole lot of black bean itself, the rest of the seasonings (such as the peppers, chili flakes and garlic) made up for it. Okay, we decided to get the Xiao Long Bao even though Fortune Garden is a Szechuan restaurant. We were expecting an average attempt and it was pretty much bang-on. The dumpling skin was on the thicker side and the amount of soup was pretty meager. The meat filling wasn't too bad though. It was not gritty and had some good meat flavour. It could've used some more ginger though. But then again, I'm not going to be too hard on them since they are not a Shanghainese restaurant.

Lastly, we added an order of the Vegetarian Spring Rolls because they didn't have the Chinese Donut. My son was pretty annoyed since he was expecting the latter. In the end, he was happy he got something deep-fried and crispy. These were very crunchy and a touch oily. The shredded cabbage and carrots remained crisp inside. Not sure what type of clientele they are hoping to attract, but the inclusion of sweet plum sauce as a dip was not exactly what we were expecting. Worcestershire sauce please! Whatever the case, the food in general was alright and did the job. Not necessarily anything special enough to compete with the big boys and many of the Dim Sum joints in East Van. However, considering its location where there are not really all that many choices (Szechuan Chongqing and Dynasty), it is no wonder it still exists to this date.

The Good:
- Service was above-average
- Food is serviceable

The Bad:
- Food is alright for the area, but there is better elsewhere
- Szechuan items are watered-down to satisfy a wider range of customers (well, bad for us that is)

The One Spot Soup House

On a recent holiday visit to Herbie the Lovebug's house for dinner, we were discussing great places to eat (of course we would!). While Herbie was proudly showing off his pics from his dinner at Per Se in NYC (Thomas Keller's place) on his iPad, he mentioned another restaurant in town he thought highly of. Oh? Something on the same level as Per Se? Could that be? In Vancouver??? Turns out that Herbie has restaurant ADD and was onto a different type of restaurant. Rather than the a Michelin 3-star establishment, he was referring to a dive known as "the Chinese character for soup" dot com. For those who can't read Chinese characters or were already annoyed at the "artist formerly known as Prince", the English name of the place is the The One Spot Soup House. Herbie was excited that they offered real hot pot rice that had the classic rice crust on the bottom of the pot.

After dropping off our son at Costanza's house for a sleepover, Viv and I head over to 湯.com to see for ourselves. Okay, the place is the true definition of a dive. No decor whatsoever and with Costco chairs and a few tables, this was it. No matter, if the food is good, who really cares? As the name of the place suggests, we went for the Herbal Chicken Soup to start. Presented in its own clay pot with paper sealing the top, the soup was served boiling hot. There was definitely a herbal flavour to it, in this case "Ching Bo Leun". The meat itself was quite tough, but it was meant for flavour more than anything. With a sprinkle of salt, the soup was pretty satisfying especially for a cold, wet day. After this, there as a long wait period of about 20 minutes because every order of hot pot rice is made from scratch.

We ended up getting 2 hot pot rice and each came with a complimentary soup (which was good) and a small container of pickled daikon and carrots. Viv went for the Chicken Hot Pot Rice with shiitake mushrooms and Chinese preserved sausage topped with a few stalks of yau choy. The hot pots average around $7.00 and for the amount of food, it is a fair price. There should be enough to satisfy one person. Back to the hot pot, there was plenty of moist, tender chicken atop the perfectly chewy rice.A bottle of sweetened soy sauce was provided at the table if needed. We were quite conservative with the soy since the chicken had sufficient seasoning already (especially combined with the Chinese sausage).

For myself, I had the Pork and Preserved Vegetable Hot Pot Rice. I added a salted duck egg as well. They weren't stingy on the meat as it was a thick patty almost totally covering the rice. The meat was smooth, bouncy and tender. The bits of preserved veggie added some zing and saltiness to the moderately seasoned meat. I particularly liked that the meat wasn't overly fatty either. But the real treat was at the bottom and sides of the hot pot. The "fan gew" or rice crust was crunchy and nutty. Very aromatic and texturally pleasing to eat. If someone wanted to point out that these type of hot pot rice at Dim Sum restaurants usually costs less, the reason is that they are normally steamed, not over a flame. Furthermore, these here have not been sitting around, they are made-to-order and it shows in the final product. Certainly not the most sexiest food out there, but it is something comforting and
inexpensive.

The Good:
- Fair pricing
- Prepared fresh
- Lots of choices

The Bad:
- The decor makes wonton noodle joints look luxurious
- Service is friendly, but sparse

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

Lunch with Vandelay can be dangerous at times. You see, he loves to eat (possibly more than me!) and when he does, he goes all out. When he eats ramen, it can only be the fatty pork. If it is a smoked meat sammie, it has to be full fat. And when he has pork belly, there is no wastage at all, the whole thing goes in his mouth. For people who really know food, Vandelay is doing it right. But if we look at healthy eating, this would be the complete antithesis. Hence, whenever I'm out for eats with him, it sets me further back if there is a blood test on the horizon. So I suggested to him that we should eat "healthy" for once. How about Shizen Ya? They serve good-for-you Japanese food right? Vandelay reluctantly agreed and as we were walking up Nelson, our attention took a sharp detour to the left. What's this? A new restaurant right next to Relish? Oh no, here we go again... We went from healthy eats to non-healthy in a blink of an eye. Curse you Vandelay!

