Wildlight Kitchen & Bar

I've been hearing good things about the newish Wildlight Kitchen & Bar but in reality, it has been a bit of a struggle to get out there.  It isn't exactly close to where I live.  In fact, I live much closer to SFU than to UBC.  Hence, it took a special occasion to make the special trip - my birthday!  I was super excited to try Chef Warren Chow's take on Westcoast cuisine employing local ingredients.  Just be aware, if you park underground, they are very strict with the 2 hour limit.  We got a ticket!

Onto the food, we started off big with the Wildlight Pescatarian Charcuterie Board.  This attractive-looking creation consisted of housemade salmon pastrami, beet cured ling cod, marinated Salt Spring Island mussels, smoked albacore tataki, cod rillette, pickled sea asparagus, warm olives, rye, poppadom and nori crackers.  This was unique due to the absence of red meat and also that this wasn't merely a spread of raw fish.  Loved the salmon pastrami as it was buttery soft with the peppery sweet and earthy notes of pastrami.  That rillette went well with the crunchy nori crackers and the ling cod had a beautiful purple hue.  Oh and it was nicely textured too.

Continuing on with more fish, we also had the Tuna Tartare with albacore tuna, spicy cucumber, avocado, ponzu & citrus vinaigrette, ikura, coriander and nori rice crackers.  This was pretty good too in terms of taste as the brightness of the vinagrette was there.  I would've liked more of it though.  The chunks of tuna and avocado were a bit too large as they slid off the crackers and it was hard to eat.  But really, there is an easy fix to that.

Easily, our favourite appie of the bunch was the Wildlight Chicken Wings with shishito, garlic, charred lime and nuoc cham caramel.  Being really large whole wings, the amount of meat was substantial.  Also, with a perfect deep fry, the exterior was crispy and rendered while the meat was super juicy.  To top it off, the flavours were fabulous with briny sweetness as well as balancing acidity from the lime.  I would eat these again and again.

As per usual, my daughter had her own personal appie in the Smoked Sablefish Chowder that also had surf clams, dungeness crab, scallops and double-smoked bacon drizzled with chive oil. Oh man, this was really delicious as the creaminess of the broth was definitely there without being heavy.  It was loaded with seafood with buttery and smoky sablefish and the aforementioned components.  All were cooked perfectly and the bacon really provided depth.

I was rather hungry so I opted for the Steak Frites featuring a hanger steak cooked to medium-rare (only way to do it with this cut!).  I found it sufficiently tender with a bit of chewiness while providing plenty of beefiness.  It was topped with a creamy peppercorn sauce that had a bite.  The mushrooms and kale added some vegetable to the mix as well as more flavours (including the bright chimichurri).  The side of truffle & pecorino fries were supremely crunchy and were further enhanced by the smoked onion mayo.

Viv had the Miso Koji Sablefish that was marinated in white miso and subsequently torched.  This not only lead to an amazing glazed appearance, it also caramelized the fish with a salty, smoky and sweet taste.  Also, the fish was super buttery.  Underneath, there was soba noodles, glazed baby bok choy and edamame in a dashi consomme.  The rest of the plate was mild-tasting and that worked well because of the delicate fish.

My daughter had the Seared Hokkaido Scallops with lobster & truffle risotto, preserved lemon, paprika oil and squid ink tuile.  In terms of execution, this plate was as perfect as it could get.  The risotto spread evenly and had an al dente texture.  Lots of aroma from the lobster stock as well as the woodsiness from the truffle oil.  Definitely a good call on the preserved lemon as it brought some concentrated brightness.  As you can see, the scallops were seared beautifully.  They were slightly rare in the middle.  Really good dish.

It was absolutely no surprise that my son went for The Wildlight Burger, but it was also the right call.  It was fantastic with a thick and juicy dry-aged Two Rivers patty.  The meat itself was nicely seasoned but the melted aged white cheddar certainly didn't hurt either.  Nice sharp nuttiness.  Add in some thick-cut bacon and fried onions, he thought that provided crunch and smoky saltiness.  To balance it off, the tomato jam gave a sweet tanginess.  Oh and the same smoked onion aioli from my dish afforded some depth of flavour.

