Teahouse

Talk about a classy place to eat for very reasonable prices.  It's been years since I went to the Teahouse in Stanley Park, but I always remembered (incorrectly) the place having prices beyond my comfort level.  My friend Eric first introduced me to the Teahouse more than 10 years ago, and I guess I was still a struggling college student.  To my pleasant surprise, the prices are not that far off from places like The Keg or Cactus Club. 

We were seated in a room surrounded by glass, and it was nice and cozy inside while it poured outside.  The room was actually dimly lit, with a few candles and a gas fireplace.  A lot of my pictures didn't turn out so I should have used the flash. 

I'm not much of a wine connoisseur, and have no idea about wine pairing at all of that.  I do know that scotch tastes good and I happened to like Chivas Regal with just about any kind of food.

For starters, I had the Teahouse Stuffed Mushrooms.  The crab and shrimp stuffing was rich and creamy, but not overwhelming where it leaves your head spinning.  I could have eaten these all night without getting sick.

The bread was....well, bread, but it was a welcome sight because prior to showing up, I was starving.

I was going to order the Duck Leg Confit, but decided to take a gamble and try the BC Salmon.  Most of my experiences is that Salmon is easy to overcook, and often times I go to a place and find it well done and dried out.  I figured this should be a good guage to see if the place is any good.

The gamble paid off, the salmon was incredible.  It was moist inside...incredibly moist.  You could almost describe it as juicy, even though it was cooked through.  It was like the fillet was infused in moisture and flavour.  The menu said it was served on braised Swiss chard, and Lemon Caper Emulsion....I have no idea what those were, but it tasted good.  I sampled the salmon on it's own and it was delicious, and when mixed with the lemon caper emulsion, I guess the best way to describe it was a really good party of flavours. 

Decadent Petit Fours, a combo of mini deserts was a nice way to end off the night.  I just wish I ordered some tea to go with it.  I still don't know why I didn't order any tea....

As you can tell from my other posts, I'm not a regular patron of fine dining, and most of my experiences have been with my pal Eric.  But there's this little thing called Dine Out Vancouver that has given me the courage to try places I don't normally go, and as a result, I have found that the prices at the Teahouse are quite reasonable considering the setting. 

Would I go back?  In a heartbeat.  It's not like I could afford to eat here every night, but it's definitely not so restrictive as I remembered.  It's nice to spoil yourself once in a while, dress up (again, there's no dress code, but you won't see anyone in there with ripped jeans and sneakers) and emerse yourself in a different atmosphere. 

Benkei Ramen on Broadway

I've officially given up on Benkei Ramen's Miso Ramen.  It's just too lean for me and doesn't have enough seasoning.  It's not bad, it's just not my thing.  I tried their new location - Broadway and Cambie and also found another bit of disturbing news.  The Peko Ramen (formerly known as Shiro Ramen) is now only available at the Robson location. 

Surprisingly, I found the Vegetable Shoyu Ramen to be much more flavourful and tasty compared to my miso ramen.  Sad that I actually enjoyed something that had the word vegetable in it. 

As sugggested by Yanagida-san (CEO of Benkei Ramen Group) and Mr. Chan (General Manager of Benkei Ramen Group) that I could order my ramen with extra fat in the broth, as well as extra fat chashu (you can read about my past gripes about Benkei's lean ramen here).  However, even with a request for extra fat didn't do the trick.  I found the miso ramen was still too lean, and lacked seasoning.  The Chashu itself was way too lean for my liking as well.  Whatever recipe Benkei had is now long and gone.  It used to look like this.  The explaination I got several times was that people on the west coast are more health conscious and there's no market for the style of ramen I like.  %$*&! damn granola eating, tree hugging hippies.

The gyoza were good, loads of garlic in these suckers so no kissing after some of these.

So, this visit spawned two disappointing revalations:  Peko Ramen is now only abailable at the Robson location, and the Miso Ramen from Benkei is dead to me.  That being said, I discovered that the shoyu ramen isn't too bad and I'll have to pay them another visit to make sure it wasn't just my imagination. 

Deutsches Haus

I've never been to Germany and this was the first time I'd ever been in a German restaurant.  To my surprise, it didn't seem that foreign and the food didn't taste all that different.  Is it because they didn't serve authentic German food, or is it because I'm already used to eating some of the food found on the menu?  I may never know unless I pay Germany a visit. 

Deutsches Haus sure doesn't look like a restaurant from the view in the parking lot, but once inside, it was a different story. 

The place did have an "old" feel to it (except for the flat screen TV), but I couldn't quite place it.  As I said, maybe I was expecting too much, but the place didn't seem all that foreign to me.  No, I wasn't expecting to see all the fellas to be wearing lederhosen, but I guess maybe I was thinking I'd see something I don't see everyday. 

There was nothing spectacularly different about the green salad.  The greens were fresh, and that's about all I can really say about it.

Some bread and butter to tide us over until the mains came.

My friend ordered a Bratwurst ($10) that was.....well, a sausage.  There were bits of potato and some sauerkraut and some really good mustard.

I ordered Kalbsschnitzel ($26) and here's where I demonstrate how uncultured I am.  Veal was the meat used and it was so tender, that I could have easily confused it with pork.  Good thing or bad thing?  I dunno, it tasted pretty damn good.  My dad makes something like this all the time though, but using pork so it tasted like home. 

