Trying to find food on the way to the fireworks, there were a couple of options, but Gyoza King (don’t bother clicking the link unless you can read Japanese) won out because they had the shortest wait time.
Fine by me, I am a huge fan of Gyoza King and hadn’t been there in a while. Authentic Japanese with a seemingly strong stance against sushi (they have shirts and signs indicating that there is no sushi whatsoever to be found on the premises, although several of their dishes bear striking resemblance…), their specialty is obviously gyoza. There are 6 different kinds of gyoza - ranging from vegetarian to prawn - and even though some of the dishes we’d ordered after the gyoza showed up first, it was simple and delicious, with a solid wrapper covering piping hot, meaty filling.
I could eat gyoza for days. Cheap, tasty, filling and easy to eat…it’s no wonder that almost every country in the world has some form of dumpling.
And unlike that other staple of Japanese cuisine, the thick cuts of fresh sashimi, gyoza is easy and cheap to make. So predictably Gyoza King and several other eateries on this stretch of Robson are filled with ESL students from Asia attending classes nearby. They can usually be found giggling and slurping noodles at the bar or in the raised section of the restaurant where you need to remove your shoes.
Tourists and other sullen adults tend to gravitate to the other side of the room, but the youthful atmosphere permeates. Servers are usually smiling (altho sometimes they seem frazzled, despite the restaurant’s small size) and small bits of pop culture add to the decor, such as a toy Yoda ready to hurl mints from the candy dish.
It’s fun and - although we had to wait 20 minutes to get a table on fireworks night - fast, but the food doesn’t disappoint. Their menu is divided into various sections, alongside a hefty specials page, and we chose the Saba Miso (mackerel in a tangy miso sauce), Scallop hotate with Mushrooms, and Albacore tuna marinated in vinegar and served sliced thin over white rice to accompany our beer and gyoza.
The Saba Miso was perfectly tangy and flavourful and the fish so well done that it broke off with the tip of a chopstick. I tried to savour it while scooping up mouthfuls, but alas, it was gone far too quickly. The subtle taste of the scallop and mushroom dish faded a bit between the stronger fish dishes, but there were no complaints.
Did I mention it was cheap? We were full and happily sated for $40, food and beer combined.
I tend to think of cosy little Japanese eateries like this one as more for winter. Curled up in a corner with a bowl of noodles and perhaps a book and some never-ending gyoza sounds idyllic to me, but now that I’ve sampled the summer fare, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back before the seasons change.
There used to be a time where anyone wanting to take me on a cheap date could just walk me around the corner to the pet store where I would spend an hour in front of the chameleon tank. Now it seems that I can get in dinner and a show. At Sha Lin Noodle House they make all their noodles fresh on site and a window into the kitchen lets you keep an eye on the process while you’re waiting for dinner. A plexiglass partition does double duty keeping things sanitary and keeping the kids away from the vats of boiling water too.
Notice that I was the only one up there with the children, but I find it very interesting to see how food is made, especially something as mundane as noodles. These guys were on to something way before Fuel’s open kitchen hit the streets.
Here’s a video I found that showcases the noodle-making technique a bit better:
Now for the food.
We ordered a green onion pancake to start, followed closely by handmade cutting noodles with beef and broccoli. At that point, I was starting to get pretty full. The green onion pancake was flaky and savoury, made with just a small amount of oil, and the freshly made noodles were both delicious and interesting in that they were not uniformly shaped. A pan fried dumpling, dipped in vinegar (only available at dinner) followed after I had already eaten too much food and so the majority of it had to be saved for lunch the next day.
Entertainment plus way too much food plus 2 beers for $30.00 equals a definite success.
The service was quick too. Food and beer were brought to the table almost immediately and while the pan fried dumplings did come last, after a bit of time, it was still much quicker than the potential 20 minute wait the waitress warned us about. We seemed to have just beat the rush because as we were tucking in to dinner a long line up started forming of hungry diners and people eager to pick up their take-out orders. It’s definitely a neighbourhood favorite and be prepared to wait a bit if you go at dinnertime.
