noodles Archives - Foodology

[Sneak Peek] The Lunch Lady: Legendary Vietnamese Street Food in Vancouver

June 12, 2020

The Lunch Lady is the famous Vietnamese street stall in Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam made favour world-wide by Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. They are opening their first North American location in Vancouver. I’ve personally never been to The Lunch Lady, but I do appreciate really good flavours in food especially noodles.

Michael Tran and his mother Victoria, the restauranteurs and owners behind Five Elements restaurant on Commercial Drive are the people behind The Lunch Lady in Vancouver. They bonded with Mrs. Nguyen Thanh’s dishes and her stories that they had to bring her recipes to Vancouver and continue her legacy.

We were given a sneak peek of The Lunch Lady for take out to see what they are all about.

Keeping You Safe

With the Covid-19 pandemic, they are ensuring everyone’s safety when dining in. When they open, they will have the following safety protocols.

Physical Distancing

The restaurant will be set up where social distancing is possible. There will be designated waiting areas from take out and delivery too.

Strict Safety & Hygiene

They follow WorkSafe BC’s hygiene protocols. Staff undergo wellness screenings and will ensure everything that is touched is either responsibly disposed of or thoroughly sanitized.

Limited Capacity

For dine-in guests, there is 6 people maximum per party and will be seated at tables 2 meters apart.

Spiked Soda Chanh

One of the cocktails on the menu is the spiked soda chanh, which has fresh calamansi, lime, simple syrup, vodka, and Contreau. It’s very refreshing and pairs well with their dishes. I love the addition of the fresh calamansi.

Lychee Passion

The second cocktail is their Lychee Passion, which has lychee and raspberry fruit, fresh lemon, gin, dry vermouth, and lychee liquor. Very delicious as well.

Banh Tom Chien

This is Miss Thanh’s crispy prawn fritter with sweet chili sauce. I really enjoyed this. For takeout, it stayed very very crisp.

Nem Nuong

These are housemade pork sausage salad rolls with a house sauce. I loved it and the addition of the pandan leaf gave it a lovely aroma.

Bun Thai

This beautiful bowl of noodles has prawns, squid, local clams, sliced beef, and vermicelli noodles with sweet and spicy tamarind broth. The dish is beautiful and the broth isn’t too spicy at all.

You can only find this on the specials on certain Mondays, but make sure to follow them on social media to see if they are featuring this.

Banh Canh Cua

This bowl of noodles has prawns, crab and shrimp cake, sliced pork, and tapioca noodles in a rich crab broth. I enjoyed the texture of the tapioca noodles with that delicious crab broth.The prawns were large and had a natural sweetness to them. You’l want to eat the crab and shrimp cake soon as it can get soggy in the soup.

You can only find this on the specials on Saturday only.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we had a really good impression of The Lunch Lady from the items we have tried so far. Everything was great and I’m sure it’ll taste even better at the restaurant when everything is fresh to order.

We are excited to see them open on July 1st to welcome customers from dine-in and take out. We will be back for more of the flavourful dishes.

Address:
1046 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://thelunchlady.com/

In Noodles

Pho Kitchen: Vietnamese Comfort Food in Vancouver

February 28, 2020

Pho Kitchen is a newest eatery near Renfrew Skytrain by the Broadway Tech Centre. It’s a much needed addition as it gives the workers in the area more food options for lunch and dinner. It’s definitely packed here during peak hours.

I love pho since it’s so comforting on a rainy or cold day in Vancouver. Can’t go wrong with a big bowl of hot soup and noodles.

We were invited to Pho Kitchen to give their dishes a try.

Interior

The space is really large for this Vietnamese restaurant. Very nice and clean. It can fit quite a lot of people, so having a party here wouldn’t be a problem.

Kids

If you want to come here with kids, they do have high chairs for the little ones. There is also a changing table in the washroom too.

Great and accommodating for families.

Papaya Salad with Beef Jerky

The papaya salad has shredded green papaya and carrot tossed with basil, caramelized peanuts, and garlic lemon soy sauce. We got this with beef jerky too.

The salad was very refreshing with a great combination of flavours. The beef jerky and red peppers were a nice addition as it added a kick of spice.

4 Season Platter

The season platter of rolls comes with 5 different rolls – 1 Spring, 1 Summer, 1 Autumn, and 2 Winter. It’s a good way to try all the rolls if you’re curious.

Spring roll is a deep fried roll packed with lean ground pork, shredded carrot, taro, black fungus, and thread rice noodles in wheat wrapper.

Summer roll has sliced prawns, lettuce, basil, pickled carrot & daikon, and rice vermicelli in rice paper.

Autumn roll has strips of tender chicken thigh slow grilled in sweet lemongrass sauce, lettuce, basil, pickled carrot & daikon, and rice vermicelli in rice paper.

Winter roll has a Spring Roll “wrapped” in Summer Rolls. 2 halves of a Spring Roll, each with pickled carrot & daikon, basil, and lettuce wrapped in rice papers.

These are served with a fish sauce and peanut sauce. Spring roll was packed with filling and was delicious. It didn’t feel too greasy either.

All of them were really delicious and we enjoyed the variety of rolls they had to offer customers. If you want to try them all, definitely get this platter.

Small House Special Pho

The House special pho has beef broth, slices of rare steak, well-done flank, fatty brisket, beef balls, tendon, tripe and rice noodles. This is definitely the most popular pho on the menu.

We found that the soup was delicious, meats were plentiful, but the noddles were a bit soft for our liking. The broth was very clean and not too fatty at all. Very tasty.

Short Ribs with Rice

This has 6oz of short ribs slow grilled with their in-house sauce, caramelized prawns and quail eggs, lettuce, pickled carrot & daikon, cucumber, and tomato slices.

