Portland Craft

I really like Portland. I really do. The eclecticness of the place including the cuisine and craft beers puts Vancouver to shame. Hey, Vancouver has a lot of places with beer too, but far too many serve only Tsing Tao and Asahi (if you know what I mean). Hence, when I spotted a new joint out on Main Street called Portland Craft, it piqued my interest. By sheer coincidence, Gordo approached me one day and suggested we try it since it his brother-in-law has part ownership. And to make things more strange, another friend of mine asked me the same thing. So we actually knew both partners of the place. Naturally, this puts us in a slightly "biased" position, however, if you read this blog regularly, you'll know that I'm pretty upfront about my experiences regardless of the situation. So we paid for our meals with the exception of the desserts which were comped. I'm not going to comment on the service because it would obviously be good for our party.

Formerly the Coppertank, the place still bears its old name at the top of the front facade. The room is open with a very high ceiling. We were seated upstairs where we got a great view of the entire restaurant. The atmosphere was naturally bar-like with people munching on snacks with their brews. And about those brews, they do have a wide selection that originates from... Portland of course. I got one of them being the Hopworks Rise Up Red. It was smooth with a bite at the end. For eats, Milhouse and I decided to share some items starting with the Pig and Pots. This was essentially braised pork belly, roasted shallots with crispy fingerling potatoes and a side of Dijon. Arriving on a plate with thick slices of fatty belly, our arteries began to harden before we even took a bite. By virtue of being so thick, the belly wasn't exactly that soft. In fact, the crackling was on the chewier side and hence, there was some effort involved in eating it. I liked the sweet glaze on it though. The potatoes were nice with a slight crispiness on the outside and starchy goodness on the inside.

One item that I had to have was the Spot Prawn & Cheddar Grits because well, I love shrimp & grits! The good thing about this dish was the grits were creamy with some texture. It was well-seasoned with herbs, cheese and had a good consistency (not too thick nor watery). There was a slight kick from the jalapeno as well. The accompanying piece of sausage was good as well as being meaty and not overly fatty. It had a nice snap to it. The one thing that was not good were the spot prawns. These were obviously not fresh prawns which meant the meat was soft and mushy. It was too bad because this could've been a good dish. Lastly, we had the Hefeweizen Beer Battered Rainbow Trout, which arrived as a sort of fish n' chips. The batter was crispy and light, albeit a bit greasy. The trout was nicely done being flaky and moist. I liked how the green beans were just barely cooked maintaining a crunch. The same fingerling potatoes as the pork belly completed the dish. I wasn't sold on the smoked paprika and roasted garlic mayo dip as a more traditional tartar sauce would've worked better.

Gordo was feeling ambitious and had 4 items all to himself starting with the Salt n' Pepper Wings served with a side of celeriac and carrot slaw. These were good. The wings were fried crisp with the fat nicely rendered. There was a salty peppery thing going on with them in a mild fashion. The meat itself was not juicy per se, but it wasn't dry either. The one thing that really amped these up was the hot sauce on the side. That was killer. He also had the Sumac Spiced Potato Chips which were light and mostly crispy. The sumac added a certain tartness which kept the chips from being heavy. For his main, Gordo had the Portland Craft Burger with a house made 6oz patty with basil, aged cheddar, pickled beets and a side of their house fries. I found the burger patty to be moist and a touch crumbly (in a good way though). It was slightly greasy, but then again, that's probably why it was moist. There was still considerable meat texture and I liked the addition of onions in the patty. The bun was a good balance between being soft and dense enough to hold up to the ingredients. The fries were the fresh-cut variety and could've been crispier. His 4th dish would be a dessert, which came later.

Emilicious and Sweet Tooth decided to share the Put a Bird on It which was really hop-fried buttermilk chicken on a Belgian waffle served with watermelon and gravy. The pieces of chicken were moist and fried perfectly. Crunchy outside and not dry inside, a good combination. As much as the waffle was okay, a thicker one (which would stand up to the chicken) would've been better. The thin waffle was already becoming soft as it hit the table. The side of gravy was mild and thick, yet personally, I would've liked to see a maple bacon glaze or something like that. Gadget Girl had the Scratch Personal Pizza which was a bacon mushroom. The crust was thin, crispy, well-charred and held up well to the copious amount of toppings. Not a bad pizza for this type of establishment.

