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Playing late night hockey games is nothing new to me. Thus, eating late and going to bed at some unholy hour comes with the territory. However, I've been lazy of late. No, not lazy in terms of participating in sports. Rather, I have come up dry with ideas for late night eats. This was the case when Gordo and I just finished up a game at Richmond Ice. Where to eat? Uh... Naturally, I wanted to try something different, so we merely cruised down restaurant row on Alexandra. We made it nearly to the end when we spotted Yummy Tea House. Hey, it was open... Okay, this 
was a total blind visit. I never even bothered to refer to past reviews or ratings on Urbanspoon. Oh how would I learn to regret this...
As per usual, Gordo ordered his Mango Slush, which was not bad. It was on the sweeter side and a bit candy-like, yet it was blended smooth. He wasn't too picky since he was pretty thirsty from hockey. We decided to share some Chicken Nuggets
since it seemed like the right thing to do at a Taiwanese joint. When it arrived, we were thoroughly confused. Um... Did we order the wrong item? What we got was a dozen small little "popcorn" chicken nuggets that suspiciously looked like the ones from Costco. One taste and yup, they were indeed the same popcorn chicken. I served them at parties... Kinda disappointing when I was expecting Taiwanese crispy salty peppery chicken nuggets. At the very least, they were fried nice and crisp.
For my main, I went for another Taiwanese classic being the Spicy Beef Noodles. Once again, what arrived didn't coincide with my expectations. Looking at it, I was a bit concerned. It looked more like stewed beef and noodles. Well, it was a whole lot better than it looked because the noodles were al dente and the broth was indeed spicy. The beef was tender and quite fatty. I couldn't say I disliked the noodles, yet it was not what I thought it would be. When I had already 
finished my bowl of noodles, Gordo's dish finally arrived (couldn't they wait for his to be ready before they made mine???). He had the Fried Vermicelli with meat and veggies. It wasn't bad per se, yet the pool of grease at the bottom of the plate was rather unappetizing. Too bad really since the noodles had a nice chewy texture and the veggies were crisp. All this time, we didn't see our server once. She just disappeared. We had to resort to going up to the counter to get our bill and pay. What a strange experience... Maybe I'll not do a random food adventure next time.
The Good:
- Open late
- Comfortable dining space
The Bad:
- Food isn't necessarily bad, but it is just not one would expect it to be
- Service? What service?
Now that I've eaten quite a few meals with Whipping Girl as of late, her expectations have changed. No longer is she merely satisfied with the occasional "foody call", she wants to eat all-of-the-time! Um... I'm not Mijune you know... Anyways, she suggested we go get some Street Meet... In particular, some balls... Uh... This was a foody call right? Not a booty call! What kinda street food was she getting me into?!?!?!
Ultimately, what she was referring to were the Crispy Risotto Balls at Street Meet. These were filled with homemade Italian sausage and topped with basil truffle aioli. The exterior was crunchy while the risotto was a tad mushy (yet if it weren't, the whole thing would fall apart). The sausage was slightly hidden, but it definitely announced itself with each bite. Therefore, the whole thing was a touch salty. But Whipping Girl didn't mind it, I guess she likes salty balls! The aioli was a nice touch as it was herby 
and earthy.
One item that really caught my eye was the Pork Belly Bites. Hey I like anything bacon, or baconesque! These were really meaty and not all that fatty. Personally, I prefer that since there was more "substance". Consequently, the bites were not melt-in-my-mouth soft. I didn't mind that as the meat was not dry nor chewy. That was somewhat alleviated by the zesty agro dolce sauce. There was a considerable 
rosemary hit which complimented the pork. Served on the side were crispy house made kettle chips. With appetizers out-of-the-way, we proceeded to the meat (sorry for the pun) of the meal. I decided to go for the Grilled Lamb Burger. The patty was super juicy and grilled to a perfect medium-rare. It was sandwiched in between a sesame bun which was just dense enough to hold up to the ingredients. The condiments included tangy tzatziki which was amped with feta, arugula and red onion. I would definitely eat this 
burger again.
As for Whipping Girl, I ordered her the Herb Chicken Sandwich because she doesn't like lamb. It consisted of a orange-marinated grilled chicken breast, tarragon aioli, stewed red peppers, red onion, tomato and arugula. The chicken was somewhat thin while not dry. There was a good char and the herbs really stood out. There was some pepperiness to go with the sweet peppers. I didn't mind the sandwich, but I much preferred the lamb burger. Overall, the food at Street Meet was pretty good, however, the price point is on the higher side. It appears that food cart pricing North of $10.00 is quickly becoming the norm.
