Rangoon

The last time I was in Kits, while waiting in line at Chewies, I spied across the street a new restaurant.  Yes, that is me.  Instead of checking out the nice cars parked on the street or the pretty ladies (aren't you proud of me Viv???), I was leering at an eating establishment with only one thing in mind... Food!  The place I was eying up and down was Rangoon.  Burmese food eh? Now really, I don't have much experience with Burmese food because it is not widely available in the GVRD. Other than Bo Laksa King's Bubble & Bits, there really isn't anywhere else.

So the whole Summer passed and with Winter looming, I got an email from the chef at Rangoon inviting myself and a guest to try out their food.  They didn't have to ask twice as I made my way down there with Miss Y.  Now here I go into my rant about authenticity again...  Like any business, Rangoon exists to make money.  Therefore, if we examine the menu, we will see things like NY Striploin and some fusions items.  I can hear the food snobs crying foul already.  I will even speak on their behalf,  "When I was in Burma...  I never tried anything like this...  So unauthentic...  this place sucks!".  Okay, we're not in Burma and neither do most people have the spare funds to buy a ticket to fly there.  We are in Vancouver folks.  The food is what it is and it is there to satisfy the higher percentage of customers.  If you want complete authenticity, then go fly to Burma.  I digress.  

So on that note, we started with a fusion dish being the Shrimp Avocado Rolls.  These consisted of avocado, green onion, lettuce, shrimp and house sauce wrapped in rice paper topped with grated Parmesan. The whole thing was rather soft, but the crunchy lettuce provided some textural contrast.  We thought that it lacked acidity, so we got a lemon wedge and that really brought the roll to life.  Next up were the Moroccan Lamb Sausages which were really good.  There was not much gaminess while the meat was moist with a slight spice.  Moving along, we had the Spicy Squid and Mushrooms (oyster and button).  The squid was tender being just cooked with a slight snap.  The dish wasn't as spicy as we would've liked, but I'm sure they were keeping it mild.

Now the best dish hands-down was the Chicken Salad. This one had a wonderful spice level where it really melded with the tang and savouriness.  The large slices of chicken breast were moist which was a nice contrast to the crunch of the cucumber.  Rounding out the ingredients were tomato, red onion and cilantro.  Onto the mains, we had 2 fish dishes starting with the Sockeye Salmon with a cream, bacon, mushroom and white wine sauce.  The salmon was cooked too much for our liking as it became dense.  However, the sauce was pretty tasty as it was rich, smoky and creamy. The other dish was the Ling Cod with a olive, garlic and wine sauce.  The cod was cooked better than the salmon (yet still slightly overdone) and it really soaked up the tasty sauce.  There was a sweet and salty thing going on with just enough impact from the olives.  We liked how the sauce did not mask the natural flavour of the fish.

Lastly, we were presented with the Polish Cheesecake. This was definitely different than what we were used to since it was drier and less dense than its New York counterpart.  Despite originating in Poland, I still prefer the more typical New York style.  Now if you were keeping score, we had Burmese, Moroccan, Polish and everything in between for this meal.  So should it be named Rangoon?  Probably not, because that just might further confuse everyone.  The bottom line is that there were some good eats to be found.  Could there be some improvements?  Sure, as with most places.  But I think the biggest issue is that there may not be enough Burmese dishes to reflect the restaurant's namesake.  Unfortunately, that is probably a reflection of the market they must cater to.

The Good:
- If we only look at the food from a purely taste standpoint, there are some good flavours at work
- For the one true Burmese dish we tried, it was good

The Bad:
- It's too bad the menu looks confused because they must cater to a wide range of tastes
- The proteins could stand to be cooked a bit less

The Fish Shack

Another Glowbal Group restaurant eh?  Situated at the former location of Sanafir, the latest concept to come from Emad Yacoub is a bit more casual that encourages you to "eat-with-your-hands".  A "chain of restaurants" of sorts, each Glowbal restaurant (except for Italian Kitchen and Trattoria), has its own unique concept, but with one thing in common - style (and their Kobe meatballs). Can there be a more polarizing restaurant group than Glowbal?  Some love it while others hate it.  For me, I choose to judge each restaurant independently without regard for its parent company.