It took me a while to get to the Richmond Summer Night Market this year. They almost didn’t secure the space for the market, then the food section started off a bit stunted due to water problems and then well, then my weekends just seemed suddenly full. But I finally made it there this weekend for one of my favorite kinds of moveable feasts; the kind where you are the one wandering through the crowds and stands, searching out new delicacies and old favorites until you’re quite full.
We started off with the basics, Har gow and Siu Mai ($3) with a Quail Egg wrapped in bacon for good measure. Then some Sticky Rice wraps with Chicken ($3):
Mixed up the palate a little with some Nutella, Custard and Red Bean Car wheel cakes, apparently from Taiwan ($1 each):
Personally I thought the red bean paste was by far the best (the others were too sweet), but predictably, they were the ones that no one seemed to want. Nutella was in high demand:
Then some deliciously juicy Beef and Spicy Lamb skewers (6 for $10):
The BBQ Squid (below) is defiinitely a favorite of mine, but this time we tried the flattened whole squid instead. It was tasty, but rather on the chewy side, almost like squid jerky.
Then finished it off with some Dragon’s Beard Candy and bubble tea before rolling ourselves back to the car.
The dragon’s beard candy is pulled sugar dusted with glutinous flour and wrapped around chopped peanuts. The texture is not unlike cotton candy. They had quite the assembly line going here, with the old man pulling sugar, the middle woman wrapping the nuts and the last woman boxing it all up, but it was very popular and we ended up waiting quite a while. By the time we got the candy I was done my (disgusting) bubble tea and were definitely ready to leave.
I didn’t have room for takoyaki (the non-octo variety), the fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste (top), spicy curry fish balls or custard. And I need to go back to the better bubble tea place that was out of pearls this time around.
Good thing that I can probably make it happen since it doesn’t shut down until October 5th. Yay!
In high school my friends and I used to drive into town from Langley and sit for hours in Wazubees. Except we called it Cafe Cafe Cafe because that’s all they had on their sign and we never thought to ask past that. There are so many establishments in this city that fall into the category of decent, possibly unmemorable food that are described as “that pho shop up on Hastings” or “the dim sum with the blue awning”. They don’t need to have a sign or even a name (although I guess they must need to have one somewhere to register as a business) because there will always be people around in the community who need to eat. This post is a tribute to all of those places.
Last week I ate at the Ginseng Seafood Noodle House. I only know the name because I made a point of taking a photo of the sign:
We went because it was late and we wanted something cheap and not too unhealthy. We were greeted warmly and after not too much deliberation, decided to order the Special Dinner for Two. Soup of the Day, a thin vegetable soup that was nourishing but otherwise uninteresting; Deep Fried Quail, a succulent, tender little bird that also came with the head; Prawns and Scallops with Gai lan, delicious, fresh steamed Chinese broccoli topped with seafood ;Bean Curd & White Nut with Vegetables, an interesting but tasty concoction involving something called White Nut (actually yellow and I’m pretty sure from the bean family) and tofu skin in soup; accompanied with Steamed White Rice and followed by fortune cookies.
I’m not sure that “special” is the right word for it, but the variety of flavours and colours complimented nicely and for $32 we ate very well.
I even ate a bit of the quail head, dipped in fortified salt. Little strange, but it was actually pretty good.
So while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the Ginseng Seafood Noodle House, I’m sure I’ll be back, and I’ll enjoy it.
This month’s EAT Magazine is out now, with a short piece I did called Five Great Restaurants We’d Never Heard Of on five of my favorite local (ethnic) haunts. Dai Tung Chinese Restaurant for dim sum is one of them and because I was just there again this past Monday, I thought I would post some photos. You can read the article online (the entire magazine is now online, which is fabulous), or pick up a copy around town.
