Tap & Barrel

Emilicious has taste, she really does.  Take the location of her new pad - down on the South side of False Creek.  The development there has been brisk and all the usual services have followed suit.  Sure, there is Save-On-Foods, Canadian Tire, Bestbuy, Home Depot, London Drugs and Urban Fare joining the party, but for me, I'm more interested in the new restaurants!  Luckily for me, Emilicious is a bonafide foodie (even though I'm not a big fan of that word) and she has been doing some food scouting.  Hence, it was her call for after- hockey Friday eats.

Destination: Tap and Barrel, located in the former Olympic Village right near the really large bird statues...  Boy, they give me the creeps...  Even before we even had a chance to sample the food, we were impressed with its location right on the water.  With Gordo, Milhouse and Lionel Hutz, we were determined to eat everything that was unhealthy.  Well, there wasn't anything considered "healthy" on the menu anyways (well maybe a salad...).  On that note, we started with the Bacon Chips.  Yes, that's right, chips made out of large, meaty slices of bacon!  Served with house made chunky ketchup, these were exactly what I would've imagined them to be.  Despite eating what was essentially fried bacon, they were not greasy and they really did eat like a chip.

Feeling a bit guilty eating bacon chips, we moved onto some vegetables in the form of Quebec St. Poutine.  Yes, it's a stretch, but potatoes *are* vegetables.  The fresh cut fries were somewhat crisp, but really how would we know when there was so much red wine gravy on top?  I would've preferred less myself, yet everyone else disagreed.  Heck, what do I know?  The gravy was thick and a bit clumpy with a definite kick of red wine.  There was only a modest amount of cheese curds and most of them were completely melted.  More curds and less melted please!  Okay, more veggies please, in the form of the Infamous Sticky Yam Fries with burnt marshmallow fluff.  The fries on their own were pretty good.  They were crisp, not greasy and naturally sweet (with a smokiness from the deep-fry).  As for the marshmallow, I was indifferent.  I found it too sweet, yet as the same time, interesting and gooey...

Okay, back to the meat...  The Southern Fried Chicken Wings were pretty darn good. They were breaded and fried just enough that the exterior was crunchy while the meat was moist.  The spiced honey drizzle was the kicker, it added a sweet stickiness that had some zip.  These were a table favourite.  Okay, with the looming bacon shortage, we thought that the some peanut butter and bacon dip would be in order.  It went with the Original T&B Monster Pretzel along with the other dip (grainy mustard).  The warm house-baked pretzel was fairly soft and went well with the mustard.  I'm not exactly sure if the peanut butter & bacon was a natural fit with the pretzel, but then again, I liked the dip on its own.  It was sweet, crunchy, and slightly spicy.  So it really should go with anything!

Lastly, we shared 2 pizzas. First was the Roasted Pork Belly with soft cooked eggs, caramelized onions and smoked mozzarella. Despite being on the mild side, we really liked this pizza.  The fatty pork belly was a treat while the runny eggs added a welcomed creamy messiness to the crisp thin crust pizza.  As mentioned, there could've been more impact with the flavours as there was enough sweetness, but lacking in saltiness.  The second pizza was the Local Wild Mushrooms with smoked mozzarella, baby arugula and truffle oil. Without even taking a bite, there was an intoxicating aroma of truffle oil.  Therefore, combined with the mushrooms, the pizza had considerable Earthiness to it.  This was a pretty decent pizza where the bitterness of the arugula complimented the other ingredients.  Once again, the pizza could've benefited from some more salt.  However, in general, we enjoyed the food that we ordered.  Combined with a lively atmosphere and killer location, Tap & Barrel could be a regular hangout for Emilicious...

