The Red Wagon

August 10, 20131 Comment

After watching countless Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives after midnight and having cravings of those greasy dishes, I’ve finally made my way to one of the featured diners. I’ve heard people raving about The Red Wagon, but it’s not exactly located in an area I would often go by. To be exact, I didn’t even know where it was. Located in the East side, this is definitely an area I never visit. It wasn’t too bad to get there though. A Canada Line skytrain to Waterfront, and then a short bus ride takes you one block away from this diner. As you can see, people were lining up, and it was around 1pm on a weekday.

But then J and I just walked in, since we weren’t sure if we should leave our name first, and the waitress told us to grab a seat right away. I guess the group outside was quite large and needed to wait for a large table. So if you’re looking for a table for two, it’s definitely easy! Literally no wait at all! So awesome, since we had imagined ourselves lining up.

This picture reminds me of the scene I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives! But yea, as you can tell, the place is quite small. The kitchen area is extremely small as well.

Iced Lemonade, Iced Coffee

On a hot, sunny day, we needed some refreshers. I chose the Iced Lemonade, even though I was afraid it would be too tart. Surprisingly, it was quite sweet! They must’ve put some sweetener in or something. The colour was also extremely yellow…almost golden yellow. Not exactly the colour of lemonade I see when it’s freshly squeezed. But hey, it tasted great! J said his Iced Coffee was quite strong, but good. They also gave him an agave sweetener syrup, since he told us that sugar wouldn’t melt nicely in the iced drink. How thoughtful!

Crispy Pork Belly Sandwich – pickled veg, jalapeno, cilantro, mayo, baguette, chips

Onto our food! OMG. This was like delicious. We sort of chose the Crispy Pork Belly Sandwich, since the daily special was sold out, but am I glad I decided to try it out. It comes with a side of chips, which I believe are freshly baked, and extremely crispy. They are also ever so lightly seasoned with salt and are absolutely delicious. I wish they sold these to go. For $12, it’s a decent price for the amount of food you get, because you will actually get full by the end. I mean, you pay that price for a burger at many Western restaurant chains, but this is way better.

Onto the sandwich itself. I was not expecting so much pork belly in it, but it was filled with it! They were quite large pieces, but the pork belly was so soft, that it wasn’t a mess to eat. Other than the grease that was just pouring out. Yup, by the time I finished devouring this sandwich, my plate was filled with oil and grease. The pork belly had a good balance between the amount of fat and meat. This is definitely not something you should be eating everyday, but this is worth having a cheat day. I’m not a big fan of cilantro or even veggies in my sandwich, but for some reason, all these ingredients just added so much flavour and worked so well. I didn’t even pick out any cilantro, like I would usually. The baguette was also soft to bite on the inside, and crispy on the outside. I have to say, I enjoyed this sandwich more than the one at meat and bread, even though the two aren’t exactly the same.

Pulled Pork Pancakes – 3 buttermilk pancakes layered with pulled pork, JD-spiked maple syrup

And of course, we had to get their infamous Pulled Pork Pancakes. Pancakes aren’t my usual go-to item for breakfast, but these ones were amazing. The buttermilk pancakes were extremely fluffy. One thing I usually hate about pancakes are how dense they are made, and it makes you feel like you are eating a bunch of cake. This one was exactly the opposite. Fluffy and light. And who knew pulled pork would go with pancakes? I sort of questioned that at first, but once you try it, it will change your mind completely.

There is so much pulled pork in between each layer of pancake, and the flavouring is perfect. They also have their signature Jack Daniel’s syrup. I actually didn’t really taste any alcohol, but the flavour was definitely a bit different from normal maple syrup. This is a must try and well worth your $13!

By the end of the meal, we were completely full. We both shared each of the plates, and we couldn’t end up finishing all the pancakes. It’s a good idea to also take a walk after…since you will feel very guilty for eating all that oily food. I wouldn’t suggest coming here every week for breakfast, but it is definitely a must try! Oh, and when your bill comes, you get some coca cola gummies. I don’t know why, but it gives me a retro feel to it. Service was also quite pleasant. Our food did take quite a while to arrive though. At least 20 minutes. Other than that, I was extremely pleased with my food at The Red Wagon! PS. You could say this is heart attack food…so beware 🙂

Jethro’s Fine Grub

June 12, 2013June 22, 2013Leave a comment

I’m extrermely behind on positing up my blog pieces these days, and let’s just blame that on school and exams. Anyways, probably around three weeks ago, my friends and I decided to go grab some early brunch on Victoria Day. Yea, Jethro’s Fine Grub is definitely not the place to go on a holiday or weekend unless you’re willing to wait an hour or get there at 8 a.m. We arrived at around 10:30 a.m. and were told that we would need to wait around 1.5 hours to get a seat, and that would mean two separate tables as well since we had a group of around 8. After a while of being indecisive, we finally agreed to grab take out and go to Kits Beach to eat. Our food was ready in around 30 minutes.

