Tasting & BBQ Patio Party @ Dockside Restaurant

A while back, I was invited to Dockside Restaurant for a tasting to try out some food from the new executive chef at Dockside, Simon McNeil. Since I also got some tickets to a BBQ patio party at Dockside for Vancouver Craft Beer Week, I thought I might as well just make one huge post.

Something that I didn't realize at first, was that Dockside Restaurant brews their own beer -- and a lot of it.  We got a quick tour of the facilities and that was pretty cool.  They actually offer weekly tours as well now, so if you're into beer, you should go check it out.  We got to taste a lot of the beers, from ales to ipas to stouts as well.

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Ribs & Steak @ Save On Meats

Although I have been to Save on Meats before, I didn't bring my camera that time and felt that the photos were way to ugly to warrant a post.  Especially with the neon piggies and dollar signs that shine so bright and beautifully.

Not the best shot below because I was carrying a butt-load of stuff, but it's still better than what my phone can do.

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Deep Fried Cheesecake & Rice Cakes @ Richmond Night Market

Summer is here! And that means it's time to be disgusting and have a lot of unhealthy and greasy food at the night market.  Well this year, as you may know, there are two night markets in Richmond.  The Summer Night Market (behind Home Depot) and the Richmond Night Market, near River Rock Casino.  The Richmond Night Market prides itself in being "the original night market" until the Summer Night Market took over the lot a few years back.  

Do you recognize this from the old night market?

The Richmond Night Market charges $1 admission -- I think this means that they have another revenue stream and they're able to charge a lower rate to vendors, which explains the much larger number of vendors compared to the Summer Night Market.

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Box Roll & Eggplant @ Toshi Sushi

After watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I had the worst sushi craving ever.  Those images of perfect nigiri sushi were so engrained in my mind! Andy felt like sushi too, so we hit up the famous Toshi Sushi near Main Street.

The neverending waiting list.

Since we went on a Friday evening at around 7pm or so, the wait was quite long... in fact, we waited for an hour and a half or so.  We were a bit scared to leave and come back, so we passed the time dubbing voices for patrons.  Something interesting was that they had a little saucer of salt outside the store.  I've never seen this before, but I remembered it from The Japanese Tradition (which is absolutely hilarious and you should watch them all).

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Cutlet & Teriyaki @ 4 Stones Vegetarian Cuisine 雅室友素食

I've eaten "true" Chinese vegetarian cuisine maybe once or twice in my life... that one time was at the monastery Big Buddha in Hong Kong where we ate several vegetarian dishes that were quite bland and tofu based.  Aside from that, the closest thing to the "imitation meat" vegetarian cuisine I've had would be the flavoured gluten they used to sell at T&T in Richmond.  This time we gave 4 Stones Vegetarian Cuisine a try.

The first dish -- the fried eggplant and tofu ($14.99) was the best. It was quite flavourful and felt just like the rest thing stir fried with meat, but instead stir fried with bean curd. As we ate more though, the bottom revealed a large pool of oil. Was that going in our stomachs? Kinda disgusting.

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Spoons & Froyo @ Menchie's Frozen Yogurt

After the not-so-good experience at Sha Lin, even though I was practically going to explode with food, we went to Menchie's since I've wanted to try it for a while and it was right nearby!

Menchie's is another froyo chain hailing from the States, similar to Pinkberry.  The marketing is a bit amazing and slightly overwhelming.  I felt a bit old being there, especially when there was a wall with photos of celebs (such as Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, like amagad) that had visited Menchie's. Compared to Pinkberry though, Menchie's operates on a self-serve system where you can choose your own froyo and toppings and pay by weight.

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Knife Shaved Noodles & MSG @ Sha Lin Noodle House

After an event at another restaurant, although I was quite full, Kevin convinced me to go try out Sha Lin Noodle House with him.  It was really the knife shaved noodles (or dao xiao mian) that convinced me to go, since I loved the ones from Lucky Gate last time.

Located a few stores down from the very well-known Peaceful Restaurant, it was actually quite packed and we waited a while for a table.  Not sure if it was because of the excess people that couldn't wait in line for Peaceful though.  There was also a window where chefs were pulling noodles and shaving noodles. I was so excited for the shaved noodles!

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Sponge Cake & Rice Rolls @ Kirin Seafood Restaurant (Starlight Casino)

Originally I had intended to go for Starlight Casino's $6.99 pasta lunch with my family (since we were in the area), but since my grandfather refused to have something non-Asian, we ended up going to Kirin Seafood Restaurant for dim sum instead. It's been a long time since I've gone to Kirin because the wait-time at the Richmond Centre one is ridiculous.

