Dasarang Chicken

Originally, Milhouse and I were going for ramen after Sunday morning hockey.  But JuJu threw out a suggestion that we should try some Korean fried chicken at Dasarang on North Road.  That sounded great as it had been on my wish list for years now.  However, JuJu wasn't joining us...  Something about spending time with his family...  pfffft...  Didn't matter to us as we still headed there with the intention of ordering too much food.

With that firmly planted in our minds, we ended up ordering the half and half of the regular Fried Chicken and Yangnyeon Chicken.  We found the regular to crispy on the outside while succulent and well-seasoned on the inside.  The best analogy would be Church's Fried Chicken, except not as salty.  As for the spicy, it was sticky and sweet with only a touch of heat.  The chicken was similar to the regular, but more wet due to the sauce.  Of course that wouldn't be enough food right?  Well, not for us as at least.  We also had something similar in the Chicken Tang Soo Yuk.   Each large nugget of chicken was moist with only a modest layer of batter.  It was sweet and spicy, but a bit more spicy than the previous dish.

Lastly, we had the Pineapple Fried Rice.  I wasn't a huge fan of it because it was too wet and rather lifeless in flavour. It didn't seem like there was enough wok heat (and/or the rice was too wet to begin with). Although not super greasy, the rice went down a touch oily.  Since I wanted to try a few more dishes, I returned one day for lunch by myself.  Guess who was already there?  Yes, JuJu...  Isn't that ironic, don't you think?  Well, I got the Kimchi Fried Rice to see if the aforementioned dish was a one-off.  Well, it wasn't.  This fried rice was very greasy and ate as such.  On the other hand, it was flavouful with just the right amount of spice and acidity.  The rice was chewy as well.

I also got the Fishcake Soup Noodles and boy was it a large bowl.  Steaming hot and full of slippery (somewhat soft) noodles, this would be really satisfying if it were Winter.  Alas, it was 30 degrees outside...  Anyways, the soup base was light and a bit sweet (while lacking depth) where the various fishcake ensured that I would be full. So from my 2 visits to Dasarang, it is pretty clear they make some good fried chicken.  However, the rest of the food is pretty average.

The Good:
- Tasty fried chicken
- Despite being sparse, the service was decent both times

The Bad:
- Everything other than the fried chicken that I tried was average
- Service okay, but limited to one person

Meat City Sandwiches

What if I told you that there is a place where streets are lined with prime rib and it rains roast pork?  How about the only vegetables in existence are breaded and fried?  This either sounds like utopia for some or a complete nightmare for vegetarians/vegans.  Welcome to Meat City where the streets aren't really lined with prime rib, but we can only dream right?  Located on Davie, Meat City Sandwiches is the brainchild of onetime BC Lion and former contestant on Masterchef Canada, Jon Hameister-Ries.  Milhouse and I decided to check the place out after a session of Sunday morning hockey.

We noticed that the best way to try everything on the menu was to go for their World Platter for 2 consisting of Roast Porchetta, Roast Chicken and Slow Roasted Prime Rib.  Rounding out the platter was House-made Kettle Chips, Chili-Lime Corn on the Cob, Fried Green Beans & Aspargus, Mac n' Cheese, sauces and bread.  In our opinion, $30.00 is a fair price for the amount of food.  I went straight for the Prime Rib first and since it was predominantly the cap portion, the meat was fatty and super tender.  There was very little chewing needed as it almost melted in our mouths.  It was amply seasoned, so it could stand on its own, but at the same time it went well with the Horsy Mustayo (as it provided a mild bite and tang).  Next, we dug into the whole Roast Chicken Leg that had been brined for 2 days.  As such, it was succulent and flavourful.  One by-product of the super tender meat, the chicken skin wasn't rendered enough.  The sauce that went the best with this were the Smoky Onion Chickenaise and Spinach Artichoke Sauce. 

