Flying Beaver Bar & Grill

"The flying what???", was the consensus response to my suggestion about The Flying Beaver as our after softball eats. No, I wasn't trying to be lewd or vulgar. That is really the name of the place. It took a bit of convincing partly because they thought I was just trying to be funny and secondly, The Flying Beaver is located in a weird spot. How weird? Try the Harbour and Seaplane Terminal right off of YVR. Part of the Mark James Group of brewery restaurants, it shares the same building as the terminal right on the water. If you didn't know about the place, you'd drive right by on Russ Baker Way. Well, that's what I did since I wasn't paying attention. I had to loop back around to get there.

For a Monday night, the place was hopping. Turns out it, it was their Monday 2-for-1 appie special. Sounded good to us as Milhouse, Boss Woman and I decided to share 4 appies and 2 entrees. We chowed down on the Steak Bites first. These meaty sirloin morsels were tender with a little chew. There was a good amount of caramelization from the frying which helped bring out the sweetness of the pineapple-soy marinade. In addition, there was an underlying spice which was further accentuated by the chipotle aioli. I had high hopes for the Coconut Prawns since it brought back memories of Bubba Gumps. Okay, laugh if you may, but I like their coconut prawns! This one was not as crunchy as I would've liked as it was somewhat gummy. It probably had something to do with the fact that the batter was predominantly coconut (which has a lot of moisture). On the other hand, it was aromatically coconutty. The prawns were sweet, yet had no snap. The sweet ginger sauce was quite nice though as it complimented the other flavours quite well. Next up was the Spinach & Artichoke Dip which consisted of warm spinach, artichokes, feta, Monterey Jack and cream cheese with tortilla chips. Although this is usually a pretty "boring" item to order, it is great for sharing. Furthermore, they did a pretty good job with it since it was cheesy, full of spinach and balanced in flavour. No complaints here.

Now for my favourite of the ones we ordered - the Duck Spring Rolls. These were stuffed with roasted duck breast with apple slaw and served with sweet Thai sauce. Although being pretty darn oily, these rolls were crisp and full of moist duck and crisp veggies. The dip was pretty standard, but then again, it worked with the spring rolls. Now we weren't the only ones to order appies. Gyoza King (no, not the restaurant) and LuLu Bomber had the Hardee's Crab Cakes served with smoked red pepper coulis and spiced yogurt. LuLu Bomber offered a really big piece for me to try and even though I thought it was too generous, she insisted. Me thinks she is a fine addition to my eating adventures, I should get her to join us more often! I found the crab cake to be rather wet and not all that crabby. Yes, it was in a good mood... The exterior was fried up nicely though. As for the 2 dips, I much preferred spiced yogurt since the red pepper coulis had this ketchup-thing going on. Their second appie was the World Famous Hot Wings. Really? I think it was all in tongue n' cheek. Hmmm... maybe it would be awesome if there was actually tongue and cheek in it! Mmm... tongue and cheek... Actually, the wings were pretty good on their own. They were large, moist and meaty. They were a little wet from the hot sauce which was quite mild.

Gyoza King, seeing how LuLu Bomber offered me crab cake and wings, decided he should follow suit and offered some of his Chicken Curry Rice Bowl (Coconut curry sauce with vegetables, topped with mango chutney and spicy yogurt, over jasmine rice, with a side of naan bread). Now, I do realize the Flying Beaver is no Indian restaurant, so I'll take it easy on them. It is understandable that it cannot be compared to real Indian food. With that being said, the rice bowl had very little curry flavour. In fact, the whole thing was pretty dry including the pieces of chicken. The veggies were crisp and vibrant though while the naan was well, not naan. Now if we looked at the bowl without prejudice, it was not bad, it just wasn't curry. Judes went for the Seafood Grill consisting of two seafood skewers with salmon, halibut, ahi tuna and tiger prawn with a ginger-soy glaze, jasmine rice and seasonal vegetables. She felt that the seafood had a nice char to them, but were overcooked. She didn't like the rice as it was dry (much like the curry chicken rice bowl) while the green beans were soggy and wilted. She did like the glaze as it was a good balance between sweet and salty.

Getting back to my meal, we shared the Halibut and Chips which was served in a steamer basket. For a 2-piece halibut dinner, we expected it to be somewhat bigger, especially since it set us back $19.00. The batter was not really all that crispy either as it was soggy in parts and greasy throughout. The halibut was a touch overcooked too. The tartar sauce was creamy and had a nice tartness to it. The fries were pretty good though being crisp and not having a generic feel to them. Our second main was the Redneck Pizza with spiced beef, pepperoni, ham, capicolla, bacon, mozzarella cheese & tomato sauce. We liked the appearance of the pizza as it obviously was cooked in high enough heat for some good colour and char. Hence, the crust was mostly crunchy and only a touch soft in the centre. They were not stingy with the toppings, yet the pizza didn't end up being salty nor greasy. A pretty good pizza considering the venue.

