New Menu Tasting at Pearl Castle Cafe

Finally, after a long hiatus, ChineseBites is back! This time, we were invited to revisit to Pearl Castle Cafe to try out some of their new menu webtrader exness items. We were treated to their new bubbleteas as well as some of their new rice and hot pot dishes. The owners provided the food and drinks for our group.
The three drinks in the back are the new ones, all topped with a fluffy ball of cotton candy, only available at their main location (Continental Centre) as of Mid-June. The first one is Sunset Love, a fruity concoction of orange, pineapple and peach exness-trade.my/web juice, topped with the cotton candy. The Blue Sky is next, topped with matching blue cotton candy with a base of blue tangerine, calpis (an un-carbonated soda with yogurt-like flavours from Japan) and pop. The last of the new ones is the Young Girl's Dream with a billowy pink cotton candy. It also has calpis and pop, but is mixed with a bit of grenadine. The cotton candy does deflate over time, so be sure to start with that! 
Of the ones in the bottom row, I had the first one on the left, the Pudding Milk Tea. I found it a bit sweet, but I still liked it. I would have added some pearls though. The next one is Coconut Red Bean. Two green teas follow, one is a Peach Lemon version, and the next is with Red Bean. The next two are new offerings as well, both featuring jelly noodles. The first is a Black Tea sweetened with brown sugar followed by the Wintermelon Juice.  There is a Green Lattea (pun intended!), as well as a Taro Green Milk Tea, also new this http://www.exness-trade.my/web season. The Roasted Rice Lattea completes the lineup.
And last but not least, the one on the far right is the Ferrero Rocher chocolate milkshake...complete with the chocolate as well as Nutella. Amazing...and uber sweet. And if you look at the bottom of the Wintermelon Juice, you'll see the Jelly Noodles.
Now...onto the food! The little Taiwanese Sausages are less fatty than the North American ones. Made with pork, and simply seared, this was a good start to the meal. I can see this going really well with a beer.
Another favourite appetizer of mine is the Wonton with Chili Sauce. The wontons were a touch dry and the skins seemed a little thick, or perhaps a bit underdone? I love my food extra spicy, so this didn't have enough heat for me, but might be hot enough for some. 
Next up is a trio of fried appetizers. This is the Fried Tofu, simply battered and deep fried. These are pretty standard but the side of kimchi was refreshing.
I've never actually tried Abalone Mushroom, but I'm willing to try it, now that it's deep-fried! The breading is light, and the mushroom inside was really juicy. I really liked this, and would like to try making this at home, probably not deep-fried, but maybe braised with other mushrooms?
And last of the deep-fried goodness is the Fried Fish Cake. It's dense, chewy and a great blend of sweet and salty. The texture was super bouncy and really didn't need any accompaniments. Oh, and I liked that none of their fried dishes were overly oily. 
This is their Milk Seafood & Pork Hot Pot. A mixture of seafood, prawns, squid and fish are slow cooked together with some pork in a creamy milk-based soup. The whole pot is then kept heated at your table. Add the soup to your rice and this pot is comforting, soothing and very substantial for one person. I'd get an extra bowl of rice and just share this between two people! 
