Sushi King House (Granville)

Softball for me...  is dangerous.  For all the hockey I play, I seem to be in harms way a whole lot more during a softball game.  From the time that Ketchup mangled my finger to the time I was in a violent collision at first base, I am softball's version of Sami Salo.  Well, add another injury to the list as I was left with a fat bleeding lip.  In his first game back from hibernation, Bear threw a ball high into the air which I subsequently lost in the Sun resulting in a softball meeting my face.  Yah, there was blood everywhere and my eating adventures lay in the balance.  Good news I didn't loose any teeth nor was I concussed.  Better yet, I believed that I could still go out to eat afterwards.  Hey no injury can prevent me from eating!  I need to eat through the pain...

So with a lip that would rival Angelina Jolie, I suggested we hit up Sushi King House nearby because plopping sushi into my mouth seemed like the least painful alternative. Bear started with the large order of Gomae which was decent.  Loved how there wasn't some goupy sweet syrup on top.  His plate of Nigiri was an indication of what was to come.  The piece of tamago practically dwarfed the gummy sushi rice.  Sometimes more is actually less.  That would be the best way to describe the Salmon & Tuna Sashimi as each slice was massive.  Nothing particularly wrong with the fish, but the large slices made eating them cumbersome and far too dense.  The best analogy is beef carpaccio.  Would a thicker slice necessarily make it better?

Not looking particularly attractive or well-made, the Dragon Roll was, you guessed it, large. Yet, there was too much of that gummy rice, hence, each piece was cumbersome to eat.  When we picked it up with our chopsticks, it fell apart on contact.  On the positive side of the ledger, the individual components such as the imitation crab, avocado and generous amount of unagi were fine though.  The same could not be said about the Chopped Scallop Roll.  Judes thought that the scallop was fishy while the textures were wrong.  The main contributor of the textural issues was the same gummy rice which was used aggressively.  She ate one piece and that was it.

Onto some cooked food, Judes and Boss Woman both had the Tonkatsu which came with salad, rice and miso soup. We were pretty surprised at the inclusion of 2 cutlets, especially for $7.95.  Unfortunately, the meat was chewy and not moist at all.  At the very least it was crispy on the outside.  In addition to sharing the sashimi and dragon roll, Milhouse and I had the Chicken Yakisoba as well.  Much like the tonkatsu, we were amazed at the portion size considering it only cost $6.95.  In actuality, it resembled a Chinese stir-fry more than a yakisoba, but it was okay nonetheless.  The noodles were a touch soft while the cabbage and carrots were crisp.  The fried chicken cutlet on top was moist and tender.

Lastly, we had the Prawn Tempura (which our server neglected to write down) which was completely wrong in our books.  Resembling over-battered fried prawns you'd find at a cheap buffet with a sauce that tasted like sweet & sour, it pretty much summed up our meal - the food ain't authentic.  Now we have no prejudices against unauthentic food, but it has to be prepared properly and taste good. This was generally not the case here.  But if you like low prices with large portions, this may be the place for you.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Large portions
- Fairly responsive service

The Bad:
- Unauthentic (in a bad way)

Kenzo

Okay, I'm sure with most blogs (including this one), you heard the intro sounding like this: "I've always driven by this place and really wanted to try it...".  Sure it's cliched and ultimately boring, but for this time, it was completely true.  I've literally driven by Kenzo out in Burnaby hundreds of times without stopping to try it out.  Finally, the day had come.  Even with protests from Viv (because she heard it was so-so) and a somewhat illegal traffic maneuver (kinda impossible to get into the parking lot from Griffiths),  I stopped the car and marched into the restaurant. And quite evidently, it is a Korean-run Ramen joint (with many Korean offerings as well).

Since the kiddies are in complete fascination with Prawn Tempura these days, I got an order. These were large, butterflied and ultimately decent. They were crunchy and not overly greasy.  Only complaint was the obvious residue of the veins.  I had the Shio Ramen and it was a decent portion.  The broth was not very salty being on the lighter side (I believe it was made of chicken).  It would never be mistakened for a true Japanese ramen not only for the broth, but for the overcooked boiled egg and the slightly chewy chashu.  Viv had the Kimchi Ramen and by virtue of kimchi seasoning, it was more flavourful.  It wasn't particularly spicy, but it did have a mild kick.  Much like my bowl of ramen, the noodles were al dente and remained as such to the last strand.

The kiddies shared an Oyako Don, which was not particularly great.  The rice was decent though being chewy and not wet.  However, there wasn't enough sauce to moisten it up.  Furthermore, the chicken was dry and chewy. Well, I gotta admit that Viv was right.  Our visit to Kenzo was so-so.  Not horrible, but nothing we are dying to eat again.  I guess I'll keep on driving by like I usually do.

The Good:
- Friendly staff
- Okay pricing

The Bad:
- Food is "meh"

Kumare

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

Itadakimasu Izakaya

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)

Mei Jan Hong

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

The Juice Truck

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