Updated 19th Nov 2014; This restaurant is closed according to Urbanspoon.com

I had always wanted to go to Fuel and it was just for one thing. People had been raving about their fried chicken which they served only on Fridays. It is not that I like fried chicken a lot. I just want to find out what the big deal is and how Fuel could charge $21 for just three pieces of chicken.

Back then, the name of this West 4th Ave was Fuel. It had recently been renamed to Refuel. They closed for a few days for some renovation and reopened again as a lower priced establishment. And guess what. Fuel/Refuel retained their star fried chicken dish and serves this everyday now … and at a lower price too.

That’s a good thing. No matter how good the fried chicken are, I don’t think one can sustain justifying it at $21. Some things are not meant to cost that much no matter how good it is.  Just like Taiwanese Beef Noodles are not meant to cost $11 no matter how good it is, if you know what I mean.

Talking about TBNs … Gosh, I don’t know what it is with Chef Hung. Until today we are getting tons of traffic and is the #1 restaurant review of all time on chowtimes. The long lines are still there even today after all the bad reviews they had been getting. They must be doing something right somewhere.

Sorry, I digressed. Back to Refuel.

The loud music, warmth and aroma from the cooking hit us the moment we walked in. It was not ear drum splitting loud but was very noticeable having walked in from the quiet of the street outside. It’s kind of like walking in from another world.

They have an open kitchen which you could see the action if you are seated by the bar. It was only later after we had very much settled down that it occurred to us that it might be better to have a seat by the bar. We did not bother to switch since we were all setup already.

Refuel tagged themselves as the neighborhood restaurant and bar. Never been here and with thoughts of $21 fried chickens, I thought it would be like a place you hang out with friends … you know, kids unfriendly kind of place.

We were surprised to see there were families with kids and babies at two other tables.

Service was good as I well expected. Our server was cheerful and came by really quickly. It is our usual Friday date night and we took our sweet time to settle down. I decided to order the Vancouver Island Brewery. It is a dark beer, well balanced and smooth. Suanne just had water.

Their menu is small. It is just a 1-pager. There are only seven items on the Mains section with the rest of the menu dominated by snacks and starters. Go ahead and click on the menu above to show it in extra large size.

Our server explained that they have specials which are not on the menu. There were two specials that night which are sharing plates. The first is a Whole Confit Duck meant for 2-3 people and the other is an 18oz Steak for Two. We were so tempted to get the Whole Confit Duck but decided otherwise because it would mean us not ordering the fried chicken.

We stayed the course. The Confit Duck will have to be for another visit.

Refuel also had something called Whipped Lard in the snacks section of the menu. We did not order that but I thought it sounded kind of interesting.

Instead we had Piggy Puffs. That is $5 and is deep fried pork skin. It was interestingly served in a brown paper bag. We looked around for the tell tale oil stain on the paper bag. There wasn’t any. I only assumed that for $5, this is made fresh.

The Piggy Puffs were very crispy and crunchy but some part is very hard and impossible to chew through. For the most part it was good — just that it was not perfect all round.

The white Vinegar with Thai chili above is for drizzling onto the piggy puffs. It added a different flavour dimension to the snack which I thought was very nice.

Talking about Piggy Puffs. We have a pack of this at home too. This one is $1.50 and this actually tastes better. LOL!

So this is it … the famed Buttermilk Fried Polderside Chicken. It came with Jalapeno Biscuits, AJ’s Gravy and Coleslaw.

It is no longer $21. It is cheaper. It is now … (more…)

I was pretty stoked when I learned that the Vancouver Chowdown’ers were planning to visit 12B for the monthly chowdowns. The moment that the date was announced, I immediately responded and requested for two seats. Well, it was so popular that all the places were snapped up already. We were put on a waiting list in case someone pulls out at the last minute.

Just a week before the night of the supper at 12B, fmed (who organized this chowdown) informed me that there is one, and only one, seat that had just became available. Fmed asked if I am still interested. So instead of passing it up this chance, I went alone. Suanne was game enough to let me go alone (thanks honey!).

12B is an Underground Kitchen and is run by Chef Todd. A couple of days before the dinner, I called Chef Todd asking for permission to write about 12B. He was agreeable but did lay down some ground rules. I could write about anything but I must help protect his anonymity.

So I can’t tell you where 12B is. If I tell you, I have to kill you. Let’s just say that it is located somewhere in Vancouver. I was only given the address of 12B days before the dinner. And that too, I was only informed via individual email of the location. Such secrecy!

Chef Todd hosts 6 to 12 people each night. Twelve is about the maximum number of people he could fit in comfortably. There is only one sitting for everyday he works the kitchen.

At a glance I was wondering how Chef Todd could fit twelve people in the two long tables but we could actually fit all twelve guests quite snuggly.

I think if Chef Todd wants to, he could fit in more in the adjacent lounge. But I think twelve is all he could manage. After all he is a one man show who does everything …

… and it is not just cooking. I did not realize how much work it is for just one person to run the whole operation. I am just amaze thinking about it. Oh … that is Chef Todd at the end of the corridor playing the role of the reception welcoming his guests.