Possibly the most pedestrian of all our dishes was the Seafood Fettuccine in a tomato dill sauce (could be had with white wine cream as well).  The sauce was tangy and dill forward, but things were a bit clumpy.  I found the pasta to be a bit too al dente.  But there was a plethora of perfectly-prepared seafood including  smoked salmon, littleneck clams, prawns and Salt Spring Island mussels with shishito peppers, cherry tomatoes and Grana Padano.

My mom decided on the Aged Fraser Valley Duck Breast with confit leg croquette, carrot puree, dijon spaetzle, orange marmalade glazed vegetables, pickled chanterelles and duck jus.  Being cooked to medium, the duck breast was still moist and tender.  Skin was fairly well-rendered but was not that crispy.  Loved the buttery and seared spaetzle underneath as well as the sweet just cooked-through veggies.  The duck jus was gelatinous and was packed with umaminess.  The little croquette featured moist duck confit while coated with a crispy coating.

For dessert, we shared a Lemon Tart and a Pink Guava Cheesecake.  We only got 2 desserts since we had a Trafiq cake waiting at home!  But these 2 desserts were rather impressive as the tart was on point.  The tart shell was buttery and firm, shattering when we dug in.  The lemon curd was appealingly tangy and just sweet enough.  However, we were more impressed with the guava cheesecake as it had all of the sweet aromatics associated with guava.  It was also super smooth and light akin to a Jello cheesecake, but of course infinitely better.  The deconstructed nature of the dessert made for better presentation as well as letting us enjoy the toasted almond crumble by itself.  It was nutty and not too sweet while not encased in butter.  Overall, we quite enjoyed our meal at Wildlight.  The food was well-prepared and delicious.  Service was also solid and we enjoyed the dining space.

The Good:

- Well-prepared food

- Excellent service

- Nice dining space

The Bad:

- 2-hours free parking may not be enough for some people

- Location is a bit far for most people

ChiuChow Seafood Restaurant

"Oh another Chinese restaurant", is a phrase I hear often when we see "another Chinese restaurant" open up in the GVRD.  Well, the people who say and think this aren't completely wrong because there are indeed an overwhelming amount of Chinese restaurants.  However, if we dive deeper into what "type" of Chinese restaurant it is, then it becomes a bit more clear.  So where Regal Mansion used to stand, it has now been replaced by ChiuChow Seafood Restaurant.  For those who aren't familiar, Chiu Chow is a specific cuisine in China.  It is famous for using a braising broth that gets replenished but never replaced.  They braise many different items in this broth including the most popular - Chiu Chow Duck.

We were here to try that dish as well as many others.  So we went ahead and ordered Chiu Chow Marinated Meat Platter consisting of pork belly, pig's ear, pig intestine, fried tofu and egg.  As you can see, this didn't include the duck.  I really think they should have an option on the menu that includes the duck (just charge more).  Anyways, there wasn't anything inherently bad about this dish, but I found the braising stock to be a little light in flavour.  Sure, I got the usual soy, sugar and some elements of shaoxing wine, yet the spices didn't come through as much as I would've liked.  Still, the components of the dish were texturally on point though and I did appreciate the egg wasn't overdone.

Instead of duck, we ended up with the Marinated Goose atop more marinated deep-fried tofu.  Again, I would say this was "alright".  The goose was a bit on the dry side, but still sufficiently tender.  Loved the buttery soft tofu on the bottom.  However, the goose itself was flavoured like the previous dish (predictably).  Hence, it tasted okay, but hardly anything to rave about.  At least we could dunk it into the white vinegar and garlic on the side for more impact.

 

At least the marinated meats and tofu were decent, the Stir-Fried Beef & Gai Lan was not very good.  The major issue was that the gai lan was completely overcooked.  It was soft and lifeless without its signature crunch and vibrancy.  On the bright side, the beef was tenderized enough, yet at the same time, was in little bits rather than big slices.  As much as there was plenty of satay sauce, it wasn't particularly flavourful.

 

Now the absolute worst dish of the bunch as the Steamed Flathead Mullet with Salted Lemon.  Sure, we knew this was not a fresh fish and also that mullets are usually firmer in texture.  However, this fish was so tough, we couldn't chew it.  My daughter took one bite and refused to eat anymore.  I took one bite and refused to eat anymore!  It also was very fishy-tasting and the preserved lemon didn't help even though it was good on its own.  The only good thing about the dish was the milt on the side.  Interestingly, one of the managers saw that the fish was barely eaten proceeded to clear off the table and didn't even ask us why.  Oh well...

