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I generally am game to eat any type of cuisine because hey, I love food! However, living in Vancouver does present some challenges and limitations. For instance, there are very few Filipino restaurants. Now that would not be unusual for say, Saskatoon, but very strange considering our large Filipino population. As mentioned before, my Filipino friends remark how most of their families just cook Filipino cuisine at home rather than going out to eat. Choobee, a Filipino food expert herself, decided to take it upon herself to drag me out to Kumare in Richmond (along with a few other friends). Call it Filipino food education on my part.
We started with the Ensalada consisting of tomatoes, onions and mango topped with shrimp paste. As you can imagine, the shrimp paste was pungent and salty while the mangoes were firm and tart. This was an interesting array of flavours which I personally didn't mind, but wasn't crazy about either. Arriving on a sizzling cast iron plate was the Sizzling Pork Sisig consisting of crispy pork face, onions, ginger, and an egg. Yes, pork face. It was definitely crispy, fatty and gelatinous with a mild onion flavour. Onto the Beef Kare Kare, it was made with oxtail, tripe, tendon, and assorted vegetables in a peanut sauce. I've had this a few times before and this one was pretty rich and thick. It was peanutty and mild while the meats were tender.
What's a visit to a Filipino restaurant without Crispy Pata? Well, it's a must order for me at least. The deep fried pork hock was very crispy, yet quite dry. It was predominately "porky" in flavour due in part to the abundance of fried pork fat. The requisite tangy and salty dip helped cut the heaviness of the meat. And after 2 pork dishes, why not go for more? So we went from pork hock to pork belly in the Inihaw na Liempo. I found this dish to be pretty boring since the pork belly itself was not really all that flavourful. It was fatty (of course) though, which added both texture and natural flavours. In terms of appearance I felt there just wasn't enough colour. Again, the vinegary soy dip helped add the necessary hit of acidity and saltiness.
Continuing on the hog train, we had the Tokwa't Baboy or tofu, crispy pork and onions in vinegar and soy sauce. With similar flavours to the 2 preceding dishes, it was both familiar and tasty. The fried pork belly was crispy, yet moist. Equally crispy, the tofu was still soft and moist on the inside. I liked this dish since the ingredients soaked up quite a bit of the appetizing sauce. On the topic of appetizing and once again pork, we had the BBQ Pork skewers. These, in my opinion, were executed very well. Aesthetically-speaking, the skewers exhibited a wonderful red hue with plenty of charring. The exterior was caramelized which translated into a sweet tasty bark. The interior of the meat was fatty and tender. Probably my favourite dish of the meal.
Now probably my least favourite item was the Bangus Belly Sinigang. This was a soup made of milkfish and mixed vegetables in a sour tamarind soup base. I found the bangus to be fishy while the soup itself was far too sour. I realize that this soup is meant to be sour, but this was a bit much (even with the awesome garlic rice). The last of our savoury items was the Seafood Palabok. It included thick noodles, mixed seafood ground in palabok sauce, tinapa, green onions, ground pork rinds and a hard boiled egg. I thought the noodles had a nice bite while being saucy at the same time. The whole thing naturally had a seafood taste to it, especially the tinapa.
By this point, I was pretty stuff and not really all that interested in dessert. But Choobee pulled her best Mijune impersonation (sans the heels) and ordered 3 items starting with the Halo-Halo. Translated, it means "mix" and that it was with assorted beans, jellies, sweetened banana, jackfruit, macapuno strings, leche flan, pinipig, ube halaya and ice cream. After combining all of the ingredients, I found this one to be not overly sweet and refreshing. Next up was the Leche Flan which looked like a creme caramel, but much denser due to the use of condensed milk and more egg yolks. This was very rich and sweet, hence I could only have a few bites.
Lastly, we tried the Sansrival which consisted of almond meringue topped off with tiny bits of chopped almond and butter cream. Again, I found this rather heavy (due to the cream) but it was not too sweet. Personally, I liked the Halo-Halo the best. In terms of the entire meal, I thought some of the dishes were very good while others I've either had better or I just wasn't that fond of. Yet overall, it was reasonably-price served in a fairly nice environment.
