Xiaolongkan Hot Pot

Man, I've been doing so many AYCE hot pots lately...  As I mentioned, AYCE (All-You-Can-Eat) has made a triumphant comeback during these inflationary times.  Another recent option is Xiaolongkan on Alexandra Road (or Restaurant Row or Food Street).  This recently announced AYCE costs anywhere from $35.99 to $39.99 per person depending on the day and time.  Seeing how they are merely serving what was on the menu before, the food quality is high.

Of course with any hot pot experience, we need to talk about the Sauce Bar.  Much like many in the city, the one here at Xiaolongkan has all the basics and a little bit more.  They have all of the base sauces in large dispensers so you can fill your bowl to your heart's content.  All of the other condiments such as cilantro, green onion, garlic, chilis and the rest were in the actual bar itself.  We also found some light snacks and fruit.  You could also help yourself to some guava candy as well.

Before we get to the "meat" of the meal, we have to talk about the Amaebi as well as the soup bases.  Presented sashimi-style, the sweet shrimp were exactly that.  Buttery soft with just the slightest snap, these were a nice start to the meal.  We ended up with 3 different broths to cook our food in including Tomato, Mixed Mushroom and Traditional House Special Chili (in medium spice).  My favourite was the tomato as it truly had all the tang and sweetness we were looking for.  It was slightly thick too so the broth adhered to all the items we cooked in it.  The mixed mushroom was the mildest and definitely had a salty umami thing going on.  For the house special broth, it was spicy and had plenty of depth thanks to the chili lard.

Onto some cooked items first, we had the Deep Fried Chicken Wings, Glutinous Rice Siu Mai, Crispy Deep Fried Pork, Chinese Donut, Pig's Ears with Chili Oil and Brown Sugar Rice Cake.  I thought these were all pretty decent where the pig's ear was my favourite.  They were tender with a crunch while appealingly spicy.  The brown sugar rice cake was also delicious being soft and sticky with a rich sweetness.  Fried pork was tender and came with a side of spiced salt.

Of course we have to talk about the beef right?  Presented on a "dragon boat" and also served to us by a robot, the Selected Beef Slices were thin and tender.  I especially liked it cooked in the spicy broth as it took on the silky heat well.  However, we really were here for the Superior SRF Wagyu Beef Slices (one order per 3 people).  Oh yeah, these were money with just enough marbling to ensure that each piece would be buttery soft.

We had many more items from the menu, but I want to highlight the ones presented in a box because it was nice to look at and I appreciate the effort they put into making things appealing.  We found Seaweed, Enoki, Shredded Daikon, Quail Eggs, Shrimp Paste, Spicy Beef, Shrimp Balls, Fish Slices and Marinated Beef Tongue.  The highlights included the sweet and bouncy shrimp paste.  Our server spooned little quenelles into the hot broth.  The beef tongue was tender with a bit of a chew.  Perfect texture.  The beef was also good being buttery since it was tenderized.  It still kept some of the marinade even after boiling.  There were a few more items that we had randomly and I know it is an easy thing to say they were good, but in fact, they were!  The food quality was really high for an AYCE menu and to top it off, the price is reasonable.  Would come back in a heat beat.

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

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced AYCE
- High ingredient quality
- Nice space, nice presentation

The Bad:
- Sauce bar is smaller than other places
- Large parking lot, but very weird parking arrangements  

Osteria Elio Volpe

One of the most popular modern Italian restaurants in the Lower Mainland is Savio Volpe.  I've had quite a few experiences with the place and I would agree that it is a place that will be on everyone's "to-dine" list.  I've always enjoyed their wood-fire meats and their delicious antipasti plates.  Pastas have always been hit and miss for me, but others seem to love them.  But really, no one can deny it is one of THE places to go in Vancouver for modern Italian food.  Now they are adding another restaurant to the stable in Elio Volpe on West 17th.  Eileen and I were able to get a coveted reso to celebrate her birthday.

We got the Semolina Parker House Rolls to start.  Each piece pulled apart easily, revealing a steaming hot and fluffy texture.  But the best part was the peconino butter where it was super creamy and spreadable.  Naturally, it was well-salted from the cheese.   Beyond that, we also ordered the Yellowfin Tuna Crudo.  These little bites were bright and clean-tasting.  The combination of jalapeno and colatura dressing helped add some tangy spice as well as briny saltiness.  With the sprinkling of pangrattato, we had some texture to compliment the buttery soft fish.