The Good:
- Pretty decent eats
- Bold flavours
The Bad:
- Somewhat pricey
I'm sure you've all heard of Dine Out Vancouver, where we see many of the best restaurants in town offer up set meals for a reasonable price. However, there are smaller localized versions such as the Taste of Yaletown. Running from October 17th to October 27th, many Yaletown eateries are offering $25, $35 and $45 three-course meals. As part of their official festivities, I was invited to their Taste of Yaletown Premiere Event at Yaletown Mimi. Nine restaurants which included Caché Bistro & Lounge
, George, Glowbal Grill Steaks & Satay, Hamilton Street Grill, killjoy, Minami, New Oxford, Society and Yaletown L'Antipasto participated in this tasting event to officially launch the Taste of Yaletown.
Joining me as a guest was Whipping Girl, who loves food apparently. So much so, she had a wrap from Mangal Kiss less then 2 hours before the event. That's not strategic eating! Anyways, many of the vendors were just setting up as we arrived, yet that didn't prevent us from hitting dessert. We sampled the Cherry Cotton Candy Cheesecake
from Society first. It was nicely plated with a good amount of sour cherries on top, yet the crust-to-cheesecake ratio seemed to be way off. To be fair, this was a tasting portion and the actual slice of cheesecake is much more balanced. Then we tried the Canadian Rib Eye Medallion on nicely caramelized roasted root vegetables. The slice of rib eye was perfectly cooked and super moist. The Café de Paris butter on top was a little too generous for the cut of beef, but again, this was a sampling size. Lastly, we had the Mac Poutine which consisted of a fried stick of mac n' cheese served with mozzarella and gravy. It reminded me of the fried mac n' cheese balls at Cheesecake Factory, except with cheese and gravy.
Moving next door to Hamilton Street Grill (literally, since they are really located near door to Yaletown Mini), we had something that, at first, didn't look too promising. It was a Bison Flat Iron Steak with Tomato Jam on a crostini. However, the whole thing was really flavourful and texturally pleasing. From the moist bison, sweet and tangy jam, to the crispy crostini, this was a surprisingly tasty bite. Heading down to George (an extension of Brix), we tried their Crispy Duck Confit with smoked local butternut squash & sweet potato puree and truffled brussel sprouts. This was a very well-composed dish with tender shredded duck, cracklings and yummy fried brussel sprouts. The sweet puree was a nice counterbalance to the savouriness of the dish. A combo effort between The New Oxford and killjoy resulted in a dish of Yukon Gold Potato Ravioli and Marinated Olives & Pickles. The fluffy ravioli was nicely 
accented by Pecorino Romano and browned cauliflower.
The table with the biggest gathering was Minami, the new sister restaurant to Miku. Why? Well, they were serving their signature item being the Aburi Salmon Oshi. What can I say about this little tasty morsel that has not been said already? They also had a Pressed Makerel with seared miso sauce. Good, but I preferred the salmon more. There were also little cups of the Beet Salad with yuzu-creme fraiche, fig and candied cashew nuts. Pretty good, except the creme was quite thick. The award for the most substantial dish went to Minami with the Saikyo Miso Sablefish, Soy-Brasied Angus Shortrib with Yukon potato puree & wasabi pickles and Kale Gomaae. The sablefish was perfectly cooked being moist, buttery and flaky. The miso was not overbearing which let the fish shine. We really liked how they were able to make the kale
super tender (which can be difficult). It was dressed in a aromatic roasted sesame dressing which was devoid of the dreaded sweetness. As for the shortrib, it was not as moist as we would've liked, but the wasabi pickles really added a welcomed spice and tanginess.
Right next to Minami was Yaletown L'Antipasto. They were serving up Bruschetta Mista consisting of olive pate, tomato & basil and chicken liver pate. There was nothing amiss here with the classic tomato being the highlight. There was also freshly made Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms. By trying to ensure that the arborio rice was
not overcooked, they undercooked it instead. Therefore, the rice was slightly hard while the sauce was not that creamy. I did like the flavours though as the mushrooms really stood out. Lastly, at Caché, there was Duck Breast with red onion jam. I thought the duck fat was not rendered enough while the flavours were too mild. However, their other offering, Pulled Pork on mini corn bread sliders was fantastic. The bread was soft while the pork was moist and really flavourful. So there you have it. A preview of what to expect out of the Taste of Yaletown. Now go eat something.
