Nomo Nomo

It always seems like there are some cool spots opening up along Commercial Drive.  Well, there is now another in Nomo Nomo.  Consider it a yōshoku izakaya that features share plates with a full service bar.  I would definitely say the place has style and the subsequent lively atmosphere to boot.  It is a cozy and compact place that has about 24 seats including ones at the bar.  We ended up sitting there for our visit and yes, we made a reso.  Highly recommended that you do!

Despite being share plates, these were far from "small".  Case in point, the Kabocha squash was a pretty generous portion, especially with the whole burrata taken into account.  There was a double-dose of squash where the roasted kabocha sat atop a smooth and sweet winter squash puree.  Really enjoyed the heightened sweetness from the roasted squash.  The radicchio dressed in umeboshi vinaigrette really brightened things up and added crunch.  As much as I love burrata (and this was a good one), maybe it wasn't needed?

We had the Hen of the Woods next and it was another fairly generous portion of roasted maitake mushrooms.  They had a dry exterior, yet the inside was juicy and tender.  There was a wealth of flavours in this from the fatty and salty guanciale, tangy pickled shimeji and the sweet corn soubise.  There was a little of everything in this where the pickled shimeji provided that critical brightness to cut through the slight heaviness of the dish.

I really thought the Scallop Crudo should've been served first due to the relatively heaviness of squash and mushrooms.  But in some sense, it could be seen as a palate cleanser of sorts.  The slices of Hokkaido scallops were buttery and sweet while dressed in a ponzu sauce.  We found some pickled radish and sunflower sprouts on top.  This was a pleasant dish were the tangy and slightly salty ponzu added flavour to the dish while the radish offered up crunch and more tanginess.

Although the appearance of the Prawn Toast seemed to be heavy, it was really not.  Set atop a Chinese donut (Yau Tiew), the prawn tiger prawn mousse was light and bouncy.  The donut itself was airy and lightly crispy on the outside.  Unlike other yau tiew that I've had, this wasn't greasy.  However at the same time, I don't mind the grease, as it is part of any fry bread.  On top, we found a drizzle of tonkatsu sauce.

I really enjoyed their take on another seemingly typical item in the Croquette.  Now there was an actual potato croquettes underneath made of potato salad.  Hence, they were creamy and light.  On the outside it had a firm crunch.  To top it off, literally and figuratively, there was some torched king salmon, ikura and unagi sauce.  Nice combination of textures as the crunch from the croquette contrasted the soft buttery salmon.

One of my favourite items was the Tamago Sando.  Again, what was presented was completely different than what I was expecting.  What we found was toasted milk bread with a imitation crab and egg salad with red crab on top.  With a bit of black truffle, there was the usual earthiness and aroma.  Loved the texture of the salad where I found the sweetness of kewpie mayo and a bit of brightness from the chives.

One of the two featured items of the night was the Wagyu Sliders.  Essentially, these were little burgers with two meat patties each.  Served on toasted Hawaiian rolls, the whole concoction had a soft feel to it.  The meat was tender and moist while the buns were fluffy beyond the crispiness of the exterior.  I would've liked to see something crunchy for more texture.  The burger sauce was quite Asian-tasting and was a nice compliment to the beef.

On the menu, there was a Tomahawk Pork Chop, but it was replaced by a Pork Collar instead.  The dish itself was still prepared similarly to the menu description with caramelized apple, apple kimchi and mustard tare sauce.  The fatty collar was prepared closer to medium-rare and hence, was rather flabby and chewy.  That in itself wasn't particularly enjoyable as it was tough to eat.  Flavours were nice though with the tare having a good balance of sweet, salty and sharpness.  Apple kimchi was crunchy while the caramelized apple was intensely sweet.

We ordered the only option for dessert on the menu being the Cookies and Ice Cream.  Crispy and light, the chocolate chip cooked acted as a serving vessel for the matcha gelato.  It was fairly smooth and was topped with strawberry & red bean coulis.  I found the coulis to be tangy and mildly sweet.  Overall, I found the meal to be decent with some highlights as well as some things that could've been improved.  I liked the Prawn Toast, Tamago Sando and Mushrooms.  The Kabocha was fine but the burrata didn't need to be there while the Pork Collar was too chewy and undercooked.  I am open for a return visit and would like to see the evolution of the restaurant as time goes by.

