Chicha

Sometimes, I believe we go through certain themes when it comes to our food adventures after Monday night softball.  We went through the dumpling phase one year and then moved onto hot pot (not sure why since it was Summer...).  This year, we've only played a handful of games, but for the second time, we hit up a Latin restaurant in Chicha.  Mind you, if this trend continues, I'm not sure if there are enough Latin restaurants to go around.  As I've said before, Vancouver has a diverse food scene - in Asian food that is...

Seated at the long narrow table at the front, it was a great place to hang out, but not so much when it came to plate management. Thankfully, they expedited our dishes in a timed and orderly fashion.  For starters, we had the Plantain Chips and Papas Fritas.  Light and crunchy, the plantain chips were not greasy to the touch.  The accompanying trio of aji sauces was a nice combination of heat (aji pepper), herbs (cilantro) and creaminess. Well-executed, the Kennebec potato fries were crispy with rocoto chili. On the side, the Peruvian tartar sauce was chunky and creamy with a touch of spice.

Onto some daily features, we dug into the Baby Back Ribs with orange aji panca glaze with green beans and maple bacon potato salad.  Sweet, sticky and a bit spicy, the ribs were fall-off-the bone tender.  Underneath, there was a cold potato salad that exhibited a sweet tang to go along with the firm crunch of the green beans. We also had the Chicken & Waffles featuring fried chicken breast, yuca waffle, bacon jam and maple syrup.  We found the waffle to be dense, yet not heavy.  It was almost like a bread pudding when combined with the sweet gravy.  Essentially chicken strips, the fried chicken was moist with a super light breading.

Strangely resembling a poutine, the Lomo Saltado consisted of Pemberton Meadows beef, kennebec fries, red onion, peppers and tomato.  Although the slices of beef were on point in terms of doneness as well as being succulent, there was very little of it.  With the listed ingredients, the flavours reflected their presence with tangy sweetness.  The fries remained crunchy due to the limited amount of "sauce". Our one vegetarian item was the Tacu Tacu de Locra de Zapallo which was crispy lima bean cakes, butternut squash stew, Parmesan and fried quail egg. I found the lima bean cakes to be firm and chewy.  As much as I enjoyed the sweet squash, this plate was missing something (oh yeah...  meat!).

Ending off the savoury items, we had the Arroz con Pato featuring Yarrow Meadows duck confit, coriander and dark beer rice. Fork tender and well-seasoned with a nicely rendered skin, the duck was well-executed. As for the rice, it was firm, yet saucy with a mild background hoppiness.  To fulfill the dessert quota (because Bear was in the house), we had the Picarone or sweet potato and pumpkin Peruvian donuts with spiced honey and raspberry sauce.  Part fritter and part cruller, these donuts were super crispy with a light fluffy interior.  There was just enough honey for sweetness while the raspberry sauce added the necessary tartness.  In the end, we were pretty satisfied with the food at Chicha.  Yah, it's not really Peruvian food, but they do admit to being "Peruvian-inspired".  On that note, they do succeed.

The Good:
- Decent eats
- Okay pricing
- Hip

The Bad:
- Smallish portions
- Not Peruvian, for those food snobs

Cockney Kings

Devo loves poutine. If possible, he could have it for breakfast, second breakfast (like Merry and Pippin), lunch and dinner.  Oh and as a snack as well.  So it wasn't a surprise when I asked him what he wanted to eat that he suggested the Spud Shack.  Unfortunately, we arrived far too early for its opening time of 12:00pm.  We could see all those delicious frites being prepared, but we couldn't have any!  Undeterred, we went to the nearby Cockney Kings instead.

Despite my desire to order the halibut, my inner-Chinese came out and we opted for the AYCE Pollock and Chips instead.  Yes, pollock is nowhere near halibut, but for $10.00 including bottomless soft-drink, it was too good to pass up.  Despite being associated with imitation crab meat, the pollock was actually decent.  It was fried up just enough where it retained a good amount of moisture and flakiness akin to Pacific cod.  Light, mostly crispy and not overly greasy, the thin batter did not overwhelm the filets of fish.  As much as we were dismayed at missing out on the Spud Shack, the fries here were good.  Golden and gently crispy on the outside, it revealed a soft potato texture inside.  The tartar sauce was creamy and slightly tart.

I decided to get a Seafood Chowder for good measure and it was more thick and brothy than creamy.  There was a definite fish taste to the soup as evidenced by the good amount of ingredients.  Personally, I much prefer either a creamy Boston chowder or a Manhattan-style over this version.  But when it came to the actual fish n' chips, it was more-than-acceptable for a reasonable price.

