Fritou Chicken Restaurant - Abbotsford

It seems like we eat more fried chicken than usual these days (unless it's a vegan month), with new fried chicken joints opening up on every corner and I'm wondering if it is not pandemic related. Could fried chicken be the perfect comfort food? If so, keep eating it for a few more months and do not let your guard down just yet because of the seeming nearness of the vaccinations.

Fritou is a Quebec chain that has been around since 1993. CFR in Abbotsford (on George Ferguson near Gladwin) is not the first place in BC to serve Fritou chicken (there is 777 Pizza in Surrey and Duffins in Vancouver serves it as well...or at least used to....I can neither confirm nor deny at the moment) but I am pretty sure that it is the first location dedicated to the brand.

I noticed Fritou on a drive-by (on my way to get my haircut) and stalked them until they opened. It was a little confusing at first. Their website was useless (it is much better now) and apparently they had supplier problems but now they seem to be rolling. On my first visit, they had a six wing and fries special for $12.95. These were not wing pieces but whole wings and they were fantastic. This is definitely some of the best fried chicken that I have ever had. It is 24 hour brined and pressure deep-fried. It is always freshly made (be prepared to wait a bit), hot (my God, don't burn yourself), moist and flavourful! The fries were ok being the type with a coating that makes them very crispy.

I got an order of General Tao Chicken (comes with rice) to bring home for Mharie (and saved a couple of wings too). It was alright being a bit sweet and could have been spicier. Made with fried chicken also, I feel like it would have been better hot in the restaurant. 

We decided to check out Fritou again to confirm that the fried chicken was indeed spectacular and it was. This time we ordered a 3 piece combo (2 pieces spicy and 1 piece original). Again the chicken was piping hot from the fryer, crispy but juicy inside. Amazing!

We opted for onion rings instead of fries and they were also very good. They could have been hotter and I think that's just a timing thing that will be learned with experience (the o rings had to wait for the chicken). They are just newly opened after all. They were still very ungreasy and tasty.

I am not a big fan of poutine. I especially dislike it when people refer to poutine as Canada's national dish (really?... fries, gravy and cheese?...that's the best we can do?) but I thought that since this was a Quebec-based chain that they might have the inside track. Well, we were wrong about that. The fries were OK but on the soggy side because that what happens when you cover them in gravy. The gravy was meh as it is chicken gravy and that's the way they make it in Quebec. The cheese was not of the squeaky variety as it should be. The bottom line is, eat the chicken but don't bother with the poutine.

This is a mostly take-out place but there are 4 socially distanced tables available at the moment. The owners are a lovely friendly couple and they are clearly interested in their customer's experience. And they make wonderful fried chicken!

Food            4 out of 5

Comfort       4 out of 5

Service        4 out of 5

Value           4 out of 5 

 

Anthem Pizza

OK so I really wanted a Chi Pig pizza box but they weren't available at the time. I have been listening to SNFU a bit lately and find their music to be rather melodic for a punk band. The twins are really excellent guitarists and play off each other well and Chi was an impressive frontman. I kind of wish I was into them back when they were playing the Vancouver clubs and bars. R.I.P. Ken Chinn.

I couldn't get the pizza box but we went and checked out the mural in his honour in Gastown.

Admittedly, this is the most I have spent on pizza in a long time but a) this is really good pizza, b) this is pizza with a purpose (a portion of the proceeds goes to charity including the BC Children's Hospital Foundation) and c) it served us for 2 full meals. This is a take out only kind of deal, one of the two pick up locations being at The Five Point on Main Street between 15th and 16th.

We ordered 2 pizzas the first of which was the "I Want To Be Sedated" which was mushrooms, various cheeses and truffle oil on Alfredo sauce. They were maybe just a bit heavy-handed with the truffle oil which can happen fast and frankly it was not a terrible thing. The crust was very good with a hint of char but maybe just a bit on the too chewy side. It was an amazing combination of flavours though and they are generous with the toppings.

Mharie likes her Hawaiian style pizza and so we tried "Hunky Dory" which featured Prosciutto and pineapple jam. The addition of banana peppers gave it just a bit of a kick.  Pretty impressive! All of Anthem's pizzas are in the $20 to 24 range (one size) and are named mostly for rock 'anthems'. 

