Mr. Bro

We are all pretty familiar with Japanese Izakaya since we have a decent array of spots in the Lower Mainland.  Funny how we treat it as a meal when it is really more about the alcohol with some small plates on the side.  Whatever the case, it is a popular meal here and it is a great social thing with friends.  So that is what I was thinking when the guys wanted to grab a bite.  However, I was looking for something a bit different.  Enter Mr. Bro in Richmond and its Korean-style Izakaya.

We had quite a few dishes including the Rice Cake with Sausage Skewer.  Sure this didn't look like much compared to some of the larger dishes on the menu, but it was oh-so-satisfying.   The mini-wieners themselves were nicely grilled and juicy, yet the best part was the rice cakes.  Soft, chewy and not overly dense, these pillowy tubes were lightly sweet from the glaze.  Also, they were slightly crispy on the outside which was very appealing as it complimented the overall texture of the rice cake.

Another dish with rice cakes was the full order of Black Bean Sauce with Rice Cake.  This was indeed a large portion of the same pillowy soft rice cakes.  Of course the texture was different due to the cooking method.  They were still lightly chewy, but of course was a bit softer since they were sitting in sauce.  About that sauce, it was rather mild with only a bit of saltiness.  I thought this could've been more aggressively seasoned as the flavours did not affect the rice cakes very much.

My favourite dish of the meal had to be the Spicy Squid Soup served on a portable gas burner.  This kept everything boiling hot which activated all the wonderful flavours.  There was definitely a brininess to the broth and the spice was balanced.  I found that the spiciness announced itself without overwhelming the rest of the subtle flavours in the soup including the nice sweet finish.  Other than the broth, there was a good amount of squid, mussels and shrimp and veggies.

I guess we couldn't get away without ordering the Grilled Spareribs (as we love meat) presented on a hot cast iron plate.  The plate was sizzling as evidenced in the picture. There was a good quantity of tender slices of boneless pork rib.  They appeared to have been manually tenderized and that helped make it almost fluffy and of course easy to chew.  They had a good sear on the outside caramelizing the sweet marinade.

Majestically plated on a long plate, the Deep Fried Whole Squid was very large.  It was battered aggressively and fried until crispy.  This was cut up with scissors table side.  I found the squid to be excellent in texture where it was tender while still appealingly chewy.  Most pieces featured a crunchy breading, but some were a bit greasy and mushy.  However, that didn't really detract from the dish.

Looking pretty deep fried, the Seafood Pancake was actually rather soft and moist inside.  I didn't find it too dense nor pasty (like some versions can be like).  It was filled with a good amount of seafood and complimented only by just enough onions and veggies.  The breaded and fried exterior was mildly crunchy and not greasy, even on the bottom side.  This ate a much better than it appeared.

At first, we didn't think the Grilled Black Cod was actually fish at all.  From first glance, it looked more like pork.  Then when we cut each piece into sections, it also didn't give us black cod vibes.  So when we actually dug into the dish, it was apparent that the meat was fish.  However, it lacked the buttery flakiness that we normally associate with black cod.  It was quite possibly a little overdone, yet at the same time, it wasn't dry nor over-charred.  Whatever the case, it was still good, just not what we were expecting.

We also went for the full order of Napa Wraps with Pork Belly (aka Bossam).  Featuring a bevy of meaty pork belly, this dish was nicely prepared.   As mentioned, the pork belly was lean with only the right amount of fat.  This way, it was gelatinized and not overly fatty.  The meat was tender and had enough seasoning to stand on its own.  There was the usual spicy radish on the side as well as Napa cabbage and pickled daikon.

We ended up with 2 fried pork dishes starting with the Deep Fried Pork with Sweet & Sour Sauce.  Loved that the pork was in large uniform pieces (which meant they cooked evenly) and were lean without much fat.  With that being said, the meat was still tender and moist.  Batter on the outside was crispy and not overly greasy too.  The sauce was filled with veggies and pineapple, but was a bit flat-tasting.  It could've been sweeter and more acidic at the same time.

Sporting the same fried pork strips, the Deep Fried Pork with Marinated Beef Sauce was remarkably different in flavour than the previous dish.  Each piece was coated just enough with a glaze that was full of umaminess.  There was this sweet, meaty savoury thing going on.  For me, I much preferred this flavour over the sweet and sour.  Overall, I found the food at Mr. Bro to be decent with a some highlights.  This was the perfect place for the guys to hang out, have some drinks and eat some food.

