Tokyo John

Watching my softball team play in the year-end tourney was as excruciating as watching someone parallel park in Richmond. It's because I couldn't be a part of the action, much like the parallel parking job (sometimes I want to get out of my car and just park it for them). However, my sole consolation was getting to eat with them afterwards! Bah. Who cares about the softball anyways? It only serves to delay dinner... Seeing how I had just eaten at U & I Thai for lunch earlier in the day, I had spotted Tokyo John across the street. I've always been intrigued by the place because of its 90% rating on Urbanspoon. Now of course I've already ranted about how the voting system is flawed, but c'mon, that is a pretty high score! So I suggested we head there for eats since the park they were playing at was only blocks away. Well, the experience didn't start off on the right foot as their A/C system was inadequate for the warm day. We were literally sweating sitting at our table. Furthermore, they seemed a bit annoyed at our large group.

We ended up ordering our own things because it would've been hard to share at our long table. Furthermore, one table could not be moved, so Lulu Bomber, Gyoza King, Bam Bam and Pebbles sat apart from us. Now that didn't stop me from going over there to do my thing. Pebbles decided to try their Real Crab Sunomono. She was disappointed that the whole thing was served warm. That was not pleasing in temperature or flavour. Since it was warm, it was sweeter than if it were cold. Too bad since the rest of it wasn't bad. Her next appetizer, which I had in my order as well, was the Prawn Tempura. This was served hot and crisp. It wasn't greasy, but the batter was quite thick. Hence it was pretty crunchy even when found in many of the rolls we had ordered. The ebi itself was nicely textured and of a reasonable size. As expected, Gyoza King ordered the Gyozas and to his dismay, these were not well-executed. First of all, the filling was a bit gritty and loose. Yet worst of all, they were so fried (and look at the picture, they were fried), that the oil began to seep into the centre. Therefore, it was a greasy mess which was not appealing at all. Furthermore, the dipping sauce was missing spice and tang.

I had the good fortune of sitting beside Dark Helmet who consistently and graciously shares his food. So I got to sample the Spinach Gomae which was okay. The spinach was blanched properly where it was tender while still having a bite. The syrupy sweet dressing was kept to a minimum while the roasted sesame seeds added a nutty aromaticness. He also added an order of the Spicy Salmon Sashimi which arrived in a modest portion. I guess we can never expect Sushi Town portions everywhere else right? For some reason or another, the spicy dressing was not very spicy. In fact, it was not very flavourful either. Combined with the bland-tasting salmon, the whole dish was lacking impact. At the very least, we could chew and digest the salmon because the Short Ribs weren't as easy. Bear loves short ribs and can be considered a connoisseur. Well, he was an annoyed Bear as he could barely (sorry for the pun) break down the meat. It was so chewy that he was getting tired eating it.

For myself, I went for something with a little bit of everything in a Deluxe Dinner Bento Box. As seen in the picture, there was Tempura, Wakame, Chicken Teriyaki, 3 pcs California Roll, 3pcs Dynamite Roll, Tuna & Salmon Nigiri and Salmon and Tuna Sashimi. This may have sounded like a lot of food but it really wasn't. It was fairly expensive at $17.95. As mentioned, the tempura wasn't bad except the batter was a touch too thick. The wakame had a nice chewy texture with a good amount of sesame oil. I wasn't a huge fan of the chicken teriyaki as it was overcooked and dry. The rolls weren't too bad with the rice being slightly gummy and not very flavourful. In terms of the raw fish, the tuna was too mushy while the salmon was pretty standard, if not bland. While we were eating away, Dark Helmet was presented with an order of Zaru Soba. Huh? He didn't order that nor did anyone else. He stated that he ordered "Saba" and the server apologized and took it away. Inexplicably, another staff member brought the dish back and we had to go through the whole charade again. I guess our party was too big and they were getting a bit confused... Anyways, the Saba was pretty typical if not a touch overcooked and mostly bland.

Okay bland is one thing, but how about watery Tonkatsu Don? Yes, Bear's and Boss Woman's order of Don was not only watery (and I mean a pool of water at the bottom of the bowl), it was lacking in flavour. Furthermore, the piece of pork was really thin and fried a bit too long. This was an extremely poor attempt. So much so, Bear could even eat the rice. At this point, I revealed to him the 90% rating on Urbanspoon. He was totally shocked. How can that be? The food was mediocre-to-poor. Who were these people voting??? We had a party of 14 and no one thought highly of the experience. So it ain't only me! Makes one wonder if you can really trust the ratings on Urbanspoon...

