Italian Tomato Revisited

Last week, one of my pals from work Simon had his last day and transferred to a different department.  We had a little get together after work for him, and it was the perfect excuse to go eat somewhere we usually don't go.  This time, I was armed with decent lighting and a better camera.....photography skills still suck, but hopefully you will enjoy these images more than the pics from my last review of Italian Tomato.

There were a lot of dishes ordered, but I stuck to the Napoletana.  It's baby shrimp, baby clams, fresh garlic, lemon zest in a white wine cream sauce, absolutely glorious.  I probably could have finished it, but I felt like saving some for lunch the next day, haha!

Simon figured there wasn't enough food so he ordered a plate of chicken wings.  I never thought of ordering any appies at this place, but they were surprisingly good. 

Italian Tomato Continues to be one of those places that I'd not go to for a casual dinner. The quality of the food is great, the service is pretty good too, but the prices are just a tad high for me to go there frequently. I know the portions are massive, just like with Anton's, but it's also a lot pricier than Anton's.  I think they're trying to go for the fine dining experience, but the restaurant itself will always be 'Dem Bones to me, haha!

Alleluia revisited

Kudos to Yo-Yo for service excellence.  I've been to Alleluia a million times, and a lot of the staff there are pretty nice, but one in particular stands out in the crowd and that's Yo-Yo.  Everytime we go there, she remebers us, and greets us with a smile.  She could be having an awful day, but she still manages to be happy and find a smile to share with customers and co-workers.  Our teacups are always full, and our food is always there quickly, but she delivers that service so pleasantluy and you can sense her sincerity, there are no canned lines or forced smiles.  Yo-Yo will always go that extra mile and do a few things more that just make your day.  Yo-Yo, if you're reading this, way to make the world a better place. 

My mom loves the Thai fried rice here, and during tea time, it's a pretty good bang for the buck.  At less than $8, you get a decent plate of fried rice and a free drink.  That's about the cost of some combo meals at Rotten Ronnie's.

My dad got some kind of soup with an assortment of veggies and fish balls.  It looks like, but he barely finished it. 

I of course got the 3 item mix and match.  Lately, I've been getting the spaghetti.  I know, I know, it's more like army noodles, but I think they must lightly season and dress the noodles or something because I'm actually able to eat it without any sauce. 

.

I got the pork chop cutlet, the fish cutlet and, the rib eye.  If you dare to eat it rare, just ask them to touch the pan, and it will actually come blue, the way you ask for it.  I don't know how many high-end steak places I've gone to where I've asked for fat and bloody, and they bring me a steak done medium-well.  For about $10 at Alleluia, I get soup, a drink, a pile of spaghetti or rice, some sort of gravy, and two other items with my steak.  Yeah, it's no Keg Size, but the rib eye steak melts in your mouth, even though it barely touched the frying pan. 

Anyway, Alleluia remains one of my favourite HK Cafes - it's inexpensive, the food is decent, and the service is good - spectacular when Yo-Yo is serving =).

Do You Enjoy Eating Egg Tarts?

Do you enjoy eating egg tarts? I hope you won't be put off by my frankness when I tell you that I absolutely love them. In fact, I enjoy no food item more than a freshly-baked egg tart.

Now, I've met a lot of people in my life, and it's true that quite a few people do not share this opinion. I'm sorry to say that these people have always angered me. There are two types of people in this world: those who eat egg tarts whenever it is possible to do so, and those who opt to do other things with their free time.

Who do the latter think they are kidding? What pastime could be more rewarding than the consumption of egg tarts? I haven't yet found one, and I don't expect to in my lifetime.

Unlike other foods, egg tarts can be eaten at any time, in any place, and it is not necessary to cook them. Now, I ask you: Why not eat egg tarts? They are delicious. I carry a box of egg tarts with me wherever I go. I eat them from the box whenever I get the urge, regardless of the circumstances. When I‘m at work, my egg tarts are my colleagues, my co-workers, my friends. If, in the middle of helping a client, I decide I want to consume an egg tart, I do so. I waste the client’s time and company time, but in the end, it is all worth it, because I enjoy egg tarts more than I enjoy working.

This bothers some people. I had the chance to work for a really good company, but when the boss learned of my egg tart cravings, he hired someone else. To this day, I am peeved about this.

When I worked at a call centre a long time ago, I ate over 800 egg tarts a day. It was necessary. My job was extremely intense, and I found the inspiration to work hard through my intense love for egg tarts. One of my co-workers said that he never wanted to work with me again. I kept eating egg tarts when I spoke to clients, and that seemed to bother him. I say f*ck him. He doesn't even like egg tarts.

