Al & Jan's Fish & Chips

In search of food one day (when am I not in search of food?), I wanted to get away from anything Asian. Trust me, it's pretty hard in the GVRD, especially in certain neighbourhoods. That would be the case in most of Surrey except for certain pockets. As I was driving down 152nd, I did my best to look the other way when I passed by Il Uk Jo. Can't understand why the place is still in business... Once past that intersection, I remembered a fish 'n chip joint called Al & Jan's. Formerly a Cod Father's franchise, Al & Jan went independent and continued to fry up fish for the locals. And while I was settling into my seat, it became very apparently they have a loyal following. It's nice to see customers welcomed like friends. You don't get that much anymore. Hey, this was my first visit and I felt at home!

Being a fish 'n chip joint, the menu is pretty focused. Therefore, the options are limited, but honestly, do one thing and do it right. Other than my fish 'n chip order, I did start with the Seafood Chowder. I wouldn't exactly categorize it as creamy, rather, it was more like a thick broth. That didn't really matter since I could taste the sea. The abundance of pepper was a pleasant surprise since most chowders are pretty mild. The best thing about this chowder was the insane amount of ingredients. It might as well been named seafood stew. Lots of flaky halibut, shrimp and clams made for a very hearty soup. For variety purposes, I got the Halibut and Chips with an extra piece of Cod. I gotta say that when the plate arrived, it was piping hot. So much so, I burned my tongue while being too eager with my first bite. The halibut was moist and flaky (which can easily be overcooked, but not here). The batter was crunchy and not too greasy.

As for the cod, it was soft and also cooked nicely. Due to the oilier nature of cod, it was super moist and soft. Hence, one end of it was slightly greasier than the rest of the fish. Not a huge problem though since the darn thing is fried. The fresh cut fries were fantastic. Crisp, hot and still plenty of potato goodness inside. Al & Jan's is definitely a little gem tucked in the Save-On-Foods complex. Not necessarily the first place you'd expect good fish 'n chips. However, it is better than a place like Pajo's (where it is in a more usual location I suppose).

The Good:
- Super friendly proprietors
- Solid eats

The Bad:
- Fish could've been bigger/thicker (in particular the halibut)

Always Seafood Restaurant

Due to one of our late Friday games last year, we desperately searched for restaurants open real late (or real early). It was 1:15am and we hadn't even left the rink yet. There are not a whole lot of really good places to eat that are open until 4:00am (or 24 hours). Therefore, it was out of necessity we headed over to Always Seafood Restaurant. As such, we ended up trying their "da-lang" menu which features smaller dishes usually served with plain congee. Although the food wasn't horrible, it wasn't great either being really greasy. Hence, we have not made a revisit since. However, when I met up with Stephanie Yuen at C Restaurant, she insisted that the food we ate was not representative of the chef. In fact, she invited me to a wine tasting/dinner at Always. Since I respect her opinion, especially when it comes to Chinese food, I accepted.

Alvin, who was with us at C Restaurant, was also present at our dinner at Always. Man, I have major camera/lens envy when he is around. I gotta get myself a better lens! We started the meal with an Appetizer Platter consisting of 5-Spice Beef Shank, Honey Garlic Spareribs, Marinated Jellyfish, Honey Walnut Prawns, Jellied Pork Hock and Fried Squid. This was a great start with perfectly textured jellyfish which was in large strands (I hate little bits which are hard to pick up) and seasoned properly. There was good hits of sesame oil, white pepper, soy and chili flakes. The honey walnut prawns were very sweet and I would've liked more snap. The walnuts were crunchy with a candied exterior. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside (with some chew still), the fried squid was also spiced nicely with wok salt, chilies and fried garlic. The 5-spice beef shank was somewhat on the chewier side, yet not overly so and exhibited plenty of flavour. Lastly, the pork hock (underneath everything) had the requisite jellied texture.

