Ned had been telling me about his in-laws’ Lebanese restaurant for quite a while now but it was difficult to find a time when we were both free to go there for lunch. With a little bit of pre-planning, we were able to find a time that worked for us and Matt was able to come along too. Golden Pita is located in a small plaza adjacent to Lougheed Mall in Burnaby.

I was a bit wary about what would happen if I didn’t like the food at Golden Pita but Ned assured me that I was free to say whatever I wanted. He offered to order the food for us so there are a few items that I’m not too sure as to what they were called.

First came the fattoush salad, which came with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and onions. What I really liked about this salad was the toasted pita chips which added a nice crunch and additional texture to the salad. I also quite enjoyed the tangy dressing, which appeared to be lemon juice, olive oil, and sumac.

Next came one of my favourite dishes that day, the chicken with rice. Golden Pita has different lunch specials each day and luckily for us, the daily special when we arrived was this dish. The chicken was very tender and had a savoury cinnamon spice mix. Contrasting the chicken was a generous mound of toasted cashews and pistachios, which I think made this dish the hit it was.

We also had an assortment of stuffed grape leaves and mini spinach pies. I’m not a huge fan of stuffed grape leaves but these tasted similar to other ones that I’ve had before. The spinach pies were crispy on the outside but were full of spinach-y flavour on the inside. I enjoyed dipping the pies in the accompanying tzatziki sauce.

I also really liked the freshly made falafel balls, which were nice and crispy on the outside. I could only imagine how good these would be in a wrap. Guess it’s something I will need to try the next time I’m back.

As you can imagine, we were starting to get pretty full at this point. We were presented with another plate of nibbles, including mini meat pies and chicken wow pies. The meat pies (at the top of the photo below) were coated with a layer of what seemed to be similar to the falafels and inside was ground beef in a mixture of spices. I liked the chicken wow pies a lot, which had a mixture of spices that I’m not really familiar with, but went really well with the moist chicken stuffing.

We were finally near the end of our epic lunch and were presented with some baklava. This kind was made with pistachios and I liked how it wasn’t overly sweet. The phyllo was very crispy and had only a light drizzling of syrup, which I liked.

Our Turkish coffee went well with the baklava and I liked how it came unsweetened so we could add as much (or little) sugar as we wanted. It was very strong but it was a great way to cap off a terrific lunch with some sweet baklava bites.

The three of us had a great time at Golden Pita. Since I don’t normally venture too far into Burnaby, it was nice to know of a great eating option the next time I am in the area. I’ll definitely be back to eat some of my favourites from this meal as well as to try some new items as well!

Details:
9630 Cameron Street, Burnaby
Tel: 604-444-5855

Summary:
Food: 4 out of 5 stars
Service: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $

As I have said many times before, I am not a huge fan of chain restaurants like Earl’s, Milestones, or Cactus Club. I just find the prices too high to justify the type of food I’m eating. Perhaps I am dating myself but I remember a time when the prices at these places were much more reasonable.

I don’t always get to choose where our eating outings are though and someone arranged for a recognition dinner at Earl’s on Kingsway after we finished a major milestone in one of the projects I’m on at work.

I actually like the clam chowder at Earl’s quite a bit. It has been on the menu for quite a while and comes with baby clams, veggies, and bacon. The bacon makes the clam chowder really flavourful and I definitely tasted it much more than the clams themselves. The chowder is quite creamy so it can be very filling.

For my entree, I chose the pecan chicken maple spinach salad. There were a few candied pecans in my salad and although the salad was also supposed to be maple-based, I couldn’t taste the maple flavour at all. My chicken breast was also supposedly crusted with porcini mushrooms but it was so over-fried that I couldn’t taste any hint of mushroom flavour. For $15, I definitely expected a lot more. The flavours in this salad just did not seem to go together even though it had several of my favourite things in it, including mushrooms, bacon, and brie cheese.

Due to a mix-up where someone thought it was my birthday, I was also present with a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. The dessert was quite large and since I wasn’t expecting to have dessert, I ended up sharing this with two other people. The chocolate cake had a lot of chocolate flavour but was too sweet for my taste.