The Good:
- Some good dishes
- Relatively nice dining space
- Lots of choice
The Bad:
- Service is a bit slow
- Some of the proteins are dry
Generally, when we have a late Friday night hockey game, there is no possible way to eat anything but Chinese food. Well, unless we want to sink to the level of Knight & Day and/or Denny's (I'd take the latter personally). What we generally crave is Japanese food. Now that is a difficult proposition as most Japanese restaurants are long closed prior to 11pm. Now there are Izakayas which close roughly around midnight, but most, if not all the good ones are in Downtown (except for Suika and the Kits location of Hapa). However, with Gadget Girl around, her preference is not to head into Downtown. That got me thinking and I remembered a newish place on Main called Itadakimasu Izakaya.
We arrived just in time for their last call which was 11pm (they close at 12am), but they didn't rush us though. Not knowing how large their portions are, we ordered quite a bit of food starting with the Pari Pari Ebi Mayo. Coated with wasabi crisps, the ebi was crunchy and flavourful on its own. The flavours were further amped by the sweet chili mayo drizzled on top. We weren't as fond of the Smoked Salmon Oshi as it was too loose and fell apart as we picked it up. Although the rice had a balanced taste, it was a bit sticky, yet dry at the same time. Our server suggested we try the Tuna Tacos and thankfully we did. These were really good with a light and crispy shell giving way to crunchy coleslaw and a perfectly seared slice of tuna. The drizzle of yuzu pepper mayo added both spice and tartness.
When Emilicious ordered the Agedashi Tofu, I was expecting a small bowl. Instead, we were presented with a long plate with 3 different versions including dashi, sweet chili and teriyaki. The tofu was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We liked the dashi (mild saltiness) and sweet chili (had a nice kick) sauces, but the teriyaki was curiously bland. We also had a double order of the Takoyaki which turned out to be more balls than we had hoped for. Er... I think that came out the wrong way. Wait. That doesn't sound right either. I'll stop. Anyways, the balls were fluffy with slightly chewy pieces of octopus (but not overly chewy). There was also an adequate of great tasting sauce as well.
Unfortunately, there was far too much sauce on the Okonomiyaki. The sauce itself was fine being a good mix of salty, tangy and sweet, but it drowned the whole thing. Underneath the sauce, we found a pretty charred pancake which was very soft and crumbly. Not a huge deal since it was better than being chewy and dense. Onto our some more sushi, Milhouse chose the House Roll consisting of avocado, unagi, tamago and cucumber topped with fried onions and unagi sauce. The roll itself was pretty crunchy thanks to the fried onions. Most of the other items and textures were masked by the crunchiness, but the flavours were good though. I liked how there was a bit of everything.
Another item that our server recommended was the Pork Belly Bao Buns. Not exactly something we were expecting at an Izakaya, but we were intrigued at the combination of crispy pork belly, teriyaki glaze, cilantro and pickled veggies in a half-fried mantou. This Taiwanese-Vietnamese hybrid offering was pretty good. The combination of the crispy mantou top, moist and crispy belly and tart/sweet veggies really went well together. Sweet Tooth wanted to try the Geso Karaage and ultimately wished she had not. The fried squid tentacles were not as crunchy as the visuals implied and the squid itself was too chewy. It was quite the chore to eat.
Emilicious decided to give the Negihama Roll a go and it was a good choice. Essentially a negitoro roll except substituting the tuna toro with hamachi, we enjoyed the different flavour of the hamachi. However, the rice was dry as previously mentioned. Lastly, we had the Seafood Fried Rice which was chewy (due to the use of sushi rice) and full of sweet pop from the corn and carrots. We didn't end up finishing it because of the all the food we ordered. Although there were some duds, the majority of the food was pretty good. We also enjoyed the relaxed environment and the friendly service. We all agreed this is a place we'd visit again.
The Good:
- Decent portions for an izakaya
- Spacious and modern
- Friendly service
The Bad:
- Not expensive, but not cheap either
- Sushi rice is dry (could've been due to being the end of the day)
On my way out of Aberdeen Centre after a meal at Saboten (where I was still hungry...), I wanted to hit up Saint Germain for some pastries. I was walking towards H-Mart when some beef jerky caught my attention. No really, it really was beef jerky (for those who thought this was some inappropriate joke). We're not talking about he prepackaged stuff found at T&T, rather, it was the fresh stuff. Similar to Bee Kim Heng out in Vancouver, Mei Jan Hong in Aberdeen prepares freshly-made Singaporean beef jerky. For those who are unfamiliar with this 
style of beef "jerky", it is sweeter and generally more moist than the stuff you see at Costco. Furthermore, the ones you find at Bee Kim Heng and Mei Jan Hong are grilled. Think along the same lines at candied salmon (speaking of which, they have salmon jerky here too).