The Good:
- Um... I'm not sure...

The Bad:
- Lack of execution
- Poor quality
- Weak A/C

Lucky's Doughnuts

More than ever, I am beginning to believe that Vancouver is a "fad-crazy" food town. There was the Bubble Tea explosion in the 90's and more recently - Ramen, Izakayas, Macarons, Gourmet Burgers, Food Carts, Neapolitan Pizza and Gourmet Donuts (not necessarily in that order). I suppose one of the major contributing factors is the large Asian population, in turn leading to a high percentage of Asian restaurants. Hence, anything new (and especially if it isn't Asian), it will be considered "special". Case in point, look at the Mac Shack and Crawfish King/Cray Kitchen. A restaurant dedicated to mac n' cheese has been around in NYC for awhile, but it seems so "different" here. Same with the Southern boil. Sure, we don't have any up here, but it is suddenly the "it" thing because of its scarcity. You wouldn't get the same craze say in Medford, Oregon if there was suddenly an Xiao Long Bao joint.

So when Cartems starting offering a Bacon Maple Donut, it drew ooohs and awwws despite being available at Voodoo and Rocket Donuts for a very long time. Yes, they are not located in Vancity, but this is just reiterating my original point. We are drawn to fads as much as Kim Kardashian is drawn to a camcorder. So off we went to investigate Lucky's Doughnuts, the latest entry in the gourmet donut fad, located inside 49th Parallel Roasters Cafe. Since Viv, the kids, Marshmallow, Sexy Nurse and Postman were all present, it was decided to get a variety of donuts to eat in. My son had the Chocolate Old Fashion and it was mildly sweet. For me, that is perfect since I don't like overly sweet desserts. It was chocolatey yet not as much as the visuals would imply. The cake donut wasn't as soft as it looked either, it was a touch chewy. Postman thought it could've used a touch more sweetness, which I would agree in this case.

As for the Lemon Donut, I apologize for the picture as I didn't get a chance to open it up before snapping away. You see, my daughter wanted to eat it immediately. She actually didn't end up finishing it as the lemon filling was tart and tasted like fresh lemon juice. Good for me, not really for her. So she hijacked my Bacon Apple Fritter instead. Actually, she picked off the bacon bits and apple chunks, leaving me a plain fritter... Luckily I had taken a few bites before that. Again, it wasn't as sweet as it looked (which was a good thing) and it had a firm texture. The exterior was a touch chewy and slightly crunchy. Naturally, the apple and bacon combo worked well together, but there could've been more of both.

Viv decided to go for their coffee and featured donut combo for $4.00. It happened to be the Pistachio Orange Honey. We thought the donut was more glutinous than cake-like. Not a bad thing per se, just an observation. The pistachio and orange really came though with a salty floral quality to it. After awhile, I noticed Viv had a hard time finishing her coffee. It turns out she wasn't really a huge fan of it. There was this vinegary finish which she didn't like (which I'm sure some people do like). At this point, we only had mild enthusiasm about the donuts (especially Postman, who is a food connoisseur in his own right). However, when he bit into the Glazed Donut, his opinion changed for the better. The glaze was sweet, yet not overbearing while the texture of the yeast donut was airy and slightly chewy. He liked this one the most. Marshmallow had the Plain Cake Donut which was pretty much the same as the other cake donuts without any glaze. Therefore, it was less sweet while still being chewy in a gluten-sort-of-way. All-in-all, the donuts were pretty decent with some highlights. They're not exactly cheap but we didn't mind them.

The Good:
- Carefully made gourmet donuts
- Nice hipster place to eat your donuts

The Bad:
- Expensive
- Good, but not that good...

Suzette's Deli

For me, there are generally 3 types of restaurants: the ones that everyone knows about, those that are local gems and ones that only serve a specific purpose. The latter of the 3 include lunch spots that are not open for dinner nor the weekends. Hence, they are only frequented by the people who work nearby. For me, I do have a particular interest in these joints because there could be something interesting. That is the case with Suzette's Deli. Located in a business park next to Home Depot in Burnaby, it is the epitome of a local lunch spot. However, they serve one item that is slightly more interesting than the typical turkey on whole wheat (they do have that too...). Seeing how I was at Home Depot anyways, I made the quick walk across the street to Suzette's. I didn't drive over because there are only 2 parking spots for the place and they are usually occupied.

