Falafel Maison

Restaurant: Falafel Maison
Cuisine: Middle Eastern/Fast Food
Last visited: February 28, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown/Robson)
516 Robson Street
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4 (based on shawarma)
Service: 5
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 4.5
Additional comments:

• Family owned and operated
• Fast food on Robson
• Specializes in falafel and shawarma
• Late night/munchies
• Very friendly service
• Quick and cheap eats
• Eat in/Take-out
• Mon-Sun 10am-11pm

**Recommendation: Shawarma, Hummus, Shawarma Plate (I haven’t tried the Falafels, but they should be good)

I decided to hit up Falafel Maison for a late night bite after winning the Olympic 2010 GOLD for Canada Men’s Hockey!! I had originally been craving donairs but settled for a shawarma.

Donair and shawarma are different, but it’s debatable what the exact differences are. For me, donairs are made up of ground meat and shawarma is pieces of whole meat. The shawarma is more of a Middle Eastern/Turkish item and the Donair I find is more Greek. Vancouver is full of donair and shawarma places in the downtown core and Falafel Maison is one of the popular ones…I’m not sure if it’s the best though because I surprisingly haven’t tried many in Vancouver.

I must give a shout out to the owners who are super nice, friendly young guys that treat everyone like family.

On the table:

**Shawarma 4/6

• Chicken, lettuce, tabouleh, hummus & yogurt sauce wrapped in pita. Optional hot sauce. I think it’s about $5.50
• Hot, fresh, made upon order.
• They spread a layer of hummus onto the pita first. It’s good creamy hummus but I could have used more. It was very subtle and had a garlic flavour.
  

• They load it with iceberg lettuce and tabouleh, but the tabouleh wasn’t very good here. It’s a traditional Middle Easter salad that’s mixed with vegetables, olive oil or spices. It was pretty much plain parsley here. I didn’t expect gourmet, but I expected a little more than this.
• They give you a little bit of tomato, but not enough.

• There’s a large amount of shaved chicken which is tender, juicy, moist and actually quite spicy. It's very well marinade with lots of spices. They do a great job with the rotisserie style roasting too.

• Last is the yogurt sauce. It’s not like tzatziki, but it’s more garlicky and also a bit spicy.
• There’s an optional hot sauce you can get which I think is used in the chicken marinade as well.
• Overall the shawarma was very good, but it was a bit dry for me. The pita was dry and although the meat was quite juicy it got lost with all the veggies. There's lots of ingredients, but when it's all rolled up I tasted a lot of pita and parsley.
• I definitely wanted more hummus and next time I’ll ask for extra yogurt sauce.

Tropika Restaurant - Richmond

Restaurant: Tropika Restaurant - Richmond

Cuisine: Malaysian/Thai
Last visited: January 9, 2010
Area: Multiple – Richmond, BC (Aberdeen Mall)
4151 Hazelbridge Way
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: 2.5

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 3.5

Additional comments:

• Specializes in Malaysian/Thai fusion cuisine
• Bordering on Chinese, for me it's Chinese inspired too
  
• A lot of things taste the same - lots of dried shrimp paste
• Chinese operated, could be even Chinese owned I'm not sure
• Great presentation for drinks
• Great for large parties or groups
  
• Go when it's not as busy
• Extensive menu
  
• 3 locations in Vancouver and lower mainland
• Long line-up and wait for Richmond location
• Spacious, seats plenty
• Attracts Chinese
• Popular for seafood
• Won awards
• Reservations recommended

**Recommendation: Roti Canai (but mine wasn’t goo on this occasion), Terung Udang Kering, Sambal Bunchies, K.L. Crab, Tom Yum Kung Soup (not all items are in this review)

Tropika is a small chain restaurant with 3 locations in Vancouver, BC – one being at The Aberdeen mall in Richmond. I decided to go to the Richmond location, and to my surprise it was a full house. It seats plenty and there was a line up and wait list at 6:15pm so I had to wait until 7pm. We were seated at the very back of the restaurant at this random fold out table and chairs that were used just to satisfy the dinner time rush. (I would have rather waited for a proper seat, but I was arriving late for dinner).