As for the boxes, while Chi Pig was not available, Dr. H was. All of the boxes are almost works of art and worth driving out of your way to get (will we end up trying to collecting them all?).

In addition to pizza, you can order wings or a couple of different salads and a bunch of different T-shirts.

We opted for the J.J. Kale Salad which seems expensive at $14 but is actually packed with green goodness as well as crispy prosciutto etc. It tasted great and made us feel good about ourselves! We're keen on Anthem Pizza for all of the above-mentioned reasons. Try them out and consider collecting all the boxes! I cut the cover off of ours and I realize now that a true hobbyist would have kept them complete (but there was cheese on them! ).

Food                    4 out of 5

Comfort               3 out of 5

Service                4 out of 5

Value                   4 out of 5 (especially considering the charity angle)

Major Joy Flavoured Chicken

When I first saw this place, I honestly took it to be a Filipino chicken joint. The word "joy" in the name is reminiscent of the soon to be opening in Vancouver, Jolibee which offers "chicken joy" on its menu (btw, a Jollibee in Vancouver is good for the environment as Filipinos in the area will no longer need to drive to Seattle to get their "chicken joy" fix!...well and me too!)

Located at the corner of 88th and KG Boulevard in Surrey, MJ is more South Asian in its leaning featuring fried or grilled chicken in seven different flavours!

So we ordered a few things to go including an excellent Mango Milkshake for the drive home. The milkshake was topped with some small chunks of real mango and the shake itself was thick (not too thick) and flavourful.

We ordered an eight-piece meal which came with three sides. We ordered the chicken in four different flavours with two pieces of each flavour. They actually gave us nine pieces (sort of along the lines of a baker's dozen). We ordered original, tandoori, fresh chilli mint, and lemon pepper. Unfortunately, they all tasted the same and no, this is not a COVID 19 symptom. Don't get me wrong, this is really good fried chicken. It was crispy yet tender and juicy just like you always hope and in contrast to the colonel's offerings but it was not flavoured. I thought I got a hint of tandoori with one bite and imagined a hint of lemon pepper but it was not as advertised. I don't know if their flavours are so subtle (what would be the point) or if they just forgot our order and gave us all original (hard to imagine as we went over our order at least a couple of times to confirm). It was a little disappointing!

The sides that we had were all decent including the slaw and Lime Chilli Corn.

Fries were our third side and they were decent, skin on and crispy. Finally, we chose a couple of dips which were good but I can't remember what they were. 

They have a nice airy, sky-lit dining room. The chicken is definitely cooked to order and the service is friendly. I will always be confused about the no-flavour flavours though.

Food                  2 1/2 out of 5    (good chicken but it all tasted the same)

Service              3 1/2 out of 5 (friendly but did they just screw up?)

Comfort             3 out of 5 (decent fast food digs)

Value                 3 out of 5

Golden Swan Restaurant

Sometimes only dim sum will do and a rainy and chilly Sunday morning is one of those times. As we have an endless supply of places that serve dim sum in Metro Vancouver so we have endless lists offering recommendations as to which places to visit. One of those lists mentions Golden Swan so off we went.

Golden Swan has a fair-sized dining room and we arrived early so we were seated right away. I had seen their menu online but when we arrived we saw that they had cart service as well. Cart service is dangerous for me as everything looks good and I could end up filling our table with no apparent plan.

And so before I got control of myself and filled out the request form, we found ourselves with these spectaularScallop Dumplings on our table. On top, there was a fairly substantial slice of perfectly cooked and succulent scallop. Underneath there were decent sized pieces of also perfectly cooked shrimp that had that slight snap in texture that we love. Were it not for the timely passing of the cart lady, we would never have had the privilege of enjoying this.

Also off the cart were siu mai. These were meaty and tasty but no surprises. A nice little taste of fish roe on the top which is always a pleasure. 

We checked three items off on the menu, the first of which was Chicken Feet with Special Sauce. These were tender and good. I can't explain our need to always order chicken feet. They are just comforting and rich and with a special texture that you don't get from the lean meat type items. We just really like them!

We've also grown fond of Deep Fried Taro Buns. I'm not even sure how the chefs create the lacey crisp outer shell but it is delightful. Inside the taro filling can be somewhat dense at times but these had ground pork and taro filling which gave us the nice creamy taro and the meaty pork. These were among the best we've had.