Upon walking into the place, I was greeted by a nice young lady who appeared to the daughter of the Korean couple who run the place (son was on cash). They were all very nice and efficiently pumping out the orders for customers. I noticed that they had some Asian options as well. Hence, I gave the Chicken Curry a go. It was a typical starch-thickened yellow variety. It was not spicy at all and actually quite bland considering what it could've been. The veggies were cooked nicely being soft yet not falling apart while the chicken was sufficiently moist. When mixed with the chewy rice, it was a good value meal.

The Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich was something definitely different from the run-of-the-mill stuff you get at lunch sandwich spots. It was somewhat thin, but there was still enough meat. The edges were a bit hard (due to sitting in the warming display case), but the rest of it was still crispy. When sandwiched in between 2 slices of soft bread along with the other ingredients, it was an enjoyable lunch. I got a side of Chili, which was thick and full of veggies along with meat and kidney beans. It was on the sweeter side and didn't have much in the way of heat. By virtue of being a lunch spot, I was not expecting anything mind-blowing. And in the end, it wasn't. Yet, it was decent and inexpensive. I guess we can't expect anymore than that.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Good portions
- Friendly owners

The Bad:
- It shouldn't matter to 90% of their customers, but there isn't a whole lot of parking
- Again, it should matter to most of their customers, but there are not many places to sit

Dollar Meat Store

The last time I was in Chinatown in search for meat, it led me to the corner of Gore and Keefer. No, not that kinda "meat"! This is a food blog! Rather, I was continuing my search for the best Chinese BBQ. I figured if I was going to check out the BBQ meat scene in Chinatown, I needed to visit the Grand Daddy of them all out on Pender - Dollar Meats. Wow, this place brings back huge memories. I remember as a kid, I would marvel at all the cured meats hung on the wall and all the raw meats sitting there without refrigeration (and flies all around too). Is that safe? Well, walking into the place, nothing has changed - literally. It was like a time warp and I was transported back. Wait, my back still hurts and I have a huge mortgage. No, I really didn't go back in time. Darn!

So as per my MO, I went with the big three meats starting with the standard, the Roast Pork. Since they use the whole hog at Dollar, it really depends on your luck what type of meat you get. I got mostly the shoulder for this order and it was sufficiently moist, if not salty. The roast pork was a bit more "rustic" than you would find at a place like HK BBQ Master. The crackling was thin but still crunchy. This was an above average roast pork. As for the BBQ Pork, it was not exactly moist nor was it dry either. If you are a BBQ pork connoisseur, you can tell from the picture that the pork still has the barely cooked texture which would be almost hard similar to boiled meat. There wasn't a huge hit of flavour either, rather the centre tasted like "pork". Yes, that sounds funny, but BBQ pork should take on the properties of the sweet marinade.

Lastly, the BBQ Duck was pretty meaty yet on the paler side of the bbq skin colour continuum. The layer of fat underneath the skin was quite minimal while the meat was mostly mosit. The duck was slightly salty at the thigh, but that is not unusual since the marinade collects in that area. Bottom line? Dollar Meats continues to churn out the same stuff they always have. Nothing more, nothing less. It fall somewhere in between HK BBQ Master and Top King.

The Good:
- Pretty predictable stuff
- Standard pricing
- Nostalgic store

The Bad:
- It does the job, but nothing more than that

U & I Thai

Marshmallow's yearly visit to Vancouver was coming to an end and we decided to meet for one last meal. Originally, I thought that we should just try out Kinemi's Kitchen tucked away in the Fraserview area. One problem though. We tried calling on several occasions with no answer. I even tried to email them with no response. Okay, I realize it is a small operation, but honestly, pick up the phone or email me back... So without any confirmation that they were actually going to be open or whether they could accommodate all of us, we switched gears and headed to a totally different place - U & I Thai. Formerly the Cambie location of Sala Thai, we remembered eating here as a group (the same people in fact) over 15 years ago! Kinda surreal actually, except with kiddies this time around.