As another starter of sorts, we selected the Guanciale Pizza with castelvetrano olive, roasted mushrooms and pomodoro.  This was similar to Neapolitan-style pizza with its thin crust and preparation in wood-burning oven, but the crust was even thinner and almost uniform in texture.  The middle was a bit softer like a Neapolitan pizza but the edges were flat and crunchy.  On top, the pomodoro was mild and offered just enough moisture for effect.  The ample amount of guanciale added a salty fattiness while the olives provided tang and more saltiness.  Mushrooms did its earthy thing.

We went for two half-portions of pasta including the excellent Calabreselli alla Vodka.  For a half-portion, this was still plenty large for sharing.  It featured firmly al denta pasta that was complete coated in a spicy vodka sauce.  It was tomatoey and creamy with both bold and subtle flavours.  The crab was a bit lost in this and only added texture.  Once again, we found bread crumbs providing the crunch.  The other pasta was the Rigatoni Cacio e Pepe featuring large firm pasta tubes.  The sauce was creamy, cheesy and of course peppery featuring 10-year old cheddar.  What really made this dish sing was the roasted jalapeno on top.  It broke up the heaviness and added spice and tang.

One last half-portion to go and this time, it was the Carnaroli Risotto with morel mushrroms, mascarpone and chives.  We found this risotto a bit heavy on the cheese and light on the actual carnaroli rice.  Hence it was almost soupy despite allowing it to rest for awhile.  Despite this, the rice was still firm and did not go mushy.  Lots of creamy cheesiness here and not too salty.  However, the dish was a bit tangy for some reason or another.  Did enjoy the morels as they were intensely earthy and of course the texture was appealing.

Moving onto our main course dishes, we had the 10oz MacLeod’s Leap Flatiron Steak with charred onion, watercress and black pepper condiment.  It was prepared a perfect medium-rare being uniform and also very moist.  It was both cooked and rested properly.  Now looks are one thing, but it also ate very well.  The meat was succulent and required very little chewing.  Lots of natural meat flavour and the steak itself was properly seasoned.  That black pepper condiment was full of umami and pepperiness.

That was good, but the Pan-Roasted Striped Bass was also very good.  It featured fava beans, morel mushrooms, hakurei turnip and citrus butter sauce.  I found the seasoning a bit aggressive as most parts of the fish was salty.  However, the dish could not be accused of being bland.  The bass was cooked to perfection though being buttery soft and flaky.  It literally melted in our mouths.  The citrus butter sauce was mild and light, complimenting the fish without taking away from it.

We ended up going for 2 desserts including the Amaretto Semi Freddo and the Tiramisu Cheesecake.  Both desserts were pretty good with the semi freddo being purposefully sweet with the unmistakable amaretto fruitiness.  It was creamy and light while living up to its name of being semi-frozen.  Love the crunch on the top as it added texture.  Not looking like much, the tiramisu cheesecake was also good.  It was creamy, yet not too heavy while having all of the components of tiramisu.  Overall, our dinner at Elio Volpe was good with definite highlights.  Possibly a few things could've been better, but that is nitpicking. We also had some great cocktails.

The Good:
- Loved the service
- Most dishes were prepared properly
- Energetic vibe

The Bad:
- Risotto was a bit soupy

Takenaka Uni Bar

I've been a fan of Takenaka since the beginning of his food truck days.  Actually, even when he was with Suika.  His food has always been top quality coupled with on point execution.  It was almost shocking that he was able to produce such high-end eats from a food truck!  Well, that started to change when he opened up his onigri spot and it has gone even up another level with Takenaka Uni Bar in the former location of Rodney's Oyster in Gastown.  They didn't have to do much in the way of renovations as the spot doesn't look worse for wear with a rustic seafood theme.

We were there to try as many of their signature items as we could being with some small plates including the Uni Toast.  This featured a toasted white bread finger topped with uni, negitoro and ikura.  Nothing complex about this, but it was ultimately delicious.  The simplicity allowed the ingredients to shine including the sweet Hokkaido uni, buttery tuna belly with bright green onion and the pops of brininess from the ikura.  Another dish we had was the Hotate Carpaccio where the sliced scallop was buttery soft and sweet with the hint of the sea.  It sad atop mesclun greens and onion.  On top, we found wasabi mayo, tobiko, garlic chips, kaiware and house-made dressing.  I really enjoyed the scallops, but maybe there was a little too much going on on the plate.

