Tasty Eats at Trattoria

A few months ago, I tried Trattoria on Fourth for the first time for dinner. As a fan of the Glowbal Group, I had some high expectations. This place doesn't take reservations for dinner so show up early! 

We started dinner off with their burrata cheese crostini...so good. I could eat burrata all day long. It's a mild-flavoured cheese but so rich in texture. Creamy and buttery, a spoonful is pretty much all I can handle at a time.  

Since we had a toddler with us, they gave us another appetizer more suitable for him. Their famous Kobe meatball. It was a hit and was gobbled up in minutes. After we painstaking cut it into quarters. No doubt about it, this kid eats well. 

In order to make sure the kid was fed, we ordered their cheese pizza as soon as we sat down. Cut into quarters, the pizza was doughy enough to be filling and cheesy enough to be tasty. After taking a quarter, the boy fell asleep for about two hours. I don't know what they put in that pizza, but for him to fall asleep in the noisy Trattoria, you know he was fully satisfied.

With the toddler asleep, the adults could dine properly. We started off with the calamari. The breading was thin and deep-fried to golden crispiness. Served atop some spicy tomato sauce, this was definitely a good starter. Definitely whetted our appetite for more food! 

For the past few months, I had been craving linguine...in a light non-cream based sauce. When I saw the Linguine Vongole on the menu, I was sold. As with Italian Kitchen, the pasta was cooked to al dente in a simple sauce of tomato and thyme, with a bit of peperoncino. The clams were all still attached to the shell, avoiding the dreaded and all too common "empty shell, clams on the bottom" syndrome. 

We also tried the Special of the Night - a homemade gnocchi with salmon and tiger prawns. I think the server said there were supposed to be three prawns but when the dish arrived, we only had two. The spinach gnocchi was good and you can definitely tell it was homemade that day. Really fluffy and pillowy. The salmon was grilled nicely, with a crispy skin, just the way I like it. The prosciutto wrapped prawn...well, anything with a prosciutto, pancetta or bacon wins me over every time. And yes, it helped that these prawns were pretty big! 

Although we both had pastas for our mains, we definitely had room for dessert. We got a few to try...from left to right, they are the Zeppole (home made choco filled fritters) served with vanilla cream, a biscotti and the decadent Tiramisu.

I am not a huge dessert fan, but this was one of the best tiramisu I've had. Layered with just the right amount of wet cream and soaked biscotti, it was really good. If you're like me and not a fan of really sweet desserts, (I usually go for the lemon tart at most places), then this is worth a shot. It's rich and indulgent, but not sugary sweet. I'm glad I saved room for dessert this time!

Afternoon at Joey's in Burnaby

I have to admit - I love playing with my food, or just getting food into my mouth via my hands, instead of pesky utensils such as chopsticks and cutlery. This time, I managed to circumvent utensils by going for finger foods. I tried the Lettuce Wrap from Joey's and was pleasantly surprised. It was way more filling than I expected, and the flavours were indeed Asian-inspired. It's definitely worth a try if you're in the mood for something light, but if you're looking fill up...get their burger. See my post about it here. 

The sauce is a mix of what seems like teriyaki sauce blended with Hoisin sauce (more commonly known as Chinese BBQ sauce). It's slightly overly sweet if you eat the filling on it's own, but after placing into the  crunchy lettuce wrap, the filling does mellow out. 

The other appetizer we tried was their fish tacos...another "eat with your hands" type of dish. The Baja Fish Tacos, though they are in the soft tortillas versus the crunchy corn tortillas I had expected. Inside are breaded and deep-fried fish and shrimp with some guacamole and chopped tomatoes. A bit of heat is provided by hot sauce, but we asked for it on the side. It's not crazy hot, so if you're looking for spicy, load it up with some tobasco instead. 

Once taken out of their signature "taco holders", you can see how much filling is really in there. The chopped lettuce and tomato give the taco much needed freshness to counterbalance the deep fried batter of the fish and shrimp. 
All in all, both are good sharing appies and great for an afternoon on the patio with a few martinis or glasses of white. 

Dim Sum at Kirin on Cambie

One weekend in April, I convinced some of my friends to have dimsum with me. We decided to head to Kirin at City Square. I got there right on time for our reservation but still had to wait another 20 minutes before our table was ready.

This is one of our Go-Tos - it just doesn't feel like dim sum until the Har Gows have been ordered. They are one of the most popular items. The ones here are fairly average, although the skin is translucent and thinner than other "discount" restaurants. The shrimp inside are usually deveined, as was the case here.

We also got their Lotus Leaf Wrapped Sticky Rice. It's sticky rice with chicken bits, shitake mushrooms, preserved Chinese sausage, scallions, dried shrimp and usually a duck egg yolk (the yellow in the top left). It's not a big portion of rice but does a good of curing the "you're hungry an hour after dim sum" blues. 

