Riley's Fish & Steak

The Glowbal Group is often a very easy target for foodies and restaurant critics.  Often sporting the ritziest decor and a place to see or be seen, the food almost appears to be secondary.  To be fair, I've had some good meals at Glowbal Group restaurants and I'm not afraid to admit it.  I personally feel that many people consider it an embarrassment to say such a thing.  I will agree that for the price, there are many other choices in the city to choose from, so I do not deny that is the case when we talk about Glowbal, Coast, Black+Blue, Italian Kitchen and Trattoria.  I won't comment on Five Sails, as I've not been there since they took it over.  Recently, their newest venture, Riley's Fish & Steak, has earned a Michelin-Recommendation.  I can just see some people rolling their eyes right now.  However, I would like to judge this for myself and decided it would be the place where I would celebrate my birthday.

Originally, I had visions of a seafood tower in my mind, but ultimately ordered a selection of appies to get a better sense of the menu.  One of their recommendations is the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio and I would have to say it was quite good.  The thinly-sliced beef was buttery and soft while topped with smoked tomato jam, aioli, parmigiano reggiano, onion rings and chimichurri toast.  There was no shortage of seasoning for this dish due to the saltiness of the cheese and creaminess of the aioli.  The smoked tomato jam was something a bit different and although I was concerned about it being too strong, there was just enough of it to provide some sweet tanginess.

Featuring the same crispy onion rings, the Crab Louie sported a considerable amount of lump crab meat, baby gem lettuce, avocado, soft poached egg and tomatoes in a 1000 island dressing.  I also thought this was pretty solid where the lettuce was fresh and crisp.  There was just enough dressing coating each leaf where there was just the slightest hint of heat in the tangy sweet dressing.  As mentioned, there was enough fluffy crab for the entire salad.

Initially, I was not aware how big Riley's Brioche would be, so we didn't end up finishing it.  Now it wasn't because we didn't like it.  Rather, it was fantastic with a crunchy exterior giving way to a soft and buttery interior.  Even without touching the aromatic lobster oil and or whipped butter with smoked maldon salt, the brioche was super tasty on its own.  The butteriness combined with the garlic and gruyère made it aromatic with enough saltiness on its own.

We also got one of their Classic Steamers with half mussels and half clams (1.5lbs in total).  With the classic broth, it consisted of white wine, garlic, herbs and butter.  It was plenty flavourful (bordering on salty) with properly cooked-down wine.  This great for dipping with the chimichurri bread.  Both the mussels and clams were buttery and plump while not overcooked.  We did find 2 unopened clams though.

Other than the carpaccio, the other highlight with the appies was the Lumb Crab Cake with black pepper mayonnaise.  Often, I am rather dismayed with crab cakes with all forms of filler.  Not only does it reduce the amount of crab in the cake, the crab is overwhelmed by the ingredients.  Not here though.  This was all crab with a panko coating on the top and bottom.  Hence, it was fluffy and texturally consistent.  Also, we could really get the crab flavour and essence from the cake.  It was also nicely browned on both sides giving it a crispy nuttiness.

Moving along, our next appie was the Smoked Salmon & Caviar Potato Rosti with egg, chives and shallot crème fraîche.  I thought the rosti was a little greasy, even though I know it is not supposed to be a health food.  The exterior was definitely crispy and well-browned.  On top, the smoked salmon was appealing colour and buttery in texture.  The small dollops of sevruga caviar were a real briny treat (wish there was more, but I understand since it is expensive).

Last appie was the Seafood Chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl. I quite enjoyed this as the viscosity of the chowder was just right.  Definitely rich and thick enough while still able to be drinkable.  There was obvious hit of smoked bacon to go with the slight seafoodiness of the broth.  I could get the natural sweetness of the seafood and onions while the salt might've been a bit too aggressive.  Overall, it was a good chowder.

Onto the mains, we ended up with 3 cuts of steak including the 8oz Prime Beef Tenderloin ($64.00), 16oz Prime Beef Ribeye ($98.00) and 14oz Prime Beef Striploin ($64.00).  Now the reason I put the prices in parentheses is our favourite was not the most expensive.  We asked them all to be prepared medium-rare and they were prepared as such.  The most buttery tender was actually the striploin.  It was packed with flavour and required little chewing.  Nice crust on the outside and well-salted.  Second favourite was the ribeye because it was so delicious from all of the fat.  Lastly, the tenderloin was good and also well-seasoned, but by virtue of being the leanest, it had the least beefy flavour.  It was tender though.