To make sure we got enough Uni, I ordered both the Uni Temaki and Uni Wagyu Nigiri.  Just by presentation alone, both the temaki and nigiri looked super appetizing.  Due to the high-quality ingredients, these were utterly delicious and supremely fresh.  The uni was silky smooth and sweet while the thin slice of Wagyu was buttery and required little-to-no chewing.  Loved that for the temaki, we had little soy squeeze capsules.  We could customize how much flavour we wanted to add.  Hidden beneath the uni and ikura, there was buttery negitoro with some sushi rice.

Keeping the uni train going, we had the Uni Chawanmushi with ikura and shiso.  This was clean-tasting where the ingredients were at the forefront but also in balance.  Although the shiso had the initial impact with its usual herbaceousness, the sweetness of uni and brininess of the ikura announced themselves shortly after.  The egg custard itself was smooth and silky with minimal moisture.  For some odd reason, I also ordered the Seasoned Quail Egg topped with chili oil condiment.  Somewhat like a mini-ramen egg, the quail egg was complimented well by the mildly spicy and smoky chilis and oil.

Adding more sushi rice to our meal we had 2 Onigiri including the Black Cod & Ikura and the Uni & Real Crab Meat.  These were quite large and plump with warm seasoned sushi rice.  The black cod was buttery soft and well-seasoned being sweet and savoury.  The pops of ikura added brininess.  As for the crab & uni, it was more subtle and naturally sweet.  The soft springy texture of the crab and the creaminess of the uni made each bite rather tasty.  Only thing I would've liked to see is the sushi rice be a touch drier.

Continuing with Wagyu, we were served the DIY Wagyu BBQ with a hot stone puck.  The trick here is to cook the meat quickly as the stone cools down fast.  So we got right to work and was able to cook all the slices of beef.  Mind you, the second round of beef did not sear up as well.  Anyways, the beef was super buttery and flavourful.  The sweet and spicy dip helped balance off the savoury heaviness of the meat.  But really, the meat was marinated enough that it could stand on its own.

Another Takenaka classic is their Aburi Sushi.  We ended up with the Omakase Aburi Sushi featuring seared salmon with a variety of condiments on top.  I thought these were pretty good where they were larger than most other versions.  The rice was warm (but a bit soft) and the sauces on top were quite tasty.  Something that seemed rather bougie was the Lobster & Chips.  So really, it was a whole lobster tail, cut in half, and deep fried in tempura batter (maybe the batter could've been cooked a bit longer).  This was served with crispy fresh-cut fries.  The lobster was cooked perfectly retaining its moisture while having a rebound texture.

The most epic dish we had was the Large Takenaka Luxury Seafood Platter consisting of 5 kinds of sashimi, Hokkaido uni tray, a dozen oyseters and all the fixins'.  Yah, this was large and with the dry ice, it was also showy.  But looking past that, the components were high-quality.  The royal miyagi oysters were shucked properly and were sweet with a certain creaminess.  Sashimi had a nice sheen with a taste of the sea.  There was soy and real wasabi as well as hot sauce for the oysters.

Back to the cooked stuff, we had 3 dishes including the Grilled Pork Cheek, Manga Wagyu Hamburg Steak and Grilled Black Cod.  Meaty with a buttery rebound texture, the pork cheek was exactly how we like it.  It was nicely grilled with caramelizaiton on the outside and topped with a salty green onion and white onion relish.  It was pretty pungent.  Looking like a meat on a bone, the hamburg steak was medium-dense and tender with a noted beef flavour.  It was beautifully seared on the outside.  As for the black cod, it was buttery and flaky with a fermented saltiness from the miso marinade.  On the side, we found a creamy and sweet uni sauce.

We moved onto the carb portion of our meal with a rice dish first.  It was the fully-loaded Luxury Deluxe Seafood Bowl sporting uni, negitoro, herring roe, real crab, cuttlefish, boiled shrimp, baby sardines, ikura, mountain yam and shiso.  Now if you think that was a lot of components, try mixing it together and taking a spoonful...  Yes, it was full of different seafoody flavours that were sweet and briny.  Personally, I could've done without the mountain yam since it made the bowl of rice sticky.

With yet another carb, we had the Lobster Uni Ramen.  This featured a rich chicken soup with the creamy sweetness of uni.  It included a whole lobster tail, chashu, seasoned egg, bamboo shoots and green onion with thin noodles.  Other than the same tempura lobster as the previous dish, the main draw here was the soup.  It was so silky and naturally sweet.  It would be shame to not drink the whole thing!  The noodles were not quite al dente due to the thinness, but it wasn't mushy.   Egg was perfect with a custardy centre and plenty of flavour from the mirin.