Smoked Salmon Benedict – Grilled English muffin topped with wild smoked salmon, poached eggs and hollandaise. Served with hashbrowns.

I’m always craving the eggs benny for brunch, so I opted for the Smoked Salmon Benedict. Sadly, by the time I started eating, my food had cooled down, so my review here is not going to be the same as someone who ate it fresh in the restaurant. My hollandaise sauce had cooled down, so the consistency was a little too thick.

I loved how the yolk was still runny in the middle and the smoked salmon along with the capers gave the eggs Benedict added flavour. However, the hashbrowns were quite disappointing. They were burnt and also soggy (which may be due to the lid being closed for too long).

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Alligator Nuggets – Battered and flash fried ‘gator over basmati rice with blonde barbeque sauce and a tossed salad

S got the Alligator Nuggets. I tried a piece of these nuggets and I must say the batter is quite unlike any others I’ve tried. The batter was extremely light and they had a distinct flavour to it. However, we both agreed, that it wasn’t the best nuggets we’ve had and it seems to be over praised for.

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The Cobb – Roast turkey, bacon, tomato, avocado, scallions and crumbled blue cheese. Served with hashbrowns and toast

M got The Cobb, which included an omelet filled with a variety of vegetables, roast turkey and blue cheese. This was served with hashbrowns and toast and made it a very filling meal. Because the food had cooled down, the blue cheese wasn’t as stringy as M would’ve liked it.

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Breakfast Burrito – Scrambled eggs, chorizo, 2 salsas, jack cheese, avocado and hashbrowns wrapped in a warm tortilla

T got the Breakfast Burrito, and I managed to snap a picture of the huge burrito! It’s definitely a huge burrito that could be easily shared between two people.

Overall, my review cannot be justified since most of our food cooled down by the time we ate it. I would imagine that the food is much better warm, as it was still alright with it being cold. Plus, there must be something special about Jethro’s with those huge line ups.

Floyd’s Diner

January 12, 2013May 2, 2013Leave a comment

During my winter break, I headed over to Victoria. We were told by a local to try out Floyd’s Diner, and so we did. They have an extremely small parking lot, so be prepared for pay parking on the streets.

The place is quite diner like, with simple furniture, and even couches for some tables. It’s unique and a little hipster at the same time. It’s decorated with art and bright colours. The restaurant was quite packed on a weekday as well. We looked around and realized that the portions were huge. Most of us ended up sharing a plate.

I went the bathroom and to my surprise found a chalkboard behind my stall’s door! Apparently it was only in that one stall and also only in the girl’s washroom! I left Victoria 2012 on it for fun 🙂

BC Hash – Potato, green onion, salsa, sausage, bacon, egg, cheddar & jack mixed together served with toast

This was only HALF the serving. So imagine double of this for one person. I don’t know who would order this by themselves, cause the portions are ridiculously large! M and Y shared the BC Hash, and they both had trouble finishing it. I took a bite from the dish, and it was pretty good. Lots of flavour, and it’s pretty much everything mixed together. The sausages were pretty good and with everything being bite size, you didn’t need to fuss with the knives.

Cajun Club served with fries – Caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce, Cajun spice, mayo, bacon, chicken, cheddar, swiss, & chipotle

This is also half of the full order of the Cajun Club. It was quite filling for the guys as well.

Eggs Ben-Hur served with pan fries – Spinach, sun-dried tomato & mushrooms topped with herb pesto hollandaise & feta

C and I shared the Eggs Ben-Hur. This is also only half it. The portion was this was much more normal I guess. It was basically two eggs benny along with hash fries, which is a typical amount in most breakfast chains. I found that the pan fries, which are really hash fries, were way too burnt. They included the potato skin, which is noramlly fine, but most of them were black and just unhealthy to eat. They also weren’t served warm, so those weren’t that great.