Recently opened, I was curious to see what the fuss was all about.  After all, The Fish Shack is somewhat of a departure from the usual Glowbal higher-end offerings.  So when the guys wanted to meet up to chat about Snake's fast-approaching Las Vegas stag, I suggested we check it out.  With pallets adorning the walls and ceilings, the casual feel was unmistakeable.  The lively clientele wasn't conducive for conversation, but it did add atmosphere. As for the food, we decided to sample a wide range of items starting with the Fried Oysters with chipotle tartar sauce. At first, we were taken aback at the miniscule size of the appie, but in the end, it was fair for the price.  The oysters were fresh, fried just right with a crispy exterior.  I particularly liked the chipotle tartar sauce as it had a noticeable kick.  We had the Fish Tacos next and they were nice enough to add a fourth (only comes with 3), so we all had one.  We felt that the use of a hard taco shell was not the best choice as it was a bit difficult to eat.  In addition, the Tex Mex ingredients of lettuce, tomato salsa and sour cream were not the best compliment for the Cajun fish.  A California-style taco with shredded cabbage and a spicy aioli would've worked better.  Although the fish was sufficiently moist, the pieces were too small while the Cajun spices did not come through.

Moving onto the main part of their menu, we had the 2 pc Halibut & Chips.  For $22.00, this was not a large amount of food.  Yes, we understand that their location, staffing and other expenses need to be covered, but throw some more fries in there, the plate looked sparse. With that being said, the halibut was fried beautifully being moist and flaky.  Although the tempura batter (a bit too thick) was seasoned with Cajun spice, the fish itself was not (so it was bland on its own).  We really liked the fries, as they were fresh cut and fried crispy.  There was actually a choice of coleslaw, but we didn't specify and got the default of creamy horseradish.  It was not bad, but there was far too much liquid. For more diversity, we also got the large Prawn & Chips.  Although the batter was too thick for our tastes, the big prawn was fantastic.  It had a big snap and was naturally sweet.  We found the tartar sauce to be
fairly balanced, but it was touch thin.

Rounding out our meal, we got 2 orders of the Big Catch (which is $30.00pp).  It consisted of lobster, dungeness crab, snow crab, mussels, prawns, calamari, crayfish, potatoes, corn and chorizo.  Now if you look at the large mixing bowl and wonder where the lobster went, we were thinking the same thing.  They messed up our order and gave us the Small Catch ($20.00pp) instead.  They eventually brought us the lobster separately.  What you see in the picture is for 2 people.  It was an okay portion considering the price.  People have to remember, when
you choose to eat in this manner, you'll be hard-pressed to get full. The seafood was generally well-prepared while the corn was really good.  I liked the large length-wise cut pieces of chorizo.  Unfortunately, the lobster was overcooked which rendered the meat extremely chewy. With The Fish Shack, the Glowbal Group is trying to be a hybrid of the Crab Pot and a fish n' Chips joint with a little bit of flair.  We were a bit underwhelmed by our experience and await to see what the general public thinks about the place moving forward.

The Good:
- It's fun food
- Lively atmosphere
- Due to the rarity of seafood boils, the curiousity factor applies here 

The Bad:
- Expensive (although it is located in Downtown and there are discounted gift cards available)
- Food wasn't bad, but wasn't memorable either
- Food took awhile

Zephyr Tea House Cafe

"Let's head to Richmond for eats!" I said convincingly to Gordo and Apprehensive Guy. Hey, we had just finished up a late night game at Sunset, where there were no good eats nearby (well, late night that is). The look of confusion on Apprehensive Guy's face was obvious. I convinced him that Richmond was not too far and there would be better eats to choose from. Look at me... Convincing people to head to Richmond... What's next? Moving into Richmond? Hahahaha... If I drove a tank... So, we ended up going to a place that he suggested, which was Zephyr Tea House Cafe.