This is a real old-school way of braising chicken, the Three-Cup Chicken, so named not because each of the ingredients are measured in cups, rather, it is so named to indicate that the three sauce ingredients (sesame oil, Chinese rice wine, and soy sauce) are used in equal amounts. Basil is also an essential part of this dish and it's definitely present here as well. These little nuggets of chicken are soft and tender. I liked that some pieces were bone-in, giving the dish a rustic feel. 
This is another dish featuring the Abalone Mushroom Braised with Three Spices. This was really juicy, and after trying the mushroom done in this manner, I'll definitely be giving it a try at home, a great idea for Meatless Mondays!
Looking to ward off vampires and the common cold? Give this Garlic Sauce Chicken a try...just at a glance, there are over a dozen whole garlic cloves and loads of finely chopped garlic. And you can be sure there are more than what the eye can see. It's very similar to the Three-Cup Chicken, with the added extra of the garlic and green onions.
Kimchi rears its head again in this Kimchi Seafood Fried Udon. With all the dishes so far being served with rice, this noodle dish was a welcomed change. Not too spicy and loaded with seafood, this was more sour and spicy, but the texture of the noodles were bang on. 
Yay, another noodle dish! This time is the Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. I know everyone is still raving over ramen, but for me, these noodles are where it's at. The soup has hints of cilantro and star anise, a very pleasant blend of flavours. If you haven't tried this before, you'll be in for a surprise. 
Now onto the NEW items! First up is their Spicy Incense Pot. Loaded with seafood and various veggies, this potful really packs a punch...those chilies, man, they'll get you every time. If you are sensitive to heat, I highly recommend staying away from the actual chilies themselves. They render much of their heat into the heated pot. And I suggest you leave this towards the end of the meal, because the flavours of this will likely overwhelm more delicate dishes. 
Another new dish is the Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice. This was tasty, but I've never been a fan of fruit in savory dishes. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed the dish with the pineapple chunks. After adding a few sprinkles of hot sauce, this dish takes on a whole new flavour. 
An offshoot of their fan favourite, the Milk Seafood & Pork Hot Pot is their Curry Coconut Seafood & Pork Hot Pot. It's essentially the same dish with the addition of curry flavours and coconut milk. The flavours are really mild, so if you think you are not a fan of curries, give it a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the sweetness underlying the whole dish.
This is one of two new rice dishes, the Marinated Chicken with Rice, served with a side of tofu and some veggies, this is easily a one-pot wonder. I didn't really care for the warmed salad, but other than that, the dish had enough interesting textures and flavours to be worth a try. I would have like a bit more sauce and for the chicken to be a touch crispier, but other than that, no complaints.
Whew! And for the final dish, we have the Marinated Pork with Rice. Essentially the same flavours and accompaniments as the chicken dish, it is similarly satisfying. 
Many patrons of Pearl Castle Cafe have a short list of their favourites but with the addition of these new dishes, give them a revisit and you might find a new favourite! 