The Good:
- Something familiar but also different
- Excellent service
- Decent eats

The Bad:
- Can get pricey depending what you order
- Parking can be a challenge

The Story Cafe

Now this post has been a long time coming...  I've actually visited The Story Cafe on 3 occasions (once I had to leave because they were only serving happy hour) but never got a chance to blog about it.  I guess I'll just amalgamate everything into one post.  For those who are unfamiliar, The Story Cafe is located in Richmond amongst a sea of Asian restaurants.  Nice to see something a bit different featuring brunch and also casual-fine dining dishes to boot.

On my first visit, it was actually to try their Fried Chicken Burger with coleslaw, jalapeño aioli and a side of truffle fries.  I would say this was pretty solid overall where the chicken breast was large with a crunchy seasoned coating.  I thought the chicken could've been a bit juicier, but it was far from dry.  I liked the aioli as it provided a creamy tang and some spice.  I could've done with some more coleslaw but it wasn't a deal-breaker.  The bun was not dense, yet not airy either.  As for the side of fries, they were crispy with plenty of tender potato texture inside.  Good amount of inherent seasoning.

Of course we had to try other things including the Fried Chicken Bennies on a toasted English muffin with a large piece of fried chicken, poached egg, arugula, Hollandaise and fresh fruit.  Boy this was hearty and filling.  Crunchy and fairly moist, the fried chicken was topped with a soft poached egg with runny yolk.  The restrained amount of Hollandaise was creamy, yet not overly heavy.  There was a good balanced to it with a hint of acidity.

Then we move onto the Beef Pappardelle with 7 hour braised short rib, grape tomatoes, arugula and demi cream sauce topped with goat cheese.  I enjoyed this as the pasta was al dente while coated in a delicious sauce that was creamy with umaminess from the meat juices.  There was plenty of tender short rib and the tomatoes added a bright pop of tanginess. Only thing that I would do is to have a bit less sauce.

On another visit, I decided on the Fried Chicken & Waffles.  Okay, I know I'm a bit obsessed with ordering their fried chicken, but it really is good!  The buttermilk marinated chicken was tender and juicy with a crunchy batter on the outside.  However, the star of the plate was the outrageously airy waffles.  They were super crispy with literally air in the middle.  So easy to eat and a textural delight.

Also featuring the same awesome waffles, the My Way Breakfast including choice of meat, smashed potatoes and 2 eggs (only one in this picture).  Potatoes were crispy on the outside while the bacon was lean and crispy (but not too crispy).  Yes, most of the food I have tried so far has been brunch.  I really need to come back to try the other stuff too.  Seeing how solid the food has been, I will be returning for sure.

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Nice people
- Indeed casual

The Bad:
- Pricing is actually fine (in my opinion), but it is moving towards the higher end and there are many choices at that price point

Nam Dae Moon Rice Cake

As if you don't already know, I'm not much of a dessert person.  Now to be clear, it isn't as if I don't enjoy sweets.  In fact, I love to snack on some chocolate and/or gummy bears every now and then.  However, when it comes to a choice between savoury things and sweet things, savoury always wins.  Now if someone else suggests that we head for dessert or even bubble tea, I'm always game.  So when I was invited to try out the new location of Nam Dae Moon Rice Cake on Royal Oak in Burnaby, I happily attended.

Honestly, I never really paid attention to rice cake dessert places and after looking over the menu at NDM, it was a bit overwhelming.  We got to try many things including their new Chocolate Mochi Cake Taco.  These are available in Mid-March, but we had a sneak peek.  So there are 2 options for these, with mochi in the middle or without.  So without them, this ate fluffy and light with mild sweetness.  The cream in the middle was also semi-sweet. 

 

We also sampled the Matcha Mochi Cake Taco with fresh strawberries on top.  Once again, the sponge cake was fluffy and airy.  It was not really sweet at all with only a mild hit of bitterness from the matcha.  There was a bit more flavour from the fresh cream though.  I personally enjoyed having the mochi in the middle as it added a bit of texture to offset the softness of everything else.

