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*Restaurant is closed*
I've always have had a love hate relationship with fusion cuisine. On one hand, we wouldn't be the beneficiaries of things like Banh Mi and Pho without the French colonization of Vietnam. Yet, on the other, we are often left with garbage Asian food found at such places like the defunct Lower Mainland locations of Rockford. So when the people at Bob Likes Thai Food opened up Thai Confusion in the old location of The Abbey (and before that, ironically Wild Rice), I was curious and amused at the same time with the concept and name.
Well, the Poutine Challenge brought Emily and I out to the newly opened eatery focusing on Thai tapas with a twist. We started off with the Bacon-Wrapped Lychee and Pineapple atop cucumber relish. Although Emily wasn't a huge fan of these, I thought they were decent with a plump (albeit canned) lychee and pineapple encased in a thick piece of rendered and meaty bacon. I'm not sure what type of bacon they used, but the salt content did not really stand up to the sweetness of the lychee. Next was the Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, relish and grilled bread. The chicken was fairly tender and decently charred, however the meat itself was not particularly marinated enough to stand on its own. The sauce was flavourful, yet too sweet and greasy.
Moving along, we decided to sample the Tom Kha with fried curry rice. With a classic galangal coconut milk soup base with basil, lemongrass and lime, the flavours were indeed familiar. However, I felt it could've been more rich as it was rather thin (more coconut milk perhaps?). The sticky rice was fried with red curry paste, lime leaves and sesame. I didn't get much of the 3 aforementioned items, but the texture of the rice was appealing. Something that had more impact in my opinion was the Gai Yang. It was fairly tender with well-rendered skin. The marinade penetrated the meat and I could definitely taste lemongrass and fish sauce. On the side was a nam pik which was an appetizing sweet, spicy and tart.
One of the more expensive and subsequently more filling items was the Pork Ribs with the same nam pik. The ribs were somewhat succulent with mild garlickiness and a soft exterior bark. Once again, the impact came from the nam pik which added the necessary acidity and spiciness. As for the Thai Poutine 2.0, it featured deep-fried taro strings lightly covered with as spicy green curry as well as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and red chilis. Beyond the aromatics, the whole thing was pretty spicy. On the side, there was a scrawny deep-fried soft shell crab. Due to its small size, it was more batter than crab.
Emily and I have something in common other than eating prowess. We like to order lots! So we continued with the Curry Fish in Banana Leaf. Since basa is generally a forgiving fish, it was still fairly flaky despite being overdone. I really didn't get much of the green curry, hence I had to use the charred lime to liven up the flavours. I did get the essence of coconut milk though. Our last dish was something that was a letdown. The Grilled Pork Cheek with roasted coriander seed, lemongrass and kaffir lime did taste smoky and well-seasoned on its own. However, the texture wasn't what we expected. Rather than the chewy rebound texture one would expect, the meat was dry where some pieces were very hard to break down. As you can probably ascertain, we weren't overly impressed with the Thai tapas concept at Thai Confusion. Sure, most of the items were fine, but nothing seemed to justify the prices for the small plates of food.
*Poutine was complimentary*
The Good:
- Hip dining space
- Something different
The Bad:
- Food was not impressive
- Expensive for what we got
When I was asked to help judge the Poutine Challenge, I quickly took a look at the participants. Along with some surprising non-participating establishments (Spud Shack, La Belle Patate and Belgian Fries), I had to do a double-take when it came to Golden Ears Cheesecrafters. Maple Ridge??? If I were to head out there, I would've guessed Big Reds... But they weren't participating either. Well, whatever the case, I made the drive out with the family to check the place out.
At first glance, one wouldn't expect a bistro to be located within the farmesque building, but once inside the cozy confines, there lay a bustling kitchen serving up brunch. As such Viv decided on trying the Farmhouse Hash with 2 easy-over eggs. At first, we thought the chorizo was missing, yet in the end, there was just very little of it. Hence, the hash felt like it was lacking in oomph despite the tender potatoes and nicely runny eggs. However, the red onions and peppers did add some impact. More meat would've made this pretty good. My son didn't venture too far off his favourites by selecting the Grilled Cheese. Being a place that produces cheese, it wasn't surprising that the cheese was good. However, the bread was a bit overwhelming for the amount of cheese.
As for the Farmer's Feast Poutine, it featured baked fries topped with chipotle curds, bacon, roasted corn, scallions and 48-hour wheat free gravy. Considering that they were not fried, the fries were pretty crispy (albeit a bit dense). I found the gravy to be fairly mild where the chipotle curds definitely dominated the flavour profile. Since soup and garlic are 2 of my daughter's favourite things, we had to get the Roast Garlic Potato Soup. This was thick, rich and sweet with a definite roast garlic flavour profile. Hence, it tasted like its description, which cannot be said for many other things I've had recently. Overall, the food here was well-prepared. However, each dish (other than the soup) could've used a bit more meat and/or cheese to elevate the flavours.
