Paul’s Place Omelettery

Restaurant: Paul’s Place Omelettery

Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch
Last visited: March 14, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Fairview/South Granville)
2211 Granville Street
Price Range: $10-20

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

Food: 4 (based on 3 items)
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 3.5
Additional comments:

• Breakfast all-day
• Breakfast/Lunch only
• Open daily 7am-3pm
• Looks nicer insider than outside
• Popular to locals
• Famous for omelettes
• + $.75 for egg whites
• Busy/line-ups for brunch
• Free refills on coffee
• Cocktails available
• Cappuccino/Mocha/Latte/Espresso
• Burgers/Sandwiches for lunch options
• Washrooms are not wheelchair accessible (upstairs)
• Meter parking

**Recommendation: Da Vinci Omelette (also haven’t tried enough)

I’ve heard so many hit and miss stories about Paul’s Place Omelettery that I finally made the effort to check it out myself. It’s undeniable that it’s a local favourite and that it’s packed and busy with line-ups out the door for Sunday brunch. I’d wait 15min, but not more than that…that’s how good it is. So good enough to wait a bit, but not that long…make sense?

Knowing what to expect will help make your decision and settle whatever differences people may have over it.

These are not your traditional fluffy and hearty omelettes – so if you like those you’re at the wrong place. These omelettes are almost gourmet style, They’re delicate and almost crepe like with lots of filling. It’s quite cheap especially for the area but the portions are also quite small. It also totally depends on what you order. The server was a vegetarian so it as hard to get a recommendation. I want to go back to make a bigger dent in the menu…so I would go back but it’s not urgent.

• Paul’s Place Omelettery is most famous for their omelettes which are made with 3 eggs, cheddar, edam and cream cheese unless specified otherwise. (You’re pretty much paying for the stuffing/cheese because the omelette is pretty small…they must use 3 mini eggs)

Added note: Apparently food and service was better with original owner Paul. I can’t add to that b/c I don’t know as this was my 1^st visit.

On the table:

Da Vinci Omelette 5/6

• Wild game chorizo sausage, mushroom, tomato, spinach & Feta only $9.95
• Includes buttered multi-grain toast, our signature jam and fruit. Add pan fries $1.50.
• It really bothers me that it was $1.50 for pan fries…I think it should come standard on any breakfast plate.
• Anyways…this is the most popular omelette.
• My friend got it with egg whites – yeah if you don’t have to…don’t.

• The omelettes are made with real eggs but they’re really thin and delicate almost like egg crepes without the flour. I think they add a lot of cream/milk to them so they’re really thin and pliable. The best part is that they’re perfectly cooked…barely any brown.

• It savoury, spicy and juicy with the sautéed veggies. It’s packed with a fair amount of ingredients and a decent amount of Feta that gave a creamy salty bite to the whole omelette.

• The wild game sausage isn’t gamey so I liked it. I’m very sensitive to this flavour too. It’s nice and spicy, but also store bought…but I still liked it.
• The jam I thought was a slightly better store-bought brand of jam…I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell it was “signature” until re-reading it now…it didn’t taste homemade at all.

• They serve it with 2 different hot sauces.
• The one in the squirt bottle is similar to a pureed salsa. It’s not exactly chunky, but there are some finely pureed tomatoes. It’s very tangy and the kick is totally afterwards.
• The one in the vinegar is almost like a Frank’s hot sauce.

The Devon 3.5/6

• Smoked salmon, shrimp, asparagus, onion & Brie only. (The seafood is served cold) $10.50
• It was one of those it’s good until I have someone else’s…and then mine isn’t that good anymore.

• It was a bit sweet for me…especially after having the other omelette. Then I just couldn’t get over the sweetness. It might have been too many caramelized onions.

• It’s packed with ingredients and about 2 asparagus spears in here so they don’t cheap out on that part.

• The part that bothered me was that the brie didn’t melt. I just ate cube of brie. I think I had 4 pretty big pieces and I was surprised to get so much.