Specialty of the House: Braised Eggplant with Shrimp Paste
No dim sum is complete without Har Gow.
Or Siu Mai.
Delectable Fried Tofu with Prawns in Black Bean Sauce.
Fried Spicy Squid. Kind of like yam fries, but squidier.
You know when you’re grocery shopping and you start getting super hungry? You wish there was a way you could sit down in the deli section and have a snack. Most grocery stores do offer that service, actually, along with the bland, over-buttered and soggy pre-made sandwiches that will alleviate hunger but not satiate. Not so at the Hmart chain of Asian supermarkets. Spread throughout North America, this Korean grocery store also has a built in food court, which, at the Robson Street location, comprises a Korean/Chinese noodle bar, Wang Ga Ma, as well as the Matoi Sushi stand.
At Wang Ga Ma I had the Spicy Beef soup (although I was very intrigued by what the Rice with Fish Raws would be). It was deliciously flavourful, with an intense, fiery broth, accompanied by a side of fiery kimchi. Even being spicier than expected and somewhat messy, it hit the spot and at $7.50 is a lot better than soggy sandwiches for lunch.
After placing your order, you hand out and wait for your number to come up on the flashing LCD screen. Then you pick up your food (which comes on plastic trays but in real stainless steel or ceramic bowls) and take it back to the main eating area, a bright, light-filled section of the store looking down on Robson Street from the second floor.
Returning to try out Matoi, I chose a spider roll, a chopped scallop cone and 2 pieces of Hamachi from Japan, all of which were excellent and tasty, but checking out the blogosphere, it seems I’m going to have to go back and check out some other dishes as well.
Service was sadly not awesome at Matoi and it was not do to a noon rush. At 2:30 in the afternoon, I watched patiently, then started drooling on the Plexiglas divider as the sushi chef prepared piece after piece and gave them to other people. To be fair, it seemed as though they had got a couple of big orders and he was going as fast as he could, but I was also starving. Next time I’ll try checking it out a bit before lunch and maybe pick up some Korean snacks from the market beforehand…just in case.
Everyone knows that the best pho is dodgy pho. And generally speaking, the dodgy pho is not found at main intersections. So I had my doubts about Kim Penh Xe Lua at Cambie and Broadway. Sure, the unpronounceable name might throw off some diners, but I suspected that I would not be getting a premium bowl of rare beef flank on vermicelli noodles here. And I was right.
First of all, the menu is divided into sections. “For beginners” naturally includes soups without the tendons, tripe and offensive bits (or without any meat at all, for that matter) and the “More adventurous” section includes the soups with various versions of the above.
The small bowl of beef flank and beef balls with noodles ($5.50 for a small bowl) filled the gap in my stomach without making me feel ill, but there’s nothing all that special about it. It’s ok. A bit skimpy on the beef and could have used some more flavour, but the condiments were fresh and I would go again if I was in the area and hungry, but I’m not sure I would make a special trip. It’s apparently open until the wee hours, so that may come in handy.
The first time I had tofu was when I was 12 and deciding that I was going to become a vegetarian. In an effort to help, my mother served a green salad with a raw, slimy slab of medium-firm right on top. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it was disgusting. But I stuck with it and even though I am no longer a vegetarian (the next photo will be the proof) I do love the stuff and also happen to know where to find the best dish in town. It’s the deep-fried heavenly Spicy Salt Tofu ($7.25) from Yopo Cafe , a tiny little shop in Yaletown.
Fried tofu is on most Chinese restaurant menus, but usually they have the spices down but not the salt. Or the texture is good but the dish lacks flavour. I don’t know what the secret is at Yopo, but the tofu is fried to a perfect crisp - hard and golden with a sheen of oil on the outside and soft white on the inside - and then covered over with chilies, scallions, onions and salt. It usually arrives piping hot and has to sit on the table for a few minutes while we balefully contemplate burning our tongues instead of waiting.
