More Samples Please

Welcome to the 2011 edition of F-Log for Thought's adventure at the Taste of Calgary. Click here for the entry from last year. And as always, this is posted several weeks after the event is over so you're probably jonesing for that thing that I ate and you passed on because you weren't sure if will be taste good or not but now it's too late. 

After a short relaxing 14k run with Maria on Sunday morning, I decided to check out the Taste of Calgary at Eau Claire after a quick shower. For those who have never been, Taste of Calgary occurs every year around the middle of August. Various restaurants around town congregate in the courtyard area at Eau Claire Market to serve up tasty samples of their menu. It is the perfect time to try out that restaurant you've been eyeing but couldn't commit to eating a full order of that thing they serve. All items are sold for tickets (They don't want your dirty money) ranging from 1 to 5 tickets each. Tickets can be purchased for $1 each at various booths on site. A tip from a Taste of Calgary veteran: Don't line up with the other ten thousand people at the entrance to get your tickets. There's probably a vendor around the corner twiddling their thumb longing for social interaction. Remember: time spent in line is time spent not eating delicious food. The exception to this rule is when you are lining up for delicious food. But only because they sell out sometimes. There's a variety of non food vendors but this is a food blog so we'll skip right on over to what you came here for. 

Back again this year is Nubian Express. They were sold out of many of their popular items last year so I made my way there first this time around. Small sample dishes were set out to show what was what. I had an order of coconut rice with beef and a separate order of plantain. To be completely honest, I think I enjoyed the chicken from last year better. The chicken didn't look as appetizing this year. Taste wise, the beef was decent but it was a little on the thin side. The plantain were cut up into small pieces this year rather than serving them as giant blobs of deliciousness from last year. Texture was a little crispier. For a total of seven tickets, that was a pretty significant increase from last year (40% increase). I wish my salary increased by that much. 8 stars out of 10 for both the coconut rice with beef and plantain. Photo of the chicken in the second photo below.

Pacific Hut was the next vendor I hit up. I had an order of BBQ pork skewer (Second photo, if there was any doubt about that). It was very flavourful. It may have been a tad undercooked... I'm still kicking so it was probably alright. To wash it down, I had a refreshing sago and gulaman beverage (First photo). It was sweet and syrupy. Nice and cold. Perfect for a hot summer day! Best of all? It only cost one ticket. So I doubled fisted it like a champ. 5 and 9 stars out of 10 for the pork skewer and beverage respectively. 

Next up - Delicious Thai. We hit the lines as I was finishing my tasty drink. The line was fairly long. When I got to the front, I placed my order. "One Pad Thai please!" The lady opened the tray to reveal a couple pieces of scraps left. That should have been my cue to order something else. But I wanted my Pad Thai. And to be honest, I am most definitely regretting it. My bowl consisted of mostly tofu, a couple of pieces of noodles, sprouts and a nice garnish of crushed peanuts (that was all me though). It was a little on the dry side. I was expecting it to be a bit more moist. Taste wise, it was ok. I think it was mostly because I had the bottom of the barrel scraps. : ( 6 stars out of 10. 

Coconut curry chicken was one of many dishes offered by La Jawab (I got a weird warning message when I checked out their website but it's totally legit). Upon ordering, a spoon full of the orange gobbly goop was slapped onto a styrofoam plate. I know what you are all thinking "Sick David! That looks like a plate of your own vomit!" But I can assure you that it was in fact sweet tasty coconut curry chicken! The meat was tender and the sauce was super fragrant and delicious. I wish there was rice so I could soak up all the tastiness. Wouldn't do that if it was vomit, that's for sure! 8 stars out of 10. 

I've been to loungeburger a few times in the past and despite the massive lineup, I decided to check out their curry lamb meatballs. Each little meatball cost 2 tickets. Although it was pretty delicious, I thought it was a bit overpriced. Served over a mango chutney, the goat cheese stuffed meatball is finished off with a tandoori aioli and a fancy cocktail stick (The kind I didn't want to throw on the BBQ). The meat was firm but not hard. 6 stars out of 10. 

My last stop of the day (for savory items anyway) was Pegasus Greek Restaurant. I had the Spanakopita with tsatziki. This savory pastry features a flaky shell. Taking a bite revealed the tasty spinach and feta cheese stuffing. So good! 7 stars out of 10. 