So far so good with our ChineseBites dinners. I guess it is a given considering the restaurants we have visited. I mean, it wouldn't make sense to eat at crappy places anyways especially since ChineseBites is trying to promote the best in town. The latest eating destination was Golden Ocean in Kerrisdale. Formerly Miramar in the 80's and early 90's, this is one of the few good Chinese restaurants on the Westside. Being affiliated with Golden Swan, we were expecting the same quality of food. I've 
been there for Dim Sum a few years ago and it was a decent experience. Having never tried their dinner service, I was eager to do so. Joining myself was the usual crew of Rick, Janice, Alvin, Grace, Diana,
and newbies, Sean and Amy.
For some odd reason, the restaurant felt the need to serve us some of their Dim Sum items to start the meal. I get that they wanted us to get a complete feel for their food, but serving Dim Sum items during non-Dim Sum hours would usually result in a less-than-ideal product. Hence, I'm going to leave that portion out of my write-up since I've already blogged about it before. So I'll go straight into the dinner items starting with the Crab with Special House Sauce. Underneath lay a bed of noodles which helped soak up the thick sauce. And about that sauce, it was a nice blend of tart, spicy, salty and sweet with big hits of garlic. The crab itself was fried just right with the meat 
being springy. Up next was the Steamed Tofu & Egg White with Diced Seafood & Meat. This was essentially a Pyrex plate with a layer of steamed tofu and egg white topped with wok-fried and starch-thickened ingredients (which consisted of chicken, straw mushrooms, scallops and shrimp). The tofu and egg was silky and not watery while the flavours were mild with some hits of ginger.
Moving along, we had the Stir Fried Beef with Steamed Buns. The slices of beef were very tender and probably could've used a bit less baking soda. This was a mild tasting dish with only small hits of the onion, ginger and peppers seen in the picture. I liked the steamed buns as they were moist and soft. The next dish was a bit confusing for some of us. It was the Honey Garlic Spareribs with Fried Shrimp Balls. How these 2 very different things go together in one dish is beyond me. However, if we overlook the strange pairing, the individual components were good. The spareribs were crispy, meat and tender with the sweetness of honey. It could've used a touch more garlic. As for the shrimp balls, they were juicy and bouncy inside while crispy outside.
On the topic of crispy, the Deep Fried Sole Fillet was fried a bit too much for my liking. I realize that the whole point of the dish is about texture since sole is not that meaty. Hence, the crunchiness was intended. However, it was pretty dry and salty. Moving away from fried food, we had the Dried Garlic & Enoki Mushrooms with Pea Tips. Janice was so excited to see veggies, she began eating before we took photos! The horror! Anyways, the pea tips still had a bite while being tender. Due to the amount of liquid, the flavours were pretty mild despite the abundance of garlic cloves. Our last savoury dish was the Deep Fried Duck wrapped in taro. The duck itself was quite fatty with only a modest amount of meat. It was tender though. I found the taro to be dense and a touch dry, yet very crispy on the outside. The accompanying shiitake mushroom sauce somewhat alleviated the dry taro issue.
For dessert, we were offered 3 different items starting with the Deep Fried Green Tea Glutinous Rice Balls with Black Sesame. We couldn't figure out what gave the balls their green tinge, so in essence, we really couldn't taste the green tea. However, the glutinous rice was fried up crispy and I liked how it wasn't overly thick. The sesame filling was a interesting contrast of colour to the green and made for a great "Instagram" picture. The last 2 desserts were the Tofu Pudding and Baked Tapioca Pudding. Unfortunately, these were not that great, especially the tofu pudding. When we opened up the bamboo container, the tofu appeared to be lacking moisture. One
scoop and yah, it was pretty dry. As for the tapioca pudding, it was a touch dry as well. It was not very sweet either. Yah, not the way I'm sure they wanted us to end the meal off. Despite this, the rest of the food was good and considering there are not a whole lot of Chinese restaurants on the Westside, Golden Ocean remains a solid choice.
*Note: This was an invited dinner where all food was comped*
For me, whenever I am on vacation, I end up craving wonton noodles somewhere along the way. I'm not sure why it happens really. In theory, I can easily survive on North American food indefinitely, but I just suddenly get the urge. The urge to satisfy my Asian heritage. I guess that also explains my erratic driving and inability to use a turn signal once I took the exit onto Westminster Hwy from Hwy 99... Hey, when in Rome... After a U-Turn (hey, did you expect any less?), we made our way to McKim Wonton Mein Saga. 