As mentioned, Gordo had 4 plates and his last was the Stout Chocolate Lava with hazelnut brittle and vanilla ice cream. Okay, there is no way of sugar-coating this... It was terrible. The cake was very dry and mealy. Furthermore, we didn't get much of a chocolate hit despite the visuals. On the positive side, the brittle and ice cream were good. For good measure, we tried the Sugar-Dusted Donut Bites (which usually has only 5, but they gave us 6 so we could all try it) with rose whipped cream filling. These were more like a cream puff than a donut and we liked it that way. They were light, airy and crisp. The cream was not heavy nor too sweet which kept the whole dessert very easy to eat.

As you can probably ascertain, the meal was a bit up and down. There were some high points as well as some low ones. We liked how they are trying to be a bit different with their menu and approach. However, some refinement is needed, especially with specific dishes. One thing is for sure though, the place is great for grabbing a brew, hang out with friends possibly having some eats with it. It reminds me a little like Bitter where the drinks are at the forefront, while the food plays second fiddle.

The Good:
- Variety of craft beers
- Nice room
- Good vibe

The Bad:
- Food needs refinement

Bauhinia

Miss Y is a pretty smart gal. She is currently finishing up her Masters degree at UBC. However, much like Superman, she has a weakness. It is pretty apparent that sense her of direction is her kryptonite. She is so bad with directions, she gets lost in her own driveway. So when we had a game at Oak Park (where we've never played before), she asked for directions to the place. Well, I guess my directions sucked because she showed up in the middle of the 2nd inning. On another note, I had the best game of the year in terms of hitting. Kinda strange if you ask me since I had a really sore shoulder/back in the morning. It prompted me to consider not playing. But after taking some Robaxacet (geez those pills are tough to swallow), I was as happy as a clam. Does that mean I have to take that every game? Hello addiction? So after the game, we once again headed to Richmond for eats. I was remarking to Milhouse that Richmond is so much more calm at night where I don't need to worry about any bad drivers. Seemed like I spoke too soon as some Lexus IS in front of me was doing the Electric Slide down Garden City Way. Then we got onto the topic of rude people, who don't wait for people to get out of an elevator before barging in or people who stand and/or walk right in the middle of a parking aisle without considering there are cars that need to get through. And just right on cue, as we were pulling into the parking lot of Bauhinia, 2 women were walking smack dab in the middle of the aisle, completely unaware of us being right behind them. Ah yes... Richmond. If there weren't so many good eats here, I'd avoid you like One Direction.

Now you might be wondering why we picked Bauhinia (or maybe not, but this paragraph starter sounded good). Well, it was on the recommendation of Choobee. Originally, she wanted to go here for lunch instead of Nooch Snack & Chill, but I figured that we would not be able to put a dent on the menu. And about that menu... One would be hard-pressed in finding anything as diverse as the one here. Boss Woman, Milhouse and I decided to share some dishes starting with the Curry BBQ Pork, Ham & Shrimp Fried Rice. The grains of rice were somewhat broken in appearance, yet had a good chewy and dry texture. For some odd reason, the dish wasn't very hot in both temperature and spice level. It only looked flavourful. Next was the Stir Fried Rice Vermicelli w/ Shredded Chicken Hot Platter which was served in a mini wok rather than an actual hot plate. This was our favourite of the bunch since there were good textures at work. The chewiness of the noodles combined with the crunch from the veggies and the airiness of the pork fluff made this dish almost "salad-like".

We weren't that enthused about the Seafood Paella though. We weren't expecting authenticity considering the type of restaurant, however, the rice was hard and wet at the same time. Furthermore, the flavour was one-note and the seafood was overcooked. Milhouse ordered an extra plate of noodles being the Stir Fried Japanese Noodle w/ Shredded Pork & Spinach Hot Platter. It was pretty typical of an Asian noodle dish. The noodles were al dente while the flavours were mild. It didn't have much of an impact with us. For myself, I wanted to try their Lobster Bisque. I didn't find that it was that rich nor much in the way of lobster flavour. It was more creamy tomatoey than anything else. With that being said, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't a lobster bisque.

Bam Bam and Pebbles went for the classic Minced Beef and Egg on Rice. We liked the fact the beef was hand-chopped rather than ground because it was texturally and aesthetically pleasing. The sauce was quite mild and despite the plentiful appearance, the dish could've used more of it. Hot Chocolate had the Curried Beef Brisket which was of the coconut milk variety. Hence, it was smooth and not spicy. It was very mild in flavour. The brisket was moist and fork tender. Lastly, Bear had the Baked Pork Loin Cutlet with spaghetti. I thought the pork loin was fantastic. It was moist, juicy and still slightly crisp on the outside (despite the sauce). At first, I thought there was too much sauce, but in the end, it was the right amount. It tasted pretty typical of a watered-down ketchup base. Bam Bam and Pebbles went for the same dish except with rice. Personally, I like that version more. Something about the rice soaking up the sauce and a bit easier to eat. Being the last customers in the restaurant, we ended up keeping the only server there past her working hours. Despite this, she was nice and attentive. Overall, the food was not bad with some dishes being better than others (pretty normal).