Tropika serves Malaysian and Thai cuisine, however I find it more on the Chinese side than authentic Malaysian and Thai fusion. I mean there are some Malaysian and Thai qualities to the food, but it is very Chinese inspired at the same time. I missed the use of fresh basil, limes, lemongrass (Thai) and cinnamon (Malaysian). Maybe it’s because I started this blog that my standards have changed a bit, because I remember liking Tropika more.

Overall the food tasted pretty good, but I just felt like everything started to taste the same – a lot of dried shrimp, some fish sauce, and a lot of oil. I also don’t recommend coming when it’s busy because the quality of food was affected. They do have an extensive (and literally heavy) menu and I only touched upon it. I’ve tried several other things on their menu so what I ordered on this visit isn’t really what I would recommend. I just wanted to try something new. It would require at least 2 more visits for this to be a fair review.

On the table:

**Roti Canai (Malay Bread) 2/6 (on this occasion)

• Malaysian bread served with curry sauce. 2 pcs $5.90
• This is a type of grilled flatbread similar to the Indian paratha bread. It’s very buttery, and it’s almost stretchy and chewy.
• It’s one of their most popular appetizers and I think they just made a batch and put them under a heater because mine wasn’t that fresh. It’s wasn’t fluffy, and it was actually quite stale.
• The curry sauce was watered down. It’s definitely not the same curry sauce they serve with their curry dishes. I could tell because I went to another Tropika location (Cambie) right after this dinner and tried their chicken curry.
• The curry sauce they served with the roti was luke warm and the flavour was mainly spicy. As it gets cold, the flavour gets sweeter and not just spicy. It was made with pureed onions, chili powder, fish sauce and some curry paste.

Satay Sticks 3/6

• Minimum of 6. Your choice of chicken, pork, or beef with peanut sauce $7.20 Each $1.20
• The satay sticks were dinky looking to me. It was dark meat chicken and it was a bit fatty, but at least it was grilled nicely without drying out.
• The peanut sauce was not very creamy, but very chunky. I liked the texture because there were lots of coarsely chopped peanuts. It’s a great sauce in general, but it’s on the sweet side here. It was almost like there was too much honey or Hoisin sauce in it. I think it was more honey. It was a bit oily too. I like the peanut sauce at Paratha Man better.

Stir-fried Radish Cake 3.5/6

• Stir fried steamed radish cake with shrimp and Chinese sausage $4.25
  
• It also had minced Chinese mushrooms, water chestnuts, dried shrimps and some Hoisin sauce as the marinade. It was all mixed together and formed into a dome shape and they top it off with 2 shrimps $4.25
• This was recommended by our server; otherwise I would have looked past it.
• It was almost like Malaysian dim sum! It was a cross between pan-fried radish cake and sticky rice you would find at Chinese dim sum.
• It has a very mushy, gummy and almost sticky in texture - but it’s supposed to be. It’s almost like a thick and chewy mashed potato, but it’s not starchy although filling. I like the sweetness of the Chinese mushrooms, creaminess of the radish and refreshing crunch of the water chestnuts (although there wasn't much of that).
• The sausage and dried shrimp brought salty flavours, jerky-like, and the Hoisin sweetened it all up a bit. There was a slight pickled taste and I don’t know where that was from. Overall the fish was quite interesting and tasty.

Sambal Egg 3/6

• Deep fried gourmet egg topped with Sambal sauce $2.00
• It’s not always deep-fried, but it is here and that’s part of what makes it different and good.
• The egg has a thin deep fried layer that reminds me of dried tofu skins. It wasn’t as crispy as it should be and I think they had premade a bunch.
• Sambal is a chili paste sauce and I don’t even know if this one was homemade. I feel like it was jarred Sambal sauce. It was a spicy, a bit sweet, but they gave us too much oil and too little pasts. The egg is supposed to be stir fried and fully coated with sauce, but becuase there wasn’t enough sauce it was a bit dry. Usually this dish is a 4/6.

