Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Finally got around to trying SPAGHeTEI, the Japanese take on spaghetti. It's a small space that can get quite popular. Even so, seat spacing is really quite good, and you don't get a squashed-in feeling common to many places now. Went on a Thursday night and there was just one frantic waitress on the floor. English over the phone while making my reservation was also quite poor and my reservation ended up being scrambled from 8 persons to 8pm. Best to show up in person to make a reservation unless you're speaking Japanese. Apparently you can't get a pot of tea here, but hot green tea is complimentary. Of the spaghetti I tried, each has a very different character, so if you can, go in a small group and try various types. In the end I found the taste mediocre, but bonus points for interestingness and a lunchtime happy hour when you can get their most popular spaghetti at just under $10, plus other discounts. Green Garlic Bread You get one piece per person fo...

Just got an e-mail from Mealshare today regarding their charity dining event on May 18th! Here's the blurb: I hope all is amazing on your end. Have anything new or exciting to report? I wanted to reach out and tell you about, Tonight For Tomorrow , Mealshare’s first ever fundraiser/our biggest event ever! It will be a decentralized fundraiser happening on May 18th across 12+ restaurants in Vancouver (and a bunch in Calgary). For every dollar spent on dinner that night, one dollar will be donated to Mealshare to help us grow. How amazing is that?!?! This event will have a massive impact on Mealshare and the youth we help, so I’d really LOVE your help spreading the word. Many of Vancouver's most prominent city landmarks and buildings (ie BC Place, Science World, and many more) will be light up orange in support of our big event. It will be an evening of delicious food, prizes, and impact! To help generate a buzz, we've created "The Most Delicious Petition Ever...

Bought a pack of Yves Veggie Cuisine Family Pack Veggie Burgers from Save-on-Foods on sale at $8 -- which works out to $1 per patty. Patties are acceptably moderate sized and don't shrink when heated up. Aroma of pan-heated burger is strangely like dried shrimp, flavour was sort of wheaty and like cornmeal. Texture was very good as a burger substitute, however, and was like a tender patty. Overall I would bury this under other tasty burger fillings as the patty itself isn't very tasty. If you want a tasty patty, go for something more exotic like mushroom or that is curried (like Relish, which has a really decent one) . Alternatively, Yves Veggie Cuisine does have a line of gluten-free burgers of different flavours . Note this particular product is not gluten-free. Probably last of the stock being sold in preparation for getting the new gluten-free flavours.

I'm a sucker for rotis of all kinds, so I was sort of weirdly disappointed that PappaRoti had buns and not flatbreads. But still, I went in... The space is an airy and bright cafe, including a big communal table. Quite busy with people camped out with laptops, probably taking advantage of the free WiFi (password "karaktea"). It's also quite big, and if you go deeper, there's shadier seating. Service was mixed. The counter girl manning the till was surly and maybe slightly hard of hearing. The European-looking gentleman was more professional -- and I really liked the fact that he intercepted my order of the Chocoliva topping to give me a sample first, saying that his own experience hadn't been what he expected at all. It definitely was a different flavour, so I really appreciated his concern and consideration. Karak Tea  ($3.80 small, $4.95 large)  Originating in South Asia, this specialty tea is brewed with aromatic Indian spices and herbs. Combine...

Simba's Grill  is an East African restaurant. The "African" part has a lot of mystique to it since most African restaurants are basically Ethiopian. Unfortunately, there is a very strong Indian influence to East African cuisine, so it's really hard or impossible to separate comparing them. Going in, try NOT to compare them -- you are not truly going for Indian food, so drop those expectations. If you really want Indian food, just go to an Indian restaurant. Muhogo ($8) deep fried cassava root Recommended by the server as the most distinctly African dish. We were asked if we wanted "mild, medium, or spicy". The fries were just noticeably salty when I asked for medium. They did however bring two fairly-to-really spicy sauces, a mango chili and a pili pili sauce . Overall pretty good. Not as dense as potato. Crispy and not oily. A trio of sauces is brought to your table when you order: Yogurt, coconut, tamarind. We got a yellow-coloured mango ch...

