Post 26.7: Vancouver - Day 2 (Lunch)

After the large sushi 'breakfast,' my terimayo Japadog was the perfectly-portioned afternoon snack to hold me over until dinner.  Not only was the Japadog perfect in portion, it was perfect in flavor and taste as well.  Since first hearing about Japadog, I have been overly excited to try what Vancouver Magazine called one of the 101 Things to eat and drink before you die.  And oh, it did not disappoint.  In fact, this first experience with Japadog has inspired me to write a haiku... errr... many haikus in its honor.  Forewarning: I am no Japanese poet.


Japadog stand! At the corner of Smithe & Burrard in Downtown Vancouver.

I write a haiku

in Vancouver summertime

for you, Japadog...

Line up! Lunch crowd of both locals and tourists form.

Japanese food yum
American hot dog yum
Together, better!


All different kinds of terimayo Japadog.  The entire menu is here.

Which one do you like?
Popular terimayo?
Oroshi good too.


Bragging rights.  Celebrity visitors include Ice-T and Daniel Dae Kim from Lost.

Edamame good
beef, spicy cheese, turkey great
kurobuta best!


The kurobuta (pork) terimayo Japadog.  Strips of nori are sprinkled on top.

Costco dog yummy
cannot compare to J'dog
Oiishi desu...


Service with a smile.  All the Japadog employees are extremely enthusiastic and welcoming.

Just a few minutes
you'll see happy Japanese
say arigato!

Alright, so my haikus started off alright and ended up in broken English... and the ending could be misconstrued as slightly racist (though it's not).  I think I'll stick to writing non-poetic English is simple paragraph form now. 

And Japadog, I will return for your okonomiyaki, edamame, and spicy cheese flavors next time.  I seriously can't believe I didn't eat more of this stuff.  This Japadog situation is damn. diddly. delicious.

Vancouver Magazine 2008 list of things to taste before you die is here.

Vancouver Magazine 2009 list can be viewed here.

Next post: Guu's guud izakaya

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Post 26.6: Vancouver - Day 2 (Breakfast)

On Saturday Amanda led me on a culinary excursion of Japanese cuisine in Vancouver.  We started off with sushi rolls at a Korean-owned Japanese restaurant... and headed for Japadog, to a Japanese perspective on an all-American item... and ended up experiencing some truly traditional Japanese izakaya.  Each meal was a progression of increasing authenticity.  Oh, and don't forget about a pit-stop at the Taiwanese Film Festival in the afternoon.  Oh, what a very awesome day.

Ohayo gozaimasu!

Sushi for breakfast? Well, technically... it was noon, so it wasn't quite breakfast.  But I designate my meals not by the time of day but by the order in which I have it.  It was my first meal of the day, ergo... sushi for breakfast.

Do not mix.  Green tea.  Soy sauce awaits the first dip of sushi.

We had sushi for breakfast at Sushi Garden, a Korean-owned establishment in Burnaby that locals frequent for their creative rolls and affordable prices.  Our spread:

Salmon sashimi.  Half order.

The cuts were way thick... like steak rather than sashimi.

Overstuffed.  The spicy chopped scallop roll.  Super spicy.

Side by side.  The B.C. roll with salmon skill.

The Alaska roll with avocado, tobiko and salmon.

All together now.  Three rolls.  Two people.  One plate.  Yum.

Had there been more time (or room in my stomach), I would have chosen the Dynamite Roll, Hawaiian Beef Roll, the Crab Loves Papaya (deep fried crab meat), the Spider Roll (because soft shell crab is damned delicious) and maybe even the Chi-Chee Roll (baked chicken with mozzarella cheese).  Next time! But for now... some digestion... and more eating...

Next post: Japadog

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Post 26.5: Vancouver - Day 1 (Dinner Substitute)

Have you ever eaten so much that you feel like you can't breathe anymore? After a morning of donuts, dim sum, and dumplings... the landfill that was my breakfast and lunch had piled so high in my stomach that I could have sworn that my esophagus was blocked, and the extra weight from all that food was pushing my lungs into my chest.  There was barely enough space left in my lungs to let any oxygen in, but there wasn't any power left in there to blow the carbon dioxide out either.  Even Albuterol would have been useless.

