Minoas Taverna (Burnaby BC)

Whoa...how do I blog again?

What format do I use again?

It's been a while! (to quote a certain blogger.)

It has been a while. Between personal losses to great personal gains, this year has been somewhat of a misfit rollercoaster, and I believe that I've come out a stronger person. I thank you for continuing to read and checking in (if you have - I am not going to be so vain to believe you checked in at all!). I also thank the fellow bloggers (You know who you are.) for encouraging us to blog again (or at sometimes, to eat again, by dropping off random baked and/or fried goods). How long will I stick around this time? Who knows?

I haven't written in so long, in fact, that I honestly can't remember how to dissect the meal. Perhaps the real reason for posting this entry is... Well, a week ago Elaine invited a couple of us out to Minoas Taverna, a Greek restaurant located at the very tip of Smith Avenue (read: right at Kingsway). We were joined by Sherman, Kim, and two SOs (or rather, as Sherman would probably put it, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to dine with them. *inside joke!*)



Minoas has been in operation for as long as I can remember. I used to live in the area and *always* asked my mother about that "weird house on the hill that always had Christmas lights on". It wasn't until I was older that, armed with an entertainment book coupon, I would visit with my brother or even M a good decade ago. From what I remember, the family that ran the restaurant used to live in the basement of the restaurant. They've since moved out, but still run the back and front of the house. Their son also does real estate and you'll find a posting (or five) of his in the lower landing of the restaurant.

We all shared an appetizer platter that came with pita, spanakopita, mushrooms, meat dolmathes, hummus, calamari, and tzatziki. While there was a lot of variety on the platter (and Minoas offered mushrooms, something other Greek restaurants do not), M and I felt that the platter was a little small. To put things in perspective, we shared the appetizer platter (same price) with another couple at Cristos a couple weeks ago, and could barely touch our entrees. I think me and M could polish off the appetizer platter pictured above, plus our entrees (well, M at least. I'm not a porker... ;p) Meanwhile, our fellow dining companions thought it was acceptable.

The dips (tzatziki and hummus) were garlicky, just the way we liked it, and the spanakopita was crisp but warm and flavourful. My favourites would have had to be the dolmathes and surprisingly, the mushrooms. They were served warm and were lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon.

It is always tricky dining with food bloggers. You hesitate to tell everyone what you're ordering, for fear of ordering the same thing. Then you play the game of ordering *last*, so that any last minute changes can be made, for the reason above.

That was exactly the case with M and Sherman (but you know. gotta keep the bromance alive...me, I just always get in the way.) They both ordered the roast lamb. It was a Tuesday, and the lamb was on special for $13.95. However, since we were using Entertainment book coupons, we weren't eligible for the "Tuesday special" price. Each entree came with a greek salad, carrots, half a potato, tzatziki and rice.

I ordered my usual lamb chops. Unfortunately, I wasn't asked how I'd like them done. I would have requested medium rare. The chops were done medium. To the restaurants credit, the lamb chops were mostly moist, but it erred on dry in some places. As I had some left over, I packed it home as usual, but knowing that it would be ultimately dry when reheated, piled on some tzatziki.

The (surprise) winner of the night would have had to be the moussaka that Kim ordered (although, please refer to his entry for his "but" to equalize the votes). The moussaka had bouts of potato, zucchini and eggplant but was still meaty. Actually, as we were reviewing our orders, I confessed that I'd wanted the moussaka, or even the vegetarian moussaka...but opted for the lamb chops to write about something different. :)

Elaine ordered the bifteka. This was another surprise as I'd rarely seen it as a stand-alone entree, only as an appetizer or as part of a platter. A trio of bifteka / meat patties comprised the entree and mostly everyone remarked how tender they were - usually the meatballs that I'd come across in Greek restaurants were dense and charred; these were moist, looser, and not as heavy.

Dinner came to about $23 per person, after discounts. For what we paid, it was fairly decent food. Service was prompt and the food arrived quickly. While value could be arguable, we also received another coupon with our meal (where did I put it now?). I'm just not as sure that I would go out of my way to visit, or that I would visit without a coupon.

After dinner, Mijune dropped by with a special sweet something for us - a jumbo donut from Texas! Apparently these donuts are in high demand and known they are for their slightly flakey, slightly sweet and original texture. Mijune was such a great spokesperson she even convinced a self-professed "old guy with gout" (just some random Minoas patron) to try a bite.

Many thanks to Elaine for remembering us and organizing this weekday dinner! Thank you to Mijune for the goodies. Thanks to Kim for the encouragement, and Thank you to Sherman and M for allowing me to sit in the corner and pretend that I was eating with them. ;)

Until next time!

