Bento Nouveau

Pre-made, take-out sushi... Sure, that doesn't sound all that appetizing does it? To be honest, that has never been my favourite way of eating sushi. However, for some reason or another, I do my occasional Fujiya run every now and then. Possibly it has something to do with reasonable expectations. Much like the pre-made sandwich or prepackaged Chinese food, there will need to be compromises. Hence, we can't expect too much. At the same time, the food has to be edible, otherwise, it defeats the whole purpose. Now, consider my dilemma. I was approached by Bento Sushi to try some of their takeout products in hopes I blog about it. You see, Bento is almost purely takeout much like Fujiya. Now, with that being said, it is prepared on-site. I decided to give it a try since I've already put myself in harms way by eating at all sorts of Japanese restaurants already.

I was supplied with 3 sushi "club boats" to try starting with the basic California Roll Boat. Uniformly made, the rolls looked pretty standard. Nothing fancy here. As for the sushi rice, it was on the stickier side of things. Can't expect too much from packaged sushi. Not exactly screaming out flavour, there was some vinegar and sweetness. In terms of the roll as a whole, it was pretty textbook, nothing ground-breaking. Best word to describe it is "safe". The next one was the Assorted Maki Roll club boat. In it was more California Roll, Vegetable Roll and a Spicy Surimi Roll. The rolls were once again pretty standard; however, I have to admit that the ingredients were vibrant in colour and fresh. The avocado was ripe with no discoloration while the cucumber and carrots were crisp. Last item was the Salmon Sushi club boat. There were 3 types of salmon sushi consisting of Salmon Maki, Salmon Nigiri and a Salmon & Avocado Roll. Surprisingly, the salmon was actually quite good. It was sweet and fresh. Although, the salmon on the nigiri could've been thicker. I thought this was the best of the boats, partly because I personally like raw fish more than California Rolls. As an aside, the wasabi was
some of the hottest I've had recently. I found that quite interesting.

Now, I'm sure if you are wondering if I actually liked the sushi. Okay, I'll be honest. I have a predisposed biased towards this type of sushi. So I'm generally more critical due to the fact I've had some pretty good sushi in the past. With that being said, I didn't dislike it either. In fact, the salmon boat was quite good. If you compare this to restaurants like Sui Sha Ya (which is not really even Japanese food), the Bento Sushi is better. I'm probably not their target market; yet I have to concede that they do produce a decent product which will satisfy a large number of people. And I'm sure that their intention is to appeal to the masses. It is safe sushi. Not everyone wants things like uni and mirugai in their sushi anyways.

Parker Place Meat & BBQ

After a satisfying meal at Su Hang, it was time for Pomegranate and I to make the trek back to Grand Performance Auto to pick up my dad's car. However, we stopped by at Parker Place first. Originally, I was going to pick up some more Xiao Long Bao at the food court. However, it turns out that Pomegranate had a "stomach malfunction". Well, at least this time, we know it wasn't anything we ate because I felt fine and I made sure he stayed away from raw dumplings (see Fu Lin Hot Pot). While he was doing his thing in the restroom, I spied the resident BBQ Meat shop at Parker Place. I've purchased stuff from here before and remembered that it was quite good. Gives HK BBQ Master a run for its money in fact. Thus, not having anything planned for dinner, I decided to get some items. While I was waiting for my BBQ meats to be chopped and packaged, I was explaining to Pomegranate what was in the adjacent refrigerated display. There was cuttlefish, jellyfish, pork intestines and pig tongue. Pomegranate was none too impressed with some of the items. That is when the guy behind the counter and I started some small talk in Cantonese. He ask me to convince Pomegranate to try some jellyfish. I hinted to him that it was probably not a good idea. That is when he exclaimed that he was able to convince some German tourist to try the pig's tongue. Hmm... impressive; but I'm sure Pomegranate was not in the mood for anything like that.