Next up was an interesting dish being the Sauteed Beef Tenderloin in Silver Fish Bird's Nest. Okay, first of all, let me get this straight. These were not the same silver fish you find crawling on your kitchen floor. Rather, they are little fish that are battered, fried and usually served with plain congee for late night eats. In this case, they used the fried silver fish as the ingredient for the "bird's nest" instead of potato or taro. This was both an interesting and tasty twist to this dish. Unfortunately, the beef tenderloin was far from tender. It needed more tenderization and/or less cooking. Next we had the Wok-Fried Fish Filet with decorative carrots slices, Shanghainese bak choy, scallops, straw mushrooms, flowering chives and julienned egg. This was a pleasant dish consisting of moist chili-spiced fish filets, perfectly cooked scallops and crisp veggies with a consume glaze on top.

After these "appetizers", we moved onto the Traditional Fish Maw Soup with crab and egg swirl. I really liked this since it was silky while not being too thick and there was a balance of flavours. The fish maw prepared nicely where it was soft without completely melting into the broth. With an intoxicating aroma, the Crabs Sauteed in Chef's Special Sauce was presented at our table. We tried to figure out what was in this special sauce since it was tasty and slightly different than the typical ginger and onion flavour. We soon found out it was the use of king onion which has a much more pronounced "spicy" flavour. The use of 2 types of soy also added to the depth of flavour. As for the crab itself, they were meaty and fried perfectly where the meat was fluffy and moist.

Moving along, we had the Double Cooked Goose presented in a "garden" of perfectly cooked and vibrant broccoli florets. This particular goose was first wok seared, then braised topped with a combination of bean sauces. I found the meat to be tender while still retaining quite a bit of texture. There was a mild amount of good gaminess which added to the flavour. The sauce was balanced and silky. Then the much anticipated Lobster Roll with king sauce arrived. Starting with the positives, the sauce was really good. It was a combination of butter and salted egg yolk. If you are familiar with salted duck egg yolk, the flavour is unmistakable. I liked how this was manipulated to form a silky sauce which was actually not salty, rather it was quite mild. As for the roll itself, it consisted of shrimp mousse, chicken and lobster. Honestly, I couldn't taste the lobster nor experience the texture of lobster. It was dry and mealy. It was disappointing. At least I could dip the crunchy cucumbers into the sauce.

After the forgettable lobster roll, we were presented with the Deep Fried Pipa Tofu in hot & sour sauce. My initial thoughts were, "a red sweet & sour sauce... really?". Oh how wrong was I! This sauce was fantastic. Imagine a really good sweet and sour sauce spiked with red hot chilies and you got yourself flavours that rocked. Add in the wonder texture of the pipa tofu, which is essentially a reconstructed fried ball of soft tofu with Chinese sausage, cilantro, shiitake and dried shrimp, you have a textural and flavour delight. Toss in some fried garlic chips and what we had here was the best dish of the night - hands down. Our last savoury dish was the typical filler item being the Gold & Silver Fried Rice with seafood, corn and golden squash. There was plenty of seafood which made the rice "meaningful" while the crunch from the corn and gai lan stalks added texture. I wasn't a huge fan of the squash as it detracted from the rice since it was dense and heavy. The rice itself was chewy and not greasy.

After this came the desserts starting with the Golden Squash with Sweet Walnut. Apparently, this dessert was mentioned in Conde Nast or something like that. Whatever the case, it is a signature dish of sorts here and I can honestly say it was pretty good. The fried squash and walnuts were lightly candied and it wasn't as heavy as I would've thought. However, I don't think I could've eaten more than my one piece of each though. Lastly, we were presented with the Diced Yam in Coconut Soup. Rather than coconut milk, this was a coconut broth (I think, didn't really taste any coconut) with yam, taro and tapioca pearls. We were indifferent about this one. Probably something to do with a bias towards sweet soups. However, this meal proved that the Executive Chef, Gordon Chan, is capable of creating delicacies that are not often found in a smaller Chinese restaurant. Sure, not everything was great, but when they were, it definitely exemplified his skill and creativity. Hence, my da lang experience was not really indicative of what you can get here during dinner hours.