Pancake 2.5/6

• Single Pancake (Side) $1.95
• I ordered a single pancake because I like trying pancakes…although nothing will beat the biggest pancake ever I had in LA or the lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes in Kelowna.
• This was actually a pretty big pancake so I was happy. It was sitting for a while but they were really busy so I think it could have tasted better.
• The pancakes here are almost like cupcakes, but not as sweet. I think they use cake flour and they might even use some vanilla extract or a little bit of sugar because they have a cake flavour to them.

• It looks good and tasted good but the texture wasn’t soft and fluffy. It was slightly rubbery and that’s because it was overcooked. they have the potential to be really good, but they just need to be fresh and eaten right away.
  
• I had to saw through it…mind you it was a butter knife…but pancakes shouldn’t require steak knives…or even any knife.

• They serve it with pancake syrup and not maple syrup...that’s extra.

Bo Laksa King

Restaurant: Bo Laksa King

Cuisine: Malaysian/Burmese/Singapore/Thai

Last visited: February 16, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Joyce-Collingwood)

4910 Joyce St

Range: $10 or less

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

Food: 4.5

Service: 4.5

Ambiance: 1.5

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Major hole-in the wall
• Located inside Malaysian grocery store
• Specializes in Malaysian/Burmese food
• Famous for laksa and wraps
• Husband and wife operation
• Good for quick lunches – Malaysian wraps
• Fresh, homemade, made upon order
• Half menu made on site, half from main off site kitchen
• Popular to neighborhood/locals in area
• Seats 2-4
• Cheap eatery – not dirt cheap, but reasonable
• Lunch and dinner service
• Full dinner menu only available online from 6pm - pick-up/delivery only
• Dinner - Pick-up before 8pm
• Delivery charges apply
• Open late
• Catering available

**Recommendation: Roti Canai, Laksa, Malaysian style wraps (but I haven’t tried)…also haven’t tried but the Lahpet Thoke (Fermented tea leaf salad) is authentic Burmese food not available anywhere else.

I would have never heard of Bo Laksa king and would have never discovered it on my own. Thanks to Kim (I’m Only Here for the Food) I was able to try this major hole in the wall located in a Malaysian/Asian grocery store. I’m also never in that area so I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to wander around. It’s a total word-of-mouth place and their business depends on this type of advertising.

It’s a husband and wife operation and they’re really nice people. She’s Chinese and he’s Burmese. The recipes are actually very authentic but they also offer a mixture of South East Asian cuisine from Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai and the rare…Burmese! They even have a couple Chinese dishes in there. It’s popular for quick lunches and their full dinner menu is only available online for delivery or pick-up before 8pm. They operate out of the small kitchen in the back of the grocery store and also a main kitchen that is a few blocks away on Victoria. Keep this in mind because the menu is limited if you’re going for dinner and eating in.

Okay so being a major hole in the wall, I have to lower my expectations a bit, however not by much because the food was really good. It’s a hole in the wall with fresh, authentic, homemade, made upon order meals for a good price…what more can you ask for? Overall I was pleasantly surprised. I would go back because I think there’s better then what I had, and I want to try a wrap.

On the table:

Burmese Tea 4/6

• $1.50
• It’s similar to Thai tea but not as strong or sweet. It’s frothy, milky, creamy and a smooth tea.
• It’s still quite sweet though because it’s mixed and shaken with condensed milk.
• The tea is authentic Burmese tea that is steeped and it’s stronger than Chinese tea, but milder than Thai tea.
• It’s made upon order and a pretty large cup for only $1.50

**Roti Canai 5.5/6

• The small is served with beef curry $3.99 Large is served with chicken curry $5.99
• The roti is very hot, fresh and made upon order on a griddle. It’s super fluffy, flakey, soft, stretchy and chewy…but it was a tad oily. We devoured it in seconds though so it didn’t matter. You can watch her toss it and cook it on the spot – it’s almost like watching a pizza dough show.
  