The Good:
- Nice location with view
- Lively atmosphere
- For what we ordered, it was both unique and appealing

The Bad:
- Although we enjoyed our food, nothing could be considered health food
- Parking is an issue

Grand Dynasty (ChineseBites Dinner)

From the moment that Grand Dynasty opened its doors in late 2010, I've enjoyed their generally good food and nicely appointed dining room.  In fact, I was there for Dim Sum during their opening week and even then, I was impressed with the food quality and service.  I returned on Chinese New Year to try out their dinner service and it was equally as good. Now all of this didn't come without a cost, literally.  The place is pretty expensive, yet there is no immediate competition nearby.  I guess by virtue of being located in the Villa Casinos complex, there will be a steady stream of customers (those who won money or those drowning their sorrows).  The last time I visited the place was part of the CRA signature dish tour and honestly, it was less than impressive.  Maybe my expectations for the place were too high?  Well, I returned once again for some signature dishes, with ChineseBites this time around.  Joining me were the usual crew of Rick, Janice, Kevin, Grace, Diana and Queenie with Ann and Dave.

We started with 2 versions of their Pan Fried Jumbo Prawns.  The first was the Salted Duck Egg Yolk and the second was the House Spicy Sauce.  Reminiscent of the golden crab at Ken's, the salted egg yolk sauce was quite mild while still exhibiting a creamy understated saltiness.  Interrupting the smooth sauce were bits of onion and garlic.  The prawn itself was meaty and naturally sweet.  As for the house spicy sauce, it appeared to be mainly sweet chili sauce with the addition of more garlic.  It was sweet with a slight kick.  Next up was the Boiled Live Lobster in Superior Broth.  The sliced lobster meat was presented on a platter which included blanched flowering chives and bean sprouts.  The broth was heated in a hot pot atop a portable gas burner.  It was subsequently ladled onto the lobster, hence cooking it (ever so gently).  Naturally, the fresh, barely-cooked lobster was sweet and exhibited a beautiful bounce texture (except for the claw meat).  The broth was mild with a good hint of ginger.  For such an exquisite offering, I felt that there should have been more "lobster" flavour though.

The Baked Chicken Stuffed with Sea Cucumber was a dish that came completely out of left field.  First, we thought it was roasted duck.  Second, we expected it to be stuffed with sticky rice. Nope.  It was indeed a roasted chicken with sea cucumber segments and snow pea tips. The chicken itself was moist and benefited from a good brine.  It had a rich roasted flavour which was evident from the beautiful exterior colour. The sweet onions helped balance the overall flavours.  As for the sea cucumber, it was prepared properly being soft and gelatinous.  The dish as a whole was nice, yet seemed to be missing something.  I personally would've liked something added to the filling such as roasted pork for some impact (sea cucumber is not really an impactful stuffing).  After those unique dishes, we were presented with something more familiar in the Live Jumbo Ling Cod Hot Pot.  Essentially a glorified "Banh Nam Bo", this was definitely better than the ones you'd find on a regular Chinese menu.  I loved the rich colour and resulting flavours.  There was just enough sauce that had a good balance of salty and sweetness with a hint of dried orange peel, lots of roasted garlic, shiitake mushrooms, roasted pork and ginger.  The cod itself was indeed jumbo and really meaty.  It was fried up beautifully where it was moist on the inside while a touch crisp on the outside.

Naturally, with most multi-course Chinese meals, there would be a vegetarian offering.  The Sauteed Wintermelon and Pumpkin with Wild Mushrooms filled that quota. A mix of shiitake, button and oyster mushrooms lay atop fanned out slices of wintermelon and pumpkin.  For me, the pumpkin was more like golden squash (which was quite hard and undercooked).  The mushrooms benefited from good wok heat which added both good caramelization in flavour and appearance.  The entire dish could've used less salt though.  We finally got our sticky rice (which we thought would be in the baked chicken) in the form of Deep Fried Chicken with Sticky Rice.  I wasn't a huge fan of this dish as the rice was hard and dry (with dried shrimp and Chinese Sausage).  The accompanying sauce with shiitake and garlic didn't do much to alleviate the dryness either. The rice crust on the top was fairly crisp though. As for the chicken, it was surprisingly moist and had hint of 5-spice.