*Poutine was complimentary*
The Good:
- Friendly staff
- Homey decor
- Well-prepared eats
The Bad:
- Lacking in meat and cheese that would make things better
- Limited menu
*Store is closed*
As I've said over and over again, it seems like food in Vancouver comes at us in waves. We've seen it with ramen, macarons and gelato where something gets hot and many other related places seemingly spawn overnight. Now the ice cream scene has been somewhat of a slow starter as we've seen Earnest and Rain or Shine grow to 2 locations respectively in the last few years. Now up to bat is another contender in Tangram Creamery out on Arbutus. We were invited for a tasting where we decided to try one of everything (this was after Q Shi Q!).
We started with the Salted Caramel and the Guatemala Coffee served in a waffle bowl (within a paper bowl). As much as the saltiness really came through in the salted caramel, it only further exacerbated the heightened level of sugar. It was smooth and creamy though. The coffee ice cream was pretty impactful as every spoonful tasted like drinking creamy coffee with a slight bitterness. It was less sweet than the salted caramel. Next 2 consisted of the Double Chocolate and Strawberry Strudel. Although the chocolate was pretty sweet in its own right, the amount of flavour packed into each spoonful was evident. I enjoyed the noticeable chocolate hits, but the sweetness did hide the bitterness. I was a bit indifferent with the strawberry as it didn't capture the essence of real strawberries. I guess once again, it was due to the sugar.
One of my favourites of the bunch was the Hoji Cha as it really did taste like the tea. As much as it was sweet, the roasted flavour of the tea really came through, particularly in the finish. It was pretty smooth and creamy which made it even more appealing. Interestingly, the Matcha was not as creamy and a bit firmer. It was surprisingly mild where the colour didn't really match the flavours. I could've used more bitterness from the tea. We moved onto the Lychee and Mango Sorbets next. Nicely blended, the lychee sorbet was smooth, sweet and natural-tasting. On the flip side, the mango was a bit clumpy and didn't have a solid mango essence. It could've been possibly due to it being Winter and good mangoes are hard to come by.
I know I sound like a broken record here, but the Vanilla served in a waffle cone was super sweet. As creamy as it the ice cream was, we couldn't get much of the natural vanilla flavour due to the sugar content. Our last 2 items consisted of the Strawberry Sorbet Chocolate Macaron and Green Tea Macaron. At first, I was nervous about trying them because these are the type of products that often look good but fail miserably. To my utter surprise, these were really good. I particularly like the sorbet as it was refreshing and tasted like real strawberries. The macaron itself was a bit chewy, yet was crispy on the outside. It held up to the wet ingredients quite well. This was a nice end to a hit and miss tasting. There is potential here as long as there is some consistency to the products (and lessening of the sugar content) in the future.
*All ice cream and beverages were complimentary*
The Good:
- Owners are passionate about their product
- Focused menu of only a few flavours
The Bad:
- Too sweet for our tastes
- Inconsistent texture, some creamy, some not
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Moving along, we decided to sample the Tom Kha with fried curry rice. With a classic galangal coconut milk soup base with basil, lemongrass and lime, the flavours were indeed familiar. However, I felt it could've been more rich as it was rather thin (more coconut milk perhaps?). The sticky rice was fried with red curry paste, lime leaves and sesame. I didn't get much of the 3 aforementioned items, but the texture of the rice was appealing. Something that had more impact in my opinion was the Gai Yang. It was fairly tender with well-rendered skin. The marinade penetrated the meat and I could definitely taste lemongrass and fish sauce. On the side was a nam pik which was an appetizing sweet, spicy and tart.
One of the more expensive and subsequently more filling items was the Pork Ribs with the same nam pik. The ribs were somewhat succulent with mild garlickiness and a soft exterior bark. Once again, the impact came from the nam pik which added the necessary acidity and spiciness. As for the Thai Poutine 2.0, it featured deep-fried taro strings lightly covered with as spicy green curry as well as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and red chilis. Beyond the aromatics, the whole thing was pretty spicy. On the side, there was a scrawny deep-fried soft shell crab. Due to its small size, it was more batter than crab.
Emily and I have something in common other than eating prowess. We like to order lots! So we continued with the Curry Fish in Banana Leaf. Since basa is generally a forgiving fish, it was still fairly flaky despite being overdone. I really didn't get much of the green curry, hence I had to use the charred lime to liven up the flavours. I did get the essence of coconut milk though. Our last dish was something that was a letdown. The Grilled Pork Cheek with roasted coriander seed, lemongrass and kaffir lime did taste smoky and well-seasoned on its own. However, the texture wasn't what we expected. Rather than the chewy rebound texture one would expect, the meat was dry where some pieces were very hard to break down. As you can probably ascertain, we weren't overly impressed with the Thai tapas concept at Thai Confusion. Sure, most of the items were fine, but nothing seemed to justify the prices for the small plates of food.