• The curry is their beef curry sauce. It’s very flavourful and slightly spicy. There are little bits of beef brisket throughout and the sauce has a very strong beef broth flavour. They use lots of spices and herbs in there so it’s very flavourful.
• It’s quite oily too though so you really have to scoop up the sauce or you’re just dipping into oil. It’s good though!

Satay Skewers 3.5/6

• Choice from marinated chicken, beef, or lamb served with sticky rice, cucumber & spicy peanut sauce. (3 skewers) $3.50
• The satay skewers are made on a griddle rather than a grill…which I’ll let go because they’re working with limited resources being in a grocery store.
• You wouldn't miss out by not ordering it, but it’s a pretty decent sized appetizer for a $3.50 bargain!
• This chicken is marinated in a curry spice, but I couldn’t really taste it. It was tender and the pieces are big, it wasn’t necessarily anything to rave about.
  

• The sticky rice is almost like a dessert. The rice is a bit sweet and almost like a giant mochi ball sprinkled with dried coconut flakes.
• The peanut sauce is that authentic creamy Thai peanut butter sauce rather than the chunky Malaysian sauce. I prefer the Malaysian version. Bo Laksa King’s is okay but the fish sauce mixed into the peanut sauce was a bit too tangy for me and I didn’t really like the brand they were using – a bit too rancid in taste.
  

**Laksa 6/6

• Prawn, chicken, fish ball, tofu puff, egg, sweet bell peppers and bean sprouts. Choose from vermicelli or yellow wheat noodle $7.50
• The authentic way is to have it with vermicelli – so that’s what we ordered it with.
• We got it to go, so the fancy bowl is not how it’s served.

• It’s loaded with tons on topping and that surprised me.
  

• There are lots of fresh herbs and spices in the broth and it’s really obvious. It had that slow cooked, on the stove all day homecooked flavour. It tasted very authentic with exotic herbs and spices that I’ve never really experienced in laksa before.
• It wasn’t very spicy for me, but just very aromatic! It’s very rich and creamy with the sweetened taste of coconut milk.
• The noodles are al dente! They’re harder then expected, which I like! They were blanched in the soup and packaged in a separate container to ensure they’re not overcooked.
  

Pad Thai 3/6

• Thai rice noodle, eggs, shrimps, extra firm tofu, Chinese chives, dried chili peppers, banana flower, bean sprouts, preserved turnip, stir fry in house made traditional tamarind sauce $8.75
• This is a traditional version of Pad Thai and not the Western version where they make it with Ketchup. This one is made with Tamarind – just like the one at Tangthai Cuisine of Thailand Restaurant.
• It’s one of their popular items, but I wasn’t crazy about it.

• Overall it was still good with lots of shrimp (6 of them); however I really didn’t like the whole peanuts. I usually love peanuts too, but I want them ground up when I’m having it with Pad Thai.
• It was served with a house made fish sauce…which I didn’t like. By home made I mean adding chilies, jalapeños and some additional spices to a bought fish sauce. It was too tangy and rancid…which is expected…but it was almost overly rancid and off. I love fish sauce too! Maybe it was just the fish sauce brand they’re using?
• It was a tangy and spicy Pad Thai with jalapeño peppers. I thought it need more flavour though…I was relying on the lime and the fish sauce (which wasn’t that good)…and also the peanuts (which weren’t ground up)….so everything was there…but also not there for me…
• I prefer the ground peanuts and fish sauce at Thai Basil.

Top Gun J&C Restaurant

Restaurant: Top Gun J&C Restaurant

Cuisine: Chinese/Asian/Dim Sum

Last visited: February 11, 2010
Area: Richmond, BC

Unit 2020 Excel Centre, 8766 McKim Way (2^nd floor)
Range: $20-30

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

Food: 4.5

Service: 4

Ambiance: 5

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Part of Top Gun Group
• Considered a high end dim sum restaurant
• Traditional and creative dim sum dishes (mostly traditional)
• Japanese sushi and sashimi available
• Cantonese cuisine
• Discount if you arrive before 11am
• Ordering form service
• Busy, but plenty of seating
• Fancy set up
• Private room available
• Breakfast/Lunch 9:30am-3pm
• Dinner 5:30pm-10pm
• Closed Wednesday
• Reservations recommended
• Some parking available

**Recommendation: Steamed Diced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling, Baked BBQ Pork Bun, Deep Fried Fish Ball w/Clam Sauce, Steamed Beef Ball, Fried Vermicelli in Homemade Style, Pan-fried Stuffed Tofu

Top Gun J&C Restaurant is part of the Top Gun Group so it is considered a higher end dim sum restaurant. It competes at the level of Kirin Restaurant and Rainflower Chinese Restaurant.