The Good:
- Properly executed fish n' chips
- Decent service
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Not a huge fan of the chowder
- Quite busy during peak hours

Chatime (Broadway)

Bubble tea, the thing that I considered a fad when it first hit our city, has continued to thrive despite the competition.  Most, if not all are pretty decent with only a few exceptions.  With the aforementioned competition, those that suck are weeded out pretty quickly (like the one in Tsawwassen).  But when one closes up shop, there are usually a few more that appear out-of-nowhere (sorta like Hydra...).  One of the newest is Chatime that happens to be the #1 bubble tea franchise in the world.  I was invited out by ChineseBites to try out a few drinks at their Broadway location.

For myself, I wanted to go for something different in the Lychee Yogurt QQ with pearls.  I requested 1/4 sweet and it still turned out pretty sugary.  With that said, it did taste good though with the classic Chinese yogurt drink taste.  So it wasn't overly tart due to the sweetness.  As for the pearls, they were nicely chewy and were not affected by the cold beverage.  Viv decided on the Passionfruit Green Tea with coconut jelly.  She went for regular sweet and it was really sweet, especially with the coconut jelly.  The drink itself was refreshing and since they don't use powders, the flavour was not candy-like.

My daughter went for her standby being the Mango Smoothie with rainbow jelly and half sweet.  We found the smoothie to be blended quite nicely where there weren't any big ice granules. It was pretty sweet, but tasted like mangoes.  I guess the plethora of rainbow jelly enhanced the sugar-level.  While we were there, we had bumped into Sean and I was able to try his Roasted Milk Tea with grass jelly.  For me, this was the best of the bunch with balanced sweetness and an appealing milkiness.  The slightly bitter grass jelly paired wonderfully with the sweet drink.  So as much as there are far too many bubble tea places in town, Chatime fits in nicely with the better ones.  Love the customization options and the overall large selection.

*All drinks were comped courtesy of ChineseBites*

The Good:
- Plenty of customization options
- Lots of choice
- No use of powders

The Bad:
- Quite sweet, even with 1/4 option

Breka Bakery & Cafe

After spending 2 hours at One Under, it looked like we were about to call it a night.  Well, that was not until Sweet Tooth spoke out.  You see, she loves desserts (as her name would suggest) and with a limited dessert menu at One Under, she just wasn't satisfied.  Therefore, we ended up traveling a fair distance to Breka Bakery & Cafe out on Fraser near 49th to get our sweet fix.  Strange decision because there are two in Downtown...

For myself, I wasn't done with the savoury items yet and started with a Fresh Tomato & Basil Bisque with a side of pumpernickel bread.  This was loaded with a considerable amount of ingredients including fresh tomatoes, cream, garlic, ginger, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, celery, carrots, orange peel, crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, dried basil, thyme, nutmeg, sea salt and pepper.  As a result, the flavours were complex and trended towards tart and aromatic.  I liked the chunky texture as well as the viscosity of the soup.  In terms of dessert, I went for the Black Forrest Cake. As much as it didn't look like anything, the cake was good and easy on the sugar.  Hence, the flavours were not super impactful, but the soft texture of the cake with the fresh whipped cream and cherry gel was pleasant enough.

Sweet Tooth ended up with the Mango Mousse Cake which was also conservative with the sweetness level.  That suited us just fine as too many places replace actual flavours with sugar.  The mousse was light and airy where the aroma of mango was present.  Again, there was modest impact, but still okay nonetheless.  Thick, rich and almost like a ganache, the Chocolate Mousse Cake was the opposite of the mango mousse cake.  Where one was light and mildly flavoured, this one was sweeter with hits of slight bitterness.  As mentioned, it was smooth and rich.  These 2 desserts ate better than they looked (not that they were ugly, but they were just unassuming and inexpensive).

