Lhy Thai (Edmonds, Burnaby, BC)

Finally - some free time! Work has slowed down a bit, and I've just been working on being less tense. We've been doing a lot of biking just to enjoy the last bits of this Indian / El Nino summer.

I *had* to post on Lhy Thai - I first heard about it when E suggested it for a summertime meet up when H was in town a couple months. E sounded *SO* excited about Lhy Thai, but at last minute, I couldn't find any info about it so, we had gone to Balkan House, which is just up the street from Lhy Thai.

The next buzz I heard about Lhy Thai was from Sherman's post. It was on my wishlist on Urbanspoon shortly there after and on Friday, I *finally* had a chance to drop by for dinner. While waiting for a table, I noticed that Lhy Thai had posted up a thank you to Sherman for his review - now that's PR!



We ordered our standard Phat Thai with chicken, and were pleasantly surprised - one thing about Phat / Pad Thai is that every restaurant does it differently. Some have freshly ground peanuts on top. Some have more tamarind pulp in the sauce. Some have different toppings and extras like tofu, different veggies, and the addition of fresh cilantro or other herbs as a garnish. But I can always say that Phat Thai evokes this response - it is all good. :)

Lhy Thais' version was more tamarind / Thai ketchup based. All the dishes arrived promptly, and when we went to pay our bill, it was no wonder - there were about five to six people in the back, all working dilegently.



We wanted to try something different, and ordered a Moo Ga-Tiam. The magic here was created with garlic, ground pepper, green onion and fresh cilantro. The key ingredient was the fresh cilantro. This dish went nicely with steamed rice.



Next up was a Penang Neua - beef in red curry. While we *always* favour green curry chicken, we believe we have a new favourite. Slightly sweet, slightly spicy, a little curry goes a long way! Between the pork dish and the penang beef, we ordered two large rices just to enjoy all the sauce in the dishes. In fact, after we packed up our leftovers, I almost thought that M was going to lick the dish of the remaining sauce! haha!

Lhy Thai has been in their location for more than 15 years - I can't believe that I only heard about it this year!

There were many take out orders, as well has lots of regulars that came and went while we enjoyed our meal. And although the seating arrangements were "tight" as Sherman put it, there were a number of reservations - and people didn't mind waiting either!

I am *so* glad to have found another Thai restaurant with extremely reasonable prices, as well as proximity to where we live now. Love it, love it, love it. We'll be back for sure.


Lhy Thai

7357 Edmonds Street [map]

Burnaby BC

P: (604) 526-8085

Seattle Review: Thai Ginger (Pacific Place, Seattle, WA)

Back to Seattle! Not really. I realized I still had some Seattle food photos on my memory card, so before we parade forward, lets go back in time.

Night three of the Seattle business trip showed on me. I was tired, a little cranky, and just agreeing with mom for sake of brevity. Sorry for the blurriness of the photos, please see above.

After walking around in the northwest drizzle for about twenty minutes and *not* finding the restaurants that I wanted to visit (although, I *should* have tried harder to persuade Miss MAY about the Dahlia Lounge or Serious Pie. Oh well. Pie for dinner (for her) would have been a big stretch.

Thai Ginger it would be. Afterall, it was *somewhat* similar to Vancouver food, right?




We ordered the chicken satays, angel wings (stuffed chicken wings), and beef curry. We should have just ordered two dishes instead of three because we wound up packing some to go!

What we hadn't expected was the American-sized portions. No, it wasn't overwhelmingly large, but compared to the Thai food portions in Vancouver, it was probably two to three times in size.

Admitedly, the chicken satays were a complete let down. The meat was not marinated enough and as a double whammy, more is *not* better. The thickly cut chicken breast didn't cook properly on the grill; while there were grill marks on the chicken, there was no grill flavour.

The chicken wings were quite good though! Mom kept on calling them "chicken legs" instead, because they were just stuffed with so much...stuff, and flat out huge. We actually shared a chicken wing the night we were there, and packed one to go. The curry was nicely spicey yet sweet. It came with some rice which were happy to devour...we also packed some of the curry and rice to go.