Hot Cheetos from the USA.

I brought these for Amanda; Canada doesn't sell Hot Cheetos!

And even after I found respite in Amanda's couch, I continued to munch on the uniquely Canadian chips that were found at Superstore.  Superstore (like Costco) carries President's Choice brand (like Kirkland Signature), and although it's just the basic of all basic brands, it was like culinary Gucci to me.  Canada is famous for having ketchup flavored chips, but they also have these flavors too:

Szechwan (Sichuan) flavored chips.

Szechwan is famous for kung pao and the peppercorn that provides a numbing spiciness.

General Tao chicken flavor.  It's Panda Express in potato chip form.

Indian tandoori barbecue flavor.

If the chips really were made from naan, that'd be pure genius.

Continuing to eat at that state of being was almost masochistic.  Okay, it was purely masochistic.  But the pungently putrid scent of the feta cheese beckoned me to continue eating chip after chip.  I was a fly... hypnotized by the smell of... well, you know.  And no matter how stinky it was... nom, nom, nom.

Greek flavored chips.  With olive and feta cheese.

Super stinky.  Super delicious.

Ketchup flavored Pringles.

They confuse the tastebuds at first but get addicting later on.

Dill pickle flavored Pringles.

Once you pop... you can definitely stop.

But no worries.  I would be quickly rescued by an intense calorie-burning activity... carrying Amanda's three-tier, strawberry mousse, chocolate cake... MADE. FROM. SCRATCH.  We were on our way to a Hawaiian-themed barbecue.  Amanda was dressed as a hula girl, and I... well, I carried the two-ton cake, so I was Superman.

All smiles. 

The master baker presents her jaw-dropping product.

I have no clue why those mini cakes were so damn heavy because the strawberry mousse was light and fluffy as hell.  Holy bujeezus.  Amanda, have you ever thought about opening your own bakery? What are you doing working at VCC?!

A stack of strawberry mousse.

Three tiers of heavenly fluffy mousse... like clouds on your tongue.

And, of course, the barbecue was really a party, so Amanda made jello shots.  Of all the colors from a box of crayons.  Festive! And slightly dangerous.

Five floors of festive fun.  The pagoda of Jello shots.

No more eating for me.  Okay, maybe just a little bit...

Next post: A Day of Japanese Meals

Post 26.4: Vancouver - Day 1 (Lunch)

Lunch: Sumo-sized, sumo-style juicy pork dumplings

After a fully-loaded breakfast, Amanda and I did as much digestion as we could.  Our digestion workout included:

(1) looking for dramas - specifically Taiwanese and Korean dramas at the small Chinese-owned DVD store downstairs from East No. 1 Seafood Restaurant...

(2) finding unique potato chips - and gasping at the many odd (and ever-so-cool) varieties of President's Choice brand potato chips at the Real Canadian Superstore...

(3) shopping - getting lost in racks of clothing and tables of shoes at J2... I really shouldn't have bought anything because my luggage was about to burst, but I couldn't walk away from this jacket (orig. CAD 260 on sale for CAD 60).  Yeah, like I was about to let that one go?

Miniature baskets on wheels! Shoppers await their fresh fish... it's oddly cute.

My guide thought it was strange to take a picture of this.

(4) grocery shopping - at T&T Supermarket (Canada's largest Chinese/Asian supermarket chain... it's their version of our 99 Ranch Market)... but we bought nothing more than Canadian maple nougats and imported Japanese Kit Kats.  Did I mention we took advantage of the endless samples of ramen, potstickers, and bottled tea? We took a step back in our goal of digestion here...

(5) singing - Amanda has a 20-track compilation of Mariah Carey classics and remixes in her car... it's hard to resist when "Always Be My Baby" starts playing...

But enough digestion! It was time for lunch!