*Note: This was an invited dinner where all food was comped*

The Good:
- Creative dishes
- Open late
- Okay pricing

The Bad:
- My late night experience was so-so
- Creative dishes, but some didn't work out

Jellie-D's

*Now Gordy's*

A while back, I had visited Jellie-D's and came away thoroughly unimpressed with their donuts. They were stale and very unappetizing. Even trying to hawk them off to my kids didn't work. Apparently, the place had just been bought out by people who were not exactly donut experts. Hence, I merely wrote it off never to return. Every day as I drove past it, I couldn't help being attracted to the signage. Yup, that was the reason I tried it in the first place. I'm a sucker for cool signage! Then one day, it appeared Jellie-D's changed ownership once more. This was confirmed by Mijune since she had went there for breakfast. I asked her about the donuts and she remarked that they were getting out of the donut-making business. Uh... Jellie-D's without donuts? Wouldn't that be akin to a PF Chang's without Chinese food? Wait, scratch that...

That certainly piqued my interest and considering they were advertising a complete breakfast for $3.00, I was game to return. I wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise, the breakfast was carefully prepared and quite filling. The proprietors were really friendly and did not seem the least bit concerned that I was only dropping the equivalent of spare change for a sit-down meal. I had the Sausage and Eggs with hashbrowns and toast which was more than respectable. Hey, some other breakfast joints charging way more couldn't do better than this. The sunny side eggs were perfect, the sausages were not overly fatty while the toast was nicely browned. I wasn't a huge fan of the hashbrowns, but hey, it's $3.00 we're talking about here! We also had the Bacon and Eggs which were also prepared properly. As you can see, the bacon was meaty and crisp while the over-easy egg was done right without any breakage.

Okay, this visit really made me curious about their $5.50 Burger Meal as well. Much like the one offered at Burger Burger, it includes a burger, fries and pop. For those keeping track, that is about the same price (and sometimes less) than a McD's meal. Again, I was not expecting much, yet was pleasantly surprised to find a homemade hamburger patty cooked with a nice crusty sear while being completely moist on the inside. It was a touch salty, but had the sweetness of onions to balance it out. While I was expecting a standard sesame bun, it actually turned out to be a toasted roll which was soft and went well with the meat, crisp lettuce, tomato and thousand island dressing. This was a solid burger for the price. As for the fries, they were actually fresh cut. Too bad they were limp and oil-logged. Whatever the case, I ain't gonna complain much. The place doesn't sell donuts anymore, but what they do have is cheap food which is actually pretty decent.

The Good:
- Very cheap
- Food is better than one would think
- Owners are really friendly

The Bad:
- They need to change the name, it confuses people

Pho Thuan An

*Restaurant is now closed*

While dining at C Restaurant, Alvin asked me whether I was attending the BC Food Expo. Well, I didn't apply for media accreditation nor was I directly involved in the restaurant industry. Therefore, my answer was no and I didn't even think of reconsidering. Then all of a sudden, my father-in-law (who used to be an Executive Chef) asked if Viv and I wanted to go. Um... I suppose... As much as the Food Expo is a good event for those in the industry, I really was in no hurry to see the latest in wok pit technology (although secretly I want one in my house). After watching the BC Chinese Chef of the Year competition hosted by Stephanie Yuen (where Mijune was a judge), we did a quick round and headed out of the Vancouver Convention Centre for eats.

We really had no predetermined destination, so we merely drove up Kingsway in search of Pho. With all the choices available, the world was our oyster. But for me, the one place that caught my eye was Pho Thuan An. The attractive red paint job on the outside along with the modern signage got my attention, unlike some other divy-looking places with an abundance of neon. Saying that this restaurant is small would be an understatement. I think my bedroom is bigger than the entire dining area. We were welcomed by a very friendly and courteous owner who seemed to be the only person on the floor. We wondered how he would handle everything when it got busy since it was already hard to flag him down with only one other table present.