Overall, the food at Earl’s was ok but I still stand by my opinion that the food is overpriced and you just don’t get the value when compared to some independently owned restaurants out there. My meal here cost about $30 not including drinks and for that price, I can definitely find another place where the food tastes much better (at least to me). However, if you’re trying to find a place that suits a large variety of tastes and has a nice environment to hang out in, this is not a bad option.

Details:
4361 Kingsway, Burnaby
Tel: 604-432-7329

Summary:
Food: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

Note from Gigi: Samantha had asked me if I was interested in doing a review on the KFC Double Down a few weeks ago but I’m currently trying not to eat any fried food until Christmas so I declined. Samantha thought that doing a post on the Double Down would be so worthwhile to do that she enlisted Julio to take one for the team and give the Double Down a try! So Samantha and Julio…on my behalf and that of Ho Yummy’s readers: Thanks!

Note that this monstrosity is only available until Nov 14 in Canada so if you want to try it out, you better hurry!

———————————————

Hi Everyone, I’m Julio, Samantha’s husband, here to write a guest post!

Four months ago an American colleague informed me that in the southern United States, KFC released a sandwich that no one should eat without a defibrillator nearby.  The sandwich is called the Double Down, and according to the KFC website, has 560 Calories, 32g of fat and 1300 mg of sodium which is approximately half of the recommended daily intake of fat and sodium based on a 2000 calories daily intake. When KFC Canada announced that the Double Down would be available in Canada for a limited time, naturally I had to try it.  For my own safety I enlisted the help of a group of coworkers with first aid experience.  Interestingly, the general sentiment of the group was that hopefully the sandwich would not be good so that there would be no follow-up cravings.

It seems the publicity hype surrounding the sandwich has worked, as nearly every customer in the place was there to try the Double Down.

Let’s dissect the components:

Two pieces of skinless chicken breast breaded in the Colonel’s original recipe, two slices of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese, and a piece of thinly sliced bacon,  all seasoned with some chipotle mayo. The cost of a KFC Double Down meal is $10.10 with fries and a drink.

Out of the group of taste testers:

First comment: “It’s a lot smaller then I thought it would be.”

Second comment after tasting it: “It is very salty.”

Comment after eating the sandwich: “When will they bring out the extra crispy and hot and spicy versions?”

Although the sandwich was tasty, the excessive salt and price would discourage me from repeating the experience. Although the 1300mg of sodium should have served as proper warning, it was still surprising just how evident the salty taste was.  It would appear that they tried to offset this with the addition of a little spice in the chipotle mayo and Pepper Jack cheese, however the heat was so low, I would have gotten frostbite if it wasn’t for all that salt.

When Victoria first introduced me to Chez Meme Baguette Bistro, she described to me a fantastic sandwich place that served some of the tastiest French-style sandwiches she’d had…at least on this side of the Atlantic. I was tempted to join her for lunch that very day so we could make the visit out to Chez Meme but unfortunately, I was busy. Instead, I decided to go a few days later with Chris, who happened to be in town visiting. Chris is usually game for many of my restaurant suggestions so off we went.

Chez Meme had a small but tasty looking menu. They serve several brunch items and although they looked interesting enough, I was there for the sandwiches. After checking out the sandwiches ordered by the people sitting around us, we decided to order two and split so we could get some variety. First up was the boeuf bourguinon baguette, which was basically beef short rib slowly braised in what I suspect was red wine, a variety of herbs, and much more. The baguette seemed to be freshly baked and was crispy on the outside and light and airy. It was the perfect vessel for a simple filling of beef and caramelized onions. It was a bit heavy (especially for lunch) but I have to say that I enjoyed every single bite.

Our second choice of sandwich was the Nordique, which had generous layers of smoked salmon with cucumbers and a generous spread of dill cream cheese. This was more west coast than French but I thoroughly enjoyed this sandwich as well. It was less heavy than the boeuf bourguinon and tasted very fresh. The cucumbers provided the requisite crunch and the cream cheese was packed full of dill flavour.

