Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

For those of you who might be wondering ... this restaurant is different than the Kenzo Japanese Noodle House in Toronto and is owned by different people. This one is located in Burnaby by Griffiths and Kingsway. For the past several months, I've been making a mental note to try this place every time I drive by it. I finally went to try it out with a co-worker (Joanna) for lunch this past Friday.

The inside of the restaurant is pretty cozy - not too big, not too small; furnished with a lot of wood (very Korean/Japanese style - I'm fairly certain the owners are Korean). We came here around 12:30 pm and it wasn't super busy, but there were 3-4 other tables seated. Our waitress was very friendly and brought us over two cups off tea as soon as we sat down. Below are the pages of their menu that feature ramen:

I had a sore throat that day, so I was actively seeking out some non-spicy and slightly "healthier" options. Otherwise, I probably would've automatically opted for the "King of the Kings Ramen". I decided to go with the Don Ko Chi. Considering I was feeling a bit more health-conscious that day, their added description of: "it has very little oil", was really what sold me on it. Joanna ordered the Miso Ramen with a spicy level of 1.

Miso Ramen

Don Ko Chi

Unfortunately, I didn't try Joanna's (I didn't want to impose because I was feeling under the weather that day), so I can't comment on/rate hers. She said it was okay-good, but not better than Ramengers. 

Joanna and I tried Ramengers together a couple of months ago and we were both fans. Sadly, my food blog did not exist at that time. Click here to read my review of it on Yelp.

My first impression of the Don Ko Chi was that it did not resemble the picture in the menu at all. The broth for the noodles is a tonkotsu broth - soup boiled from pork bone. Tonksotsu broth tends to be milky and creamy (kind of like how it looked in the picture on the menu). The broth wasn't as milky as I was expecting, but it did retain a lot of flavour from the pork bone. The broth wasn't too salty or oily ... I actually enjoyed it a fair bit! I was able to drink a majority of the soup without the usual feeling of needing to follow up with 5 glasses of water. I highly suspect that it's MSG-free, but I didn't get a chance to confirm this with our waitress. The noodles were cooked well; just the right texture. As you can tell from the picture, there weren't a lot of toppings. The green onions complimented the broth very well, but I would've appreciated some other toppings too! The chashu was too rough, in my opinion. They likely chose a less fatty cut of pork to minimize the oil in the bowl, but the chashu was too lean for my liking.

Cynthia Approved Ramen Rating (CARR*)

*Click for the percentage weight breakdown for each factor (scroll down to CARR)

Toppings - 2.5/5
Meat - 2.5/5 
Broth - 4/5
Noodles - 4.5/5 
Presentation - 3/5 
Overall taste - 3/5

X(perience) Factor** - 1/2

**Click for explanation (scroll to the bottom of post)

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House gets a CARR of 72.0%

Cactus Club Cafe

When I started this blog, I decided not to write about chain restaurants. BUT, I felt like dish deserved a shout out because it's my absolute favourite at Cactus Club and I often get cravings for it.

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Prawns

The raviolo (yes, I had to look up the plural form for "ravioli") are stuffed with mashed butternut squash and mascarpone, topped with sauteed prawns and crispy sage, and covered with truffle butter and crushed pine nuts. I've actually had this dish at three different Cactus Club locations now and I haven't been disappointed. The saltiness of the truffle butter sauce brings out the sweetness in the butternut squash filling. The crispiness of the sage leaf creates a good texture that balances out the chewiness of the prawns and the softness of the raviolo.

I do tend to like "truffle" anything. It's one of my guilty pleasures.

The truffle butter does make this dish very rich, so I would recommend either ordering the starter size or sharing the entree size if you want to try it out.

Hakkaku Ramen

One of the things that held me back from starting this blog was the thought of all the restaurants I've already tried and didn't write about. I feel like my opinion (or anyone's opinion for that matter) about food is largely based on comparison. That's why I wish had documented everything from the beginning, so that I can easily compare notes (for the sake of objectivity!). For now, you'll just have to bare with me as I build up new notes and make comparisons based on memory.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a huge fan of ramen. So, I make it a point to try many different places! Among the many that I've tried in Toronto, I would say my 3 favourites are: 1) Santouka, 2) Kinton, and 3) Kenzo (in that order - if my memory serves me right).

Since I've moved to Vancouver, I've tried: Ramenger, Ramen Butcher, Kamamarui, Kintaro, and of course Hakkaku Ramen. With that being said, I'm sad to say that Hakkaku probably ranks at the bottom of that list.

Hakkaku is located by Willingdon and Hastings in North Burnaby. Their ramen menu is simple, with a choice between Miso (or Hot Miso), Shio, or Shoyu. Similar to most ramen places, there's a choice between: regular or rich soup base and pork shoulder or belly. I went with the Hot Miso because the waitress said it was the most popular. As always, I went with the pork belly and a rich soup base.

There weren't a lot of toppings that came with the ramen - the usual: bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, corn, green onions, and a marinated soft-boiled egg. I found that the soup base wasn't very well-blended (as you can almost tell in the picture). Initially, I thought it was just a matter of having to mix the soup. However, I found that as much as I mixed the soup, it wasn't coming together. There was  a lot (too much) of garlic in the mix. The taste of the garlic was so overpowering that I couldn't even enjoy the soup base. The egg was quite tasty, but the pork belly wasn't quite tender enough ... and there wasn't enough of it! 

The texture of the ramen noodles were good at first ... but softened too much during the course of my meal. And so...