So when we did get his attention, Viv ordered the Smoked Salmon Salad Roll to start. We really liked this different approach to a generally standard item. It consisted of smoked salmon, real crab meat, cucumber, romaine lettuce and green onion. There was a good combination of textures and flavours going on in the roll, yet the thing that brought it all together was the dip. It was a sweet peanut concoction with a small dollop of sriracha, fried garlic and fish sauce. This was some tasty sauce I tell you with a mix of sweet, spicy and aromatics. My father-in-law had the Pho and it arrived steaming hot, as it should be). The broth was light (good balance of sweet and savoury though), yet still had flavour at-the-same-time. There was very little in the way of an MSG hit. The noodles were a touch soft while the meats were tender.

For myself, I wanted something different and decided to go for the Cambodian Dry Noodles. Sitting on top of rice noodles, instead of the usual broad egg noodles, there was shrimp, quail egg, sliced pork and liver. This was a pretty large bowl of food with plenty of ingredients and noodles. I thought that there might've been a touch too much sweet soy sauce mixed in with the noodles, but when eaten with the rest of the components, it wasn't as salty. For her main, Viv had the Lemongrass Chicken on Rice. We loved how it was served with a fried sunny side egg (it always makes eating rice a better experience). The broken rice had a chewy texture which was not too dry nor wet. Loved the moist texture of the chicken and the abundance of lemongrass flavour, however, it really need more charring. It almost had a steamed quality to it.

Unexpectedly, we were presented with a complimentary order of Che Dau Trang at the end of the meal by the nice owner. This dessert consisting of sweet sticky rice & bean pudding with coconut milk was only semi-sweet and served warm. This was a nice ending to a surprising meal. For such a small place, Thuan An serves up solid eats at a reasonable price. Furthermore, the service, as sparse as it is, is warm and honest. In a sea of Vietnamese restaurants, it is very hard to differentiate the good from the bad. Yet, Pho Thuan An certainly succeeds in separating themselves from the regular.

The Good:
- Warm, honest service
- Solid eats
- No neon (hey, it is a plus to me)

The Bad:
- Kinda cramp inside
- Sparse service

Taqueria Jalisco

Since returning from San Diego, I have been craving Mexican food. No joke. Despite my biases (as in Mexican food is not my favourite cuisine), when one gets to eat the real stuff, it can have a profound effect on one's perception. Emerging from the darkness of tater tots posing as "Mexi-Fries" and enough ground beef (if it is in fact meat...) to make one turn vegan, real Mexican food can be downright tasty. This desire for the real deal was somewhat satisfied with my visit to Taqueria Playa Tropical in New West not too long ago. Of course we have La Taqueria, but it only focuses on one thing (and in my opinion, does it well). So where to next? While perusing Urbanspoon (and Mary's blog), I noticed a place in Whalley that I must've passed many a time without even considering eating there. While most might find Taqueria Jalisco shady, for me it makes it more legit. C'mon, it's Mexican food here. No need for glitz or unnecessary frills thank you very much. Concentrate on the food!

And yes, as much as the outside is nothing to look at, the inside is pretty much the same. Part grocery story and part restaurant, it really is about the food here. We got off on a good start with the requisite complimentary Tortilla Chips with fresh pico de gallo, salsa verde and salsa roja. Right away, we knew this was legit since the sauces had a kick. I particularly liked the salsa verde since it had a crisp, clean taste to go with the spice. Mrs. Spray Bottle went with the Chimichanga and the darn thing was massive. Stuffed in the perfectly fried flour tortilla was big pieces of chicken breast, cheese and pico de gallo. Despite being deep-fried, the chimichanga was not greasy at all. The oil must've been at the perfect temperature since the tortilla did not absorb much of it. There was a good mix of ingredients inside that kept things moist without making the entire thing soggy. Hoops had the Enchilada and requested that it be topped with a fried egg. Apparently, he had it this way at a Mexican joint in Bellingham before. Well, egg or not, the Enchilada was topped with a lot of cheese and just the right amount of sauce.

