After the Sun Run, we decided to go for sushi. I knew the boys would have loved it and planned to go to the Sushi Garden located along Kingsway across the street from Metrotown. However, the very popular Sushi Garden was closed. Dashed!

So we walked a few doors away and went instead to a smaller Sushi restaurant. It is called Yakko Sushi (located on 4689 Kingsway). There a quite a few sushi restaurants in this stretch of Kingsway … at least four that I can think of.

I have learned to like Kikkoman soya sauce which is sweet. At Yakko they serve Yamasa soya sauce. I don’t quite like this Yamasa brand. It had a stronger intense taste and a bit too salty for me. Not sure about you but I use the soya sauce to flavor the rice.

Oh, what do you think of the practice of mixing wasabi with soya sauce? I see a lot of people do that but I find that taste strange.

We opted to get one of their Party Trays. Their Party Tray H costs $27.00 which was just enough for the four of us. I felt that it was a bit expensive because I think we can get more for $27 just a few door down at Akasuka Sushi. Anyway we have about 49 pieces in all in this plate.

Oh, I had seen some places where they serve such things on wooden boats. That would have been fun for the boys but this place did not have that. It was kind of boring the way they presented it on the large plate.

The simple Salmon and Tuna Rolls were the first everyone dug into. I think this is because it is the easiest and least messiest to eat. I believe this type of maki is called Hosumaki … simple, small maki with a single filling.

Then there are the Pressed Smoked Salmon. We did not like these nigiri sushi in that they had smoked salmon … would have preferred fresh salmon on it. We noticed that there is a thin nori in between the rice … not sure what the purpose of that though.

Then there are the uramaki, which is basically made of three layers … rice in the outside with fillings in the outside and a nori in between them. I gather that this is not Japanese but rather types of sushi to suit the North American taste (i.e. more meat, bigger pieces and and more importantly COOKED!).

So. those you see above are the California Roll & Smoked Salmon Roll. The California Roll is quite popular in Vancouver. You can get it everywhere. Key ingredient of the California Roll are crab meat and avocado.

Above is the BC Roll & Yakko Roll. The BC Roll is the pride of British Columbia. It is the one on the left. We love BC Rolls. It has salmon which is grilled in a sweet sauce and a bit of cucumber. My boys pull out the cucumber every time — they hate cucumbers.

Futomaki is simply giant maki. They are much bigger but thinner. Reminds a lot of the Korean whatchamacallit sushi which is more coined shaped. This one is a vegetarian style Futomaki. The boys did not touch it, I am a meat person and so guess who ended having to finish this off.

Nice! I think we’ll go for more such type of sushis in future.

Last Saturday morning, we had to go downtown to pickup the Vancouver Sun Run package. So, we decided that we should just go out for breakfast for a change … and to Vancouver, for a change too. I know, we had been eating out a lot within Richmond.

So, we ended up at Fraser and E 44th. Suanne and I had stumbled upon the the Angel Cake House once before and so this is our second visit.

You can’t really find many other places that can beat the Angel Cake House for value. Here, you can get a hearty Chinese breakfast for under $5 with drinks included. Parking is quite plentiful along the street but it was early morning when we were there when traffic is light … especially for a Saturday morning.

Suanne opted for the so-called “Western Breakfast” selection. For $4.95, you could select 2 items from the section. For the first item, Suanne had the French Toast and Shrimp and Mushroom Omelette. The French Toast were two thick sandwiches with Kaya (coconut jam) in between.

The omelette had a generous helping of shrimps. The mushrooms complimented the shrimps well … absolutely great with soya sauce. The only problem with soya sauce is that it is horrendous for the French Toast — we have to be extra careful not to “contaminate” the toast.

That above is considered ONE item …

For the SECOND item, Suanne chose the vermicelli in soup with shredded pork and some pickled thingy. I liked these kind of simple plain noodle soup. Unlike egg noodles, these does not make you feel like it’s too much food. Not bad, right? $4.95 for all these food.