On the last visit, I also had the B.B.Q Pork Won Ton Soup ($5.50), and it was quite tasty, although another favorite is easily the Tofu Seafood Soup ($5.50 for a small bowl and $7.25 for a large). There are a hundred plus dishes on the menu, ranging from noodles to hot pot and while I tend to favour the soups, I’ve never been disappointed.
Yopo only has 20 seats and enough people know about it to ensure that they are always full (with the take-out line sometimes going out the door), but although I’ve been there many times, I’ve only been on a weekday lunch, so you might have better luck on evenings and weekends. Or just go early like my coworker and I do and check out the menu online before you go.
When my friend first mentioned that Bistro Sakana had a Healthy Sushi lunch special, my first thoughts were that I was in some serious trouble, because here I’ve been going happily along thinking that sushi was healthy and now I was about to be proven wrong. Thankfully that is not the case. The Health Guidance website lists many health benefits of sushi and it turns out that Bistro Sakana has simply come up with a way to make it even more healthy. That’s Yaletown for you.
But following hot on the heels of a large poutine, I will happily take all the extra healthy choices I can find. The Healthy Lunch Special comes with a green salad with tangy citrus dressing and soba noodles, miso soup, a side of Agedashi tofu in broth with daikon shredded daikon on top, your choice of a California or Avocado roll made with brown rice, a side of white rice and of course tea. Because we are rebels and leery of being too healthy, I had a chopped scallop cone and Tricia had a mango roll as well Actually, I had a chopped scallop roll, which was not what I wanted, but that was really the only complaint.
We’ve had the healthy lunch a couple of times now and it’s a good option if you’re feeling like something light and good for you. The tastes in the various dishes are complementary in the extreme, so you get a little bit of salt in the miso and tofu, a bit of tang in the salad dressing and then the hearty, earthy taste of brown rice, etc. I wouldn’t the healthy lunch special if you’re extremely hungry - although the number and variety of dishes does seem to satisfy…something in the place of a hearty meal - but you can always order something extra off the regular menu as well and failing that, they have an excellent sushi and hot menu. I keep meaning to go back and try some of my old favorites, then end up defaulting back to the special. What I like about is that it’s almost ridiculously healthy, the kind of food that you feel good eating, but it also has the bonus of tasting good as well.
The place is pretty tiny and fills up fast at lunch, so go early or be prepared to wait. There is also a small patio that should be open as soon as the weather is warmer, but we all know by now that sitting in the sun just isn’t good for you. Not even the healthy lunch can help you with that.
Wonder Bread aside, anything with “Wonder” in the title of it begs to be tried, so I wasn’t very surprised when I found myself in the checkout line at IGA holding the groceries I came for and a bottle of Kombucha the Wonder Drink. If you are missing amazement and awe in your life, then some sparkling fermented tea may help fill the gap.
The flavour I chose was Jasmine Niagara Grape and while it may have fallen short of wonderful, it was actually pretty good. Like the love child of an unsweetened grape soda and iced tea. Turns out the “wonder” isn’t in the taste of it anyways, but in the reputed health benefits. Hailing from Asia around 250 B.C., Wikipedia tells us that ‘the Chinese called it the “Immortal Health Elixir,” because they believed Kombucha balanced the Middle Qi (Spleen and Stomach) and aided in digestion, allowing the body to focus on healing,” while also mentioning that no clinical studies have been made to actually prove this.
Because it’s fermented, there is sediment at the bottom that needs to be shaken up before drinking it and there is also a distinct fermented smell to the drink. It’s not exactly off-putting, but there is something not refreshing about drinking something that smells like old socks with sludge in the bottom and the fact that I don’t really like fizzy drinks means I’ll be unlikely to have it again. I would like to try the Rooibos Red Peach, though. Maybe in a highball with a shot of vodka and peach schnapps.
Trying to find food on the way to the fireworks, there were a couple of options, but Gyoza King (don’t bother clicking the link unless you can read Japanese) won out because they had the shortest wait time.