We ended the savoury portion with the Live Lobster & Seafood with Crispy Rice in Soup. The broth had a relatively more pronounced seafood/lobster flavour than our first soup.  It mild, yet sweet and the seafood was just cooked.  The crispy rice added a nice crunch to the soup (yah, crunch in a soup...).  Finally, for dessert, we were presented with the Shredded Coconut Creamy Tart and Black Sesame and Coconut Pudding Cake. I found the tart to be rather crumbly and lacking in flavour while the pudding had a nice texture and aroma. Overall, a pretty solid meal that was lacking a bit in the "wow" department.

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

The Good:
- Generally solid eats
- Upscale decor
- Generally good service (as experienced in past visits, this one doesn't count)

The Bad:
- Pricey

Rio Brazilian Steakhouse

I'm not afraid to admit it - I love meat.  In fact, I consider myself a meatatarian.  So when Samba closed its doors due to a building makeover, it made me sad.  Okay, I know there are those who couldn't stand the place.  I can't deny that on a bad day, Samba plain sucked.  Overcooked and salty meats...  who likes that?  And at a hefty pricetag of close to $40.00 a person, I can definitely see people steering clear of the joint.  Yet, on a good day (when the meats are fresh out-of-the-grill), one would experience juicy, flavourful, medium-rare cuts of meat. For that, I always went when it just opened for lunch and dinner and got all the meats on the first go-around.  Most times after that, the same cut (which was not fully consumed) would be placed back on the grill (which would lead to overcooking and saturation of flavours).  Okay, enough of my babbling...

So when Mijune suggested I join her and Cassandra at Rio Brazilian Steak House for some rodizio action (not what you think!), it didn't take me more than a millisecond to say yes.  In actuality, Cassandra was invited to try the place out and we just tagged along to help her with the copious amount of all-you-can-eat meat (again, it is not what you think!).  Before the meat-fest, we made our way to the Salad and Hot Food Bar.  What?  Salad???  Yah, I didn't really eat much of that.  It would only serve to fill the portion of my stomach reserved for meat. Wait, that's all my stomach!  I did sample their hot food though.  It consisted of 4 chaffing trays with Mussels and Shrimp, Meatloaf, Palm Oil Poached Cod, Seafood Risotto and Plain Rice. By virtue of sitting in a warming tray, the mussels and shrimp were overcooked and dry. The same could be said about the meatloaf.  I'm not sure if it was the intention or not, but there was little in the way of filler (such as egg and breadcrumbs).  Hence, it was mostly lean, dry meat which was both crumbly and hard.
On the other hand, I did enjoy the oil poached cod.  It was moist and flaky.  However, the seafood risotto did its best impression of wallpaper paste.  I give them kudos for trying to serve risotto, but I think it was ill-conceived since it was not going to get any better by sitting in a warming tray.

Already sitting at our table were some "appetizers" which included Fried Banana, Chips and Parmesan & Tapioca Biscuits. The best of the bunch was the fried banana as it was done nicely with a crunchy breading.  The fresh chips were somewhat soft and not all that crispy while the biscuits were quite salty. As with any Brazilian radizio, the requisite green/red cards were placed at each setting.  Green means keep bringing me meat and red implies "stop, I'm in a meat coma".  On that note, onto the meats (all 21 varieties in fact!).  We started with the Beef Ribs where our server sliced off a generous portion of the cap. The meat was fantastic.  It was moist, rich and super tender.  Mijune offered to share her rack, er..  I mean her portion since she wanted to save space for the rest of the meats.
 
After that, the meats came at us fast and furiously.  The Cubed Beef was dry and chewy, yet well-seasoned.  The Bacon-Wrapped Chicken was beyond well-seasoned being salty.  However, the chicken itself was moist while the bacon was crisp.  The house-made Sausages were grilled up nicely with a beautiful exterior.  Inside, the meat was moist, tender and quite greasy (hence being moist!).  The meat was well-seasoned with fennel and caraway seeds.  Although the Sirloin arrived a wonderful medium-rare, the meat itself was chewy and hard to eat.  Arriving on a wooden cutting board (much like the beef ribs), the Pork Side Ribs were were fatty and moist.  They appeared to be parboiled prior to BBQing which resulted in a tender, yet not-so-smoky flavour.  Once again, they were a bit too aggressive with the salt.
 