Now, I knew about Zephyr, but never really figured out where it was located. Well, the fact it is pitch dark at night doesn't help the cause. Maybe some lighting around the restaurant might help? Anyways, as with most visits to a Taiwanese joint, I started with the Spicy Mixed Beef Platter, which was not really all that big. Rather, it looked like a small plate. It was a mix of sliced beef shank and tripe. It was slightly spicy with lots of garlic and cilantro. There was good flavour which might be attributed to MSG. The texture of both the tripe and beef shank were pretty spot on being chewy in a tender kinda of way (if that makes sense). I also talked Gordo into sharing an order of Popcorn Chicken (which is really the salty peppery chicken nuggets). This was not bad in terms of the chicken meat. It was all dark meat and hence, it was mostly tender and juicy. As for the flavour, it could've been more impactful. I found it underseasoned. It was crispy though and not greasy. For my main, I had the Sesame Oil Chicken Hot Pot. It was served bubbling hot on a portable gas burner. On the side was vermicelli, tofu and bean curd stick (to be cooked in the hot pot). Three condiments were included: satay sauce, hot sauce and minced garlic. I thought the hot pot was pretty decent in terms of the chicken broth. It was flavourful (probably MSG), yet not exhibiting a whole lot of sesame oil. The chicken was in large chunks and sufficiently tender for boiled meat.

Gordo had the Beef Noodle and the soup was on the weaker side. There was flavour, but it didn't offer up anything to make me remember it. The noodles were al dente though while the meat was tender, albeit in small chunks. Furthermore, he was a bit disappointed at the portion size compared to a place such as The One (he lives near it and frequents it a lot). To be fair, The One charges more money though. And much like comparing to The One, his Mango Slush was only modest in size. Now with that being said, it wasn't exactly small either. I gave it a try and it was pretty typical. It was blended quite smooth and there was a decent amount of flavour. Not much to complain about here.

In the end, it was a pretty typical experience at yet another Taiwanese late night spot. I'm not trying to sound ho-hum about it, however, there was nothing really to be disappointed about nor was there anything to get excited about. I wouldn't necessarily return during normal dinner hours, yet it is definitely an option late at night.

The Good:
- Predictable
- Open late
- Okay pricing

The Bad:
- Pretty average
- Service is okay, but sparse
- Super dark outside at night

Kaya Malay Bistro

Let's see now. Driving down West Broadway, it's always nice to take a look at the restaurants and figure out which one to hit next. Okay, Lin - done that; Boston Pizza - ew; Maurya - okay someday; Tojo's - wow, can't believe it was that expensive; Kaya Malay Bistro - hmm, that's new; Red Robin - gone; woah wait. Let's rewind here. A new Malay restaurant? Okay, I really want to try that. Well, time passed and I didn't have a chance to head in that direction (after all, softball season is over). But wait, what's that in my email? An invite from Stephanie to try it out? Oh how convenient! Really, it's always nice to see more South Asian restaurants in Vancouver because frankly, there aren't enough.

The invited dinner was quite the event as there were over 25 guests in the upstairs dining room.  We were served a special menu which included Malay classics as well as some interesting fusion offerings.  We started with the Kaya Salad consisting of romaine lettuce, corn, dried cranberries, boiled egg, potatoes and deep-fried tofu with a creamy mango and peanut butter dressing.  For me, I found the salad to be on the sweeter side in need of some acidity and possibly salt.  The mango got a little lost and there was far too much dressing where the ingredients got drenched. Due to the high level of sweetness, the cranberries were somewhat of an overkill.  Next up was the Squash & Apple Curry Bisque served with Home-style Roti.  I liked the bisque as it had a nice kick with a good balance of savoury and sweet elements.  The texture of the soup wasn't exactly smooth, but I didn't mind it as it wasn't chunky either.  As for the roti, it was on the denser side, but it was cooked up nicely on the outside, where it was quite crunchy (possibly too crunchy?).  The curry dip was thick and had a real nice spice level.  It was nice compliment to the roti.

Moving along, we got a bonus item of sorts, as it wasn't on our original menu.  The Chicken Satay was really tender and was asthetically pleasing.  There was good charring on the outside which added to the inherently pleasing flavour (from the marinade).  The dip was equally good being sweet and peanutty.  Arriving on a large sharing place was the Crispy Spicy Calamari with Taro Root.  At first glance, it looked more like fried clam strips and matchstick fries, but it was nothing but.  The calamari was crispy just as its namesake.  Too bad it was cold, due to the large quantities that needed to be made for our large group.  I'm sure it would be served hot on a more typical basis.  The squid itself was fairly tender while the tamarind chili sauce added zing and sweetness.  The thin taro fries were crispy where I couldn't stop snacking on them.
 