This comes with 4 large meaty pieces of short rub and lots of rice. The caramelized prawns and quail eggs were delicious. The meat is so flavourful so you don’t really need too much of the fish sauce. The fish sauce was good to add acidity to the dish.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a great location close to Renfrew Skytrain with a few free parking spot out front and some street parking available. They have great happy hour deals as well as Six o Pho Deal on Tuesday with drink purchase.

The menu has great variety and does cater to people with dietary restrictions as well. Very accommodating to those who are Vegan. The food is good and satisfying but doesn’t have anything out of the ordinary. A solid place to visit.

Address:
2915 Hebb Ave, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://phokitchen.ca/

In Kensington

Viet Mama Cafe: Homey Vietnamese Food on Victoria Drive

February 7, 2020

Viet Mama Cafe is one of the newest restaurants to open up on Victoria Drive. This little shop serves up home-style Vietnamese Cuisine. The menu is small, but they put a lot of love into each dish.

All the recipes come straight from their family kitchen. They decided to open up Viet Mama Cafe after getting multiple compliments from friends and family about how great their food is. The whole cafe is family run, so there is a lot of heart in the kitchen and in the food.

They do not use MSG in their pho and all their dishes use fresh ingredients.

We were invited to check out Viet Mama Cafe for some lunch.

Interior

The space isn’t too large, but has a decent amount of seats. We did notice on a weekday that it was pretty busy around 1pm. As the space is new, it’s very very clean and organized.

Kids

I brought along my 11 month daughter and they have high chairs available. They do have a handicap accessible washroom, but unfortunately no changing table. They were kind enough to let me change her on a table at the rear of the restaurant.

Iced Vietnamese Coffee

I love Vietnamese coffee. They serve this a bit different. It’s shaken up and then served so its already milked with the condensed milk. Nonetheless, it still tastes good and give you a kick of caffeine into your day.

Salad Roll / Goi Cuon

The salad roll has shrimp, pork, cilantro, mint, and vermicelli served with fish sauce. The sauce on the side was a bit on the salty side, so we used less of it. Everything tasted nice and fresh.

Meat Rice Roll / Banh Cuon Nhan

This has ice flour with pork, shrimp, fried ham, meatballs, fried shallots, and veggies served with fish sauce. There is also fresh herbs, lime and red chilis if you want to enhance the flavour. I love the addition of the fried shallots. I really enjoyed the dish and I would order it again.

Special Beef Noodle / Pho Dac Biet

This has beef brisket, rare beef, and beef balls over noodles. The pho was quite nice. More subtle in flavour as they don’t use MSG, but its such a clean tasting broth that makes you feel good afterwards. The portions were a great size.

Crab Meat Noodle with Fish Cakes / Bun Rieu Cua Cha Ca

This pho is also very popular. It has Real crab meat, fish cake, tofu and veggies over the broth and noodles. I really enjoyed it and the flavour had some depth to it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we enjoyed dining at Viet Mama Cafe. The flavours were very clean, not too salty and just had a homey feel to the dishes. The menu doesn’t have too many items, but it’s a solid set of items that will satisfy customers. Very family friendly as well. I loved both pho dishes as well as the rice roll.

Address:
5118 Victoria Dr, Vancouver, BC

In Bubble Tea

No. 1 Beef Noodle House: Taiwanese Restaurant in Burnaby

December 9, 2019

It’s been a long time since our last visit to No 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby. It was always our go to place to have late night eats when we were in University. Prices are fair and good portion sizes. It’s great to see that it’s still around after 10+ years.

Interior

There are a lot of tables inside for small to large groups. The interior has been updated over the years.

Mix Beef Noodle Soup

We got this Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup with beef flank, tendon, and tripe. We also decided to get the thick noodles for this dish. The noodles hit the spot on a cold day as it warmed our stomaches. A good bowl of noodles and the thick noodles has a chewy texture so it added a nice bounce.

Stir-fried Pea Sprout with Garlic

A solid menu choice if you want some veggies in your meal. It is cooked very nicely and great to share among the table.

Chive, Shrimp, and Pork Dumping

Dumplings are another great sharing dish. These were good and you can’t go wrong with them. Dip it in some sauce and eat it up.

Preserved Veggie, Pork, Rice Cake

Another great dish to be shared among the table. The rice cake has a nice chew to them and the combination of the pork and preserved veggies work well together.

Japanese style Omurice with Side of Salty Peppery Chicken

At first glance, it doesn’t look like much of anything. On the inside, the fried rice was very flavourful and a good texture.

As for the side, we got salt and peppery chicken. Very good and can’t go wrong. We love the fried basil on top.

Shredded Scallop and Sliced Fish with Egg Whites

This is always an interesting dish as the fillet themselves aren’t that flavourful or fresh, but the addition of the shredded scallop and egg whites.

Sizzling Plate

The sizzling plate that we got had steak, chicken, chicken wing, egg noodle with half black pepper and half mushroom tomato sauce. It’s got a bit of everything. It comes on this hot sizzling plate and it’s another decent dish. The chicken is battered and fried, so it did got soggy under all the sauce. Might have been better if the chicken was pan fried. Other than that, the steak had a nice texture and taste.

Tainan shrimp paste roll

With first glance, it looks greasy but it wasn’t. The taste was good and there is a decent amount of shrimp paste. Tainan is a city in Taiwan and is known for their shrimp.

Stinky tofu with Taiwanese style Pickled Cabbage

These small fried tofu are cute and it had a decent fermented stink to them. It pairs well with the pickled cabbage.

Mango slush

This was huge and you definitely get bang for your buck with the mango slush. It’s good to split this with one other person as it’s enough for 2 people.

3 Brothers Milk Tea

The bubble tea here is solid and is best half sweet. It has pearls, pudding and grass jelly, which is fantastic as those are the best 3 toppings in a milk tea. We did enjoy it.