The last meat we tried was the Porchetta and it was only mildly fatty.  It wasn't exactly melt-in-our mouths tender, but it was tender nonetheless.  Again, it was well-seasoned where the side of Swinesa Verde added a garlicky and herb essence.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any crackling (as with the sandwich).  All of the aforementioned sauces were good for the Homemade Chips including the Garlic Dip.  These thick-cut potato chips were firmly crunchy and nicely seasoned.  Equally crunchy, the Fried Beans and Asparagus were coated with just enough breading (which stayed adhered to each piece).  My favourite side was the Chili-Lime Corn which featured intense flavours from the spicy salt with a touch of lime at the end.  On the other hand, the corn was a bit dry.  The big bowl of Mac n' Cheese was super buttery with clumps of intermittent cheese.  The noodles were a touch soft while the ample crumble added texture.  Believe it or not, we finished the platter (well, Milhouse did most of the heavy lifting).  The pork could've been more succulent, but most of the other items were pretty good.  Lastly, it would've been nice if someone provided descriptions of what was exactly on the platter (especially the sauces).

The Good:
- Sides were not bad
- Prime rib and chicken on point
- Okay pricing

The Bad:
- Porchetta could be more succulent
- Corn could be less dry

Chongqing Qinma Hot Pot

While we were dining at Chicha the previous week, the look on Boss Woman's face was akin to foodie being stuck at Knight & Day.   However, it had nothing to do with the food as it was pretty tasty.  The real reason was that she wanted to do hot pot and with impending warmer days ahead, the window was closing fast.  So with rain in the forecast, I decided to buy a Groupon for Chongqing Qinma Hot Pot in Richmond.  Hey, why not give Boss Woman something to smile about and save a bit of cash.

Since it was a Monday evening, the large 2nd floor restaurant was fairly empty.  Strangely, this didn't translate to attentive service.  Somehow, the servers were far and few in-between.  Now they weren't rude or anything, they were just absent.  Onto the food, we decided to go for the Half-and-Half Broth consisting of Pork Bone and Spicy.  Both were fairly salty, but okay since we were dunking bland items into it.  The spicy half was pretty potent with quite a few Szechuan peppercorns.  Unlike the frozen ones we had at Chubby Lamb, the Meatballs here were freshly made and were fairly decent.  Interestingly, the beef meatballs were not over-processed, hence they retained some natural chewiness, which was welcomed.

Onto the meats, we got a pretty large plate of Beef which looked appealing.  These were sliced thin and cooked up quickly.  The meat was fairly tender (dependent on us removing it immediately).  We also got a plate each of the Fatty Beef, Lamb and Pork as well.  Yup, the fatty beef pretty much lived up to its name, but in reality, we would've much preferred marbled beef rather than the large strip of fat in the middle of the slices of beef.  Also sliced thin, the lamb emulated the beef by being soft and moist assuming we didn't leave it in the boiling broth too long.  On the other hand, the slices of lean pork were a bit drier and chewier, even if we paid close attention to the cooking process.  

Moving away from red meat, we had a plate that consisted of a mish mash of items including Deboned Chicken Claws, Cuttlefish, Squid, Tendon, Quail Eggs, Squid, Chicken Wings and Tripe.  I guess they wanted to construct a plate of differing shades of white.  Of note, the wings turned out to be pretty succulent while the tripe was surprisingly soft (due to proper rinsing and tenderization).  I enjoyed the chicken claws, but they weren't really deboned completely as I got some surprise bones.  The next plate was simple with Kiwi Mussels, White Shrimp and Oysters.  The mussels were the typical frozen variety which could've been defrosted a bit more.  There was nothing amiss with the oysters and shrimp as they cooked up nicely with the expected textures.