**Terung Udang Kering 5.5/6

• A Troika specialty. Rated as one of the best eggplant in the city by some local food critics. Our eggplant dish is stir-fried in Sambal sauce and sun-dried shrimps with a touch of sesame oil to make a refreshingly extraordinary experience. (Description from menu) $11.95
• I have never ordered this before and I was unaware that it had won so many awards. It was really good, but it’s also something that comes up often in Asian cuisines so I don’t feel like it was EXTRA spectacular here. I mean it was delicious, but “best eggplant in the city” is a bold statement.
• It was almost like braised eggplant because it was so juicy and tender and had absorbed so much flavour, like a sponge. It literally melted in your mouth and was almost creamy in texture and stringy.
• The eggplant was spicy, but not too spicy and there was some green onion it is as well. It was sweet, spicy, and salty from the dried shrimps and fish sauce. The dried shrimps have so much flavour and they were almost deep fried because they were a bit crispy. It was so flavourful and well infused in the dish it actually gave it a very nutty taste…especially combined with the sesame oil.
• My only complaint is that it was very oily. I mean really the sauce at the bottom was so oily and my lips were super greasy. It would deter me from ordering it again though. It was really good.

Hainanese Chicken 1.5/6

• The pure flavour of the chicken is specially enhanced by the components of our chili sauce and Hainanese Chicken flavoured rice (which can be ordered separately) to create exciting flavours. (Description from menu) Half $7.95 Whole $12.95
• So what it actually is is a chicken boiled in a rich chicken bone stock that’s served cold. The oil it releases in the stock is then used to cook the rice that accompanies the dish. The condiments are peanuts, cucumbers, chili sauce and ginger oil.
• This is actually a Chinese dish that originates from Hinan, China but it is often associated with Singaporean or Malaysian cooking.
• First off I’m not a big fan of this dish in general, unless it’s from Admiralty Chicken. This is the best I’ve ever had Hainanese Chicken.
• I don’t think it was made well here. The chicken was moist but not flavourful as it didn’t absorb any of the flavours of the stock. It wasn’t as slippery as it should be too. It's not spicy, it's only spicy if you use the chili sauce it comes with.
• The ginger oil wasn’t fresh either and tasted like they used old ginger root to make it. There was no green onion in it either.
• Hainanese Rice: the rice was pretty good. The literal translation is “oil rice” because of the way it’s made. Don't let that freak you out though, it's not really oily, although it does use oil. It’s just very rich in flavour. $1.75/bowl
• Coconut Rice: the coconut rice here is good and you can smell the coconut milk more so than actually tasting it. $1.75/bowl

Goldfish Pacific Kitchen – Happy Hour Review

Restaurant: Goldfish Pacific Kitchen – Happy Hour Review
Cuisine: West Coast/Pacific Rim/Fusion
Last dined: December 8, 09

Area: Vancouver (Yaletown/Downtown)
1118 Mainland Street
Price Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4 (Based on happy hour)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 5
Overall: 3.5
Additional comments:

• Located in Yaletown
• Mostly Asian chefs/cooks – Chef William Tse (previous sous chef of Joe Fortes and Chop House)
• Asian fusion/Asian inspired menu
• Focus on sea-food
• Sophisticated and creative food
• Extensive Wine Bar
• Contemporary, trendy & “Yaletown” atmosphere & décor
• Quite a large dinner menu
• Dining Room/Lounge/Patio
• Covered sun room with lounge couches
• Great for appies/drinks/late night
• M-F 11am-4pm “$10 Gold Plates”
• M-F 4pm-6pm Happy Hour – appies and drinks

**Recommendation: Chicken satays, tuna tartare, short rib sliders, bacon fried rice (very popular but I haven’t tried), Trio of West Coast Sushi Pizza, Shiitake mushroom meatloaf