I finished off Taste of Calgary 2011 with a moijto from Soho Bar and Grill. After an sizzling afternoon of greasy foods, my bevy was extra refreshing. Mmmmm... So good! 10 out of 10. 

Taste of Calgary 2011 was decent. There was a lot of repeat vendors from previous years serving similar, if not the same, items from before. Like Ric's Grill. I'm fairly certain this is the third year in a row that they've served the peppercorn New York Strip. It's not bad... But some new dishes would be nice... *hint hint*

BBT

Bubblemania Cafe
459 16th Ave NE
http://www.bubblemaniacafe.com

Met up with my friend Angela a few weekends ago at Bubblemania Cafe. It's been a while since my last visit, gone are the comfy couches and coffee tables and are replaced with real tables and chairs. We arrived shorty after they open (actually, Angela arrived before they opened and I arrived fashionably late) and a few tables were already occupied. More people trickled in as the night went on and the place was really hopping by the time we left.

To start, we ordered a couple of appetizers to share. I had the Asian style calamari. Stir fried with pepper and onions, the squid is topped with various spicy herbs and spices. Very tangy.

Angela ordered the deep fried wontons. Each order came with five crispy golden wontons. Angela stole one before I got a picture. We're still friends though.

I was pretty hungry that day so I decided to order the chicken cutlet with instant noodles while Angela watched me eat it. The chicken was fairly tenderish and the broth was flavourful.

Of course, why would anyone go to Bubblemania without ordering a bubble tea? Bubblemania gives all their drinks a special name. Which may or may not be a good thing. It sounds cool but you need to do some extra reading before you figure out what's in it. I think I had the house special with mixed fruit. I wasn't a super huge fan. The fruit mixture had a funny taste to it. But decent nonetheless.

Atmosphere: 6 out of 10. Simple clean interior. Minimalistic style furniture. Probably from Ikea.

Food: 6 out of 10. Average food.

Presentation: 6 out of 10. Presentation was nothing to write home about.

Price: 6 out of 10. May be a tad on the high side for Asian pub fare.

Service: 6 out of 10. Service did not stand out as being exceptional.

Overall: 6 out of 10. It's like the Asian version of a pub but less beer and more Asian people.

Morning Tea

Garden City Hot Pot

8788 McKim Way, RIchmond, British Colombia

It was a beautiful sunny morning in Vancouver, perfect for sleeping in and doing nothing. Unfortunately, I was woken up in the wee hours of the morning (9 am) so that we could go out for dim sum. Ridiculous!

We arrived at Garden City Hot Pot (新鏞記火鍋) sometime around 10:30 or something. Contrary to what the name of the restaurant suggest, Garden City Hot Pot does indeed serve dim sum in addition to hot pots. But what sets these guys apart from your typical dim sum places is the tea. While most places serve tea in a giant teapot at your table, pre-brewed and ready to be consumed, Garden City serves you tea leaves in a separate dish and a pot of hot water on an induction cooker attached to the table.

So basically, you add the amount of leaves you desire into your cup (more leaves for a stronger tea and less if that's not your thing). Pour a bit of water to wash them and dump the wash water (not the leaves) into a separate bowl. Next, fill your cup with more hot water. Steep the tea to your desire strength. Next is the tricky part, transferring the scalding hot tea from the steeping cup to the drinking cup without burning yourself. See how the pros do it in this video:

Person with the messiest area pays the bill!

Moving on. The first dim sum to arrive was the steamed beef balls. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of beef balls. In general... But they were actually decent at Garden City. It almost always have chenpi mashed into the meat but I couldn't really taste it here so that was definitely a surprise. It's served with a broth and kip zap on the side. Definitely not a fan of kip zap.

The induction cooker noted above is also used to keep the congee (rice porridge) and noodle soups piping hot. A plain congee is brought out with the ingredients laid out on a separate dish. We had the pork liver congee with Chinese oil stick (deep fried dough). The innards were chewy (good chewy because soggy innards is just plain gross) and the Chinese oil stick was crispy and fresh. So good.

