chocomoo

For dim sum, I'd definitely recommend Kirin and President. Note that there's also a Kirin in downtown Vancouver, on Alberni Street. In addition to dim sum, they also have some northern Chinese (? I think...I don't remember which area of China) dishes. The "dam-dam" noodles are superb - crisp (not crispy!) noodles with ground pork in a spicy peanut broth, sprinkled with green onions. If you like shrimp dumplings, both President & Kirin make great ones - slightly chewy clear outer layer, & large morsels of crisp shrimp inside. And as for Pink Pearl...to me, their food is circa 1980s, but they do have loyal customers...

That is hilarious!! My uncle hates it there too. However, the sushi place there, Sushi World, has really good sushi. If you happen to accidentally venture there again, try the Tokyo roll--there's no rice in it, but it's basically california roll without the rice & seaweed (so crab & avocado), and wrapped in thin egg crepe instead. And there's also some salmon in it. Their BC roll is always on special, I think--buy 1 roll get 1 roll free ($2.95!). And their rolls aren't small, either. What do you think of that guy who directs the traffic at the mall there? If you like Vogue (which is Taiwanese food, by the way), you might want to try the place next door. I don't remember what it's called in English, but it's right next door--it looks kinda dark & brown. It's cheaper than Vogue and it's usually pretty packed. There's a place called Vivacity on No. 3 Road & Cambie (? someone help me out here). I've never had dinner there, but I go there on Sundays for lunch sometimes with my family, and they have some pretty good dishes there. If you like dried oysters, you have to try the dried oyster & preserved egg (is that what it's called?) congee. I also love their curry beef brisket chow mein.

Oh yes! I forgot about Gyoza King! Hmmm.... How about Yuji's? I just read an article about it in today's Vancouver Sun. Now I'm considering going there...

Thanks barolo! I probably won't be going to Umami anymore--I told my friend about some of the dishes and she didn't sound especially excited. Maybe I'll go some other time!

I'm looking to try out Umami this Friday with some of my friends. Has anyone been? Should I just stick to Hapa Izakaya?

Jerry_A--I agree with you about Gotham! I went to Gotham with my family this year (can you believe how hard it was to get reservations? My mom called on January 2nd @ 11 a.m. and they had no more spots on the weekends available! Maybe they were reserving those times for their regulars?) We all had the ahi tuna to start with (which was too spicy for my taste--but that's just me, I can't take spicy food). It was char-grilled, I think. There were some spices rubbed on the outside, but apart from the cajun powder, I couldn't tell what the spices were. I liked how the soya sauce came in a little cup on the side. Next, we all had the New York strip, which came with roasted potatoes, a chunk of beet, and some creamed spinach. We all agreed that the New York strip was sumptuous. It was juicy, with just enough pinkness in the centre. I thought it was a bit strange that there was only one piece of beet though. For dessert, we had the chocolate bourbon cake. This too, was very good. It was softer than I expected. I liked the fact that it was warmed--I couldn't really taste the bourbon, but I usually can't taste the liquor in desserts--is that a good thing or a bad thing? The service was unexpectedly good--our waiter was friendly and engaging without being obviously fake. I mean, he obviously knew that we were there for Dine-Out, and he still treated us quite nicely. He also really looked like David Duchovny Gotham was definitely a good deal--I calculated how much we saved, and it was about $40! I think we might go back next year--it was definitely a memorable experience for my family!