Let's get into the good news about the meal with the Roasted Chicken with Glutinous Rice (1/2 portion).  This was excellent with crispy, well-rendered fried skin.  Underneath, the chicken meat was juicy and tender.  On the very bottom layer, the glutinous rice was soft, yet still appealingly chewy.  The seasoning on this dish was on point and it didn't even require the accompanying sauce on the side.

Another solid dish was the Pork Ribs in Chiu Chow Plum Sauce.  On looks alone, this looked super delicious.  Well, it really was delicious as the sauce was tangy and sweet.  Not only was the plum flavour prominent, the use of black vinegar added even more impact.  Also, there was just enough sauce to coat each piece, so the dish wasn't too goopy.  Finally, the ribs were fried beautifully with a uniformly crispy exterior while the meat was tender with a bouncy chew.

Last dish was the Pan-Fried Scallop & Salted Duck Yolk Prawns.  This was a fairly on point dish featuring stir-fried snap peas, celery and carrots that were crunchy, yet cooked through.  Seasoning on that was balanced and flavourful.  The ample amount of scallops were buttery soft while the prawns were fried perfectly and coated with an aromatic and nutty duck yolk sauce.  So overall, this was quite the hit and miss meal.  Yet at the same time, considering the price point and class of restaurant, we were expecting a bit more.  It is sad though since we don't have a lot of options for Chiu Chow cuisine here in Vancouver.

The Good:

- When a dish was good, it was really good

- Service was decent

- Nice dining space

The Bad:

- When the dish was bad, it was really bad

- Service was decent, but the manager did not care if we didn't even touch the fish (and didn't pack it to go)

Nadri Korean Cuisine & Fried Chicken

It has been quite some time since I last visited Nadri tucked away near the Hannam Market on the Burnaby side of North Road.  It is technically a food stall in a very quiet food court, but in reality, it is a restaurant because there is plenty of seating and also there is full-service.  Whatever the case, they really do dish up excellent Korean eats in big portions while doing it for very reasonable prices.  A truly hidden gem that is both a gem and actually hidden!  You might miss it on your first try finding it!

Well, I knew where it was and met up with 3 other foodies for a tasting (Jess, Eileen and Joyce).  Of course we had to start with their well-known house-made Half & Half Dumplings (Pork and Kimchi).  As you can clearly see, the dumpling skin was thin with some translucency.  There was elasticity to the dough, but the dumplings did get stuck to the silicon mat though.  For me, I loved both dumplings, but the kimchi stood out due to the slight spice and tanginess.

Staying with the classics, we also had the Half & Half KFC featuring Snowing and Sweet & Spicy Korean fried chicken.  Unlike the last time I was here, the chicken was boneless.  The picture doesn't do the portion size justice as it was massive!  Loved the crispy batter that was definitely there without being too heavy.  The chicken itself was succulent.  There was no shortage of seasoning as the snowing was completely coated with powdered cheese.  I found the sweet and spicy to be nicely balanced and not too sweet.

If we thought the KFC was a large portion, the Pork Tangsuyook overwhelmed us with a mountain of perfectly fried meat.  The lean pork was still juicy and was coated with starch that was crispy with some appealingly glutinous parts.  Of course the tangsuyook wouldn't be complete without the sweet & sour sauce right?  Well, it was served on the side, as usual, to maintain the crispy integrity of the pork.  The sauce was excellent with the right viscosity (so it adhered to each piece) and being tangy forward with balancing sweetness.

Typically, Jajangmyeon features noodles topped with a black bean onion sauce where you would need to mix the dish yourself.  However, we were served a stir-fried version in the House Special Black Bean Noodles.  There are a few differences other than being pre-mixed.  There was quite the amount seafood added to the mix while I found there was a bit of spice.  Furthermore, this portion size was pretty large.  In the end, this was delicious where the noodles were chewy and the sauce was flavourful being sweet and briny with some spice.

