Hastings Sushi

Within hours of returning from Seattle due to some Black Friday shopping (curse that exchange rate!), Costanza and I decided that cooking dinner at our respective homes was not in the cards.  Hence, we met up at a little unassuming sushi joint out on Hastings just East of Boundary.  Aptly named Hastings Sushi, it replaces the underwhelming Little Tokyo Sushi with minor refreshes with the interior and a few new menu items.

We decided to try one of their specials being the Flame Sushi consisting of Tuna and Salmon.  With a good fish-to-rice ratio, the pieces of seared nigiri were decently pleasing to eat.  The sear was rather conservative, so the smokiness was kept to a minimum.  As for there rice, it was a bit dry while still chewy exhibiting a rather bland flavour.  However, the addition of sauce helped alleviate it, but we thought it was a bit too spicy.  Next up, we tried the Assorted Sashimi that featured only slightly bigger-than-normal slices.  This meant they weren't cumbersome to eat while the freshness was definitely there.  The toro was probably our least favourite of the bunch.

Onto some cooked appies, Costanza beat me to the punch and ordered the Chicken Karaage.  This was surprisingly small, but I guess I'm just too used to the oversized portions of other value sushi joints.  This was fairly decent with succulent pieces of chicken coated with a light and crispy batter.  Definitely not traditional, but good nonetheless.  He also got an plate of the Gyoza for his youngest son because he didn't want to eat anything else.  Wow, my son wasn't the pickiest!  Shocking...  Well, these were more like Chinese potstickers as the dumpling skin was rather thin.  There was a nice sear on the bottom with a meaty filling that was mildly seasoned.

For our one specialty roll, we got the Red Dragon Roll consisting of salmon and cucumber topped with spicy salmon and tobiko.  Although not aggressively sauced, I found the roll a bit too spicy with an overuse of sriracha.  Despite this, the salmon was buttery while the rice was chewy and mildly seasoned.  Exhibiting a noticeable amount of sear, the Beef Yakisoba was pretty decent.  It was somewhat dry with a good amount of ingredients albeit the beef was rather chewy.  Flavourwise, it was a good balance of sweet and salty, but I would've liked to see a bit more tanginess.

Lastly for the kiddies, we got the Teriyaki Chicken served with a small amount of rice. As you can see in the picture, there was a good amount of chicken which was fried up crispy on the skin side.  The meat itself was succulent and tender.  There was quite a bit of sweet teriyaki sauce which wasn't as overwhelming as it appeared.  Compared to the restaurant it replaced, Hastings Sushi is relatively better and well-priced.  Although not high on the Japanese restaurant continuum in the GVRD, Hastings Sushi can be considered a convenient neighbourhood Japanese restaurant.

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Nice people
- Okay eats

The Bad:
- Since it is a small operation, food comes out one dish at a time
- Don't expect awesome food, just okay
 

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (Bellevue)

After munching on a seemingly endless selection of eats at Feast Buffet for lunch, we weren't overly hungry for dinner.  Also, with the frigid temperatures outside, it looked more and more like a hot bowl of noodles was the best idea for dinner. Seeing how we had to drop by Goose's house to pick up stuff we ordered, we made a pitstop at the Bellevue location of Hakkaido Ramen Santouka.  Yup, even though it was nearly 9:00pm, there was still a lineup (just like the one in Vancouver).

After a short wait, we got down to ordering and I decided to start with the Chicken 
Karaage.  This was pretty appetizing due to the large pieces being succulent and well-brined.  Although the exterior was not particularly crispy, the coating was thin and easy on the grease.  For my bowl of ramen, I went for the best one on the menu (IMO) being the Toroniku Miso Ramen.  Dunking the fatty pork cheek slices in the hot broth yielded melt-in-my-mouth goodness.  It wasn't only about the texture as the flavour of the pork fat really came through.  Of course the rich and silky miso broth didn't hurt things either.  Firm and chewy, the noodles held up to the hot broth and completed the trifecta of yumminess.