I also decided to get a few items to go including the Croissant, which also looked rather ordinary.  However, it was good for what it was.  Now, I'm not saying it can compete with French bakeries such as L'Opera or Beaucoup, but it was still flaky with some laminating.  Inside, it was soft and airy with an appealing chew.  Again, not gonna compete with the big boys, but it did the trick.  Lastly, I got the Carrot Walnut Muffin which was only sufficiently sweet.  It was moist, fluffy, yet still dense in a good way.  There was definitely carrot to be found inside while the crunch of the nuts on top added texture.  Okay, some of you bakery snobs might be wondering why I'm saying nice things about Breka.  Well, for what it is, the stuff is solid and well-priced.  Works for us at 2:00am in the morning.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Good for what it is
- Friendly people

The Bad:
- Can't compete with the more ritzy patisseries in town (but wasn't meant to)
- This location could use a refresh

Pearl Castle (Continental Centre)

Like the hyped-up expectation of the new Star Wars movie, we see another installment in the ChineseBites trilogy.  For the longest time, it seemed a squeal was not in the works, but alas, we are back with some more food adventures.  No, Disney didn't swoop in and buy CB out, but here we are again.  This time it was the Summer menu launch at Pearl Castle Richmond. Most of the same cast has returned including Amy, Sean, Diana, Grace and myself (Rick too, but not in attendance).  We welcomed some new cast members including Joyce, Eating with Kirby, SeaPotato and Mashed Thoughts.

We were served an array of Bubble Teas including 3 that could pass for multi-coloured Minions (did Universal buy CB out then?).  The 3 in the back row with cotton candy (pink one destroyed due to impatience... LOL) were Sunset Love, Blue Sky and Young Girl's Dream <insert joke here>.  In front (L to R), they were Pudding Milk Tea, Coconut Red Bean, Peach Lemon Green Tea, Green Tea Red Bean, Traditional Black Tea, Wintermelon, Green Latte, Fresh Taro Green Milk Tea and Roasted Rice Latte.  I had the Peach Lemon Green Tea and it was refreshing, lightly sweet and tart.

Onto the food, it came fast and furious starting with the Taiwanese Sausage and Fried Fish Cake.  I've had both dishes before on previous visits and these were on point once again.  Beyond the chewy exterior skin, the meat inside the sausage was juicy and sweet.  The accompanying dip added the necessary balancing saltiness.  In big slices, the plump fish cakes were fried just enough that the outside was crispy while the inside was not dried out.  The light dusting of 5-spice added the typical flavours while not being overwhelming.

Next, we sampled the Fried Tofu with sweet soy dip and kimchi.  Firmly crunchy and remaining adhered until the last bite, the batter was nicely seasoned.  The extra toss of 5-spice added the usual aromatics as well as a shot of flavour.  Inside, the tofu remained soft and silky.  Presented as abalone mushrooms, we surmised that these were actually Deep Fried King Oyster Mushrooms.  The mushrooms were served with 2 dips including a house special sauce and seafood sauce.  Similarly to the other deep fried dishes, the mushrooms were the beneficiary of a firmly crunchy exterior.  Yup, the 5-spice was there once again and also a good amount of salt.  I liked the house special sauce more as it seemed to have this sweet and salty thing going on.

This was the calm before the food storm as everything starting arriving all at once.  I took a scoop of the Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice (which happens to be one of their new menu items).  The dish was definitely kissed by enough wok heat to create a nuttiness as well as caramelization of the ingredients.  There was plenty of cold-water shrimp, pineapple and unfortunately slivered white onions. I felt the onions were too large in size and undercooked.  The Kimchi Seafood Udon was plenty impactful due to the amount of kimchi.  This resulted in a heightened spice level as well as moisture.  There was actually only a modest amount of udon hidden within the kimchi and well-prepared seafood.

A visit to a Taiwanese restaurant would not be complete without an order of the 3 Cup Chicken, so it was no surprise to see it at the table.  The ample amount of succulent dark meat was glazed with the usual flavours.  I thought it could've used a bit more tang, but in the end, there was more than enough impact from the caramelized sweetness as well as sesame oil.  Strangely, I was drawn to the side of vermicelli and ended up eating 2 more portions from other plates.  Based somewhat on the same dish, the Garlic Sauce Chicken was several notches up on the impact scale.  The chicken was tender and slightly crisp on the outside where it was coated with lots of minced garlic.  In addition to the pungency of the garlic, there was a noticeable level of spice.

We then were presented with the Milk Seafood & Pork Hot Pot. This simple-sounding dish was actually pretty much as described.  The broth was super milky and lightly creamy.  It almost took on an almond milk-type flavour with a balanced sweetness.  There was a good mix of ingredients like Napa cabbage, white shrimp, kiwi mussels, assorted meatballs, fatty sliced pork and mushrooms.  Consisting of the same base ingredients, the Curry Coconut Seafood Hot Pot was much more rich and thicker in viscosity.  Naturally, with coconut, it was more aromatic and fatty while the spice level was quite muted.  