Last Friday, I went to Aqua Riva with 3 of my friends. I went last year, with my family, & the menu was even better this year. For starters this year, 2 of us had the pan-seared oysters w/enoki mushroom & green bean salad. The oysters were really good--not overcooked, moist, and not too floury. There were 5 of them, & underneath each oyster was a little dollop of garlic aioli. My other 2 friends had smoked salmon-wrapped scallops with asparagus salad. There were 2 scallops on the skewer, & one of my friends said the salmon was a bit too salty. Next, I had the seaweed-encrusted salmon (I love salmon!) with shitake and scallion risotto. My friend also had this, & he felt that the salmon was a bit too dry at the top. I didn't like the fact that the skin was still attached to the salmon. I did like the seaweed on the top, though. Overall, the salmon was overcooked and could have been more flavoured, but was still tasty. I really loved the risotto & cucumber & citrus relish. The little citrus bits were really sweet (compared to the extreme sourness of the citrus wedges in my dessert at Death by Chocolate the previous night) and added a nice tartness to the relish. One of my friends had the rack of prawns with roasted potatoes. There were about 5 prawns on the skewer. I don't know how good it was, but the portion was quite small--my friends cracked that the prawns were more like shrimp. Did anyone notice that some of the restaurants changed/added to their menu? Aqua Riva added a pasta to their menu--penne with portobello mushrooms, with my other friend had. She's a pasta-lover, so of course she really liked the dish. By the time dessert came around, we were all extremely full--Aqua Riva had really good-sized portions. For dessert, there was a choice of white chocolate bread pudding or chocolate decadence cake. 2 of us tried the bread pudding (one of my friend's comments: "But this is just bread..." ) and 2 of us had the chocolate decadence cake, which was like a really rich brownie. Kinda like crumbly chocolate. There were 2 triangles of the cake, on which was drizzled chocolate sauce. It was definitely a good experience and a really good deal--an entree alone costs around $25 at Aqua Riva. Maybe I'll go back again next year!

So, hillvalley, how did the introduction to Japanese foods go with your class? Did they cringe at the sight of you eating raw fish? Did you decide to go with the Pocky? Or did you get Hi-Chew or Milky candies?

You've never tried Pocky? You have to go out and buy some! It's not weird at all, like miniature fish or miniature crabs--which is not to say that mini fish & crabs aren't delicious! You can get Pocky at any Asian supermarket, be it Japanese or Chinese (Korean too? I'm not sure). Simply put, they're highly addictive chocolate-covered biscuit sticks. It took 7 months for Pocky G to make it to Vancouver, Canada, but I'm glad it did

Mm, miso ramen flavour.... I tried a bunch of the new-ish (in Canada) flavours of Pretz, and they were a bit disappointing. The cocoa pretz hardly tasted different from butter pretz, and the curry one tasted really weird--some weird spices in it, I think. My uncle & dad liked the curry one though. I also tried Pocky G, which I thought was really good--better than the normal chocolate Pocky. It's crispier, & the biscuit is a chocolate one.

I went to Griffin's last year for Dine Out Vancouver, and wasn't all that impressed. I guess it was a good deal, being a buffet and all, but overall, the quality of the food wasn't that great. I had a portobello mushroom entree and really disliked it (it had a red pepper crust, or something, but it wasn't actually "crusty"--more pasty, more like...something that didn't taste good--I think I didn't like the herbs). And the dessert part--it may seem like a lot of desserts, but I found that I didn't really like any of them. It kind of reminded of slightly higher class Uncle Willy's, with more comfortable seating and less jello.

It was Cafe de Paris that gave us really bad service. I don't know if it's been mentioned on eGullet before, but I think La Regalade in West Van is a nice Parisian bistro. In fact, I'm going there on Thursday for my birthday (which was last Sunday).

I would say definitely Le Crocodile. It isn't the same as it was 5 years ago--I think it's come under new ownership since then. The last time I went, I was with my family, and the service was okay--until the waiter snapped at us. After serving us the food, he asked if it was okay and we said yes. About 5 minutes later, my grandma said that her lobster bisque was way too salty (and it was). We called the waiter over and let him know that the lobster bisque was too salty, to which he replied, "Well you should have told me earlier when I asked you." After saying this, he spun on his heels and walked briskly away. And we haven't been back since. It used to be my uncle's favourite Parisian bistro.