Address: Continental Centre, 1128-3779 Sexsmith Road, Richmond
Phone Number: (604) 270-3939
Website: on Facebook

Dim Sum at New Starlet

I have always had a hard time trying to find a good dim sum place in Burnaby, but Sherman found one and brought me one day. He's been there before but it's new to me. New Starlet is located on Kingsway, just a bit east of Royal Oak. The two of us tackled eight dishes, yeah, sounds about right! The Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow 蝦餃) were quite large, and there was lots of shrimp inside the delicate wrapper. As you can see at the 10 o'clock mark, the skin was translucent and quite thin overall. I liked the filling because you could detect large chunks of shrimp, instead of some places where the shrimp is diced superfine and mixed with other filler...not here. Now you either hate this or you love it, there's just no "I don't mind it" attitude when it comes to Chicken Feet (Fung Zaau 鳳爪). Delicately spiced with some peppers and sitting atop of peanuts, I found this to be quite good. The feet had a good balance of skin, cartilage and bones. For extra heat, a few peppers are placed on top, should you dare.

For some reason, I find rice noodles in all forms very comforting, whether it's rice noodles in soup, or plain noodle rolls simply pan fried with soy sauce and sesame seeds, or as you can see above, these Shrimp Noodle Rolls (Har Cheong Fun 蝦腸). Plump shrimp snuggled in thin sheets of rice noodles. Topped with the accompanying soy sauce, this dish has a great blend of flavours with the sweetness of the shrimp and the saltiness of the soy.  Carbs, bring on the carbs! The Sticky Rice (Lo Mai Gai 糯米雞) is a small package of chicken, some ground pork, Chinese sausage, salted egg yolk and shiitake mushrooms wrapped completely by a layer of sticky rice. The one novel thing about this New Starlet version is that they actually use a few grains of wild rice too. Then the whole rice log is wrapped in lotus leaves and then steamed. I like to add a bit of hot sauce to bring all the flavours out.  Along with the Shrimp Dumplings, another dim sum staple is the Siu Mai (燒賣). Essentially, these are open faced pork and shrimp dumplings. The wrappers are wonton wrappers but you just don't close the whole thing up. It's a mixture of pork, shrimp, Chinese mushrooms and if done right, they can be quite juicy. Done wrong, and you feel like you're eating a dry meatball. Fortunately, the fatty pork gave these nuggets lots of moisture and the end result was good. Beancurd Skin Rolls (Fu Pei Guen 腐皮卷) is a steamed roll that has many of the same ingredients as a Siu Mai with the addition of bamboo shoots and veggies. The bean curd skin is filled and then rolled tightly as if it was a spring roll. Some places deep fry these, but New Starlet steams theirs. I prefer it this way, as it's much less greasy. The resulting juices from steaming makes a great sauce as well. The filling was just a touch bland but nothing a bit of hot sauce can't fix. This rather bland looking Black Bean Pork Spare Ribs (Pai Gwut) was probably the most disappointing dish of the day. The black bean flavour was imperceptible, and the actual pieces of the pork were just a touch too fatty. I'm fine with a bit of fat, but not actual pieces of fat with a small bite of pork attached to it.  Our last dish was the BBQ and Cured Meats with Rice in a Claypot. The meats include Chinese sausage, cured duck and pork as well. The soy sauce gets poured tableside and everything is mixed together. An alternative would be to move all the meats off to another plate and serve yourself the rice first. The meats had a good flavour and the rice had a nice texture, but the one thing missing is the crusty bottom that's expected of claypot rice. This is the whole shebang...not bad for two people...mind you, I had plenty of leftovers for dinner!

Take Note:

• Go early to avoid wait
• Reasonable prices
• Plenty of parking 

Cotto Enoteca - Revisited

Now that it's a bit wet and cold here in Vancouver, it's a good time to go and revisit Cotto Enoteca for some comfort food. Pasta and Pizzas from a wood-burning oven...what better to warm you up, right?! Starting off with an appetizer of Cotto Polpette, our hunger was immediately satisfied. The house made meatballs are smothered in a tomato sauce, and served with a few pieces of baguette. I liked it better when these were served with pizza bread, but it will do for now. In no time at all, our Affumicato pizza was delivered! A slightly crispy crust and a chewy base, this pizza was topped with both mozza and gorgonzola cheese. The meats were speck bacon and sopressata, which made each slice a bit too salty for me. But that's the nature of cured meats. I sprinkled on some additional parmesan as well as some chili flakes and really enjoyed it afterwards. We also ordered a few pastas to share as well. For non-meat eaters, this Tagliatelle Frutti de Mare is perfect. As you can see, there are large chunks of salmon and halibut, as well as plenty of prawns and clams. It's a bit rich due the cream based alfredo, so it's best to share. The portion shown here is a "small" portion, but trust me, it's enough to satisfy!
I am definitely a fan of long pastas (as opposed to penne, farfelle or fusilli) so I just had to reorder my all time favourite, Pappardelle Carbonara. I order this every time I come, from the first "soft opening" to now, and have never been disappointed. The noodles are thick and slippery, flavoured by the clingy cheesy and eggy sauce. Bits of pancetta and garlic studded the dish, and the And for a sweet finish, the Budino. I'm not normally a sweets person, but this light butterscotch pudding was really good, not overly sweet and when combined with a layer of chocolate mousse, it had a very light airy feel. I do love the honeycomb crumble, and actually, I love lots of honeycomb. The one savory flavour in this was the salted rosemary caramel, which was highlighted by the fresh sprig of rosemary. It's perfect for sharing and goes well with an espresso, or maybe glass of grappa...

Penang Delight-FUL!