The Good:
- Lots of choice
- Nice dining space
- Service we got was good

The Bad:
- A bit more expensive than other similar restaurants
- Food is not bad, but nothing particularly more special than anywhere else

Top Cantonese

Costanza has random food cravings every now and then. Quite a few times, he's had the hankering for XLBs where he would gorge on them. His son could eat 2 whole steamers all by himself. I guess like father, like son. So when he called asking if we would go for Peking Duck (because he had a craving), we obliged. He queried where the best Peking duck would reside in the GVRD. A few places came to mind, such as Koon Bo and Red Star, yet both did not satisfy our criteria. Since we would be with all the kiddies, Koon Bo would be far too small and cramped. Red Star, with their purposefully farmed Peking duck, would be far too expensive. Hence, we settled on Top Cantonese, which was near his house. For a fleeting moment, we considered Come Along, but that would end up as a suggestive blog post on my part.

On the topic of suggestive, our server suggested we try their special Winter Melon Soup and we obliged. Deep down inside, I knew this wasn't going to be a regular winter melon soup... And it really wasn't because there was a bevy of seafood including shrimp, crab, conpoy along with mushroom, chicken, duck and cucumber. The soup was served in a whole winter melon within a really fancy container. The soup was light and only relied on the natural flavours of the ingredients. Considering the whole point to this dinner was to have the Peking Duck, it was a bit disappointing. The skin was pale, salty and had an oily deep-fried consistency to it. In the end, it wasn't horrible, yet it wasn't great either. At the very least, the layer of duck fat was not too thick. As for the pancakes, they were thick, yet soft at the same time.

The next dish was almost redundant in terms of aesthetics and the copious amount of shrimp chips (my kids loved that). Sad to say that the Crispy Chicken was plain terrible. It was obviously refried where the meat was like chicken jerky while the skin was shrived and unappealing. Most of the meat was inedible and quite salty. The shrimp chips were good though... Next up was the Seafood Bird's Nest which was interestingly plated using a fried wonton wrapper basket. Usually, the nest would be constructed using either shredded potato or taro. I didn't prefer the wonton wrapper nest as it had a dense texture (since they layered the wrappers). As for the dish itself, it was prepared nicely. Laying atop the well seasoned and crunchy celery were large scallops, prawns, Basa, geoduck, sea cucumber innards and squid.

Onto a meat dish, we had the Peking Pork Chops, which was a fairly large portion. The chops were pretty thin and crispy, yet sufficiently moist. There was just enough syrupy sauce that was thick and sweet. It could've used a bit more tartness though. With so many fried items, we were guilted into ordering a veggie dish being the Pea Shoots with garlic. Well, it wasn't exactly that much healthier because it was stir-fried... So yes, it was somewhat greasy, but it was good though. The pea shoots were tender with a slight crunch. The dish was well-seasoned with lots of minced garlic. With most orders of Peking Duck, there is usually at least one more course (or sometimes 3 courses in total). This one was only 2 courses and it came with the standard Duck Lettuce Wrap. There was a good amount of duck mixed in with the crunchy veggies. I thought the water chestnuts could've been diced a bit smaller since they were somewhat difficult to eat. Also, the duck exhibited the same saltiness found in the duck skin. However, the dish itself was not bad.

Our meal at Top Cantonese was somewhat strange in my books. If one looks at Top Cantonese based on its decor and price point, it is dangerously close to Chinese fine dining. However, it is not. The dinner as a whole was hit and miss. With the price we paid, there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room for complete misses, like the Crispy Chicken. Hence, I would probably head over to other restaurants nearby for food which would be equivalent or even slightly better (considering the prices) food execution. I really guess we should pay a re-visit to Come Along for dinner...