Other than some veggies (which I didn't bother taking pictures of), we got a plate that included Tofu, Tofu Puffs, Woodear Mushrooms, Bean Curd Stick and Fresh Noodles.  Nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary nor interesting with these items other than the noodles, as they were chewy and a bit doughy.  Of course, I had to get an order of the Beef Tongue because what's hot pot without tongue?  Well, these were sliced thin and cooked up relatively tender (chewy side of tender).  However, it was a chore finding them as they shrunk to small little bits.  Overall, we were satisfied with the hot pot at Chongqing Qinma.  It didn't stand out amongst its peers in Richmond, but didn't fail either.  Service was okay, but rather inattentive.  Also, the restaurant could've use a slight cleaning.

The Good:
- Flavourful broth
- Nothing particularly amiss

The Bad:
- Slow service
- Restaurant could be cleaner

Mui Garden (Main Street)

It's been awhile since Bam Bam has played for our softball team.  In fact, he hasn't been out all season due to his archery class.  Archery class?  Maybe he should change his name to Robin Hood and wear green tights.  Yes, that would be a sight to see, much like the Kardashians at Nobu in L.A..  Anyways, he finally made it out to a game and brought along Maid Marion, er..  I mean Pebbles.  I immediately asked the most important question, "where are we eating afterwards?".  She remarked that a burger would be nice, so we headed off to Splitz Grill on Main.  Well, that was an epic fail as they were already closed as of 8:00pm.  Looking across the street, we decided on Mui Garden as our backup plan.

After the complimentary daily soup, we dived right into our 8 dishes starting with the Hainanese Chicken complete with 2 buckets of chicken oil rice.  Although it was the lean free-range variety, the meat was still succulent while sporting a nice layer of gelatin and gelatinized skin.  The half chicken was rather meaty and large while sporting enough seasoning.  Our 2 buckets of rice had a nice nutty and chewy quality with only a moderate amount of salt.  If we were going to have one of their 2 signature items, we weren't going to get out of there without the Curry Beef Brisket.  Despite being a curry, this Malay version featured a significant amount of coconut milk to make the whole thing mild and creamy.  A bit small in size, the chunks of brisket were sufficiently moist and fatty.

At first, I was hesitant to order the Braised Pork Belly with pickled mustard greens.  Hey, it's not the most healthiest of options!  Well, was I ever wrong as the group devoured it from the start.  Although the dish lacked colour and overall depth, the pork belly itself was on point being meaty with just enough fat to keep things moist and rich.  There was enough sweet soy and salty tartness (from the mustard greens) to flavour the dish.  Onto another hot pot item, we had the Fish & Tofu Hot Pot.  It was a very well-executed dish where the big filets of fish were fried beautifully.  The meat was super flaky and moist while sporting on a very thin layer of batter.  With just enough oyster-based sauce to coat all of the ingredients, the seasoning was bang on.

Moving onto some veggies, we had the classic Gai Lan with Beef.  This was glistening much like a pubescent boy's forehead.  However, this also meant there was a good amount of wok heat that kept the moisture level to a minimum.  Hence, the gai lan stalks were vibrant and crunchy.  The sparse amount of sliced beef was properly tenderized and amply seasoned. I enjoyed this dish, but the oil content was rather excessive.  Next, the 4 Seasons Green Beans were also respectable.  Properly oil-blanched where the beans were fully cooked, they still maintained a fresh crunch.  With enough wok heat that resulted in caramelized flavours, it also kept the dish dry (which is a good thing).  Again, the dish was seasoned nicely with some spice to go along with the salty and briny dried shrimp.

Since I value my life, I got the Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp for Boss Woman because she loves the dish (even without any prompting).  A bit pale in colour, the eggs were on the wetter side.  Therefore, the dish was soft and a touch lifeless.  With that being said, the flavours were good while the shrimp were mostly crunchy.  Lastly, for the benefit of Milhouse, I got an order of the Sweet & Sour Pork.  Obviously refried, the chunks of pork were a touch dry and chewy.  As for the sauce, it was rather sweet due to the pineapple and lychee.  There was also too much of it as it drowned the pork. Although the last 2 dishes were pretty average, the meal as a whole was decent and reasonably-priced.  Not bad for a backup meal of sorts.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced for the portion size
- Surprisingly good service

