Restaurant review: Broadway Station Sushi

We were in the neighborhood and spied Broadway Station Sushi.

It was fairly quiet in the restaurant, and we were seated immediately.

I ordered a combo that started with a bowl of miso soup.

 

It was okay.  Not good, not bad.  Just a standard bowl of savoury miso soup with tofu and seaweed, garnished with sliced scallops.

This followed with my combo of assorted sushi.

this included tuna rolls, inside out tempura yam rolls and the ever popular California roll.

The yam and California were dressed with a little toasted white & black sesame seeds.  Again, this was just okay.  It tasted alright.  The sushi rice was fairly lightly packed so the roll pieces fell apart when I wasn’t careful picking them up.

The California roll used minced artificial crab, and the tuna was, well, probably not the highest grade tuna available.

That said, it was a pretty inexpensive meal, so to be fair, the food here is probably fair value.

Restaurant review: Moderne Burger

After moving to Kits last fall, I’d walked past Moderne Burger dozens of times, and wanted to try it.

This place is set up to look like a 1950s diner.  Complete with the jukebox, linoleum counters, white and black checkered floors, and the milkshake mixing machines behind the service counter.  The serve burgers, fries, sodas, floats and milkshakes. The only thing missing was 50s music piping out the jukebox and servers wearing polka dot skirts, snapping bubble gum.

We were seated in a booth immediately upon arrival.

My lunch companion ordered the basic burger

This is a really good burger, made to order with freshly ground beef, grilled to medium, served  on a toasted bun with lettuce, tomato slices, ketchup and mayo.

And I ordered the salmon burger with fries

 

This is a fresh sockeye salmon fillet, grilled to medium, served on a toasted bun, with lettuce, onions, tomato and lettuce, along with a generous side of crispy hand cut french fries.

The room is bright and clean, and as previously mentioned, totally retro.

The service was decent, but not noteworthy otherwise.

I recommend this place for a really decent freshly made burger & fries.

 

Restaurant review: Congee Noodle King

I’ve patronized Congee Noodle House (on Broadway at Main) for years, and considered it a decent congee/wonton house.  And for many years I’ve driven past Congee Noodle King (on Kingsway at Joyce), and wondered it the two restaurants were connected.  Turns out that, indeed they are.  Both are fairly busy places, but “King” seems busier (or perhaps it’s because the space is smaller, it fills up more easily).

We ordered the chow mein with chicken & veg

 

This was pretty good, large portions, lots of chicken and shanghai bak choi, in a savoury brown sauce (what I refer to as “all purpose Chinese gravy”).

We also ordered deep fried chicken wings

 

This was a small serving that we ordered.  These wings (and it was just the wings, no drumettes) are marinated, dusted with seasoned flour and starch, and deep fried until light and crispy, and topped with fried garlic chilies and diced jalapenos. These are quite good, and terrific for that deep-fried fix I get every once in a while.

Lastly we ordered braised brisket with rice noodles

 

It’s cubed brisket, braised until tender with a hint of garlic, star anise and sichuan peppercorns, served with rice noodles in a light broth, and garnished with a little gai lan. This is comfort food for me.  I’ve had it many times at the Broadway & Main location, and it tastes just as good here.

The space is large and noisy (much like any other congee/wonton house), and the service was, well, actually not that good.  Even by my standards for Chinese restaurants, it seemed to be very hard to get the server’s attention.

Perhaps because it is a busy place, or perhaps they’re understaffed, but either way, its hard to even label it ‘efficient’ service when you can’t even get their attention.

Restaurant review: Seasons in the Park

We went for a weekend lunch at Seasons in the Park

It has one of the finest restaurant views in the town

But Seasons is more than just setting.  It’s a good restaurant in its own right.

First came the complimentary bread.

This is freshly baked baguette style bread, crusty on the outside and soft and slightly chewy on the inside, served with a whipped butter.