This time I only stuck to the basics and got a pound each of the Beef and Pork Jerky. I also got them in 2 different textures as well - firm and soft. Furthermore, you can choose the spice level too. One last option is to either have them as 
ready-to-eat or vacuum-packed for extended shelf life. The first thing I noticed was the smaller amounts of charring on the meat compared to Bee Kim Heng. For me, that goes a long way adding more caramelization and smokiness to the meat. With that being said, the jerky was still quite good. Naturally, it was more sweet than savoury, yet it still had those elements as well. I actually preferred the spicy firm version since it had more texture and different flavour notes. The soft jerky is good too, I just find it sweeter (probably due to the higher moisture content). Not sure why they have such a low rating on Urbanspoon though. I thought it was pretty solid stuff.
The Good:
- Lots of options
- Hey, it's a party in your mouth (um...)
The Bad:
- Not unique to Mei Jan Hong, but it ain't cheap to eat jerky
As we are in year 3 of the food cart project in the city of Vancouver, we are beginning to see more diversity in food being offered. Now there will always be those carts that many people will be wondering, "how did they get chosen?", but in the end, the truly good ones will have longevity. So we have many food trucks that serve up sandwiches, burgers and wraps, but there is one that only serves juice. Yes, The Juice Truck, which is parked in Gastown, only offers beverages. How the heck do they survive on hawking only liquid treats? Simple, charge $8.00 per drink. Uh... really? Well, they do use fresh ingredients, so you can't fault them for charging so much because fresh fruit ain't cheap.
So how does it taste? Um... Okay, I must be missing the point here or something. Judging by their really high ratings on Urbanspoon, one would think the drinks would blow me away. Nope. After meeting up for some food, Whipping Girl and I decided to pay the Juice Truck a visit. She decided to go for the Strawberry Coconut (strawberry blended with coconut meat, coconut milk, banana, raw cacao nibs, vanilla & agave) Sure, it was refreshing and we did get the sense there were strawberries and coconut in there, but the drink was flat. No impact whosoever. And that was further exemplified by the Special (coconut Water blended with coconut meat, coconut milk, vanilla, lime & agave) which really tasted like coconut milk and that was about it. With that flat taste in my mouth, I was not convinced.
To be fair, we returned again to try a more flavourful drink being The Apron consisting of Pineapple pressed with orange, spinach, mint, lemon, coconut water, aloe vera & himalayan rock salt. It was indeed more tasty with some herbiness from the mint and a hint of salt. However, that was an $8.00 drink. I know the die-hard health conscious followers for the Juice Truck will disagree with me, but I'm personally not a fan.
The Good:
- Juices are made-to-order and do taste fresh
- Not too sweet
The Bad:
- Not enough flavour
- Expensive
Will all the recent openings of Neapolitan-style pizza joints in the past couple of years, there is no shortage of choices. However, what if I told you that once could find Neapolitan-style pizza from a food truck. Um... How would they generate enough heat to make that kind of pizza??? Simple, put a wood-burning oven in the truck itself! Seriously??? Well, if one wanted to hawk this kind of pizza, the necessary tools and ingredients are essential. So Whipping Girl and I made our way out to Victory Square for some mobile pizza action. Luckily I picked her up too, she didn't seem to have the proper walking attire (reminded me of Mijune...).
Naturally, we shared a Margherita to start as a baseline of sorts. As shown clearly in the picture, the crust was nicely charred and blistered around the edges. The bottom could've stood to be charred more though. However, the crust was far from being soggy. In fact, it had an appealing chewiness to it and was well-seasoned. For something from a food truck, this was a surprisingly good thin-crust pizza. We found the tomato sauce to be mild, yet balanced with just the right amount of cheese. However, we would've liked to see the basil added after the cooking process as it was pretty shriveled up.
Our second pizza was the Prosciutto with arugula. As expected, it was heartier and saltier due to the addition of the prosciutto. Other than that, it was pretty much similar to the Margherita. In the end, we were pretty satisfied with our visit to PazzaRella and although it wasn't the best Neapolitan pizza we've ever had, it was the best from a food truck and then some.
The Good:
- Well-priced
- Wood burning oven in a food truck!
- Above average
The Bad:
- Could use more leoparding on the bottom
Driving Eastbound on Hastings, I was scouting the restaurants like I usually do. There were a few I still hadn't tried yet and I made a mental note. Again, I was shaking my head whilst catching a glimpse of the lineup at Anton's when wait... Where did Bombay Beat go? It had only changed its name from Bombay Behl not too long ago and the whole place was gone. Shoot, I didn't have a chance to use my Living Social coupon either! Curse those coupons! At least I got a refund for it... In its place, there is a new Japanese restaurant named Yo Sushi.
