Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Noople Noodle & Dumpling House is at the same location as Sea House Fish & Chips, and the same owners as Sea House are actually in the kitchen still making their fish and chips. According to the new owner (who hopes to make Noople Noodle into a franchise), they are still in "soft launch" and very open to feedback. Therefore expect tweaks to continue happening. Standout features include under-$10 mains (e.g., Dan Dan noodles) and value for money with a filling amount of food, such as the Chicken Nugget and XiaoLongBao combo for $17.99). Signature Fish and Chips (2 piece, $12.50) Nothing wrong here. Crispy on the outside, didn't feel oily, tender and juicy fillet. My friend's order. He felt it was decent but not the best he's ever had. Still, a safe order at an okay price. Dan Dan Noodle ($7.99) Not sure what I was expecting here. I totally confused them with Kingyo's superb Tan Tan noodles  so I think I gave the owner incorrect feedback here. Oops. ...

I honestly don't think I've ever been to a Denny's , which seems odd because it's Canadian Owned and Operated since 1992. Maybe I just had the image it was a boring place for seniors (and they do have Thursday discounts for age 55+ seniors). First things first: ASK ABOUT THE SPECIALS. I honestly don't recall our servers mentioning the current burger offer (apparently ends late May) of buy-one-get-one-at-half-price, even when my friend ordered a burger. I only chanced to find out when the promotion screen at our table (which includes a smartphone charger) flipped to the offer. And it took a too-long time to show that offer. By then we had already put in our orders and it was too late to change. Really temped to outright fail them for this.    Dessert menu looked really overpriced and lame. Many of the menu items look great in photos but are pretty boring. That said, the items we got were mostly nicely prepared. Bourbon Bacon Burger ($19.59) My friend's order. ...

I went to Amay's House years ago and remembered it to be rather good, including a really decent roti prata with chicken curry that was just as I remembered eating them long ago in Singapore when I was still a child. They since closed and recently reopened near Joyce Skytrain Station -- basically at the busy intersection of Kingsway and Joyce, next door to the CIBC. Currently it looks terrible with the busted front door, but inside it's clean and decently maintained. Appetizers have appetizer portions and appetizer prices, but noodle mains had generous portions for price, which is not that easy to find nowadays. Great value! Burmese Style Samosas ($10 - samosas stuffed with diced potatoes, onions, traditional spices) Inside it looks like curried potatoes but the flavour is quite weak, though the subtle red onion does make itself known to impart some interestingness to the potatoes. The description doesn't say it's curried potato so they can't be faulted for not hav...

I don't normally buy dipping sauces for my chips, but this was on sale recently, so I picked it up, only to realize I didn't have tortilla chips at home. Instead we experimented a bit and found it great as a spread. It has bold flavour in even just a little bit of sauce. The next step was to try it with pasta and similar noodles, and it turned out wonderfully. The dip is already quite tasty, and we found that just a tablespoon was very generous for a bowl of pasta. But what really made this a winning pasta sauce was the sticky consistency. It might seem somewhat on the watery side, but the stickiness means that it easily coats the pasta and doesn't just drip off and end up at the bottom of your dish. Mixed well, every bite of pasta will have this delicious sauce. For a very simple meal, we boiled some pasta, mixed this sauce in, and accompanied it with some sausage chunks. We also like a bit more spicy heat, so we first put a tablespoon of this sauce on our plate and sti...

My friend introduced me to Ramen GAOH today in Burnaby near Hastings and Willingdon. Really impressed by the deliciousness and filling portion for a decent price! Some noodle orders come with an optional extra order of noodles, included in the price. Some vegan options. My friend got the Scorpion Ramen (slide 1 -- $17.50) which was a slightly lighter bowl of noodles but still a fair portion. Based on his previous visits, he suggested the Tsukemen, and we tried the fried rice, which comes with instructions at the table for what to do. Spicy Tsukemen (slides 2-3 -- $18.95) Tsukemen is house-made thick noodles in special dipping soup with pork chunks. Comes with karaage (deep fried chicken) or chashu. Noodles can be hot or cold. Spicy Tsukemen is tossed in house-made spicy sauce that contains ground pork. I didn't find the spicy sauce particularly spicy. It doesn't come pre-tossed so if you find it too spicy you could spoon it aside. Or if you already mixed it into your noodles...

Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba  has basically been my go-to for impressing out-of-town friends -- even my Japanese friend (albeit one who lives in the US) was interested in going and not disappointed. This time we even squeezed in a bit of dessert. Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($15.95) Pork Bone Broth or Chicken Broth, Spicy Minced Pork, Soft Boiled Egg, Green Onion, Garlic, Baby Corn, Dried Red Pepper, Bamboo Shoot, Bell Pepper, Kabocha, Onion, Kokoro Spicy Sauce, Thin Ramen Noodle Spicy Ramen comes with choice of chicken or pork broth; I opted for the pork broth. Deeply flavourful broth makes every bite and slurp delicious. Can't say I'm a big fan of their choice of vegetables, but the broth more than made up for it. I seem to remember only HALF an egg. Ebi Mayo ($14.45) Been a long time since I've had ebi mayo anywhere, and maybe I don't remember it well enough to compare, but this version was terrible. It did feel like they were freshly prepared and still slightly hot. You can see...

Siam Le Bien Thai Cuisine  has really decent food as well as several levels of "spicy" heat. If you like spicy food to actually be spicy, and find "hot" to mostly be feeble, then give their "Thai Hot" or even "Thai Super Hot" a try. Price is more or less on par with everyone else, and combined with either a bowl of rice or noodle, each plate works out to quite a filling meal. 35. Pad Ka Pao Moo Grob ($18.50) Stir-fried spicy crispy pork belly, bell peppers, green beans, fresh chili, garlic, Thai basil The pork belly looked like it should have good crunch but of course the crispiness of the skin won't last in the generous amount of sauce. I opted for "Thai Hot" and the dish on its own would have been really quite spicy, but this was dulled considerably when I started mixing in the noodle. So overall, it was just what I was looking for: Actually spicy hot but also not relentlessly spicy and I could just pick at the dish without the n...

I tried their "Roti Prata with Curry Chicken" special meal ($13.75). What they served was some kind of roti, but it certainly wasn't Malaysian style roti. In fact, the roti looked suspiciously like supposedly  Indian style roti you can get raw in the frozen food section of Superstore . You can sit pretty much anywhere in Crystal Mall while waiting for your order because they give you a beeper that sounds an alarm when your order is ready.

Just a quick update here on Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba . I still recommend the place for all the same reasons, but I don't recommend the Cheese Mazesoba. Went again for lunch with another friend, and I thought I'd try something different-weird. And cheese mazesoba sounded pretty weird. Except it wasn't. They certainly did not skimp on the cheese, that wasn't an issue. And when you see the picture or the bowl that's brought to you, you don't see any cheese at all. That's because the cheese is already pre-mixed into the noodles beneath, and you can see it very clearly in white stickiness all over the noodles. No skimping there. The big problem though is there simply wasn't enough cheese flavour. If you isolate the noodles you can faintly taste some cheese. Whatever they are using just isn't a very strong cheese. Which for me was not just a let-down but felt really pointless. Why have an ingredient that you're barely going to be able to taste and that...

Brought my out-of-town friend to  Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba  and it was good! My phone was on the fritz so these pictures are from my friend's phone which captures superior pictures. They have various offerings other than mazesoba , but of course this is what they are famous for. What you get basically looks just like the pictures on the online menu. Unlike fast food burgers, what you see really is what you get. The concept is simple - lots of ingredients you mix into noodles and eat. That's it. The ingredients and sticky sauce make them all gum together so every bite of noodle has some of the ingredients. Price point is decent especially considering not just the portion you get but the amount of toppings you get compared to noodles. And in addition to noodles, you can get about one cup of rice toward the end (at no additional charge) to mix into your bowl, to get at every last bit of food and sauce. Some have chili ratings, but even at two-chilies it wasn't particularly spi...