The every-so-familiar Hainanese Chicken showed up next sporting 2 different versions.  One was the regular poached type and the other was roasted.  I found the chicken to moist and tender with the requisite gelatin underneath the skin.  The accompanying grated ginger condiment was very good.  It was of course gingery, yet not in a harsh way.  Naturally, the dish was accompanied by chicken oil rice which was slightly moist.  It was flavourful with hits of ginger and aromatic oil (where there could've been more of it though). Heading towards the end of the meal, we got our first vegetable dish being the Wok-Fried Eggplant and Okra.  Now, if you've ever had okra before, you would be familiar with its slimy texture.  In this case, they did a pretty good job as it was more firm than slimy.  The eggplant was slightly soft, yet not mushy either.  The dish exhibited good wok heat and caramelization.  The spicy shrimp paste added good aromatics and flavour (and had an "XO" sauce type effect).
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One would think this would be the cue for dessert, but no way, we had 2 more meat dishes!  The first one was Pan-Fried Halibut with sauteed green beans. Sadly, the halibut was way overcooked and dry.  However, the shallot, garlic and ginger sauce was sweet and tasty.  The beans were the star of the plate as they were crunchy and laced with chilis and palm sugar.  Our last savoury dish was the Grilled Rack of Lamb with yam mash.  The lamb was super moist and tender.  I personally would've preferred it to be more rare, but since it was tender anyways, it wasn't important.  The curry and ginger rub had depth and plenty of impact.  The yam mash was naturally sweet and smooth.

Finally, we made it to dessert which arrived as 3 separate items on a long plate.  From farthest to closest, we had the Mango Durian Roll, Tapioca and Coconut Cream Cup and Banana Fritter.  My favourite was the durian since it was simple where the ingredients were able to shine.  The cream cup was somewhat sweet from the palm sugar.  I found the tapioca to be rather stiff.  The fried banana was crispy, yet greasy.  This was a sweet end to a truly interesting meal.  I found that they mixed in traditional items with more creative ones.  Most were quite good except the salad and the halibut.  Hey, nothing is ever perfect right?  If we looked at this meal as whole, it was above average.  For those crying foul about authenticity, c'mon, assess the food on taste, not if it has A in it rather than B.  We're in Vancouver, not Malaysia...

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

The Good:
- Interesting take on Malay cuisine
- Some good flavours at work
- Modern surroundings

The Bad:
- With any "fusion"-type cooking, there will bound to be misses
- May upset the authenticity crowd (but honestly...)

Tip Thai

Meeting up for eats with Nikita has always been a treat. She is pretty much game for anything (if it is gluten-free of course) and anywhere. Hence, when I suggested we head to PoCo to try Wilbur & Sebastian's, she readily accepted. When we arrived, it was epic fail on a grandiose scale. Not only was the place closed for vacation, I had no backup plan! Hence, the only option was to drive into Downtown PoCo and search for eats. We quickly parked and surveyed the available options. Well, we didn't try very hard since we were pretty darn hungry. Therefore, we spied a tiny restaurant across the street called Tip Thai. I quickly looked it up on Urbanspoon and found out it had a 90% rating. Of course that could be misleading, yet it was a start.

And to start... we had the Tom Kha Kai which is a soup consisting of chicken, coconut milk, mushroom, cilantro, fish sauce, galangal, kaffir lime and lemongrass. This was pretty fragrant with hits of lemongrass and galangal. I would've liked to see more coconut milk, yet it was enjoyable nonetheless. In addition to the regular menu, there were lunch specials for only $6.99 that included salad and fried wontons. Seeing how Bluebeard and I would not be satisfied with only 4 dishes, we went ahead and got 5 including the soup and a dessert. The first to arrive was the Pad Thai. Thankfully this was not the ketchup-laced version. I have nothing against it per se, but I do prefer the tamarind kind. This one had a pronounced fish sauce hit with plenty of wok heat. It needed more zing in the form of more tamarind and pickled turnip. I'm sure they kept it safe for mass appeal.

Next up was the Stir-Fried Cashew Nuts with Chicken. Again, there was plenty of wok heat which helped caramelize the ingredients. Hence, there was depth of flavour while the veggies maintained their crunch. They did add too much palm sugar though. As per usual, we went for some curries as well starting with the Beef Red Curry. When it arrived, something was odd about it. Those chunks... were they sweet potatoes? No, they were actually golden squash. We'd never seen this before in a red curry and Bluebeard & Nikita have been to Thailand too! Whatever the case, it wasn't bad since we don't mind golden squash. As for the curry itself, it was a bit thin in flavour. It was mostly coconut milk with little spice. It would've been nice to see some bamboo shoots as well. The beef was pretty good though, being in large tender slices.

