Din Tai Fung (Bellevue) – revisit

January 4, 2015January 4, 2015Leave a comment

It’s been over 3 years since I last visited Din Tai Fung located at the Lincoln Square in Seattle (Bellevue). Back when it first opened, the restaurant was bustling with long waits, and when S and I visited for lunch on Christmas Eve, it was quite the same. The wait wasn’t half as long though. You can watch the chefs prepare the dumplings and buns through the glass window while you wait. Their waiting system now offers a text to alert you that your table is ready, which is quite convenient. The restaurant is famous all over Asia, but it’s interesting to note that at this location, there are barely any Chinese employees. I guess they cater to the Caucasian population here.

Juicy Pork Dumplings

After a 20 minute wait, we placed our orders and first up were the Juicy Pork Dumplings. One order comes with 10 dumplings. I liked how the dumpling skin was very thin, but I found that the soup inside cooled down really quickly. I would have preferred it to be still sizzling hot. Nevertheless, they were pretty good or above average.

Rice & Pork Shao Mai

I suggested we order the Rice & Pork Shao Mai, which is essentially sticky glutinous rice with pork stuffed in the dumpling skin to appear like a shao mai. These were very sticky and rather filling. Not bad. Again, they one order came with 10.

Chicken Fried Noodles

Lastly, we ordered the Chicken Fried Noodles. A mix of chicken and vegetables along with the thick Shanghai noodles. I liked how the noodles had a good chewy texture to it and the dish wasn’t too oily or salty.

Pros:
– Good quality food at decent prices
– Ambiance is much nicer than your typical Chinese restaurant

Cons:
– Always a queue for a table
– Service was rather slow for us

Price Range: $10-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 4
Overall: 4

Jade Seafood Restaurant 玉庭軒海鮮酒家 (revisit)

December 31, 2014Leave a comment

Winter Solstice is pretty big for Chinese families, so my mom said we needed to go out for dinner. We celebrated a few days early since it’s always difficult to accommodate with everyone’s schedule. She suggested we go to Jade Seafood Restaurant since they were having a Special Abalone Set Menu. It was $39.98 per person, which was a pretty good deal considering what we got and how full we were. The dinner started off with complimentary peanuts and XO sauce.

Double Boiled Soup

For soup, there are two choices. The Double Boiled Soup came in a clay jar and was extremely sweet and delicious. You could tell it had been boiled for a long time. If I tasted it correctly, it was boiled with chicken and conch meat, which brought lots of flavour.

Shark’s Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken

The second option was the Shark’s Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken, which was definitely less sustainable. I’m surprised they still offer it here since most restaurants have stopped selling shark fin soup. The broth was a thin gelatin consistency and came with ginger and shredded chicken.

Braised Whole Abalone

Next up was the Braised Whole Abalone, which sat on a bed of braised pea tips. Pea tips are one of my favourite Chinese veggies, and they were delicious soaked in the abalone sauce. The abalone itself was just alright. I found it a little too chewy and tough for my liking. The ones at Kirin are much better in my opinion, but also pricier.

Baked Conch with Cheese in Portuguese Sauce

Next was the Baked Conch with Cheese in Portuguese Sauce. The conch shell was presented as part of the dish, and you would’ve thought there would be conch meat inside, but there wasn’t even a bit! It was all mushrooms and onions mixed with the Portuguese sauce. We felt a bit ripped off because of that, but the dish was flavourful regardless.

Sauteed Chicken with Vegetables

A dish that was shared amongst the table was the Sauteed Chicken with Vegetables. It was a good mix of wood ear fungus, zucchinis, carrots, and onions. However, I found the dish to be a bit heavy on oil. The set menu also came with Fried Rice with Egg White and Dried Scallop, which I forgot to take a picture of. Each person got their own bow, and it was huge. Too much rice to finish off the meal.

Hot Almond Soup with Sesame Balls

Lastly, for dessert, it included the Hot Almond Soup with Sesame Balls. The almond soup was smooth and full of almond flavour. There were two glutinous balls filled with sesame paste. Not bad.

Overall, the set menu was a pretty good deal. I know that service is usually pretty bad at Jade, but surprisingly, we had really good service that night. Very attentive and our food came out just as we were about to finish the previous course. Parking of course was a nightmare though, as there are two other restaurants downstairs now.

Salmon n’ Bannock

December 27, 2014December 27, 2014Leave a comment

Just a block away from the office, Salmon n’ Bannock isn’t quite noticeable. E told me that it’s supposed to be Vancouver’s only restaurant that serves First Nations cuisine. Never tried the cuisine before, so I was curious what this was all about.