We also tried their Barbacoa (Shredded Beef) Torta and man was it a steal for $5.50! The darn thing was huge. The roll (which looked like French bread) was crusty and crunchy where it stood up to the combination of pico de gallo, tender shredded beef, lettuce and cheese. Although the location has a lot to do with it, this torta at $5.50 makes the one at Las Tortas seem incredibly over-priced. On the topic of big, the Burrito de Salsa Roja was absolutely massive. If you look at the picture, that is a really large plate and the burrito took up almost all of it. With a generous amount of salsa roja, melted cheese and a dollop of pico de gallo, the darn thing looked enticing. Now, unlike many burritos, this was not packed with fillers. Yes, there was the usual rice and beans, but there was an equal amount of tender shredded beef and cheese. The wonderful beef really put it over the top because gave the burrito an "oomph" which was filling, yet eliminated that "starchy" fill-up-the-tummy phenomenon. With that being said, this would still be a challenge for someone to finish in one sitting. I must mention that none of the dishes we had were particularly spicy. In fact, they were quite mild which would appeal to most people. If you want spicy, add the provided sauces.

By default, we had to try some of their Tacos as well with one each of the Pollo and Carne Asada. Unfortunately, we weren't huge fans of the ones we had though. The carne asada (steak) was tough, chewy and dry. Flavour was okay though, as it was seasoned with some spice. The same could be said about the chicken as well. Of course being breast meat, it would be more likely to be dry. I wouldn't say it was incredibly dry though. At the very least, they didn't skimp on the meat. Something a bit different was the Cocktail de Camarones (or shrimp cocktail). If you were expecting a few cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce, think again. This resembled a gazpacho with shrimp more than anything else. Essentially a cold "soup" consisting of tomato juice, avocado, peppers, cilantro and onions with shrimp, this was a surprising hit. A touch sweet and refreshing, the plump, perfectly cooked shrimp added a nice snap and natural sweetness.

As for myself, I had eyes for one thing on the menu and that was the Menudo (tripe soup). I gotta say, it was "offally" good (sorry for the bad pun). The soup was accompanied by tortillas, onions & cilantro and dry oregano. Unlike the one I had at Taqueria Playa Tropical, the one here was much lighter and less salty. That is not to say there was no flavour though. In fact, it was tasty with a balance of flavours (with only a hint of spice) and since they had properly cleaned the tripe, it wasn't very gamy. The tripe itself was perfectly prepared. The pieces were of a good size, tender and as mentioned, cleaned properly. I liked how it was soft while still maintaining a bite. Now a tripe soup wouldn't be enough for lunch would it? So I added a Tamale for good measure. Similar to a Chinese "juong", this combination of masa and shredded pork was wrapped in corn husks then steamed. This was a very good tamale since the masa was moist and had a pleasant texture. I even liked it better than the ones I had in San Diego actually. I'm sure the texture had to do with the good amount of lard used in the masa mixture. Moreover, the meat in the middle was not dry and well-seasoned. I could've eaten a few more of these, but that would blow my caloric intake... Yes, that is an important consideration since tripe is high in cholesterol as well.

Lastly, for no other reason than variety, we had the Chicken Quesadilla. Again, this thing was big and chalk full of large chunks of seasoned chicken breast meat and cheese. Loved the preparation on the flat top which didn't rely on grease for its colour or texture. This was served with a side of fresh guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo. The only complaint was that the chicken was slightly dry. Yet, there really wasn't a whole lot to complain about in general. The food was plentiful and well-priced. Furthermore, the food is authentic and made with care. Sure, the area might scare some people, but believe me, there is really nothing to be worried about. It is definitely worth visiting if you are ever in the area. This is a whole lot better than most of the Mexican stuff found in Vancouver proper.

The Good:
- Good portions
- Inexpensive
- Friendly staff/owner

The Bad:
- It is a bit sketch for some people
- Some of the meats could've been cooked less or be more tender

Dim Sum @ South Ocean

Whenever I meet up with Rich Guy for Dim Sum, it is generally an expensive proposition. I think it started in University where we'd go out for eats every now and then. One time, we spent like $60.00 at Imperial between the both of us (and that was only on Dim Sum items!). More recently, the bill at The Jade was pretty much the same. We wondered if the food warranted the price tag. In the case of Imperial, we thought it was too expensive for the quality of food. The Jade was more acceptable, yet still a pricey proposition. Hence, I figured that we should be less extravagant with our lunch and meet up at South Ocean instead. We actually missed $2.00 special, which ended before Noon. Whatever the case, we knew it would be significantly less than some of the nicer restaurants in Richmond.