I can imagine his job description reads as follows:

• cooks
• takes reservation
• entertains
• wash dirty dishes
• mops the floor
• reception
• interior designer
• menu planner
• shopping
• serves

When I called him at 10AM in the morning, he was already working preparing for the dinner that night. He said that he works pretty much a 16 hour day.

12B is tastefully decorated with some nice art pieces. The event starts at 8PM. Being one who normally have dinner at 5-6PM, this is considered a really late dinner to me.

The only person I know personally at this dinner is fmed. Some of the rest I know of their names from hanging out at the Vancouver Chowdown forum. So it was kind of awkward in the beginning especially in the presence of such accomplished foodies. These chowdown foodies sure knows the restaurant and food industry like the back of their hand. They would talk about who owns what restaurant, who fought with who and went their separate ways, the secret techniques used by certain chef and all that kind of stuff.

You know, I think these guys should start a food blog on their own given all their knowledge.

When everyone is assembled. Chef Todd burst into the room and declared that “smoking is mandatory”. It is his way of saying that “make yourself at home”.

It is a BYOB event too. Almost every one brought a bottle. So there were a lot of wine to go around the whole night. I thought it was a nice touch to sip wine from mason jars. Small touches like this sets the casual tone for the night.

Chef Todd’s kitchen is just next to the dining area. It is roomy for one chef and he keeps it very well organized.

The guests keeps popping into the kitchen to chat with him. He was very accommodating even though he was working non stop all the time. There are not many chances where one gets to observe the chef preparing the meal.

I guess you will also notice the same thing I did when I saw his stove. It does look unremarkable isn’t it? Why … even one of the knobs were broken. He keeps a plier handy in case he needs the knob. Go on … click on the pictures above in case you are curious as to the kind of sauces and herbs that Chef Todd uses.

One thing that surprises me was that Chef Todd varies his menu everyday. I thought it would be easy for him to just repeat his menu for at least a period of time. Given that weekend reservations are booked solid right through February next year and the limited number of guests he can host every night, the chances of returning guests are very slim.

Dinner was served at 9PM. I was way past hungry at that time. I did not realize it would start that late. For some reason, no one asked about what is being served for the night. It is like Omakase — we trusted Chef Todd to surprise us.

Here comes the food … (more…)

“Oh My God!”

That is how we would describe this Friday dinner we had recently.

We had heard so much about the Bin 941 Tapas Parlour … read a number of reviews about them. We never thought it would be our kind of place. Reviews after reviews pointed out their loud music … and that it is dark … and that it is dingy.

Looking at Bin 941 from Davie just off Burrard, you will probably give this place a miss. With rusted looking frontage and just next to a pawn shop, what would you expect? We walked passed by Bin 941 many times. We did not think much of them.

It is cramped. And really small. If you had not known better, you would probably call this a hole in the wall.

There are only tables lining one side of the restaurant … really small tables. Put on a couple of plates and drinks, there is hardly any room left for anything else. The rest of the seats are at the bar.

Regardless, people tell me that the food is great. So I called ahead in the afternoon trying to make a reservation for a table for two. Well, they said that they DON’T take reservation. They told me that if I wanted to be sure of a table, we got to be there early. They open at 5PM for dinner.  Only dinner, no lunch. They close late too. Real late … like 2AM.

So we went early. Too early as a matter of fact. It was 15 minutes before opening time. We just walked in because it was cold and windy at that time. Guess what … they shoo’ed us out! Where is the compassion?!? It was frigid cold out there. So we waited outside. It was awkward to say the least. At this point, we thought this whole place is a bad idea.

After 5 minutes, they came out and beckoned us in. “Sorry” they said. They added that it will be a few more minutes before they can tend to us. Fine by us. We were not in a hurry.

Got a drink. Beer on tap for me — $5. Suanne’s is just water — no charge. The drinks menu is just dominated by wine and beer. Certainly no bubble tea here for Suanne.

This place wasn’t that bad. The music was not loud. Certainly not discotheque loud as a reviewer claimed. The place kind of grew on us. Being the first customer that night, we snagged that great little table by the window. It was cramped with hardly any legroom to move.

But it was a fantastic window seat to enjoy the food … a cosy private little corner of our own … and watching the world go by.

It is people watching at its best.

Their menu is just a 1-pager. Very simple. Every single item looked great.

The menu said “Serious About Food” … “Serious About Fun”. They are right … Suanne and I had great food and we had fun too. You will see.

The waitress asked if we were here before. “Nope” we replied. She wanted us to know that they serve the meal one dish at a time. The concept is sharing. We like that. Anyway, between Suanne and I, we had ALWAYS shared our food.

Then the fun began.

We ordered their Pomme Frites. It was only $6. I had never had a taller pile of fries in my life. It was at least 6 inches tall, maybe 7. We have no idea how they managed to pile it so high.

No ketchup necessary. It was drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar. The shoestringy fries very crisp. It was great. Simply some of the best we ever had.

Suanne tugged on one piece and the whole structure … (more…)