My friend re-visiting Vancouver after many years was reminded of Japadog so we stopped by the outlet at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet -- which you can skytrain to for free from YVR airport . Just get out on the correct side of the station. Otherwise you might be confused by the map inside the station. After some agonized selection (we figured we could only try two between the two of us), she settled on the Menchikatsu Dog and the not-shown-on-the-website Okonomi. Together they came to $22.24 after tax. It was interesting to get my friend's take on the Japadogs because she's Japanese. For starters, she recommended eating the Okonomi first, because she estimated it would have a subtler flavour than the Menchikatsu Dog. Okonomi Dog Inspired by the Japanese okonomiyaki pancake, what you think of this Japadog will probably depend on your idea of what an okonomiyaki should contain. If you start with a blank slate about this, then this Japadog will simply be special for having...

My friend treated me to lunch and All About Pho was her choice. It was the first time for both of us, and for me it was also the first time basically since Covid was a big deal that I'd gone out for lunch. I'm tempted to say the price for portion is terrible, but sadly this is what you can expect nowadays, so it is probably hovering around average. My order of regular sized Vegetarian Pho was definitely not a filling meal except that it had a lot of soup. 41. Grilled shrimp & grilled chicken on vermicelli / Bún tôm gà nướng ($15.50) Slides 1 & 2 This was my friend's order and she was very happy with the chicken and the plate overall, enough to want to come back. I'm currently on a no-shellfish low-meat diet because of my gout, so I declined to give it a taste. 62. Vegetarian Phở - served with rice noodle, bean sprout, basil, lemon & pepper, tofu, vegetarian ham,  baby corn, veggie, carrot ($12.50 Large: $13.50) Slides 3 & 4 Where's my baby corn? F...

Using the InstantPot, I've been making easy "cheesy rice pie" side dishes. The process is what's important here, so adjust to taste. Two cups rice, four cups water This will depend on the ratio that come with your rice instructions. I use a parboiled rice that indicates a 1:2 rice-to-water ratio so that's what I use. For a 8-quart InstantPot, the thickness of the rice "slices" will be around 1.5 inches. Adjust the rice for desired thickness. One teaspoon salt This is optional. If you are going to eat it mostly straight instead of a side dish, you probably want to flavour the rice a bit. If you are going to use a lot more cheese, you can probably leave this out. Cook the rice normally in the InstantPot. When the rice is done, release the steam safely with the valve and while the rice is still steaming hot, add: A layer of cheese on top. I like to use a flavourful cheese that melts easily, such as one that already has herbs or other flavouring mixed in. If...

  Here's an easy method for making simple, convenient, low-to-no mess handheld tortilla "pouches" with very few resources. I like it because I'm lazy. Here are the advantages: No oil needed in the pan to brown the tortilla. If you don't let the fillings touch the pan either and carefully keep them all on the tortilla, your frying pan doesn't need to be cleaned at all. If you are careful folding and eating it, you won't make a mess (so don't over-fill this pouch). What's needed: You just need one or two tortilla shells, such as the cheap 10-packs from Superstore that sometimes go on sale for $5 for two packs. And you need some fillings. I used cheap marble cheese and some cherry sauce but you can put pretty much whatever you like. Be careful not to get all excited and overfill, or it will definitely spill and ooze out, and probably scald you because it'll retain heat very well. Notice I left the center empty as a reservoir space (slide 2). This...

For budget eats, I have found that the baked-in-store bagels from Superstore are the biggest compared to other supermarkets. The prepackaged 6-packs are basically always $3.50 IF you buy TWO at a time. The other types of bagels at Superstore -- also priced the same -- seem a bit smaller or less dense. So if you are squeezing the maximum bang for your buck in terms of a quick, filling, meal I recommend the Always Everything Bagels. Superstore versus Walmart This works out to 60 cents per bagel, and you can certainly get even cheaper bagels at Walmart, coming in at 50 cents per bagel. However, I found Superstore bagels to be fresher and look bigger -- and the biggest-of-the-big seem to be their "Always Everything" bagels topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and roasted onion. That said, we actually weighed a 6-pack of bagels from SuperStore versus a 4-pack of bagels from Walmart and the average weight per "Always Everything" bagel was basically the same. It's no...