Smokiness was not a problem with our next item, which were the Smoked Sausages.  These were not made in-house and resembled a typical smokie.  Nothing particularly wrong with that though since there was a nice snap while the meat was fatty and moist.  Back to the chewy meats, we had the Pork.  By appearance alone, we already knew it would not be tender since it looked dry and overcooked.  And yes, it was salty as well.  Continuing the ride on the salty train, we had the Bacon-Wrapped Tenderloin.  It was tender as its namesake implied, yet it was cooked too long and salty due to both the seasoning and bacon.  On the other hand, the Chicken Drumsticks were not that salty and were quite tender.

From the beef ribs up to this point, there wasn't much to rave about until the Roast Pork majestically arrived.  The cracklings were on point.  They were crispy, airy and surprisingly light - really well-executed. The pork itself could've been more moist, but was not bad considering the previous meats.  Due to its size, the roast pork was not salty and in fact, exhibited a rich roasted flavour. And then we went back to salty, dry meats with the Buffalo.  Due to the natural leanness of the meat, we were expecting it to be somewhat chewy.  It didn't help matters that it was overcooked though.
Even the Chicken Hearts were overdone, but at the very least, they were still somewhat tender due to its inherent texture.  However, the Lamb was practically rare.  It was a fatty cut where combined with the doneness of the meat, it was not tender at all.  At least it wasn't too salty since it wasn't overcooked.  Yet, the Parmesan Pork was super salty due to seasoning and the cheese.  And since pork needs to be cooked all-the-way-through, it was dry.

As if on cue, the Roast Boar arrived to give us an intermission of sorts from the dry, chewy meats.  The meat was moist and fork tender exhibiting a roasted essence.  Okay, intermission over, onto the Picanha Tips (or tri-tip) which were *sigh* dry and chewy.  Yes, salty too. *sigh* And the Skirt Steak, overcooked and salty (am I a skipping CD or something?).  Flank Steak, chewy - yes, salty - yes...  Unidentified piece of meat - I'll let you have one guess...  If you said dry, chewy and salty, it proves you've been reading this whole article...  Going in a different direction, we had some Salmon instead of red meat.  As evidenced in the picture, it was cooked too fast and at too high of heat which lead to the protein "leaking" from the flesh.  Not a huge deal because it *is* BBQ after all.  The meat was a bit dry, but not horrible either.

Moving onto the sweets portion of the meal, we tried the "Grilled" Pineapple dusted with cinnamon.  I put grilled in quotations because nothing about the pineapple screamed out grilled.  The explanation we got was that customers didn't like charred pineapple and the cinnamon was there to add colour.  Um okay...  Alright, now a real dessert...  The Papaya Smoothie was really refreshing and our favourite dessert of the meal.  The "custard" was smooth and only semi-sweet.  I normally do not like papaya, but I liked this.  Next up was the Pudim de Leite Condensado or the Brazilian version of Creme Caramel.  I noticed some air bubbles which meant it was cooked at too high of a heat, yet at the same time, I didn't mind it.  The custard was rich and smooth and only somewhat sweet. Lastly, we had a Brazilian Chocolate Mousse type cake.  It was not really chocolaty enough for our tastes and it was pretty sweet.

Okay.  To put it bluntly, the majority of the meats we had were poor quality, dry, chewy and salty.  Even though there were some gems, such as the beef ribs, pork ribs, roast pork and boar, they couldn't make up for the the rest of the meats.  I give them kudos in trying to bring Brazilian rodizio back to Vancouver.  I also applaud them for offering up a mind-boggling 21 choices of meats.  Furthermore, their pricing at $15.95 for lunch (add $1.00 for weekends) and $29.95 (add $2.00 for weekends) can be considered reasonable for the amount of food offered.  However, they really must focus on the quality of the food rather than merely quantity.  They could easily eliminate half of the meats and people would not even notice.  Lastly, they need to ease up on the salt.