Immediately after I paid, we hastily sampled the Roast Pork. It was freakin' awesome. The crisp skin gave way to tender, fatty meat which had a nice roasted flavour. The crackling was very easy to eat. If you've eaten a lot of roast pork, you'll know what I'm talking about. Sometimes, the crackling is so tough, it cannot even be chewed. We only wished that they let up on the salt a tad. The BBQ Duck had a nice colour to the rendered skin. Unlike the roast pork, the duck was not salty. In fact, I could still taste duck. Another solid product. Too bad the BBQ Pork was no longer warm when I took a sample of it. As you can see, the fat had already congealed. Despite this, it was still pretty good with a nice sweetness to it. This is good BBQ, no doubt about it. Maybe a shade below HK BBQ Master; but a whole lot better than the stuff you can get at T & T.

The Good:
- Well-executed meats, especially the Roast Pork
- Fair pricing

The Bad:
- Well, it's located in Parker Place where parking is never an easy thing
- It's good; but HK BBQ Master is still better

Suhang

Less than 24 hours later after late night hockey, I find myself in Richmond once again. In fact, I would have to return here for another hockey game the next night. Yup, 3 days in-a-row in Richmond. Tempting fate? Not exactly. Today, I was on my way to Grand Performance Auto to get my dad's spoiler painted. You see, I got him a spoiler for his car as a present. Unorthodox? Absolutely. Makes the car look better? But of course! The entire process would take about 2 hours or so. Thus, there was only one way to pass the time... Eat! Since I carpool with Pomegranate, I kidnapped him for the afternoon. Well, not exactly. He wasn't planning on joining me at all; however, when I mentioned that there might be Xiao Long Baos on the agenda, he jumped at the chance. So after dropping off the car at River Road near Capstan Way, we walked over to Alexandra for some XLB action. WTF? Our destination, Northern Dynasty was closed! Great... Not to worry, I had a backup plan, which was Su Hang Restaurant. Only problem was that we'd have to walk all the way to Ackroyd Road. No matter, anything for food right?

As we entered, the waft of vinegar filled the air. Yah baby, that is the smell of XLBs coming our way! But first, we started with the Drunken Chicken. Served cold, the tender chicken had a pronounced rice wine flavour - slightly bitter (but a good bitter) with a touch of sweet and savoury. Up next was the Szechuan Beef Brisket Noodles. At first, I was concerned with the light colour of the broth and the various bits of fatty floaties. However, the soup had more flavour than its appearance. With a decent amount of spiciness mixed in with a savoury beef broth, it was well-balanced. The brisket was tender enough; but I didn't like the excess fat floating around.

Now for the main event. I had long ago promised Pomegranate we'd go for some "real" Xiao Long Bao. The reason? He had watched Glutton for Punishment and got a craving for some after the XLB episode. Sadly, the ones he's had so far have been subpar. This time around, I assured him that these would be legit. And very legit they were. Super thin skin with a plethora of flavourful, rich broth, these were definitely a winner. I liked how the meat was smooth with a slight bounce as well. Only thing that I was concerned about was the flavourful broth... Was it lots of salt of MSG? Continuing on the dumpling theme, we got an order of Potstickers as well. We were so busy with devouring those tasty XLBs, I almost forgot to take a picture of the potstickers! Luckily there was one left! Almost an epic fail!!! We liked the crispy bottom and the size of the dumpling; however, the skin was slightly thick. Furthermore, the filling was a bit heavy on the veggies. Thus, it seemed a bit unbalanced when eaten. Don't get me wrong here, it was still decent, just not as good as the XLBs.

For our last dish, I let the server do the choosing. She recommended the Meatball Rice. She said it in Cantonese and I really didn't know what it would be like. Well, it turned out to be exactly that... A meatball on top of rice. All the individual components were executed beautifully - from the rice with bits of crunchy veggies to the moist meatball. Despite this, we were only moderately impressed. Could be personal preference really or we were just too full to eat anymore? Ultimately, with the meatball, sauce and rice mixed together, it was a nice balance of textures and flavours. Best to have a few more diners to eat this one since it is quite filling. Quite stuffed, we were presented with a complimentary Coconut Pudding for dessert when we asked for the bill. Pomegranate remarked that the pudding was slightly bland. Yah, I could see that; but at the same time, it allowed the natural sweetness and aroma of the coconut milk to shine. In terms of shining, the XLBs were pretty good and would definitely be in my top 5 in Vancouver which also includes: Shanghai River, Lin, Shanghai Wonderful and Chen's.