I’ve came here on a few occasions before I started blogging so I’m going to summarize my visits. This review focuses on my happy hour visit. I tried everything on their happy hour menu besides their house made potato chips and toast & jam, which sounds a bit boring. I can’t be as detailed in this review because it was a visit from September 10, 09. So I’m writing on recollection. The positive to this is that I can tell you what was truly memorable about the dishes I ordered. Overall their happy hour is worth it and I must give credit to their dips and sauces which were all really good. I actually think the food during happy hour is better becuase they have more time to prepare it. I will post my lunch visit tomorrow. (For my lunch review)

The restaurant isn’t as busy as it should be and I’m not sure why. The food is not bad and the atmosphere is fantastic. It’s very trendy, contemporary and spacious. They have a lot of room to occupy so I think they would do better with a smaller space. I’ve sat in covered patio in the back, the lounge, and the dining room. I liked the patio the best. The patio has blankets, heat lamps and comfy lounge sofas. It’s not great for lunch or dinner, but it’s great for drinks, appies, and after work/late night socials. I would prefer the patio in the back over the lounge in the front.

A while back they were closed for lunch, but they decided to re-open for lunch recently.

The food is very East meets West – very Asian inspired. It’s probably because the owners and chefs are Asian, so they reinvent a lot of Asian classics by putting an “American” or West Coast twist to it.

On the table:

• Beef Satays 2/6
• Madras curry, cucumber ginger yogurt $3.75
• The beef was a little dry and over cooked a bit all the times I’ve ordered it. The pieces are nice and lean though.
• The sauce is like a raita sauce (that cucumber yogurt condiment they give you an Indian restaurants). It’s refreshing, aromatic and bit spicy from the fresh ginger. I’m used to having these with peanut sauce from Malaysian restaurants and I prefer that version.
• Chicken Satays 4/6
• Thai red curry sauce $3
• The menu now says “Thai red curry sauce” – when I ordered it it was a Thai yellow curry sauce, which was really good! It was like a curry peanut ginger and garlic sauce. I’ll have to re-order this to see if they’ve changed it. I hope they only changed the curry paste and not the recipe beucase it was so good already…well maybe it’s better now? I’ll have to see. The chicken itself is nice and seasoned with a dry rub. These ones weren’t dry.
• Short Rib Sliders 5/6
• Spicy Hoisin mayo, crispy onions $3
• These were memorable. It was very tender falling apart beef short ribs. They were nice and saucy and tasted like an Asian barbeque sauce – which is the Hoisin sauce. It wasn’t spicy for me though. More sweet and tangy. The crispy onions were a nice touch. I think they’re using the mini dinner rolls from superstore rather than actual slider buns. It’s more like a hot dog bun. It didn’t bother me though because it was nicely grilled and crispy yet soft. You got a lot of meat and it’s nice and tender – that was the most important part. It was nice to have it not pre-shredded as well. It shred away easily just by me biting into it and th at’s how tender short ribs should be.

  

• Mini Crab Cakes 2/6
• Thai basil yogurt $4
• To be honest I don’t really remember these. I know they weren’t bad, but that also can’t mean they were really good. They were forgettable. I know they were a nice size, crispy, hot and not overcooked though. I usually take a picture of the inside of the crab cake so you can see the ingredients. I’ll have to order these again next time to give a better review.
• Freshly shucked Oysters
• Freshly shucked oysters grated horseradish $2.75
• I can’t remember which type of oysters they gave us. They weren’t Fanny Bay’s which was surprising, since these are most available being in Vancouver. I do appreciate the grated horseradish, that was a nice touch. I think they should use freshly grated wasabi though – it suits their Asian-inspired theme better.
• Tuna Tartare 3/6
  
• Crisp butter lettuce $4
• These served these with deep fried taro chips which was a great idea because I was expecting regular chips or crostini. Well from the menu I was expecting just butter lettuce.
• I like tuna tartare so that’s why I recommended it, and for the price you're paying it's worth it. The colour of the tuna doesn't look great, but it doesn't taste bad either. It has some avocado, green onions and I think some red peppers it it. They make it better at Japanese places, but this one was decent.
• Chilled Tiger Prawns
• Mango lime aïoli $4.75
• The prawns were nice and big and I don’t really remember the dip. I will have to reorder this to give a better review. I’m sure it was good though because we didn’t have one bad dip. They do a good job with all of them.