Here is a shot of the unwrapped package. The was a bit more rice in the package, but I had to eat some of it to expose the filling inside. The rice is the wrapper for all the filling and then the whole thing is wrapped in the lotus leaf and steamed when you order it.

Since we had a toddler with us, we also got the Spring Roll since most kids love the crunch of the skin. Our little guy was no different. It is commonly served with some Lea & Perrins so add some tartness to the meat/vegetable filling. 

Next up was the Assorted Beef "innards". The various parts are tripe, stomach, tendon and occasionally lung and intestines. All these organs are slow cooked in a beef broth flavoured with soy sauce and Chinese herbs. Granted, it's not for everyone, but the surprise here in the rice noodle rolls they tucked into the dish too, great for soaking up the gravy.

Another thing that's not for everyone...yes, Chicken Feet. These are basically bones and skin with a bit of cartilage. I've read some recipes for these that include deep-frying the feet first, and then they are slow-cooked in a blend of oyster sauce, soy sauce and even black bean sauce. However, these ones are so tender that I find it hard to believe they were fried first.

I always try to order one "different" dish each time I have dim sum, so I get the usual favourites while making it possible to discover new items. The one I tried today was their Quail Egg Siu Mai. Sui Mais are a pork dumpling, usually open faced with the pork exposed and a yellow skin, meaning they look nothing like this. The one is made with a wonton wrapper, with a cooked quail egg inside. I think the potential for the dish is high, but perhaps they overcooked the quail egg initially, before combining it with the pork filling. Once they steamed the whole dumpling all together, the quail egg was way overdone and dry and mealy.
Dim Sum here is solid, with prices in the slightly higher than average range.
One thing we found weird...our bill was $28.50 pre-HST for this meal, and after paying in cash ($20*2=$40), they never brought our change back. I normally would tip 15-20% but this is a +25% tip! Presumptious...

First Time at Hapa Umi

I've been looking forward to trying Hapa Umi for weeks now and after two months, I'm glad to say I had visited them two times, so this post will be a longer one combining the two visits.
One of my favourite items from the two visits was the Sashimi Salad. The baby root vegetables are too cute! There were 8 pieces of sashimi in total, two each of ahi tuna, toro, albacore and some sockeye. The light citrus-soy dressing was a great complement to the delicate greens and sashimi. It's loaded with butter lettuce, mini root veggies like carrots and radishes and even some asparagus.

Another must-try is the Kaisen Don - the bowl presentation is amazing, a bowl of sushi rice and topped with tons of sashimi as well as fish cake and tomago too. The ebi and ikura are a nice touch too. The fish is sliced nicely and evenly, with a little bit of shiso thrown in to lighten things up.

Another great dish to try is their Scallop roll. There is nori in it, as you can see but that is just wrapped around the scallop, cucumber and mayo. A layer of rice surrounds that roll, and then it wrapped again in a delicate egg crepe skin. So pretty and tasty. Large chunks of scallop and great crunch from the cucumber.

Here's a closeup of the roll. Not too large to be unwiedly, but filling if you ate all 6 pieces by yourself. 

We also sampled the Dynamite Roll. I like how they used green bean instead of the usual avocado at most places. I also liked the ratio of prawn to rice...yes the prawn is quite big, but I am glad then didn't try to make the roll appear bigger than it actually was, by padding with rice.

We also got the their Bento Box which features four Umi specialties and are changing based on fresh ingredients. That day, ours came with a potato salad, with large chunks of potatoes on a mayo based dressing. I've heard that the Bento has undergone some changes so please remember that this is from a few months ago. 

Another dish was the Unagi on top of a bed of greens cucumbers...really nice and tender. Don't let the size of the unagi fool you, it's got big flavours!

And another side dish was the salmon maki...with some gomae on the side. What I like about the presentation is that although there was a main component in each dish, the accompaniment is well thought out and beautifully executed.

The fourth item of the bento box is their halibut tempura. Essentially beer-battered fish, but so much more than that. The fish inside is moist and flaky, and the crunch on the batter can't be beat. The tartar sauce is creamy and nicely flavoured with dill.

Here is the full box as served. I started with the salad, moved over to the unagi, then the roll, and finished off with the halibut tempura. My aim was to go from light flavours to rich, and i think I succeeded. All items are subject to change based on fresh ingredients too.

The bento is also accompanied with their takikomi gohan, complete with carrots, mushroom and bamboo. It was unexpected but I believe their menu has changed to include simply steamed rice to go with their bento box.

And no good bento is complete without miso soup and I am happy to report this is no exception! 

Tasting everything at Robson All India

I've been craving Indian food for a while, but never know where to go. Whenever I ask people, Vij's seems to be all they suggest. I was chatting with another friend and he mentioned Robson All India. They recently changed owners and we decided to give it a try, with a few friends. 