Coffee Milk Tea

If you love milk tea but need an extra caffeine kick, this might be for you. It is referred to as a ying yeung as it has both parts to make a whole. It was a tad on the sweet side even though it was half sweet.

Dessert

For this particular dessert, you choose a base from the list – red bean soup, sweet tofu, grass jelly, or lemon jelly. Then you can choose your toppings at an additional charge – pearls, mini pearls, coconut jelly, pudding, grass jelly, mango star, mini taro balls, red bean, agar jelly, taro, or ice cream.

It’ great to see the customization and many combinations.

Final Thoughts

Overall, No 1 Beef Noodle House is solid and has been a neighbourhood favourite for a long time. The parking is horrible during peak periods as there aren’t that many available in the complex for the other businesses too. We always end up parking a block or 2 away.

There are so many items on the menu and you’ll find something to enjoy. You can either get an individual meal or share a bunch of different dishes with friends. You get your moneys worth and it’s casual and comforting.

Address:
4741 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://jynoodle.com/

In Bubble Tea

Xiang Yuan Qiao: Noodles in Coquitlam

April 15, 2019

Xiang Yuan Qiao is a Chinese noodle shop in Coquitlam that specializes in Yunnan Bridge Noodle. There are a few locations around Metro Vancouver.

Since it’s fairy new, I took the family out here for lunch.

Interior

There are lots of tables and booth seating inside, so good for small to large groups and is family friendly. The interior is new and modern. Plus, free wifi if you need it.

Puh Erh Milk Tea

I got the Puh Erh Milk Tea and it was ok. Pretty standard and nothing too special about it. It does go well with the noodles as its a nice cool drink.

Julienne Potatoes with Vinegar

An interesting dish that we ordered and good to snack on while we waited for our noodles. It’s not very spicy, but it has a good texture to munch away at them.

Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles

You can get this with their original or spicy chicken broth. We went with the original. You can also enhance your broth with items from the sauce bar.

There is also a tray of different items to put into the pot like quail eggs, carrot, corn, chives, cucumber, bamboo shoots, pickled sour mustard, black fungus, white fungus, mushroom, cabbage, pea shoots, bean curd, meat paste, Chinese style ham, and ham.

There is a certain order to cook the items, so follow the instructions on the plate. Add the egg, then the meat, then veggies, then noodles, then sauce, and finally enjoy.

It’s a fun interactive dish and you can tweak the bowl of noodles to your liking.

Signature Rice Noodle Soup with Braised Bone-in Pork

This was a meaty dish with a big piece of braised bone-in pork. It was very meaty and super tender and flavourful. The noodle soup had a lot of ingredients inside like veggies. Very filling.

Assorted Pot Rice Noodle

There is a broth base of chicken broth that you can get original or spicy. The items in it are beef, lam, pork belly, chicken, greens, black fungus, needle mushroom, bean sprouts, bean curd and quail eggs. It doesn’t look like much from the picture but it was filling as well with a good amount of meat too.

Sauce Bar

Don’t forget to check out the sauce bar as there is chilli oil, pepper oil, garlic, soy sauce, green onions, and other items to add to your noodles. We almost missed seeing this but glad we saw it so we could enhance the broth of our noodles.

Final Thoughts

It was pretty solid place for noodles. It’s nothing extraordinary, but a good restaurant to go with friends or family. Different for the area as there aren’t other places nearby serving Crossing Bridge Rice Noodles.

Address:
3030 Lincoln Ave #112, Coquitlam, BC

In Cafe

Tsujiri Richmond: Japanese Savoury Dishes and Desserts at the Patisserie

February 16, 2019

Tsujiri finally opened in Richmond, BC after a long anticipated wait. They specialize in Japanese matcha desserts that are just addictive. I went to their Edmonton location last year and was surprised their concept in Vancouver is a bit different.

Reservations

They have 2 dining areas – one for walk-ins and another for reservations via OpenTable. When I saw them offering reservations, I jumped at the chance and got a table of 4 on their 2nd day of operations at Tsujiri Pastisserie where they serve their Japanese-style High Tea.

There is also another option for Tsujiri Soba Bar but that is only for the evening with an exclusive soba menu.

These 2 locations are one and the same, it’s just a bit deceiving because they seem like 2 different places. They only have 4 tables available for reservations and can only sit for 1.5 hours which is still plenty of time.

I would highly recommend getting a reservation to avoid lining up in the cold. For myself, I went with my parents, sister and my very very pregnant self so waiting wasn’t something I wanted to do.

Tsujiri Patisserie Menu (Afternoon)

Ebiten Udon

There is only one udon on the menu and it is made with old-fashioned udon noodles in a light kombu bonito dashi broth with ebi tempura, shiitake mushrooms, tenkasu crumbs, kamaboko fish cake and green onions.

A very classic dish popularized by the Kagawa Prefecture in Japan. If you’re looking for something savoury before dessert, this definitely warms the stomach.

Unagi Dashi Chazuke

Another savoury item on the menu is their Dashi Chazuke that comes in your choice of salmon sashimi or grilled unagi. We went with grilled unagi since it’s so hard to deny that craving.

It’s a beautiful set with rice, marinated sesame kombu, tamago yaki, soba roll, green onions, wasabi, and a sprinkle of rice cracker garnish.

There is also a pot of that comforting broth that you can pour over the rice and add in whatever ingredients you want into it.

It was very good and so comforting on a cold day. We really liked how interactive this dish was.

Matcha Souffle Pancake

This has matcha-infused souffle pancake that is very airy. It is then dusted with powdered sugar and served with matcha ice cream, hojicha ice cream and whipped cream.

The pancake has a lot of matcha flavour and not too sweet at all. The ice cream served with it was a bit icy and didn’t do much for the pancake.