Finally, we always tender to order rice roll in one form or another. This time it was with Chinese donut and pork floss. The slightly sweet pork floss is an interesting product. Apparently, a lot of pork goes to make a small amount of floss so not exactly environmentally friendly so use it sparingly. We also love the sesame dip which usually accompanies rice roll.

I don't feel like we have the expertise to create our own top ten list of dim sum joints but I think Golden Swan would definitely be on it. We just seem to love dim sum everywhere we go. The staff were very conscientious of the social distancing rules, even the cart ladies which is a little difficult. 

Food                    4 out of 5

Comfort               4 1/2 out of 5

Service                4 1/2 out of 5   

Value                   4 out of 5

Pizza Coming Soon

 As near as I can tell there will never be any pizza but we love the campy name and concept of this new Chinatown joint. They say that they serve Japanese snack food and while libations may be an equally important attraction, we enjoyed our snacks!

Located in the space that was recently Mitzie's (and used to be a Bino's at one time?), at the corner of Main and East Pender, the neighbourhood is colourful during the evening hours but perfectly safe.

Arriving early, as usual, we were seated immediately and started with a salad. Tomato Carpaccio is exactly what you would expect, thinly sliced tomato. Along with iceberg lettuce, radish etc and a Japanese-style sesame dressing, this was a nice clean and refreshing start.

I have to admit that the Blooming Onion was one of the main things that drew us to PCS. I saw it on the menu and was immediately sent into nostalgic visions of state fairs past. Certainly, one of the most unhealthy dishes possible that you could still call a vegetable, this battered and deep-fried onion is served with a mayo-based dipping sauce with some serious dill flavour. Admittedly, it just missed the mark a little bit for me as I had built it up into something else in my recollection. To me, there could have been more batter and there was a bit of burnt taste on some of the 'fingers'. Still it was a tasty dish and worth trying.

We were also intrigued by the idea of Periyaki Chicken and so we ordered half a bird. The chicken comes grilled with teriyaki and is served with house-made peri-peri sauce on the side and half a nicely charred lemon to squeeze over the top. All the pieces including the breast meat were nicely grilled and charred but remained tender and moist. The peri-peri sauce was very tasty. When combined, it's a very good mix of flavours that maybe you wouldn't expect to see together. We didn't get a whole lot of the teriyaki part however as it seemed to have been a little overwhelmed in the mix.

Finally, and though we are not big dessert people, we sampled and loved the Matcha Panacotta with Strawberries. This was smooth and tasty without being too sweet. The velvety pannacotta contrasted well with the nicely firm strawberries.

Service was upbeat and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. BTW, I can gauge the background music by how many songs I Shazam and how many albums I subsequently download (music I don't know obviously) and the answer is four. This tells us that I loved the cool jazz musical vibe including Yasuko Agawa, M'Du and the Dynamics. This was in contrast to the K-Pop that we listened to at lunch elsewhere today and that I did not Shazam or download (sorry K-Pop people). Tables have adequate separation or barriers and pandemic protocols are in place. You can have a safe and nice meal in a chic space.

Food                  3 out of 5

Comfort             4 out of 5

Service              4 out of 5

Value                 3 1/2 out of 5  

Potluck Hawker Eatery

As we pass between World Vegan Month (November 2020) and Veganuary (January 2021), I will not be returning to relentless carnivorism for the month of December, but I will be satisfying a few cravings that I have been feeling over the last couple of months. 

Put the word hawker in the name of your eatery or make any suggestion of street food and I am there. It is not really a long time part of our Canadian food culture but I really wish that it was, food trucks and the night market (closed due to the pandemic obviously) notwithstanding. Anyway, have a good read of the story of Potluck Hawker Eatery on their website and you will be hooked as I was. This is a place to check out immediately!

They call their cuisine Pan-Asian. So we started with Malaysia and Roti Canai. This was a small order (just needed a taste) and it was very flaky and tender. The curry dip really packed a nice wallop. We were off to an excellent start!

I am a great sucker for Laksa when it is on any menu but PHE offered the option of Mami Chicken Noodle Soup from the Philippines so we tried that. Mharie was impressed and told me that it very much represented what you might expect in her homeland. It was full of excellent egg noodles that must have had a good hit of turmeric in their structure to give them a deep yellow colour. The chicken was deep fried and cut up into manageable pieces. The ultimate in comforting is what you get when you combine the deep-fried meat with the rich broth. There were garlic chips and so many other smaller contributors to a wonderful dish.

