Japadog - McArthurGlen

Of course, we've been to Japadog before! It's a Vancouver institution and one of Anthony Bourdain's notable stops on his visits to town. These days there are at least 10 Japadog locations including at the Santa Monica Pier, some of which are storefronts and others of which are trailers. We've just never written a blog post about them (shame!) but after dropping my brother at the airport (there is a Japadog in YVR) we were feeling peckish and well, why not?

The nice thing about McArthurGlen is lots of parking including EV charging spots. On a sunny day, you can stroll around the mall enjoying a coffee and laughing at the people in long lines for new shoe releases (or whatever).

I'm a big fan of Japanese Curry but not a big fan of poutine. Put Japanese curry on fries and you don't really have poutine you really just have curry sauce and cheese on fries. Call it whatever you want, I guess, it was pretty good. Not a bad mango shake either.

Proving that not every dog has to have a pork weiner (or is that the actual definition of a hot dog?) is the Ebi Tempura Dog. With Seasoned rice and seaweed, the nicely crispy and surprisingly tasty shrimp brings a lighter but very satisfying flavour to a hot dog.

One of the current specials at the MG outlet is the Menchikatsu Dog. This is a ground beef cutlet on a bun that did not quite live up to its billing as crunchy on the outside. Still, it was beefy and flavourful with katsu sauce.

The Yakiniku Rice Dog was the biggest score of this particular haul. The Arabiki pork weiner had some snap for a decent start. With seasoned rice, grilled beef and some variation of a katsu or teriyaki style sauce, this was almost a meal in itself. I would order this again!

I think that the Okonomi Dog is one of my early and all-time favourite go-to's. I guess it's mostly about the bonito flakes but the Kurobota sausage is one of their tastiest offerings. I like the sauce and fried cabbage as well. You can never go wrong with a classic!

The McArthurGlen location of Japadog has quite a bit of room for inside dining and some outside tables as well. They are counter service and pickup but service is pretty quick considering how busy they can be. If I'm eating fast food, I would always choose Japadog if there is an outlet nearby. There is a reason that they started with one cart on Burrard and have grown to an empire of sorts! Really decent food with some impressive variety at very good prices.

Food              3 1/2 out of 5

Comfort         3 out of 5

Service          4 out of 5

Value             4 out of 5

Grandt Kitchen Filipino Cuisine - Filipino Restaurant Month

Well, we have been to Grandt Kitchen previously but it was for a catered family event. I guess that should be a recommendation in itself but we decided to pay them a visit again during Filipino Restaurant Month to see them in action and find out about their everyday menu and service.

Located in a strip mall just north of Surrey Central on King George Blvd, parking was not an issue. We arrived just at noon on a Sunday and were seated right away.

We started with an appetizer off their FRM special menu. I can't remember what they called it but it was deep-fried tiny crabs with a vinegar dip. These were tasty and crunchy but I would be curious to know their source. I have seen tiny crabs in Kimchi in H-mart but I have never tried them or questioned where they are from. I wish I had researched that ahead of time. 

The one thing that we ordered off their regular menu was the Crispy Pata. Honestly, this must be one of the most unhealthy things in the world but it is so delicious. This is a pork hock slowly simmered and then deep-fried and is another example of using every part of an animal if you are going to use them for food. Meaty and fatty with crsipy skin, you should share it with multiple people!

Served with a side of atchara, a Filipino pickle featuring unripe papaya which offsets all the fat. The skin was ridiculously crispy and the meat so tender. Don't miss this but go jogging in the morning in anticipation.

Bulalo is not a regional dish, but I expect it has local versions. It is a soup based on beef shank and bone marrow and there are entire restaurants that specialize in it in the Philippines. The broth itself is beefy, rich and fatty. Depending on your luck of the ladle, there maybe be generous pieces of delicious marrow. The beef in our serving was brisket-like (I don't know for sure) and so tender.  Add some greens and not too much else and you are set. This bowl was $25 but is enough for multiple servings. We took a lot home.

The Filipino Restaurant Month's main offer to bring in the masses is an appetizer, main and dessert for $25. GKFC has certain dates for their specials but they bent the rules for us (and they probably will for you also). We chose the Grilled Pork Belly Combo which came with the relish, some grilled vegetables and steamed rice. The pork was ridiculously tender and very tasty and they were not cheap with the portions.