Arkensen (Nanzaro did not join us because he had training) ordered the Beef and Fishball Noodles. This is also $4.95 and comes in such a large bowl that Arkensen did not managed to finish it. Anyway, Arkensen is not a big eater in breakfast, so this is too much food for him.

I made my selection from the “Chinese Breakfast” menu. Again for $4.95, I get to choose two items. The first was fried noodle. It was quite wirely … no, not like wires but I hope you know what I meant.

The second item was congee with mushrooms and fish. Put lots of soya sauce. Nice.

I did mentioned earlier that the food came with a free drink. We had the usual stuff, milk tea.

Look at that … only $15.38 for all the food. You should check this place out if you are seeking for a place for some good hearty and cheap Chinese breakfast.

After the breakfast, we headed to the BC Place stadium to pickup the Sun Run package. Since it was a nice morning (although on the chilly side), we parked on the street near the Science World and walked over. Parking near the stadium is ridiculously expensive too.

There was a small fair where you could get some freebies. The organization is amazingly smooth despite them having to deal with almost 60,000 participants. I bought a few pairs of really nice running socks which were going for just $1.50.

BTW, this is the first time I was in the BC Place since the air inflated roof collapsed. Now I can see how old and dirty the inflated roof is. It’s no wonder they are trying to replace it with a lower-maintenance roof before the 2010 Olympics. But it’ll be sad to see the famous roof go.

Here are some of the freebies we got. He he he … I actually expected more than these. I was quite disappointed. Oh … the Sun Run T-shirt they gave? It was COTTON! I was expecting a Technical. Oh well …

I’ll tell you about the Sun Run in my update tomorrow. This will be my second race (after the Harry’s Spring 8K Run Off). I know some of you had earlier been following my other blog (on http://26miler.com). Just wanted to let you know, I got lazy and had stopped updating that blog but had kept running … not a lot but at least I had kept it up to a minimum of 1-2 runs a week and up to 4 times a week. I’ll keep the blog up and if I find more time, I’ll update that.

For this cake meet, we had Angie joined Polly and me. Since Angie lives in West Vancouver, we try to meet in Vancouver. We decided to meet at Italia Deli & Cafe on Granville St.

Italia Deli & Cafe is family owned and operated since 2004.

This is a small cafe with about 5 tables and few high seat overlooking the street. There are a few chairs outside the cafe, good for warmer weather. There are also some sofas at the inner side of the cafe with a large TV. It will be great for nights with game telecast. I like the nostalgic black and white photos of old movies stars (I presumed Italian) which decorated the wall.

Angie was late that morning, so Polly and I started off with some coffees and sweet treats.

Polly had a small Coffee Mocha for $2.50 while I just ordered regular coffee.

We ordered two Jewish cookies with strawberry filings for just 50cents each.

We cant believe this slice of Cherry Cheesecake only costs $2.00.

When Angie joined us slightly later, we ordered some sandwiches to share.

This is Grilled Napoli Paninis with Italian ham and provolone cheese and mustard sauce. It costs $5.99.

We also had this Vegetarian Deli Sud for $5.49. It has roasted pepper, egg plant and artichoke.

It was a great to get together with Angie. We should do this more often.

The four of us, we don’t normally go to Bubble Tea Houses. It is not that we don’t like Bubble Tea. As a matter of fact, our boys absolutely like it but they told us they will not be caught dead in a Bubble Tea House. I think they are associating it with places where girls hangout … LOL!

We would not had gone in if not for the fact that we have absolutely no idea where to go. You know, it was one of those days when we needed some place to blog about but simply cannot think of one … until we drove past the Cosmos Plaza on Garden City and McKim (in Richmond that is). That is when Suanne said that Gogo Tea Cafe had at sometime ran commercials on the TV.

It is located a floor above the street level. Almost all restaurants in Richmond simply had no views at all and is dark. Well, the view here was not that great but at least it had a lot of light here. It was still winter when we visited Gogo Tea. When spring comes round, there will be more color.

Talking about spring, I just can’t get enough of spring … it is simply the best season of the year for me. It does cheer me up with the longer days. Even driving to work is interesting observing how there are more colors every day.