Besides owning Chinese restaurants, The Top Gun Group also owns Japanese restaurants, one being the infamous Richmond Sushi. Maybe this is why they decided to include Japanese food at their Chinese restaurants? Top Gun J&C Restaurant doesn’t only serve traditional Cantonese dim sum, but they also serve a significant amount of Japanese dishes such as sushi, some cones and sashimi. Personally, I rarely order Japanese food here because I think it’s over priced. I actually did on this occasion and based on one of their most popular roll, it was very mediocre. I would rather go to a Japanese restaurant and it would be better and more affordable.

I’ve been coming to Top Gun for years now and it’s one of my family’s go-to dim sum places. The food is excellent, they accept reservations, service is great and atmosphere is nice…what more could I ask for? I also like the fact that I can choose my own tea, it is extra ($1.20/person), but it’s worth it. For this occasion I was here for my 1^st pre-Chinese New Year brunch.

The dessert portion of this post: Top Gun J&C Restaurant - Desserts..

My Chamomile Tea - individual servings $1.20/person.

Top Gun's XO Chili Sauce.

On the table:

**Steamed Diced Pork & Shrimp Dumpling 5/6

• $4.75
• This is a nice change from the classic shrimp dumplings or “har gow”
• These are stuffed with celery, minced pork, ham, mushrooms, parsley, carrots, shrimp and maybe some water chestnuts. There are no nuts in them…the ones with nuts are another kind of dumpling.
• I liked the ones at Dragon’s View better, but that’s another kind.
• These are good, but the skin was a little dry although nice and thin. There was lots of stuffing and it was crunchy, juicy and nicely prepared.
• The flavour of the stuffing was a very dominant parsley flavour that was overpowering though. It’s also expensive for only 3.

**Baked BBQ Pork Bun 6/6

• The picture shows them cut, but they’re served uncut $4.75
• This is one of my favourite dim sum items. I LOVE these buns. You may already know from my posts about it at Rainflower Restaurant.
• These are better than Rainflower’s. They’re pretty famous here.
• The topping is a sugar and butter topping. It’s baked so it’s nice and crispy and crumbly and tastes like streusel. The bun part is good here as well and it’s nice and soft with lots of salty and sweet barbeque pork stuffing. The barbque pork was nice and lean too.
  

**Deep Fried Fish Ball w/Clam Sauce 4/6

• Deep fried fish ball wrapped in tofu skin with clam sauce $5.25
• This was my 1^st time seeing and trying this dish. I liked it!
• The clam sauce is definitely exotic. It’s very potent and it’s preserved so it has that strong salty flavour. It’s slimy and not meat because the clams are small. It has a strong seafood flavour and it was so unique.
• I wasn’t a fan of the fish ball because they put orange peel into the mixture so it had that slightly bitter flavour that I didn’t like.
• I like the fish ball with the clam sauce and I loved the crispy tofu skin wrapped too.

Steamed Chicken Bun 2/6

• $4.50
• There was too much bun, and not enough meat and stuffing. The stuffing was chicken, mushrooms, ginger and I think some ham.
• I like steamed chicken bun, but I did not like these because the ginger taste was very strong. They had pretty big pieces of ginger in them too and I think they should have minced it up more. They were big enough to bite into and even pull out of the meat.