With that in mind, we had reasonable expectations going into it. Therefore, we weren't bothered by the dated decor and slightly dirty interior. The lack of cleanliness was probably due to the use of push carts for Dim Sum (which is becoming a rarity these days). As such, our dish selection was at the mercy of what came around first, which was the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll. This was not bad. Although the rice noodle itself was on the thicker side, it was still soft. The shrimp were sparse and modest in size. For the price, we weren't too picky about it. Lately, I've been on a Shrimp-Stuffed Eggplant roll, so when it came around, we ordered it. Okay, this had the makings of a good dish, but the fact that it was oil-logged made it actually bad. First of all, the black bean "sauce" was more like an oil slick and the eggplant had absorbed so much grease, it was almost inedible. The oil probably wasn't hot enough.

Next up was some the most pale pieces of Honeycomb Tripe we've ever seen - Nicole Kidman would be jealous. The reason? Well, how about the lack of seasoning? Other than a token sprinkle of black pepper, the tripe was as bland as steamed tofu. Furthermore, the tripe was far from tender. It had the texture of rubber bands. This was one of the worst versions of tripe I've ever had. Continuing on, we had the Bean Curd Skin Rolls which were marginal as well. They were rather scrawny with little in the way of filling. Thank goodness to since the filling was gritty. Furthermore, the lack of sauce made the roll slightly dry and pretty bland. After 3 straight fails, we were quite surprised that the Black Bean Spareribs didn't suck. Clearly from the picture, it was a good portion size and the ribs were the good pieces (with actual bone, not cartilage nor fat). Furthermore, the meat was tenderized just enough so it was still a touch chewy. This was seasoned delicately and could've stood for more salt and garlic.

With push carts, it is usually based on pure luck or aggressiveness whether one can score the Haw Gow (shrimp dumplings) or not. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to stalk any carts to get our order. These were "okay". We weren't that thrilled with the dumpling skin because it was thick and doughy. On the other hand, the filling was better since the shrimp exhibited the desired snap and bounce texture. Too bad the filling had far too much sugar which made it artificially sweet. Along with the same cart, there was also the Sui Mai (pork and shrimp dumpling) which is forms the classic "haw gow, sui mai" phrase from the push cart lady. The sui mai was predominantly comprised of shrimp rather than the usual pork and a little bit of shrimp. Generous for sure in theory, but in practice, the whole thing was texturally wrong. It was especially problematic when the bits of pork were chewy and did not go well with the shrimp. Once again, it was predominantly sweet which made the flavour one-dimensional. With all that being said, the sui mai wasn't terrible.

Lastly, we had the Silken Tofu with Shrimp Mousse. This was a simple, if not, pleasant dish. There is not much you can do to mess up steamed silken tofu, especially when it is topped by such a delicate ingredient such as shrimp (you wouldn't oversteam it unless you overcooked the entire dish). So the only thing that was a variable was the shrimp mousse on top. In this case, the mousse was good. It was cooked just right and the mix of whole shrimp and mousse made for a good texture. Much like the haw gow, it could've used a little less sugar since the shrimp would have had a sweetness of its own.

Okay, this is a tough one. On one hand, the food in general was mediocre at best (with a few exceptions). Add in a very old-looking decor that seems not only dated, but a bit dirty as well with indifferent service, it is easy to dislike South Ocean. However, their prices are indeed cheap - even more so during early Dim Sum. So what to do? Simple. Under normal circumstances, I would recommend people to stay away. Far away. Yet, I cannot deny the value here. So if one was not too picky and could put up with the shortcomings, South Ocean is an option for those who don't want to spend an arm and a leg for food in Richmond.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Food is edible

The Bad:
- If it weren't for the low prices, I'd not eat here
- Dated decor
- Indifferent wait staff