Gogo Tea is bright … with ceiling to wall windows and white furnishings. On a bright day it could be blinding. Oh yeah, it is a youngster hangout alright but there are a couple of families there too.

Milk Teas are Gogo Tea’s speacialties. Ordered as an individual items, the Milk Teas are $4 and above. However, if you order from their lunch menu, you just need to add $1 for regular milk tea and an additional 50 cents if you want pearls (or coconut jelly, pudding or grass jelly) too.

We love the milk teas. They are absolutely fabulous and I am sure you will like them too. They are uniquely served in really tall glasses. They are so tall that we can’t even drink from the straws without taking it off below the table level to reach the straws!

I had the Gogo Milk Tea which came with coffee flavoured chewy jelly and whipped cream. Suanne had the Matcha Milk Tea which was more green tea and not at all sweet. Arkensen had the Chocolate Milk Tea and Nanzaro the Mocha flavoured one.

The best among all had to be the Gogo Milk Tea … it’s rich, creamy, chewy, sweet. They have a huge milk tea selection and if you don’t know what to order, then go for the Gogo Milk Tea. You won’t be disappointed.

For food, Arkensen ordered the Deep Fried Pork Chop on Rice which costs $7.25. It came with a side dish of edamame, tofu and century egg drizzled with sesame oil.

The Tofu and Century Egg Drizzled with Sesame Oil dish is surprisingly very good. No one wanted the century eggs (not even Suanne) but really, they are great.

BTW, century eggs … I grew up being told that century eggs are all black because they were soaked in horse’s urine for a long time. Is there any truth to it?

Nanzaro ordered the Curry Beef on Rice which costs $6.95. It was pretty disappointing and does not look appetizing for me. To me, only Indians and Malaysians makes the best curries on the planet.

Suanne ordered the Tofu on Hotplate. This is a vegetarian dish but really tasty and served on a sizzling hot plate. The side dishes that came with this is the same as those that came with Arkensen’s Pork Chop Rice. We like this and it’s just $7.95.

Me, I ordered the House Special Beef Soup. Although they serve the non-spicy version, I asked if they can make it spicy hot. Was glad that they did and must say that they did a great job in making it ultra spicy. This bowl costs $5.25.

The total bill came up to $40 including tax and tips. They accept cash only, by the way. We’ll definitely come visit again someday … we enjoyed their milk tea a lot.

They have their website on http://gogotea.ca

I know I am soooo behind in my blogs but I just realized how behind I was. Well, we went Mak’s in January and it is until now I got down to blogging about it. Frankly, I find so little time to do the things I enjoy these days. But anyway, I only have this entry and tomorrow’s to go before I get started on the Seattle Spring Break series.

For today, it’s about Mak’s Noodle Restaurant. We only got to know about Mak’s when Erick commented that they have one of the best wonton noodles in Richmond. Erick is from Seattle and he comes over to Richmond every now and then just for food! So, I guess being a true-blue foodie, he knows where the great food is.

We would not have found Mak’s on our own. It is sort of tucked deep in a strip mall along Alexandra Rd, the “eat street” of Richmond. The address if you are interested is 1200-8580 Alexandra Road. It is a Cantonese restaurant and their specialty is wonton noodles.

Table condiments are the all important chili oil (or oil chili?) for wonton noodles. As important as the wonton and noodle, the chili oil is just as indispensable.

There are vinegar too but I had never understood the use of vinegar here. I mean, what do you use that with?

Nanzaro insisted in making his own order. As long as he does not order Fried Rice again, we just let him decide on his own and stay out of commenting on his poor choice. He ordered the Lo-Mein with Shredded Pork in Spicy Brown Sauce. Six bucks … hmmm … and it does not really looked tasty. After some cajoling, he let us taste a bit … it was too oily and salty.

Arkensen ordered the Supreme Wonton Noodle Soup. I am kind of glad he ordered this because, well, it is what Mak is known for. It is just $4.25. It was not bad but do think that the wonton is a bit too salty for our liking. Otherwise, it is great.

When Suanne finds her pants a bit too tight, she orders something like the ones above. LOL! She even ordered the Mixed Seafood Congee and not the one with pork meat. It was pretty good for $5.