**Steamed Beef Ball 6/6

• Steamed beef ball with tofu skin. Served with Worcestershire sauce $4.75
• I rarely eat these because usually they put orange peel in them as well and I hate that. These ones don’t have any, so I liked them!
• They did not look good (relative to other places they didn't). They looked really hard and they shouldn't, but they actually surprised everyone! They were really tender! It was very soft and juicy and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp & Chives 5.5/6

• Served with Hoisin and peanut sesame sauce $5.95
• You may know already, but this is one of my favourite dim sum dishes. I still like the one at Ocean King Congee & Noodle best.
• The rice rolls are excellent! Made in house, great texture and very thin, fresh and delicious, however I wasn’t a fan of the massive dried shrimps. A lot of people may LOVE this because they’re more expensive, but I found them distracting. It took away from the rice roll and made it not as delicate.

Pan-fried Stuffed Tofu 5/6

• Pan-fried stuffed tofu with black bean sauce $4.95
• This was deep-fried, not pan-fried.
• The tofu was nice and crispy although some thicker parts dried out in the frying process. I loved the texture of the crispy outside and soft tofu on the inside.
• It was “stuffed” with shrimp on top that was cooked perfectly.
• There was lots of flavour because the sauce was a black bean and onion sauce. It help onto the tofu very well.

Pan Fried Shredded White Turnip 4/6

• Pan fried shredded white turnip with fish cake $9.25
• I’ve never had this dish so it was interesting to try. It’s one of their in house dim sum dishes.
• The fish cakes were rough in texture and I wasn’t really a fan of them.
• You have to like turnips and celery to like this dish. There’s a very strong celery flavour and they use the delicate parts of the celery stalk to make it.
• The sauce tastes like a soy based sauce infused with celery and turnip flavours.
• There’s also slice of juicy mushrooms in it, but I wish there were more.

Steamed Spare Ribs 3.5/6

• Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce $4.25
• The ribs were quite tender and juicy, but they were also very oily and so was the sauce they were sitting in.
• The flavour was great with lots of garlic, but it just very oily. They could have used more black bean sauce too – it tasted like garlic sauce.

Sticky Rice with Diced Pork 4/6

• $4.95
• This came with 2 larger sticky rice rolls except for the standard 3.
• It was stuffed with ground pork, mushrooms and maybe ham…and there was no egg – which I missed.
• It was saucy, not dry, and very flavourful.

Pan Fried Vegetable (Yue Choy) 3/6

• Your choice of Baby Chai Choy, Yue Choy, Chinese broccoli, baby Bok Choy, A Vegetable, Green Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli $8.50
• I’m not sure what “A Vegetable” is…but we choice You Choy.
• It tastes like spinach but crispier, firmer and juicier. It’s also has a slight mustard taste.
• I think this is expensive and it was actually quite oily.

Chicken Feet & Chinese Herbs Soup 3/6

• Chicken feet and Chinese herbs soup in hot pot $8.95
• This does not look so good, but it’s a very “Chinese-y” dish older people would order. They love soup…and chicken feet.
• It’s basically a chicken soup that’s slightly bitter. There’s definitely some ginseng in it. It tastes like it’s “good for you” soup.
• It’s also a little bit sweet because there’s gogi berries in it.
• I only like the soup part.

**Fried Vermicelli in Homemade Style 5/6

• Stir-fried vermicelli noodles with shredded barbeque pork, prawns, bell peppers, eggs, onions and bean sprouts $14.80
• This tastes better than it looks. It was sweet from the ingredients, savoury and tangy. I think they used ketchup or sweet and sour sauce in it because it had a great flavour that surprised everyone.
• It wasn’t oily, but the scrambled eggs were a bit overcooked and dry.

Peter Roll 2.5/6

• Prawn tempura, cucumber, avocado and tobiko $10.95
• This is one of their most popular items and rolls. A lot of table ordered it.
• I could get something much better at a Japanese restaurant and for the price it isn’t worth it.
• The roll is very bland and almost too dry. There isn’t enough sauce and there’s nothing unique about it.
• The prawn tempura was freshly fried and crunchy, but they gave so little of it and they used the rice to make the roll look bigger.
• The only good part is the presentation.

The dessert portion of this post: Top Gun J&C Restaurant - Desserts.