After renovations, Xu's Wonton House is now Shanghai Dimsum House. Menu looks the same. Went back with a friend today and this time I also tried the pan fried version. 1. Bayulan Steamed Mini Pork Buns ($4.95 for 5) Tasty (and slightly fatty tasting?), flavourful broth inside. 7. Shanghai Style Pan Fried Pork Buns ($5.55 for 5) The golden-brown bottom looks suspiciously deep-fried. In any case, quite crispy in parts and that it can therefore snap and cause the soup to spill out. Basically you get a fried texture and flavour to #1 for just 60 cents more. The modest cost is really good enough that you should consider it, especially for take-out. Steamed buns don't travel very well in my opinion. Depending on your appetite, one or two plates is enough for a meal, so you are looking at a mere $4.95 to $10.50 for lunch. Tasty, and great value! Counter service was pretty crappy toward my non-asian friend. The server managed to avoid eye contact for a long time even...

I really, really hate it when I have a great dish, talk it up with friends... but when I drag them there the restaurant lets me down with substandard production. Notch8 Signature Bread ($7) stout, comte cheese, mustard seed Somehow this didn't feel as fresh out of the oven as last time (was this sitting around for a while and heat lamped?) but still pretty tasty. Would definitely have been better hotter. Can my bread at least stand up straight? Losing marks for presentation here. Pull-apart chunks came free much better this time. Chunks are much more uniform. Snacks (free) Mid-way through our bread appy two generous free bowls of snacks were brought to our table. They didn't bother to start us with water until we ordered drinks and an appy. I hope this is not a sad new trend among restaurants. Neither my friend nor myself are drinkers so we went with mocktails. Sparkling Blackberry Limeade ($8) fresh lime, blackberry syrup, soda Tasted like limeade....

Back to Siddhartha's Indian Kitchen! It was a pretty spontaneous whim on the part of my friend. Luckily I had my previous blog post on Siddhartha's to remind me of what I had had before. Vegetable Pakora ($6.50) Nothing special tasting here. Price feels sort of high for what you get. Smoked Eggplant Curry ($12.50) Dish name says "smoked eggplant" but description says roasted eggplant with smoky TEXTURE. What is a "smoky texture"? Pulpy. No thin curry here. Salty. Where's my smoky aroma, flavour, or "texture"? "Naan instead" ($2) Asked for garlic butter naan instead of roti, which normally comes with curry (roti + rice). Told her if it couldn't be done, just give us an order of garlic butter naan. No buttery aroma or taste, and definitely no garlic. Hmm. My guess is they forgot to change it to garlic butter naan and just gave us regular boring naan. Mango Lemonade ($3) Description said mango mousse...

Sheesh, I didn't even know Pearl Castle Cafe existed in the Old Orchard Shopping Centre! Small space, nice and bright decor. Servers very alert tonight -- I can't even glance around to take in the room without catching their eye and having them immediately veer toward my position! Ginseng Honey Grapefruit Tea ($5.95) There's definitely ginseng inside the pot, but I can't really taste it. Quite sweet, no grapefruit bitterness. Overall tasted like a honey-citrus sort of drink. Disappointing for the lack of ginseng flavour so I can't really recommend ordering it.

Came to BierCraft (Commercial Drive) for an official Yelp social  with free appies plus one I tried to order but Yelp ended up paying for it anyway (thank you!). So, I didn't pay for anything, but I'm not obligated to BierCraft either. Overall, prices are daunting for food and portions that are just OK... BUT! -- they do have some surprising things here and there that nets them bonus points. You get bowls of popcorn dusted with... something (curry?) when you've placed your order. Chicken Wings ($13) One pound of Fraser Valley natural raised wings: Mumbai sauce with mint mango raita or hot sauce with lime cilantro crema. Picture below is NOT a typically sized order. We had shared appies, so I think they split a single order into multiple share plates across our long table. Wings dry on the inside. Overfried, I guess. Probably a fluke. Unless different plates got different things, I'm pretty sure we got the mumbai sauce on our wings since it wasn't spicy...