Kibo

Every 2 weeks, a group of us (Kevin, Rick, Alvin, Grace, Romina and Janice) have been trying out specific Chinese restaurants featuring their signature dishes. These meals have been comped and host by ChineseBites. So far, we've been to Golden Swan and Fatty Cow Hot Pot. However, this particular meal would be the week right after Fatty Cow and it wouldn't be a Chinese restaurant. In fact, we weren't featuring any Chinese signature dishes. Huh? Okay, there will be the occasional meal that will deviate from our original mandate due to common ownership of restaurants. Our meal this time around was at Kibo in Yaletown. Occupying the former location of Charlie's (which lasted like a couple of months), Kibo is a hybrid of Miku, Minami and Hapa Izakaya. The decor is definitely Yaletown and the waitresses are definitely Hapa-ish. One look at the menu and it has similar elements as Miku with a dash of the original menu at Hapa Umi (however, at substantially lower pricing). So unlike the other ChineseBites meals, I am going to treat this like an actual post as we tried practically everything on the menu.

As such, they came at us with a good amount of food. The first to arrive was the Negi Toro, reminiscent of the one from Hapa. It was served with toasted crostinis. The tuna belly was processed until smooth with just the right amount of scallions. There was a big hit of sesame oil (possibly a smidgen too much) as well as some spice (tasted like srirracha). It was topped with garlic chips and more scallions. There was a good contrast between the soft tuna and the crusty bread. Next up was the Kibo Sashimi Set which consisted of red tuna, salmon and hamachi. The large slices of fish were fresh and neatly presented. The addition of sauces made it possible for us to eat the sashimi with little-to-no soy sauce. At $24.00, this plate was not cheap, yet the quality and large cuts of sashimi justified the price.

Moving away from seafood, we were presented with the Beef Carpaccio, which I could smell from quite a distance away before it was set on our table. The Parmesan dressing with a hit of wasasbi was quite potent, yet welcoming at the same time. I found it to be creamy and cheesy with only a bit of heat. As for the slices of beef, they were a touch chewier than I would've liked. I think it needed to be sliced even thinner to achieve that melt-in-your-mouth effect. From meat, we went back to fish along with some greens in the Kibo Salad. It consisted of a mix of greens with red onion topped with mango, tuna and avocado. The ingredients were top-notch and prepared carefully. The dressing was tart and sweet with a touch of spice. Hey, it was a pretty good sashimi salad.


The next dish was something that I haven't had for quite awhile. Consisting of tempura fried fish cake tubes filled with cheese, Chikuwa Cheese is one of my favourite Izakaya offerings. This reminded me of the one I had at Gyoza King. The batter was crispy and light with little grease while the chikuwa was not overdone. It was chewy, yet moist at the same time. The choice of cheese was perfect as it was melted completely, yet didn't ooze out. Presented neatly on a long dish was the Aburi Kibo Sush Set. This should not be confused with the one you'd find at Miku/Minami as these were not seared rolls. However, there is one item on the menu that is essential the Aburi Salmon Oshi found at Miku/Minami. Although these were good, in terms of sushi rice (it had a nice bite with hints of sweetness and rice vinegar). and ingredient quality, I still personally love Miku/Minami more for seared sushi. From left-to-right, there was the Tuna, Salmon (2 types), Hotate and Ebi.

Moving onto some grilled items, we had the Japanese Short Ribs. These were predictably sweet due to the marinade. There was a good char on the outside which caramelized the flavours. I found the ribs to be a touch chewy, yet that is generally the case for short ribs (unless you put baking soda on it, which they would not do here). The next item was not my favourite - Bacon Ebi. The premise behind the dish was promising with a large ebi wrapped with smoky bacon. However, since it was grilled, it did not achieve any crispiness. Rather, the bacon was chewy and fatty, which made the whole thing hard to eat. I would've preferred the whole thing to be fried, hence the bacon would be a crunchy coating on the outside of the ebi. On the positive side, the ebi was very good with a nice snap.

We moved onto the "roll" portion of our meal next starting with the Hamilton Roll consisting of ebi tempura, avocado and cucumber on the inside with alternating slices of tuna and salmon (Atlantic and sockeye) on top. The entire thing was finished off with a special sauce This was a neatly constructed roll with a large crispy prawn inside. The ingredients were good while the balanced sauce was quite nice. The next one to arrive was the Volcano Roll that deep-fried with tempura batter. On the inside, there was a combination of spicy tuna and avocado. Since the roll was essentially "cooked" in the deep-frying process, the tuna was also cooked. For me, I'm not a huge fan of cooked tuna in any of my sushi because the texture becomes dense and mealy. I would've preferred something else inside (like prawn perhaps). With that being said, the roll itself was fine with a crispy exterior and a bit of spice.

Hey with any array of specialty rolls, it would never be complete without the standard right? Hence we got the ever-so-popular Dragon Roll. This familiar offering consisted of ebi tempura and cucumber in the middle with a good amount of unagi and avocado on the outside. A drizzle of unagi sauce completed the dish. Nothing particularly exciting about the roll, yet it was good nonetheless. The large ebi was once again crispy with a nice snap while the ample amount of unagi and avocado provided another layer of salty-sweetness as well as a smooth texture. Continuing on the theme of ebi tempura and avocado, that was the same sushi base for the Mango Roll. Again, the ebi was large, crispy and had a nice snap. The avocado was ripe and soft, but not mushy. The generous slice of mango on top was visually appealing and tasty. It was ripe with a good amount of sweetness combined with the usual mango tang. Hiding underneath the mango was somewhat of a surprise - smoked salmon and basil. This actually "saved" the roll for me since a mango roll is well, a mango roll. The salty smokiness of the salmon with the herbal addition of the basil added a unique flavour.

Moving away from rolls, we got the Kibo Beef which was BBQ Angus beef seasoned with a Chef's sauce. The beef was prepared a beautiful medium-rare. It was buttery soft and sat on a bed of shiitake mushrooms, asparagus tips and green beans. We weren't sure what was exactly in the Chef's sauce, but it was sweet with some Asian elements (like soy). Yet another meat dish was the Rack of Lamb which was described on the menu as Australian rack of lamb with an Asian twist. We were trying to figure out what the Asian twist was about. We could clearly see some mustard seed and taste an obvious hit of cumin. Did this qualify as an Asian Twist? Not sure, at the very least, it was prepared by an Asian... Maybe that was the twist. No matter, we didn't really care since the lamb was super moist and tender. A few chews and it was ready to swallow. The flavour was quite nice as it wasn't too strong and allowed the lamb to shine. With that said, the meat was not gamy.

Lastly, we were presented with the Seafood Dobin. Yes, a soup as the last course. Hey why not? Turned out to be one of the highlights. It consisted of a seafood broth with clam, salmon, shiitake and enoki mushrooms served in a teapot. The broth was a good balance between the salty miso and the natural sweetness of the seafood. Furthermore, the mushrooms added a welcomed level of Earthiness. This was a very concentrated and tasty soup. Obviously, by now we were pretty stuffed and naturally the service was fantastic (they invited us after all!). To be frank, I was a bit skeptical of the place before our visit. Think of it, another Asian fusion restaurant in Yaletown... But the the food is generally pretty solid, if not a bit "safe" and the prices are reasonable when we do direct comparisons with other similar restaurants located in Downtown.

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

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing considering the food and the location
- Generally well-prepared eats
- Spacious dining room

The Bad:
- Food is good, but it isn't necessarily something new nor pushing the envelope (but I'm sure they are catering to the masses)
- Location is away from the Yaletown "action"

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