We also got the Chicken Green Curry which was coconutty as well with obvious hints of shrimp paste and fish sauce. It was pretty mild with tender pieces of chicken and vibrant veggies. Lastly, we had the Pad Kra Pao with Beef. As you can see in the picture, the veggies were vibrant and there was not an excessive amount of liquid.  Hence, the flavours were caramelized while the veggies remained crisp.  The slices of beef were tender much like in the red curry. While we were there, the place was pretty much full for lunch.  At $6.99 for the specials, we could see why.  Overall, the food was pretty good, especially being in PoCo.  There is better Thai food around, but you'd have to go into Vancouver to get it.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- Flavours are mild (appealing to the masses)
- Small place, don't bring lots of people

The Blog Turns 4!

Oh my.  4 years already?  Except for a little blip for about 2 months, I've been blogging away everyday.  Boy, time flies when one is chewing...  In these 4 years, I've met some really cool people who share the same love of food as I do.  I've also learned a thing or two along the way.  Much like the last blogiversary, I intend to do this as long as I am able.  Life is definitely busy and food ain't cheap.  I will continue to maintain the original mandate of this blog - as a journal of my eating where my opinions are unbiased, good and bad.  I thank all the loyal followers because it would be lonely blogging to myself.  I never imagined that this little blog would actually have the impact it has had.  Thanks again for your support and as a little treat, I'm going to hold a draw for a $50.00 gift card to the restaurant of the winner's choice.  Just leave a comment with your first name and initial of your last.  I'll do the draw in a week's time. Cheers!

Golden Pita Lebanese

Most of us are familiar with certain "hidden" restaurants that are only known to locals or those who are diehard eaters. I use the word hidden because they may not necessarily be visible from the street nor are they in a normally high-traffic area. Furthermore, some of these only exist to serve the lunch crowd. For me, I generally have my eye out for places to eat, so I seek out these hidden gems. Then I really have no idea how I could've missed Golden Pita (out at Lougheed Mall) all these years. From the times I visited the liquor store and more recently, Dollar Giant, what was I looking at??? A restaurant right in front of my eyes and I conveniently chose to ignore it?

Ignore it no more as Big D suggested I give it a go. Fine, so with no eating companions for lunch, I did the eat-by-myself routine once again. Sure, no one will notice the guy at the window with the big DSLR taking a picture of his Falafels...  Anyways, these were not bad. They were dense (like many falafels are), yet not overly so. There was a good balance of spices while the exterior was really crunchy.  Of course a plate of falafels would not be enough food...  So I also got the Beef Plate which included a veggie pocket, wara' inab tabbouleh salad, humous, tzatziki and pita bread.  The meat was moist and flavourful while the rest of the items were well-prepared.  I particularly liked the veggie pocket as the pastry was soft while the filling had a nice mixture of veggies including sweet corn.  On another visit, I had the Beef Shawarma and it consisted of fresh ingredients, tender beef and a great mixture of flavours.  I'm keeping the description short because of the next item...

I went back one more time to try their famed Chicken Rocket.  You know when someone raves about a particular food item and they give out this "foodgasm" face?  Well, Big D did just that.  It was a bit disturbing, but I got the idea.  Bam!  Yes, that's how the flavours hit me like a luxury SUV running a stop sign in Richmond. The combination of roasted chicken, onion, sumac spice, humous, tahini sauce, tomato, pickled turnip, feta cheese and hot sauce wrapped in a baked pita was more flavourful that I could imagine.  Depending on what was in each bite, there was the immediate hit of the hot sauce (I got spicy), then the tartness from the turnip and finishing off with the sumac spice, sweet onions and roasted chicken.  The humous brought the whole thing together.  Furthermore, since it was baked, the pita was crispy on the outside which added more texture.  I would definitely order this again.  In fact, as you may have already noticed, I keep going back to Golden Pita for eats...  That basically says it all.

The Good:
- Solid eats with good flavours
- Great people, super-friendly

The Bad:
- Not expensive, but not cheap either
- Small place, best to keep your party small