Kingyo

With the great experience I had at Hapa in Vancouver, next on the list is Kingyo.

First impression was not great.

The phone reservation left me feeling very unwelcome, as if I was given a giant favor for my table reservation when I was the one bringing in business?

In a nutshell, Kingyo has a 2-hour dining policy; instead of sharing that nicely over the phone, the staff was rude.

Needless to say, felt like the food really needed to be very good for me to return.

First up, salmon carpaccio.

Fresh, nicely textured Sockeye salmon, with fried garlic chips and crunchy sprouts; similar to sister restaurant Suika, there was too much sauce (actually a tasty pesto soy dressing) which covered the great quality ingredient. Continue reading →

Hapa Izakaya

Vancouver is the land of good-tasting Asian food.

There are so many more options, and quality are far more superior than Seattle.

Hapa Izakaya is one of the prime examples.

We used to go to Guu, but finding its quality came down with expansion — time to venture out.

I made a reservation at 6pm for Hapa, and got quite worry when we were one of the very few tables that was occupied.

@6pm, very empty

full — midway through our meal!

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Basho Cafe

Basho Cafe was the best find in my last trip to Vancouver!

Away from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver downtown, Basho is located in east Vancouver.

The wood decor gave an old style, rustic comfort, reminiscent of Kyoto’s sweets shop, and homeliness of a family run business.

Basho roasts their own coffee, and definitely serves one of the best coffee around.

We had mocha and it was absolutely smooth, roasty and delicious.

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Hong Kong Café Versus

Being a Honger, there is certain expectations I have going to Hong Kong style cafes.

Unfortunately, there are not really any in Seattle that is on par with Hong Kong, both in food, and beverages served.

The most important staple of Hong Kong Cafes is the cup of milk tea, and Lido in Richmond has to be the best, in both Washington State and British Columbia.

It dawned on me that I have never had Lido’s proper meal food; I always go there for milk tea and breakfast items; since Lido offers baked pork chop rice too, they are on my to-eat list again.

I also want to broaden my horizon on BC’s Hong Kong Cafes, and decided to try Café Gloucester.

Café Gloucester has been around for a very long time, it has to be pretty good to still be standing in Vancouver’s competitive food scene.

First off, must have baked spaghetti Bolognese.

L: borscht with sweet bun — R: baked spaghetti

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Suhang Shanghainese

My Vancouver grandma knows that both my dad and I love Shanghainese food, and she was excited to share her new find in Richmond.

We had gone to Ningbo, and used to go to Shanghai River; and this time we checked out Suhang.

The restaurant space was not big, but it was certainly busy.

The menu looked great and authentic, we were eager.

We had three appetizers to share.

The cold meat was flavored well, tender and tasty, salted just right — the closest way to describe it was a tenderer, very thick cut prosciutto.

A dish called “Ma Lan Tou”, 馬蘭頭 , a mix of this vegetables that tasted like a cross of celery and spinach, with shredded tofu.

Top: ma lan tou — L: kor-fu — R: cold pork

The dish was delicious enough, but I wish for higher vegetables to tofu ratio.

Another quintessential Shanghainese appetizer was, “kor-fu” in Shanghainese, a soy sauce braised gluten.

The gluten were spongy, and soaked up sauce of sweet soy sauce and black Chinese mushrooms that they were cooked in, the way it ought to be.

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