The Good:

- Creative spins on their dishes

- Excellent service

- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:

- Some refinements needed

- Not the most spacious of places

Niwa

Recently, Air Canada released its list of the best new restaurants in Canada.  One of the places mentioned is Niwa out on a strip of great restaurants on Powell Street near Victoria Drive.  After great meals at other nominated restaurants such as Le Violon, Elem, June, Linny's and Pancée, I was excited to check out Niwa.  Viv and I went to celebrate her birthday with their Chef's Menu for a reasonable $85.00.

Our meal began with a few snacks including Assorted Pickles, Seiglinde Potato Salad and Country-Style Berkshire Pork Pâté.  These were pretty standard items in many tasting menus I've had as of late.  The pickled celery and radish were crunchy and punchy, but we thought the carrot was a bit bland.  Potato salad was creamy with crunchy onions and pops of roe.  Pate was firm with light meatiness.  It came with a small dollop of mustard and a slice of gherkin.  

One last snack was the Sablefish served as a cube of reconstituted meat.  It was fluffy and tender with a wasabi kick.  We added the Uni Shooter supplement and it was served with seaweed and ponzu.  For mine, it was bright and sweet, but Viv's was funky and not as fresh.  Our last supplemental dish was the Fife Bread.  It had a crunchy crust with a soft and chewy centre.  It was served with a squash compote that had sweet and earthy melon vibes along with a pork butter that was melty and baconesque.

Onto our next course, the Tofu Pocket was stuffed with mochi and mushrooms.  It sat in a dashi that was smoky and had the essence of dried orange peel.  We enjoyed the texture of the chewy tofu skin pocket, but the mochi in the middle was too soft and a bit slimy.  We would've liked to see it firmer.  As for the mushrooms, they were flavourful with a great texture.

We moved onto a salad of sorts with the Kohlrabi dressed in black vinegar and chili oil.  Combined with Asian pear, there was a mix of hard and soft crunch textures.  We had some natural sweetness, but with the black vinegar, it was the most dominant flavour.  There was a bit of spice for the chili oil, but it was muted.  This was fairly pleasant and light, where we were leading up to the next item.

That next item was our favourite dish of the meal, the Golden Eagle Sablefish.  Although we felt the dish could've been seasoned more aggressively, the overall execution was good.  Each large piece of sablefish was buttery and soft while barely cooked through.  The fish itself could've been salted more, but the preserved matsutake sauce had enough umami to make up for it.

As a side for the sablefish, we had the Crawford Farms Turnips with sweet onion.  This was quite good with soft turnips that still had a bite.  Of course there was some natural earthiness here and it was complimented by the fermented saltines of the miso on top.  Furthermore, the charred Ailsa Craig onions added both crunch and natural sweetness.

At this point, we thought our meal was over, but then came the Stewed Pork Shoulder Rice with seaweed.  This was a pretty rustic dish if you can imagine.  It was served over chewy sushi rice.  In general, this was a hearty and comforting item with tender and fatty pork.  Mixed in with the seaweed, scallions and chewy sushi rice, each bite was meaty and filling.

Finishing off the Chef's Menu, we were presented with the Brown Butter Ice Cream Puffs.  I enjoyed the creamy, nutty and sweet ice cream.  It was further enhanced by the Irish whiskey caramel which was pretty sweet.  The choux pastry was decent having an airiness to it while crispy on the outside. Overall, the Chef's Menu at Niwa was decent, but not particularly impressive compared to the other best new restaurants nominees (as per Air Canada) I've visited in 2025.  I do think the Chef's Menu is a good value though and I'm curious about the evolution of the restaurant as it moves into 2026.