Next was the clam chowder

This is a new england style cream based chowder, with lots of onions, celery, clams and bacon, drizzled with truffle oil.  It’s an excellent chowder.

This was followed by Tuscan flat bread

This is a thin crust flat bread topped with sweet carmelized onions, arugula, soft goat cheese and balsamic vinegar.  The flat bread is crisp on the bottom and edges, but still soft inside.  The goat cheese was soft and mild with a little saltiness, and the sweet tanginess of the balsamic vinegar contrasted nicely with the peppery arugula.

My lunch entrée was the salmon burger with fries

This is a grilled salmon filet, served in a toasted sesame seed bun, topped with a remoulade and a couple of slices of purple onion.  It comes with fresh coleslaw and freshly chipped french fries.  The salmon was grilled to a medium, and seasoned right.  Bun was toasted with the slightest char, but still soft inside.  The remoulade was mild, and added some richness to the taste.  The fries were light and crisp, and seasoned right.

The room, particularly on a warm sunny day, is bright and airy, with one of the best views in town.

The service was stellar.  Prompt, polite, helpful, attentive with just a pleasant sense of humor thrown in.

I’ve been to Season several times before, and the service and the food quality have always been exemplary.

Restaurant review: Banana Leaf

This review has been sitting on the backburner for quite some time.  Only because of time demands in my personal life.  But with that settled, we’re back, and I have to do this review from my failing memory. :p

We went for lunch at Banana Leaf in Kitsilano. This is one of several locations (they have one in Fairview, and three locations downtown).

We were seated immediately, and ordered.  We started with the roti cani

This is several “pancakes” of layered flat bread, pan seared and served with a curried dipping sauce.  This is moist and slightly sweet, with a smooth buttery texture and light crisp around the edges.  The dipping sauce is mildly spicy and tangy.  This is decadent feel to it (compared to most bread appetizers).

Next up was an order chicken and pork satay

 

This is marinated skewers of chicken and pork, grilled and served with a curried peanut sauce.  I do love the malaysian style of  satay.  It’s lightly spicy and slightly sweet.  The dipping sauce is lightly spicy and slightly sweet, and rather crunchy because of the coarsely ground peanuts.    The satays were done just right, moist and tender, with a light char around the edges, lots of flavor.

And lastly we had the mee goreng.

 

This is stir fried egg noodles with bean sprouts, prawns, scramble eggs, tomatoes, tofu and choi sum (chinese flowering cabbage).  This was quite good, with lots of deep savory flavors coming together.

Restaurant review: Curry King

Went for lunch with a group from work, and opted for Curry King on Kingsway in Burnaby (they also have a small stall in the food court at Crystal Mall).  It’s a Hong Kong cafe style restaurant, offering both chinese dishes and

It was pretty busy during the lunch hour, and we had to wait a few minutes for a table to open up.

I ordered the red curry brisket with rice

 

This is a modest portion of beef brisket, braised and then stewed in a rich coconut red curry sauce with potatoes and cherry tomatoes, served with white rice. Actually I don’t think the cherry tomatoes were stewed,  I’m pretty sure they were just flash cooked and dropped on top of the dish before serving.

The brisket was tender and quite flavorful.  The sauce was rich, creamy and sweet with barely any noticeable heat.

The room is bright, and rather crowded and noisy (at least it was during the lunch rush) and clean.  As typical with hk-style cafes the service was efficient.

This place is  reasonably good value.

Restaurant review: Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot restaurant

I went for lunch at Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot restaurant at the Crystal Mall in Burnaby.

It’s a small hole-in-the-wall kind of place, accessed from the outside of the shopping plaza (it might seat 30 or so patrons).

I ordered the korean bbq beef on rice bowl.

This is a serving of bulgogi (marinated and seared beef), with some spicy tofu and blanched vegetables served over white rice.

The vegetables were okay, but not particularly memorable.  The tofu was spicy and well seasoned.  The beef was tender and savory-sweet.