Matcha Parfait

A popular item as it’s served in a glass with layers of matcha warabi mochi, azuki beans, shiratama, yuzu rare cheesecake, sweet chestnut, roasted rice sprinkles and an iconic tea box moaka.

Discovering each new layer was tasty to our tastebuds and we were really intrigued by the cheesecake in the middle.

Sakura Parfait

This is similar but it has matcha warabi mochi, shiratama, hidden sakura surprise, traditional sakura kuzu mochi and sweet chestnut on top. I love the layers of the matcha frozen dessert paired with all these items. I really liked this and the different texture worked so well.

Hot Sencha Green Tea

This is a popular Japanese tea that is well-balanced in bitterness and natural sweetness. Good when you want to stay warm while enjoying some cold desserts or hot savoury dishes.

O-Matcha Latte

You can get this drink cold or hot. There are also soy milk and lactose free milk available if you have dietary restrictions.

I mixed this before drinking and it was good. Not too sweet and not too bitter.

Yuzu O-Matcha

This was an interesting yuzu infused tea and it is served cold. It has a rich and bitter matcha paired with fruity, refreshing yuzu honey drink. My sister enjoyed this but did not it was a tad sweet compared to the other drinks.

Cakes to go

We had to get some cakes to take home since we couldn’t fit anymore sweets into our stomach. They have a variety of tea infused cakes at the counter that are made daily in limited quantities. We arrived here at 2pm and by 3:30pm, all the matcha-inspired cakes were all sold out. We were able to get our hands on a few before it was all gone.

The cake flavours change up daily, so you’ll never really know what’s available until the day of.

Opera Cake

This is the same one that comes with the Japanese Style High Tea. We opted not to get the high tea set since it was a bit on the pricey side but we did want to really try the opera cake. It has alternating layers of cream, red bean, matcha cake, and other things that pair nicely together.

Matcha Cake

I can’t remember the name of this cake but it has matcha spongecake with cream and red bean in the centre.

Final Thoughts

I’m glad they finally opened as we’ve been anticipating it for the longest time. It’s great to have more dessert options in the area especially in this plaza. It’s definitely not cheap when you order certain items. The 4 of us ended up spending over $100 but maybe we ordered excessively. My other friend had a party of 2 and spent around $50. Nonetheless, the desserts, drinks and food are good.

I would go again but I would not line up for it. I really like the reservations via OpenTable but for the time-being, you have to book it in advanced as there are limited seats.

Address:
4777 Mcclelland Road #1535, Richmond BC

Website:
http://tsujiri.ca

In Japanese

Ramen Koika: Prime Rib Ramen in Vancouver

January 26, 2019

Ramen Koika has launched their limited time-only Prime Rib Ramen as their special for the next few months. They are anticipating this will stay on the menu for another 2-3 months as it’s been quite popular.

We were invited to try the prime rib ramen out for dinner.

Prime Rib Ramen

The prime rib ramen is $15.95 and it comes with a piece of AAA Prime Rib, onion, cabbage, wood ear mushroom, bean sprouts, and tonkotsu soup base with triple black garlic oil.

You can get the broth non-spicy, mild, or spicy. If you want more meat, you can add another piece of prime rib for $4.95.

I went with spicy tonkotsu broth for mine and you can definitely tell its spicy with all those red peppers. Spicy has a good amount of spice for me but it does build up over time.

My husband got mild and it also had a hint of spice which wasn’t bad at all either.

They give you a plastic glove to handle your prime rib if you want to use your hands to devour this big bone. The meat is very tender and full of flavour. Definitely the best part of the meal.

If you love meat and have a big appetite, I would suggest getting 2 ribs instead of 1.

We both got our noodles to be cooked more firm so it has more texture and chew.

Final Thoughts

The prime rib ramen isn’t a traditional ramen but it is Koika’s twist on ramen. It has more of a Korean taste profile to the ramen rather than Japanese especially with the spices used. Good to see some diversity in Vancouver’s ramen scene.

Address:
1479 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.ramenkoika.com/

In Fusion

Green Leaf Sushi: Korean Japanese Fusion in Burnaby

January 15, 2019

Green Leaf Cafe opened their second location in Burnaby and it’s good they finally opened right by Lougheed Mall so there are more food options in the area. They are a Japanese and Korean fusion restaurant that takes the best of both cuisines. I came here with the family for lunch to check it out.

Interior

The space is large and it can get quite busy on weekends, so a reservation is best to ensure your whole party gets seated with no waits.

Crispy Chicken Karaage

The chicken is deep-fried and seasoned with a soy garlic sauce and served with a garlic mayo. It comes in 5, 10 or 15 pieces in an order. It was really delicious, well seasoned and also very moist inside.

Grilled Miso Mackerel

It has the grilled mackerel with a housemade miso sauce on top of grilled onions and served with rice on the side. It was average and all the sauces clashed with the natural saltiness of the mackerel.

Aburi Tuna Salad

In this big salad is flame seared tuna, greens, garlic chips, and yuzu ponzu dressing. Good and refreshing.

Salmon Oshi

Salmon Oshi is quite popular here. There are double layers of Atlantic salmon, oshi sauce and topped with a Jalapeno. The sauce is flame seared so it give it a nice texture and flavour. What I found with their version is that the rice is quite oily, so it falls apart easily.

Scallop Oshi

The Scallop Oshi has scallop, fish eggs, oishi sauce and topped with cracked pepper. I felt the same feeling about these too. It was just too oily and also fell apart.

Tornado Omelette

The tornado rice is beautiful. It has a sweet and savoury demiglace sauce or you can choose the Jalapeno creamy sauce. It looked beautiful, but it was average as it was just rice and eggs.

Uni Bibimbab

This has mushrooms, onions, fresh local sea urchin, house-made seasoned seaweed sauce on top of rice. It looked nice but it was ok.