Went to Caffe Barney today on South Granville, and I must say, this is the BEST breakfast I have ever had. There was strangely no line up when we got there (around...11ish, I think?) We ordered the strawberry pancakes, cheddar & mushroom omelette, & smoked salmon, cream cheese, & pesto omelette. The pancakes (on the specials menu) were the BEST pancakes I remember having--I have said on another post that I don't normally like flour-y things, which is why I don't normally order pancakes & don't like scones & the like. I thought the pancakes would have strawberry sauce, but they actually had strawberries in them, which was a nice little surprise. The pancakes were light & fluffy, & nicely browned (exactly the way I like everything that's cooked in a pan to be). I must say that my favourite way to have eggs is omelette-style, mushroom being my favourite. I used to order the mushroom omelette every time I went to some restaurant on Denman as a kid....it's gone now though *sniff* ANyway, the cheddar & mushroom omelette was quite tasty, although the cheese had hardened a bit by the time I had gotten to it (Being my favourite, I saved it for last). The smoked salmon omelette was one of the best omelette's I have ever had, because of the weird ingredients. It all went nicely together...The pesto really brought out the flavour of the salmon and paired nicely with the salmon flavour. I was really impressed with the interesting types of omelette--they had the standard ham & cheese, but they also had one with avocado & something else (shrimp?), & one with camembert & fresh papaya! How cool is that? The service was really friendly & casual. I am DEFINITELY going back to Barney's for breakfast/brunch. All depending on whether I can wake up for it though, of course....

I went to Cru a couple weeks ago for the first time and really enjoyed it! I'd been hearing very good things about the place and decided to take my cousin (who was visiting from Hong Kong) and sister there. We opted for the small plates menu and shared: 1. Crispy duck leg confit, with bacon dressing, frisee & golden nugget potatoes - this was quite good, but the skin was a little bit on the fatty side--is it supposed to be like this? I'm used to eating roast duck, Chinese style - the duck leg wasn't too meaty, but again, I'm used to roast duck - the bacon dressing went quite well with the duck 2. Syrah-braised beef short rib with macaroni & cheese - one word: delicious!! the meat literally melted in my mouth, it was that good...i'm salivating right now thinking about it... - the macaroni & cheese was pretty good, but not extra special--I liked how it came in a cute little container 3. Pan-seared scallops on risotto with chanterelles - scallops were lightly seared, & not overcooked--I don't have much else to say about them, except that I really like scallops in general & these were no exception! - I was surprised that the risotto had a curry-like sauce on it, not that that was a bad thing, though 4. The special of the day--some kind of foie gras (either our server didn't explain, or I wasn't paying attention) with brioche - this was BY FAR the best dish of the night--I don't normally order foie gras because it's so expensive, but it sounded too good to pass up (besides, I don't remember it costing a fortune at Cru) - the foie gras was velvety, & melted in my mouth...like butter.... - quite different from the foie gras I had at La Regalade, which I now realize was coarse chopped, & good in its own way - there was a sizable block of this for the 3 of us to share, say, 2"x2"? - there was some jelly stuff too, on the side, which I never figured out...anyone care to venture a guess? - my only complaint is that there wasn't enough brioche, so we ordered a side of bread AND, for dessert, we had 1. classic creme brulee - this was like the creme brulees I've had before, which isn't a bad thing, because I have never had a creme brulee I didn't like (there was a creme brulee I especially liked before though, at Glowbal--THREE kinds of creme brulee, how can you go wrong with that? Original, chocolate, & coffee. Anyway, I digress...) 2. chocolate hazelnut torte - pretty good, except that I was expecting it to be less cake-y, & more smooth & mousse-y, like the torta milano I had at Cardero's--it's just a matter of personal preference, really, because I generally like dessert to be less flour-y - which brings me to the question--is "torte" supposed to be more like cake or more like pie? And tonight's final thought? Oh I forgot to talk about the atmosphere! Very comfortable seating (like we were sitting on couches), well-lighted (I really don't like eating in the dark), & quiet. Not quiet to the point where you have to talk in whispers though. We were there for almost 3 hours, & not once did our server rush us through our dinner. Service was also quite good--didn't check on us every 5 minutes, yet was always close by when we needed something. All in all, I liked Cru very much--I'm glad I took my cousin there, & it was all quite reasonably priced!

