One of the best buffets in Vancouver (River Rock Casino Resort Buffet)

If you are looking for a buffet in Vancouver, and looking for a relatively decent price (about $20 - $25 a person), then this is the place for you. I think out of all the buffets that I've been to in Vancouver, this is definitely one of the best. Whether it's selection, quality, dining environment, this place has it all.
    Beginning with the dining environment, the eating area of the buffet overlooks the Fraser river, and you can see airplanes landing while dining. It really makes for a good place to go to eat with the family (however, if you want to be romantic.. I personally wouldn't go to a buffet as stuffing as much food as possible in your mouth doesn't seem to be particularly glamorous). That said, if you and your date are both into eating, this is a great place to be.
    When it comes to selection of food, the very first thing you will see is the desert bar. They have a very large one (I am mentioning this first because it's closest to the entrance. They have a very good selection from cake to pudding to very special things like tiramisu and cupcakes. The selection of desserts was also decent in quality (it didn't feel like some buffets where it was obvious that the cakes were bought from the clearance section of a supermarket bakery). They also had special creations too in the dessert section which was great.
    After the dessert section, the sushi section was across the dessert table. The selection of sushi was pretty decent and average. They had rolls that you would expect to see at a typical sushi restaurant, These rolls were the average yam tempera rolls, cucumber rolls and California rolls to name a few.
    Across the walkway from the sushi and dessert section is the salad bar and the hotpot bar. The salad bar had things you would expect at a salad bar (leafy greens, some cole slaw, potato salad and more). They also had kimchi and bowls of fruits. The hotpot bar has a good selection of (I think cooked) seafood (like mussels and shrimp) that you can ask the chef there to add to your seafood to a soup base.
     If you kept moving past the hotpot and seafood bar, you would run into the bread and drinks section. I must say, I love the fact that their bread is presented in an artisan format (they covered it in cloth). that just raises the value of the bread than by just putting it there on the counter. Beside the bread is the soup section. They had 3 types of soups when I was there. One was the vegetable cream one while the others were a regular vegetable and spicy miso (it sounds weird, but it was really good). The qualities of the soup was also very good. In addition, they had two drink machines that made soft drinks and juices which was pretty cool to have too. If you wanted coffee, you can order it from the waiters/waitresses.
     Toward the end of the food section was where the entrees are at. Since it was Korean night, they had seafood pancakes (it wasn't as good as a Korean specialty place that sells Seafood pancakes but it was not too bad), stir fry, noodles and meat. They also had on the other side of the pillar things that you would expect at a regular buffet (like fries and chicken nuggets. I didn't have too much of these as I was already getting full from eating the buffet.
    Overall, the food here is good, the selection is good and the price was pretty decent. I would definitely come back again.

A surprising find - Ricky's All Day Grill Victoria

I must say I was surprised by Ricky’s and the value of their meals for the quality and quantity. This was the first time that I ever ate at a Ricky’s. I’ve always associated them to be expensive (to be honest, I am not exactly sure why I associate them with being expensive). However, since it was Thanksgiving and there was really nothing interesting in the area beside fast food, my mother and I decided to give this place a shot and make it a onetime thing if it was too expensive. After walking into the restaurant, I was greeted by the hostess who was very nice and pleasant. My first impression was that the place had a small town but a big city restaurant to it. We were seated followed by the waitress asking what drinks we would like. My mother being the hipster she can be asked for hot water while the happy-go-lucky me asked for just water. A few moments later, the waitress came back with a miniature kettle of warm water and a cup for my mother and a cup of cold water for me. It was interesting how for the warm water, she gave my mom a small kettle.
While the waitress was grabbing us water, we looked through the menu. I must say, the selection is pretty interesting. They had a Turkey Dinner on special which included salad, turkey, soup and dessert. It looked fancy, but as I was running the Victoria Half-Marathon the next day, I wanted something a bit on the lighter end. Flipping through their menu, there were a good variety of food that is good for anyone from vegetarians to non-vegetarians. The main categories included burgers, wraps, pasta and a wide variety of appetizers. They also had a good assortment of sides that came with the burgers / wraps which include salad, fries and/or onion rings, potato wedges and tumbleweed chips.
Upon seeing the tumbleweed chips as an option, my attention was grabbed. I had a hard time choosing, so I decided to go with something that had chicken, which lead me to get the Zorba the Greek Chicken Wrap. My mother got the mushroom sandwich. The pricing for these were pretty fair at about $13 per order. We also decided to get a side order of flatbread to get a bit more carbs in my system before the race the next day (which was about $7).