I actually wasn't going to even bother writing a post since I didn't have my camera on hand, but this dim sum dish alone convinced me to: the fish paste and bean curd rice roll (~$4.98). This is probably one of the places that does this the best, though I recall Sea Harbour Restaurant having a fairly solid one as well. And Dragon View can't even compare. The fish paste here, which isn't filled with other stuff like water chestnut, is wrapped in bean curd sheet and fried before rewrapped in rice roll and steamed. Really good here and comparably cheap compared to the other dim sum dishes.

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Plates & Tulips @ Accord Food House 一心麵典

After a failed attempt to try Xu's Wonton House in Crystal Mall, I headed across the street to try out another place that I've wanted to go to for a long time: Accord Food House.

Looking at the house numbers, I realize that I had arrived but I had to look around before I was sure.  Indeed, I was at the right place but the exterior seemed a bit iffy.  It wasn't going to open for another 15 minutes at 12pm, so I walked to the nearby Staples to loiter rather than hanging around outside.

Upon walking in, I realized it is actually really quaint and cozy inside! And I mean really cute. I can't think of another restaurant with a batch of tulips in a vase and porcelain and frames on the wall, something you would totally not expect from the exterior.  It also smells really delicious inside, probably from the beef noodle broths and shanks boiling!

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Since I already had the more standard Taiwanese beef noodle a week or so prior at Sunway, I ordered the a different variation: the tomato flavoured stewed beef noodle (蕃茄牛肉麵, $8.95).  Although when it came it smelled really strong of star anise, the soup was a bit weaker in comparison, but still quite delicious.  Combined with the tomato, the soup overall was quite good.

The highlight for me was the beef shank though! I think this was the only time that I've had Taiwanese beef noodle where I could taste a strong and rich flavour from the shank.  I can taste it in my mouth right now.  It kind of has a buttery savoury taste to it and it was not tough at all!

Compared to cha chaan tengs, this wasn't that cheap of a meal, but it was delicious and filling.  The tomato soup, although fragrant, was not as strong as that of Sunway's, but I definitely like the beef here a lot more.  

Accord Food House 一心麵典
4611 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
(604) 435-5777

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Shio & Shoyu @ G-Men / Ramen Izakaya at NanChuu 南廚

After an unsuccessful attempt at going to Crawfish King (since it's only open at night), Kirby, Krispybites, and myself headed across the street to NanChuu.  It has been on my wishlist for a while, but since it's never open for lunch and Alexandra is sort of a pain, I never bothered trying it.  After G-Men closed and merged with NanChuu, they have started serving lunch as well.

Not really sure why there was some Tokyo Tower merchandise, but it was cute.

After the merger, they serve primarily only ramen during lunch.  There's a sign teaching "how to enjoy ramen", and I realize that it was pretty close to what I actually do because I usually taste a bit of the soup and noodles without seasoning before adding garlic.

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Beef Dip & Lemongrass Chicken @ DD Mau

Before we headed to a restaurant opening in the area, Kevin and I hit up DD Mau, a fairly new banh mi specialty shop in Yaletown.

 

The shop itself isn't too small but it's really cute! The store is kind of like Subway where they build the sandwich right in front of you.  There were quite a few fruit flies floating around though, and that was a bit unappetizing.

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Oyster Pancake & Ba Wan @ Sunway Restaurant & Super Wok

No, that's not a typo. Sunway Restaurant is a Taiwanese restaurant in Richmond's Empire Centre (that's the mall next to Parker Place).  In Chinese, it's called 三味食堂 which actually sounds like "Sunway" when spoken in Mandarin.

After several recommendations while on the hunt for Taiwanese beef noodle, I gave Sunway Restaurant a try.  Being a fairly tiny restaurant, the place was packed when I went in for lunch on a Sunday afternoon.  It wasn't until 20 minutes until the first dish arrived though, which we were disappointed in.

We ordered the deluxe beef noodle soup ($8.50) to share; originally we were going to go for the plain Taiwanese beef noodle, but this one was a recommended item! Instead of just the typical beef shank, this had some different parts too, like stomach and tendon.  The stomach and shank were alright, but I thought the tendon was quite soft.  The soup was quite flavourful with lots of star anise.  It did get a bit saltier as I ate though.

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Congee & Rice Rolls @ Tai Hing Congee and Noodle House 大興粥麵之家

Ahhh... Tai Hing.  This congee and noodle house has been here since the beginning of time.  Coming back here brings back two awful memories: Sunday mornings here before math class next door and coming here when I was sick, since congee is supposed to be a magical healing food.

That day, everyone in the house woke up pretty late (#604lateriser much?) and we weren't feeling that hungry.   Even though they do serve noodles, most people there get "their special", combos that include a congee and a choice of noodle.

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