I've been wanting to try Penang Cafe every time I visit Kimura on Rupert. It's always packed and the aromas wafting out whenever the door opens is amazing! My mom is a bit hesitant to try new places, but my stepdad is more than willing treat his tastebuds to new things. So with my mom visiting my sister in Hong Kong, I kidnapped my stepdad and we headed to there for a new taste experience! We started off with the basics...their Hainanese Chicken. The chicken is flavourful, with a bit of soy and some sesame oil as well. The chicken is deboned and makes it easier to inhale. I'm not a fan of chicken skin and the steaming method of cooking makes it so easy to peel the skin off. It's flavourful (yes, I snuck a few pieces in) but I just can't get over the texture of the skin.
And if you get Hainanese Chicken, it's almost de facto that you partner that up with rice...and Penang Delight offers both Coconut Rice and Chicken Rice Because we couldn't decide, we opted for one of each. The Coconut Rice on the left is fragrant with coconut milk, and although you might worry that the rice comes out "sweet", it doesn't. The aroma is sweet but the rice itself has be bit of salt in it to make it as savoury as you'd expect. The Chicken Rice is rich...instead of making rice with water, the liquid used for this is the chicken broth from the poaching of the chicken. Yes, it's a bit fatty, and thus, the colour of the chicken rice, just a bit darker that you'd expect. The flavours from stir-frying the rice with some garlic and ginger before adding the stock make the rice perfectly toasted and so rich. Another classic dish is the Hokkian Mee, sorry the KL Hokkian Mee (KL=Kuala Lampur).  It's reminiscent of a classic Shanghainese dish. Thick noodles smothered in a rich sauce made with oyster sauce and soy sauce, tossed with veggies, pork, chicken and a few shrimp. It's not rocket science, but it's one of those things that is truly "greater than the sum of its parts". Add a bit of sambal chili paste to it for a kick and it's perfect! And after all the rice and noodles, we decided to scale things back with a nice mellow soup, Bak Kut Teh. It's a slow cooked pork bone soup that is meaty in flavour but surprisingly light in texture. As you can see, there are a few bits of veggies, tofu and mushroom added to the mix, but the star ingredient is the pork bones. Ask for a bit of soy sauce on the side to dip these meat morsels in, you'll love it. The soup is hearty, rich and flavourful...a delightful way to end your meal.
I do need to revisit this place soon as I was remiss in not ordering their Roti Canai, which I love, and many have told me that it's a "must try". Perhaps I'll just do a takeout order next time I'm in the area!

Cattle Cafe

It was late and I wasn't really hungry, but I did have a craving for something sweet. I was sick and tired of the old tried and true, Earls, Keg, and Cactus Club. Deciding to go for something Asian...Cattle Cafe was calling me...
Curry Fish Balls, a night market staple, and now, available in Burnaby...way too close to my place. I don't really like the presentation, I prefer them in a bowl so as to keep them warmer. The balls had a good bounce, but the curry sauce could have been spicier...I expected an even dozen, but as you can see, we only got 11...weird, right?
Now this isn't something I would normally order, but the Mango Shake with Grass Jelly was actually really refreshing after the fish balls. Creamy, cold, sweet with a few chunks of jelly. It's so refreshing and I have to say, it's a decadent treat...just once in a while... This was a new treat for me...Sliced Beef Satay Hand Squeezed Fish Noodles. Even though it's noodles made of soup, it's actually not fishy at all! The texture is a bit chewy, almost al dente. The satay soup was spicy, but not hot, flavourful and really right. The beef soaked up the soup and made the meat super tender.
One of the things I like about Cattle Cafe is the fact that you can add little snacks to their soup noodles to round out your meal. This was my add-on for the night...Pan-Fried Turnip Cake. With just a bit of onions and some spices, these cubes were crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. Flavours were a bit mild, but good enough as a snack...
Ok, so remember at the beginning of the post, when I said I had a craving for something sweet? So...everything I ate up until this golden Bubble Waffle showed up was just gravy. This was the whole point for the entire visit. And yes, it was worth it. Just a little crispy, soft and chewy on the inside...I really should just get this to go next time and avoid all the noodles and snacks! Nah, who am I kidding, the dessert is totally worth the wait!