The combo comes with a couple of spring rolls which were very good. Most Filipino dishes come with some sort of vinegar dip. There is vinegar in every form in the Philipines and we have some spicy versions in our own pantry. Don't miss out on using the dips if you are eating Filipino food. We ordered a side of garlic rice as we thought we might run short of food! That was a hilarious notion!

The combo came with Boku Pandan for dessert. It was served with some vanilla ice cream which is a little bit non-traditional but was a nice touch. There were crispy rice bits on top which provided a nice texture bonus. This was quite good. The $25 meal deal also came with a beverage.

I have gotten in the habit of letting the server know that I intend to order too much! I feel a little embarrassed ordering what is inevitably dinner for 4, for the 2 of us! Admittedly all of this food complete with tax and tips came to $100 but it was more like dinner for 6 as worked on the leftovers for a couple of days!

This is a comfortable enough room, reminiscent of maybe a Mediterranean-style place that occupied the space before? I am just guessing and I don't know for sure. The staff were quite friendly and attentive, especially considering how busy they got as the lunch hour went along. This place is worth checking out!

Food                  4 1/2 out of5

Comfort             3 1/2 out of 5

Service              4 out of 5

Value                 4 out of 5

Royal Seafood Restaurant

I wasn't really aware of Royal Seafood Restaurant until I read a "10 Best Richmond Dim-Sum Restaurants..." article at nomsmagazine.com. We decided to pay them a visit one rainy Sunday morning to get warm and satisfy our recurring dim-sum cravings. Even though we forgot to order the dishes that the article recommended, we were impressed.

Located in the Garden City Shopping Centre at Blindell and Garden City, parking is not an issue. Seating was not an issue either but only because we arrived on the early side before noon. This place got pretty busy by the time we were done. Were not surprised that it is popular as you will see.

While we try to be adventurous most times that we dine out, I feel like we slide into a comfort zone when it comes to dim sum. Deep-Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Paste is one of our go-to's when we see it on the menu. It provides such a nice combination of flavours and textures. The highlight here was that the shrimp pieces were large and had good snap (not really paste at all). Perfectly cooked!

Chicken feet are another of our favourites. This one is with a spicy sauce that was not really spicy. We didn't mind. They were so tender with the perfect texture. We always scarf down the peanuts in the sauce as well.

Going a little off our beaten path we tried the Chicken with Ginger Steamed Buns. These were very tasty and ginger forward. We love the puffy steamed bun texture which provides a nice contrast to the other dishes we had tried.

Back to the texture items again, we enjoyed their Beef Tendon Chee Hou (that is how it was listed on our receipt although it is listed as Szechuan Sauce on the menu). The tendon were ridiculously tender and with a smooth and luxurious texture. The sauce was not very spicy but was rich and had just enough tang to it to make the dish wonderful. 

The Meat and Shrimp Puffs were also very nice. A familiar slightly saucy filling inside a deep-fried shell this time. Calling them a puff is appropriate. The outside crust is light and crispy.

We finished up with the Golden Yolk Custard Lava Buns. These sweet and delicious buns were a real treat. Mharie had to help me break this open as when I tried, I sprayed filling halfway across the table! Chopsticks are not great as cutting tools! Don't miss out on these.

RSR has a beautiful dining room with sharp-dressed and efficient servers. Prices are not bad with most dishes at around $8.50. We were a little surprised that tea was charged to us at $3 each. It's not a problem but isn't tea usually complimentary? Either way, we agree with Royal Seafood Restaurants being assessed as in the top ten dim sum restaurants in Richmond!

Food             4 out of 5

Comfort        4 1/2 out of 5

Service         4 1/2 out of 5

Value            4 out of 5

Sakura Days Japan Fair - Teriyaki Boys

It has been 4 years since we attended the Sakura Days Japan Fair at Van Dusen Gardens. I can't remember for sure but assume that it was cancelled in 2 of those years (you were here, right?) and I don't have an excuse for the 3rd intervening year. The bottom line is that it is nice to be back at VanDusen Gardens.

I will go ahead and say, I told you so to everyone who did not make an effort to get out of bed and get going in time to be there when the gardens opened at 10 (10?...already the middle of the day!). The gardens were quite busy right from the start (almost like we've been waiting 2 years to have something to do) but as the day went on, the lineups to get in and for food reached ridiculous lengths and forget about parking anywhere near the gardens. 

Our visit started off beautiful, if a little chilly, with the cherry blossoms in full bloom. We were hungry enough that it seemed like a good idea to get something to eat fairly early on and so we visited one of the several tucks/ trailers that were set up to nourish visitors,.