Soon after we placed our orders, the food came. I must say, I was very impressed with the portions. The tumbleweed chips look so good. The wrap was also very good as the cheese and chicken made the right blend. The tumbleweed chips were good too as they were freshly made, and the taste of fresh chips is just so fantastic… Unlike the chips you get at the store bagged, fresh chips have more flavour and fullness (vs more dry store bought chips).
Before we left, I had a nice conversation with our waitress. She is a local and she was telling about how her son is graduating school in media production and how she is excited about her some coming home. I guess that is also one part of why I love this experience at Ricky’s so much. The fact that you can have conversations with the people too, which adds more meaning to the food. Overall, the atmosphere is great, people is nice, price is fair, I would definitely come back again if I was in town.

Forget about bite sized for sushi, the sushi here are jumbo sized (Asakusa Sushi Kingsway/Metrotown)

I am so used to eating sushi that is (somewhat) bite-sized. I've only ever seen a handful of places that makes really big sushi and this place is one of them. The location is convenient as it is just literally across the street from Metrotown. It was dinner time and my friend and I just went swimming and he was driving back to the Metrotown area. I am not too sure if there were any parking, so we parked outside at the curb. It was about a dollar for an hour (Make sure you double check what the hours are when you put your coins in. The free-parking times are a bit strange). Public transit would probably be the most accessible.
   When we walked in, we were greeted by one of the waitresses who quickly seated us down. She brought us the menu and the dinner special. I must say their dinner special portions looked big and most were under $10. The one that caught my eye was the chicken teriyaki dinner. It has the chicken teriyaki on a skillet and some vegetables with some rice underneath. Also, it has a side dish of miso soup and 6 rolls of California rolls that come with it. All for $10! It is a pretty sweet deal, and the portions are big too,
   Because I had another portion of dinner waiting for me at home, I decided to only get two rolls of sushi. I got a chicken teriyaki roll and an Alaska roll. When the rolls came, I was surprised. They were about $3.70 each and the rolls were huge. They are at least twice the size of conventional sushis. The taste was mediocre as the filling of the sushi was just conventional things (like for the Chicken terikyaki roll, chicken and cucumber) and salmon sashimi and imitation crab meat for the California roll.
   I am not too sure if it was because I read an article on farmed salmon and the fact that it contains 5x the amount of PCB's or the sashimi was put in rice, the sashmi felt a bit on the not fresh tasting side. That said, there was not too much sashimi in the California roll as it was mostly full of the imitation crab.
   Overall, the service of this restaurant is pretty average, but the sushi rolls and their size relative to their price makes me want to come back again. 

Lots of Meat and Zombie like servers (Float Restaurant Review)