Costanza decided on the Shoyu Ramen with a side of aggressively seared Gyoza.  It was much of the same with a flavourful broth that was a bit less salty and rich than the miso.  Noodles were on point while the fatty pork was not much of a downgrade from the pork cheek.  As dark as the gyoza appeared, they were fine with a firmly crispy bottom and thin dumpling skin.  Inside, the meat was tender and well-seasoned.  Although not evident in the picture, the Ajitama egg was runny, yet slightly too cooked for our tastes.  Overall, this location of Hokkaido Ramen Santouka didn't disappoint where it matched the quality of the one in Vancouver.

The Good:
- Flavorful and silky broth
- Solid eats all around
- Not as cramped as some ramen joints

The Bad:
- Not cheap
- Still busy and you will need to wait

Feast Buffet

Expectations.  That is the key word that may bring more satisfaction to ones' life.  For instance, if you were to watch a Youtube video of traffic in Taipei, then you would be pleasantly surprised at the comparatively relaxing drive down #3 Road in Richmond.  Or how about hoping for a loser point in OT for the Canucks?  Oh a good one would be the fire sale due to another failed American retail store in the GVRD?  You see, it is really all about expectations.  Hence, we went in with no expectations when we visited Feast, yet another Asian buffet in the Seattle area.

Being a brand new building built for the purposes of the buffet, the place is massive with a fairly orderly layout with divided rooms.  As much as there were many similarities between Feast and the rest of the buffets in town, if one looked closely there was more than met the eye (no, there weren't any Decepticons).  Focusing on the usual, we found the fairly large Sushi Bar consisting of various rolls, nigiri and sashimi (even at lunch).  Nothing was particularly awesome, but the stuff held its own with chewy rice (a touch dry) and acceptable quality ingredients.  Right next door to this was the grill station that churned out Japanese teriyaki and skewers.

Usually, the lunch seating for a buffet would see the Carvery Station to be quite bare or not in action at all.  Not here.  There was a selection that included Roast Beef, Ham, BBQ Ribs and Sausage.  With a large fat cap, the roast beef was actually rather tender and somewhat juicy.  I didn't go for the ham nor sausage, but the ribs were okay being fall-off-the-bone tender.  It was doused in too much sweet and vinegary BBQ sauce though.  While I was loading up on meat, Costanza was waiting for his made-to-order Brisket Noodles.  With choice of noodles, soup and ingredients, the Noodle Bar was rather popular.  In fact, he was pretty impressed with the final product as the noodles were chewy and the brisket was tender.

Of course we couldn't ignore the Chinese Food right?  Well, we could've, but I had to try it anyways.  On the plate was Sesame Chicken, Beef & Broccoli.  Right next door was the Seafood section that included Crayfish, Clams, Salmon, Blue Crab and Shrimp.  I've never been a huge fan of crayfish due to the lack of meat (I only had 3).  The clams were good though being plump and cooked just right.  There wasn't a whole lot of seasoning though.  The crab was pretty small and the amount of meat was a bit mushy.  Fried pretty aggressively  the shrimp were a bit dry, but salted enough. 

Now all of this food was pretty decent, especially for a buffet, but the most impressive part was in the center of the place being the Desserts.  As if both soft and hard ice cream with a selection of cakes and pastries weren't enough, there was freshly made Cotton Candy, a fresh Crepe station and Shaved Ice with all the toppings.  They even had made-to-order Bubble Waffles. Oh, and of course there was the obligatory Chocolate Fountain and some weird "scrap your own chocolate pole" (think shawarma-style).  So as much as Constanza had reservations about heading to a buffet for lunch, we came away satisfied based on realistic expectations.