Topped with a gigantic blueberry, the Vanilla Mochi Cake Taco was the most neutral-tasting of the bunch (obviously...).  However, I quite enjoyed the simplicity of it since it was like eating strawberry shortcake except with blueberry and a pretzel (for texture I guess?).  Once again, I would opt for the mochi in the middle on all of these.

Now looking at the last one of this series, it was pretty obvious of the flavour.  Of course this was the Chestnut Mochi Cake Taco!  Did the huge chestnut on top give it away???  Now I'm not usually huge fan of chestnut desserts, but this was good because it was essentially fresh cream only in chestnut flavour.  Once again, not too sweet and well I don't mind eating a whole chestnut.  I just don't like Chinese chestnut cakes.

 

So we ended up trying a few other items too including the Red Bean Glutinous Rice Cake, Black Bean Glutinous Rice Cake and the Caramel Lotus Rice Cake.  I know I sound repetitive, but the rice cakes were not sweet and I personally loved that.  Now the ingredients did add some flavour though, especially the caramel and the cookie on top.  Loved the texture of the rice cakes as they were consistent and not overly heavy for a rice cake.

Something different was the Dango with Matcha and also Soy Milk.  Naturally, the soft texture of the mochi was appealing and it was akin to Chinese "tong yeun" without the filling.  I particularly enjoyed the Soy Milk flavour as it almost had a nutritional yeast "cheesy" flavour to it.  The matcha was on the lighter side with only mild hits of bitterness and sweetness.

Lastly, we had once each of the Durian, Mango and Persimmon Mochi.  I didn't get any pictures of the insides, so you'll have to trust me when I say they were stuffed full with only a thin outer layer of soft mochi.  I particularly enjoyed the floral sweetness of the persimmon.  Just sweet enough once again.  That is probably why I enjoyed the rice cakes at Nam Dae Moon.  I'm not a big sweets guy and since these were only mildly sweet, they were right up my alley.  Furthermore, the soft mochi was a textural delight.  I guess I'll have to come back for some more...

*All desserts and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:

- Just sweet enough

- Soft, good quality mochi

- Lots of choice

The Bad:

- Maybe not sweet enough for some?

- Limited seating

Takara Sushi

I've actually tried the food at Takara Sushi long before this recent visit.  So during the height of the pandemic, we had ordered take out and were quite impressed with the quality of the food especially for the price.  So when we started dining out again consistently, we made sure that Takara was on the list.  For those who aren't familiar, Takara took over the former location of Waffles Gone Wild on Canada Way just off Boundary.  Not necessarily the most convenient location to stop, but I do suggest that you give it a try.

So on this visit, we began with the Assorted Sashimi consisting of albacore tuna, hamachi, hokkigai, tai, Atlantic salmon, tako and ika.  This was rather unassuming but quite good.  Each piece had a fresh appearance and ultimately tasted fresh (as fresh as flash frozen can get) and sweet.  Unlike some of the value Japanese restaurants, the slices were not too big, yet at the same time, not incredibly small either.

Along the same lines, we also ordered the House Spicy Sashimi with diced tuna and salmon, cucumber, avocado and house spicy sauce.  Once again, the fish had a nice sheen and tasted fresh.  Textures were on point too.  This was more of a salad where the amount of ripe avocado and crunchy cucumbers were on par with the fish.  We didn't find the sauce particularly spicy, but did appreciate that there wasn't too much of it (as it can overwhelm the fish).

Onto something cooked, we went for the Assorted Tempura consisting of 4 prawns and 3 pieces of vegetables (yam, sweet potato and zucchini in this case).  This was served hot and crispy while not overly greasy.  The tempura batter was light and wasn't laid on too thick.  It was cooked all the way through as well.  We found the prawns to be buttery with a meaty snap.  Vegetables were cooked properly where the yam and sweet potato were tender while the zucchini wasn't mushy.

So keeping with deep fried things, we also had the Chicken Karaage featuring deep fried leg meat.  These were fairly large pieces that were juicy and tender.  Once again, this was fried perfectly as the outside was crispy and easy on the grease.  The chicken itself (as well as the batter) was seasoned enough so that it could be eaten without any other condiment.  However, the lemon and mayo dip were provided and I used it anyways.