The restaurant is fairly small, but it wasn’t too busy during the lunch hours. The inside is decorated with First Nations decor and gives a very homey feeling. Staff was very friendly, but the only issue I had was how slow the food came out. We waited over 30 minutes for our food, and with a one hour lunch break, there isn’t really much time to eat. Come here if you are not in a rush.

Elk Burger

E tried their Elk Burger, which came with an elk patty, sauteed mushrooms, alder smoked bacon, tomato, smoked cheddar and organic greens. All the burgers also come with your choice of salad or sweet potato fries. E got the sweet potato fries and it came with a side of aioli. All burgers come with the bun as a bannock. I didn’t really know what bannock was, but it is the main staple in First Nations cuisine. It’s a flat quick bread and I thought it almost tasted like a scone, but less dense.

Salmon n’ Bannock Burger

For myself, I went for the Salmon n’ Bannock Burger, since it seemed that the restaurant was named after this dish. It featured a 6oz wild sockeye salmon fillet with tartar sauce, red onions and fennel slaw. I also chose the sweet potato fries, which were cut fresh and topped with lots of herbs. However, I found that they were quite soggy. The seasoning was great, but the fries needed to be crispy. There was a large piece of salmon fillet and the salmon was cooked to moist. I found the red onions to be a bit too overpowering as there were too much of it, so it covered the salmon’s flavour. However, I really enjoyed the change from your typical burger bun. The bannock was fluffy and crispy on the outside. A very interesting texture and worth trying.

The receipt came in a box with Aboriginal detailing, which I thought was a nice touch. Overall, Salmon n’ Bannock offer some pretty good burgers that are very different from your typical. It’s interesting to note that most of the meat they use are meats you wouldn’t normally see, such as bison and elk. Burgers range from $17-18 so not exactly the cheapest option. Still, it’s a cool place to check out if you’ve never tried First Nations food.

Kingyo Izakaya

December 16, 2014Leave a comment

Yuzu Gin Tonic

I’ve always wanted to try Suika’s sister restaurant, Kingyo, so when K and U told me to decide, off we went to Kingyo. I made reservations beforehand and was told that there was only a seating at 6:00pm and that we would need to leave by 7:30pm. This place is packed! Anyways, we started off with their cocktails, since U said they are really good. I went for the Yuzu Gin Tonic, which was essentially a gin and tonic with yuzu juice. It was topped with some yuzu zest and a slice of lime. Loved how it was refreshing and not overly sweet.

Fresh Melon White Wine Sangria

K went for the Fresh Melon White Sangria, which consisted of fresh melon juice, calpico, melon liqueor, white wine, soda, and lime. His was slightly more sweet, but really good! As for U, she got the Kingyo, which had rum, shiso, lime, 7up, soda, tonic, goji berries and yuzu juice. Again, the drink wasn’t overly sweet.

My Ebi Mayo

To start, we had the My Ebi Mayo, which I loved! The ebi were huge black tiger prawns and were tempura battered, then deep fried. The prawns were so juicy and fresh. Dipped in the spicy chili mayo sauce and topped with paprika powder, it gave the dish just a bit of heat.

Rock’n Kobe

Next up was the Rock’n Kobe, which came with a large stone to self-grill. The kobe beef was already marinated, but it also came with 2 kinds of Kingyo’s original sauces. One was a spicy sauce and the other was more like a garlic sauce.

There aren’t too many slices of kobe beef for $22, but the meat was definitely a nice cut. Very tender and the marinade was flavourful. Just make sure you don’t overcook it!

Deep Fried Chicken Breast Tender

The Deep Fried Chicken Breast Tenders were marinated in plum and shiso. It was served with lemon, wasabi, and a side of chopped jelly fish marinated in plum sauce. I thought they were pretty much like chicken strips, but nevertheless, they were good.

Invincible & Undefeated Tantan Noodle

The server recommended the Invincible & Undefeated Tantan Noodles. These noodles were similar to instant ramen, but they were cooked in a pork bone and shrimp broth. It was seasoned with sesame oil and miso, then topped with cashew nuts, ground pork, chili marinated Chinese chives and black sesame. A mouthful of flavour! I wish it had more of a kick to it though, since it wasn’t spicy at all compared to your typical tantan noodles.

Cheese Tofu

Lastly, we added a dish off their December special menu, which was the Cheese Tofu. Sounded weird, so we gave it a try. It came with a few slices of toasted bread, and 4 slices of “cheese tofu.” It looked like tofu, but it tasted like cream cheese! It was definitely odd, but not bad at the same time. Not sure what I was eating really.

Overall, we were extremely pleased with Kingyo. Even though we felt a bit rushed at the end, the service was still there. Definitely make reservations ahead of time if you want to eat during the busy dinner times. Otherwise, a great place for food and drinks. Definitely coming back!