Staying a bit on the same flavour profile, we had the Seafood Fried Rice that sported a considerable amount of black bean sauce on the side.  Hence, we got the same vibes as the last dish except with fried rice.  About that rice, it was moist, yet still dry at the same time.  Good wok fry that made things aromatic.  Lots of seafood hidden within and when mixed with the black bean sauce, we got plenty of moisture, sweetness from the onions and overall savouriness.

Lastly, we had the Galbi Champong Noodles featuring their Instafamous big beef bones (can find this at Kang's too!).  Noodles in this were plentiful and chewy while the spicy seafood broth was briny with a bite.  But really, it was all about the fall-off-the-bone beef that was rich and tender.  Good compliment to the soup and noodles.  As you can see, the food looks fantastic at Nadri.  Yes it also tastes good with all the right textures and flavours.  To top it off, the portions are large and the prices are not expensive.  

*All food was complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Delicious
- Inexpensive
- Large portions

The Bad:
- Not the sexiest of places, but you come for the food right?
- A bit hard to find

The Greek Broadway

A long time ago, I dined at Anatoli's in North Van and came away enjoying a delicious and authentic Greek meal.  Well fast forward to the present and the next generation have opened up several locations of The Greek (by Anatoli) within Vancouver.  One of the newest is The Greek Broadway where Heritage Eatery used to be located.  Yes, they are right along the Skytrain construction zone and hence the angled picture of their storefront.  I was invited recently to give the place a try with a few other foodies.

We began with the Dip Taster featuring homous, tzatziki and taramosalata.  First off, the dips were excellent, but more importantly, the grilled pita was the perfect vessel for the dips.  They were fluffy and light with a smoky and crispy char on the outside.  Of the three dips, my favourite was the briny and tangy taramosalata.  So much umaminess in this one as well as the thick creaminess.  Their homous was also very good being smooth, a bit nutty, garlicky and tangy.

Presented in super big rings, the Calamari was not only great to look at, it was one of the better versions I've had of late.  The batter was light and crispy while properly seasoned.  It stayed adhered to each piece and wasn't greasy.  As for the squid itself, the rings were tender despite being in large pieces.  They still retained an appealingly chewiness that gave good mouth-feel.  The side of tzatziki was bright, garlicky and tangy.  I could've eaten this whole dish myself!

Possibly my favourite small share dish was the Vegan Calamari with fried crispy oyster mushrooms served with tahini soy dip.  As evidenced in the picture, the breading on these was aggressively crunchy.  Hence, there was much enjoyment with each bite.  Beyond the breading, the mushrooms were tender and juicy with natural umaminess.  Yes, these were tasty on their own, but the dip provided the necessary nutty saltiness that made an impact.

The hits kept on coming with their version of Spanakopita.  These were larger ones cut into smaller pieces.  Hence, the amount of filling was significant.  You can see in the picture that they were stuffed full of tender spinach and feta cheese.  So much so, it was hard to keep it in with every bite.  Hey I wasn't complaining though as it went well with the super crispy phyllo pastry.  They were extra tasty when dipped into the side of tzatziki.

Now we had the calamari already, but the Grilled Humboldt Squid was equally delicious.  The dish consisted of super tender pieces that were lightly kissed by the grill.  I liked how the squid was easily chewable but still had a slight bite at the end.  As much as the squid was seasoned, the combination of lemon and olive oil added the necessary acidity and adhesion.  To top it all off, literally and figuratively, we found a bright sharpness from the salsa and herbaceousness from the cilantro.

Okay, one of the more under-appreciated dishes in my mind is Saganaki.  For those who don't know, it is a seared piece of mountain sheep cheese that that is pan-fried and finished with some lemon juice.  Typically it is served with bread.  For this one, it was lightly breaded and yes, as you can see, it was stringy with nicely seared edges.  The cheesiness and aromatics of this dish as through the roof.  Of course the lemon helped cut through the heaviness.

Another under-the-radar item we had was the Avgolemono Soup with chicken, rice, kale, carrot, celery, egg and lemon.  Oh wow, this was so hearty, comforting and addictive!  The broth was like a warm blanket giving us a loving hug.  It was sweet, meaty and tangy.  This ensured that it had plenty of depth without being heavy.  The shredded chicken was both plentiful and moist while the rest of the ingredients added their natural sweetness.