We've been to the location on Kingsway and came away mildly satisfied. It is well-known that they make good wontons, but in my opinion, there are better.
On that note, we started with a bowl of their famed Wonton Noodles. The noodles were fairly al dente, yet slimy. The broth was flavourful (where we could taste the shrimp shells), yet it was a bit heavy on the white pepper. The wontons were modest in size with a somewhat dense wrapper. However, 
less filling means more wrapper. The large pieces of shrimp were crunchy and mildly seasoned (we could really pick out the sesame oil and white pepper). A solid bowl of wonton noodles. For good measure, we got a bowl of the Sui Gow Soup. Naturally, there were similarities between this and the wonton noodles. With the addition of wood ear mushrooms and being bigger, the sui gow had more of a crunch and the wrapper was less apparent. As with the wonton noodles, we thought the portion size was quite good.
When there are wonton noodles, there is also Congee. We ended up with the Ground Beef Congee and it was a pleasing thickness. It was silky and stayed thick until the last spoonful. There was good amount of tender beef which was seasoned enough so it had flavour without making the congee salty. As per usual, we got a Salty Donut (or Yau Jah Gwei) as an accompaniment). It was light, crispy and only somewhat greasy. Trying to hit all the Chinese staples, we 
added an order of the Pan Fried Rice Noodles with Beef. Since rice noodles tend to stick quite easily, this dish is often very greasy. In this case, it wasn't too bad as it wasn't glistening much. Intermingled with the nicely fried noodles were large tender slices of beef which were thick and easy to eat. Furthermore, the flavour of the entire dish was a bit smoky due to the good wok heat. It helped caramelize the ingredients.
And to go with the fried noodles, we had the 
Yeung Chow Fried Rice (or BBQ Pork & Shrimp Fried Rice). We asked for them to omit the green onions and they seemed to put in more than usual. We didn't send it back and just ate it anyways. As evidenced in the picture, there was a whackload of ingredients including crunchy shrimp (which were well-seasoned), meaty BBQ pork and crisp slices of gailan stalks. We found the rice to be chewy, not oily and mildly seasoned. To get our veggie fix, we got 2 small orders for the Tong Choy and Gai Lan. The tong choy 
was prepared quite nicely with a vibrant green colour (which turned pale later, but that is normal) and a crisp texture. There was enough fermented tofu and garlic to flavour each and every stalk. As for the gai lan, some stalks were overcooked, yet again, it was prepared properly maintaining a deep green hue. Overall, it was a solid meal, if not pretty standard. I'm not convinced they make great wontons, yet they are decent. At the very least, it satisfied our cravings after returning from holidays.
The Good:
- Decent eats
- Okay portions for the price (considering some other wonton joints give you very little)
The Bad:
- Wontons are decent, but not that good
Waddling off the Oosterdam after a 7-day eat-a-thon, we were pretty much sick of food. Yet, as it was closing in on lunch, we needed to still eat something. Seeing how we ate almost every conceivable mainstream cuisine (well, at least they attempted to make certain cuisines), there was not much to choose from, except for Dim Sum. Yes, there was no Dim Sum on the cruise. That was probably a good thing... Okay, therefore we were in search of Dim Sum. One problem though. We weren't in Vancouver. The cruise let off in Seattle. Much like our pre-cruise Dim Sum 
experience, it would have to be in Bellevue because we had left our car at Goose's house. We had visited Joi's a week prior and it was not bad (as with Top Gun a few months before). Hence, we had high hopes for King's Chinese which boasted similar ratings on Urbanspoon.
We arrived to find that they still employed push carts (much like the other places in town). We got a bunch of things to start 
including the standard - the Haw Gow (shrimp dumpling). Not sure if they knew we just got off an Alaskan cruise, but they did their best to remind us of the cold since that was the serving temperature. Therefore, the dumpling skin was hard and doughy. The filling wasn't half-bad with cold-water crunchy pieces of shrimp. It was packed loosely though and rather bland. On the other hand, the Sui Mai (pork & shrimp dumpling) were much better, in terms of being served hot and in execution. They were big and had a slight 
bounce texture, although there were some soft spots. The predominant flavour was pork (duh, it is made of pork) which could've been masked by more seasoning and/or more shiitake mushrooms and shrimp.