Panos Greek Taverna

BBQ Baby Back Rib Dinner

Restaurant: Panos Greek Taverna
Cuisine: Greek/Mediterranean
Last visited: September 22, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC
654 SE Marine Drive
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4 (Based on what we had. I didn't try enough though so the rating could be unfair)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 1.5
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Hole in the wall shady location
  
• Greek family owned and operated
• Authentic and really homemade
• Good reliable Greek food that's cheaper than average
  
• Hummus made in house
• Good portions, poor plating
• Very casual small restaurant, casual service
• Fills up at around 7pm

**Recommendation: BBQ Baby Back Rib dinner, Souvlaki (moussaka is supposed to be good, but I didn't try it)

This restaurant is super shady. It's in a strip mall that looks abandoned. We were the third group in there at 6pm on a Tuesday...which isn't bad. It also filled up decently by 7pm, mostly by locals living around the area. I really hesitated when I saw this place from the outside, but it does have positive word of mouth. Panos is really your reliable go-to hole in the wall Greek restaurant. It's authentic homestyle Greek cooking and I could even see the Greek men in the back peeling away at potatoes on their little stools in the kitchen. It's family owned and operated and it really feels like it to from the moment you walk in. It's almost like a Greek diner more than a restaurant. It is a bang for your buck though - big portions and it's cheaper than average. Souvlaki dinners are around $12 and the most expensive thing is I think $15, maybe $17 for the fish/seafood plates.

Focusing on just the food, it's hard for me to say how good everything really was since I only tried 2 things on the menu. I will go back to try more items since I hear lots of good stuff about it and that way I can also give a fair and complete review.


On the table:

• Greek Salad 2/6
• Greek Salad is Greek Salad most of the time. Fresh ingredients and pretty generous with the shredded Feta. Only one olive though. I prefer the crumbled or cubed Feta - but that's more expensive and I didn't expect it at this restaurant anyways.
  
• They serve it to you first so you can eat it as an appetizer and you almost get more this way because it's not squished onto your plate. That being said the spot for salad on your plate is filled with a generous amount of rice.
• Chicken Souvlaki 3.5/6
  
• I know - the plating/presentation looks really poor and the portion looks poor too. When I saw it I thought the same thing. It's a lot more than it looks though. It looks really plain and it's probably because the salad was served on a seperate plate. Don't let how it looks discourage you though because it was good.
• 
  
• The chicken souvlaki is good, but as good as any other chicken souvlaki. The marinade was nice and flavourful and the chicken was tasty throughout. They grilled it nicely and the meat was still juicy and moist inside.
• 
  
• The potato was good too, but I've had better. It was soft and well marinated with lemons...not too sour though.
• 
  
• The rice could be better. It was kind of bland and maybe a little dry. Kind of boring...so I don't have much else to say about it. It was kind of "buffet rice" - you know when the rice just sits under a heat lamp in the back?
• **BBQ Baby Back Rib Dinner 5/6
  
• This was really good and it's only $15 or something. The meat literally fell off the bone with the touch of the fork. So tender, so flaky and so good. The bones were totally bare at the end of the meal.
• 
  
• I'm not sure if the bbq sauce is homemade or not (I doubt it was homemade), but I can't complain because it did the job fine. It was sweet, sticky and savoury with a slight tang and kick. I think we got around 12-14 ribs...talk about a bargain at $15!
  
• Drool these were good too.
  