The Good:
- For us, the service was pretty attentive
- Good XLBs
- Fair prices

The Bad:
- Once again, the parking gremlin of Richmond appears and there are not enough spaces
- Tight seating

Dirty Apron Delicatessen

Despite its humble existence, the simple sandwich is a staple of the North American diet. Look at it. It's portable, can be eaten without utensils and is generally inexpensive. Like the modest burger, the sandwich has gone upscale. No, it's not a new revelation or concept really. There have been gourmet sandwiches for quite some time. Gone is the bologna on white bread. Enter now artisan sandwiches with high-end ingredients that require deciphering via a culinary encyclopedia. Considering that sandwiches from Subway and Quizno's can set you back a pretty penny, it is not a stretch to pay a bit more for quality. My personal favourite in town is the Pear, Proscuitto and Brie at Finch's. The Porchetta at Meat & Bread comes in at a close second.

Entering the gourmet sandwich ring comes The Dirty Apron Delicatessen. Yup, it's the same Dirty Apron which runs cooking classes. I wasn't really intending on trying it out today; rather, I was on the mission to find some sausages. Wait, let me rephrase that... I was looking for some hot Serious Sausage on a street corner. Er... Okay, I'll stop now. I ended up bypassing the sausages and went down the block to The Dirty Apron. I ended up picking up 3 sandwiches to go. The first and probably the best was the Grilled Proscuitto with figs, watercrest, cambozola and balsamic onions. I thought the combination of the ingredients covered the spectrum of flavours from the saltiness of the proscuitto to the bitterness of the watercrest. However, Viv thought there was too much going on. Difference of opinion I suppose. We can't let a sandwich come between us can we?

Of course I had to get their popular BBQ Pulled Pork Baguette. You see, it does its very best to emulate a Vietnamese Banh Mi, albeit at more than double the cost. It is a combination of pickled carrots & daikon, cilantro, jalapeno and mayo with Asian-spiced pulled pork. Without thinking about a Banh Mi, the sandwich itself was good. Of course the flavours work since it is essentially a take on a Vietnamese sub. Taken for what it is, I liked it. Thinking about spending 1/2 the price on a grilled pork Banh Mi made me think twice. Our last sandwich was the Crab & Shrimp Baguette with Aji vinaigrette, avocado, peppadew and pea shoots. Predictably mild tasting, I did get the natural sweetness from the shrimp and saltiness of the crab. The peppadew added some sweetness with a touch of spice and the pea shoots offered up some fresh greens. However, I personally would've liked impact, possibly more peppadew. On average, the sandwiches are roughly $8.00 each at The Dirty Apron. Certainly not inexpensive while not exactly breaking the bank either. Consider a "seafood" sub at Subway costs just as much for imitation crab (albeit bigger). We thought the sandwiches were made with high quality ingredients and with care. It definitely warrants another visit to try some of the other offerings.

The Good:
- Quality stuff, it shows in the end product
- Not cheap, not unreasonable either
- Trendy in its own ways

The Bad:
- Pretty good, not mind-blowing either
- I liked the Pulled Pork sandwich; but reminds me too much of a Banh Mi (which costs much less)