Mentaiko Creamy Linguine

This has linguine covered in a Jalapeno creamy cod roe sauce with prawns. It is also topped with more cod roe on top. Pretty good tasting.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good

Address:
9604 Cameron St, Burnaby, BC

Website:
https://www.greenleafcafebc.ca/

In Burmese

Burmese Superstar: Best Dishes to Order in San Francisco

January 5, 2019

Burmese Superstar is a restaurant I go to when I visit San Francisco as their Burmese food is delicious. It’s hard to get good Burmese cuisine where we live, so we made it a mission to come here with family. They don’t take reservations, so we lined up ahead of time before they open to snag their 2 largest tables.

Waiting

As you wait in line, they have complimentary tea that is there for self serve. There is also a bench to sit too. A nice idea, which I liked.

Interior

The space isn’t too large and gets filled up quickly on weekdays and weekends with everyone wanting a taste of their Burmese dishes.

Burmese Samusas

These are hand wrapped and filled with curried potatoes. Then it is deep-fried and served with their house special red sauce. You can choose from chicken, beef or vegetarian. We went with chicken and it was good. Essentially like Indian Samosas.

Tea Leaf Salad

This salad is the top item to order on the menu. It has romaine lettuce, fried yellow beans, fried garlic, sesame seeds, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, and dried shrimp. Mix it all together and its absolutely amazing. You can also get this in a vegetarian version too.

Rainbow Salad

There are 22 ingredients in this Rainbow Salad. It is made with four types of noodles, green papaya, onions, dried shrimp, many other things that they don’t list and served with a tamarind dressing. You toss this and enjoy. It’s another popular salad but I still prefer the tea leaf salad.

Oh Noh Kauswer

This is their Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup. One of my favourite items to order. It has Burmese style coconut noodle soup with chicken, onions, eggs, cilantro, lemon, and topped with chili. We got their larger size to share among the table.

Moh Hinga

My favourite noodle soup is their Catfish Chowder Noodle Soup. It has fish chowder with rice noodles, ground catfish, onions, cilantro, lemon, and topped with chili. Highly Recommended.

Duck Garlic Noodles

This has flour noodles with fried garlic, and scallions in a red chili sauce. You can choose this with duck or vegetarian, but we went with the duck. A good amount of garlic flavour and tasty.

Burmese Style Curry and Coconut Rice

This is Burma Superstar’s special curry. It is braised until tender with potatoes and topped with cilantro. You can choose this with beef or lamb. You should order a side with coconut rice to eat with the curry.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this is my favourite restaurant in San Francisco and their Burmese dishes are just solid. The dishes are pretty traditional with some tweaks. All the dishes were very homey and comforting that I’ll be back again. Highly recommended.

Address:
309 Clement St, San Francisco

Website:
https://www.burmasuperstar.com/

In Japanese

Hida Takayama Ramen in Vancouver: Review

January 4, 2019

Your next favourite ramen might be from a food court.

It’s a bold claim, I know. Vancouver loves ramen and throughout the years, there had been a trend of using heavy broth full of flavour. It’s absolutely delicious but they leave you reaching for water hours after your meal.

Hida Takayama Ramen sets itself apart by offering a lighter broth with the same depth of flavour achieved by their special mix of dashi and broth.

A Hidden Gem

Hida Takayama Ramen is a hidden gem inside the Robson Public Market food court. Its original owner wanted to retire and two of its loyal customers stepped up to take over. Reg and Ping are owner operators of Yui Japanese Bistro, and they now also own Hida Takayama Ramen.

They kept the old recipes, but have made improvements to the taste and prep procedures to ensure a consistent experience. The previous owner continues to be their supplier for noodles and gyoza.

Original White Sesame

Hida sesame broth, chashu, white sesame, bamboo shoot, green onion.

Basic Spicy Miso

Hida signature broth, chashu, seaweed, bamboo shoots and green onion. This was my favourite!

Traditional Hida Chuka

Clear chicken dashi broth, chashu, bamboo shoot, green onion and seaweed. The broth looks simple, but there are layers of umami and salt that makes this special.

Tantanmen White Sesame

Hida signature broth, spicy ground pork, pickled ginger, ginger onion and black fungus. It’s good, it’s rich and the topping is so flavourful.

Gyoza

Hida Takayama’s gyoza is made with premium kurobuta pork and is still supplied by the original owner. They’re a great side to the ramen, but I would love it more if it had better texture with a crispy bottom.

Final Thoughts

Hida Takayama Ramen is a great addition to the Vancouver ramen scene. Its new owners have improved the taste and consistency, but kept the style of its original humble beginnings.

The noodles have a great bite and goes with all of the broth options available. Their egg is perfectly cooked, so go ahead and add a side of egg with your order.

We completely overlooked it when we visited, so learn from our mistake and take advantage of the free parking for patrons in the basement of Robson Public Market.

Address:
1610 Robson St #203, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://hidaramen.com/

In Chinese

No 1 Dumpling in Vancouver: Review

December 30, 2018

No 1 Dumpling is a new Chinese Restaurant near Broadway and Burrard specializing in all things dumplings. When I saw it, I needed to come check it out with some friends as we love discovering new hole in the wall restaurants especially when it involves dumplings.

Interior

The interior looks like a sushi restaurant, so I assume they only made minimal renovations prior to opening up. When you walk inside, you’ll see a brightly lit menu and a few tables in the front. There are larger tables in the back but the space isn’t very large. When we were here on the weekend, it seemed to get busier around 7pm.

Xiao Long Bao

The Xiao Long Bao comes with 8 pieces per ordered in a steamed basket. It was good but not as soupy as some other places in town. It wasn’t too salty and had a good flavour.

Spicy Soup Dumpling

The Spicy Soup Dumplings were really good. A good size to share among the table and there were a good amount of juicy dumplings inside. It has a decent spicy kick but it wasn’t too spicy at all.