The Good:
- Huge selection
- Decent eats for a buffet
- Lots of seating

The Bad:
- Dinner is pricey
- Dim Sum station is not refilled adequately 

Fortune City Seafood Restaurant

Okay, my previous Dim Sum experience at Fortune City was less-than-impressive.  In fact, it was so forgettable, I didn't bother returning for a revisit until now... 4 years later.  Well, there was probably another factor...  My mother-in-law was present at the last visit and if my memory serves me right, she was being her obnoxious-self.  I'm sure nothing tastes good in that case.  Since we had to hit up T&T for some weekly groceries, we decided to give it another go.

After a short wait, we were seated and the food came out real fast after submitting our checklist.  Of course it had to be the regular appetizer being the Egg Tarts to start.  I must really remember to order that separately, so it comes out last!  These were decent with a buttery crust that wasn't exactly flaky (a little doughy).  Inside, the silky custard was good though being only semi-sweet.  Next up was the Fried Taro Dumplings that was easy on the grease.  However, the result was dry and mealy taro.  Inside, the pork filling was also dry and chewy.

Arriving next was the Bean Curd Skin Rolls that featured a chewy pork filling with shrimp, green onion and carrots.  I liked the bean curd skin as they were fried just enough for an appealing chewiness.  The pork filling was rather meaty with chunks of fat here and there.  I found the flavours to be on the milder side though.  Onto some offal, we had the Tendon and Tripe in satay sauce.  Cut into varying sizes, the tripe was softer than I would've liked.  As for the tendon, the texture was just right being soft without melting away.  The dish was well-seasoned with flavours that weren't overly salty.

As much as the kiddies love Ja Leun, this one was so-so as the salty donut was too dense and not crispy at all.  However, the rice noodle roll was thin and soft.  It wasn't too soft though as it still had some elasticity.  We also liked that the green onion on the outside was distributed evenly.  All this time, my son was whining about when we would get our order of Garlic Shrimp Spring Rolls.  Thankfully it showed up since he was driving us nuts.  These were intermittently crispy with large chunks of whole shrimp inside spiked with a good amount of garlic.  We found the shrimp to be buttery and lightly crunchy.

The same texture could be found in the Haw Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) as well.  Despite being a bit too thick, the dumpling wrapper was nicely chewy with an appealing elasticity.  The shrimp filling featured small whole shrimp mixed with some filler.  It tasted sweet with a fishy shrimp finish.  As much as this could trouble some people, I actually enjoyed the considerable natural shrimp essence.  As for the Sui Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling), it featured small whole shrimp mixed with chunks of chewy pork.  I thought they could've eased up with the pork fat, otherwise, the dumpling was okay with plenty of natural pork flavour.

Prompting Viv to exclaim, "look at those large balls!", the Beef Meatballs were indeed very big.  They featured a mix of hand-chopped beef, green onion and water chestnuts.  Since the meat was less-processed, it took on a more natural meatiness rather than the bounce-like texture found in other versions.  There was a considerable amount of crunchy water chestnuts which complimented the meaty beef.  As usual, we got the Lo Mei Gai (Sticky Rice) which was a bit drier and chewier than usual.  I didn't mind it as some versions are too wet.  Again, there was a natural porkiness to the filling.

My daughter loved the next dish, Stir-Fried Garlic Pea Shoots, partly because it is her favourite and more importantly it was well-prepared.  In a giant heaping mound, the pea shoots were tender while still crunchy.  It was a tad on the greasier side while sporting a considerable amount of diced garlic.  We liked how it was tasty without too much salt.  Lastly, the Steamed Spareribs atop Crystal Noodles was a huge portion.  We found the spareribs to be naturally textured rather than the tenderized bouncy version.  There wasn't nearly enough sparerib juice/marinade to adequately sauce the chewy noodles (even though there was sweet soy provided).   This dish pretty much summed up our meal - well-portioned, but just a smidgen above average.

The Good:
- Large portions
- Relatively decent eats

The Bad:
- Decent, but not without many flaws
- Service can be hit and miss