As for sweets, we were served 3 dishes in the Salt Caramel Pudding, O5 Matcha Panna Cotta and Chocolate Terrine with Earnest Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Of the 3, my favourite was the salt caramel pudding as it was definitely sweet and salty while being creamy.  The terrine was good too but maybe because of the ice cream.  Panna Cotta was a bit stiff and could've used more matcha.  Overall, the food at Takenaka Uni Bar was fantastic.  Sure, some things could be more refined, but in general, we enjoyed every dish.  Prices are on the higher end, but the quality of the ingredients reflect that.

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

The Good:
- High quality ingredients
- Delicious
- Nice vibe

The Bad:
- Sushi rice could be a bit drier
- Tempura batter could be fried a bit longer

Ramen One

Have you ever dined alone?  I'm sure there were times that you had to grab a quick lunch or you just needed food and no one was available to join you.  Maybe you just wanted peace & quiet and couldn't be bothered with company.  Hey, it is possible we just want to be anti-social.  So we could go to any restaurant and dine alone really, but how about a place that is designed for the solo diner in mind?  Imagine individual cubbies where you have dividers separating you from the people next to you and also your own water dispenser, condiments and serving window?  Talk about keeping everything to yourself!

That is the concept at Ramen One on Broadway where you do not have to be bothered by anyone except for the person who takes your order.  Maybe they should have an iPad available so you can just pick what you want...  So as mentioned, you have your own water station and all the condiments to make you happy like sesame seeds, soy and seasoning powders.  Oh and that little curtain?  That is where the food comes out from.  They do a quick knock on the wall and the food slides out.  Get your camera ready!

You can order bowls a la carte, but they are also available as combos with this particular one being the Shoyu Ramen with chashu, bamboo shoots, woodear mushroom, nori and green onions.  We got a Tako Wasabi on the side as well as a Sake Egg.  I thought the broth was clean and balanced in terms of flavour.  It was on the milder side and firm noodles had a good chew.  The thinly-sliced chashu was beautifully seared and was easily eaten.  On the side, the Tako Wasabi had a combo of sweetness, tanginess and the unmistakable hit of wasabi.  The Sake Egg was served on the side due to it being cold and should be eaten cold.  It was similar to other ramen eggs, except the sweet taste of mirin was amped by a hit of sharpness.

The next 2 choices were somewhat similar in the Soy Milk & Dashi and the Soy Milk, Chicken and Spring Onion Oil.  Due to the use of soy milk, I found the broth to be rather thick and creamy.  I didn't get much in the way of soy aftertaste, which was a good thing.  I did notice that when the noodles soaked up the broth, things got a bit goopy.  Better to eat this immediately.  The latter had a noticeable sweetness due to the chicken and also brightness from the oil.

Moving away from soup, we had the Dry Noodles with Chashu as well as the Chashu Rice.  Of course these had the exact flavour profile, but due to the difference in carb, they ate very differently.  I found the noodles to be my personal favourite.  The noodles were al dente and appealingly chewy.  A touch salty, but necessary, the chashu was fatty and tender.  As for the rice, it was more mild-tasting as the plain rice needed the pork to give it impact.  Maybe a bit too much green onion for my liking.  The eggs were good though being custardy in the middle and well-seasoned.

So on the side of the other combos, we had 3 flavours of Onigiri including shiso, pork floss and shredded chasu.  Serving it without the nori encasing the warm rice allowed it to remain crisp.  I found the rice to be slightly dry, but still fine.  I thought the chashu to be the most flavourful and moist due to the amount of flavoured meat.  One of the drink options that I thought was interesting was the cold brew Cream of Earl Grey.  They provide a strainer so that you do not get any loose tea leaves in your drink.  Pretty good and refreshing.

For dessert, we were served a Buttermilk Ice Cream Cone as well as Castella Cheese Tart.  Really enjoyed the ice cream as it had Hokkaido milk vibes.  It was creamy, but not too heavy and purposefully sweet. It was aromatic as well.  If you have ever tried a Castella cheese tart, you will know what I'm talking about when I say they are delicious.  It was served warm and was custardy.  The cheese really came through and again, it was only sweet enough.  The tart shell was firm and had a nice texture.  Overall, the concept here at Ramen One is neat and serves a purpose.  The ramen is quite good but you really do have to eat it right away as the noodles start to absorb the broth quickly.