Wonton Noodles

Wonton noodles were huge for what you pay for. Lots of noodles but the wontons could have been larger in size. It was pretty small so when you eat it with the noodles and veggies, it doesn’t stand out.

Peanut Butter Noodles

This peanut butter noodle is essentially dan dan noodles. It had a good amount of peanut flavour with a subtle spice behind it too.

Leek Pancake

The leek pancake is folded in half like a calzone and stuffed with leek and what seemed to be egg or tofu. They cut this up into 2 pieces so depending on how many people you are dining with, you may need more.

Green Onion and Egg Pancake

This is cut up into 4 pieces and had a good amount of egg and green onion inside. The exterior was crisp and delicious.

Guotie

These dumplings are pan fried and tasted good when you add some soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil to it.

Cucumber Salad

If you want some vegetables to balance out all the dumplings, the cucumber salad is good. It’s not marinated for a long time but it is delicious nonetheless.

Beef and Onion Dumpling, Steamed

They have a few varieties of dumplings but we chose the beef and onion dumpling and had them steamed. It comes with 12 pieces per order.

Chicken and Mushroom Dumpling, Pan Fried

This also has 12 pieces per order. The chicken and mushroom was really good and we found that having their dumplings pan-fried are the best as it adds texture to it.

Final Thoughts

The restaurant is homey and food is on point. The prices are also very fair. The downside is really the service as there is really one person taking care of the customers and 2 other people in the back preparing food when we were there. You really need to track the staff down to get water or tea refills, menu, bills and anything else. Don’t expect them to take any initiative of any kind to serve you.

Address:
1888 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.no1dumpling.com/

In Japanese

Yuu Japanese Tapas: Volcano Ramen and Miriku Collection in Richmond

December 27, 2018

Yuu Japanese Tapas is located in Richmond, BC and they serve up contemporary Japanese cuisine. They have a wide menu from appetizers, individualized hot pots, ramen and other items. Earlier in the year, The Original beer Ramen made headlines around the world for their ramen that looks like a huge mug of beer, which was made of cold bonito broth ramen.

For the Winter, they have launched a few new items – Volcano Ramen and miriku collection. We came here to check it out.

Interior

There are a lot of tables for small to large groups inside.

Menu (new items)

Volcano Ramen

Their volcano ramen comes in 2 types -AAA Beef Volcano Ramen and Jumbo Clam and Prawn Volcano Ramen starting at $19.50.

What is great about Yuu Japanese Tapas is the experience and fun they provide the customers before the meal begins. When the ramen arrived, the server pours the ramen broth into the sizzling hot stone bowl and covers it with a volcano lid, so it steams up like a volcano.

AAA Beef Volcano Ramen

This has AAA Beef slices, Enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts, green onion, and a tonkatsu broth. You can add egg, butter, cheese, kimchi and more ramen noodles for an additional charge.

We had the choice of having it mild or spicy, so we chose mild. The tonkatsu broth is rich with a lot of beefy umami flavour. The noodles has a thickness to them too. We added cheese to the dish and it made the ramen consistency more thick and less soupy.

Jumbo Clam and Prawn Volcano Ramen

There are seasonal clams, prawns, bean sprouts, onions, and their rich tonkatsu broth. You can add egg, butter, cheese, kimchi and more ramen noodles for an additional charge.

We ordered mild, but it still had a kick to the broth and made it hard to taste the deep beef flavour. This was ok but we felt the AAA Beef Volcano Ramen was a bit better.

Strawberry Milk

You can get this hot or cold, but we went with cold. It tastes like milk with strawberry puree and you can’t go wrong with that. It tastes pretty good. The glass is a bit small for the price.

Melon Milk

We decided to switch things up and get this hot. It was served in the same container and served very hot to the touch. It has a strong melon taste and it felt more artificial tasting. Imagine those Korean melona bars.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the experience at Yuu Japanese Tapas was good as the dishes were unique looking, but when it came down to flavour, it missed the mark and the prices are a bit higher than normal Japanese ramen shops, nonetheless, they really make sure the experience, fun and interactivity of the dishes are their.

Address:
3779 Sexsmith Rd #1118, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.yuutapas.com/

In Chinese

Mama’s Dumpling and Coffee in Richmond: Review

December 23, 2018

Mama’s Dumpling and Coffee is located in South Richmond near a bunch of warehouses. You definitely wouldn’t expect this restaurant to be here, but it has gained quite a level of popularity recently for their delicious homey dumplings. I came here with a few friends on the weekday to check it out and see what everyone is raving about. It’s family-run and operated, so its a great business to support.

Interior

On the weekdays around noon, it wasn’t too busy just yet. It got busy closer to 12:30pm. We’re not exactly sure about on weekends, but we hear some of their dumplings can sell out.

Ordering

They accept cards, so we were happy it’s not cash only. Once you place your order and pay, you get this electronic device that will beep once your order is ready. As it wasn’t very busy, nor were we doing takeout, this didn’t do much for us as they delivered our order to our table.

Green Tea

We were tempted to get coffee, but it just didn’t seem like a match for Chinese dumplings, so we ordered hot green tea. They charge $1.90 per cup of tea.

Shanghai-style Fried Noodles

You get your choice of pork or chicken and we chose chicken. It was deliciously pan-fried with a good amount of char on some noodles. The noodles were a good texture.

Wontons in Spicy Chili Oil

There are 8 wontons to an order and the spicy chili oil is mixed with a sesame paste, so that was surprising as I didn’t expect that. Nonetheless, it was still delicious.

Shrimp, Egg and Chives Dumpling

You can get these in portions of 12, 16 or 20 pieces. We sent with 12 since it was just the 3 of using having lunch. They were really good! Delicious filling and the skin wasn’t too thick.