New York New York Greek Restaurant

Fresh Halibut

Restaurant: New York New York Greek Restaurant
Cuisine: Greek/Mediterranean
Last visited: August 24, 09

Area: Surrey, BC
6361 - 152 Street
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4
Service: 3.5
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Greek family owned and operated
• The Greek items are authentic and really homemade
• Hummus made in house/homemade sauces
• Some Italian dishes/influence
• Kind of all over the place with their menu - stick to the Greek items
• Lunch combo platters
• Gyros & burgers available at lunch
• Pasta & steaks available at dinner
• Most desserts made in house
• Attracts families and locals
• Busy, but reservations not required
• Open Monday-Sunday 11am-10pm

**Recommendation:

Appetizer platter: Kalamari, dolmathes etc., really good hummus and tzatziki, Ecmek

This restaurant is kind of in the middle of nowhere in a random plaza located at a major intersection too (64th Ave & 152nd Street). I've been here a couple times for dinner and it's pretty good. I'm always skeptical of these restaurants, but a friend recommended it so I decided to give it a try. It's not dodgy or anything, but just a simple family owned Greek restaurant in Surrey. There's always a dinner crowd, but no line-ups or anything which is good. They're kind of all over the place with their menu - one of those do it all Greek restaurants - fish, steak, pasta, Greek, Italian, burgers and the list goes on...just stick to their Greek food, because that's what they do best. Greek owners that know Greek food and follow their own recipes - they don't need the other stuff on the menu. The Greek food is good enough on its own.

On the table:

• **Appetizer Platter $17.95 4/6
• Kalamari, dolmathes, olives, hummus, tzatziki, pita bread

• It's a platter made for 4. The variety is not bad, although they could have included maybe one more appetizer in there - like the spanakopita. You're basically paying for the dolmathes (4) and the kalamari (half the plate). You get a good portion of each though. It's not a bargain, but it's reasonable.
• **Dolmathes 3.5/6
• Grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice in a "light" lemon sauce.

• I actually really enjoyed these and I usually don't. The stuffing is really good, and the ratio of meat to rice is fair. The rice keeps its texture and shape even after they cook these, so I really like that. I would have appreciated another layer of flavour, either stronger on a the dill or maybe a hint of mint. Something to make these stand out!
• They call it a "light lemon sauce", but it's not. It's a rich and creamy lemon sauce - looks like hollandaise sauce. Kind of tastes like it too, except it has a tang. It tastes good and goes great with the dolmanthes, it's definitely one of the better sauces I've had served with dolmathes. At this restaurant, you should give them a try.
• **Hummus 5/6
• This is pretty wicked hummus. It's made in house and a greenish yellow colour. I think they go heavy on the parsley, although you can't really taste it. It's thinner in texture, not the thick kind. Really fresh, flavourful and creamy and at the same time light. Strong garlic and lemon flavours. They should have given a bigger portion (as as appy and in the appy platter) - they serve it in the same dish as the tzatziki. I expected more.
  


• **Kalamari 4/6
• I really appreciate this. They serve you quite a bit, which is good. It's basically half the plate. The deep fry the kalamari really well, and it's big pieces. They are relatively lightly batters, so you really taste the kalamari. They're a nice colour too, and the oil they used was fresh. Good quality squid. You know it's good when you can eat it on its own even without the tzatziki dip - and I love that stuff!
• Moussaka
  


• Moussaka 2.5/6
• Layers of ground beef, potatoes, eggplant and bechemel sauce.

• This was good, but not the best I've had it. It's a big portion. You get lots of beef and potato, but not much eggplant at all. I could barely taste it or even see it. It was kind of lazy (really homemade) moussaka. Which is good and bad. The potatoes were cut in chunks rather than slices, so it kinds of separated from the other layers. I like to bite into all the layers when I eat a piece and I felt like I was missing something.
• They could have went heavier on the seasoning for the ground beef as well. Couldn't really taste that slight hint of cinnamon that makes moussaka special. The bechemel sauce is really good though. Really nice and creamy, really good. I didn't taste much tomato, cheese, or bread crumb flavours either - so this was a good moussaka, but too simple for my liking. I like my moussaka more elaborate and complex because it's such a time consuming entree that takes experience - I felt like I could have made this version at home.