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

The Good:
- Concept seems novel but it does serve a purpose
- Decent eats
- Love the Castella desserts

The Bad:
- Need to eat right away as the noodles get soft quickly

Meet Oyster Wagyu AYCE

Jackie and I have been to Meet Oyster recently and we had their steal-of-a-deal Late Night Sukiyaki Set.  Despite being thoroughly satisfied, we were still very curious about their Wagyu AYCE menu.   On weekdays, it is $86.99 for adults while costing $88.99 on weekends.  Late night is $82.99.  There are 2 tiers below the Wagyu AYCE for $56.99/$58.99 and $30.99/$32.99 respectively for weeknights/weekends for adults.  So yes, you can still have most of the menu items at the mid-tier minus the Wagyu.  But for us, it was all about the Wagyu!

Before we got to that, we had to choose our broth.  Each person has their own personal mini-hot pot atop a butane burner.  For myself, I went for their most popular being the Sukiyaki Soup and Jackie had the Tomato Soup.  I would say that this was great so we didn't have to share valuable hot pot space with each other, but since they were small, the soup evaporated very quickly.  With that being said, they refilled very quickly.  I enjoyed the sweetness of the sukiyaki, but the tomato broth was so delicious, I would probably choose that next time.  It was naturally sweet, tomatoey and with a background tang.

In addition to the raw Sukiyaki items on the AYCE menu, there is also Sashimi & Sushi available.  Despite not looking it, the place dishes up good quality Japanese eats.  The options for sashimi include tuna, hamachi, hokkigai, amaebi and salmon.  As you can see in the picture, the quality is definitely there.  We enjoyed the bright and clean flavours of the sashimi, ordering it twice.  Also included are a few different rolls and aburi sushi.  Those were also solid with chewy sushi rice and fresh ingredients.

Included as well with the sashimi and sushi options, they also have a selection of dishes as well.  We had the Chirashi Don, Tako Wasabi, Unagi Don, Deep-Fried Squid and Baked Oysters.  These were also quite good with the chirashi don having the same good sashimi.  The tako wasabi was good with octopus that had a nice bite while the pickles added more crunch.  Good wasabi hit but not too strong either.  Unagi don featured buttery eel that was adequately sauced.  I found the fried squid to be excellent with a crunchy seasoned batter with tender squid that had an appealing chewiness.  As for the baked oysters, I've had this before and the durian one is the way to go (as long as you enjoy durian that is).  The cheese was plenty cheesy, but I much prefer the garlic as it was loaded and flavourful.

You might've already seen some of the sukiyaki options in the first picture including Squid, Whole Scallops, Shrimp Meatballs, Tripe, Abalone, Snakefish and Shrimp.  These were good quality where the scallops included the mantle (which I love due to the chewy texture).  The snakefish was excellent where it cooked up to be sweet and flaky.  Naturally, the abalone was a treat with its rebound texture and unmistakable aroma.  Shrimp meatballs had a nice bounce and sweetness.  You could also order eggs and use that to dip the meats into after cooking them.

On the topic of meat, the real draw of the Wagyu AYCE is of course the Wagyu Beef!  We got many orders of this (the item on the right) and yes, it was buttery and tender while flavourful.  It goes down so easily, one could do 3 orders of this each for sure.  That didn't stop us from ordering the other beef options too including the Premium Beef Brisket and Premium Beef Chuck.  Naturally, the fatty brisket was more flavourful and slightly more buttery (although still meaty in texture), while the chuck was leaner and beefier.

Among other options on the menu, we also Beef Aorta, Vermicelli, Wide Mung Bean Noodles, Fried Tofu, Bean Curd Sticks, Dried Bean Curd Rolls, Fish Tofu and Dace Meatballs.  I would say these were pretty standard since there was not much to prepare.  Good options though for hot pot.  Overall, the Wagyu AYCE was an inclusive meal that had many cooked and raw choices.  Quality was good and we were definitely satisfied.  However, if you do not want to be that spendy, the mid-tier AYCE option is basically the same minus the Wagyu.  That is probably the best value of the bunch.  Normally, they have premium ice cream bars for dessert, but for this visit, they ran out.  Be sure to get some when you go!

 

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

 

The Good:

- Good food quality

- Sashimi and Sushi are above-average

- Lots of choice

 

The Bad:

- Dining space is pretty small, so limited space for food on the table