Locus

With every passing late night food adventure, the pool of late night eateries dwindles down further and further. In actuality, there are still many places to eat in the wee hours, they're just located in areas we don't normally frequent. Soon, we will need to go exclusively into Downtown since that is where many of them reside. However, this time around, we made plans out on Main Street, in particular, Locus. For Friday night hockey, this is quite the drive from the North Shore. The reason for heading in the opposite direction of where many of us live was due to Gadget Girl. She lives in that direction and we would do anything for her! Well, since she organizes the team, I guess we do it in fear more than anything else. Turns out she couldn't make it after all. Too bad really. Next time, we're gonna go to Surrey! To spite her! LOL... The one benefit of this location is that Rocket could join us. So not all was lost. Also, after a considerable absence, Polka King made a cameo. Apparently, he's been busy with a newly crowned "Polka Dot". I see... That is more important than hockey and food! When we arrived, there was a slight wait for a table. Seems to be a happenin' place for a Friday night. Lots of hipsters doing their hipster thing.

Sweet Tooth was there for the dessert only; but ordered a token appetizer being the Gin & Ginger Prawns with sesame wonton chips. She thought the prawns were prepared correctly with lots of ginger; yet lacking in gin. She would've liked more impact in terms of flavour. I personally didn't like the wonton chips, as you can see they were oil-logged. Both Polka King and Lionel Hutz had the Grilled Ahi Tuna Club with lettuce, tomato, pancetta, avocado and olive tapenade. Duplicates! Well, in the end, it was a good thing to have 2 differing opinions. Both agreed that the tuna was cooked perfect and seemed fresh. Lionel Hutz enjoyed the flavours while Polka King complained that the olive tapenade left a funny aftertaste. Whatever the case, it was fairly priced at $13.00. Milhouse went for the ol' standby - the Organic Beef Burger. As stated from the menu, it is topped with caramelized onions, edam, lettuce, tomato, shaved red onion, roasted garlic mayo and served on a whole wheat kaiser bun. Milhouse thought that the meat to bun ratio was a bit off; yet the whole thing did taste quite good and the meat was not dry. The roasted potatoes were a nice departure from fries.

For myself, I started with the Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio with horseradish aioli, grilled bannock and truffle oil. A fairly solid offering with melt-in-your-mouth thin slices of beef. The truffle oil added a nice earthiness while the aioli had a nice kick. I didn't care for the "bannock". I would've preferred a crunchy textural contrast instead. For my main, I had the Maple Hills Pulled Chicken Carbonara. Consisting of roasted garlic, wild mushrooms, bacon & sweet peas, fresh herb fettuccine, creamy egg yolk sauce and grana podano cheese, this was not bad. I found the pasta to be slightly soft; but not gummy or clumpy. Although this version does not follow the classic recipe, there was a good balance of saltiness from the bacon, nuttiness from the cheese and earthiness from the mushrooms. A minor complaint would be the some clumps of uncooked egg yolk. It wasn't a huge deal though. After all, you'll rarely find me being too picky about late night eats (unless it plain sucks) since there is not much choice. Locus does decent late night eats in a hip environment with some inexpensive options.

The Good:
- Burger and sandwich prices are reasonable
- Decent eats
- Hip environment

The Bad:
- Food is okay; but nothing to write home about
- Other than the burgers and sandwiches, some of their entrees are pricey

Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant

As much as there is great Dim Sum to be found in the GVRD, it is amazing how few options we have in suburbs such as Surrey, Burnaby, New West and the Tri-Cities. It seem like the bulk of the places reside in Richmond and Vancouver. Not very convenient, let alone environmentally conscious with people driving great distances for Dim Sum. In the case of Richmond, I think there is a real risk of vehicular maiming too. In the case of Burnaby, we have one "upscale" Dim Sum joint in Fortune House at Metropolis. It's okay if you like waiting in line for over an hour, only to be seated in a can of sardines doubling as a dining room. Yes, Top Gun also serves up "better" Dim Sum at Crystal Mall; however, the lineup is just as large and let's not even get started on the circular parking lot from hell. Alternatively, there some smaller places such as Wah Lun and Yan's Garden. Reluctantly, I will also mention Po King, which is the equivalent of Chinese water torture. Yah, the food is respectable there. You just have to put up with being treated like an inmate at the Dim Sum Correctional Institute.