The Bombay

December 10, 2014Leave a comment

Looking for places to eat in Coquitlam, J suggested we go to The Bombay, since he’s been telling me how good their butter chicken is. However, everytime I try to go there, it’s closed. Finally, we arrived at lunch, and service was sort of sparse. We stood there waiting around and no one acknowledged us. Finally, we were seated, but no menus were given. Apparently during lunch time, they offer a lunch buffet for $9.99, so everyone goes for that. Taking a look in the menu, it seemed like that was a better deal, so we went for it as well. The buffet itself is really small, just like any other Indian buffets. There were an assortment of curries and tandoori chicken.

There’s also a salad bar, but it did not look appealing at all. Nan and rice is available, but as per buffets, they were not fresh and hence not as good.

The Butter Chicken was probably the best, but even so, J said that it’s usually better when you order off the menu. That’s probably because you’ll know your food will come hot and fresh. Lots of chicken and the sauce was creamy and flavourful. My other favourite was the Chicken Tikka Masala, which was boneless chicken breast in onion sauce with fresh tomatoes, ginger and garlic. I liked how it had some heat to it, whereas the butter chicken was not spicy at all.

Roti – whole wheat flour, unleavened bread, baked in a tandoor

We decided to try their Roti, which came sizzling hot, so much better than the nan at the buffet that had been sitting around. However, my complaint would be how oily it was. There was a layer of oil glistening.

Overall, The Bombay’s lunch buffet was average. It’s a good deal if you fill yourself up with the curries, but I wouldn’t say the quality is amazing. Service is also really lacking, but the place was still filled up during lunch hours. Plus, there really aren’t that many other Indian restaurants in Coquitlam, so I guess it’s to their advantage. I’d still like to come back and try their regular menu and see how it compares.

4 Stones Vegetarian Cuisine 雅室友素食 (Revisit)

December 7, 2014Leave a comment

Herbal Soup

I haven’t been to 4 Stones Vegetarian for many years, mainly because of how difficult finding parking is. We went on a Friday night and the place was packed! Luckily, we got a seat within 10 minutes. Dinner starts off with a choice of soup – herbal or vegetable. K went for the Herbal Soup, which didn’t smell too appetizing. It probably was pretty good for your health though.

Vegetable Soup

For myself, I went for the Vegetable Soup, which was average. It didn’t taste amazing, but I could tell there wasn’t any MSG used. Just plain vegetable broth, so it was pretty healthy.

Combo Appetizers

The three of us both chose a main dish and made it into a combo. A combo comes with appetizers and a bowl of rice. Today’s appetizers included bean curd tofu and boiled veggies. It also comes with fruits, flax seeds, dried cranberries, and almonds for dessert.

Deep Fried Veggie Oysters

First, we shared the Deep Fried Veggies Oysters as an appetizer. I was surprised that the restaurant presents their dishes quite nicely. Typically, Chiense restaurants do not put much effort in presentation, but here, they definitely make an effort. The so called oysters were actually tofu. The batter is light and for some odd reason, it actually had some oyster flavour to it. It came with a satay-like sauce to dip. Very good!

Veggie Beef Brisket with Curry Sauce on Rice

For the combo mains, I chose the Veggie Beef Brisket with Curry Sauce on Rice. Veggie beef brisket? Yup! The beef brisket was actually a type of bean curd. It actually had the texture of eating meat though! Very impressive. I found that the curry sauce was lacking flavour, but in general, the restaurant’s food is not very salty. I guess that’s a good thing health-wise.

Grilled Veggie Unagi

E chose the Grilled Veggie Unagi, which came on a sizzling plate. The unagi was again made of bean curd, wrapped with seaweed and deep fried. It came with a lot of enoki mushrooms and basil leaves. I found that the unagi tasted more like squid instead though, since it had a chewy texture.

Sweet and Sour Bean Curd Fish

Lastly, K chose the Sweet and Sour Bean Curd Fish. Again, the fish was some type of bean curd and was layered with seaweed to imitate the fish skin. The sweet and sour sauce was not very strong, but the peppers and pineapples brought flavour to the sauce. I enjoyed this dish quite a lot.

Overall, 4 Stones Vegetarian is a great choice if you’re looking for Chinese vegetarian food. They have a large selection of choices, and shows that there are endless options other than eating salads. Reservations will most likely be needed for large groups, and they seem to cater to these groups quite well. Parking is also an issue, but other than that, they seem to have a loyal customer base since their food is quite consistent. Service is friendly, but also quite slow since there are not too many servers and the restaurant is always busy.