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

The Good:
- Lots of meats
- Reasonable pricing considering everything
- Comfortable dining space

The Bad:
- Majority of the meats are poor quality and chewy
- Overuse of salt

Nha Trang Vietnamese

After our first Sunday morning hockey game of the season, we briefly considered visiting Nha Trang on Broadway. We ended up passing and headed to Pho Quyen instead. It was an interesting choice considering both restaurants do not look that inviting from the outside. You have Pho Quyen with its tinted windows which made it appear closed and then Nah Trang's frontage is so cluttered that it looks more like a disorganized produce store than a Vietnamese restaurant. Despite this, I remained intrigued. So I made my way out there the following week. Upon entering the place, it was quite obvious that they kept the Greek decor of the previous restaurant. Hey, it's about the food, not the decor in a Vietnamese restaurant right?

I ended up ordering the Bun Bo Hue since someone else already got the Pho Dac Biet. Despite the lack of pork knuckle, the Bo Bun Hue was passable. It wasn't that spicy and did exhibit some fragrance. There could've been more lai fun noodle, but there was enough meat (which was tender). As a side, I got a House Special Banh Mi which was toasted up nicely where the bread was crunchy while airy inside. There was a decent amount of meats. The pickled veggies were a little weak, yet were still crunchy. The meal would not be complete without an order of Pho Dac Biet right? Well, if Miss Y was here, I guess we wouldn't even order Pho. She'd probably ask for a Moussaka or something... Considering the leftover decor of the former restaurant, I would probably not be surprised if someone tried to order that... So the Pho was actually not bad. The broth wasn't exactly super flavourful, but it was pretty typical and exhibited a sweeter taste. We couldn't really pick out the individual flavours as it was on the lighter side. The noodles were slightly clumpy while the meats were tender an moist. The portion size was neither big nor small.

With trying to cover all the basics, we also got an order of the Lemongrass Chicken & Pork Chop on rice. The chicken was moist and tender with a mild char on the outside. There was definitely a lemongrass hit. The same could besaid about the pork chop as well, yet it was not as moist as the chicken. This was quite a large plate of food consider the amount of rice as well (which was chewy and well made). In general, Nha Trang did the job with little fanfare. In a sea of Vietnamese restaurants in Vancouver, it merely slots in the middle somewhere. Okay if you were in the neighbourhood, but not some place you'd need to specifically drive to either.

The Good:
- Food is passable
- Prices are not bad (like most Vietnamese joints)
- Service was decent

The Bad:
- A bit messy inside and outside (if that matters to you)
- Pho broth a bit weak

Hukuya

Back in the day (and I mean really back in the day), I would frequent Red Robin. Hey, despite what you think, their burgers are actually not bad. Furthermore, their fries with a side of tartar sauce really rocked. In addition to the Metrotown location, we'd hit up the Lougheed Mall spot every now and then (since we went to SFU). Each time we went, there was this Japanese restaurant right next to it that I didn't pay much attention to. In fact, even more recent visits to Red Robin (it's for the kids I swear!) have yielded as much attention to that Japanese restaurant as a handicap sign in a Richmond parking lot. Vaguely, I think Viv has actually tried the place out on her own and it wasn't very memorable. Then that begs the question: why was I wanting to try the place out anyways? Well, one was due to location because Rich Guy was in the neighbourhood and the second was plain curiosity. Let's just hope it doesn't kill the cat.

We started with Tuna & Salmon Sashimi which was not bad. The slices were large with the salmon having a buttery consistency with some resistance. The tuna was not mushy while still being soft. It was pretty fresh as much as frozen fish can get. Next up was the Appetizer Tempura which were in big pieces served in a cool basket. They were crispy and not oily. The batter was thin and each item was not overcooked. This was not bad. We got a couple of specialty rolls with the Volcano arriving first. It was large and presented on a long narrow plate. It consisted of a dynamite roll inside (imitation crab and ebi tempura) with tuna on top. The spicy sweet sauce had a good hit of srirracha. The sushi rice was on the gummier side, yet did have okay flavour with some sweetness and rice wine vinegar.