We jumped from Metrotown across the street to the food court at Crystal Mall for some inexpensive (AKA really good prices) eats.  Crystal Mall's food court offers everything from traditional Cantonese-style BBQ pork and duck to Malaysian noodles to Taiwanese beef noodle soup to spicy hot pot to fresh juice bars.  The variety is pretty impressive, but the xiaolongbao (juicy pork dumplings) from Wang's Shanghai Cuisine impressed me even more.  It's no wonder Wang's won an award from the annual Edgewater Casino Chinese Restaurant Awards for best Food Court Dish.

The lonely stand.

Wang's is located in the far corner of Crystal Mall's food court.

Many a foodie has had (or has heard of) juicy pork dumplings before.  A good majority of juicy pork dumpling lovers have had the little baos from Din Tai Fung, arguably one of the most famous proprietors of Taiwanese-style juicy pork dumplings.  But while Din Tai Fung wraps a dainty and delicate dumpling, Wang's dumpling is pure power.

Jiggling mountain of pork.  A Wang's employee wraps the dumplings by hand.

She also thought it was strange to take a picture.

DTF's dumpling is like the princess who bruised from sleeping on a pea hidden underneath 100 mattresses.  She's prone to breakage, and one mistaken poke in a sensitive area could mean a burst of burning juices.  Regardless, her feminine daintiness is alluring, and the waft of her fragrance tempts you to find out what else is underneath her skin.

The pleasurable palm-sized dumplings.

Wang's skin is thicker than Din Tai Fung's but still easily breakable.

Wang's dumpling is more like a sumo wrestler.  It's huge... it's meaty... and it jiggles like Jello.  Trying not to break the skin, although slightly easier to prevent than at DTF, is still tough... because no matter what, you don't want to rub a sumo wrestler the wrong way.  One wrong nudge for Wang's dumpling could spell a collapse of dumpling skin and a disastrous deluge of pork juices... and one wrong nudge for Yokozuma could mean that you're lying under endless folds of sumo skin and sumo sweat.  Eek.

Logically and tastily sound.

The dumplings come with an extra bowl for the sole purpose of catching leaking juices.

Dainty or powerful, princess or sumo, Din Tai Fung or Wang's... the differences are clear.  But what they do have in common is that they're both GOOD AS HELL.  What I will say, though, is that because Wang's dumplings are that much bigger, my soup spoon was thoroughly filled to the brim with pork juices.  Ahhhh... slurping that up was comforting yet unnervingly addicting at the same time.

Soup for slurping. 

At times, the spoon is not big enough to hold the entirety of pork juices.

Wang's was so good, in fact, that I returned on the final day of the trip to have two more long (steamers) of the award-winning xiaolongbao.... and some of their Shanghai-style noodles, a soup-noodle that is prepared with potatoes, carrots, and soy beans.  The noodles are a bit harder to enjoy if you haven't grown up on them, but the local specialty surely provides a comforting hug for those who are homesick for Shanghai.

Shanghai homestyle noodles.

The noodles are buried under a heap of diced potatoes, carrots, and soy beans.

Finishing all those baos meant just one thing... another battle with digestion.  So? Some more tortoise-paced walking around Crystall Mall... digestion will ensue 'til the next meal...

Read Chowhound's article on Crystal Mall's Asian food court here.

Next post: Uniquely Canadian potato chips

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Post 26.3: Vancouver - Day 1 (Breakfast)

Breakfast: From Doughnuts to Dim Sum

I was set on having some delicious dim sum for breakfast on my first full day in Vancouver, so I woke up bright and early and hopped into the apartment's gym for a workout to motivate my metabolism into a manic mode.  I was ready to eat! But alas, dim sum in Canada apparently doesn't get good until close to noon.  So Amanda took me to two pit-stops to pass the time.

Pit-stop 1: Bank of Montreal for some USD-CAD forex (not that exciting)
Pit-stop 2: Tim Hortons, Canada's largest coffee and doughnut chain (much more exciting)

Warming up.

After stretching my stomach with doughnuts, I planned to capitalize on dim sum.

According to Wikipedia (my flawless source of go-to, get-it-quick information) Tim Hortons surpasses McDonald's in fast food sales and knocks Starbucks out of the ballpark in Canadian coffee sales.  Wow, the Canadians must really not like us that much.

The Canadian maple.  The center is filled with maple-flavored custard.