Now whenever Bear is around, dessert is mandatory. Gosh, better not have both him and Mijune at the same table... So he went for the biggest offering they had with the Beaver Trio (uh... interesting name...). The darn thing was huge, including Raspberry Cheesecake, Tiramisu and Belgian Pecan Brownie. Okay, the cheesecake was not very good. In fact, it was poorly prepared. There were clumps of cream cheese strewn throughout the cake. In fact, it was far from smooth and was a little gritty (and it wasn't because of the raspberry seeds either). It did taste okay though with a good cream cheese hit (of course, since there were clumps!) and raspberry flavour (in it and the coulis). The tiramisu was decent with a strong liqueur hit. The cream was texturally pleasing and not too sweet. Lastly, the brownie had a nice chewy texture and was quite sweet. I didn't get a lot of chocolate in each bite. Seeing how Bear went for such a large dessert, it prompted me into ordering the Apple Pie with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. This was good. The crust was was crispy and buttery throughout. Inside, the layers of apple were warm and tender while not wet. It was sweet, but not too sweet. So for all the things we tried here, nothing was bad. On the other hand, nothing was as impressive as we had expected (based on the many glowing reviews on the Net). Bottom line is that the Flying Beaver is a decent place to grab some eats to go with your brew and a good view.

The Good:
- Nice view
- Okay eats

The Bad:
- Okay eats, but not as good as we thought it would be
- The "find-your-own-table-and-wait-for-people-to-leave" routine needs to be re-evaluated

Enjoy Cafe

Ever since my knee injury (this was awhile ago and had recovered from it), I haven't been called out to play Thursday night hockey. As such, I've not only lost another session of exercise, the food that followed evaporated as well. This was further exacerbated by the fact there would be no Friday hockey for the week. For some odd reason, the league has us playing every other week. Egads. Don't they know I need my team to eat out every Friday??? Anyways, like it was fate, I got called to play on Thursday when I needed it most. Excellent, I got to play hockey and go out for eats as well. As per usual, I offered Gordo a ride and he was essentially my hostage for food after the game.

We decided to hit up Enjoy Cafe, which resides in the former location of E-Canteen (and going way back, Top Gun). We arrived 30 minutes to closing and had to get our order in before last call. Gordo decided to try the Shanghai Fried Noodles as well as a Mango Slush. At first, when the noodles arrived, we were a bit worried with the lack of colour. As a result, the flavour wasn't as deep as it could've been. I guess they just didn't use much dark soy when they wok-fried it. The lack of caramelization kept the flavours muted. In the end, the noodles were cooked properly, which made up slightly for the lack of savouriness. The cabbage still had a crunch while the meat was tender. We liked that the dish wasn't too oily either. As for the Mango Slush, it wasn't overly sweet and it was blended well too.

For myself, I was torn between ordering something light and going all-out. Hey, it was close to 1:00am after all! Yet, as always, I had to get something substantial which turned out to be the 3 Item Combo which included a soup. I opted for the Cream of Ham and Corn over the HK-style Borscht. For what it's worth, the soup was pretty decent. Sure, it was more floury than creamy, but that's typical. There was a nice sweetness from the corn and the bits of ham provided some savouriness. And then came the main event - Chicken Steak, Rib Steak and Ox Tongue with spaghetti, veggies and black pepper sauce. I thought all of the proteins were prepared properly. The chicken steak (deboned leg) was moist and tender with crispy skin. Although the steak was of the baking soda-tenderized variety, it still had some chew and was a perfect medium-rare. As for my favourite item, the tongue was super tender without being mushy. It's great to get tongue at 2:00am in the morning! Er... The black pepper sauce could've used more flavour though, especially for the amount of meat.

Seeing how we I only got to eat a pile of meat for our visit here, we came back a few months later after another session of late night hockey in Richmond. Amazing how fun it is to drive here when it's late at night! So this time around, Gordo had the Fried Noodle with Chicken and Vegetable. He asked for the noodles to be soft, rather than crispy (trying to be healthier?). As such, the noodles were a bit soggy (yet, that is what he wanted, not the restaurant's fault). I found the starch-thicken sauce to be on the milder side while the chicken was tender and the Shanghai bak choy crunchy. I went for a HK-style cafe classic in the Baked Pork Chop on Rice. The pork chop was prepared nicely as it was tender with breading that wasn't too soggy from the sauce. About that sauce... it was on the bland side, but in the end, it was okay. The rice was chewy and did not go mushy from the abundance of moisture. For the price, we felt from the 2 visits that the food is a decent value. Furthermore, the food is comparable to one of my favourite late night HK-style cafes - Alleluia. In fact, Gordo and I agreed that Enjoy Cafe is another decent late-night joint to hit up after hockey in Richmond.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Good portions

The Bad:
- Flavours are a bit weak

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