Continuing on with the ridiculous amount of food, we had 2 classics including the Wonton with Chili Sauce.  Although the sauce itself was good with a nice mix of chili oil, soy and sugar, the wontons themselves were pretty average.  I guess the thick dumpling wrapper inhibited the overall texture as wontons are usually delicate.  On that note, the filling was somewhat gritty as well.  On the other hand, the Original Taiwanese Beef Noodle was on point.  It consisted of the classic wide flat noodles that were toothsome.  The chunks of beef were fatty and tender while adequately spiced.  As for the broth, it was flavourful enough with hits of anise and sweetness while not being overly salty.

Getting close to the end, we tried 2 more of their new items including the Marinated Pork with Rice and the Marinated Chicken with Rice.  Both items were similarly presented and prepared.  However, I enjoyed the chicken version more because it was moist and succulent while sporting a sweet soy marinade.  The rice underneath was chewy and on the drier side, which was a good thing as it went well with the wet ingredients.  As for the pork chops, the flavour penetrated as much as the chicken, but the meat itself was more dry.  It was still tender, but naturally less juicy than the chicken.

The most powerful dish of the night was the Spicy Incense Hot Pot complete with seafood, meatballs, pork slices, chili peppers, chili oil and Szechaun peppercorns.  Tongue-numbing and spicy, the heat level wasn't overpowering.  By the same token, it did have considerable impact.  The last dish I tried was the Vegetarian 3-Spice King Mushrooms on Rice.  Similar to the fried mushroom appetizer, this was a stir-fry consisting of a sweet and savoury glaze.  By testing out much of the menu, it was pretty clear to me that the food was more-than-acceptable.  From past experiences, this particular location has been consistently the best out of the 4 and it was clearly on display for this meal.

*All food, beverages and gratuities were comped*

The Good:
- Consistent food
- Good portion-to-price ratio

The Bad:
- Love those Richmond parking lots
- Busy

Nao Sushi

I've always been a fan of the Fast & Furious move franchise.  Sure, the fact that there are some pretty cool cars involved probably didn't hurt.  However, the more recent movies have dared to be bigger and more outrageous than the last.  With the untimely death of Paul Walker, I was pretty interested to see how they would deal with it in the 7th film.  But Viv didn't really feel like going so I convinced Miss Y to tag along.  The last one she watched was Tokyo Drift, which happened to be the perfect lead-in to Furious 7.  Of course we went for eats beforehand at nearby Nao Sushi.

We decided to start off with a couple orders of Oysters on the half-shell.  These were actually quite good with no bits of shell anywhere to be seen.  Furthermore, they were briny, sweet and of a good size.  With a squeeze of lemon, this was as simple, yet enjoyable starter. Continuing on the mollusk theme, we got the Asari Butteryaki featuring plump clams in a buttery broth.  Each and every large clam was open (no bad ones) where they benefited from mildly salty broth.  It was buttery, but not overly so. Again, not an overly complex dish, but good nonetheless.

Moving onto the Appetizer Tempura, it featured 2 ebi along with green pepper, yam and eggplant.  Although the batter was a touch heavy on some pieces, it was nonetheless crispy and surprisingly light.  They also did a good job draining the grease.  Next, we had the Grilled Cuttlefish which was not overly charred. Personally, I prefer a more aggressive char for appearance and an added smokiness.  With an appealing chew, this ate nicely with a squeeze of lemon and a side of mayo.

Onto the Deluxe Assorted Sashimi, it arrived in a large boat with nicely sized and sliced pieces.  They didn't skimp on the content as there was salmon, albacore tuna, hamachi, hokkigai, ebi, maguro, uni and fried shrimp heads.  The highlight was the crispy heads and the small piece of sweet uni.  So far so good until we reached our 2 sushi rolls (Natto Roll and King Crab Roll).  The rice was pretty crappy being dense and mushy.  Unfortunately, this had to the worst prepared sushi rice I've had in a long time.  Beyond the rice, the rolls weren't terrible, but disappointing nonetheless.

Lastly, we had the Chicken Kamameshi served in a sizzling hot pot.  Featuring chewy rice with a crispy crust, there was a significant amount of fairly tender chicken.  With the addition of the pickles, there was a nice balance of sweet, salty and tartness.  This was a good end to a relatively decent meal.  Interestingly, the sushi rice was a complete bust (in epic proportions).  This is no small problem since sushi represents a large portion of the menu.

The Good:
- Decent eats
- Fair portions
- Okay pricing

The Bad:
- Not sure what happened, but the sushi rice was terrible
- Service depends on which server you get