The Good:

- Fairly good value

- Attentive service

- Nice atmosphere

The Bad:

- Food is decent but not memorable

- Pretty dark in there

HAAN Korean BBQ (AYCE)

I've been to Haan Korean BBQ in the past and it was a good experience.  Now, they have something that is a bit different.  They are doing AYCE (All-You-Can-Eat), yet not in the conventional way.  Instead of a big menu with multiple items for over $50.00, they have simplified it to either "Beef" or "Pork" AYCE with only 2 meat choices for each one.  On Tuesdays, it is the Beef AYCE for only $30.99 and on Wednesdays, it is the Pork AYCE for $29.99.  These included side dishes and a few other items.  Pretty good value if you don't need too much variety.

With either choice of AYCE menus, it included Banchan, Kimchi Pancake, Rice and Lettuce for wrapping the meat.  For our side dishes, we had Potato Salad, Kimchi, Marinated Daikon and Pickled Daikon.  I particularly enjoyed the creamy potato salad and I gladly ordered more of it.  The pancake was pretty flat, but had a nice crunch and kimchi flavour.

Also included was the Bean Paste Soup served bubbling in a ttukbaegi (Korean Stone Bowl).  It was pretty good with cubes of soft tofu in a broth that was flavourful and slightly spicy.  We had the sweetness from the onions that helped balance the spice from the peppers.  Once again, since it was AYCE, we ordered a few more of these.  Great for a cold day!

For the Beef AYCE, there were two choices of meat including the Fatty Beef and Beef Bulgogi.  The bulgogi was my favourite as it charred up well on the grill due to the sugar content of the marinade.  It was tender and didn't need much in the way of extra sauce (which was provided).  As for the fatty beef, it was also tender, and yes, I dipped it into the sauces (Bean Paste, Korean BBQ Sauce and Sesame Oil with Salt).  The meal also included Seasoned Mung Bean Sprouts as well.

I personally preferred the Pork AYCE where it included Pork Belly and Marinated Pork Shoulder.  Naturally, the fatty pork belly was tender and charred up nicely on the grill.  As for the pork shoulder, it had a smoky crust due to the sugars in the marinade as well as the marbling of fat.  For me, I would choose this on Wednesdays, not only because of the meat, but also it is also a dollar cheaper.

Now, some of you might lament the lack of meat options but in reality, how many choices do you need?  Normally, you would only choose a few to re-order anyways.  Sure, there isn't Galbi here, but it is also not $50.00 either.  Considering basic combos for one person run in the high $20.00 range, then this AYCE is well worth it if you are hungry.

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

The Good:
- Inexpensive
- Has everything you need for a complete meal
- Pork was good quality and tender

The Bad:
- For those who like variety, this isn't it

Tre Viet

It is nice to see the increasing amount of Northern Vietnamese spots opening up in the GVRD.  Growing up, all I was exposed to was Southern Vietnamese, where the menu sported various versions of Pho, Rice dishes and Vermicelli Bowls.  Yes, there is more to Southern Vietnamese cuisine than that, but that is what we got.  The latest Northern Vietnamese spot is Tre Viet on Denman in Downtown Vancouver.   This is the sister restaurant the CHÉN Vietnamese in Burnaby, hence you will find many of the same delicious dishes on the menu.  We dropped by for a tasting of the menu.

To start, we had the Hanoi Crisp Crab Parcels and the Anchovy Chicken Wings.  Although crispy (from the rice paper wrapper) and generally pleasing, I would've liked to see more crab in the parcels.  I would gladly pay more money for it.  As for the wings, they were quite good.  Nicely caramelized fish sauce with its classic salty brininess.  The meat was juicy and tender.

Our next appie was something that would appear in another dish later.  These were the Deep Fried Young Rice Cakes.  Really enjoyed the "meatiness" of these with a pleasant chew that went well with the sticky rice.  We also got the Rainbow Salad with prawns.  This was a fresh and appetizing mix of purple cabbage, carrot, onion, mint, peanuts and fried onion.  Lots of crunch and aromatics to go with the chili sweet & sour dressing.