Having just ate at Gaya Sushi the night before, I still had the Chirashi Don in my mind. So I decided to get the Deluxe Chirashi Don as a comparison. This was a pretty large bowl consisting of mostly appealing seafood (tamago, hamachi, hokkigai, tobiko, hotate, tuna, tako, tai, sockeye and Atlantic salmon), except for the hamachi as it was somewhat fishy. The sushi rice was not bad being chewy and I could taste both vinegar and sweetness. And with that in mind, the Assorted Nigiri was predictably decent as well. The presentation was clean and tidy while each piece was quite uniform with just the right fish-to-rice ratio. Again, we weren't huge fans of the hamachi.
Onto some specialty rolls, we started with the Black Dragon consisting of ebi tempura, cucumber and avocado topped with unagi and unagi sauce. We found the individual components of the roll to be good including the crispy ebi tempura, crunchy cucumbers and plentiful unagi. However, there was far too much sauce (and rice too) which essentially drowned out the flavours. Next up, we had the Red Dragon consisting of ebi tempura, imitation crab and cucumber topped with spicy tuna, tempura bits and spicy sauce. Again, there was far too much sauce which added plenty of sweet and spicy notes, but the whole thing was wet.
Moving onto the cooked food, we got the Beef Yakiudon for the kiddies. Arriving wetter than a typical December day in Vancouver, the whole dish was literally drowning in sauce. It was predominantly vinegary with some sweetness which meant the noodles tasted as such as well. Suffice to say, this was a pretty disappointing dish. We also got the Oyako Don and it was not exactly what we were expecting. With a stingy amount of egg and even stingier amount of sauce, the whole thing was not that flavourful and lacking in moisture. The dry chicken didn't help matters either. Too bad really because the rice was actually quite good.
As for the kiddie's favourite, the Ebi Tempura was decent. Although the batter was quite thick, it was crispy and not overly greasy. Moreover, the ebi was of a good size and had a firm texture. Overall, the meal was passable with the raw stuff being the highlight. The specialty rolls were unbalanced, where they could've done with much less sauce and rice. Most notable, the cooked food was a complete disappointment. I would categorize Yo Sushi as barely average if we take everything into account.
The Good:
- Decent value
- Decent service
- Spacious
The Bad:
- Cooked food needs work
- Specialty rolls not balanced
- The bubble hockey and Foosball at the entrance are neat, but create a lot of noise
"We haven't eaten at a restaurant for a long time...", exclaimed my son one random evening. That was bizarre. The very same son who could eat Kraft Dinner for 7 days straight complaining about not eating out?!?!? "Go ask Mom", I replied. LOL, defer responsibility... Since it was a weeknight, we decided to go somewhere near, which happened to be the recently opened Gaya Sushi. At first glance, the place looked like any other neighbourhood Japanese joint, but once inside, the place was bustling with activity. So much so, we were not acknowledge for a good 7 minutes. We finally were seated 10 minutes after walking in and not before the person beside us indicating we were before them (the staff didn't even notice this). The fact that someone actually admitted to being behind in a lineup was refreshing (it proves we weren't in Richmond!).
After sitting down, a familiar face strolled into the joint - Dark Helmet! A foodie in his own right, he said the place was pretty good and to be sure to try the Chirashi Don. And that we did. For $10.95, we thought it was a fabulous value since there was a good array of fresh sashimi on top of chewy flavourful sushi rice (with a drizzle of chili oil). We ended up with some maki sushi as well consisting of the Red Dragon and House Roll. The house roll was packed with ingredients with a minimal layer of sushi rice. It was a little loose, falling apart when we picked it up. Nevertheless, it was good for $4.95. The dragon roll was essentially a dynamite roll topped with spicy tuna. The roll was fine, but lacked any real spiciness. We found the sushi rice to have a good chewy texture with only a mild amount of flavour.
For the kiddies, we got them an order of Assorted Tempura, which they proceeded to demolish. So much so, we had to order a prawn tempura to supplement. Reason why was because the batter was light and crispy while the dish was served piping hot. Since they couldn't survive on tempura alone (they might differ in opinion), we got them the Yaki Udon as well. It was on the sweeter side due to the amount of onion used in the dish (since we asked for no bean sprouts). However, it wasn't too wet and the 2 pieces of shrimp and mussels were cooked nicely. Lastly, we had and order of Gyoza and they were so-so. They were not as crisp as the visuals would suggest and the filling was a bit mushy. Despite this, the food in general was surprisingly decent at a reasonable price. Not bad for the area.