When it comes to restaurants, in terms of size, there probably are very few that are as big as Floata around town. Located in Chinatown ( and a few minutes from the Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain Station), Floata is very accessible.
A group of friends and I were invited to a banquet that was part of an election campaign. I haven't been to a banquet in a really long time, so I happily agreed to attend the banquet.
 Because Floata is located on the third floor of the Chinatown Mall, one had to climb up a few flights of stairs (or take the elevator). I decided to walk up the stairs as the elevator seemed a bit on the sketchy side (and I got stuck in an elevator around Chinatown for half an hour before... So decided to not risk it). Upon entering the restaurant, I was greeted by staff.
In terms of the decor and restrooms, the doors were slightly falling apart. The facility was a bit on the poorly maintained side. The staff were all dressed up banquet clothes, but I guess they must've been tired as they had a zombie look across their eyes. After navigating through a jungle of tables and election campaign papers, I found my table and friends.
On the table, besides having tons of campaign papers, were two one litre bottles of Pepsi and Sprite. Also, there was a bucket of ice and some tea. There was also sheet of paper describing the dishes that was going to be served. My first impression was the ordering of the dishes seemed to be off. The rice and noodles were put at the end just before the dessert while the things most full of protein and a heart attack (if it was deep fried) was at the front. It seemed to make more sense to have the rice and noodles first, but I was willing to give the way they ordered things a try.
The banquet started by the politicians making a speech and some lion dancing. At that time, I was pretty hungry as I have been running 10km in preparation for a half-marathon. The first dish came and it was the BBQ Cold Cut combo. There was at least 4 types of meat. This included pork, duck, chicken and something jello like (I think it's jelly fish). There was nothing too special about this dish. The meat tasted pretty average and slightly on the mass produced side. I felt bad for my vegetarian friends at the table (and my intestines as it was crying "constipation..!")
 The next dish that came with the Pan Fried Broccoli with Chicken. I was happy because there were some greens. The taste wasn't anything too special. There seemed to be MSG in this, but I wasn't too sure. I felt bad for my vegetarian friends, so I picked out the broccoli for them.
The next dish that came out was the Pan Fried Prawn with Special Sauce. You may wonder what the special sauce was and to be honest, I wonder the same thing. One thing I can tell you was that the prawn tasted as if it just went swimming on a very hot day in a pool next to a butter factory that just had an accidental butter spill. The butter was all over the prawn. It tasted good, but I won't lie, I'm not very used to eating something so greasy. I only had one or two to give it a taste.
At this point, it seemed like the dishes are all arriving simultaneously. The next dish that came was the soup. When the soup came, it came in a huge bowl and the waitress laid out the smaller bowls. The waitress had a look on her face as if she hasn't slept for a while. After filling our bowls, she quickly rushed to the next tables. The soup was a bit on the thick side, but it was okay.
The next dish was the Abalone Mushroom with vegetables. I liked this dish because it gave me some more greens. The only downside was that it was a bit on the greasy side.
The Braised Duck with Taro came next. This dish was very big. I had a hard time figuring out what was the taro and what was the duck. Eventually I figured out the softer pieces was the taro while the duck was the harder ones. The duck meat was a bit on the hard side to find as it was hidden in the midst of the duck and taro.
 After the duck, everyone was already getting full. I definitely was on the full side. One reason was probably because the food was slightly more greasier than what I'm used to eating and it was all meat and vegetables which literally translates to protein and fibre. The protein and fibre both makes you feel full than the carbs from rice and bread, which we have yet to see.
 The next dish that came out was the fish fillets and chicken. The fish fillets tasted a bit old (unfresh) and the chicken was not too bad. I didn't eat too much as I was already full at that point in time. The fish fillets also was snow white in appearance, which makes me suspect that the fish fillets have gotten some colouring to them.
 Finally, the carbs arrived, and that was the sticky rice and noodles. At this point, no one had the appetite to eat the rice or the noodles. The rice was very tempting though, it was mixed with some soy sauce, and it smelled very nice.
The only thing that was left to come were the desserts. Like the soup that was served earlier, the waitress brought the big bowl of Taro and Tapioca and a plate of some pastries. The pastries were good and it was all nice and crispy. The Taro and Tapioca was really good too. It was one of my favourite dishes too!
There were a lot of food left over, so the waitresses brought around containers for the guests to put their food in to take home. I felt really stuffed at this point as I haven't eaten this much food or meat in a very long time. Even when I go to all you can eat places, I rarely eat all that I can eat.
Overall, the quality of food was slightly on the lacking end. The food also tasted a bit like it was massively produced. The portions were big, but it was also made to feed 10 people per table. That said, the variety of meats that I got to try was impressive. Apparently, the banquet costed about $60 per person. Personally, I wouldn't pay this much for food for myself, so I probably wouldn't come back. That said, I am not sure about their regular menu... Now time to get more greens in the system.

Crowded but decent Taiwanese Pork Hock Place (Uncle Lu Richmond Review)

From the outside, you can immediately tell that Uncle Lu's is Taiwanese by the flower patterned external decor. The location from the outside look pretty average with just enough parking spaces for its customers.
 I came to Uncle Lu's with my friends as we were in Richmond to hangout. We were in a group of 4. As we arrived inside Uncle Lu's, we noticed how cramped the restaurant was. The tables and chairs were very close to each other that you can smell what the people around you are eating and if they took a shower last night or not.
When the waitress arrived, she brought us to a table that was sandwiched between two other tables. Because it was our first time here, we didn't really know what to get.
 From going to Taiwanfest a few years back, I met Chef Lu (who is their owner) and he was from a place in Taiwan that was famous for pork hocks. I decided, because the pork hock vermicelli was on special for about $8 and the portion seems pretty good, I decided to get that. In the menu, they had many of the classic Taiwanese foods such as three cups chicken and crispy chicken rice.
 My friends decided to get the crispy chicken rice instead of the vermicelli. After a few minutes, the vermicelli arrived and the portion was pretty good. The only downside was that the pork tasted slightly dehydrated. I am not sure if I am correct, but I recall that the pork hock is shipped here from Taiwan via air tight packaging. That said, the taste was still pretty good and the portions were good too.
 Overall, I would say the food and the price here is pretty decent. The only downside is that the place can be on the crowded end. Also, note that they do not take reservations between 7PM-9PM on Friday nights and weekends. Other than that, I would probably come back and visit again.

Decent Taiwanese Bistro (Pearl Tea House Review)

This post's been sitting in my draft box for a while, but I thought I might as well publish it. Pearl Tea House is a Taiwanese family styled (like things you would expect to be eating if you went into a Taiwanese family) restaurant. They feature a wide variety of Taiwanese dishes (and Asian dishes) at pretty reasonable portions. The quality of food is decent and price is also pretty decent as well. 