Viv decided on the Sablefish marinated in miso maple. With all of their seafood entrees, they include a potato risotto, parsley puree and confit cherry tomatoes.  Not mentioned, but included on the plate was broccolini and arugula salad.  Although sablefish is very forgiving when it comes to preparation, this one was done perfectly.  It was flaky and buttery with a nice smoky and caramelized exterior.  The marinade had penetrated the entire piece of fish.

My daughter ordered her usual with the Chinook Salmon Steak.  Also known as King Salmon, this was super buttery and soft.  Not only was it cooked beautifully, it was super fresh with a clean taste.  As you can see in the picture, the skin was seared until it was crispy.  It was also properly seasoned.  As with Viv's dish, the same accompaniments were on the plate. Risotto featured cooked-through, yet still firm cubes of potato.  It was plenty creamy.  Broccolini was vibrant and crunchy.

My dad ended up with the Jumbo Scallops because I encouraged him not to order the same dish as my daughter...  Turned out to be a good idea because the 6 scallops were beautifully seared while still being a bit rare in the middle.  The result was tender buttery scallops that were well-seasoned and nicely caramelized.  Again, the plate as completed with the same accompaniments as well as some charred lemon.

Since our steaks needed some sides, we got 3 of them including Truffle Fries, Creamed Spinach and Crispy Brussels Sprouts.  I thought the fries were pretty typical, yet quite crispy with only the slightest hint of truffle oil.  It came with some tasty black pepper mayo.  The creamed spinach was sinfully prepared with Boursin, hence it was both creamy and flavourful.  Some feta on top made it even cheesier.  A Glowbal classic, the Brussels sprouts were indeed crispy and tender.  There was plenty of parm on top for a salty nuttiness while the side of chipotle mayo added spice.

Since I had a birthday cake sitting at home, we only ordered 2 for the table to share.  Not surprisingly, the kids didn't really share the Devil's Marquis featuring devil's food cake, caramel chocolate ganache, crispy chocolate crunch, dark chocolate crème and bittersweet chocolate mousse.  This was truly decadent and rich with so many layers of chocolate.  I was able to try this and there was a mix of textures and different sweetness of chocolate.

For myself, I'm always partial to fruity desserts and especially tangy ones.  Therefore, I only had eyes for the Lemon Tart with torched Italian meringue, raspberry cream, candied lemon zest and berries.  I really liked this as the crust was firm and crunchy.  Inside, the lemon curd was creamy and tangy while the lemon zest added a nice sweet bitterness.  I was a bit surprised at this because it was one of the better lemon tarts I've had lately.  In fact, the whole meal was unexpected because we uniformly thought it was good.  Yes, I'm going on record on say that dinner we had at Riley's was on point.  Proteins were prepared properly and the quality of the ingredients was plain to see.  You will be paying a pretty penny for it though, yet if you want to be spendy, it is definitely an option for your dollar (or many many dollars).

The Good:
- Proteins were prepared properly
- Overall, solid food
- Attentive service

The Bad:
- One of the most expensive restaurants in the city, even though it was good, lots of choices to be had at this price point
- Too bad the parking lot below (which is expensive as well) is not attached to the restaurant

Desi Turka

Most people would say that the best Indian food can be found in Surrey, in particular, along the Scott Road corridor.  I generally agree with this sentiment because I've had my fair share of solid Indian food on Scott Road.  It also helps that I work nearby and everyone keeps giving me suggestions as to their favourite restaurant.  However, if you look hard enough, there are equally good Indian spots littered all over the Lower Mainland.  It isn't much different than the proliferation of great Chinese restaurants.  One place I visited recently was with Jacqueline in Desi Turka in New West.

We started off with the Chicken Momos with mint and tamarind chutneys on the side.  These Indo-Tibetan dumplings were quite good and compared well to the ones I had at Katmandu Restaurant on Scott Road.  The dumpling wrapper was medium-thick with a nice delicate chew to them.  Inside, the chicken was moist and tender while nicely spiced.  I like dipping them into the tamarind chutney since I love sweet tanginess.

Arriving on a sizzling cast iron plate with an intoxicating aroma, the Tandoori Chicken was on point.  As you can see, there was plenty of exterior charring, which meant there was a smokiness to the dish.  The chicken itself was quite moist inside and the marinade did penetrate the meat.  The final touch was a light drizzle of butter sauce that added some added layer of flavour and texture to the already flavourful chicken.