Our appetizer arrived and it was a paneer type dish made with chickpeas and potato, all this is stuffed with cheese and then lightly breaded and deep-fried. Cut into little triangles, this was lighter than expected and the sprinkle of chilli pepper made it really nice and fresh.

I have never tried this dish before, but it's basically a deep-fried spinach boat, then filled with cream cheese and some cherries. An interesting combination of creamy and crunchy, as well as a great sweet and savory blend. Since this was a tasting menu, I'm not sure how much comes in a serving, but two of these are quite filling.

Once of the first main dishes to arrive is the Chicken Kebabs. Made in the tandoor, the dish arrived piping hot! I've always stayed away from chicken breast at restaurants (Indian or not) because I always find the meat very dry. I was really delighted with the juiciness of this dish, the meat was actually moist! Kebabs are sometimes formed meatballs in the Indian culture, but for our purposes here, it is used to describe a "boneless" meat dish. As you can see, it is served with some lemon wedges, use this for added moisture and to lighten the dish a bit.  

As expected, one of the dishes we got was their Butter Chicken. This dish was really rich and creamy, with a great sauce perfect for pouring over the rice in your bowl. I found the chicken slightly drier than the one in the kebabs, even though it was in the sauce. Perhaps the chicken was made ahead of time and then dunked into the sauce afterwards. The sauce was also a little saltier than expected, almost as if it has reduced too much. 

I am a sucker for lamb, and we got the Rogan Josh. The lamb chucks were very good, and the meaty texture was maintained despite the slow cooking involved. There is a good heat to the sauce (not blow your mind hot) and the perfect amount of saltiness too. I could drink this sauce. 

The next dish I tried was their Eggplant Bhurta - which is made from whole roasted eggplants and then pureed and cooked into the curry with onions and tomato. The consistency is very rich and creamy.

This place has 12 types of tandoori breads with their own tandoor in the back. There are 8 naans alone! The Peshwari sounds interesting...with almonds, pistachios and cashews! The other one I want to return and try is the Keema, made with ground lamb. Tonight, we tried their Lacchedar Paratha as well as their regular and butter naan. 

All of these breads are great for mopping up the various sauces and curries. Just something soothing about eating with your hands and playing with you food! 

You just can't have Indian food without some rice to soak up the delicious flavours of the curries, so we tried their long grain steamed basmati rice - served in a serving large enough for two to share. 

For dessert, we had the Rasmalai, which is essentially sweetened cottage cheese dumplings (don't worry, it's nothing like your regular cottage cheese). The dumplings are flavoured with cardamom and rose water. The lightness of the dumplings is what really sets this dish apart.

One unexpected choice for dessert is the cheesecake - shocking to discover in an Indian restaurant but they have it! Ours was topped with strawberry and chocolate sauces but choices change frequently so ask ahead if you're interested. 

The owners of Robson All India hosted us for this dinner but had no input into the review of their restaurant.

Hapa Robson - Duck Congee!

Okay - on a Sunday night date night and we headed down to Hapa on Robson. We have to get the edamame, but I'm not a huge fan of the soy they use, so I asked for the dish to be done with just salt. So that B can get his soy fix, we got it on the side. 

Not sure what it is, but it looks like something is missing...can you guess what it is? 

Ah...now, that's better, edamame with sake...yes, all is right in the world. I am allergic to bamboo so we couldn't get the cold sake they're known for, so we opted for the hot sake. 

We got the Pork Belly Lettuce Wrap to start, because once he sees Lettuce Wrap on the menu, it's impossible to deter him. So we get this and it's amazing. Tenderly cooked pork belly with a crispy skin, along with some fried wonton skin strips and pickled cabbage, it's a tasty and so rich in textures.  

Place a piece of butter lettuce down on your plate, top it with a slice of the pork belly and add some of the wonton skins and pickled cabbage. It's a ton of flavours and textures exploding in your mouth. Every bite is a good one. 

I am not a fan of cooked scallops, but if they are raw or dried (chinese-style), I i love. So we also got the Scallop Roll, beautifully presented here with white and black sesame and slightly spicy mayo-based sauce. Yum! Love the touch of tobiko on top. 

The next thing we tried was their Duck Hot Pot off their Fresh Sheet. Loaded with veggies, the pot is loaded with slices of duck in a soy dashi broth. So soothing on a cool day. We had read on the menu that they can use the leftover broth to make a congee, with rice and egg. Well, we had to have that! 

They whisk an empty (except for broth) pot away and return with it loaded with rice and egg. They add some seaweed as a garnish and it's like a whole new meal.

In a rare case of far-sightedness, we each saved a piece of duck to have with the congee, so this is what we ended up with as part two of the Duck Hot Pot. A ridiculously great part two, if you ask me.
I've been to Hapa many times and I've learned that although I will always love the standbys (Ebi Mayo, Ishi Yaki and Negitoro for me), their fresh sheet is filled with innovative dishes that are well worth trying.

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