And since we did have kiddies with us, we got something that would be unoffensive in the U & I Fried Rice. Although the portion size at first didn't look like a lot, once we collapsed the wide cylindrical presentation, it turned out to be enough rice. As seen in the photo, there was more than enough wok heat. In fact, there was some burnt bits that afforded some smokiness. There was good caramelization which added depth of flavour (which was neither too salty nor sweet). Slightly dry, there was a considerable amount of white chicken meat mixed in with the frozen peas and carrots. Originally, we had ordered the Chicken Green Curry. Instead, we were served the Prawn Green Curry by mistake. No biggie since prawns are worth more than chicken anyways (same price on the menu). There goes my Chineseness again... Anyways, the prawns were beautifully prepared having a good coldwater snap. We had requested a medium spice level and it was a good balance of heat while letting the other flavours come through. And those other flavours were pretty apparent, especially the shrimp paste (which I personally like).

For us, we generally enjoy traditional Pad Thai prepared with tamarind, such was the case here. Hence, the flavour profile was not of ketchup, rather it was sweet and tart in a non-tomato/ sugary way. The spice level was again medium which did not overshadow the rest of the flavours. Although there was good wok heat and caramelization, there was too much moisture which made the noodles soft and clumpy. Next up was the Duck Red Curry which on the surface didn't seem substantial. However, upon digging in, there was plenty of tender boneless pieces of duck. The curry was fragrant and had a good kick. The veggies were not mushy and this went well with the coconut rice (which actually had a noticeable amount of coconut milk).

Lastly, we shared the Drunken Noodles which were flat rice noodles stir fried with pork, veggies and basil. This was quite greasy and salty, hence, it overwhelmed most of the ingredients including the noodles. We appreciated the bounty of ingredients, but there should've been more noodles. On the positive side, the veggies were crisp and the meat was mostly tender. On the whole, prices are on the higher side which reflects their upscale interior. But most importantly, U & I Thai is above average with good portion sizes and attentive service.

The Good:
- Above average food
- Good portions
- Nice decor

The Bad:
- Pricey
- Food is flavourful, yet heavy on the salt

Nong Chinese Restaurant

*Restaurant is now closed*

Whenever Marshmallow is in town for the Summer (she lives in Taiwan), we meet up for eats. Hey, she should come back more often! Having already dined on Neapolitan-style pizza at Cotto, we planned to do lunch on another day. Elaine and Costanza were going to join us as well. Seeing how they were going to be around the Oakridge area during that time, we decided to do Dim Sum on the Westside. Now that is not as simple as it sounds. Most of the best Dim Sum joints in Vancouver are on the Eastside. When I mean best, I mean good food and good value as well. So throwing good value out the door, we made a reservation at Nong Chinese Restaurant on the corner of 41st and Granville. Formerly The One Chinese Restaurant, it is located below street level. When we used to live in Oakridge, we'd frequent this restaurant (different name back then) every weekend. Now that we're nowhere nearby, this was the first time we'd been back to this location in nearly 10 years.

With our reservation, we were seated in a private room which suited us just fine as we had 5 kiddies with us. They could make as much noise as they wanted and they pretty much did... So they left me in charge of ordering food, which is the equivalent of taking all the traffic lights off of #3 Road, because I pulled a Mijune. There was way too much food on the table, to the point where we had to resort to stacking steamers 3 high to fit onto the lazy Susan. The first dish to arrive was the Soy-Fried Noodles. These were predictably greasy. The noodles were still chewy with adequate amount of flavour. I personally am not a huge fan of adding greens or onions to the noodles, but it did add flavour in this case. For the adults, we got a bowl of Szechuan Beef Noodles. The noodles were both plentiful and al dente. They sat in a spicy broth which curiously had no depth - lots of flavour, but it was pretty superficial. The chunks of beef were moist while most of the tendons were soft (except for a few tougher ones). As evidenced by the beef noodle, there were many Szechuan options on the menu. Hence, it was no surprise to find Spicy Wontons were available. This was a healthy portion of meaty wontons which were on the softer side. Although there was a considerable amount of "red" colour and chili oil, the whole dish wasn't only mildly spicy. It was probably due to the overabundance of peanut sauce. Personally, I could done without it.