I would have ordered ones with pork liver and intestines with lots of sliced ginger, soya sauce and white pepper powder.

The Chinese Donut were extras to go with the congee. $1.50 … in Asia you could get this for 30 cents but you can’t compare right? But this one is great — freshly made and very crunchy.

Me, I had the Braised Beef Brisket/Tendon and Dumpling Noodle Soup. I like everything about it … the broth, the stringy noodles and lots of meat. Just $6.00.

In all it was an excellent recommendation from Erick. The service here is fast but understandably the servings are small … for some reason, I had never seen really good wonton noodles served in humungous bowls like the Vietnamese Pho.

The total tab came up to $26 including tax and tips. Be warned that they accept cash only, no Interac or credit cards accepted (for American readers, Canadians does NOT accept cheques).

Anyway, we felt rather thirsty after meal … they must used a lot of MSG here. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Have any of you ever been to this Shanghainese restaurant right across No 3 Road from the Richmond Centre Mall? For some reason, they had been changing hands several times over the years. I am not sure why because they seem to do very well as evidenced by how packed it is all the time.

It is now called Da Hong Yun but I remember they used to be called Shanghai Wind and at another time it was called Chen’s. We went there because we were enticed by the Live Crab banner that they put up outside.

The restaurant is smallish with something like 10 tables at the max. It’s so cramped that it was hard to move around once all the tables were filled. Decor wise, there is nothing much to it (why they even have Chinese New Year decorations still hanging in the store even today).

This is a very traditional Chinese restaurant which means that they cater to mainly Chinese customers. It’s because there is only one waitress who could barely managed to communicate in English. So ordering here was quite difficult for us.

Despite the language difficulty, we managed quite well ordering the Duck with Fried Gluten. The duck was extremely tender and meaty, much to our surprise. For $12.95, it was a half duck dish. What we liked best was the tasty sauce and bamboo shoots.

For the vege, we ordered the Tou Meow Seong Tong (sprouts in soup) which was quite crunchy and the steamy soup was great for a cold night. However, it was quite expensive. I am not sure why such a dish would have costs $12.95.

We ordered crab and decided order what they call Kam Sar Gook which is literally translated as Golden-Sand Steamed. It is actually cooked with salted egg yolk and was very crispy … so crispy that we do not need to use a cracker to break the shell.

However, there were not much meat at all in the crab. If I recall correctly, they charged $10.99 for a crab regardless how you want it cooked.

Despite ordering only three dishes, it was too much food for the four of us in the family. The total damage was $47 including tax and tips. I felt it was too expensive for a smallish place like this. Good food but quite pricey.

What we did not like was that they charge for rice separately. At least, they gave us a small bowl of lime water, free … it taste quite nice really. ;-)

I can almost swear that this place is new. Well, not new-new but new as in about 4 months new. We had been eating around Alexandra Rd every other weekend but it never quite notice it until recently. You know, with a name like Michigan, we can almost guess this is another HK Style Cafe. Suanne and I still have not figured out why so many HK Style Cafes are named after American Cities.

The Michigan Noodle Shop is located at the eastern end of Alexandra Road. It is actually on the same strip mall as Zen Chinese Cuisine and across the road from Coco Chili. You won’t miss, not with that bright yellow signboard in an otherwise drab looking strip mall. Parking might looked to be very limited but just so that you know, you could actually drive up the ramp and park upstairs.

We really thought that this place is one of the more expensive restaurant especially with their decor and expensive cars parked outside. It turned out that it’s a very traditional Chinese restaurant and nothing like any of the HK Style Cafes.

We like this place and the ambiance. It does seem upscale with the customers mostly very well dressed. The waitresses too were garbed in traditional Chinese costume. The tables and seats were quite plush.

Service was great — confident and cheerful. When Suanne and I placed our orders, the waitress explained to us that we are ordering the same type of noodle dishes and recommended something different.

Like most Cantonese tables, there are the ubiquitous chili oil.