Now we couldn't just have Tandoori Chicken with butter sauce without having the actual Butter Chicken itself right?  The Butter Chicken featured big chunks of breast meat, which were tender and moist.  In actuality, the chicken in butter chicken is tandoori chicken, so this dish and the previous are directly related.  I really enjoyed the butter sauce here as it was rich and creamy with just enough tomato tanginess.  We could definitely taste the spices.

Of course to go with the butter chicken, we had to get some carbs in the form of Pulao Rice, Garlic Naan and Butter Roti.  Rice was nicely prepared where it was nutty and chewy.  We loved the naan as it was blistered and crispy in parts while stiff soft and chewy in others.  Good amount of butter and garlic brushed on top.  As for the roti, it was crispy and nutty with even leoparding.  It was glistening with butter, just how we like it!

Going for a different protein, we decided to try the Bombay Fish Curry.  It was loaded with flaky and soft pieces of fish.  As for the curry, it was thick with a good amount of spice and spices.  We asked for hot and it did have a lingering heat even well after we finished eating it.  Could definitely taste the ginger and the sweetness of the onions.  Naturally, there was also the classic Indian flavours of cumin, coriander and cloves.

Lastly, we had to get a vegetarian dish into the meal and we did just that with the Palak Paneer.  The creamy spinach gravy was earthy from the cumin and cardamom while nutty and slightly sweet.  There was a plethora of squishy and delicate paneer nestled within.  Overall, we quite enjoyed our meal at Desi Turka and I would definitely say that it gives the Indian restaurants along Scott Road a run for their money.  Good option in New West.

*All food and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- Good spice level (we requested hot and it was indeed that)
- On point proteins

The Bad:
- Place is a bit small, so would fill up quickly

Bar Susu

If you've followed me for at least the last 3 years, you'll know my love for Published on Main.  Hence, I am completely not surprised that they have received a multitude of awards and distinctions since they opened.  So when the same ownership group added Bar Susu where the The Whip used to be located, I was anxiously wanting to visit the place.  Well, after a few near-visits, we finally made it down to check the place out.  Now don't expect the place to be Published, as it is a bit more lively with a youthful energy.  The menu is much smaller, yet, as they name implies, a larger focus on beverages.

We started things off with the Shishito Peppers with furikake and Maggi mayo.  These were blistered and on the softer side.  The amount of furikake was quite aggressive, but that meant there was no absence of impact and spice.  Naturally, shishitos are rather mild, but a few of them were hot.  It was fun guessing which one was spicy in a Doritos Roulette manner.  Loved the Maggi mayo as it was full of umami.  Wished we had more of it though.  The puffed rice on top added a nice crunch.

Next, I had the Chicken Liver Rosette with cherry confiture and pickled rutabaga.  The key word here is "I" because they serve these individually.  Since I am the only one that love chicken liver, we only ordered one.  I loved the crispiness of the rosette where it was filled with creamy and flavourful chicken liver mousse.  It was sweet with definite chicken liver taste and cognac.  Pickled rutabaga on top provided some tang to lighten things up.

Topped with sunchoke crisps and parsley, the Beef Tartare had a particularly Asian influence with citrus kosho dressing and tobiko.  I enjoyed the pops of the tobiko that helped break up the smooth texture of the beef.  The tartare itself was bright with balanced acidity.  Eating the tartare by itself was delicious enough and impactful.  I thought the nori sheets on the side were a bit too strong tasting and took away from the beautiful tartare.  I would've liked to see shrimp chips or any other tapioca-based chip as a better vessel.

Featuring cute jicama dinos, the Dinosaur Kale Salad was well-dressed with miso citrus.  The tender strips of kale were full-flavoured due to the dressing.  Once again, another dish with noted acidity and impact.  There was plenty of comté cheese on top to provide nuttiness.  Rather than using a harder cheese, the salad was less salty (which was a good thing).  I absolutely loved the Japanese rice crackers as they provided a light and slightly salty crunch.

My absolute favourite dish of the meal had to be the Hot Smoked Trout atop spinach gomaae and dashi butter.  So buttery and soft, the trout really did melt-in-my-mouth.  No chewing necessary!  Beyond that, the smoke was just enough to provide a background essence without overwhelming the delicate fish.  Not too sweet, the gomaae provided an aromatic nuttiness.  This was further complimented by the rich and silky dashi butter that also had an herbaceous finish.  To literally top it off, the crispy fish skin provided the necessary textural contrast.