The Bad:
- Some dishes could use more refinement, but okay nonetheless
- Restaurant a bit run down

IcePik Shavery

Due to the recent heat wave in Vancity, people have been figuring out ways to stay cool.  With A/C units practically rolling out the door as they were rolled in, Costco and Canadian Tire have been doing pretty good business.  I guess hanging out at the mall or playing ice hockey are several ways to beat the heat, but snacking on cold desserts is another option.  Sure, we got gelato, ice cream, screamers, bubble tea, slushees and the other usual cold treats, but one that is beginning to gain traction is shaved ice.  Now this is not anything new in California as I saw many last Summer, but for Vancouver, we can be a bit slow catching on.

After dining on mediocre Tawainese fare at Kick S Good, we traveled down Kingsway to Icepik Shavery for some jacked up shaved ice. Bear went for something simple in the Vanilla shaved ice with strawberry and lychee popping pearls. Since the ice was shaved so fine, it took on an almost creamy texture while remaining fluffy.  It was lightly sweet which allowed the strawberries and pearls to do their thing.  For myself, I had the Green Tea shaved ice with mochi, grass jelly, mango and lychee jelly.  Again, it wasn't very sweet with only a light green tea essence.  I liked how the mochi balls were a fair size and appealingly chewy.  The diced mango was nicely ripe and sweet which helped flavour the dessert as well as the lychee jelly.

Milhouse went for something different in the Mint shaved ice with mochi, oreo crumble, chocolate chips and grape jelly.  I was surprised at the refreshing quality of the mint ice.  Initially, I ordered the green tea instead of the mint because I thought it would be overpowering.  It wasn't and in fact, very light in flavour.  Therefore, it went well with the sweeter ingredients.  Overall, we enjoyed the shaved ice at IcePik.  They were lightly sweet, airy and refreshing.

The Good:
- Light and creamy shaved ice
- Not too sweet
- Appealing toppings

The Bad:
- Not expensive, but not cheap either
- Lack of seating

Li'l Cheese Steak Spot

The mall food court - a collection of eateries that usually include the following: Japanese teppanyaki, a burger chain, Chinese combo #5, sandwiches, juice bar, slice pizza and french fry joint.  Depending on the size, there will naturally be more options.  But really, it is generally much of the same.  However, with an invite to try out Li'l Cheese Steak Spot in Royal Centre, there appeared to be something different on the horizon.  As per usual, I enlisted the help of Sean to help me in this adventure.

We started off with some salads to whet our palates.  Of the 2, I enjoyed the Black-Eyed Peas the best as it combined onions, olives and cilantro finished with olive oil and lemon juice.  Although super simple, it was appealingly acidic and salty (due to the olives).  As for the Tomato Salad, it consisted of tomatoes, onions and cilantro with olive oil and lemon juice.  This one was much milder and lighter due to the ingredients.  From this I headed straight for the Gumbo made of okra, chicken and smoked sausage atop white rice.  This was a little less rich than other versions I've tried but it was still hearty nonetheless (I'm sure a darker rue might scare some people off).  There was a bevy of ingredients that made this fulfilling.  Flavours were slightly smoky with only a touch of spice.

Moving onto the main event, we sampled both the Beef Cheesesteak and Roast Pork Sandwich.  Believe it or not, we liked the Roast Pork more as it felt more hearty and impactful.  It was dressed with melted cheese, grilled onions, fresh tomatoes, pesto and banana peppers on a hand-made roll.  The pork itself was meaty and tender exhibiting a nice natural flavour.  I thought the ingredients accented well except for the peppers as they were pretty acidic (maybe less of them or none at all?).  While the Cheese Steak was named as such, I considered it more of a shaved prime rib sandwich.  With that in mind, it was a solid sandwich with melt-in-my-mouth beef that was nestled in melted cheese.  Again, I would've enjoyed this even more with less banana peppers (so that the beef and cheese could stand out more).  Overall, I enjoyed the freshly made food at Li'l Cheeses Steak.  It sure beats the deli meats next door at Subway.