Nanxiang-Style Xiao Long Bao

Each order comes with 6 pieces. It’s hot and soupy in the centre, so be careful when eating it. You can pair it with soy sauce and vinegar on the side of the table.

Green Onion Pancake

The green onion pancake is cut up into 4 pieces. Super crisp on the exterior and has a good amount of green onion spread out.

Shanghai-Style Fried Pork Buns

When coming to Mama’s Dumpling and Coffee, a lot of people order their Shanghai-style Fried Pork Buns. It’s their most popular item and comes in 4 pieces. It can take up to 30 minutes to prepare, so they recommend pre-ordering the dish so you aren’t waiting a long time.

The dumplings are fluffy on top, crisp on the bottom and the inside is so savoury and soupy. Highly recommended.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed the experience and all the dishes were very homey and hit the spot. For myself, the location is quite far for me to drive to and taking transit is a pain. If you’re in the area of South Richmond, definitely make a stop here.

Address:
103-11782 Hammersmith Way, Richmond, B

Website:
https://www.mamasdumpling.com/

In Noodles

Dundas Eat + Drink: Epic Vegan Bun Bo Hue Challenge

December 12, 2018

Dundas Eat + Drink are at it again offering up another epic food challenge. Last year, they introduced their Six O Pho challenge where you have to finish a 5lb bowl of pho in under 30 minutes.

Earlier this year, they launched a whole new vegan and gluten-free menu to accompany their other items on the menu. What better way to cater to those with dietary restrictions than to offer the first ever vegan eating challenge.

With a growing vegan community, it makes sense to offer this so more people can give food challenges a try.

Vegan Bun Bo Hue Challenge

The Vegan Bun Bo Hue Challenge totals a whopping 3 pounds of just noodles and toppings. This doesn’t include the broth. It has deep-fried tofu, king oyster mushroom, thinly sliced vegan Vietnamese ham, rice noodles, and a sour and mildly spicy veggie broth. You get 20 minutes to devour this whole bowl.

Finish noodles, toppings, and soup in 20 minutes. If you fail, you have to pay $25, which isn’t too bad at all.

The fastest five to finish will go into a final table round where they contend for a $500 worth of cash and prizes and each of the five will automatically receive a $100 gift card to Dundas.

This challenge is on until December 30, 2018.

Regular vs Vegan Bun Bo Hue Challenge

We weighed the total weight of everything and the bowl, it totaled – 5.45kg, which is over 12 pounds. My friend was able to eat a total of 1.96kg which is 4.28 pounds. With the super hot broth, it’s definitely very difficult to finish it all unless you have a stomach of steel.

For $25, this is an affordable eating challenge where it won’t break the bank. It definitely has more the 2 regular bowl fulls of pho.

The regular Vegan Bun Bo Hue was obvious a breeze to finish and costs $11.75.

Final Thoughts

The broth and toppings were really delicious for a Vegan Bun Bo Hue. There is a good depth of flavour and has a good kick of spice to it. If you didn’t tell me it was vegan, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. My vegan friend was very impressed with the taste too even though the challenge left her bursting at the seams and sweating a lot.

Address:
2077 Dundas St, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.eatdundas.com/

In Japanese

Horin Ramen + Sake: Now Open on Robson Street in Vancouver

November 8, 2018

Horin Ramen + Sake finally open their doors on Robson and Bute in Downtown Vancouver. They specialize in Fukuoka Ramen with their own spicy twist. Back in 1966, Mr. Sadayuki Nakahara and his wife Keiko were the originators of adding spicy chili peppers into a pork-based Tonkotsu broth. They have taken this secret recipe and opened a bunch of ramen shops in Japan and now around the word.

Interior

The interior is very narrow with half the restaurant for seating and the other half is their kitchen. Since it just opened, it’s not very busy at all. Plus, they have very limited hours as they are still in their soft opening phase.

They also make their noodles in-house, so you can watch them turn dough into ramen noodles.

Chashu Ramen with Soft Boiled Egg

You have the base of tonkotsu broth and 3 times more slices of braised pork belly for a total of 6 pieces. There is also green onions and their house made chili blend.

You can customize your ramen with noodle firmness (soft, standard, firm), Dashi (less salty, standard, extra salty), House Chili Blend (less spicy, standard, extra spicy), and lard (less fat, standard, or extra fat).

M thought it was ok, but didn’t stand out compared to some other ramen shops in Vancouver. He didn’t like the saltiness of the broth even though he got it standard and the chashu slices were very thin. He didn’t feel like the chili blend was that special as other ramen shops do that in town too.

Ajitama Ramen

You get their soft-boiled egg marinated in their tare-seasoning. There are 2 slices of chashu, chili sauce, and green onions.

You can customize this ramen too and I got it mostly with the standard options, but with firm noodles.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a solid bowl of ramen for this section of Robson Street, but they have stiff competition as there are more ramen shops a few blocks away. It all comes down to personal preference.

The prices are also very fair. When it comes to their sake selection, there are only 4 options and it’s pretty pricey for a whole bottle. They don’t have options for just a cup.

Address:
1226 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

In Noodles

White Lotus Cafe: Vietnamese Cuisine in North Burnaby

November 5, 2018

White Lotus Cafe just opened up in North Burnaby in a plaza with Buy Low Foods. A few people told me to check this place out as people in the neighbourhood seem to enjoy it. They serve up a variety of Vietnamese cuisine.

Interior

The space is small inside and there are only about 4 tables. At peak times, it’ll be hard to get a table, so come early or even do take out. They seem to do a good amount of take out and delivery.

Vietnamese Coffee

An essential item to order at a Vietnamese restaurant is their coffee. It has condensed milk and freshly brewed coffee. It’s a bit strong for some but so good with the condensed milk. Make sure to mix it well.