Here’s a closer look at the eggs benny. This was actually delicious! Eggs were cooked perfectly with the yolk being runny as you cut in. The sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach made you feel extra healthy and the flavours worked well together. The pesto hollaindaise sauce was my favourite, as it was just a little different than original hollaindaise sauce, yet it worked. The english muffin wasn’t tough so cutting through it wasn’t a problem.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with Floyd’s Diner. Service could’ve been more friendly but I guess we had quite a large group. I felt our server was just a little too cool though. Prices are also extremely affordable for the portions you get. Cool place to grab some quick breakfast and conveniently located in Downtown Victoria!

Double Double Restaurant & Wonton

September 30, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Double Double recently just opened early September. It took the old spot of where West Lake used to be – well there was another restaurant after, but that closed too. My parents spotted it one time, and decided to go check it out for brunch. We weren’t sure what time it opened, so we got there around 10:15 am. It was actually open at 10:30, and surprisingly, customers were already waiting in line eager to get in. I’m guessing everyone heard about this new restaurant since the owners used to own another restaurant apparently.

Anyways, once the doors opened at 10:30, everyone bombarded into the doors, and we were quickly seated. Good thing we had a table of three, so we got to sit at the booths. If you were a table of 2, you most likely had to sit at the large round tables with randoms – much like what they do in Asian countries. It was insane, because as I sat down, I saw that all the seats were already filled and there was already a lineup. I feel sorry for those people, since it literally meant they had to wait for a table who had just sat down to finish their meal – probably at least a 30 minute wait. Good thing we got there early!

When we were ready to order, pretty much everyone else was – as you can imagine since everyone was seated at the same time. This caused some chaos as everyone wanted their orders taken, but the servers seemed to use a systematic method by just going down the row one by one. We got our orders taken, but wow was the wait long to get our food.

We literally sat there for at least 25 minutes with no food. Since I was bored out of my mind, I looked over since I was seated right next to the kitchen where they made handmade steamed rice rolls. This was actually one of the reasons we came, since handmade rice rolls can be difficult to make and really depends on the chef. These rolls were made by the owner’s wife I believe. It’s a tough job because you have to stand in front of hot steam and you also have to touch the burning hot rice roll in order to roll it and such. I watched as the order lists she received piled into a stack of a ridiculous amount. I told my parents that we would probably be here for a long time waiting for these steamed rice rolls.

Plain Congee (Big Bowl)

Finally, after roughly 30 minutes, we got our Plain Congee. Like really? It takes 30 minutes to make some congee that has no other ingredients in it? Pretty ridiculous. And of course we ordered the congee hoping to dip our Salted Chinese Donuts in, but nope, they were not present.

Sweet Chinese Donut

We waited another 5-10 minutes, and finally got Sweet Chinese Donut. We could at least dip that in our congee so it wasn’t too bad. I actually really enjoyed this as I liked the hint of sweetness in the donut. My dad however, said that he saw that these donuts were being made by this really young guy. He didn’t seem to really know what he was doing, and he took extremely long rolling out the dough. I’m guessing they actually roll the dough as they are being ordered or something. All the donuts were also sold out within 30 minutes as I heard other customers ask in disbelief.

Pan Fried Radish Cake

We also got the Pan Fried Radish Cake, which when presented, we thought looked extremely ugly. It just didn’t look appealing. Upon eating it though, it tasted pretty good and the batter was soft in the inside and crispy on the outside.

Soy Sauce Pan Fried Rice Rolls?

We also got the Soy Sauce Pan Fried Rice Rolls. At least I think that’s what it’s called, since my mother ordered that separately after we had taken the order so I never checked it out on the menu. These rice rolls were not handmade, and you could tell when you bit into it. It was much more tough and the layers were thicker. These were also pan fried so it had a little burnt texture to it. The flavours really were based soley on this special soy sauce they had, but even with that, I didn’t think it was flavourful. I had to dip it into the other two sauces that accompanied it (peanut sauce and sweet sauce) to really get some flavour.

Steamed Rice Roll served w/ Mixed Sauce

And then we finally got our Steamed Rice Roll served with Mixed Sauce. This is probably the most simple steamed rice roll, with just dried shrimp inside. It is then topped with a mixture of sauces. It wasn’t too bad. The layers were thin, but I’ve had thinner ones. This really takes skills to make though. The rice rolls were also very smooth. My parents agreed that we could get better ones at actual dim sum restaurants though. And we wouldn’t need to wait this long!