*All food was complimentary*

The Good:
- Freshly made-to-order sandwiches
- Meats are good quality

The Bad:
- I would ditch the banana peppers personally (interferes with the natural flavours)

Kick S Good

*Restaurant now closed*

What's in a name?  On the surface, Kick S Good doesn't look much different than Alfred E Neuman (What me worry?).  No, I'm not talking about a freckled faced dude, I'm referring to the middle initial, much like Johnny B Goode.  But upon further examination and reading the name over again, one can make out the real meaning (as in Kick A** Good).  Well, with a name like that, the food better be killer or related to a movie.  Or maybe they specialize in offal?  Whatever the case, we checked it out after our Friday night hockey game.

Being a Taiwanese spot, I decided to go for the classic Fried Squid Tentacles to start. These were firmly crunchy with a slightly oily exterior.  The tentacles were fairly well-seasoned with salt and white pepper.  I didn't even use the sweet chili sauce on the side (not sure if that would even taste good in this case).  For my main, I had the Chicken Steak with black pepper sauce on a sizzling cast iron plate.  This was a large portion of succulent chicken with overcooked spaghetti, crunchy broccoli and a fried egg.  As much as I enjoyed the ample chicken on the plate, the sauce killed the dish.  It was as if they decided to make it into black pepper candy.  The whole thing was far too sugary.

Milhouse went for his standard being the Sweet & Sour Fish (he loves S&S like white BMWs love fender benders in Richmond).  Crunchy on the outside while still flaky and moist on the inside, the basa filets were on point.  We found the sweet & sour sauce to be more sugary than sour though.  Benz had the Satay Beef Hot Pot and it was another large portion of food.  I sampled the broth and it was plenty flavourful but a tad sweet (was there a sale on sugar or something?).  At least there was a noticeable spice level that helped take away from the sugar.  On a more positive note, the ample slices of beef were fairly tender.

On another visit with Milhouse and Bear, we decided to share some items (yay!) beginning with the Crispy Chicken Nuggets.  If you were wondering why was there only one small piece of fried basil on top, well I was wondering the same thing.  I actually had to dig it out to put on top.  As for the nuggets, there were decent being juicy with a light crunch (and skinless).  There was definitely enough seasoning, yet it was mostly salt.  Next, we had the Fried Preserved Duck Eggs with a light drizzle of oyster-based sauce.  This was merely passable since the eggs were really firm and didn't take on any "cooked" quality.  I would've preferred the softer yolk eggs instead.

For our mains, we went for the classic Beef Noodle Soup. We decided to go for the medium spicy version and with a dollop of chili hot oil, there was no absence of kick.  However, beyond that, the soup base itself was weak with very little distinguishing flavours.  There was no depth nor meat flavour present.  The noodles were good though as well as the tender (if not a touch dry) slices of beef shank.  Milhouse was amused with the Gollum Mountain Chicken Nuggets with rice, so he wanted to see how it was.  Well, there was nothing "precious" about the dish, but it was flavourful with a wok toss in chilis, onions and Szechuan peppercorns.  The chicken was no longer crispy, but the meat was tender.

Bear decided to order the same Chicken Steak with black pepper sauce and rice (instead of spaghetti).  Well, despite being a duplicate, it allowed us to check out the consistency.  Sadly, the sauce was just as weak as before which meant it didn't taste right.  The chicken was still juicy, but seared a bit more this time around.  Overall, we found the food after 2 visits to Kick S Good to be more like "mediocre" rather than its namesake.  Unfortunately, Cattle Cafe is only 2 stores down and if we had to compare, Kick S Good isn't as well, good.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Okay pricing
- Free parking

The Bad:
- Mediocre eats
- Seating is odd due to the shape of the restaurant