Eating 1000 Meals

Second time at this restaurant. It was a birthday dinner for an uncle attended by all the relatives, cousins, nephews, etc. We talked about travel, politics, current events, stocks, day trading, work, school, golf. (Here's a nugget - one uncle day trades bank stocks).

Oh yeah, we had squab, crab, fish, beef/broccoli, soup, pig neck,chicken, noodles. Your basic 10-course meals.

I believe the prices are very reasonable. But the main thing was - a good time was had by all.

Decided to drop by Fu Ramen to use up my loyalty card. I had 9 stamps on my buy 10 Ramen get one free card. After I parked, what did I see - the same restaurant but with a completely different name. Red Tuna Sushi & Noodle. WTF. I felt like kicking myself. Why didn't I take advantage of my loyalty card. I was only one off a free meal. Uggh.

That pissed-off feeling soon passed. I went in anyways. Red Tuna looked the same, only under new management. It was the same setup - a counter for 10 people plus one table.

I ordered the ramen combo - seafood ramen (2 prawns, 2 scallops, egg, meat, squid)+ gyoza (50-cent add-on) - all for $9.53. ($8.50+.50+gst). It was a good satisfying meal but it would have been better if i had redeemed my freebie ramen. I learnt my lesson.

Wedding banquet at a ballroom at the Sutton Place Hotel. Cocktails, catching up with old friends. Suddenly, a bell rings and we are seated at our table. The bride is beautiful, the groom has grown up - a lot different from the kid I used to know.

The dinner -
Salad with chicken breast, which was ok.
Lobster bisque, much too salty.
Prime rib - rare, blood red with 2 prawns, 2 scallops, asparagus, and tiny carrots. The prime rib I left half-finished on the plate and I'm a big meat eater. That's very telling. However, the prawns and scallops were good.
Dessert- wedding cake with mango sauce -good.

The wedding couple were gracious but hotel does not pass the test. For big events - stay away.

One of the ritzier Chinese restaurants in Richmond - the dinner for 10 is about $450. On the wall are pictures of the chef with some celebs - one of them being Michelle Kwan - the American figure skater.

The ten course dinner begins with a jelly fish plate, then it's broccoli & scallops. Crayfish, prawns with mayonnaise and nuts and crab soon follow. Mushroom (that look like abalone) & vegetables, soup, fish, fried rice, e-fu noodles brought the dinner to an end. It was a excellent meal.

Service was good with plenty of plate replacements. Noticed that the waiters always take away the fancy chopstick rest/thing first when cleaning up.

Small authentic Japanese restaurant, very reasonable prices.
$5.50 for ebi don (5 tempura prawns + rice) is a very good deal.

Recipe for a satisfying lunch at the other food outlet at Crystal Mall that serves siu lone bows (meat dumplings). Northern Meixi was reviewed previously.

serving for 2, takes about 20 minutes.

1 order of 5 siu lone bows ($3.50)
Add a $4.95 bowl of pork chop noodles.
Mix a $5.25 bowl of wonton soup (10 wontons).
Stir
Throw in a short 15 minutes wait,
then presto, a meal for 2 that will satisfy the munchies.

Serve with tea and styrofoam bowls.

It's a brand new pho bistro, next to Kishu and A&B Sound. Used to be Tribeca - you can still see remnants like the small statues, plants and the old menu board which hasn't been changed but which make this place seem chaotic and confusing. My new tagline for Dunkin's Donuts of 'it's not fusion, it's confusion' would apply here as well. Something about Vietnamese restaurants wanting to be all things to all people. It's enough to call out the guy that does the extreme makeovers.

Another thing of note - when you go to a pho restaurant, you order pho, which arrives fairly quickly and look similar to the phos at Pho Hua . One should not order something stir-fried as the order is rather 'lean cuisine'.

Speaking of makeovers, my prediction is that the wall between Kishu and Ben.Z will come tumbling down and it'll be one big restaurant.

As opposed to the high-flying Joey Tomato's, this restaurant has been around much longer - 15 years - and is very much, a laid back West Coast diner, whose mantra was fresh, healthy food. Originally opened by former Olympians, Diane and Doug Clement, they injected 'fresh and healthy' into this once-sleepy strip on Cambie.

In those intervening 15 years, this area has changed noticeably. For one thing, there's more restaurants now. There's even a Capers, a block away.

We used to wait for the bus in front. Instead there's a nice patio now. I remember there was a grocery store, where we bought our comic books and an old barber shop in the middle somewhere. The barber shop is still there, enveloped by the restaurant, which took up the space occupied by the grocery store and I think, the first store front at the end of the block.

There's a decent wine list, but I ordered a Timberwolf Pale Ale ($5), a rotisserie chicken sandwich ($7.75) and potato dill salad ($2.95). At its core, Tomato is still a laid back diner, maybe too laid back.

Late Sunday afternoon, with at least 4 waitresses, I noticed they were busy setting forks and spoons for the dinner trade, that they didn't seem to see all the people coming in.

In my mind's eye, I visualize the classic Jack Nicholson scene in Five Easy Pieces or was that Easy Rider, where he orders all the fixings, then one by one remove them all, just to piss off the waitress.

Then, thud, like a moon landing, my order arrived. It was good and I was satisfied.

It was good to come back to the old neighbourhood.