My friend surprised me by taking me out for lunch and he randomly picked Lunch Lady -- apparently a place with quite the interesting story of being discovered by TV in Vietnam. We were in there about half an hour after it opened and it was pretty packed. Parking isn't that easy to find either. I'm supposed to avoid shellfish, so I missed out on the daily special soup noodles and went with a server recommendation for a no-shellfish lunch. I could have gone with a vegan option but it seemed every other word was tofu so I went with their version of ham-and-eggs. Even though it had beef and I'm supposed to avoid red meat too... Extra fries for $4? Extra bread for $3? This place is not cheap. BÒ NÉ ($18) Marinated filet of beef, 2 fried free range eggs, sautéed onions, house-made pâté, laughing cow cheese, french fries on a sizzling skillet, bánh mì. Extra Bánh mì +$3, extra Fries +$4 Basic and satisfying. Nothing too fancy here but things don't have to be fancy to be de...

Unfortunately this will be another "what not to order" type review -- which of course comes with the caveat that every restaurant will probably have a flop and you should not consider it indicative of the rest of the menu. Just be wary of ordering this particular thing. Sriracha Lime Chicken Wrap ($10 on lunch specials menu; comes with simple salad or fries, or salad upgrade) First of all sriracha to me means spicy. The "spiciness" here is a very faint buzz in the mouth. Where's my lime? Didn't really detect anything lime-flavoured. Maybe it was in the sauce (?) which was suspiciously like some kind of creamy salad dressing you can get in the supermarket. Ranch maybe? Chopped up chicken -- not technically bad, but it does make it hard to estimate just how much chicken you are getting. I did open up one half the wrap so you can look at the picture and decide for yourself. We specifically asked that the fries be crispy, and they delivered. Really, really, ...

Small bright space open for lunch and dinner with a bit of a break in between. Get ready before you go in: Menu is accessed from a QR code available at each table. If you don't have data, you can probably connect to the free Wifi provided by the City of Vancouver. Pay attention to the menu! It tells you about the complimentary tea (it smells a bit like coffee but it's made from beans) and the bowl (it's not as deep as it looks). Premium Bowl ($18.95 + $5 for cold tofu) Conger Eel, Shrimp, Kakiage (mixed seafood tempura), Soft Boiled Egg, Seaweed, Green Bean For $5 even though it's got fancy stuff on it I'd pass on the cold tofu next time. Nothing really special there. Tempura came hot but it's not going to stay hot. Neither will the rice, special bowl or not. Tempura wasn't particularly crispy probably because of not just the rice which was probably more than room temperature at some point, but also because they pre-drizzle their special sauce on the te...

Back to Red Robin! Again! This time for my friend's birthday. She's got a soft spot for Red Robin even though her last burger on my birthday burger outing wasn't that great. In fact she said her cheeseburger this time was strangely very salty but because it was a free birthday burger, she didn't say anything about it at all. This time since I wasn't choosing a birthday burger, I decided to order Fish and Chips. Yeah, who goes to Red Robin for fish and chips right?  But that's why I ordered it. For science! Arctic Cod Fish & Chips ($15.99) Premium hand-battered cod fillets, fried to crispy perfection, with our Bottomless Steak Fries. Served with Dill'd & Pickl'd tartar sauce. Terrible. Do not order this. Price for fish portion is atrocious plus it's pretty basic. A bit overcooked so it came out on the dry side, sadly. Came piping hot and definitely nicely crunchy-crispy on the outside. There was some issue with their usual tempura batte...

Normally I'm nowhere near Port Moody but I was hanging out with a friend today and we wandered there. Very spacious on the inside, especially now that Covid has forced restaurants to space people out. Very generous spacing between tables. There's the usual bewildering array of Chinese restaurant staples in their menu but also a "Chef's Special Recommendations". Any two items on the list plus rice, daily soup, and daily dessert, for $42.95. So this would work out to over $20 per person, but you're likely to end up with one or two meals worth of takeout so it's actually closer to $10 per person. So whatever you think of the food quality, price for portion is definitely not lacking. Daily Soup (included in price of Chef's Daily Recommendations) Honestly this looks like stray bits too small to use and just tossed into a pot to brew until the soup is flavourful. It's okay, although the chunks of corn are awkward to eat. It will NOT be doggy bagged. I...