You can't get anymore Canadian than that.

I had noticed the unexpectedly high number of customers at a brightly-lit Tim Hortons on the way back to Burnaby the night before. Either nothing else was open, or this doughnut store is that good. Turns out, it's both. 

Highly patriotic. 

The sprinkles are in the shapes of maple leaves.

Tim Hortons gets pretty creative when it comes to fashioning their doughnuts.  The sprinkles on the Canadian doughnut, made especially for Canada Day (July 1), screamed patriotism with its bright red maple leaves.  I mean, we've got red, white, and blue doughnuts in America... but I've yet to see an Independence Day doughnut with sprinkles in the shape of stars and red and white striped glaze.  Granted, that doughnut would be a lot more complicated to make, but I'm pretty sure Krispy Kreme can manage.

Tim's tiny bits.  I chose at least one each of...

the apple fritter, dutchie, honey dip, sour cream glazed, and chocolate glazed.

The doughnut holes at Tim Hortons (called Timbits) are pretty frickin' creative too.  They don't only have the simple glazed doughnut hole (a few tossed in with each purchase at the local shop in the USA), but they have over a dozen different flavors.  From the apple fritter to the honey dip to the sour cream glazed, it was tough to choose just 10 for my box.

Pretty and porous. 

Amanda pinches the golden inside of a honey dip Timbit.

No worries.  All I needed was a little snack... just a little something to warm my stomach up for... dim sum! So I moved from doughnut holes to dim sum... from one bite-sized item to the next bite-sized item.  Here's a look at the mass of munchies from East No. 1 Seafood Restaurant (第一樓海鮮酒家) that Amanda and I challenged ourselves to:

Har gow (蝦餃).  Steamed shrimp dumplings.

Three jumbo shrimp are encapsulated inside delicate rice paper wrappers.

Siu mai (燒賣).  Steamed pork and shrimp dumplings.

Mini salmon roe grace the top.

Ngow chang (牛腸).  Thick rice noodles wrapped with beef.

It basks in a sweeter but more oily (yet somehow lighter) soy sauce.

 Wu gok (芋頭角).  Deep-fried taro fritter (also a dumpling).

A thousand flaky crunches surround a sweet taro paste and savory ground pork.

Loh bak goh (蘿蔔糕).  Pan-fried turnip cakes.

Spots of Chinese chorizo are lodged intermittently throughout.

Cha siu soh (叉燒酥).  Baked BBQ pork pastries.

The multi-layered flaky crust covering the sweet pork flies when you take a bite.

Ham sui gok (鹹水角).  Literal trans: salty dumplings.

Ground pork and diced mushrooms fill the interior of the football-shaped mochi dumpling.

Vancouver is quickly becoming the new mecca for Chinese food, especially Cantonese cuisine.  Top restaurants in Vancouver have lured the best Chinese chefs from Hong Kong away from their homeland in order to employ them in the highly competitive market of Cantonese cuisine.  As one of the world's most livable cities, Vancouver can be a good enough reason in itself for the chefs to move.  It's no surprise that dim sum all over Vancouver has to be good... or the restaurant is ruined.  Amanda and I continued to see regulars savor their favorite dim sum dishes as dim sum newbies practiced their Cantonese (and their chopsticks).  It's safe to say that East No. 1 Seafood Restaurant has survived the generations and will continue to do so. 

(7 dishes x about 4 per order) / 2 eaters = approximately 14 super big mouthfuls per person.  I was so stuffed, especially because the doughnuts, which I had previously thought would stretch my stomach out, actually cushioned the dim sum as it landed in my stomach.  Eek.  But a successful dim sum brunch, nonetheless.  How much breakfast can I eat? Quite a bit, I guess.

All Romanizations were translated from Cantonese rather than Mandarin to reflect the Cantonese origin of dim sum.

Next post: Lunch!

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Post 26.2: Welcome to Vancouver - Night 1

After a very warm welcome from Amanda, we ventured our way through Richmond, an insanely Asian city outside of Vancouver where YVR is located.  Every store in Richmond proudly displayed Chinese characters atop, under, or next to the store name in English... from small cafes to auto mechanic shops to Staples.  Yes, even the major office supply chain store wrote "office supply specialty store" in Chinese.  I flew for almost 3 hours for over 1,000 miles, and I landed in Vancouver's version of the San Gabriel Valley.  I felt right at home.