If the trout was my favourite, the Sablefish was a very close second.  Although sablefish can be very forgiving, the cook on it was perfect though.  It was buttery and flaky while being lightly torched.  The fish itself was well-seasoned, but the tomato butter really put it over-the-top.  We could really taste the essence of tomato and it broke up the heaviness of the butter.  There was barley in the sauce and it added some chew and texture.  Maitake mushrooms and seaweed provided both earthiness and umami to the dish.

Our last savoury item was the Pork Collar with miso, pumpkin orange puree and sauteed Swiss chard & chanterelles.  The pork was properly seasoned and prepared perfectly with just a bit of pink.  It was juicy and tender with a classic bounce texture.  I thought the puree was very bright due to the orange and it was the predominant flavour.  Also well-seasoned, the Swiss chard was cooked just enough and benefited from the deliciousness of the mushrooms.

Onto dessert, we had the Chocolate Mousse filled with cherry and accompanied by butterscotch.  The thing that really elevated the impact was the sprinkle of fleur de sel.  It heightened both the sweetness of the butterscotch and the intensity of the chocolate.  We would've liked even more of it!  Beyond the creamy mousse, the sweet tang of the cherries provided layers of flavour.  Some crunch in the middle added texture.  Even though Bar Susu is its own restaurant, it is hard to not have some comparisons to its older sister restaurant.  Is it as good as Published?  Well, that is not a fair question since they are not the same in many ways.  I would say Bar Susu is good and the old wood building has real charm.  Personally, I would eat at Published first, but I am not opposed to returning to Bar Susu either.

The Good:
- The building has real charm
- Service is attentive
- Food is generally good

The Bad:
- Menu is a bit limited, but the focus is not only on food here

Lee Garden (Coquitlam)

For those who are familiar with the Lee Garden chain, their first location opened on Kingsway in Burnaby back in 2014.  They added a second location in Surrey on Scott Road a few years later.  However, that one didn't really last as it quietly closed during the pandemic.  Alas, it is still a 2-restaurant chain as it took over the vacated Grand Palace in Henderson Centre in Coquitlam.  Before that, it originally opened as Kirin.  I guess 3rd times the charm right?  So we decided to check it out one day after the biggest snowfall of 2022.  Good thing we have an SUV with snow tires!

Interestingly, the first item to arrive was the Lo Mei Gai (Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves).  I guess they had some on the go already.  This one sported some wild rice which added both colour and texture to the soft and glutinous rice.  Hidden in the middle was an equal amount of moist ground pork that was mildly seasoned.  There was enough starch-thicken sauce to add some extra flavour to the rice.

One of our "go to" items is the XO Lo Bak Goh (or Daikon Radish Cake) and as such, we ordered it as usual.  They prepared this dish with enormous chunks of radish cake and hence, the texture was a bit softer and delicate.  We didn't mind this as a denser variation would not be pleasing to eat.  The exterior was a bit crispy and not overly greasy.  We would've liked to see more XO brininess and spice though as this dish was a bit flat.

Since my son loves brisket and noodles, we got the Crystal Noodles with Brisket and Tendon Hot Pot.  As you can see, there was much more tendon that brisket (to my son's dismay...).  However, I love tendon, so it didn't bother me one bit.  It was especially good that the texture was just right being soft while retaining a bite.  The brisket was equally good being tender and not dry.  I wish there was a bit more sauce to go with the slippery and chewy noodles though.

Another one of his favourite dim sum items is the classic Char Siu Bao (Steamed BBQ Pork Bun).  Yep, we got that too and it was pretty good.  Looking at the picture, it is clear that there was plenty of BBQ pork filling nestled in the soft steamed bun.  There was the random fatty piece, but most of the pork was fairly lean.  The filling wasn't overly saucy, but there was enough glaze to keep things sweet and moist.

We ended up getting 2 rice noodle rolls in the Prawn Rice Noodle Roll and the Crispy Fish Paste Rice Noodle Roll.  Sporting a medium thickness, the rice noodle was slippery and somewhat soft.  It did have some elasticity and chew.  The prawn were of a good size and exhibited a meaty snap texture.  Loved the addition of flowering chives as they added both brightness and texture.  We weren't huge fans of the crispy fish paste as it was rather dense and inundated with far too much green onion (do we really need it on both the rice noodle and in the paste?).