The Good:
- Clean and upscale decor
- Good service
- Parking lot (albeit small)

The Bad:
- Food execution not on par with prices
- Expensive

Fatty Cow Hot Pot (ChineseBites Dinner)

Fresh from our first ChineseBites dinner at Golden Swan, we headed to our 2nd destination which coincidentally is located only a block away. Generally, hot pot and Summer go together like a no-way stop and Richmond. However, with A/C and a group of fellow bloggers (Kevin, Rick, Alvin, Romina and Janice), we were committed to having a good time. The fact that it was comped would be another reason to not complain. As per usual, I won't comment on the service because it would naturally good (duh...). Now one thing I do know is, from my previous visit to Fatty Cow (which was on my own dime), the service was above average for a Chinese restaurant.

For a hot pot joint, Fatty Cow is clean, modern and fully equipped. That means the restaurant is designed for hot pot with induction burners built into the tables with exhaust fans above. In addition to hot pot, they have a regular menu as well as late night until 1:00am. For our dinner tonight, it was strictly AYCE hot pot with a few "extras". We decided to go with 2 different broths consisting of Peanut and Spicy Szechuan. For me personally, it was the spicy broth all the way where I really didn't even need to use any of the dipping sauces including the sweet & spicy soy which was laced with a pile of cilantro. The stuff came fast and furious starting with the meats consisting of Fatty Beef, Pork Belly, Pork Cheek and Rib-Eye. All were sliced thin and were not frozen. They were fresh in both colour, texture and taste. I particularly liked the pork cheek as it has a touch of chewiness.

Being a "premium" hot pot joint, all their Meatballs are made in house. As a result, the meatballs are never frozen and obviously had a fresher taste and texture. However, overcooking them would essentially negate the freshness - better keep an eye on those balls! The Wontons and Sui Gau were also made in-house, but they were served frozen. This way, they did not stick together or become a complete mush while sitting on the plate waiting to be cooked. These were pretty good with a flavourful and meaty filling which was not-gritty. Something that was not really our favourite was the Frozen Cubed Beef. It was super chewy, even when barely cooked. Now hot pot would not be complete without some offal right? At least for me! I gleefully checked off Omasan (bible tripe), Pig's Blood, Pig Intestine, Pig Stomach and Chicken Hearts. All were pretty much as I expected. I think I ended up eating most of it... On the same plate as the chicken hearts was Marinated Sliced Beef and Basa Slices. The beef was tender while the fish was flaky.

We also got a variety of seafood including previously frozen White Shrimp. These are pretty common at AYCE hot pot restaurants. They were fine for what they were. If cooked properly (just barely done), the meat would have a good snap while being sweet. Cook too long and the meat gets all chewy. Much like my last visit, the fresh Oysters were absolutely humungous. Even after cooking, they were still a chore to eat. The Salmon Trimmings were also fresh. Although these were boney and required some effort to eat, these are the best parts of a fish. The meat is generally fattier and remain moist even through overcooking. The Kiwi Mussels were the standard pre-cooked frozen variety.

As a bonus, since we were invited to this meal, we were presented with some pretty large Steamed Live Scallops on the half-shell. These were a real treat because they are expensive and more importantly, they are naturally sweet with a wonderful texture - a bit chewy, yet not hard to eat. Lastly, as another treat, we got 2 live Lobsters! Yes, they were trying to impress, but could you blame them? And of course, it was a pleasure to eat since they were fresh. Of course this meal was above and beyond the regular AYCE menu, which made it extra special. However, based on my previous visit, the AYCE portion had not changed. The quality is still there and so are the other features that make Fatty Cow one of the better Hot Pot joints in town.

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

Prince Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Ever since I started blogging, it has become quite easy to remember the last time I had visited a specific restaurant. Whenever in doubt, just pull up the blog on my iPhone and voila, not only do we find out roughly when we ate somewhere, we also can see what we ate. In fact, with the online record of everything we've eaten in the past 3+ years, there have been fewer disagreements. Just pull up the blog. No need to try to remember anything! Now, pulling old posts often make me cringe because some of the pictures were crappy (ironically, the new pictures turned out crappy as well due to poor lighting). This was such the case with Prince Chinese Restaurant. We haven't been back her for 3 years and if my memory serves me correctly, the service was not exactly a strong point. Since it has been such a long time, it was a good time to do a re-visit. Well, the real reason was because of convenience. Viv invited her parents out for Dim Sum and wanted something close by to them.