Their House Special Rice Noodle is just like Malaysian Style Rice Noodle — not exactly like Penang Fried Kuey Teow but that’s the closest I would describe it. It had lots of nice big juicy prawns. I am quite impressed with this because in most places, there are lots of bean sprouts and very little ingredients. Now for $7.80, I think this is quite cheap.

The other dish we ordered was the Seafood Braised E-fu Noodle in Pot. This one has scallops, prawns, dish and squids and costs $11.80. Hmmm … this is quite bland and tasteless. Also, the E-Fu noodles absorbed the soup very quickly and made the dish quite soggy.

The total bill came up to $23 including tips and tax for the two of us.

We met up with Angie’s family for lunch on a Saturday. We actually got to know each other through chowtimes. We are still amazed even today how we had gotten to know so many people through the blog.

We decided to go to Vogue for lunch. Vogue is a popular Taiwanese restaurant located in the Continental Mall in Richmond. That mall, located on Cambie and Sexsmith, has quite a lot of eateries.

We were early that day. Vogue opens at 11:30AM but we were already there about 15 minutes early. They were nice and asked that we come in and allow them some time to setup. Needless to say, the place were empty at that time. By lunch time, the place were absolutely packed.

They have one of the more trendy and modern decor among Richmond restaurants. Not too fancy but really neat.

For me, I like places where they pay attention to the details. The bowls, plates, cups and chopsticks were logo’d. This is the kind of place where you are better off ordering dishes for sharing.

You know what I hated most eating out with people who knows I am the Ben behind chowtimes? They think I know so much about food that everyone leaves the ordering to me! Frankly, I did not really know what I was ordering and went by just the name. It turned out that all the dishes I ordered came out to be almost the same stuff. :-)

The Ma Po Tofu above was $8.25. I ordered that because I know what it is and was feeling like tofu that day.

I also ordered their Spicy Organ Stew. They are supposed to come with pork blood but we don’t eat blood and had that substituted with tofu. There were tripes and intestines but cooked in about the same type of sauce with the Ma Po Tofu. $9.50. The intestines were good.

A lot of poeple swear that Vogue San-Pei-Jee is simply their best dish. San-Pei-Jee is mandarin translated to Three Cup Chicken. I learned from someone at work today that the reason why this is called 3-Cup Chicken is that it is cooked with a cup of soya sauce, a cup of cooking wine and a cup of sugar. $9.50 for a pot. Very nice and goes extremely well with steamed rice. This is one dish you MUST order when in Vogue.

Then I ordered the Sweet Chili Shrimps. LOL! This one looked exactly like the Ma Po Tofu and Spicy Organ Stew except that this one is with shrimps. Same sauce different ingredients. You see now how good I am in selecting dishes?

Oh … this sweet chili shrimps were really great — large and springy is the way I would describe it. You will like it but just don’t order that with Ma Po Tofu or Spicy Organ Stew. This is a bit more expensive … $15.00 but then all seafood are more expensive.

We also order the Chinese Green Onion Pancakes because Angie’s kids loves pancakes. But this one is really not as good. We expected this to be flaky but it’s a bit too dry and bland. $4.50. Don’t order this … order something else.

The total bill came up to $62.00 include tax and tips. Not bad for two familie, huh?

BTW, they accept cash only. Weird … for a place like this. If you want to bring guest or friends our for a meal, Vogue is a great place to do that.

Thai Son was one of the first restaurant reviews we made when we started blogging two years ago. We used to go there very often until one day the entire strip mall along the No 3 Road in Richmond was torn down. In place of that strip mall is the still under construction final stop of the new Skytrain Canada Line.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that they had reopened on Garden City and Leslie Road. It’s just across the road from Fabricana. Thai Son is now also opened in three other locations. They are also at:

• 373 East Broadway, Vancouver
• #230-2800 East 1st. Avenue, Vancouver
• #201 4501 North Road, Burnaby

They had labeled themselves as “The Best Vietnamese Food in Town”. For us, they are really one of the best Vietnamese places we had been to.

The place is much larger than the old Thai Son but just as packed as it was then. I am pretty sure many of the patrons are return customers because there is no way a new restaurant in this location could draw that many people. This new location is quite out of the way for many.