Teriyaki Boys is from Squamish and specialize in, you guessed it, Teriyaki in various iterations with rice and noodles.

We ordered their Ginger Pork with Tarutaru Sauce. I had to ask what tarutaru sauce is and a friendly young server explained it to me but their website just calls it tartar sauce. I could have figured that out. Anyway, it was very tasty with pork belly, the finely shredded cabbage that we love, and sauce all on rice. 

We also tried their Yakisoba (ordered a poached egg on the side) which was also nicely done. Nothing too fancy here just the stir-fried noodles, savoury-sweet sauce as well as some green onions etc.

Mharie's granddaughter was with us for the day and she had the Teriyaki Rice Bowl. She asked for them to hold the vegetables as many teenagers (she is not quite a teenager yet) are wont to do so no cabbage etc. It was still a tasty bowl but a little salty without the shredded cabbage and mayo to mitigate the saltiness. Our intention all along was to come back later and try some other things at different trucks but the length of the lines forced us to opt-out of that idea!

We enjoyed the Japanese artisans, haiku workshop, and Japanese performers at the Cherry Stage, as well as the rest of these beautiful gardens. It turns out this could well be called the Magnolia Festival as blossoming Magnolia trees might have been as amazing and common as the cherry trees.

Still, Cherry Blossom Festival is our thing in Metro Vancouver, isn't it? 

Our last stop was back at the Cherry Stage for Go-Taiko, a young people's group that performed on the Japanese drums. 

It was one of many moving performances that highlighted Japanese arts at the Sakura Days Japanese Fair.

It was a lovely day and a lovely festival. Don't leave it too late next year! Tickets were available online but it would be worth considering for the society in charge to provide windows to avoid the waits that many people must have experienced. We're glad that the wonderful cherry blossoms are available all over Metro Vancouver and even out in our humble Aldergrove.

Teriyaki Boys

Food             3 1/2 out of 5

Comfort        NA

Service         4 out of 5

Value            4 out of 5

 

Lyra Lou Cakes - Filipino Restaurant Month

The goal of Filipino Restaurant Month is to celebrate Filipino food and to introduce more Canadians to the cuisine. We at Yes! We're Eating Again! are excited about this as fully half of the staff here are Filipina! There are 7 restaurants participating in the Metro Vancouver area and we have been to many of them but not relative newcomer Lyra Lou Cakes. It has been on our list since it opened and this seemed like the time to pay a visit!

The focus here is definitely on the bakery business and their options as far as cakes and baked goods is pretty impressive. We got a couple of things to go for later. 

Well, we arrived too early for the food month specials as LLC is only participating from the 24th of the month. Still, it turns out that prices are pretty impressive here and the food month specials will not make that much difference to our bottom line! We decided to try the Chicken Sisig. This is a pretty creative idea as Sisig is traditionally made with pork including pork ears and as much as I love it, I worry about my arteries. Chicken just seems like a healthier option and the dish still had the sisig taste with onion, mayo, soy, ginger, garlic etc. It came with steamed rice and a fried egg and was an inexpensive meal for only $12!

Filipinos (including my wife) are fond of their breakfasts called "silogs". She ordered Tocilog which features Tocino which is a sweet cured sausage usually made with pork belly. Silogs are traditionally served with garlic rice and a fried egg for a hearty start to your day. This one was quite good but with steamed rice and garlic chips rather than actual garlic rice.

We decided to try their Corned Beef Pandesal which was an inspired move. I told them they are not charging enough for this as at $7 for 2 buns with corned beef, cheese, mayo and garlic chips, this is a steal! Excellent ube buns are brought in from an outside baker but they also sell the buns by the dozen at a reasonable price. These sandwiches were a real treat!

Finally, we had Mango Con Yelo for dessert. Again, at only $7, this was quite reasonable and full of fresh mango! The scoop of vanilla ice cream that topped it off was drizzled with a mango - passion fruit coulis that was perfect. The ice felt like it was crushed rather than shaved which made it a little too chunky but other than that, this was a great dessert!

We got a selection of macarons to take home. 6 for $12 seems reasonable. We're not like huge macaron fans but we have paid quite a bit more in Vancouver. These were very nicely put together and would probably make you macaron people happy.

Turon is a little more of a traditional Filipino dessert, often made with spring roll wrappers and bananas. At LLC they have upped the game a bit and call these Turon Puffs. The pastry is a little puffier than the traditional wrapper and the fillings vary from jack fruit to Nutella and so on. They were very pleasant and not too filling. We enjoyed them a great deal!