Minoas Taverna
3823 Kingsway
Burnaby BC
P: 604-430-2545



Read what others thought:
Elaine
Kim
Sherman

Food Bloggers Dinner: Deutsche House / Vancouver Alpen Club

The Food Blogger dinners have been happening more frequently - its nice to see some familiar faces, but even better to meet the fresh faces behind some of the new (to me!) blogs. On this occasion, the location was Deustche Haus / Vancouver Alpen Club on Victoria Drive at 33rd Avenue.

The venue was huge - a regular dining area with an L-shaped bar, a back room where a communal gathering of older folk were dining and playing cards, and an upstairs area where dancing was going on. Question - is the upstairs area their "catering" area? Is it licensed for food? (Just curious.)

We showed up a little early and spied  Jenny and Ricky still in their van, then Joyce and Bing enjoying some sun across the parking lot. As it was getting close to the meeting time, we trickled into the dining hall and spotted Kim at the other end of the room.  Soon thereafter, Sherman, Yen, Victoria, Ethan, Jonathan, Ann and Dee, Karl, and Anita joined us.

As Kim had been organizing the meal a couple weeks prior, he'd mentioned that he had wanted to order the festplate; for a mere $80, four (or more, in my opinion!) people could feast on a platter of various meats and sides. Alternately, when we were seated, the waitress suggested the special on the Wednesday we were there: we could pick from their schnitzels, pair it with a beer, for the low price of $15.

I had "reserved" one of us for the festplate, and although the special was tempting, M also went for the festplate.

After a long wait, we were slowly given some beverages. (Insert wait.) Then we given some bread and butter. Actually, we were given an obscene amount of butter to begin with and for a while, we joked around that we were having whipped butter hors d'oervres... When the bread finally came we quieted down a notch and temporarily satiated our appetites (and mouths :) with the soft, supple bread. It was bread straight out of the bag - no toasting or warming up here.


As the festplate diners had been warned (on the menu) that the platters would be 30 minutes, we idled away our time with conversation. Once the food began to arrive, however, it became a circus. Food papparazzi anyone?

The above were a variety of schnitzels that was ordered by bloggers who did not opt for the festplate; I did not have a chance to sample any of these but they looked good, and I liked that there were beets and broccolini as a side. The schnitzels were only $15, and included a beer! I also liked seeing the spaetzle (middle), a German dumpling that is generally made from a batter of herbs, egg, flour and water, a may be served by poaching in stock or water, then served as is, or further cooked by a quick saute. I haven't had or made these in almost ten years - I think I'll try my hand at them again soon! Poaching yields a more moist dumpling; sauteeing can sometimes cause the spaetzle to puff up slightly (due to the egg in the batter) and / or crisp up on the outside for a different texture.

Finally, the moment came when the platters of meat came out:

On the platter was the 1 eisbein, 2 kassler, 2 bratwurst, 2 leberkäse, 1 schweineschnitzel and sauerkraut. The side dishes came separately and consisted of mashed potatoes, dumplings, red cabbage and an ample supply of mustard.


The mashed potatoes were mildly fluffy but nothing special. They tasted a little better with a sprinkle of salt and some mustard. The dumplings would be the fail out of the sides. At first we didn't know what we were eating - then some referenced the menu and identified the gummy mass we had been chewing were the dumplings. I suppose some overworking of the dumpling dough had occurred, or that the starch in the dumpling had begun to gelatinize. Everything tasted better with a slathering of the mustard!

A closer look at the meats on the platter, clockwise from top left corner: eisbein (essentially a ham hock, the first one is with the fat cap; second photo is with the fat cap removed), leberkäse (German bologna), bratwurst (sausage), Schweineschnitzel (pork cutlet, pounded thin, breaded and fried) and kassler (salted pork chop).


Our favourite was the bratwurst. It was easy to eat and went well with the sauerkraut and mustard. Overall, the ham hock comments varied from a favourite, to "slightly bland". It is important to note that German food is of this style - minimal seasoning, cooked through, served with kraut and mustard. With that in mind, and comparing the food to Balkan House (another European restaurant in New Westminster) as well as a friend who we've had the pleasure of cooking for us, the ham hock is Ms favourite. For me, it was a little salty, it would be nice with some of that bread from earlier in the evening. The same could be said of the salted pork chop, although thethe pork chop was the driest of the meats. However, this could very well be due to the meat having to endure a thorough picture taking by our group.

The surprise? The German bologna reminded Karl of his German roots; for me, it reminded me of nights at grandmoms house! My grandmom used to fry or steam up slices of spam because it was one of the things I would eat at her house when I was a wee one (she cooked her steamed eggs different than my mother; although it was my favourite dish, I just couldn't eat grandmoms! The spam, however...:) So I liked it. Now, I won't degrade it to say it was spam. The texture differed a little bit, but bologna - yes it was.