Thai Ginger is a chain restaurant - there are many of them around Seattle. I didn't expect a chain restaurant to have traditional carved Thai gates, room dividers, and other items, but it was a nice touch for ambience.

Glad to discover Thai Ginger.

Thai Ginger

600 Pine Street [map]

Seattle WA

Phone: (206) 749-9100

Review: Tentatsu (Hastings-Sunrise, Vancouver, BC)

We felt like sushi after coffee this weekend. Driving down Hastings, we remembered a busy restaurant that we had passed many a time while shopping at Donald's Market, or picking up bbq pork at a nearby Chinese butcher shop. It was always busy, and had traffic whether for an eat-in meal, or a for take-out orders.

Judging by the menu posted in the window, it was easy to see why. Tentatsu seemed to offer good value.



I will admit - I am a *lot* like my dad when I am hungry. I get grumpy. I get exasperated. I just *need* food, to, as he puts it, "feel like a human again".

Such was the case this Saturday, when we had driven for a while and M was still at a loss at what type of food he wanted to eat, or what he wanted to order. I was about to lose it. :p

We decided on three items: seafood okonomiyaki, a Japanese pancake / omelette of sorts, a sashimi combo, and the Love Flower. Unfortunately, due to my brain going on "starvation mode", I can't remember which sashimi combo it was, all I know is that it was good, and the fresh ebi were huge!



The ebi were the most impressive part of the sushi combo, which came with twelve pieces of fresh-tasting sashimi, including mackerel, salmon, tuna, surf clam, the ebi, and snapper. It *definately* satisfied the sashimi / sushi craving!



While I made the ultimate decision to try the okonomiyaki at Tentatsu, I was a disappointed when it came. It was a great deal thicker than what I was expecting. It had a suitable amount of seafood in it, and the flavour of the shrimp and octopus came through nicely, but it wasn't cooked long enough to give the crisp outer later nor the "charred" flavour that I wanted from a good okonomiyaki. M said he liked that it wasn't greasey, and would order it again, but I found it too starchy and would likely pass on ordering it again in the future.



What I was impressed with, was the Love Flower. It was sure awkward to eat, however! The Love Flower is a center of chopped scallop set atop sushi rice, wrapped with two thick slices of salmon, and garnished with lettuce and roe; one piece is topped with flying fish roe, the other, salmon roe. Perhaps it was the chefs play on comedy & tragedy masks? The flavour of the bitter salmon roe cut through the slightly sweet scallop and salmon, while the flying fish roe made that piece even sweeter. . . such is love!

At just over $30 for two people and a full belly, we'd come back to Tentatsu. Their rolls looked great - I just wouldn't order their okonomiyaki next time. Tentatsu doesn't beat the North Shore for sushi in my books, but it is plenty fine for Vancouver! ;)

Tentatsu
2430 East Hastings Street [map]

Vancouver, BC

Phone: 604-255-3733

Recipe: Thai-Inspired Lettuce Wraps

I had a craving for some lettuce wraps. Me and the boy have gained weight since...well, since we moved in together, partially due to inactivity, partially due to poor eating habits. We are seeing the signs of a slowing metabolism...nooooo!!!!

What better way to combat that than to make a flavourful, but healthy lettuce wrap?



Ingredients
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1/2 carrot, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
4 green onions, chopped
3 lemongrass stalks, white part only, outer woody layers removed, chopped
1 1/2 T ginger, minced
1.3 lb ground pork (~600 g)
Juice of 2 limes
2 shallots, chopped
2 T fish sauce
1/4 c hoisin, or to taste
Cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Lettuce leaves for serving



Method
In a wok, heat 1 T of oil over medium heat. Cook ground pork, lime juice, and fish sauce together, breaking pork up into smaller pieces. Remove and reserve when meat is cooked all the way through.

In the same wok, heat 1 T of oil. Cook white onions, carrot and celery for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lemon grass. Stir and cook for two minutes more. Add cooked pork, ginger, and shallots. Cook five more minutes, stirring in hoisin to taste.



Season with salt and pepper as necessary. Serve on lettuce leaves with extra hoisin if required (I found mine to be seasoned nicely already).

The meat mixture is also nice served on top of rice, couscous, or on top of a salad.