As a filler of sorts, we got the Katsu Don which was not very good. There was far too much in the way of wet ingredients such as onions and veggies. This made the rice mushy and soggy. In fact, there were more ingredients than rice (may seem like a great idea, but in the end, did not work). The fried pork cutlet was super thin and the batter merely slid off, not being crispy at all. The sauce (there was too much of it) was predominantly sweet and only further made the rice more soggy. Lastly, we go our second specialty roll in the Baked Scallop. There was a mess of small scallops on top of the roll. And when I say mess, I mean literally. This was probably one of the few times where I will say there was too much scallop. Yes, it was a good value, but the considerable amount of scallops (which were a touch fishy) only served to degrade the eating enjoyment.

In the end, we were pretty full since we had ordered quite a bit of food for 2 people. At the same time, we were feeling "meh" about the eats. Nothing particularly inedible, but nothing was memorable. The food could be classified as serviceable for a decent price. The Korean lady that served us was very friendly and accommodating. I would say Hukuya fits into the group of the many Japanese (non-Japanese run, just FYI) restaurants that are acceptable in the GVRD.

The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Good portions
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Food is average

Pho TEN

At one point in time, there was little to no eating options along Steveston near Highway 99. I remember playing hockey at Richmond Ice and the only places we could hit up were Boston Pizza (*shudder*) or the bar upstairs. Now with the development of Ironwood, there have been more options added over the years. I have to say most of them have been less than impressive. Well, the fact that some of them are just standard chain restaurants didn't help too (Kesley's didn't survive here). So when I was reading up on where to eat around the area, I was drawn to Pho TEN. So many great reviews. I just had to see for myself.

And yes, I did go by myself, trying out 2 dishes and 2 more on a subsequent visit. The first visit, I had the Pho Dac Biet. The broth was light in flavour and colour. Although it was lacking depth, the broth was balanced though with equal amount of sweetness and savouriness. Yet, there was very little in the way of meat flavour nor the usual ingredients that go into the soup. There was a decent amount of noodles, which were not exactly chewy nor soggy. The meats were sliced thin and very tender. A decent, if not average, bowl of Pho. The Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi was nicely plated and carefully constructed. There were chopped pieces of chicken combined with pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber, cilantro, a thin slice of pepper, black pepper and mayonaisse. The bun could've stood to be toasted a bit more, but it was not bad. The chicken was pretty flavourful with a good char on most pieces. It was slightly dry though. The amount of mayo was excessive where I got good gobs of it in several bites. Of note, it was actual mayo, not butter mayo usually found in a banh mi.

On a second visit, I started with the Salad Roll. This was a pretty basic roll consisting of shrimp, vermicelli, pork and sprouts. It was wrapped neatly where it wasn't too tight or loose. The rice wrapper had a nice chewy texture which was still moist. The dip had a good balance of hoisin and peanut sauce. One thing I would've liked to see was some basil in the roll itself. For my main, I went for the Lemongrass Chicken & Spring Roll on broken rice. The large piece of chicken was cooked perfectly where it was moist and juicy. I particularly liked that the fatty chicken skin was removed. I am personally not a big fan of unrendered chicken skin. I didn't get a whole lot of lemongrass flavour, yet the chicken was still tasty. I was slightly disappointed at the use of wheat wrappers for the spring rolls, but they were still decent nonetheless. The filling was flavourful and of the right consistency (not mushy nor chewy). So you know the expression, "it's all relative"? Well, that would be the case here that Pho TEn is relatively better than the other dining options in the area. I've had better Vietnamese (more authentic too), yet Pho TEN is more than acceptable for what and where it is.

The Good:
- Good service
- Clean and tidy
- Okay food

The Bad:
- Not the most authentic