Now to the one of the, if not the most important Dim Sum dish - Ha Gau (Steamed Crystal Prawn Dumplings).  These were decent in size and featured medium-thick dumpling skin. The skin could've been a bit thinner, but it did exhibit some elasticity and was not overly dense.  Inside, the shrimp filling was moist and buttery.  There was a good snap texture where the pork fat added aroma and the aforementioned butteriness.

Wait...  Where is the Siu Mai???  Well, you'll have to wait because we had to!  Anyways, let's get to the offal part of the meal with the Steamed Chicken Feet in house special sauce.  These were a bit on the smaller side, but okay nevertheless.  The skin was tender while the cartilage and fat underneath were also soft.  They weren't as plump as I would've liked though.  Flavours were good with a garlicky sweetness.

Right next to it was the Steamed Beef Tendon and Honeycomb Tripe.  This was a bit small in portion size as you can clearly see in the picture.  Not much in the way of tendon and not really all that much tripe either.  At least we got our fill of tendon in the noodle hot pot.  Texturally, both ingredients were on point with the tendon being soft while the tripe having a certain meatiness to go with its soft chew.  This was plenty seasoned with equal parts saltiness and sweetness.

Off to another one of our favs, the Steamed Pork Spareribs with Pumpkin. Normally, we like to order this with rice in a clay pot, but since we had some noodles coming our way, we just got them on their own.  I found these to be a bit over-tenderized where the bouncy chew of the ribs was missing.  Now they were super tender though, but a little soft.  There was plenty of garlicky goodness though and it would've went well with rice.

Yes, just like we always do, we ordered the Fried Shrimp Spring Rolls with garlic.  If the kids had their way, we'd order 3 of them!  But we got just one and they were pretty good.  These were served hot where the wrapper was wound decently tight enough for a firm crunch.  Greasiness was modest with some glistening parts.  The shrimp filling was moist with a nice rebound.  Lots of garlicky savouriness as well.

As mentioned, here is the Braised E-Fu (Yee Mein) with assorted seafood.  This was supposed to be spicy, but due to some people at the table not wanting spice, we chose for it to be plain.  That didn't mean it did not have any taste though.  It was definitely salty enough.  The noodles were soft but still had a chew while the small pieces of seafood were cooked properly.  I liked how they added small chunks of eggplant as well.

Another larger item was the Seafood Congee.  This came in a much bigger bowl, but for my own serving, I had pieces of squid and prawn in mine.  The congee base was a bit on the thinner side, but still good.  This was drinkable rather than being too thick.  Seasoning was mild where the seafood provided much of the sweetness.  They were cooked properly with flaky fish, tender squid and bouncy prawns.

One of my favourite Dim Sum dishes is the Bean Curd Skin Roll.  I always order it, but not everyone likes it as much as I do.  So I end up eating most of it.  Oh poor me...  LOL...  This one was pretty good with tender, yet still chewy bean curd skin.  Inside, the pork filling was meaty yet tender with more of a natural texture.  The starch-thickened sauce was mild, but still provided some saltiness.

Looking a bit flat, the Beef Meatballs were much better than they appeared.  The whipped meat was bouncy and tender, yet we found little bits of meat that provided natural texture.  They didn't overdo it with the green onion, so it wasn't overly green and herb tasting.  It was mildly seasoned though and it truly needed the side of Worcestershire sauce.  On a side note, why do they always give too little of that? 

Lastly, we had the missing Siu Mai (Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumplings) that I mentioned earlier.  We waited an extra 20 minutes from the time we received our previous dish.  Maybe they were short-staffed due to the snow?  Anyways, these were also good with bouncy shrimp and meat chunks of pork.  Texturally, they were buttery and well-seasoned.  We didn't end up having dessert due to the amount of dishes we ordered.  Yes, we can actually be full sometimes...  We felt the Dim Sum here at this location of Lee Garden to be acceptable and generally above average.  Service as a bit slow, but I'm sure they were short-staffed due to the snow.

The Good:
- Generally above-average food
- Nicely appointed dining space (same as before with Grand Palace and Kirin)
- Indoor parking so you don't have to brave the elements outside

The Bad:
- Things were a bit slow, but maybe due to the lack of staff