Since the kids love Grilled Beef Short Ribs, we decided to get them.  Well also the fact I wanted to hit as many sections of the menu as possible too...  These featured a good char on the outside while the meat was still tender with the classic short rib chew.  The marinade was just enough where the short ribs were sweet and savoury and the meat had tenderized enough. 

Moving back to the raw stuff, we got some sushi cones including Chopped Scallop, Sockeye Salmon and California.  To compare with places like Sushi Garden and Sushi Town, these were significantly smaller, but the quality was better (not considerably more, but it was noticeable).  There was a good ingredient to rice ratio which made for an even bite every time.  As you can clearly see, the ingredients were fresh.

Of course my son would want his usual array of Nigiri, so we got some of that too.  However, since we had sashimi and cones already, we limited the selection to Tamago, Unagi and Hotate.  I know I'm repeating this by saying that these were reasonable in size and more carefully made than other places.  The tamago was excellent being delicate and lightly sweet.  Unagi was buttery and properly sauced while the scallop was sweet.

We did end up getting one each of a roll and aburi sushi as well.  For the roll, we decided on the Pacific Roll with mango atop smoked salmon with cucumber and 2 prawn tempura in the middle.  This was light and actually refreshing.  Mango was ripe too.  Also had the classic Aburi Salmon Oshi with mango in the middle.  This was pretty good with chewy sushi rice and a fairly thick slice of salmon on top.  Sauce was creamy and mild while nicely torched.  mango added a nice sweet pop in the middle.

For good measure, we also had the Chicken Yakisoba on a cast iron hot plate.  This was another solid dish with chewy noodles and plenty of tender dark meat chicken.  There could've been a touch more sauce as the noodles at a bit dry.  Now, I know that Takara shouldn't be compared to value sushi spots as the quality is better but since their pricing isn't really all that much more, I would suggest you give it a try.  Yes, the portion sizes are not as big, but the food is prepared with more care.

The Good:
- Food prepared with care
- Reasonably-priced
- Menu is quite extensive

The Bad:
- Parking in the area isn't the best
- Don't expect huge portions (but not their style either)

Palate Kitchen

I've said this over and over again - for a city that loves brunch, Vancouver doesn't have enough stellar brunch options (in my mind at least).   To clarify, there are plenty of spots for brunch, but they seem rather defaultish not serving anything interesting nor gourmet.  Then we are left with a few that are truly good but a long line outside comes with the deal.  So originally, when Palate Kitchen opened up in a Georgian revival-style heritage building built in 1921 on West Hastings in Downtown, I was quite anxious to try it.  Unfortunately that was 2020 and you all know what happened.  So finally I made it out for 2 separate visits that I will blog about here.

On my first go around, I decided to try the Kefta Skillet with Moroccan meatballs and 2 poached eggs on a bed of house made tomato sauce and olives.  I really enjoyed this as the tomato sauce was full of body and distinguishable spices such as cinnamon and cumin.  As for the meatballs themselves, they were meaty while still tender and moist.  If I had to compare (even though they aren't exactly the same dish), this was much more impactful than the one at Maxine's.  Smoky and crusty, the grilled sourdough was the perfect vessel to pickup the sauce and perfectly poached runny eggs.

Viv ended up with the Fjord Toast featuring gravlax salmon, avocado, pickled crispy shallots and cream cheese spread on sourdough toast.  Now for most people, I'm sure they can construct something similar at home.  However, this was done very well and let's be honest here, not many of us could replicate this particular version exactly.  I found the toast to be the right thickness and nicely crunchy without being hard.  There was more than enough buttery gravlax on top for it to be the star of the show.  

To end off on a sweet note, we tried their Famous French Toast that gave off a funnel-cake kinda of vibe.  That was a good thing since the outside was crispy while the inside was soft and fluffy.  The whole thing included mascarpone praline, berries, ginger crumb and meringue topped with caramel sauce.  I thought the combination of ingredients added the right amount of creaminess and sweetness as well as texture.  However, there was too much caramel sauce as the bottom piece of French toast was soaked.  I suggest to get the sauce on the side.