They have a very nicely decorated dining room but not a huge amount of space. There are 3 tables and a few counter seats. Since the focus is on the bakery, most of their business is take-out so the small space isn't an issue. Even our meals were served in take-out containers which is fine. The folks that we met were very welcoming and table service was decent.  If you're new to Filipino food, this is a good place to start!

Food                  4 out of5

Comfort             4 out of 5

Service              4 out of 5

Value                 4 1/2 out of 5

Richmond Public Market

Mharie and I have had some of our best meals at Asian food courts. I'm not entirely sure why that is. Is it because food court stalls are usually small and are obliged to specialize in a few things or a particular cuisine? Or is it because they are often family-run places with few employees who are invested and know what they are doing? Is it because to survive in a food court with so much competition they have to be on top of their game? Sadly, the same is not true of the big mall food courts which are mostly chain outlets and are frequented by folk who just need to get calories and don't have high standards.

Anyway, we have decided that reviewing food courts (on a semi-regular basis) instead of just the individual outlets would be a good idea. Admittedly, there will be a good deal less detail and we are not going to try to eat at every outlet, but maybe it will bring out the adventuring spirit in those that might have previously been content with Taco Time blase eats (although I always kind of liked their crispy bean burrito). Let's start with my oldest favourite, Richmond Public Market.

Not the greatest picture of the market or the cherry blossoms but this particular Sunday, we were obsessed with both! Located at the corner of Westminster Highway and Buswell, the first floor has all the merchants to supply your weekly grocery needs as well as a number of other conveniences while the second floor is roughly half sundry merchants and half food court.

From memory, I think there are about 16 stalls at RPM many offering rice and noodles with 2 or 3 mains. Mharie got us a table and trusted me to find something that she would like.

I notices a pretty significant lineup at Lee Chong Asian Foods at one point (always a good sign) but when I was out hunting and gathering, the line had temporarily disappeared! I took advantage of the lull.

There is a pretty good selection of hot foods to choose from and Mharie loves deep-fried squid so that seemed like a good place to start. My second choice was bitter melon which lived up to its billing! This large plate of food was $12 (If I recall correctly) which is ridiculously cheap. You can be well-nourished and content for no more than that!

My stop at Jie Dao Ban was a little more confusing as our communication was entirely in gestures! I have no problem with that as we got it done. Evidently though, they specialize in Ma La Ban, a street food mix of ingredients you chose, with a spicy sauce. Unfortunately, the menu was entirely in Chinese and so I was excluded from that experience which makes me sad. Nevertheless, I came away with rice and 3 for only $13.

The colourful result was rice with tomatoes and scrambled eggs, a wonderful stewed eggplant concoction and a sweetish chicken dish. Everything was delicious. There are many stalls here that use this formula (rice or noodles with 2 or 3) which will have something to satisfy everyone. The woman who served me here indicated by gestures that 3 items for $13 dollars was a better deal than 2 for $12 and I agreed!

A few places like Hei Hei Rice Roll are a little more specialized with shorter menus (sometimes with many options). They also serve congee here but they had run out for the day! It must have been good. We know for sure that the rice roll was spectacular! This was Rice Roll with Fish Filet and we were amazed by how much tender fish was hidden in here. The rice roll itself was so delicate!

Our final taste was from relatively new kid on the block, Snail Rice Noodle King. Snail rice noodles are noodles cooked in a broth of river snails and pork bones and I'm not sure if that's what we actually had.

We ordered their Crispy Pork and Beef Rice Noodle which was full of peanuts, tofu skin, noodles, beef and pork and was quite good. We detected a taste which we concluded was intestine but it could well have been river snail...I should have asked. The taste was quite subtle and was fine. Definitely an acquired taste, I am personally not a fan of intestine but as I mentioned....subtle was OK. There are quite a few interesting items on their menu but they don't have the rice and 3 thing.

You could eat something different and delicious every day of the year at Richmond Public Market and it wouldn't even set you back that much. There is lots of seating and you should always be able to find a spot. Parking could be worse. Be patient and careful and you will be able to get free parking in their parkade. We prefer to pay a buck or two for street parking or even take the sky train and walk a couple of blocks. Take your time to decide on something good to eat but even if you just walk up to the first place you see and order, you will do OK!

We're not sure when we'll do our next food court review but stay tuned! 

Food                 4 1/2 out of 5

Service             3 1/2 out of 5

Comfort            3 1/2 out of 5

Value                5 out of 5