Their menu is still the same ones we were so accustomed to from the old Thai Son restaurant on No 3 Road. It’s exactly the same except that they are newly printed. Oh, I remember their #30 … always had that. I remembered going to Thai Son and just ordered #30 without even looking at the menu.

The bean sprouts were blanched. It would have been nicer if it was blanched a bit longer. Great with a little sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Nanzaro ordered the large Seafood & Rice Noodles in Soup for $6.75. Nice hot broth and richly adorned with artificial crab, fish balls, squid and shrimp. Their portions are above average which is what we like.

This above is their #30. If you like spicy soupy noodles, then this is what you MUST order. #30 is known as the Thai Son Special Spicy Beef and Vermicelli in Soup. A large bowl costs $6.50. Put in dollops of oily chili flakes for that extra kick, if you like. What I like best is that meanest looking piece of pork hock … always enjoyed it and always regretting enjoying it too … it is nothing but just bones, skins and FAT. Oh yummy!

Arkensen had the ho-hum Beef Balls and Rice Noodles in Soup, $5.95 for large. We love the aromatic stock. The smell really sticks to our cloths, no kidding. If you eat here, take a moment to take a sniff of your shirt … the smell will stay for hours. Nice.

Their servings are huge and so Suanne decided to arm herself with an empty bowl and taxed each one of us. The total bill came to $20 including tax and tips after a 10% grand opening discount. Highly recommended … you must go.

Not sure about you but Ramen does conjure images of school days when we could not afford three square meals and all we had was meals after meals of instant noodles. For some reason, I loved instant noodles then. Am not sure what it is about instant noodles and kids … my boys are simply addicted to those stuff too.

We went to Ajisen Ramen not too long ago for dinner with Nanzaro. Since he likes noodles, we thought we should just give it a try. Ajisen is located in the Parker Place Mall in Richmond. It’s on the eastern side of the mall, the part facing Hazelbridge Way. You won’t miss it, driving along Hazebridge.

Inside, it does look kind of Japanese with gaudy coloured pink chairs and all. When we walked in they shouted greetings in Japanese. I’ve never been to Japan before but my impression of how a Japanese restaurant is like is exactly just like that.

Despite that pretense, to us it is a Cantonese restaurant because the people who work there all spoke in Cantonese.

We got seated and was promptly handed the menu. ALL menus should be like these if you ask me. Simple names and pictures to show how it looks like (or at least how it is supposed to look like). I like especially the “Recommended!” notations above some of the dishes. It takes brain work out of choosing from an unfamiliar menu.

The condiments on the tables were interesting. We like roasted minced garlic but what was really exciting was the whatchamacallit chili sprinkles. Boy, they sure was HOT. We can really take hot food but this one has a lot of oomph. Try with caution!

I ordered the Ajisen Spicy Ramen which costs $7.75. When I ordered I was asked the degree of spiciness I wanted it. It was a choice of something like 50, 100 and 150 degrees. Whatever the choices were, I knew I ordered the “150″.

Oh boy! It surely must have been one of the most spicy dishes I had ever tried. I mean, I grew up with spicy food but this one is too spicy for me. My tongue and lips were actually numbed by it, no kidding. I was sweating profusely and felt a tad dizzy. Whew! It was great fun.

If you ask me if I would order this again … I’d say I would.

BTW, what do you call this kind of ramen in milky broth? Hakata Ramen, right?

Suanne and I are beyond speechless with Nanzaro. They ordered (what else?) fried rice AGAIN! Ajisen had Chicken Fried Rice for $7.75. It was quite fragrant. Thumbs up from Nanzaro … he knows fried rice.

Suanne ordered the Tenderous Ribs Rice Set which costs $7.50. Suanne likes food served in many dishes, the more the better.

It was quite good. It was like half tendons and half shanks. Actually, Suanne never liked tendons but ordered this since it was one of the “Recommended!” items on the menu. She had the leaner meat and left the delicious tendons to me.

The total bill comes to $28 including tax and tips. We love this and will definitely visit again some day … I just got to try the 150 degrees ramen noodles again.