Gyoza Bar + Ramen

December 4, 2014Leave a comment

I was super excited to hear that the Aburi Restaurant group had opened another restaurant. Under the same company has Miku and Minami, Gyoza Bar Ramen is now their third restaurant, offering, as the name says, specialty in ramen and gyozas. However, shortly after their opening, I heard that the restaurant was just average and way overpriced. Urbanspoon had some of the lowest ratings as well. I decided it was time to give it a try anyways to see what this talk was about. The restaurant is modern yet rustic, and is very casual compared to their other restaurants.

Japanese Fruit Wine – Ichigo (Strawberry) and Yuzu (citrus) – doubles

We started off with Japanese Fruit Wine. On the left was strawberry flavoured, and on the right was the yuzu. These were already doubles, but they were quite small! Similar to plum wine, these were flavoured as described. I liked my yuzu wine as it was slightly sour, but not overbearing. Very refreshing.

Fraser Valley Pork Teppan Gyoza (7pc)

Next were their famous gyozas. The Fraser Valley Pork Teppan Gyoza is their signature dish, if I remember correctly. We chose the 7 piece dish and it came in a cast iron pan. The gyozas were good with a nice pan fried crisp, but it’s hard to say that they were extremely memorable.

Spicy Garlic Soy and Umami Soy Suace

The teppan gyozas come with two sauces. One is a spicy garlic soy and the second is the umami soy sauce. I preferred the spicy garlic soy sauce as it had more of a kick to it.

Miso Short Rib + Jalapeno-Soy Glaze

They also offer three other specialty gyozas. We tried the Miso Short Rib and Jalapeno-Soy Glaze Gyozas. The gyozas were deep fried and topped with feta cheese, peppers and mushrooms. They were slightly spicy, but I actually didn’t prefer them to be deep fried. These were quite average, but very pricey! Five gyozas for over $12!

Aburi Pork Char Siu

We ordered an appetizer of Aburi Pork Char Siu. Again, it came in a little pan. The pork was quite disappointing to be honest. Nothing special, and I felt that it was under seasoned. It came with a sous vide egg, radishes and a side of bread to complement. Very average and nothing special.

Tamari – Shoyu Tonkotsu Pork Ramen

Lastly, we tried their ramen. I believe their signature ramen is the tomato-saffron ramen, but it is priced at the high price of $17! Instead, we opted for the Tamari-Shoyu Tonkotsu Pork Ramen. The noodles were on the skinny side and cooked to al dente. It was topped with aburi pork char siu, soft boiled egg and kale. I found it odd that they used kale instead of the traditional seaweed. I didn’t find the broth to be very good as well. Something seemed to be missing.

Overall, I would agree with others that Gyoza Bar + Ramen is quite average. I wouldn’t say the food is terrible, but the price is not worth the quality of food. If the price is lowered, then I would be more likely to revisit. Great location in the heart of downtown, and service was decent.

Mega Sushi (Revisit)

December 2, 2014December 2, 2014Leave a comment

Tuna Tataki Roll

Deciding where to eat in Richmond, I decided to do a revisit to Mega Sushi. They are known for their creative rolls, so that’s exactly what we went for. We started with the Tuna Tataki Roll, which is filled with avocado, cucumber and imitation crab. On top of the sushi is torched tuna and a homemade sauce. I found this one to be average. I would’ve liked the tuna tataki on its own.

Mega Roll

The next was the Mega Roll, which I’ve had before. However, it was presented differently this time. The sushi itself is battered and deep fried. Inside, there is deep fried salmon, green onion, and avocado. On top, there is imitation crab, spicy mayo, and tobiko. Lots of flavour and a hint of spice.

Big Boss Roll

The Big Boss Roll looked pretty interesting. It was filled with prawn tempura, cucumber, imitation crab and avocado. On top, there was torched tuna, four sauces, and tons of yam flakes. I loved the yam flakes, but it also got really messy eating this roll. Lots of textures going on here, but the flavours work well.

Godzilla Bite

Lastly, we got the Godzilla Bite, which was presented beautifully. These were square shaped rice patties with seaweed which were deep fried. On top, there was torched tuna and salmon, tobiko, alfafa and a special sauce. I liked how the deep fried seaweed and rice were sort of chewy and sticky. Definitely something different from your typical rolls.

Overall, Mega Sushi offers innovative rolls. They also have your traditional nigiris and other hot dishes, but I think they focus on modern and contemporary style sushi. The rolls are quite pricey, but are actually quite large in size so fill you up very easily. J and I shared these four rolls, and were beyond full. We couldn’t even finish them all! Parking is limited, but there are street parking available in the area. A bit hidden from the tourist areas of Steveston, so I would say it’s a bit of a hidden gem. Great service as well!