Anatolia’s Gate

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Hitman Howdy

While the name might conjure up spooky images of a bad ’80s horror movie or a cheesy black metal band, Anatolia’s Gate is actually a Turkish restaurant offering plenty of delicious and interesting departures from the usual Middle Eastern donairs and such.  We’ve stopped by a few times since I first heard about it through a coworker this summer and each time were pretty impressed with the food so it’s high time for a review.

On the first visit we ordered Chicken Guvech, Urfa Kabob, Ezme, and Lavash.  There were a couple of mistakes with our orders but the staff was extremely polite and friendly so all was forgiven.  And besides fixing our orders they let us keep an extra order of lavash on the house so that was nice too of course :)

The Lavash bread ($2-$4-$6) is the star of the show at this restaurant and was selected as one of the 101 things to taste in Vancouver by Vancouver Magazine.  My coworker had gushed endlessly about it at work and seemingly drooled at the mere thought of it, so Wendy and I made sure to include it in our meal.

It’s baked to order right in front of you at their traditional hot stone oven along with many of their other dishes.  You can choose whole wheat or white for this or any of their other dishes that use this dough and we ended up trying both (they’re both equally delicious).  Sprinkled with oil and sesame seeds and served up warm and fluffy with a side of haydari/cacik dip (not listed on the menu but it was one of these Turkish dips which are similar to a tzatziki), it’s something we have since stopped by to pick up just to have as a side dish for a home cooked meal.  So it’s good enough that a trip for lavash alone is worthwhile!

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Filed under: Burnaby, Mediterranean, Restaurant Reviews, Turkish | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Kim Anh

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Hitman Howdy

Wendy and I had a pho craving while out shopping in the Edmonds area and decided to give Kim Anh a shot.  They serve Vietnamese cuisine alongside Canadian diner fare which I suppose could be considered a bit of a red flag but the appetite-inducing photos in the windows beckoned us in.  Upon entering we weren’t hit with the usual intoxicating aroma of pho broth, but an equally enticing greasy burger and fries smell permeated the restaurant.  We did contemplate leaving but once we heard the owners speak Vietnamese we were more at ease. One of our fellow diners was having the patty melt; basically a cheeseburger on your choice of bread instead of a bun.  This put me in the mood for a burger, but I didn’t lose the pho craving so I just ordered both.

The Viet section of the menu had a small assortment of pho dishes for $6.25-$7, all one size which seemed to be equivalent to a small at most places, plus vermicelli and rice dishes, while the Canadian side offered steaks, sandwiches, burgers and…borscht?!?  They also have a separate menu for banh mi (Viet subs) for $5-$6.  Wendy ordered the house special pho with extra cilantro ($6.99)

They brought a nice sized bowl of cilantro on the side so Wendy was pleased.  She liked the broth and the noodles were a good consistency as well as the meat.  No complaints there.  However the sprouts and basil were served in the soup and not on the side, no mint or jalapenos either, just a single lime-wedge looking pretty lonely on it’s own little plate :( At least they have the right kind of basil.  But Wendy did mention that she liked it, broth and all.

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Filed under: Burnaby, Restaurant Reviews, Vietnamese | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Potter’s Garden

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Wendy

My craving for a good galbi-tang has resurfaced recently…and I’ve been trying to find restaurants locally that have it.  Somehow I came across the lunch menu at Potter’s Garden on Urbanspoon and they do have it at a decent price (around $8) so I made a date with Hitman to go check it out.

Only 3 banchan…nothing too exciting here…we didn’t ask for refills.

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Filed under: Burnaby, Korean | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

After 5 years… I’ve finally found you! I ♥ u Ho-dduk…

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Wendy

My first encounter with ho-dduk was around 5 or 6 years ago at the Night Market in Richmond. It was by the same clan that now does the hurricane potatoes and fish waffles. They made fish waffles back then too but no hurricane potatoes.

I got one because it was only $1 each and I love anything chewy and rice flour-y and man was I glad I tried one. However, a few years ago the clan stopped making them and I was so disappointed to not be able to have them yearly :-(

But this year my luck has changed. On a visit to the Summer Night Market this year, I asked the same stall if they still make sweet rice pancake. They said no, but that a few stalls over did. They also taught us what it’s called. It sounds like “hot dog”.

This particular food stall made their version with lots of nuts.  Too bad we didn’t get a fresh one…It was kept hot on the grill and got more crispy on the outside from that… When it’s piping fresh it should be chewy and soft.  Nonetheless Hitman and I enjoyed it very very much and Hitman especially enjoyed the oozing goodness.  For me probably more so due to the fact I had been longing for it for so long.  But for Hitman, it was his first time.  At first we debated getting two, but him being the health nut he is insisted we share one.  However, one bite into it he basically fought me for it.  But with the expression he made when he had it…it was the cutest thing ever…I had to let him eat more of it.

I was then determined to find out if I could get it anywhere else, so I eventually asked my Korean coworker where I can get this ho-dduk.

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Filed under: Burnaby, Coquitlam, Dessert, Food Carts, Korean, Sweets | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Kim Penh Xe Lua — DON’T BE FOOLED!! Chongqing — excellent deals on exceptional meals!

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Hitman Howdy

This was a first for me: actually ordering food, taking a bite then refusing to pay and leaving immediately.  Yes, believe it or not, this hole in the wall was that disgustingly awful.  Wendy and I had seen the grand opening sign for this Vietnamese/Cambodian restaurant on Kingsway well before it debuted and I was looking forward to introducing her to traditional Khmer dishes like luc lac beef and amok fish, and all within easy reach for us rather than having to trek all the way to Chinatown to the always wonderful Phnom Penh restaurant (best Viet/Cambodian cuisine this side of the namesake city).