With regards to location, it is not in the most convenient place, but it is accessible. You can take the 106 from Metrotown/New West/Edmonds and it is only 10-15 minutes away. You can also drive, however be mindful of the limited parking space. That said, if you don't like to drive or take public transit... then... have fun walking.
   I would probably visit this place again, if I do, I will update with a newer blog post. :)

Looks like an airline meal? (Zephyr Tea House Cafe Richmond Review)

Last night when my friends and I decided to go to the night market, we wanted to get something to eat before we went and a friend suggested this place so we decided to give it a try. For starters, driving into this parking lot is quite a headache. Not only is the parking space limited, the car/traffic was going in all directions it was relatively difficult to find a spot. The location of this place is pretty convenient as it is only a few steps from the Lansdowne Skytrain Station.

 After finally finding parking, my friends and I went in. The interior had a really nice Taiwanese feel to it.  Besides the T-pop playing in the background, the dim lighting really gave the place a bistro/cafe feel to it. There were couches on the sides and tables in the middle with places for people to eat at. I have to admit, the tables in the center were a bit uncomfortable because they were placed too close to each other. 

After we were taken to our seats, the menu was brought to us. The menu didn't have anything too special on it beside the classic things you would find at a Taiwanese Bistro. Things such as spicy chicken, minced pork rice and of course... bubble tea.

I wasn't too sure what to get, at first I looked at the price of the Minced Pork Rice for around $5 and I thought to myself, that's pretty good. However, I was really hungry and the low relative price of the Minced pork rice bowl compared to the other stuff made me wonder how big the portions were. 

 When the server came I asked him what's the difference in price and he told me that the Minced pork rice bowl was something more like an appetizer (I know... Who would eat a rice bowl for an appetizer?!) or for someone who was small. I think they should have sizes on these bowls. After debating for myself for a while I decided to get a Spicy Chicken Combo, while my friends got curry and popcorn chicken combo. 

 The speed that the orders came out was relatively fast, it didn't take more than a few minutes. When it came, the way the meal was placed (with the rice bowl in a separate section, the main entree in another and the appetizers/vegetables in another reminded me of airline meals. Personally, I am a huge aviation fan, so I liked the setup. I think I was too tired that day, and when the waitress brought me the combo I said in surprise that it looks like an airline meal! My friends gave me a funny stare. I guess it depends on whether or not your like airline meals, but I guess my friends didn't and I didn't take into account of people who don't like airline meals, but thankfully the waitress doesn't know English so I didn't offend anyone.

The spicy chicken looked very spicy as you can see the plate covered in chili peppers. Overall, the chicken was very fresh, a bit on the spicy side but I liked it. It was also a bit salty I found. The portions where not too big, and the rice bowl was pretty small. After finishing my meal I was still pretty hungry. 

 I would say that taking into account of the small size of the meal, but the average quality, the price is average. The food is pretty average too, I would come back if I was in the area again (and not driving).

Chicken swimming in a pool of sauce

Located in the Bellis Fair Mall, this Panda Express location is quite convenient. It was dinner time and my family and I have been travelling for the whole day and we were starving. Looking at other options in this food court, we couldn't see anything that was appealing to our pallets at the time, so we settled for Panda Express.
They have quite a few options when it comes to ordering. You can either order a single entree or double entree combo. However, because there were the four of us, we thought it might be more economical to get the family pack. A double entree was about $7 while for the family pack it includes 3 full size entrees, and two rice or noodle sides for about $30.
 Looking at the choices of entrees, what I noticed is that there aren't many options when it comes to vegetables. Almost everything here has meat in it. Also, another interesting observation was that there weren't a big amount of food at the front. Compared to other Chinese fast food joints where they have a pile of food at the front, Panda Express has relatively less quantity of food at the front.
The downside about the lower quantity of food at the front is that if a large order was made, such as an order for a family pack, the front runs out of food really fast. On a not so busy day, the quantity is good, but when you have a busy day like a Saturday night, the amount at the front is barely enough to keep up with the amount of customers ordering.
I ordered a Kung Pao Chicken, String Bean Chicken and Pepper Chicken. I know, it's alot of chicken, but there doesn't seem to be anything here that is just stand alone vegetables. All of these dishes had some sort of vegetables with them, so that's why we got them. Because the quantity at the front was limited, we had to wait for about 15 minutes for them to make more.
The chicken entrees that we got were pretty good, with the exception that some of the items have too much sauce. Personally, I don't really like to eat things with too much sauce, however there are people I know that would love to eat with a lot sauce.
  Out of all the dishes, I would say the quality is fair, the fried rice was just right. It was not too greasy like many of the Chinese fast food places that are around. The price was pretty average too, so there is really nothing much to complain about besides the amount of sauce.