There is definitely plenty of room for another Dim Sum restaurant in Burnaby. Taking a page for the "build it and they will come" playbook, Grand Dynasty enters the scene. Situated within the Grand Villa Casino at the Delta Hotel, Grand Dynasty is definitely upscale. From the beautiful decor and attentive service to the "Downtown" prices, this place is unlike anything we've had in Burnaby up until now. Similar in concept to the Kirin attached to the Starlight Casino in New West, Grand Dynasty offers upscale Chinese food for the gambling clientele and beyond. The actual restaurant is not really that big. I can safely assume a banquet would involve catering into one of the large ballrooms. Honestly, I didn't even know that the place had opened up (only 5 days ago). My mom had tipped me off since she heard the ads on Chinese radio. Always anxious to try out new places, we headed there the next morning for Sunday Dim Sum with the family.

The restaurant itself is at the East end of the hotel where the adjacent parking lot is rather small and not user-friendly. Case-in-point, I ended up following a clueless driver into the full lot where all he ended up doing was stopping at the entrance and blocking traffic in and out of the place. And to think I thought Crystal Mall is frustrating. Not to worry though, there is plenty of parking across the street at the free spacious Casino lot. As mentioned, the restaurant itself is not very big; however, it is spaced out decently so it doesn't feel too cramped. As we were part way through our meal, a large lineup started to build.

We started with the Sui Mai which were good. A balanced amount of snappy shrimp and pork took care of the textural aspects of the dumpling while the mild amount of seasoning and shiitake made for a good tasting product. I liked the appearance of the dumpling, especially the ample amount of tobiko on top. The Haw Gow (or Shrimp Dumpling) were equally good. Modest in size; yet high in quality, the shrimp had the requisite snap while the dumpling skin walked the line between being soft or chewy. Not overseasoned either, we could definitely taste the sweetness of the shrimp. I liked the Pork Spareribs. They were tender with a bit of chew left while there was a good flavour from the garlic and peppers. Too bad there was so little of it. When it arrived, it looked as if half of the order was missing. Look, you can see the bottom of the plate! Not a good value at $4.95.

Much like the Shrimp Spring Rolls at Bing Sheng, they were plated with the rolls cut diagonally. I kinda like this presentation actually, even though it really isn't functional for dipping purposes. The spring rolls were crunchy and full of garlicky whole shrimp. Solid dish. As for the next one, I wasn't so sure about the concept. It was Black Chicken with Bamboo Pith and Dried Fish Maw. Hey, the bamboo pith and dried fish maw were good, excellent textural items. The wolfberries on top were both aesthetically pleasing and added a muted sweetness and a touch of bitterness. However, the chicken itself is not something I prefer to eat. You see, black chicken is quite tough and would be best used in soups. Predictably, the chicken here was not very tender, albeit it had a level of sweetness that I liked. I think this would've worked better with regular chicken.

Now for some dishes for the kiddies. We got the Baked BBQ Pork Bun for my son, not because he likes it particularly. Rather, this version had a sugary topping which he absolutely loves. So I got the BBQ pork, he got the bun. As for the bun, it was light, soft and of course sweet with the topping. I liked the BBQ pork, it had sweetness with depth and colour without being overly sweet. Consequently, the Steamed BBQ Pork Bun tasted just as good since it had the same filling. I did notice that there was not too much in the way of pork fat in either bun. I do realize pork fat is yummy. I just don't want it predominantly so. The steamed bun was slightly on the chewier side, I would've preferred it to be a more "loose". Not a big issue though.

Another fan favourite for the kids is the Pan-Fried Rice Noodle Roll with Soya Sauce. Although the presentation of the dish left a lot to be desired, it was better than it looked. One of the reasons why the noodle rolls looked like they were falling apart was due to the delicate texture. The rice noodle rolls were very soft (in a good way though) with good colour and a nice caramelized soya flavour. Naturally, the Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls were expected to be just as good and they were. The rice noodle was once again soft while not disintegrating on contact either. Curiously, instead of the typical 3 rolls, there were only 2. Although... there were 4 large, perfectly cooked crunchy shrimp inside. Usually, there are only 3. So by doing the math, we are only short by one shrimp despite missing on entire roll. However, it just didn't seem right with only 2 rolls.