Sadly, it was not to be.  When we arrived for lunch the sign promised “All fine Vietnamese and Cambodian dishes”.  No truth to any of that.  First of all the chef and waitress appeared to be Chinese, speaking to each other in Mandarin the entire time.  Sure, could be Chinese/Viet mixed race, but seems unlikely after the rest of our experience.  Secondly, when I looked over the menu it appeared to be a typical pho house trying to cater to non-Viet diners with “beginner” and “adventurous” sections.  I didn’t see any Cambodian dishes I recognized, so I thought perhaps it was Viet food with a slight Cambodian twist since there is a large Vietnamese population in Cambodia.  So I asked the waitress about this.  She spoke easily understandable English, albeit with an accent, but didn’t recognize the word Cambodian.  Full disclosure: she told us it was her third day, so a bit of slack should definitely be cut.  The one positive thing I can say is that she was polite although she was obviously nervous the moment we came in despite our being very friendly at first.  Even to the point of giving us an escalating series of multiple choices for our water.  Don’t ask.  The warning flags were up.  When Wendy clarified what I meant by pointing at the “fine Vietnamese & Cambodian…” heading on the front of the menu (Wendy: It’s in the name of the restaurant for god’s sakes…), she said she would ask the chef.  He said no, the dishes weren’t Cambodian influenced.  I was confused, so I asked which were the Cambodian dishes.  Again, she left and came back (the chef was leaning out of the window between kitchen and restaurant to talk which wasn’t far from our table so Wendy understood some of the convos), this time just telling me “Yes, there’s elements of Vietnamese and Cambodian”.  Hmm, helpful…  So I ordered the “Phnom Penh Rice Noodle Dry Soup” since that seemed to be the only Cambodian dish on the menu (after another browse of the menu now that I’m back home I see there are three dishes that APPEAR to be Cambodian style Vietnamese, all ‘ko’ dishes, which are soups).  Wendy wanted a house special but was having trouble finding it listed and inquired about it.  The waitress pointed to the heading of the menu and said, “Oh, yeah we have it it’s right there!”  You can see what I mean here:

“House Special Pho“

So Wendy ordered that with extra cilantro as she usually does when we go for pho and our waitress indicated this was no problem.  Her meal arrived promptly, but no cilantro AT ALL, just a few sad chunks of green onion with the meat.  Wendy asked if it was coming and the waitress put her index finger to her lips, looked to the ceiling, tapped her finger mumbling “cilantro, cilantro, cilantro…”, and  asked, “you’re talking about the green leafy stuff right?”.  Wendy said, “yeeesss….”, and she apologized and came back with…..

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Filed under: Burnaby, Chinese, Restaurant Reviews, Sze Chuan, Vietnamese | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

East Meets West and Gets an Elbow to the Head at Top Cantonese

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Hitman Howdy

Not to be outdone by my anniversary surprise, Wendy planned a veritable feast of Chinese delicacies I had been wanting to try for my birthday.  I should insert a disclaimer here that Wendy is originally from Hong Kong while I’m Caucasian.  You’ll see why in a moment…  Acting on a friend’s recommendation we chose Top Cantonese, a banquet-style restaurant on Kingsway.

After making the reservation we found out that a Chinese couple we know had celebrated the wife’s birthday there just days before so we took that as a good omen.  Upon arrival we got off to an awkwardly humorous start that was to set the tone for the evening; while standing in the entranceway waiting for the group ahead of us to be seated, I was leaning with my arm outstretched against the wall.  Just as I was lowering my arm a straggler from the group darted underneath and I wacked her full force on the head with my elbow.  My immediate reaction was to apologize profusely and pat her softly on the head where I had hit her, but this seemed to cause even more consternation.  I felt like I had broken some obscure ancient tradition ie “do not touch the head or you will steal the person’s soul”.  Oh well on to the food…

Honey badger vs. cobra vs. crab

For the main we had picked dungeness crab, so our waiter brought a fair sized live one to the table for our appraisal.  Looked good to me but I had Wendy ask if I could hold it just to be sure :P The crab was clamping onto my wrist…for some reason this came as a shock to me but felt kinda cool like the crab was trying to cuddle up or something.

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Filed under: Burnaby, Cantonese, Chinese, Seafood | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Kawawa Ramen

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Wendy

I have a feeling I will get some backlash for writing this post.  Why?  Well let me get my final thoughts on Kawawa out early in this post.  Quite simply, I really enjoyed the food and will definitely go back.

Kawawa is located inside Metrotown right beside their All-You-Can-Eat establishment of the same name.  Now I know I know, this really isn’t an authentic ramen restaurant.  Heck, none of the people that work there are Japanese.  But they actually make some of the better non-Downtown non-Japanese-run ramen I’ve ever tasted.

LBF ordered the Beef Tongue (or “beef tough” as it’s written on the menu) and I think it’s around $8-9.  It came in their “Japanese Style Broth” which I’ll assume is equivalent to shio.  It came with a measly 3 small slices of “beef tough” and indeed it was tough, or so I’m told.  The soup however was quite flavorful and the ramen noodles were not bad.  Quite al dente.

L ordered Combo A which came with a bowl of ramen in Japanese-style broth and a small bowl of charshu rice, which you will see later.  It was $7.95 which is a pretty good deal.

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Filed under: Burnaby, Japanese, Ramen | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

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