1st Time at Mr. Red Cafe

Hi again! Thanks for revisiting my blog, which I have shamefully neglected for the past few months. I've been working a few jobs and I just couldn't find the time or energy to return to blogging. However, in the past few months, I've figured out how to balance everything and I am going to make this blog a priority again. I might not post daily like the totally dedicated Sherman, but I endeavour to blog at least once a week! Not a bad start...
Even when I wasn't blogging, I was still eating and continued to take photos of all the meals that I've enjoyed. It's these photos that I will be featuring for the first few posts. Enjoy!
I've been hearing great things about Mr. Red Cafe and I finally had a chance to try it for brunch. Every review I've read says how different they are from your everyday pho places...and boy, were they right! We started with their Pho Cuon, a delicate rice noodle roll filled with stir-fried beef, basil and basil. The rice noodles had the cutest pattern on them, and the filling inside was even better. The beef was cooked perfectly so as not to be chewy and the herbs really added a level of freshness to the roll. Instead of dipping the rolled into the sauce, I spooned it onto the roll in my bowl so as not to miss out on any of the filling. Oh, and it's a deal for just $5! Before the next "food" dish came, we decided to check out the various sauces they had available on the table. They have the usual "cock" sauce and the chili seed oil, both favourites of mine. The one new item for me was the vinegar with chilies and garlic...spicy, tangy and so tasty. Next up was another new item for me, (boy, have I been limited in my Viet food culture), and it was like nothing I've very tried before in a Vietnamese restaurant. It's called with Pate Ga, and is a pretty good deal for $7. It's hard to understand at first, but when you mix all the textures and flavours together, consisting of a layer of sticky rice, topped with mung beans, layered with some chicken chunks, pate, and deep fried shallots, it sort of dawns on you...it's an open-faced Chinese "jong". The flavours and fillings are similar, just in a brand new presentation! Despite my need for heat, I actually didn't feel the desire to put any sauces on to this dish. I wouldn't recommend it as a main course for one due to the mildness of the flavours, but it's definitely fun to share as an appetizer. We also tried their Chef's Special, Bún chả giò thịt nướng, (yes, I had to take a pic and transcribe it). But it's amazing, albeit a little pricey at $13.50. However, it is LOADED with stuff. Atop a healthy serving of vermicelli, there is a crab meat spring roll, deep fried tofu, grilled and crispy pork, not to mention the usual suspects of cucumber, sprouts, mint and cilantro. Add a bit of the nuoc nam, give it a toss and make your tummy happy. The noodles gets a salty flavour with the sauce and still have a bite to them. The tofu and spring rolls both maintain their crunch, and the pork provides just the chewiness you're craving. Another dish that is often bastardized is the Bun Bo Hue. I have to admit, I do like my pork hock and am always disappointed when various establishments serve theirs with Vietnamese ham, pork tendon, flank and the occasional beef ball. They just make the soup base hot with chili oil and serve it with "spaghetti-style or lai-fun" noodles versus pho noodles and hope you'll be happy. But this place is pure authentic...complete with pork hock and pig's blood! I had to pass on the pig's blood, it's a bit too foreign for me, but every other ingredient of that dish was devoured very happily, even though my lips were burning, just a bit from the heat of the soup. And I only put three of the vinegar-ed chilies in my soup!
I guess after all that, it's best to cool off with a nice Iced Vietnamese Coffee...too sweet for me, but I could do a sip or two. Next time, I'll ask for half the condensed milk... Service here is great, very patient, friendly and super helpful if you're not sure what you want. Best tip? Take a look at what other people are eating and if you think you'll like it...just point and order! I'll be returning soon to try their dumplings, as well as other goodies, like their chicken wings!