Onto the soup noodle portion of the meal, we had the veritable Bún Bò Huế.  I found the broth to be clean with sweetness and the impactful aromatics of lemongrass.  Then we had the hit from the spicy oil as well as some brininess.  Pretty good!  In place of a pork knuckle, we got sliced pork hock instead.  We also found cubes of pork blood in addition to the other meats.  

Rather than ordering the typical Phở, we went for Tre's Special Soup.  The moist interesting thing in the bowl was beef meatballs encasing a salted egg yolk.  Like a Vietnamese Scotch egg, this was bouncy and flavourful with the nutty and salty egg yolk.  There was also thinly sliced rare beef with rice noodles in a phở broth.  Again, the broth was clean with mild flavours (just like how Northern-style phở generally can be).

We tried a new item that isn't on the menu yet in the Peanut Satay Phở.  This was aromatic and of course, nutty.  It was rich, but not thick (if that makes sense).  Hence, it was completely drinkable with some briny spice at the end.  There was also a balancing amount of sweetness.  We got some aromatics in a herbaceous manner.  Really good and the thin-sliced beef was tender.

 

Our last noodle soup was the Lemongrass Chicken Phở.  The chicken was actually served on the side, but we put it in the broth for the picture.  However, that actually was great in function too.  The smokiness from the charred chicken helped add depth to the broth.  Normally, a Phở Ga is pretty mild-tasting and sweet (which this was), but with the chicken added, we got the lusciousness from the chicken fat.

All of the dishes we've had so far was delicious, but the Bún Đậu Mắm Tôm Đặc Biệt was striking and even more delicious.  This platter consisted of pieces of vermicelli noodle, fried tofu, sliced pork hock, fried young rice cake, fried intestines and blood sausage.  All of this could be dipped into a punchy fermented shrimp paste sauce.  On the side, we found calamansi, peppers and lime.  Great for brightening up the flavours and cutting through the richness of the fermented shrimp paste.  Really enjoyed this as the textures of each item were different and that shrimp sauce was full of umami, funk and brininess.

So we did get one rice dish and it was the Grilled Lemongrass Pork Slices and Prawn Skewer.  We added 2 fried eggs for good measure.  This was a generous portion of food where the pork was charred and caramelized.  Since it was fairly fatty, it was tender as well.  Good marinade on it where it was plenty sweet, briny and salty.  The prawns were charred as well but a little overdone.

We had the Tre House Special Banh Mi.  This was similar to a đặc biệt where it had a variety of hams and meats.  It was plenty saucy with butter mayo and pate.  It wasn't devoid of flavour where the meats provided umami while the ample pate added aromatic meatiness.  Pickled veg offered up crunch and tanginess while the cilantro did its herbaceous thing.  The baguette was crunchy and fairly soft on the inside.

To go with our food, we had a variety of beverages including Matcha Coconut, Avocado Coffee, Calamansi Ice Tea and Fresh Sugar Cane Juice.  Hands down, the calamansi was a hit for me.  The tartness and sweetness really was refreshing and help compliment the dishes we had.  Avocado coffee was rich and smooth.  This would be the drink I would have by itself.  Aromatic and tropical, the matcha coconut also had the requisite bitter aftertaste.  It was nicely balanced.  Of course the cane juice was sweet, but on the other hand, it was diluted enough that it was not too sweet.  Overall, the food at Tre Viet is delicious and served in generous portions.  Some real distinctive dishes you'd not find at the run-of-the-mill Southern Vietnamese spots in town.  Definitely worth checking out.

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

The Good:

- Distinctive Northern Vietnamese dishes

- Large portions

- That fermented shrimp sauce!

The Bad:

- Wished there was more crab in the parcels

- Pork slices could've been a bit less fatty

Rumblefish

Back in the Summer, I had visited Rumblefish out on the corner of Hastings and Garden.  Yes, it occupies the former location of The Red Wagon and now dishes up fish n' chips and the sort.  It was a pretty solid experience, but somehow, I just didn't get around to posting it.  Well, let's try again as Jackie and I were coming from first dinner and needed a second dinner for good measure.  I suggested we try Rumblefish and off we went!  Fate would have it, we returned a week later for a tasting.  So this post is a combination of all the meals I've had here!