We also liked the pork schnitzel. It was a lot of meat though - the platter could definitely serve five, maybe even six people, although the people gathered around Ms' platter (we weren't platter partners!) managed to meagerly finish theirs. In my "platter party" was Sherman, Kim, and Yen. Although Sherman and Kim are big eaters, me (with my on again, off again meat ban!) and Yen were no match.

Even so, some bloggers had room / made room for dessert. On the left, a traditional apfelstrudel / apple strudle, on the right, an order of crepes with vanilla ice cream.


While the food was acceptable, the service was a little lacking. It took us a while for our single waitress to take orders and expedite food. There was also a huge wait in handling / settling the bill. Although many of us were paying by cash, and had only ordered the festplate, it took about half an hour in a lineup for everyone to pay.

FYI, there was also an unverified account of rodent(s) observed at the time of dining. However, if you look up the online reports at Vancouver Coastal Health, no records in the last couple years report any pests (the last inspection was November of last year, the one prior, in July of 2008). That's quite remarkable for a building and neighbourhood of this age. ;)

Vancouver Alpen Club / Deustche Haus
4875 Victoria Drive
Vancouver BC
P: 604-874-3811

Food Bloggers Lunch: Royal City Thai (New Westminster, BC)

There's a growing email list amongst Vancouver food bloggers, and it is well used. One such use was when Karl of The Friday Lunch suggested a "new" restaurant in New Westminster, Royal City Thai. Kim, Sherman, and myself were glad to accept. Reasons? Royal City Thai, formerly Royal City Cafe, was serving All You Can Eat Thai food on the weekends! Curious bloggers we are, we showed up not knowing what to expect.

My apologies to Kim, Sherman and Karl as we underestimated the amount of time to get from our place to Royal City Thai that afternoon and arrived a little late!


A glance at their AYCE menu is promising. A variety of dishes that we'd order ourselves, all for the price of $12.95!

When the waitress came to take our order, we simply said, "everything". And so it began - we were brought individual portions of hot and sour chicken soup. The coconut broth was flavourful, but the chicken meat was not plentiful. It was a nice opener to the meal. The vegetable salad also arrived shortly, and while being colourful, it was dressed lightly.

A variety of fried appetizers were also brought to the table. The calamari rings were fried crispy yet not overdone, but lacked flavour aside from the sweet and sour dipping sauce.

The same went for the veggie spring rolls. Crispy, but it would have been nice to have more flavour or interesting filling. The chicken wings would be my pick out of the appetizers to order again. It came with a slightly watery sweet chili sauce and were slightly seasoned. That being said, I also thought it would have been nice had these been stuffed with a mixture of prawn and vermicelli (of course on an AYCE menu the boys told me to dream on. Yes I know... ;p).





It became sort of a blur after that. Green curry, red curry, yellow curry - noodles, rice, spicy, not spicy...





Above is the yellow curry pork, beef stirfry, and the veggie fried rice. The pork curry, in my opinion (along with a subsequent chicken curry) was the most flavourful dishes on the menu. While we had ordered a medium spicy, we found all the dishes to be lacking any real heat.





Above is chicken vegetable dish (black bean I'm told), but there was a lack of flavour as well. In the middle is a Green Curry Beef, followed by the Pad See Iw. If you click on the pad see iw photo and take a look, you may be able to see that the flat rice noodles used in the dish are a touch undercooked raw. I'm talking crunchy raw - the noodles could have been soaked a bit longer, or could have been stored properly instead of being left to dry in between cooking steps.




After the initial order of "everything", we decided to order some repeats in the "spicy" option. These were more pleasing and interesting to the palate than the previously ordered dishes. As a bonus, the noodles were cooked though in the Pad See Iw this time! :)

There is something M and I refer to with Asian cooking, especially spicy Asian cuisine (Malay, Singaporean, Indonesian, Thai, Szechuan, etc) - it is that "addictive" factor. Meaning - if we order a number of dishes amongst the two of us, can we stop eating it before we eat what we meant to pack away for lunch the next day? Sadly, the food at Royal City Thai did not have that "addictive" factor. It was decent, but not quite what we would be looking for when a Thai food craving hits



In all, for $12.95, an AYCE Thai meal of this caliber is decent for New Westminster. It is not a "destination" eat, although if you were in the area and hankering for some Thai curry, I might suggest it. The plus was that although our meal was AYCE, each dish was still prepared fresh (we could hear them!). The seating was comfortable and spacious, and there were some beautiful carved panels and dividers throughout the restaurant. Parking is generally metered on Columbia as well as the surrounding side streets.

Thank you to Karl for organizing the lunch - we would not have known that Royal City Thai existed.

Click through to see what Karl, Sherman, and Kim had to say!

Royal City Thai
634 Columbia Street
New Westminster BC
P: 604-522-1289