Salted Chinese Donut

And last but not least – our Salted Chinese Donut. We literally had finished all our food, although we each kept a bowl of Plain Congee, which had gone cold. We sat there for probably another 20 minutes waiting with no food. We were even tempted to just cancel the order. It had already been more than 1.5 hours since we came. We were afraid we would get ticketed for our parking too. This was ridiculous. The table behind us had also finished their food and they seemed to be waiting on their Salted Chinese Donuts as well. They finally came and they were not bad. Our congee was already all cold, so dipping it in wasn’t as great as we had hoped. My mom also said that she could get the same quality donuts at other Asian bakeries.

Overall, the wait is way too long. They seriously need to figure out their process flows and work on their capacity management. Figure out what their bottlenecks are or some sort. I don’t think any customer, including myself, would wait 30+ minutes to eat at an Asian brunch restaurant. It makes sense to be eating for 2 hours at a dim sum restaurant, but definitely not at a place where you would assume you can get a quick meal. Food quality isn’t even that amazing and there is nothing that I can’t get elsewhere. My family also heard from friends that there were complaints as to the quality of food. Definitely not going back again unless they fix their problems with waiting time.

Acme Cafe

September 27, 2012May 2, 2013Leave a comment

Americano

Veggie Sandwich – goat cheese, portobello mushroom, peppers, zucchini, sprouts, sun-dried tomato basil mayo. Ciabatta panini grilled; with cup of Curry Lentil

Chicken Club Sandwich – multi-grain, chicken, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato, arugula, sun-dried tomato may and grainy mustard; with cup of Curry Lentil

Shrimp Melt – shrimp, roasted peppers, and onions open faced and topped with Jack cheese. On a half-Ciabatta; with cup of Curry Lentil

High-faultin’ Grilled Cheese – cheddar, swiss, brie, cranberry-Grand Marnier relish. Ciabatta panini grilled; with cup of Curry Lentil

Close up of the High-faultin’ Grilled Cheese!

Mac and Cheese (side)

I barely ever wake up in time for brunch or breakfast, but KT, KC, J and I decided to make that happen. KT suggested to go to Acme Cafe in Gastown, and we tried to get there for their breakfast menu, but of course, we ended up late… So we were only able to order their non-breakfast food. Anyways, Acme Cafe was busy when we got there, but we only waited for perhaps 5 minutes to get a seat. The place is really cute, and reminds me of a vintage diner, yet a little modernized. They also have this seating area which is a semi-circle and you can watch the chefs prepare your food. Pretty cool place in my opinion.

Anyways, everything on the menu sounded delicious, so it was hard for me to choose something. I ended up getting the High-faultin’ Grilled Cheese since I love grilled cheese sandwiches, but this one seemed to be more than just a grilled cheese sandwich. They also had a normal grilled cheese sandwich, but this one was “high-faultin’”. The ciabatta was thin and crispy, with loads of cheese melted so it was stringy, and the unique part of it was that it had a cranberry-Grand Marnier relish. The hint of sourness actually worked really well with it and was a great twist to the normal grilled cheese sandwiches. I also took a bite from the Shrimp Melt, which was really delicious! It was open-faced so a little difficult to eat unless you cut it up, but the shrimp and all the ingredients together made it an excellent light sandwich to eat. Delicious! All the sandwiches also came with your choice of chips, or soup of the day. We all got the soup of the day, which was the Curry Lentil. Surprisingly, it wasn’t super spicy or anything. It just had a hint of curry flavour to it, but it was definitely a hearty soup. I’m not a big fan of lentils, so it was just alright for me. The two boys also got a side of Mac and Cheese, and a I stole a spoon. It was really good! There were loads of cheese. Like LOTS. But it worked well and I loved how the top was baked so it was a little crispy.

Overall, awesome place to grab brunch or even lunch. Service isn’t anything over the top, but was quick and efficient. Check it out!

Steveston Cannery Cafe

December 6, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Scrambled Eggs with Sausage, Toast and Potato Hash

Shrimp Omelet with Toast and Potato Hash

Woke up early to go grab some breakfast, and realized that Richmond didn’t actually have a lot of “breakfast places”. Finally decided to try The Cannery Cafe in Steveston Village. It’s situated in an old building that’s said to be quite historic and had a lot of interesting Steveston heritage decor. Food is ordered at the counter and then they bring the food to you. Food is made simple, nothing too special or fancy, but I liked it since the portions were just right unlike the gigantic IHop portions. Great place to grab some good breakfast if you’re not looking for anything fancy.