Apparently, there is now a Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ in Vancouver. With over 700 locations worldwide, this is a serious chain restaurant. As such, we would naturally go for the BBQ, but first, we had a few appies. Incidentally, all of them were fried. Curse you again Vandelay! So we started with the Spicy Salmon Volcano which was a whipped salmon and spicy mayo concoction sitting atop fried sushi rice. I would say the best way to describe it was "interesting". I wasn't really fond of the fried sushi rice. It was a touch too hard and gummy. The salmon "mousse" on top was slightly spicy and sweet. Up next was the Fried Calamari with chili mayo dolloped on the plate. This was good. The squid was tender and still moist while the batter was crispy and light. Dipped into the chili mayo, it was a pleasant experience (not sure if this is the right way to describe it, but we were indeed feeling pleasant...).

For our last appie, we had the Chicken Karaage which consisted of boneless dark meat pieces. These were fried up perfectly crisp while the meat was moist and juicy. There was a proper amount of salt which added enough flavour. After our fried food tour, we then proceeded to the fatty meat portion of the meal. Curse you Vandelay! We settled on the Meat Lover's set meal which included rice, soup and salad. The meats on the plate consisted of Toro Beef, Chuck Kalbi and Bistro Harami. We thought the portion size for the price was fair especially considering the quality of the meat. When cooked on the BBQ, the meats were tender and properly seasoned. Probably the best thing going for them are their super hot and effective BBQs. It may look like Korean BBQ, but believe me, these are some of the most powerful and even-temperature table BBQs I've ever cooked on in a restaurant. No dead spots and barely any meat sticking to the cooking grate. Furthermore, the ventilation worked well in dissipating the large amount of smoke emanating from the BBQ.

Hey, the meal was good. Nothing Earth-shattering, but solid nonetheless. Healthy? Well, that would be up for debate wouldn't it? Curse you Vandelay! Other than the awesome BBQs, the most memorable thing was the service. It was super-attentive to the point of being almost intrusive. Yet, we'd take that over crappy service any day.

The Good:
- Super attentive service
- Really good BBQ equipment
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- A little pricey (but similar to other restaurants of this ilk)

Hai Phong

Every year, it seems like we do the same things around Christmas time. Like clockwork, we made the trek out to Metropolis to get Santa photos with the kiddies. However, while we were in the long lineup (even before Santa arrived for his morning shift), it quickly dawned on us that we really should be somewhere else. Why? Well, it was a glorious sunny day and the following week would not be so glorious. Hence, it would probably be the best day to do the Stanley Park Christmas train. Seeing how it was already 11:00am, we made an executive decision to ditch the Santa lineup in favour for the Christmas train lineup. So we high-tailed it Downtown, making it to Stanley Park in 30 minutes. Viv jumped out of the car to encounter a lineup spilling out beyond the front gates. What parents do for their kids... We ended up getting the tickets for 8:30pm and considered ourselves lucky since as we left, the lineup stretched far into the parking lot. There must be a better way to do this!

Now with the kiddies complaining of hunger and Viv frozen from standing in line for an hour, the only solution in my mind was Pho. Quick, hot, cheap and accessible - that was the plan. Viv queried where and I confidently stated we would drive down Kingsway and find our way. Hai Phong ended up as our eating destination partly due to Kaiser Soze (he kept raving about it all summer). So what's so special about this place anyways, especially with all the other Vietnamese joints nearby? The thick menu consisting of items not normally found in the run-of-the-mill Pho joints was a clue. With dishes that are similar to Phnom Penh and Mui Ngo Gai, one could technically eat here for weeks on end and not have a bowl of Pho. But guess what Viv had? Yes, a bowl of Pho Dac Biet. Oh well... It was a fairly healthy portion with tender meats and a fragrant broth that had a slight spice at the end. Noodles were al dente as well. Solid bowl of Pho.

For myself, I had the Dry Noodles (which are very similar to the one you'd find at Phnom Penh). As you can see, they weren't shy about loading it up with shrimp, pork stomach, tongue, quail egg, pork and liver. There was just enough sweet soy underneath to wet the noodles while not taking away from their chewiness. Pretty good size for a small order. Of course a small bowl of noodles would never satisfy my appetite, so I got an order of the Lemongrass Chicken and Pork Chop on broken rice with fried egg. Sometimes, the lemongrass is an afterthought with this dish. Not here, lots of fragrance and flavour, in addition to the nice char on the meats. The deboned chicken thigh was super moist while the pork chop really needed more tenderization. The broken rice was perfect in texture, a touch dry and chewy.

For the kiddies, we got them the kid's Pho Ga which came with 2 quail eggs (but Viv stuck the one from my dish into it to make it 3). The chicken was super moist while the broth was light while flavourful at the same time. The kiddies liked it and that made us happy. Normally, a visit to a Vietnamese restaurant does not elicit much excitement nor any huge desire to do another visit right away. However, the stuff at Hai Phong was unique and good enough for us to think about returning.

The Good:
- Large and diverse menu
- Decent portions
- Food is above-average

The Bad:
- Service is good, but can be extremely sparse when busy
- Tables are tightly packed