The sticky rice was the next to arrive. Wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed, it is stuffed with minced meat, mushrooms, sticky rice and various asian garnishes. Cutting open the lotus leaves reveals the moist centre. We devoured it like a pack of hungry hyenas.

The steam shrimp dumplings arrived shortly after. I quickly snapped a picture before they were all gone.

Next up, we had the pan fried rice crepe in XO sauce. Probably my favorite dish. XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce. It's so good. The rice crepe was super smooth and silky. This indicates that it is good sh*t. I'm pretty certain we ordered 4 plates of it. Because it was uber tasty and the portions were not large. Om nom nom nom.

My other favorite dim sum dish, the pork dumplings, finally arrived. Top with fish roe, the pork dumplings were so juicy.

We were pretty full at this point but the food kept arriving... Check out these sweet pictures of the Asian calamari, stuffed eggplant and tofu and spring rolls sitting on top of the kettle. They were pretty average. Nothing too special.

Atmosphere: 5 out 10. Average decor. There is no signal in the restaurant so you might want to put your phone in airplane mode so that it doesn't drain your battery.

Food: 6.5 out of 10. Good food. Steeping my own tea has it's ups and downs. Makes me feel like a connoisseur of sorts. But sometimes I just want a drink now. Not now. Right now!

Presentation: 5 out of 10. Average presentation.

Price: 7 out of 10. Prices are lower if you go early in the morning.

Services: 5 out of 10. Average service. Plates were generally cleared in a timely manner.

Overall: 6 out of 10. Pretty good overall. Points for the tea experience. It almost justifies the extra fee they charge.

The Big Eight-Five

South West Seafood

8012 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

It was my Grandma's 85th birthday a couple of weeks ago and all family headed to Vancouver for a huge party! We ordered the classic fancy set dinner which features a large variety of communal dishes. First up was the cold platter which features jellyfish in sesame oil, soy and chili sauce; marinated baby octopus; thinly sliced pieces of beef shank and smoked pig feet and a bean curd wrap. The cold platter is probably one of my favorite Asian dishes of all time. I thoroughly enjoy stuffing my face with the various tasty appetizer things. So good. Unfortunately, I always over stuff myself and never have enough room for the remaining dishes.

The next to arrive was the deep fried crab claw. Battered shrimp paste is wrapped around a crab claw and deep fried to a golden crispy state.

A flavourful consommé with shredded chicken, bean sprouts and some fin of a large marine creature arrived once the previous plates were cleared. It was pretty flavourful despite some members of the family requesting extra ground pepper.

A bunch of boring dishes arrived followed by a whole abalone. The slow braised mollusk was served with two large stalks of broccoli and a mushroom. It was a feeble attempt at fancy dish presentation. The abalone was a bit too chewy. Perhaps a bit overdone? Or is it undercooked? I’m not sure. I’ve had better.

Next up was the roasted squab (young domestic pigeon). The unfledged bird was roasted until the skin is super crispy. It is then chopped at the waist and served straight up with no sauces. If given a choice, take the bottom half. The meat is generally more tender. That and there's not a whole lot of meat on the little wing.

The next photo I took was the fook kin fried rice. It's the one with the sauce (Do not confuse it with the yuan yang fried rice which is the one with the cream and tomato sauce in the shape of a yin-yang, which I'm sure was invented by white people). It's basically a regular fried rice smothered in a delicious thick broth with various meat, seafood, chopped up veggies.

To finish off the meal, we had some tasty longevity buns. Made to look like peaches, it is stuffed with a sweet, sweet lotus paste. So soft, so squishy, sooooooo good. Om nom nom nom. My mom said they were a little dry. So there you have it.

Atmosphere: 5 out of 10. It was clean. Nothing special about it.

Food: 7 out of 10. Fancy ingredients. Average execution.

Presentation: 6 out of 10. Effort was made to make it look nice. Especially the pieces that you couldn't eat.

Price: N/A. I have no idea how much it cost. Probably two arms and a leg.

Service: 7 out of 10. Good service. Plates were cleared in a timely manner.

Overall: 6 out of 10. Decent overall. My grandma had a good time and that's all that matters.

Not a dumpling...