It’s a decent sized portion, and a fair price.

The room is a little crowded and probably in need of a refresh, it’s a worse for wear.

The service was efficient, but not noteworthy otherwise.

Restaurant review: Sushi Garden

This was a “let’s get out of the office and go for lunch” kind of day, so we went to Sushi Garden on Kingsway in Burnaby.

The place was extremely busy (lunch rush) and we scored the last empty table, just as a few more groups of customers arrived right behind us.

I started with the gomae.

And I was a little too hungry and quick on the chopsticks, because I didn’t remember to get a photo until after I’d had a couple of bites.  Ooops.  This was pretty good, but wetter than I would usually expect.  But at least the spinach was fresh, and the seasonings were about right.

I also ordered the BC roll and Alaska roll sushi combo.

This was pretty good.  The rice was the right done-ness, the fish was fresh, but I question the sauce that was drizzled over the top of the Alaska rolls.  It was sweet and slightly savory, but it added a lot of excess wetness to the sushi.   And I found the rolls a little on the “loose” side.  They broke apart fairly easily when I tried to pick them up with my chopsticks.

The food is pretty good, and the price are quite reasonable.

The service was a bit rushed.

Restaurant review: The Fish Shack

It was the weekend, and I decided to go for brunch at The Fish Shack.

Fish Shack is a casual seafood restaurant on Granville street, owned by the Glowbal Group.  It  replaced Sanafir which closed in summer 2012.

My brunch companion ordered the dungeness crab eggs benny.

It looked good.  I had a small fork full of the crab benny, and it was pretty good.

I ordered the fish tacos with Manhattan clam chowder.

I’ll load my comments here.  This is two soft tacos (very light and thin shells, I should mention, they seemed to be freshly made shells), stuffed with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and seasoned lightly seared white fish (not sure of the fish variety).    The fish had a light dusting of cajun/creole seasoning, and was seared to just cooked through (but still moist and delicate).  The fries were hot, crispy and lightly salted.

I was given the choice of salad or soup, and I opted for the Manhattan clam chowder.  I like both Manhattan and new england chowder, but today, I was feeling a bit guilty so I chose the lighter (and marginally healthier) tomato based chowder.  It was very good, well seasoned with a slight kick of heat.

The room (as was Sanafir) cavernous and loud, but brighter and airier than I remember.  The slats of wooden pallets on the wall give the place a very rustic look, although not as “nautical” as I would have expected.

The service was very attentive and pleasant.

I’ll have to come back and try the fish & chips the next time.

Restaurant review: Bob likes Thai food

We decided to try Bob Likes Thai Food at the new location on West Broadway (where Go Fish! previously called home, and Bin 942 before that).

We were seated immediately, and given our menus.  I ordered the pad prik king with chicken and beans.

This is a thai red curry dish without coconut milk,  was pretty good.  Well prepared, well seasoned, with bold flavors.   There was a strong fish sauce, and garlic flavour here, with fair bit of heat.  I ordered a side of jasmine rice to go with it.

And my dinner companion ordered the fish in yellow curry

This is a yellow curry dish, with red peppers, potatoes, shallows and generous portions of fish.  I’m not sure what type of fish this was, it was a medium firm white fish, possibly basa.  We also ordered a side of jasmine rice to go with it.  Again the flavors were bold and punchy, properly seasoned, and slightly sweeter than the pad prik king dish.

In both cases, the dishes were noteworthy for their bold and powerful curry flavors, which remarkable considering that thai cuisine is already characterized by bold flavors.

The room is clean and funky (the colors and decor haven’t changed much since it’s transformation from Go Fish!, save for the addition of framed photos of Thailand).  The space at this location is quite a bit larger than the Main street location.

Our server was courteous, polite and attentive.

In spite of the quirky name, the food is pretty authentically Thai, and they don’t wimp out on the flavors.