The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Decent eats
The Bad:
- Service is lacking
- Parking lot fills up quick
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I generally am game to eat any type of cuisine because hey, I love food! However, living in Vancouver does present some challenges and limitations. For instance, there are very few Filipino restaurants. Now that would not be unusual for say, Saskatoon, but very strange considering our large Filipino population. As mentioned before, my Filipino friends remark how most of their families just cook Filipino cuisine at home rather than going out to eat. Choobee, a Filipino food expert herself, decided to take it upon herself to drag me out to Kumare in Richmond (along with a few other friends). Call it Filipino food education on my part.
We started with the Ensalada consisting of tomatoes, onions and mango topped with shrimp paste. As you can imagine, the shrimp paste was pungent and salty while the mangoes were firm and tart. This was an interesting array of flavours which I personally didn't mind, but wasn't crazy about either. Arriving on a sizzling cast iron plate was the Sizzling Pork Sisig consisting of crispy pork face, onions, ginger, and an egg. Yes, pork face. It was definitely crispy, fatty and gelatinous with a mild onion flavour. Onto the Beef Kare Kare, it was made with oxtail, tripe, tendon, and assorted vegetables in a peanut sauce. I've had this a few times before and this one was pretty rich and thick. It was peanutty and mild while the meats were tender.
What's a visit to a Filipino restaurant without Crispy Pata? Well, it's a must order for me at least. The deep fried pork hock was very crispy, yet quite dry. It was predominately "porky" in flavour due in part to the abundance of fried pork fat. The requisite tangy and salty dip helped cut the heaviness of the meat. And after 2 pork dishes, why not go for more? So we went from pork hock to pork belly in the Inihaw na Liempo. I found this dish to be pretty boring since the pork belly itself was not really all that flavourful. It was fatty (of course) though, which added both texture and natural flavours. In terms of appearance I felt there just wasn't enough colour. Again, the vinegary soy dip helped add the necessary hit of acidity and saltiness.
Continuing on the hog train, we had the Tokwa't Baboy or tofu, crispy pork and onions in vinegar and soy sauce. With similar flavours to the 2 preceding dishes, it was both familiar and tasty. The fried pork belly was crispy, yet moist. Equally crispy, the tofu was still soft and moist on the inside. I liked this dish since the ingredients soaked up quite a bit of the appetizing sauce. On the topic of appetizing and once again pork, we had the BBQ Pork skewers. These, in my opinion, were executed very well. Aesthetically-speaking, the skewers exhibited a wonderful red hue with plenty of charring. The exterior was caramelized which translated into a sweet tasty bark. The interior of the meat was fatty and tender. Probably my favourite dish of the meal.
Now probably my least favourite item was the Bangus Belly Sinigang. This was a soup made of milkfish and mixed vegetables in a sour tamarind soup base. I found the bangus to be fishy while the soup itself was far too sour. I realize that this soup is meant to be sour, but this was a bit much (even with the awesome garlic rice). The last of our savoury items was the Seafood Palabok. It included thick noodles, mixed seafood ground in palabok sauce, tinapa, green onions, ground pork rinds and a hard boiled egg. I thought the noodles had a nice bite while being saucy at the same time. The whole thing naturally had a seafood taste to it, especially the tinapa.
By this point, I was pretty stuff and not really all that interested in dessert. But Choobee pulled her best Mijune impersonation (sans the heels) and ordered 3 items starting with the Halo-Halo. Translated, it means "mix" and that it was with assorted beans, jellies, sweetened banana, jackfruit, macapuno strings, leche flan, pinipig, ube halaya and ice cream. After combining all of the ingredients, I found this one to be not overly sweet and refreshing. Next up was the Leche Flan which looked like a creme caramel, but much denser due to the use of condensed milk and more egg yolks. This was very rich and sweet, hence I could only have a few bites.
Lastly, we tried the Sansrival which consisted of almond meringue topped off with tiny bits of chopped almond and butter cream. Again, I found this rather heavy (due to the cream) but it was not too sweet. Personally, I liked the Halo-Halo the best. In terms of the entire meal, I thought some of the dishes were very good while others I've either had better or I just wasn't that fond of. Yet overall, it was reasonably-price served in a fairly nice environment.