I would like to end by emphasizing once again that I really like to eat egg tarts. If any of you people disagree, I loathe you. I despise you. Not only that, but I also despise all your loved ones. I want to see them torn to pieces by wild dogs. If I ever meet you in person, I'll smash your brains in with a f*cking bat. Then we'll see who doesn't like egg tarts. **

** blatantly plagarized from Christopher Walken's essay on hot dogs...=)

29th Ave Cafe

I don't even know if Yoshoku-Ya is still in business, but as soon as I heard the owners changed, I had no interest to return.  I thought to myself how crappy for Vancouver to have lost such a great place to eat, and I always thought that the place would eventually be discovered and it would be packed with people.  I'm not sure if it ever did, but apparently the owner didn't really like the hustle and bustle of downtown Vancouver, and decided to set up shop somehwere else a little more relaxed.  The location they chose was on 29th ave and Boundary, and it really is the last place you'd expect to find a yoshoku-styloe restaurant.  29th Ave Cafe is the new stomping grounds for the original owner/operator of Yoshoku-Ya, and thank goodness he decided to continue his work.

I don't know how long they've been open at this new location, and though it wasn't particularly busy, word obviously spread around that he set up shop here because there were several Japanese customers that managed to find their way out here, where very few Japanese restaurants (let alone yoshoku restaurants) operate. 

The menu is pretty much the same as when they were running Yoshoku-Ya, except the don't have Kaki-fry!  Aaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!  Well, I had kaki-fry every single visit to Yoshoku-Ya so I never tried anything new, I guess it was time for a change.

The Ebi Fry was still on the menu, but I guess because a lot of the local clientele don't eat rice, or perhaps a lot went to waste, the meals don't come with it anymore, but you can still get a plate of rice for an extra $1.  The meal is pretty filling though, despite appearances, and I'm almost positive you could get full from it, even without the rice. 

The deep fried prawns are of decent size, nice and crispy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside.

I decided to try something different so I got the tonkatsu meal.  Tonkatsu is a lot like weiner schnitzel (except we're talking pork, not veal) .  It's a pounded pork chop/loin coated with bread crumbs and deep fried.  I think every country has a variety of this dish (the HK places have the porkchop cutlet which is similar). 

The meal comes with a side of salad and their own dressing which tastes similar to thousand island.  I'm not much of a salad guy, but this simple salad tastes great and goes really well with the meal.

I think they changed the potato salad.  It tastes different from what I remember, and I think it might even be the same potato salad available at Costco.  Apologies if I'm wrong though. 

A little drizzle of Bulldog sauce and you're ready to rock and roll.

As you can see, the cut is pretty moist inside and not all dried out as some other places.  In a way, I'm glad they didn't have kaki-fry, otherwise I probably would never have tried this.....though, I still hope they add kaki-fry to their menu =)

The custard pudding was really good.  Home made and very sweet.  The little mandarin oranges were a nice touch and I literally wanted to lick the syrup off the plate.  I could have eaten 10 of these, even though I was full. 

To the owners of 29th Ave Cafe, thank you for not quitting the business!  The food was great, the service was friendly, the location was decent, and on top of that, it wasn't a pain in the ass to find parking!  Looking forward to my next visit, please bring back kaki-fry!

New Town Bakery - Chinatown

The next stop on the China Town tour was New Town Bakery.  Actually, I wanted to go to Kent's Kitchen, but we were so full from dim sum, Kent's will have to wait for another visit.  I remember New Town Baker as one of my early childhood Chinatown memories.  We'd either go there for Chinese pastries/deserts or even a sit down meal.  My dad would point out a lot of old residents of Chinatown (2nd and 3rd and maybe even 4th gen Chinese would come here to eat.  I'd see Chinese seniors that spoke in English without a hint of a Chinese accent, and to me, that was strange because the only elder Chinese people I knew in my life at the time were from overseas.  I guess that's what someone will probably say about me when I'm that age =)

.
.

The place is old, as old, as some of the customers that frequent the place, and has not changed at all in my lifetime and who knows, may not ever change.  It's a bit of a grease spoon, and not exactly the cleanest place in town, but that's not saying much considering it's in Chinatown, haha! 

.

Seems like this place might be popular with the local Philipino community as well because they supply alot of Philipino delecacies, and some of the deserts are labelled with their equivalent names in Tagalog.

These coconut tarts are one of my favourites.  Sweeter than hell, but oh so tasty.

My mom's favourite  -sesame balls.  I think I've had one to many so I didn't get any.

The butterfly crisps here are pretty good, nice and flaky and very buttery. 

I love almond cookies, but didn't get any this time.  I was still full from dim sum and had to limit myself to the 6 pc special, haha!

I got the sweet egg crispy....I thought they were Chinese rice crispy squares for the longest time, haha!  Anyway, sachima is one of my favourites as well (aw hell, they're all my favourites, lol!) but I wasn't happy with the ones from New Town.  These were a little on the dry side and I was gagging for some tea after eating mine.

The walnut cupcakes were also a little on the dry side.

Egg Tarts, who doesn't like egg tarts?  I love egg tarts. 

Vince has actually tried this - Egg Pie, one-upping the standard issue egg tart.  As much as I love egg tarts, I was too full to try this, but I swear, I will return to get one and do a review.

Ah, egg tarts, is there any greater wonder in the world?  I seriously doubt that.  I wrote a post a long time ago, just about egg tarts.  Maybe it's time to post it, haha!

Anyway, New Town's not perfect, but I think it's worth the visit and return visits.  I have fond memories of the place from when I was a child, so it works out for me, and the food here is cheap and tasty (haha, for the most part).