Yep, we also had some salads including the Greek Salad and Lentil Salad.  Sure, Greek salads aren't complex, but this one was really good due to the large pieces of fresh cucumber, tomato, onions and peppers.  Beyond, that, the side of feta was much better than it being on the salad in my opinion.  For bonus points, they also have an option for vegan coconut feta.  It was really smooth and creamy!  As for the lentil salad, it was comprised of stewed green lentils, arugula, cherry tomatoes, crispy chickpeas, green onion, feta and lemon soy dressing.   Yeah, this was quite the loaded salad and in many ways, it didn't eat as such.  I thought due to the lentils and chickpeas, it was much more of a meal due to the robust textures and heaviness of the ingredients.  Loved the dressing as it was tangy and salty.

Onto some large meat items, we had a selection of Souvlaki consisting of Chicken Thigh and Tiger Prawn.  Due to the use of dark meat, the chicken was juicy and tender.  Naturally, they had to nail the execution too for that to happen and yep they did!  They were also marinated enough so that there was inherent flavour in addition to the smoky char and natural meatiness.  As for the prawns, they were pretty large and cooked just enough that there was a buttery snap texture.

Before we got to dessert, we ended off the savoury portion of the meal with the Pidakia Platter consisting of 5 flame-grilled lamb chops atop rice with lemon potatoes and seasonal veggies.  This was oh-so-good with beautifully charred lamb chops that were marinated and also cooked to medium.  Succulent and delicious!  Rice was tender with a chew while the potatoes were soft but browned with a good hit of lemon.  Roasted veggies were cooked perfectly.

With dessert, we had the Baklava, Chocolate Mousse and Ekmek.  As much as baklava can be sickingly sweet, this one was fairly balanced.  Loved the many defined layers of phyllo with nuts and sticky sweetness.  My favourite of the 3 was the chocolate mousse as it was super rich and extremely chocolatey.  I would say it trended towards a dark chocolate bitterness rather than being overly sweet.  Lastly, the ekmek was presented in a ramekin rather than looking like a piece of cake.  It turned out to be very creamy and light as opposed to the heavier versions I've had.  It was sweet, but not overly so.  Overall, this meal at The Greek was very impressive on many points.  First of all, the food was almost flawless in execution and it was just damn tasty.  Great share dishes in a modern comfortable dining space.

 

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

 

The Good:

- Authentic Greek eats that are modernized

- Food was executed expertly

- Nice trendy spot

 

The Bad:

- Well, not their fault, the Skytrain construction makes it a bit difficult to see and find parking 

North King Noodle House

Finally!  A Northern Chinese restaurant has opened up in Burnaby North.  Yes, we've seen some of those come and go before such as Lucky Star over a decade ago.  So North King Noodle House has taken over the long-standing Paul's Restaurant.  They are related to Yu Xiang Yuan out on Fraser Street, hence we had high hopes since they offer up fantastic hand-pulled noodles and a free wife!  Jess ended up organizing a tasting and we sampled a good array of dishes for our meal.

We kicked things off with the Woodear Mushroom & Cilantro Salad and the Spicy Beef & Tripe.  As simple as these dishes appeared, they were a really great start to the meal.  Sure, the texture of the woodear mushrooms were crunchy as expected (can't really mess that up), but the seasoning was on point.  A little of everything to give it that salty, sweet and a background tang.  The tripe and beef were nicely textured where they were tender but still had a bite.  Nice spice to the dish, but still balanced.

I was pretty happy to have the Hot & Sour Soup next because it is one of my favourite items to order.  This was done right with a thick viscosity that was still soupy, not clumpy.  In addition, there was plenty of components within the broth that were properly textured including the silky tofu (they used a softer tofu than other versions I had) and crunchy veggies.  I thought the soup base itself had depth and was accented properly by equal parts spice and tanginess.

We were served a pair of vegetable dishes including the Spicy Green Beans as well as the Stir-Fried Lettuce Stems.  Both featured good wok hei (hot enough wok) to caramelize without overcooking the veggies.  The green beans were still crunchy (from the quick oil-blanching) while the lettuce stem exhibited a delicate texture (but was not overly soft).  I found the spiciness with the beans to be balanced and the lettuce stems to be glazed with a mild starch-thickened sauce.