I should note that the baguettes all come with your choice of soup, salad, or fries. Chris and I both decided to go for the green salad with dijon vinaigrette which turned out to be quite good as well. The salad portion was actually quite large and the vinaigrette had a nice combo of dijon with some tanginess from some white wine vinegar. It was simple but oh so tasty.

Although I wouldn’t say that the baguettes at Chez Meme are necessarily the type you would find in your typical Parisien bistro, they tasted great and were full of fresh ingredients. I would definitely say that they retained a certain French flavour to them. I went back another day with Jenkins and tried the From’ton, which was made with brie, warm pears, and walnuts. If you are a cheese fan, this would be your thing.

Details:
4016 Hastings Street, Burnaby
Tel: 604-299-1141
Note: They are only open Monday to Fridays and the second Saturday of each month

Summary:
Food: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $

When Victoria told me that Fujiya operated a home-style Japanese restaurant in a retirement home, I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not. Jenkins and I like going to the Fujiya at Clarke and Venables to stock up on hard-to-find ingredients for Japanese/Asian dishes. Victoria told me that although it sounded a bit bizarre, the food at Hi Genki was actually quite tasty and is supplied to the Nikkei Heritage Centre and the adjoining retirement home by Fujiya. I recruited Alison and Mabel to come along with me and it turned out to be a good thing because Hi Genki was a bit difficult to locate.

After we parked, we spotted this helpful sign so we knew we were at the right place.

We arrived just before noon so we had no trouble getting a table right away. Hi Genki seems to have different specials each day, which are all displayed right at the entrance to the eating area so we checked them out on our way to our table. Despite its location by the retirement home, there was a 50/50 mix of seniors to non-seniors.

My order came with some miso soup, which was pretty standard tasting.

I ordered a box lunch with flaked tuna cooked in sake and soy sauce. The tuna was simply prepared and went very well with rice. In a way, it almost reminded me of canned tuna but tastier. The box was also stuffed with some veggies, marinated wakame (seaweed), and a potato croquette. The croquette was lightly coated with panko and fried to a delicate crispiness. I enjoyed this little lunch box quite a bit.

Both Mabel and Alison decided to go with the yakitori don. It was a perfect size for lunch and was quite cheap at around $5.50 or so. The chicken was very juicy and the onions and fresh salad greens provided a slight crunch. I would consider getting this the next time I’m at Hi Genki.

By the time we left to go back to work, it was just before 1:00PM and the restaurant was quite full. Evidently, we were not the only ones who knew about this little retirement home secret.

Details:
6680 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby
Tel: 604-777-0533

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $

Over the weekend, I attended a food blogger dinner organized by Sherman of Sherman’s Food Adventures. It was only my second time attending an event such as this and I had the opportunity to meet other bloggers in the Vancouver area, including Kevin from 604 Foodtography, Jessica and her boyfriend from Yum-O-Rama, Kim from I’m Only Here for the Food, Wilson from La Petite Vancouver, Christina and ET from Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken, Andrea from the Best Damn Food Blog There Is, and TS from the Eating Club. It was nice to see the face behind the blogs and even better that we got to do so over a meal at Alvin Garden in Burnaby. Alvin Garden is a Chinese restaurant that features food from the Hunan/Xiang region (near Szechuan). I’ve never had Hunan food before so it was quite a good thing that Kim suggested this place. The picture below was taken by Kim because I was too afraid of getting wet to venture across the street in the rain.

Each “blog” got to choose a dish and because all the ordering was coordinated via Sherman and Viv, I’m not too sure what was ordered. I have access to the menu though so I’ll try to give my best guess although you other bloggers who attended can feel free to correct my mistakes in the comments.

The food came pretty much all at once and before long, our large table was filled with several, mostly spicy dishes. Jenkins and I deliberated quite a while on what our contribution would be and finally decided on the pan fried spicy chicken, which was noted as a Xiang Special. Despite the abundance of chili peppers, I did not find this to be too spicy and the crispy chicken went really well with rice. Jenkins’ only complaint was the pieces of chicken were cut too small to be truly satisfying.

The Hunan-style braised pork was not too fatty, despite it being made with pork belly. The sauce was a bit on the salty side though so this is best eaten with rice.