Moving onto another region of Chinese cuisine, we had the Xiao Long Bao (Shanghainese). We actually got 3 steamers of these (6 dumplings each) because we wanted each person to have at least 2 and the fact Costanza's son could down one order himself. Well, everything was conspiring to make this decision a mistake. First, Costanza's son decided to have and "off" day and only ate one dumpling. Furthermore, everyone else had one as well. That left nearly 2 full steamers of XLBs. It was too bad really because they were actually decent for this type of restaurant. I am not going as far as saying they could compete with the best in town, but you get the idea. As expected, the dumpling skin was slightly thick with a gritty meat filling. There was a good amount of soup inside though which was pretty bland except for a bit of sweetness and a pretty strong hit of Shaoxing wine. Now as for another Shanghainese offering, the Green Onion Pancake, it was the deep fried variety. Although I do like the crispiness of the deep fried version, it can often be an greasy mess. This one was somewhere in the middle - it was neither greasy nor was it not-greasy. It was crispy but a touch salty.

Continuing on with our tour of the different types of Chinese Dim Sum, we found ourselves back with the good ol' Cantonese standard - Haw Gow (steamed shrimp dumpling). The dumpling skin was thick and chewy (despite the good visuals) while the filling was full of large pieces of whole shrimp. The shrimp were crunchy and had a good snap. However, there was a complete lack of seasoning, hence we needed a side of hot sauce to alleviate that problem. As for the Sui Mai (steamed pork and shrimp dumpling), they were pretty substantial in size. There was plenty of crunchy shrimp mixed in with chunks of pork with a nice bounce texture (there was a good amount of fat too, which was good and bad). Unfortunately, there was a complete lack of flavour once again. For some people, I suppose that would be a good thing since it implies less MSG was used. Yet, for me, it really didn't have much impact. Again, the hot sauce saved the day (which was not really a bad thing either I suppose).

Onto some carbs, we had 2 orders of the Loh Mei Gai. That meant we had a whole order leftover... Hey, they told me to do the ordering! They were just not prepared to eat, that's all! Amateurs! Anyways, the sticky rice had a balanced texture where it was glutinous and moist while not mushy either. There was more filling than rice with tender ground pork, shrimp, shiitake mushrooms and the requisite piece of Chinese sausage. Even with the plethora of ingredients, the whole thing was... you guessed it, bland. When the Chicken Rice arrived, there was a collective moan since no one was really interested in a big serving of carbs after the sticky rice. That was too bad since it was pretty good. The rice was nicely done where it was chewy yet not dry. There was ample boneless dark meat on top which was tender while only being somewhat moist. Again, the the chicken was suffering from a lack of seasoning. It would've been nice to get a hit of ginger somewhere. Luckily, this was not a huge problem because the whole thing was doused with sweet soy anyways.

To go with the rice, I thought it would be nice to have some Pork Spareribs as well. As you can see, there was not a whole lot of black bean or anything else as a seasoning agent. The result? It tasted like salt. But wait, that was actually a good thing as this dish was adequately seasoned. Furthermore, the portion size was really good since the spareribs were spilling off of the plate. There was a decent mix of meaty pieces and cartilage where the texture was slightly chewy while still being tender. Onto the offal side of Dim Sum with the Curry Tripe. Yet another properly seasoned dish, there was a decent hit of curry, ginger and garlic with touch of sweetness. But once again, there was a deficiency - the tripe was too soft. It was practically melt-in-my mouth soft. I'm sure some people would like that. For me, I like a touch of chew left in the tripe.

From tripe to Chicken Feet, this was probably one of the better dishes of the meal. The chicken feet were plump and fried to a nice golden reddish brown. The skin was still moist while exhibiting a chewiness. The cartilage underneath was soft and was easy to detach from the bone. Flavourwise, there was a good balance of salty and sweet with a hit of garlic. Onto dessert, we had the obligatory Egg Tarts. Much like all of the other dishes, we got 2 orders which subsequently did not get touched. The kiddies were doing a "reverse day" of sorts and did not want them. Again, their loss because they were not bad. The flaky tart shell was baked nicely with a golden brown exterior. The egg custard filling was only semi-sweet and had a nice consistency where it wasn't too soft nor too stiff. At the end of the meal, it was pretty obvious to us that they were trying to be the Jack-of-all-Trades (a combination of Szechuan, Shanghainese and Cantonese Dim Sum). Therefore, everything was definitely passable, yet nothing was particularly memorable either.

The Good:
- Lots of choice
- Comfortable digs
- Pretty good service

The Bad:
- When you try to be all things to all people...
- Pricey