For the 2nd and 3rd visits, I decided to get a few things that weren't on the table the first time I visited.  First off, we had the Seafood Chowder which was a completely different animal.  Rather than being creamy and thick, this was more brothy, yet not runny.  It was chock full of buttery clams and pieces of soft fish.  However, the most unique feature of it all was the flavour.  At first, we were trying to figure out why the chowder was so intensely full of umami.  After a bit of tasting and thinking, Jackie got it right - the addition of mushroom powder.  Hence, this was somewhat of a seafood chowder/mushroom soup hybrid.  Plenty tasty and original.  As you can see, we got this with a bread bowl and in a regular bowl.  Unlike other versions, the bread bowl was not sourdough.  Hence, it was lighter and easier to eat.  The bread soaked up the little broth that existed and was plenty delicious.

On my second visit with Jackie, we had the Calamari featuring fried strips of Humboldt squid.  These were tender with classic squid chewiness.  Really good balance in the texture department.  The batter was relatively thin where it was almost not there in some spots.  This resulted in a light crispiness.  I felt that the seasoning was adequate where we could eat this without the accompanying ranch-like dip.  

For the 1st and 3rd visits, I decided to order the Prawn Roll.  Yes, both versions were doused in a considerable amount of sriracha mayo.  Was it messy?  Yes.  However, it ate quite well since the prawns themselves were cooked just right having a cold water crunch.  There was natural sweetness and brininess.  With a kick, the creamy mayo acted as a binder that provided impact and moisture.  All of this sat in a toasted buttery roll that was soft and a bit crispy on the outside.  Completing this concoction, we had lettuce, slaw, ginger, pea shoots and pickled onions.

Onto the Fish n' Chips, I've had both the halibut and cod several times.  The 2 piece Pacific Cod & Chips goes for $22.00 and includes slaw, lemon wedges and tartar sauce.  I found the batter to be fairly thin and crispy.  It wasn't greasy while the fish was moist and flaky.  For me, it was all about the Halibut & Chips.  This was a one piece for $17.00.  Halibut can turn out badly if it was not fresh and overcooked.  However, this was perfect.  The fish was almost buttery and light.  Fries were fresh-cut being crispy with plenty of potato goodness left inside.  Tartar was also good being bright and not too heavy.  Nice tang to it.

An item not found on the regular menu was the Nashville Hot Fish Sandwich.  Consider this to be a dead-ringer for the chicken version except that it contained a piece of fried pacific cod.  Dressing this thing was slaw, sriracha mayo, tartar, b&b pickles and pickled onion on a toasted bun.  This had quite the kick while not going overboard.  Nice crunch all around from the fish, slaw and pickles.  Messy, but also delicious.

Now you would think the last thing that one would order is a Smash Burger at a fish n' chip joint right?  Well, don't sleep on this burger as it was legit.  The beef patty was smashed enough that it was able to crisp up on the edges while still not being dry.  With condiments such as American cheese, burger sauce, lettuce, pickled onions and pickles, this had some Big Mac vibes.  The toasted bun held everything together, yet was not heavy.

Last on the list was the Grilled Rockfish, Rice n' Beans.  I've had the previous iteration of this dish (which is no longer available) which was sablefish.  I preferred the sablefish more, but then again, it was also more expensive.  For this one, the fish was nicely charred having a smokiness and being properly seasoned.  It was not as moist and buttery as the sablefish, yet that was to be expected.  This would be a good choice for those wanting something a bit healthier.  Some grilled tortillas on the side allowed for construction your own taco/burrito.  Overall, the food at Rumblefish is solid with some surprises.  The Seafood Chowder is definitely different and plenty flavourful while the Smashburger is also good.  If you go for the Fish n' Chips, you won't be disappointed.

*First 2 visits were paid but the 3rd visit was complimentary*

The Good:

- Solid Fish n' Chips

- That Seafood Chowder is unique

- Surprisingly good Smash Burger

The Bad:

- The Grilled Rockfish is on the drier side