The braised duck came in a curry-like sauce but was not spicy at all, in my opinion. The pieces of duck were cut quite small (similar to the pan fried spicy chicken) so we weren’t sure what the meat was in the dish initially. I found the duck to be overcooked and dry despite it coming in a stew-like format.

I enjoyed the Dongting broiled fish in chili soup although I had no idea that there was fish at the bottom of this bowl at first. There were quite a few chilis in this soup but not overwelmingly so.

The moist and flaky fish went very well with the bean sprouts in the soup and tasted great with a bit of rice.

The spicy Ma Po tofu was another dish that is best eaten with rice. The ratio of ground pork to tofu was just right for me and I found this quite a bit spicier than most versions I’ve had, which I really liked.

To temper all the spicy food we ordered, someone also ordered a pot of the daily soup. The simple flavours of this soup tasted very homey and included tofu, pork, corn, and carrots.

I felt that the green beans with pork were too oily for my liking and the meat was a bit on the salty side. The beans were nice and crunchy though and I suppose if you ate it with enough rice, the saltiness wouldn’t have been too bad.

The pork belly with peppers was ok but I felt that this was much oiler than the braised pork belly we had earlier.

The steamed egg with minced pork tasted exactly like the version that Jenkins’ mom makes. It’s best eaten with rice and was a nice change of pace from the many spicy dishes we had that evening.

I found this steamed fish head with chilis surprisingly salty and the several small bones decreased my eating pleasure. Despite the bones, I think I would enjoyed this dish quite a bit more if it wasn’t so salty.

These fried pumpkin cakes had a chewy consistency similar to mochi and its slight sweetness made it more of a dessert item than something you would eat for your main course. I also enjoyed the crispy outside and was a bit dismayed that I had to share mine with Jenkins.

These steamed corn cakes were the biggest bust of the evening. They were surprisingly hard and dry even though they were steamed. There was also no flavour to them whatsoever so someone suggested that maybe they were supposed to be eaten with some kind of sauce.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the unique dishes at Alvin Garden. It was great that we went with such a large group because we were able to sample quite a few dishes and now I know what to order the next time I’m there. Service was pretty prompt and by the time we left the restaurant at around 7:30PM, all the tables were full. The prices were also very reasonable. All the dishes we ordered worked out to $16/person at the end of the evening.

Thanks Sherman for organizing this fun event. Looking forward to attending the next one.

To read what the other bloggers thought of the dinner, click on the links below:
Sherman’s Food Adventures
I’m Only Here for the Food
La Petite Vancouver
604 Foodtography
The Best Damn Food Blog There Is
Yum-O-Rama

Details:
4850 Imperial Street, Burnaby
Tel: 604-437-0828

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

Even though I occasionally work in Burnaby really close to Chris’s office, we hadn’t met up for lunch in quite a long time. We finally got our acts together and decided to meet up for lunch one day around E. Hastings and Willingdon in Burnaby. I always need to get my fill of sushi so Chris suggested going to Toyotomi. Here’s a photo of the front that I remembered to snap as we were driving away:

Toyotomi always has a couple of items on special each day where certain dishes are featured for around half price. Always in search of a good deal, we decided to order both the specials for that day. Note that lunch specials are available to dine-in customers only. First up was the Pink Lady Roll for $2.99. The roll seemed to be slightly smaller than a regular roll but turned out to be quite tasty. The roll had salmon wrapped around the outside and was generously sprinkled with green onions, tobiko, and a bit of mayo.

Our second order was the Monkfish Maki on special for $2.03. Both Chris and I were confused when the “Maki” turned out to be a spring roll with with monkfish roe in the middle. It was drizzled with a vinegar sauce. We found this to be too oily and could not really taste the monkfish roe stuffing.

The salmon sashimi was very fresh and sliced quite generously. I think this was one of the best items we had for lunch that day.

Both Chris and I were quite hungry that day, as evidenced by the large number of rolls and other items that we ordered. I don’t remember the name of the following special roll but I do remember the rice to be quite undercooked. The components that made up this roll (imitation crab, avocado, spicy tuna, tobiko, and tempura bits) were all very tasty and went well together but I found it hard to get over the almost crunchy, undercooked rice.