On my second visit, I went for the Eggs Benedict with bacon, sauteed spinach and house hollandaise on ciabatta bread.  I'm not sure if there is any other way but to say that the bread was not the best choice for this benedict.  It was a bit dense and too large for the amount of ingredients on top.  It was too much about the bread and not enough about the perfectly poached eggs and silky balanced Hollandaise.  The lean thick-cut bacon was not too crispy, so there was a meatiness to it.  I also added a side of roasted potatoes and frankly, they were not very roasted.  Not enough char or sear on the outside.  I actually ordered the famous French toast again and got the sauce on the side.  To me, that was perfect.  Overall, the food was pretty good except for a things with the benny.  I would come back (well I technically already did...).

The Good:

- Beautiful building

- Interesting brunch items

- Decent service

The Bad:

- Due to its location, on the higher end of the pricing scale

Giovane Bacaro

For those who are familiar with Giovane in the Fairmont Pacific Rim, you will remember that they once had a wine bar that served classic Italian eats.  Well, there is a new concept in the same space called Giovane Bacaro.  It is still an Italian wine bar, but now it features small plates in the same style at the Becari found in Venice.  Mijune and I sat down in the cozy space to try as much of the menu as possible (of course, that was serious eating when dining with Mijune).

We kicked things off with the Potato Chips with crispy herbs.  Yes, this looked like a harmless bar snack, but in reality, I couldn't stop eating them.  They were razor thin, light and crispy.  I thought there was just enough salt.  The chips were slightly on the greasier side, but that was not a deal-breaker for me as I merely downed some spritz to wash it down.  The fried sage and rosemary were aromatic and just as crispy as the chips. 

Onto a selection of Cicchetti (including the aforementioned chips) consisting of Baccala Mantecato, Butter & Anchovy, Buffalo Mozzarella, Egg & Sardine, Smoked Sablefish in saor, Burrata and Chicken Liver.   I know it is a cliché to say everything was good, but it was.  I did have some favourites though in the buttery sablefish with onions, pine nuts and raisin.  Good combination of sweet, sour and savoury.  I also enjoyed the soft-boiled egg with sardine, pickled green garlic and preserved meyer lemon.  This was blessed with an appealing amount of acidity and saltiness.  Absolutely loved the creamy burrata with The Olive Farm EVOO (from Salt Spring Island).  Beyond the burrata, the olive oil was so flavourful and peppery akin to the ones I've tried from Central Italy.

Next up we had both the Polpette di Carne and the Polpette di Funghi.  Normally, these are served in fours, but we asked them to do two of each instead.  Both were lightly crispy on the outside with the carne sporting pork and olive sausage.  There was no filler in these as it was somewhat firm and meaty with a nice saltiness from the olives.  We actually preferred the funghi with potato, smoked ricotta and roasted mushrooms more.  It was actually lighter and packed a powerful smoky earthiness.

Onto possibly the most sexiest-looking dish of the night - Mortadella in Carrozza with preserved green tomato and mozzarella.  This would've been an excellent sandwich with all of those ingredients already, but c'mon, by breading it and frying the darn thing, it became a masterpiece!  Look at that melty mozza and also that golden brown crunchy exterior...  This was so sinful, but utterly a textural delight.  Not to mention, that green tomato added the balancing tartness to compliment the heaviness.

Another well-executed dish was the Fritto Misto consisting of squid, shrimp, smelt, herbs, lemon and a side of aioli.  I've had some versions of this recently and the seafood in this one was quite large.  Hence, the moisture was maintained despite being crispy on the outside.  The batter was nicely seasoned and the seafood was perfectly prepared.  I especially liked the tender smelt.  Mind you, the meaty shrimp and tender squid were good as well. 

Okay, I absolutely love vitello tonnato, so I was curious to see how the Maiale e Tonnato would turn out.  Rather than veal, this featured thinly-shaved pork to go with the usual tuna mayo.  It was topped with turnips and salsa verde.   I quite enjoyed this as the pork was melt-in-my-mouth tender and exhibited plenty of flavour on its own.  However, we gotta have the tonnato sauce right?  It was creamy, salty, fishy (in a good way) and tangy.  Loved the addition of turnips as it provided a different texture.

At first, we were a bit concerned with the amount of truffle aioli atop the Beef Carpaccio di Harry's.  Really, it was no problem at all and in fact, it added the necessary flavour and creaminess to compliment the super buttery beef.  The addition of snap peas (as in the peas inside the pod) was definitely different.  I liked the light pops of sweetness it afforded the dish.  Lastly, to top things off, there was piave vecchio that offered up some sweetness.