Sugary sustenance. 

A simple milk green tea and lychee green tea.

Because of our utterly failed attempt at finding Pearl Castle, we stopped at a small boba shop called Twinkle 2 to catch up over some sugary drinks and salty snacks.  Amanda swears she is a good driver (which she is... with perfect back-in parking skills) and has a great sense of direction.  She explained, "I never come to Richmond! Burnaby girls don't come here..." So... we blame Pearl Castle's horrendously hidden store for not being able to find it. 

Fobby fun.  Taiwanese salty and crispy popcorn chicken with basil.

It's served with a sweet chili sauce and Chinese-style dim sum mustard.

Laughing while typing (the epitome of multi-tasking) I still think it's ironic that the first food I encountered in Canada was minorly fobby and majorly Taiwanese though I'm sure there's something much more Canadian that awaits me.  Thanks, Amanda, for picking me up from the airport.  And thanks, tilted axis, for providing unexpected sunlight at 10:00 p.m. and thoroughly tripping me out. 

Next post: How much breakfast can I eat?

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Post 26.1: Departure for Vancouver (LAX-YVR: AS 711)

For this July 4th weekend, I did something highly unpatriotic... I visited Canada.  Is that so wrong? The guilt in my heart indicates that it is just a tad bit wrong.  But, but, but... before we jump to any conclusions about where my heart lies, I will say that after this trip I have set my feelings towards my country in stone.  YEAH, AMERICA ROCKS.

But here's a little warming up to the slew of fatty, fried foods that I had in our friendly neighbor to the north.  Behold, the commute:

Fill'er up! Every trip starts with a stop at the gas station.

My Sam Adams from Goldstone's in Terminal 3 at LAX.

Preparing to board.

EVA Air (BR 16) to Taipei prepares for departure across the way at Tom Bradley Int'l Terminal.

Gate 33, eh? The AS staff throws in a few jokes during the boarding announcement.

The scenic route. 

The captain directs our attention to the Sierra Nevada mountain range just to our east.

My in-flight reading. 

Gaga article and McChrystal controversy.  And OJ for a change.

J'ai arrive.  Landed twenty minutes early.

It's cool to see French instead of Spanish as the second language on signage.

To baggage claim.  Native culture adorns YVR Airport.

Speakers play the bird's calls, and the water under the kayak is reflected on the ceiling.

The arrival hall at YVR.  Immigration and Customs.

Totem poles of the natives stand guard for Canada.

Of course, I was interrogated regarding my purpose for visiting Canada:

Officer: What brings you to Canada?

Me: Fun...?

Officer: Fun...?

Me: I'm visiting... um, uh... sightseeing...

Officer: When was the last time you were in Canada?

Me: Uhh... after high school?

Officer: Where in Canada are you staying?

Me: Vancouver? Um, uhh... Burnaby?

Officer: Who are you staying with?

Me: My friend...?

Officer: What's your friend's name?

Me: Amanda...

Officer: What does she do?

Me: (sweats) I'm not really sure, but I know she works at a school.  I think it has to do with education.  (thinking... I sound really credible here.  My answers probably scream DRUG TRAFFICKING.)

Officer: How long are you staying in Canada?

Me: 5 days.

Officer: Not 115 days?

Me: Oh, don't worry! I'll be gone by Monday! (thinking... what the hell is wrong with me?!)

Officer: (stamps passport and smiles) Welcome to Canada.

A warm welcome! I love Canada? Maybe, but not just yet...

Meet Amanda, my tour guide and awesome hostess for the weekend.

Whoo hoo! Can't wait for poutine and some delicious Cantonese-style Chinese cuisine.  What else does Canada have in store for me? An unexpected Hawaiian-themed barbecue, way too much fried food, more unexpected surprises in Taiwanese form, too many Kit Kats, and a tow truck (and the onslaught of being insanely late for the return flight home).  To be continued...

ML - 20100701/20100708