No clue what this was...salmon?

Applie Pie

Ice Cream

The service was good, and the atmosphere seemed friendly enough and the food was decent, decent portions, but nothing spectacular.  My only gripe was that it seemed a bit on the expensive side for what I was getting.  I'd like to go back and try something I've never had before, but I have no clue what to order.  According to Sherman's Food Adventures, I think I want to try the Festplatte - a tray of assorted meat for about $80....a bit pricey for one person, but it's supposed to be shared.  I dunno though, it doesn't look all that big from the pictures.  We had a vegetarian with us on my first visit so having that much carnage on the table probably wouldn't have sat well with her.  I'm feeling kind of barbaric though, so the next time  I go, I'm going with carnivores only.

Taco Luis

I wonder if it's the cheap and tasty food-court Mexican food or the charasmatic owner that brings people to Taco Luis.  On my lunches, I sometimes go by Lansdowne food court and I always see a line up in front of Taco Luis.  It never fails though, that this place is always busy.  Even during Nibbles and Bites (food festival at Thompson Community Centre), Taco Luis drew a crowd.

Ah, memories of my childhood came rushing back.  My parents occasionally took us to Lansdowne and it was always a treat to get a crispy beef burrito from Taco Don (not even sure if that chain is around anymore).  The recipe is a bit different (they've got a bit of cheese in the ground beef and they cap each burrito end with a Mexi-fry), but when you only dish out 3 bucks for two beef burritos, who really cares? 

Wonder Wok

I swear my parents should start a food blog, with all the places they try.  They always manage to source out some pretty decent food and some obscure food court like the one in the Richmond Public Market.  The last time I was there, I thought I'd seen it all, but last weekend, they introduced me to yet another place they frequent.

Like some of the places in the Yaohan food court, this place has the two or three items on rice combo.  And if you have to have Chinese food at a food court, try the ones at Yaohan, Aberdeen and RPG.  I've had Chinese food at Richmond Centre, and even Granville Island, and there's something just not right.  Not to mention completely overpriced.  Despite the tacky name, Wonder Wok actually puts out some tasty cheap food.

Crab is a pain in the @$$ to eat, but for some reason, I was craving crab that day and this one was just beggine me to buy it.  Obviously, it wasn't cooked that moment, but the shop had the decency to reheat it for me and even offered to add some spice when they threw it back on the wok.

Deep fried pork chop with jiao yian....how do you say jiao yian in English?  I guess you could call it seasoning salt?  Anyway, this happens to be one of my mom's favourite here because it's a bit spicy and has a bit of kick.  For me, the pork was fried just right (must have just come out of the deep frier) and wasn't too tough.  Usually if it sits on the heater too long, it will overcook in time.  Since the pork was tender, it's a good indication that the turnover for food at this place was pretty good....and the fact that there were quite a few people there to get food.

My mom's got a sweet-tooth so this is another one of her favourites - honey garlic pork spare ribs.  They were actually quite good too.  The meat had a slightly crispy coating under the honey sauce, and the pork underneath was tender and still moist. 

The deep fried squit happens to be one of my favourites.  It's a nice dish with a meal, and even better with a bottle of sake, haha!

Another good drinking snack - deep fried smelt.  This dish is cooked well, but lacks in seasoning.  I would prefer it to have some seasoning salt on it and if I ever have leftovers, it's easy to just sprinkle some seasoning salt on it and throw it in the toaster oven to reheat. 

Deep fried prawns.  These did have some seasoning on it, and these fat prawns were pretty damn good. 

As far as portions are concerned, they pile on the food so high that you would never be able to close the lid the food comes in.  Ordered some green stuff just to make myself feel better about all that deep fried stuff.

The crab was okay, the meat in the legs were pretty dry, but at the joints where the legs would be attached to the body had loads of edible meat that was still quite tender (the leg meat was a dry and stringy).  But what really made the crab meal was the stuff under the shell.  I don't know how to describe it in English, but in Japanese, they call it Kani Miso.  My dad calls it cheese, and I've also heard it refered to as crab brains.  Whatever it is, add some seasoning salt and a deep frier and you have a helluva combination.  It made the meal, and I would order it again just to eat the stuff under the shell.

Wonder Wok is within walking distance to my workplace, and for times when I forget a lunch, it's a nice alternative to Tokyo Joe's or Taco Luis (Lansdowne).

Gyudon Ya

rI have to give it to the Koreans, they know how to prepare beef well.  So, you'd think that the Korean owned Gyudon Ya would have a chef that knows beef.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Vancouver's Yoshinoya knock-off has Japanese staff, and even Japanese names for the menu items, but the beef bowls aren't quite J-Grade. 

The beef is colorless, almost sick looking.  Sure, it's salty enough, but the chef really relies on seasoning for flavor here.

 The short rib bowl was brutal.....tough, lean beef, without a trace of juicy fat....blech.

Gyudon Ya is pretty sub-standard compared to Yoshinoya, but given the price, it's hard to complain.  It's edible, unlike Little Japan, so, yeah, if I happen to walk by, and really hungry, I may toss them $6 for some Asian fast-food. 

But here's the good news folks, a little bird told me that the possibility of a Yoshinoya opening up shop in Vancouver, and Toronto is on the horizon.  Until then, show me a better place for six bucks.