• Chicken Souvlaki 3.5/6
• Chicken souvlaki, rice, Greek potato & Greek salad.

• Standard for a Greek restaurant. Pretty much what I expected. The meat was flavourful, but could have been more juicy - it wasn't dry, but just not that juicy either. You get 8 pieces.
• The rice is actually really good here - I think they cook it in that Lipton chicken soup - at least that's what it tastes like. But whatever, as long as it's good, and it's not like this is an upscale restaurant. The point is, the rice is very flavourful.
• The potato - they could have cooked it for a bit longer. I've had more flavourful Greek potatoes in my life for sure...where the lemon flavour just absorbs throughout the entire potato...YUM

• Fresh Halibut 4/6
  
• Topped with white wine sauce. Served with Greek potato, rice, Greek salad, pita bread and tzatziki.

• This was a nice and light dish. It's a pan-fried fresh halibut and they cook it really well. Nice and juicy which is hard to do with halibut. They don't give you too much white wine sauce which is good because you want to taste the freshness of the fish. The sauce is a a simple white wine sauce mixed with cream, but it's not heavy or thick. Nothing creative or gourmet, just fresh ingredients and a simple sauce - and there's nothing wrong with that.
  

• Desserts
  



• **Ecmek 4.5/6
• Yummy! Homemade vanilla pudding topped with roasted almonds and whipped cream.

• This is almost like a Greek Verizon of a bread pudding...with a lot of vanilla pudding on top. It's a really traditional Greek dessert, and this one really tastes like someone's mom made it.
• The bottom layer is almost like a really really moist bread pudding. It's pieces of pastry soaked up in syrup - which is cinnamon and lemon flavoured. I felt like I was eating an apple pie, but there were no apples. I loved this pastry. The next layer is their homemade vanilla pudding. It's really good pudding! It's really thick and creamy - you can really slice through it. However the vanilla is extract and not the real deal. But whatever, this generous portion of Ecmek was only $4 - so I'm not expecting top quality ingredients or anything gourmet. Lastly they top it off with whipped cream and toasted almonds. This dessert just melts in your mouth even though it's served cold. It's creamy, flavourful and absolutely delicious.
• I need to order them more often so I can compare them to other places.
  


• Homemade Bougatsa 2/6
• Homemade lemon custard wrapped in filo pastry sprinkled with icing sugar and cinnamon.

• This is served warm. Yes the lemon custard is homemade, but no they didn't do that great of a job with it. It was a good attempt if only they didn't curdle it! And I don't think they even knew. I could taste the curdled texture, it was kind of funny cause I could just imagine some one's mom experimenting with this and not even realizing she had curdled the custard...and then just serving it anyway. You do get a lots of custard though, you can't tell in the picture, but they're generous - I just wish it was good custard though. For $4 I didn't mind the screw up.

Simba's Grill

Restaurant: Simba's Grill
Cuisine: African/Fusion/Barbeque

Last visited: September 3, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC / Burnaby, BC

825 Denman Street

Price Range: $10-20 (closer to $20)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very Good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4

Service: 2

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 3

Additional comments:

• African/African fusion food
• Popular and known for grilled meats
• Similar to Indian food, but lighter in spices and richness
• Curries are consistency of Persian stews (thinner)
• Good amount of meat in curries
  
• I'm not a professional in African cuisine -
• but Simba's is East African cusine qith some Central African influence
  
• A bit overpriced, but everything is shareable
• Big portions, meant for sharing
• Busy for dinner on weekends
• Photos of food available at restaurant
• Closed Monday
  

**Recommendation: Grilled entrees, Chicken Kebab, Ugali (not necessarily good, but should try it)

I've only been to the Simba's on Denman Street and this is where the owner (the African guy on the website) spends most his time. The servers are all international students from Asia that probably live around the ares. I'm not sure who cooks the food though because the kitchen is hidden. The owner manages the operations and keeps a close eye in the back unless it's so busy on the weekends that it requires him to be up front. I'm not sure how "authentic" the food is, but I've had African food before and personally I think it's mild Indian food. Relative to other African restaurants I've tried I find Simba's is a little more fusion-inspired.