It is quite good, but it's closed now. I'm not sure if their chefs have changed--I know the waiters haven't left. Maybe new owners? I keep forgetting the name... Last time I went, the food was still quite good. I didn't like the honey garlic spareribs for dinner though--they were drenched with honey and were overcooked, with little meat left. The line ups there are crazy though--good luck getting a table if you don't have connections there! I think they have "early" dim sum though, so perhaps that would be a good time to go.

Speaking of good wonton..."Jim Jai Gei" (I have no idea what the English name is--either it's similar or entirely different, I'll find out if anyone wants to know) on Westminster Highway in Richmond (near Cooney, across from Pizza Hut) has really good wonton. Although not the "traditional" kind of wonton (which I've been told doesn't contain seafood), the shrimp in the wonton is plentiful, and crisp (as opposed to mushy) as well. It's also nicely flavoured. The noodles there are also good--nice texture ("song" in Cantonese--anyone know the translation for this? The word "springy" comes to mind). Anyway, the place usually has people lining up at the door but the turnover is really fast.

I love that place too!! And we always get exactly the same congee when we go! The pork in the congee is quite good--salted, but not too salty, not fatty, & no ligament attached. And the consistency of the congee is thick, not too watery. The dried oyster adds a really nice flavour to the congee as well. The curry beef brisket chow mein is also really good--I've never seen it in other Chinese restaurants, and I really like it. I don't like spicy food (my tongue can't take the torture), and this dish is very mild, with nice chunks of potato and big chunks of beef brisket.

I'm glad no-one mentioned Pink Pearl Why does it always seem to be Vancouverite food critics' favourite? To be fair, I haven't been there in ages, but the last time I went, I was there for a wedding banquet & the food was quite average. I recently went to the recently opened restaurant that used to be President (is that what it was called? the one next to radisson hotel). It was quite good, & they have some unusual dishes (although they're not unusual enough for me to remember what they were). The shrimp balls ("ha gow") there are VERY good--chewy, thin wrap (skin? i'm not sure what it's called in english ), & nice texture to the large pieces of shrimp (not mushy). I don't remember seeing Caucasian people there. It's full of Chinese people. I really like Kirin Mandarin. My family always likes to take people there when we want to treat them to something more upscale. Their dim sum is quite good, and their non-dim sum dishes are also quite good. The "dam-dam" noodles are one of my favourites (and I normally don't even like spicy things!). They also feature sesame paste buns on their menu sometimes--they're one of the few restaurants that still make those, and they make them quite well too--thin wrap/skin, good amount of filling (which is nice & soft and contains a little piece of egg yolk). I also go to Golden Ocean (which used to be Miramar quite a few years back) on 41st quite a bit, because it's in the neighborhood. They change their menu every few weeks, so the variety is pretty good. They used to have these "porcupine" buns, which were basically custard buns that were deep-fried, with little triangles cut into the "backs" before deep-frying & after deep-frying turned into crispy bits sticking up (hence the "porcupine" look) & 2 little black sesames for the eyes. Too bad they changed their menu...

Hmmm, interesting...I wonder why they don't sell milk-tea flavoured stuff here anymore... Although I have seen a Royal Milk tea drink...

So, anyone tried any new candy lately? I tried the yogurt with gummy candy in strawberry flavour (made by Uha), & it's really good, but I like the grape flavour better.

Speaking of which, is Royal Milk Tea-flavoured stuff exist there anymore? I remember Pocky even had a Royal Milk Tea flavour, which was extremely delicious, but I only saw it for a few months. Pocky has a new flavour called "Choco Banana" here now--I almost always try new Pocky flavours, but I'm kinda wary about this one because I hate fake banana flavour. Anyone tried it yet?

For some reason, I haven't been seeing Ruffles "The Works" flavour on shelves lately here in Vancouver, Canada... Anyone know what happened to the flavour?

No, I don't think torakris is talking about "Caramel-Corn"--that's what I thought she was talking about too, but from the sounds of it (the "puffed up corn kernels" part), it's not "Caramel-Corn". Cheesecake flavour? That sounds really good!! I looked for it at the supermarket, but didn't find it. I did try the green tea one though, & it wasn't too bad!

Botan rice candy...I don't think I've seen them here before... Anyone know where I can get them in Vancouver?