Cynthia Approved Ramen Rating (CARR*)
*Percentage weight of each factor in calculating the total CARR: Toppings - 10%; Meat - 15%; Broth - 20%; Noodles - 20%; Presentation - 5%; and Overall Taste - 30%. You better believe I'm going to get technical with this.

Toppings - 4/5 
Meat - 2/5 
Broth - 3/5
Noodles - 3/5 
Presentation - 3.5/5 
Overall taste - 3/5

X(perience) Factor** - 0/2
**Click for explanation (scroll to the bottom of the post)

Hakkuku Ramen gets a CARR of 59.5%

Tealips Cafe

We were in the mood for some dessert yesterday evening, so we decided to go somewhere close by that I haven't tried before. Tealips Cafe at Highgate (Burnaby) is known for their waffles. The cafe has a nice and relaxing atmosphere with soothing background music and free wifi (kind of like an asian-style Starbucks).

For the waffles, you have a choice between their Liege Waffle or their Brussels Waffle. I asked them what the difference between the two was and this was how they described each in one word:

Liege Waffle - "crispy"

Brussels Waffle - "sweet"

We decided to ask the girl at the counter which one was more popular. She said "crispy" ... so we went with crispy! I picked the Chocolate Almond & Walnuts Liege Waffle. The waffle was covered with almonds, walnuts, chocolate chips, drizzled with chocolate sauce, and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

All in all, it was a pretty solid dessert waffle. I would recommend it to those of you looking for a spontaneous snack at a reasonable price ($5.95). I wouldn't put it on my list of gourmet indulgences, but it definitely hits the spot if you're looking for a quick dessert/snack.

If anyone has tried both the Liege and the Brussels Waffle, let me know which one you prefer!

Lost in the 50's Drive-in

Yesterday morning (afternoon, to be exact), I woke up at 12:30 pm. In all fairness, I lost an hour due to daylight savings and was also out until 3:30 am the night before. Obviously, the only way for me to play catch up quickly was to have lunch for breakfast.

(Note: I categorize "lunch for breakfast" differently than "brunch". A key differences here, at least for me, is that brunch is intentional. I plan to have brunch and it's meant as a hybrid substitute for breakfast and lunch, such that it combines the two. I'm not a breakfast skipping person. So, having lunch for breakfast is never planned. Having lunch for breakfast means that I skip breakfast entirely and start with lunch as my first meal of the day.)

We decided to try out a nearby burger bar that's been highly talked about - Lost in the 50's Drive-in. For those of you who are familiar with Burnaby, it's located by Canada Way and Edmonds Street. It's only a 10 minute drive from where I live and after yesterday, I'm honestly ashamed that I haven't been there before.

I was excited when I first saw the place. If you are a fan of trying vintage/authentic food spots - you'll know the feeling. Just by looking at the set up, I could tell that this place has been around for quite some time (which is always a good sign!). I tried to do some research to confirm exactly how long it's been around for, but had no luck. If anyone out there is privy to this information, please enlighten me!

I confess that I did not take this picture. Unfortunately, it was too rainy outside for me to get a good picture from the outside.

There is always something so charming, quaint, and comforting about smaller-sized, non-chain restaurants. The interior of this place was even cuter. Sadly, the pictures I took do not do it justice.

Not pictured: colourful disco lights, black and white tiled counter tops, adorable swivel chairs, friendly staff, and old school posters (many of them was of Elvis Presley) & signs.

Every burger comes with a choice of white or whole wheat bread and "The Works" (lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, sauteed onions, mayo, mustard, and ketchup). They bake the bread themselves. The burger patties and fries are also made by them in-house. I ordered the L.A. King burger and Sameer ordered the Texas BBQ burger.

The L.A. King - the "Works", 6 oz sirloin, cheese, mushrooms, and bacon.

The Texas BBQ - the "Works", 6 oz sirloin, jalapenos, bbq sauce, chipotle, and onion rings.

The Works + the burger toppings went really well together. The fact that the mushrooms were not seasoned actually contributed to the overall taste of the burger. Typically, lack of seasoning in a burger is a no-no for me. In this case, it actually brought out the freshness of the mushrooms and helped to balance out the other flavours in the burger (i.e. the saltiness from the bacon). Although my actual beef patty wasn't very juicy, the mushrooms definitely made up for it. The cheese really topped it all off - there was enough of it, it was well-melted over all of the toppings, and it wasn't processed.

We also got some fries and a chocolate milkshake to share. I especially loved the fries because they were chunky and actually tasted like potatoes (and not starch ...which is surprisingly rare). The milkshake also tasted fantastic. Usually, I find milkshakes to be either too watery or too thick in consistency. This one was mixed perfectly, tasted like chocolate, and wasn't overly sweet.

Although I didn't get a chance to try, I think it's noteworthy to mention that they sell a selection of bottled, old-fashioned "Retro-Pops" made from cane sugar. They also sell Vanilla Coke and real lemonade!!!

Cynthia Approved Burger Rating (CABR*)
*Percentage weight of each factor in calculating the total CABR: Bun - 15%; Toppings - 15%; Patty - 20%; Presentation - 10%; and Overall Taste - 40%. You better believe I'm going to get technical with this.

Category: Gourmet/Classic? - Classic

Bun - 4/5
Toppings - 4.5/5
Patty - 4/5
Presentation - 3/5
Overall taste - 4/5

X(perience) Factor** - 2/2
**Every rating will be subject to a bonus of up to 2%. 1/2 = "I would go back" and 2/2  = "This is a must try".

Lost in the 50's Drive-in gets a CABR of 81.5%