Generally African food is not as heavy as Indian because they don't use much dairy (lack of dairy in Africa). The curries are not thick or creamy and they don't use as many spices giving dishes a lighter flare in terms of flavour and a little in appeal. The complimentary chutneys they serve are a combination of the Northern Indian chutneys (the reddish brown one served with pakora) as well as Southern Indian chutneys (the coconut one served with dosas). They also have really spicy ones that remind me of the Asian sambal chili sauce. Simba's serves good food, but in terms of serving authentic African cuisine I doubt it - I call it dumbed down African food (food for the masses)...it still tastes good, but just not authentic African.

On the table:

• **Chicken Kebab 5/6
• Marinated and grilled chicken skewers served with rice - $22
• Yes, this is more typical and doesn't sound as "authentic", but I had to try it once because Simba's has a reputation for serving exc ellent grilled meats. Tender, juicy and nicely marinated and grilled. Great use of spices. It's a big portion served on a large plate with a bed of rice. Eat these skewers with the chutneys, otherwise it feels like eating a kebab that could also be from a Persian place.
• **Ugali 3/6
  
• This is a staple starch common in East African cuisine.

• Made of corn flour and water - maybe cornmeal too? I recommend people to try this because it's authentic and typical of traditional East African cuisine. You may not necessarily like it, but it's worth a try. It looks li ke mashed potatoes, but it's plain and not supposed to be flavourful - kind of like how Chinese rice alone is not meant to be flavourful. It's the texture of thick and sturdy mashed potatoes mixed with cornmeal - gritty, but soft. You can stick a spoon in it and it will hold - see my picture.
• Eat it with the curries. You take a chunk, roll it into a ball and dip it in the sauces. I like to mash my curries into it and then roll it into a ball, and then dip it in the chutney - but that's not the traditional way of ea ting it.
• Muchuzi Mbuzi with Chicken 3/6
• A tomato based reddish brown curry mixed with spices.
  
• We had it with chicken breast, and you get quite a bit of chicken. I don't think there's dairy in this so it's a little soupy in texture. It's a bit spicy as well but I enjoyed this. There's no other veggies in it though, so you need to order it with other things or you'll get tired of eating a whole bowl of this.
• Jumbo Prawns with Spinach Curry 4/6
• I don't remember what it's called on the menu and it's not the website. It's a spinach based tomato-ish curry mixed with spices. We had it with jumbo prawns, and these prawns were actually quite large. It came with 5 jumbo prawns and they're cooked perfectly - nice and crunchy still (about $16). This is the thickest curry we had. It's not really saucy, but the thickness comes with the saute ed spinach. For me it was more of a sauteed spinach stew. This one isn't spicy.
  

  

• Green Coconut Curry with Chicken 1.5/6
• This wasn't very good. It was pretty watery and not flavourful at all. It was the thinnest curry out of the bunch and really lacked in flavour - couldn't pick out any spices. It wasn't really spicy, just really bland. Again you get a good amount of chicken, but it's all flavourless. There's no other veggies in it, so again you would get tired of eating this just for one.
• Naan
  
• Only one kind, regular in size and buttered...possibly bought. It was ok, Indian restaurants do a bett er job with the dough and the cooking.
  

  

• Complimentary Chutneys
  
• **Coconut Chutney - I have to give a shout out to this chutney. It's amazing! I used almost the whole thing for myself - there's flaked of shredded coconut in it - not really sweet, but gives the food a great texture and unique flavour.
  
• Reddish-brown chutney - a thin sweet and sour chutney similar to the chutney served at Indian restaurants used to eat pakoras.
  
• Yogurt Chutney - Really thick plain yogurt. Almost like sour cream, but it's yogurt.

Drinks

• Mango Lassi 3/6
  
• This was quite good, but not the best. It was really thick and heavier on the yogurt flavour than it was on mango flavour. Quite tangy.