After we submitted the order sheet, as per usual, the Egg Tarts arrived first. Yah, I know they are probably sitting there in a warmer ready to go, however, must we be served dessert first? This happens at many Chinese restaurants, so I'm not pinning this on Prince. One bite into the tart and I wished they had stuck it back into the oven because I got a bit hit of raw flour flavour. I asked Viv to try it and she concurred. Underdone puff pastry. Yuck. That was too bad since the top part of the pastry was quite flaky and the filling was good as well. The BBQ Pork Pineapple Buns didn't have any issues concerning the dough and as such was above-average for a restaurant. The buns themselves were light and soft while the sweet topping was the right crumbly texture. I only wished they didn't put onions in the BBQ pork mixture. For me, it is too sharp and detracts from the flavour.

Finally, we got a dish where it belonged in the meal being the Shrimp Spring Rolls. These came out hot and crispy stuffed with crunchy shrimp. A little heavy on the seasoning, yet good nonetheless. We liked how they weren't greasy despite the obvious frying time required to get such a golden colour (or was it old oil? LOL). Then the standard dish we order whenever my son is present - the Soy Fried Rice Noodle Rolls. These were not very good. They were stiff, mostly under-fried and bland. Furthermore, it looked as if the person who prepared it was pretty lackadaisical in their approach and plating. It showed in the overall execution. Oh and as you can tell, they were greasy too. Seems like they might've put it into a wok that wasn't hot enough at first.

The stiff rice noodle was evident in the Beef Rice Noodle Roll as well. It wasn't as bad as the pan-fried version due to the steaming process, yet we've had better. The beef filling was good though, there was a nice hint of dried orange peel which added something different than the usual green onion flavour. They probably used the same meat mixture for the beef meatballs (which is common) for the rice noodle roll since the meatballs had the exact same flavour (not pictured), particularly the strong orange peel presence. Onto the Dim Sum must-have was the Haw Gow (shrimp dumpling). These were pretty good. Other than the dumpling skin being a touch thick, the filling was full of whole shrimp. It was not aggressively seasoned which allowed the natural sweetness of the shrimp to be heard. As for the other must-have (well, at least for me, Viv is indifferent) was the Sui Mai. Sort of the Ying and the Yang of the meal. These were also quite good. There was a good balance of shrimp, pork and shiitake mushroom. Textures were bang-on as well with the pork having a good bounce texture and the shrimp exhibiting a nice snap when bitten into. Flavours were good, especially from the mushrooms. Loved the tobiko on top, I can't understand places that don't use it (or at least some salted duck egg yolk) because it makes it much more appealing.

For me, the Steamed Black Bean Spareribs are another must-order as well. Although the pieces were fatty, there was plenty of tender meat attached to the bone. In fact, those are the most desired pieces when it comes to this dish. Not much in the way of cartilage either, which are not as good to eat. We would've liked to see more in the way of flavour, especially from the black bean, but it was far from bland. One of the more interesting items we had was the Steamed Eel. It came laced with a garlicky sauce which was just flavourful enough without overwhelming the fatty flesh. I really liked this dish despite the indifference shown by everyone else. I think they thought it was bland. For me, I thought it was fine. The eel was cooked perfectly having the qualities of black cod/sea bass. Therefore, the meat was moist and quite pleasant to eat. I particularly loved the skin.

Now cue the drum roll... The requisite offal dish! This time, it was the Steamed Bible Tripe. Not trying to sound monotonous, but the tripe was solid. It had the right combination of being tender enough to chew while still retaining some texture. This is not as easily accomplished as it sounds. Sometimes the tripe is too chewy and one could lose a tooth trying to bite it, while it can also be too soft where it becomes mush. Again, it could've used a touch more in the way of seasoning, yet there was enough green onion and ginger to offset that. Lastly, we didn't have dessert. Remember, we were served dessert first! Rather than sweets, we had the Phoenix Talons aka Chicken Feet. These were a touch over-steamed with the skin detaching. Not a big deal though since there was still plenty of gelatin/cartilage to be found underneath the fried skin. I'm sure this is grossing some people out! Trust me, it's good! It was quite flavourful with lots of garlic with a touch of black bean. I think they used copious amounts of sugar too.

Well, just like 3 years ago, the Dim Sum is quite acceptable at Prince, especially with their price points. There is a good selection on the order sheet and the food comes out fairly expeditiously. In terms of the service, I would say it was better than the couple of times we went before, but I wouldn't classify it as warm and fuzzy (what Chinese restaurant would have that anyways? LOL). I have seen a lot of comments made about their service and maybe they are trying to improve? Or did I come on a lucky day? Whatever the case, the place is busy and their parking lot is usually full, spilling out into the street. So they must be doing something right.

The Good:
- Above-average Dim Sum
- Lots of choice

The Bad:
- Service is indifferent
- Nice that they have a parking lot, too bad it's always full