The remainder of our rolls all had the same undercooked rice affliction. The spicy tuna in the spicy tuna roll was slightly sweet and just spicy enough for my liking but the rice was almost as crunchy as the tempura bits sprinkled on top.

The California roll also should have been tasty but again, I found it hard to get over the undercooked rice.

I was a bit disappointed with my lunch at Toyotomi. Chris had been there a few times previously and had enjoyed it quite a bit so I’m not sure if our visit this time around is indicative of their usual quality. Rice makes up such a big component of sushi (obviously!) so even though the filling was well done, poorly prepared rice can easily overshadow the filling that’s used. Toyotomi seems to be highly rated on sites like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and some other sites so I may give it a try sometime, but for now, I’m really in no rush.

Details:
4121 E. Hastings Street, Burnaby
Tel: 604-676-1506

Summary:
Food: 2 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

It was Gene’s birthday and he decided that our team should celebrate at Anton’s Pasta Bar in Burnaby.  For those of you who haven’t tried the Anton’s experience, it’s a pasta place that is well known for its extremely large portions.  I’m not sure if it is still the case these days, but they used to have a promotion going that if you could finish an entire dinner size pasta entree by yourself, you would be the proud owner of an Anton’s ballpoint pen.  Personally, I didn’t see how this would motivate someone to eat so much pasta in one seating but I knew many people who saw this as a personal challenge. 

I was a bit wary of eating even a lunch-sized portion of pasta for lunch since I had to go back to work afterwards so I decided to try one of their salads.  I went for the spinach salad because they used a vinaigrette dressing instead of a creamy one.  Even the salads at Anton’s come in large and small sizes.  Since I was only planning to eat salad for lunch, I thought I should go for the large size but our server advised us that small would be more than enough.  Even though my salad just consisted of spinach, mushrooms, and bacon bits, it was more than enough to fill me up for lunch.

You do have to be careful if you’re ordering salad only to be healthy though.  Alison ordered a seafood salad with Anton’s special dressing and she was presented with a generous heaping of dressing.  She told me the salad was pretty good though, albeit a bit heavy on the dressing.

Some of us added some chicken to our salads for some additional protein.  You had a choice of garlic chicken or spicy chicken.  I chose the spicy chicken, which just turned out to be fried chicken in a tabasco-based sauce.  The batter was not too heavy but I found that the spicy sauce didn’t go with my salad at all.

In a party as large as ours, it’s almost a given that someone would order a pasta dish.    Christina chose the spiral pasta with seafood and mushrooms in a cream sauce.  She also requested whole wheat conchiglie instead of the regular egg version.

Jay had the penne bombay, which also had prawns and was served in a creamy curry sauce.  It was something different and the curry actually went pretty well with the pasta.

Gene decided to go for penne alle’ Emiliana, which had chorizo, bacon, and black olives.  The server recommended that Gene also add pine nuts, which would add some additional crunch to the pasta.

Anton’s can sometimes get pretty busy so lunch is a pretty good alternative to dinner if you want to avoid the crowds.  The restaurant doesn’t take any reservations though so if you are going in a large group, it’s best to go earlier.  I generally find the pastas at Anton’s to be too heavy on the sauce or too oily, but the salads turned out to be a nice alternative.  You just need to watch what kind of salad dressing is used. 

Details:
4260 E. Hastings St, Burnaby
(604) 299-6636

Summary:
Food: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

I first went to Po King a while back when my grandparents introduced it to me.  It’s a relatively cheap Chinese restaurant that opened a few months ago and offered dim sum for $2.99 per dish.  As such, it’s pretty busy at lunch and it’s best to get there a bit before 12 (at least on week days) if you don’t want to wait for a table.  Po King is located along Kingsway about a three minute drive east of Metrotown.

Most dim sum restaurants these days require you to order from a sheet and the dim sum is then brought to your table.  Po King kicks it old school by bringing carts of dim sum around.  One thing to note though is that the rotation of dim sum can be pretty scant at times so if you see something you want, it’s best to grab it right away.