Din Tai Fung

Shop 3-9, GF, 68 Yee Woo Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

www.dintaifung.com.hk

Specializing in xiao long bao (small steamed buns), Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) is a restaurant chain that originated from Taiwan with stores located in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States. It's like the McDonalds of Chinese food.  Both locations in Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay) was awarded one Michelin Star in the Hong Kong and Macau Michelin Guide 2011. On a side note, what is up with the Michelin guy judging food? He sells tires. Though, it seems like he packing some extra junk in the trunk... But I shouldn't judge.

Anyway, Din Tai Fung features an open kitchen so that you can watch in awe as the chefs pump out little xiao long bao like an automated assembly line. There was a nice lineup going when we arrived for dinner. We browsed through the menu and selected our items on the order form as we waited for our table. The menu features photographs beside each item to aid those who can't read Chinese. Or English. Or just want to look at pretty pictures. It is interesting to note the pictures are a very close depiction of the final product. What you see is what you get. If you were secretly hoping you would get more stuff, I wouldn't hold your breath.

When we were finally seated, we put in our order. The food began to arrive shortly after. As usual, I had my camera in one hand and chopsticks in the other, stuffing my face while taking poorly composed photos at the same time. Multitasking is clearly not my forte. Also note that I had this meal over a month ago. Some of the details are a little fuzzy (Read: Really fuzzy) so I will breeze through them and throw down a blurb or two if I remember anything about it. Alright, dish one - Shanghai styled smoked fish (上海燻魚). I have no clue what type of fish. All I know is the meat was firm and it was very flavourful.

Dish two was the chilled bitter melon (冰鎮涼瓜).

Next up is the kalimeris and tofu salad (香干馬蘭頭). The ingredients were finely chopped, mixed together and served cold. Like revenge. But tastier. And everyone wins.

Wok fried green bean with minced pork and dried shrimp (干煸四季豆).

The renowned xiao long bao (特色小籠包) (top) arrived next in it's signature bamboo basket. Which was quickly followed by an order of crab meat xiao long bao (蟹粉小籠包) (bottom). Note the slightly orangey-er tone. The buns (not dumplings, despite the resemblance) are stuffed with pork (and crab meat) and aspic. Once steamed, the gelatinous aspic melts to create the tongue scorching, mouth burning soup inside the bun. Super tasty. If you were to only order one thing at Din Tai Fung, order the xiao long bao.

Next up, the vegetable and pork dumplings (菜肉蒸餃) (top?) and the vegetable and mushroom dumplings (香菇素餃) (possibly bottom). You might be thinking "Whoa David, these dumplings look exactly like the buns, what makes them different?" Well, let me tell you - The main difference is how it is prepared. Xiao long baos and buns are closed by pinching the dough at the crown so that a ring of folds is formed. Jiaozi or dumplings are form via folding the dough in half and pinching it close along the edge. There is a direct correlation between the number of ripples on the bun or dumpling and the price of the dish. The more ripples it has, the higher the complexity, the more they charge. Facts of life.

I'm pretty sure this next dish is the zha jiang noodles (炸醬拌麵).

This is followed by a fried pork chop noodle soup (油炸排骨湯麵). The pork chop is served separately to preserve the crispiness of the meat. 

The next dish to arrive was the vegetable and pork won ton noodle soup (菜肉餛飩湯麵).

We finished off the savory dishes with a plate of fried rice with shrimp and shredded pork (蝦仁肉絲蛋炒飯).

We ordered a variety of desserts. The first to arrive was the almond tofu pudding (杏仁豆腐) (definitely top). Followed quickly by a fruit (cantaloupe) tapioca soup (鮮果西米露) (bottom) and a taro tapioca soup (荔芋西米露) (not shown). The taro tapioca was the highlight of the three. The aroma of taro filled the air as it was brought into the room. I was a little slow on the photo and it was half gone by the time it came around to me.

Atmosphere: 7 out of 10. I love the open kitchen concept. Unfortunately, we were seated in the VIP room upstairs.

Food: 7 out of 10. Above average. Some items were better than others.

Presentation: 7 out of 10. An impressive showing of skill in the xiao long baos and dumplings.

Price: N/A. I have no idea what the bill came to so I will not comment.

Service: 6.5 out of 10. Average service.

Overall: 7 out of 10. Good but not sure if I would wait in line for several hours for a table as noted in other blogs. I only waited 30 minutes for the rest of my party to show up.