We didn't do a good enough job combining the components of the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Nasi Lemak as we should have but tended to eat things separately. The novel serving tray with sections sort of moved us to do that but you should eat this combining a taste of this with that or with rice to really appreciate the whole. That being said, we loved some of this and were a bit meh about other parts. The chicken again was excellent! The smallish convenient pieces were crispy and tender and I assume have been brined. The coconut rice was also coconutty and good. The salted egg yolk was not a salt-cured egg yolk ( and left me craving salted egg yolk) as we expected but a hard-boiled egg yolk served on top of an admittedly amazing house-made shallot sambal which was slightly spicy, shrimpy, sweet and rich! We would have liked a little more anchovy with our peanuts (luck of the scoop?).

Finally and the most amazing thing that we have eaten in a while; Krabby Patty Sando (Chili Crab Dip). If you can, picture me making the Mark Wiens "Wow" face! This is a limited time special "while supplies last" sandwich that is being served from Wednesday to Sunday and comes with a chili tomato egg swirl gravy for dipping. We ordered Malaysian Shaker Fries on the side which had a sugary spicy topping and very cool deep-fried curry leaves. It made even the fries something special.

But back to the amazing sandwich which was made with a quarter-pound of crab and not much else! I am not sure what holds this thing together as there was no evidence of anything but...crab! Deep-fried and served on a buttery "squishy" bun, we waffled between using the perfect dip and just luxuriating in the taste of crab. This was one of those food-related experiences in life that will stay with us for a long time!

Potluck Hawker Eatery is comfortable enough and does a good job with social distancing. It is chicly colourful with displays of the aforementioned Pan Asian products. Get yourself a Krabby Patty Sando while you can!

Food                    4 1/2 out of 5        

Comfort               4 out of 5

Service                4 out of 5

Value                   4 out of 5

Newton Pizza - Cloverdale

A few weeks ago, the Daily Hive ran an article about the best places to get Indian-style pizza in Vancouver and on the list was Newton Pizza. We decided to try them at the end of Vegetarian Awareness Month (October 2020) because frankly, an Indian Veggie Pizza sounded pretty good. NP has 3 locations and we ended up at Cloverdale. The White Rock location had run out of Korma sauce but Cloverdale had not (again, it pays to phone ahead). 

Newton Pizza in Cloverdale is a take-out only joint in a strip mall at the corner of 64th and 184th. So we ordered a couple of pizzas, a veggie lasagne and some wings for my dedicated carnivore partner.

I have to admit that looking at these pictures and writing this post a month after the actual chowing down of the pizza, that I am not sure 100% but I am pretty sure that it is the Veggie Korma that id shown above. While I admit that my preference is for the thin crust 00 flour pizzas with a minimum of toppings and cooked at 900 degrees in a wood-burning oven, this runs a pretty good second! There was good crust and a ton of cheese! Korma sauce is typically a mild yogurt sauce with cashews or almonds and spices. NP's version was pretty tasty!

For Mharie, we got the Butter Chicken Pizza which had the similar virtues of decent crust and lots of cheese. In this case, the chicken did not really taste like butter chicken but its mildness may have gotten buried by the cheese. Still a good pizza.

The Veggie Lasagna was pretty good also. I don't think it is referred to as Indian Lasagna but the fact that it was another vegetarian item that was available. If a vegetarian could live on cheese and noodles, this would be the way to go.

Finally, we got a 10-pack of wings. These were honey-garlic if I remember correctly. They were apparently OK but they won't be making it onto a Netflix documentary or anything. Service was friendly enough and our food was ready when they said it would be. Inside, the menus have been updated and everything is a dollar or two more than what they show on their website. They may have updated by now but out of date pricing on a website is problematic to me (I didn't complain about it though).

So Indian pizza! There is a lot on the menu to try (we should try their Indian food), vegetarian and otherwise and everything we had was at least decent.

Food                3 1/2 out of 5

Comfort           3 out of 5 (take out only)  

Service            3 out of 5 (Let's update website pricing)

Value.              3 1/2 out of 5