The White Lotus Platter

You get 2 pieces of each item – BBQ pork skewers, meat patties, spring rolls, and sugar cane shrimp. It also comes with a variety of vegetables, vermicelli noodles, and fish sauce.

It’s a good item to share with the table with the variety of items that comes with this platter.

Com Rice Platter

This dish has broken rice with vegetables and a side of fish sauce and soup. You can choose between lemongrass chicken, lemongrass pork chop, or meat patty. M chose his with lemongrass chicken and added a fried egg on top.

The chicken had a lot of good flavour of lemongrass and was a solid meal.

Bun Bo Hue

This has vermicelli noodles in a spicy beef broth with slices of beef shank, pork meat, and Vietnamese ham. It is then topped with cilantro, coriander, and green onions. You can choose from mild, medium, or hot spiciness level too.

I went with medium and it was quite spicy and I can handle a good amount of spice. Other than that, the broth was clear and clean tasting, which was nice. There is also a good amount of meat in there too.

BBQ Pork Banh Mi Sandwich

We got take out for their banh mi sandwiches to get a good sense of the menu. Their buttered baguette is stuffed with mayo, pate, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapenos, pickled daikon, carrots and BBQ Pork. M added extra meat and fried egg into his.

Cold Cut Banh Mi Sandwich

This has their buttered baguette with mayo, pate, cilantro, cucumbers, jalapenos, pickled daikon, carrots and cold cuts. This is their regular size and it’s still a great size for $5. The bread was crisp on the exterior and fluffy inside. The pickled veggies were a bit sweet for my personal taste, but I still liked the amount of meat.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it’s a great addition to the neighbourhood with decent Vietnamese cuisine. You can dine in or do take out and the prices are reasonable for the area.

Address:
5901 Broadway, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.whitelotuscafe.ca/

In Japanese

Ramen Gaoh: New Ramen Shop in North Burnaby

November 3, 2018

Ramen Gaoh is a new ramen shop in North Burnaby on Hastings and Willingdon. They are the newest concept from the Menya Kouji Group, which also has Ramen Gojiro and The Ramen Butcher.

What is unique about Ramen Gaoh is that they specialize in miso ramen. Since they have been open for a few days, there have been large line ups due to a great $6 special, but that is now over. As menu prices are back to normal, there was still a line up during peak hours on weekends. Hopefully this dies down as weeks pass by.

Interior

The space isn’t too large but fits groups of 2s and 4s well. Any larger and it’ll be hard to fit.

There is indoor seating as well as heated patio seats.

Green Tea

They give everyone cold water, but I wanted some green tea, so they change for hot green tea. Pretty standard green tea and nothing exciting. You can always ask them to refill it with hot water.

Karaage

We got the original karaage and it came with 4 large pieces and a wedge of lemon. They have other versions with tartar sauce or teriyaki sauce too.

The exterior was crunchy, moist inside, and full of flavour. Highly recommended and great for sharing.

Okonomiyaki Gyoza

Each comes with 5 pieces with okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, bonito flakes and green onions. They use their original pork gyoza made in-house.

They have different gyoza topping like miso mayo, spicy and trufffle too.

Shiro Miso

This uses white soy bean paste. Generally, it is more mellow and sweet for a lighter miso flavour in the broth. My friend added an ajitama egg and butter to her ramen.

Scorpion Ramen

This is their signature spicy ramen and the broth is made from chicken and pork with their secret miso blend. You can get it in 3 levels of spiciness as well as numbing. At level 2 spiciness and level 1 numbing, it still packs a punch.

Misotarian Ramen

This is the miso ramen for vegetarians. It has a creamy miso and soy milk broth topped with assorted vegetables and a portobello mushroom. I added the spicy garlic sauce as well as some chashu. Not so vegetarian anymore.

It was decent if you like miso-based broths. I wished there was more of the spicy garlic sauce since it didn’t seem as fragrant. The portobello was a big size and gave the dish a nice meaty texture without the meat.

Final Thoughts

Ramen Gaoh is a great addition to the neighbourhood giving people a taste of miso based ramen. Is it my favourite ramen joint? Definitely not, but that’s only because I’m not a big fan of miso ramen. If you are, then this might be the place for you.

Address:
4518 E Hastings St, Burnaby, BC

Website:
http://www.ramengaoh.com/

In Chinese

Old Xian’s Food: Now Open on Robson Street

October 31, 2018

Old Xian’s Food finally opened another location in Metro Vancouver. There are other locations in Richmond, Burnaby and Vancouver on Kingsway. Best known for their biang biang noodles that are soooo long and thick that you can’t help but take a photo of it. Besides that pork sandwiches and cold noodles are classic items.

I came here after work with M as it was only a few blocks away from his work and I was also craving noodles.

Interior

The space is a decent size and is best for groups of 4s. As it hasn’t been open for very long, the place wasn’t too busy around dinner time.

Xian Cold Noodle

The Xian cold noodles are a classic and one of the most popular dishes from that region. It is served cold with vinegar, chili oil, noodles, cucumbers and gluten. You give this dish a good mix so you get some of their delicious sauce coating the noodles. You can get this in a variety of spice levels, but I went with medium spiciness.

It wasn’t too spicy at all and barely registered any spiciness at all. There was a stronger vinegar taste to the sauce instead.

Brasied Beef with Biang Biang Noodles

Biang Biang Noodles are wide and very long. We went with braised beef and there was a good amount of beef and cabbage to the dish. It was delicious and a hearty meal.

Stewed Pork Burger

The stewed pork burger could have used some more work. It seems like when the added in the stewed pork, there was a lot of sauce, so half of the bun was soaked and hard to handle. There was pickled veggies missing too.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the noodles were the star of Old Xian’s Food. The spice level isn’t very spice, so you don’t have to sweat it. Most prices are $10 and under, which is nice for the area.

Address:
1517 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://oldxiansfood.ca/