Onto the Beef Meatballs, they were processed and tenderized properly where there was a bounce texture. However, there was quite a bit of green onion which dominated the flavour profile. Beyond that the rest of the seasoning was balanced. Although 
it was mostly tender, there were the occasional chewy pieces though. With many restaurants, the beef filling in the Rice Noodle Rolls are often closely linked to the ingredients of the Beef Meatballs. Yet in this case, the beef in the rice noodle roll had gone bad. We noticed a tinge of sour aftertaste. Unless they were putting vinegar into the beef mix, this indicated that the beef had deteriorated. We didn't get enough of a sample to comment on the rest of the dish. We sent it back and to their credit, they took 
it off the bill and apologized. We ended up having the Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll which we were able to eat (since it wasn't filled with the bad beef). The rice noodle was quite thick and chewy while the shrimp filling was salty. The small pieces of shrimp did have a snap though.
One of my favourite Dim Sum dishes is the Seen Jook Guen or Bean Curd Skin Roll (usually filled with pork). Unfortunately, this one was pretty average at best. The rolls 
were really loose due to the lack of filling and an overall poor wrap job. Furthermore, the filling was inundated with so much bamboo shoots (which were not rinsed enough), it was the only flavour I could taste. Next up was a very modest portion of the Steamed Spareribs. The meat was more chewy than tender, yet it wasn't inedible either. There were only a few "good" pieces (which were the the ones with meat attached to the bone) with the rest being cartilage and fat. In terms of flavour, it was one-note which was 
primarily salt.
After that unsatisfying offering, we continued down the road of mediocre Dim Sum with the Honeycomb Tripe. It arrived in a dark shade of brown and completely overcooked. It was so soft, I barely needed to chew it. Yes, I'd much prefer soft than chewy, but this was almost a melting texture. Along with a bit of spice, the taste of the dish was mostly sweet. It was like eating a dark-coloured candied tripe. Onto a fried item, we had the Wu Gok 
or Fried Taro Dumplings. These were pretty much on par with most of the other items we had so far - not very good. They were oil-logged (indication that the oil was not hot enough or they fried it too long or both). Hence, the mash taro exterior was greasy and unappealing. On the other hand, the predominantly ground pork filling was not bad. It was moist and well-seasoned.
Continuing on the fried theme, we had the Stuffed Eggplant. Finally, we had a dish that 
didn't garner many complaints. The exterior was crispy while the eggplant was moist while not overcooked. The shrimp mousse filling had a nice bounce texture while not being overseasoned. The black bean sauce was a touch weak, yet it didn't make or break the dish. We had a few more dishes which didn't leave much of an impression and to tell you the truth, I'd only be repeating what I've been saying in this whole post - the food was mediocre. Naturally, being in Bellevue, we need to have reasonable expectations. There is no way we can compare it to Vancouver, B.C. Yet, King's does not stack up to the local competition such as Top Gun and Joi's. Hence, I would go to the those places rather than King's.
The Good:
- Service wasn't bad
- They took the Beef Rice Noodle Roll off our bill
The Bad:
- Food was mediocre
- Decor is a bit lacking
Posts
Playing late night hockey games is nothing new to me. Thus, eating late and going to bed at some unholy hour comes with the territory. However, I've been lazy of late. No, not lazy in terms of participating in sports. Rather, I have come up dry with ideas for late night eats. This was the case when Gordo and I just finished up a game at Richmond Ice. Where to eat? Uh... Naturally, I wanted to try something different, so we merely cruised down restaurant row on Alexandra. We made it nearly to the end when we spotted Yummy Tea House. Hey, it was open... Okay, this 
was a total blind visit. I never even bothered to refer to past reviews or ratings on Urbanspoon. Oh how would I learn to regret this...
since it seemed like the right thing to do at a Taiwanese joint. When it arrived, we were thoroughly confused. Um... Did we order the wrong item? What we got was a dozen small little "popcorn" chicken nuggets that suspiciously looked like the ones from Costco. One taste and yup, they were indeed the same popcorn chicken. I served them at parties... Kinda disappointing when I was expecting Taiwanese crispy salty peppery chicken nuggets. At the very least, they were fried nice and crisp.
finished my bowl of noodles, Gordo's dish finally arrived (couldn't they wait for his to be ready before they made mine???). He had the Fried Vermicelli with meat and veggies. It wasn't bad per se, yet the pool of grease at the bottom of the plate was rather unappetizing. Too bad really since the noodles had a nice chewy texture and the veggies were crisp. All this time, we didn't see our server once. She just disappeared. We had to resort to going up to the counter to get our bill and pay. What a strange experience... Maybe I'll not do a random food adventure next time.