The bean curd with pork and bamboo shoots was quite tasty.  Sometimes, this dish can get a bit oily but Po King’s version was not so.  Because there is so much pork packed in the bean curd wraps, it is actually quite filling so it’s best to ask your server to cut them in half.

I am always a fan of these Chinese beef balls, especially when there is an accompanying vinegar dipping sauce.

These bbq pork buns also have a sweet topping which makes for a unique combination of salty and sweet.  My aunt first introduced these to me quite a while ago and they always make for a tasty filler dish.

We sure do like our bbq pork buns!  We also had the regular version with no sweet coating on top. 

My grandma ordered this dish of steamed eel. There were quite a few bones so it is some work to eat it but also worth it. 

I really enjoyed this dish of fried leather jacket fish in Maggi sauce.  The bones weren’t too difficult to navigate and the crunchy outside of the fish went very well with the Maggi sauce.

We were still a bit hungry so we also ordered some fried noodles with chicken and veggies.  This dish was made fresh so the noodles were nice and crunchy.

One of my favourite dim sum dishes is the shredded chicken with jellyfish “salad”.  I would say that there was more jellyfish than chicken and I found it to be a bit watery towards the bottom.  It tasted good though and I liked the pickled sweetness of the pickled ginger and turnips.

Po King is a great deal for the type of food you get and the price.  I’m really glad that another good dim sum place has opened up near where I work.  I’ve already dragged my co-workers here a couple of times since first going there with my grandparents. 

Details:
150-5665 Kingsway, Burnaby
Tel: 604-436-2986

Summary:
Food: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 2 out of 5 stars
Price: $

I went with John and Louis today to the Pittsburgh Cafe at Crystal Mall in Burnaby. It is actually spelled “Pittsburg” but I am a stickler for spelling so I refuse to spell something wrong on purpose, even if it was spelled incorrectly on a sign. It is a Hong Kong-style cafe that serves a mix of Asian and Asian-style Western dishes.

Coincidentally or not, the three of us all ordered basically the same thing. Louis and John had the curried pork cutlet with rice and I had the curried chicken with rice. What can I say, it was a day for curry.

First came our drinks. This was basically the only place where our choices differed. The mini meals we had all chosen came with our choice of a drink. Because we all chose cold drinks, there was an extra $0.80 charged. But at a base cost of $7.25 for each of our mini meals, this was a pretty good deal.

I had a cold Ovaltine, which is a kind of chocolaty malt drink. Sometimes this can taste pretty watered down but today, it wasn’t bad. Louis had the iced lemon tea, which came with fresh lemons that you had to mash with your spoon in order to release the lemon taste. John had an iced Hong Kong-style tea & coffee drink.

Louis and John each had the curried pork cutlet with rice. The pork was lightly breaded and deep fried and then immersed into the curry sauce. It also came with some roasted potatoes and deep fried onion strips.

The rice came on a separate plate and was probably equivalent to 2-3 bowls of rice. More than enough for lunch…especially when you have to go back to work afterwards.

I forgot to take a picture of my curry chicken with rice but just imagine the same looking dish of curry as above, but substitute the pork with chicken. My chicken was a bit on the salty side but the potatoes had a nice roasted taste and the curry sauce was just the right amount of spicyness.

Pittsburgh Redux

I went to Pittsburgh Cafe again a couple of days later with Louis, John, and Dustin. Here are some shots of the meals we tried this time around:

John had a baked spaghetti with meat sauce. It was made Hong Kong style, which meant the sauce is a bit sweet and ketchupy, especially when compared to Western-style spaghetti dishes.

Louis and Dustin both had the baked chicken with a cheese alfredo sauce. Apparently, this is a popular choice with people. The sauce looked to be a bit on the heavy side but Louis assured me it was very tasty.

I had the baked beef tongue and tomato with spaghetti. If you have never tried beef tongue before but you like the taste of beef, you should try this at least once.

Details:
1687 – 4500 Kingsway, Burnaby
Tel: 604-438-6263

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$