Normally, Shark's Fin Dumpling is comprised mainly of pork and does not contain real shark's fin. The version here is made up completely of shrimp and chives topped off with tobiko and imitation shark's fin. An interesting take on a classic dumpling. Much like the haw gow, consisting of practically the same ingredients, the textures and flavours were good. Despite employing an ordering system with a checklist, there are times when special dishes roam around the dining room in hopes that someone will try them. My mom loves shrimp/prawns, so it was given that we would take a chance at the one that arrived at our table - Pan-Fried Prawns. Now don't laugh... These type of whole prawns with head on are deep fried and then wok-tossed with ketchup. Yes, ketchup. Of course there are other things that go into the sauce; but ketchup is the base. Don't knock it until you try it! I'm serious! The prawns here were cooked perfectly and the sauce was a nice balance of sweetness with a touch of tartness and savoury.

Moving along, the Pan-Fried Daikon Cake was nicely browned. It was mildly seasoned with most of the flavour provided by the dried shrimp and Chinese sausage. It was decently soft, although I would've preferred it to be smoother. Not a big deal breaker though. At first, when the Deep Fried Taro Dumplings arrived, they looked pretty good. And in fact, they were very crispy and hot. However, the filling of pork, mushrooms, Chinese sausage and shrimp were diced up into really small bits. Sure, it is supposed to be in small bits; but these were too small. The result was a gritty texture that was none-too-pleasing. I felt that there wasn't enough mashed taro either. Lastly, some parts of the dumpling were quite oily too.

Onto dessert, which is my kids favourite part of the meal. Naturally of course... So we started with the Thousand Layer Cake, which is not really all that many layers really. Normally, I really like this dessert because of the salted duck egg yolk. I like the texture and salty-sweetness of it. Yet, it turned out to be more custardy than anything. It wasn't too sweet, which I liked and there were pine nuts. I like pine nuts and it somehow sorta worked here. I saw the coconut and ate the coconut, I just didn't get a lot of coconut flavour. Despite all this, the cake was still decent for what it was. Predictably, my son didn't want any of it; yet curiously ate the Steamed Custard Bun willingly. Why curiously? Consider this. The custard bun here consists of the salted duck egg yolk. Yes, the same stuff that goes into the thousand layer cake. It's all in the head my boy! Anyways, what I didn't get in the cake, I got here in the bun. The salted duck egg yolk filling had it all. It was a bit greasy, a bit salty and a bit sweet. You gotta eat it to understand what I'm saying. It was good, lots of filling too. The bun was slightly chewy much like the BBQ pork bun. Not a big deal again.

Our last dessert was the Egg Tarts. For me, I am completely biased towards the flaky pastry-type. I absolutely despise the tart shell version. I find that it completely ruins the texture of the soft egg filling. So for me at least, I was happy with the egg tarts here. The flaky pastry was a tad sweet though. I found that it interfered with the egg custard itself. Not a big deal I suppose because the egg tart as a whole was quite good. In fact, I thought most of the food was solid due to the use of good ingredients and careful preparation. It better be though. The prices are extremely high for Burnaby. Normally, we wouldn't find these prices other than Downtown at places such as Imperial, Victoria and Kirin. I guess the prices reflect the level of service, decor and restaurant class as much as its location in the Delta Hotel. If you were looking for value, it would be best to move along. But if you want to pay handsomely for all the aforementioned characteristics, then Grand Dynasty is your place.

The Good:
- It's a nice place with nice decor, attentive service and an air of class
- Solid food
- Lots of free parking

The Bad:
- Really pricey considering it's not in Downtown
- Smallish portions
- Not a big place, lineup for sure