One of my favourite items was the Stir Fried Razor Clams for only $28.95!  Granted these were smaller Pacific ones, but I didn't enjoy them any less.  Even though the dish consisted of green peppers, woodear mushrooms, different types of onions and celery, there was still plenty of clams to be found.  The caramelization was there and also the spicy garlickiness.  I found these clams to be a bit more robust in texture compared to the longer and more delicate Atlantic Jack Knife.

Of course we had to try the classic Beef Rolls featuring a green onion pancake with sliced beef shank, green onion and hoisin sauce inside.  At first, I was a bit concerned with the thickness of the pancake, but it turned out to be okay.  The surface was seared well, hence there was both a crispiness and nuttiness.  Overall, the texture of the pancake was chewy with some elasticity.  Inside, the beef was tender while the amount of hoisin was enough to make an impact.

Onto some bigger plates, we had the Pickled Cabbage Fish (sometimes known as Sauerkraut Fish).  This was a huge bowl of food for $22.95.  There was a wealth of flaky fish pieces that were just cooked through.  It sat in a broth that was sweet and slightly tangy from the pickled mustard greens.  I could also taste the natural flavours from the fish as well (in a non-fishy way). This was really appetizing and I went back for seconds and thirds.  

Continuing on with another big bowl of food, we had the Spicy Boiling Beef.  So the fish was a non-spicy and generally subtle dish, but this one was outright in-your-face (yes, the chili oil did get all over the place too).  Beyond the crunchy sprouts and Napa cabbage, we had a boatload of tenderized sliced beef.  It was buttery and soft while taking on the spicy nuttiness of the broth.  Underneath we found some glass noodles that soaked up the spice.

Let's stick with spicy with the next dish being the Deep Fried Chicken with Szechuan peppercorns and dried red chilis.  For those who have had this dish before, you will know that it looks a heck of a lot more spicy than it is.  For this version, the crispy nuggets of chicken (that weren't dry) took on the spice from the peppercorns with a minor numbing effect but overall wasn't really all that spicy.  Nice earthy aroma though and also well-seasoned too.

Another usual dish for this type of cuisine is the Beef Noodle Soup.  This wasn't the spicy version, but that was a good thing as it was a nice break from the previous 2 dishes.  It featured a meaty broth that had depth with a mild amount of seasoning.  Hence, the soup wasn't salty nor was it bland either.  The little nuggets of beef finger meat was super tender and fatty.  It had been cooked down so that some of the fat had been rendered (but there was still a good amount of fat left).  Noodles were al dente and didn't get too soft even while sitting within the hot broth.

From soup noodles, we moved onto sauce noodles with the Soybean & Pork Sauce atop spinach hand-pulled noodles.  This was the classic Ja Jeung Mein that featured a rich meat sauce that had even more umaminess from the both the pork and soybeans.  Again, it was not particularly saucy, rather it was meaty and was able to coat each al dente noodle. The second bowl was the Dan Dan Mein.  Unlike the really saucy versions, this was more meat forward with plenty of savoury umaminess.  There was good spice and nuttiness provided by the peanuts.  There was enough of this meat sauce to coat all the noodles affording the dish plenty of depth and flavour.  As for the hand-pulled noodles, they were extra al dente with lots of chew and elasticity.  We could definitely tell these were fresh.

Just to cover all of our bases, we also got the Xiao Long Bao.  These were pretty large in size and featured a medium-thick dumpling skin.  They were rather delicate and lacked a bit of elasticity.  Hence, the skin broke easily when picked up with our chopsticks.  With that being said, the filling was excellent being tender and moist.  There was a good amount of sweet soup inside that was meaty with a hint of Shaoxing wine.  If they could make the skin just a bit thinner with some chew, it would be perfect.

For dessert, we were served the Sweet Rice Balls in Rice Wine Dessert Soup.  I'm normally not into Chinese sweet soups but this one was pretty darn good.  It was sweet for sure, but not overly so.  The starch-thickened viscosity was just enough to coat a spoon while the texture of the rice balls was delicate with some chewiness.  So in the end, this tasting revealed what I was expecting - solid Northern Chinese eats with hand-pulled noodles and other delicious dishes.  Definitely a welcome addition to North Burnaby, even if you don't receive a free wife...

*All food was complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Excellent hand-pulled noodles
- Overall delicious and well-portioned food
- Reasonable-pricing

The Bad:
- XLBs could use a thinner more elastic dumpling skin