Still with the smaller dishes, we moved onto the Amberjack Crudo with coriander, pistachio, mandarin olive oil, citrus segments, chili and olives. This was a colourful and pretty dish where the amberjack was buttery soft and sweet.  The combination of the orange segments and olives provided tastes such as sweet, salty, tangy and even a touch of bitterness. This was possibly a bit too much flavour for the delicate fish, but heck I enjoyed it anyways.

With all these wonderful dishes, we still needed to have a salad right?  Well, if all salads were like the Insalata di Cicoria, I would eat more salads!  This consisted of chicories, crispy potatoes, bagnetto verde and salmon roe.  The potatoes were the star of this dish being firmly crunchy yet potatoey soft on the inside.  The anchovy green sauce provided plenty of depth and saltiness to the dish while the crisp chicories on top made this indeed a salad!

Okay, we made it through the smaller plates and then moved onto the larger ones, but we had a small pasta first in the Sbocciare.  This fresh hand-made pasta was so delicate yet al dente at the same time.  There was a considerable butteriness from the caciocavallo stuffed inside as well as the use of butter in general.  The sweetness from the wildberry agrodolce really completed the flavours of this rich and delicious pasta.

Now onto the larger pastas starting with the Bigoli con Anatra with lightly spiced duck ragu and parmigiano reggiano.  Oh this was as delicious as it appears in the picture.  Firmly al dente, the pasta was able to capture plenty of the ragu with its surface ridges.  About that ragu, it was meaty with the essence of duck and spice (as described on the menu).  Don't let the portion size fool you because this was plenty filling from the ample duck.

So the Fusilloni con Salsiccia didn't look like much when it first hit the table, but hidden within the pasta (and also under the cheese) was veal & pork ragu, chanterelles, red wine and braised snails.  So there was actually a lot going on here despite what was a mild-tasting pasta.  There was the meaty richness of the ragu to go with the unmistakable flavours of chanterelles.  Add in some snails and we had varying textures.  Could've used a bit more salt though.

So we also had the Risotto Bianco with truffle taleggio and wild berry agrodolce.  Now this didn't appear to be much food, but once again, don't let this fool you.  It was, in fact, very rich and cheesy.  The aborio rice was al dente and the risotto spread on the plate perfectly.  Adding in the truffle taleggio meant this was even richer and cheesier.  As with the sbocciare, the agrodolce provided some sweet fruitness to break up the heaviness.

From the pasta, we continued to some bigger plates including the Manzo with braised and grilled wagyu beef, balsamic cipollini onion and farm lettuce.  So once again, this was another filling dish due to the richness of the beef.  Of course it was fatty and delicious with a nice char and perfectly salted.  The balsamic onions added a sweet tanginess as well as the dressing on the fresh lettuce.

Our last savoury item was the Capesante with seared scallops, cannellini beans, fish stuffed cabbage and baci baci.  This was an interesting dish where the scallops were perfectly cooked and seasoned.  They were so buttery soft and sweet.  The most intriguing item was the moist fish in the cabbage which was topped with an Italian version of XO sauce.  Now it wasn't as pungent and spicy as the Chinese one, but it was still salty and seafoody.  

Whenever I'm dining with Mijune, we are guaranteed to have all the desserts...  So we had the Fritole alla Veneziana, Pistachio Gelato, Tiramisu and Gianduiotti.  Again, we had a smaller version of the donuts since we wanted to try the rest of the desserts.  These were crispy, yet fluffy inside with tangy lemon curd.  Not sure if I've ever had pistachio ice cream with preserved peaches, but this somehow worked.  Loved how it wasn't overly sweet.  As for the tiramisu, it was on point with creamy mascarpone and nicely soaked ladyfingers.  Hidden inside were marashino cherries.  Lastly, the gianduiotti featured chocolate & hazelnut semifreddo with EVOO and salt.  This was creamy and light with aromatics from the EVOO and hazelnuts.  The salt helped heighten the existing flavours.  Oh my, did we try a lot of food at Giovane Bacaro!  But you know what?  I came away impressed as it was well-prepared and best of all, interesting.  I would come back.

*All food and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Interesting food that can be shared
- Dishes are a lot more filling than they appear
- Nice cozy atmosphere

The Bad:
- Not a big spot, so better keep your group small