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I started Yum-O-Rama: Where I Live to Eat! (officially) in January of this year. Previously, there were strains of YOR in my former blogs - Who knew that after six months I'd still be here, with all of you, with this undying appetite for food?
Thank you all for following me and continuously making my day! I am always ready to receive constructive criticism, although all I've received so far (and am VERY appreciative of!) are positive comments and feedback. To you, my friends, new and old, online and offline - THANK YOU! May you all have fantastic months and delicious food experiences. :)
Thanks a million!
Showing posts with label yum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yum. Show all posts
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Review: Tropika - Cambie (Vancouver, BC, Canada); Mom is Always Right.
I have to admit, Tropika does not have it good in my books. They were one of the premier "Malaysian" group of restaurants that opened in the Vancouver area and Calgary in the nineties. Unfortunately, I believe that my tastes, as well as many Vancouverites tastes, have evolved and become more knowledged, and Tropika just doesn't cut it for me anymore. Their dishes taste more Chinese than Malaysian or Thai as they bill themselves to be, and do not taste authentic.
However, it is also one of the "different" restaurants that my mother and grandfather really likes.
With my father out of town and my mother wanting to go out for dinner, she chose Tropika, and I obligingly agreed - they do somethings right, if not all. And secondly, as I'm sure many others will agree, mom is always right.
I would like to note that it was just my mother and myself dining that night, although she ordered enough food for another two people! Meh, who am I to argue though, mom is always right.
First up, we have roti canai. One order includes one roti, and will set you back about $3. My mother ordered three. Yes, three. And we finished it all!!! (it was the one thing we finished.) Tropika *does* still do this right after all these years. Time after time, the rotis are fluffy, slightly buttery, and light, served with an appetizing sauce for dipping and dunking. I could probably eat an entire meals worth of roti canai, but you know...it'd be a little unhealthy. :) I have to say, for Vancouver, Tropika makes the best roti, hands down. The side of sauce makes it a great appetizer, although you could also use the roti for dunking into curry or whatever else you order.
The next dish the waiter brought was half a dozen of beef satays, and half a dozen of lamb satays. Sadly, neither were very good. The lamb was slightly gamey and the beef was not tender at all! I snickered softly as I tried to chew through a satay. My mother asked me (demanded to know) what I was laughing at.
I laughed and mentioned that good thing my grandpa "wasn't eating this, otherwise he'd be here all night!" She laughed and we ate some more.
It was right before they brought our next dish that my mother noticed that although we had ordered half a dozen of each satay, there were only eleven sticks on the table. booo!!! What was worse was that the waiter hesitated and questioned us on this when we brought it up. Geez Tropika, don't you know that mom is always right?!
Shame on them.
I had seconded my mothers decision of ordering a Pineapple Fried Rice - Tropika always had served them in pineapple halves, with chunks of pineapple. I did notice that the size of the dish had gotten larger (I spied it at another table first!). Even while we were eating, a neighbouring table remarked, "that pineapple fried rice is quite large." I liked the size, and the fact that the rice had large chunks of pineapple and smaller pieces of meat in it. However, mom thought it was average. She wasn't impressed by the size, and didn't think that there was much to it. Who am I to argue?
...mom is always right
Next up was the rest of the satays - that's right. Two people, two dozen satays. My mother doesn't do anything half way! We had the chicken and pork satays, which were much better than the first dish of satays. The chicken satay at Tropika is very tender and flavourful. You get a good taste of the grill, along with slight lemongrass and curry flavours. Yum! After having the pork satay that day, I'd order it again too. All satays were served with a meager helping of peanut satay sauce.
By the time the beef curry came along, we were so full we could only manage a couple bites. It was average for the price. But the pieces of meat were plentiful and braised until very tender.
Afterwards, I stopped by Cheesecakes Etc to pick up a cake and some strawberry sauce. It was so good! Although I didn't like what I saw in the restaurant. One of the employees was packaging the strawberries for take out, and a couple of lids fell onto the floor. At first, she just attempted to kick it under the shelf. When that didn't work, another employee picked the lids up off the ground and put it back on the lower shelf. Now, interpret that as you will - I didn't see them put the lids onto any containers for usage, but I didn't see them clean or throw them out, either!
It was good to see my mother and the company was definately better than the food, even though we packed about 75% of it to go. :)
Tropika (Cambie)
2975 Cambie Street [map]
Vancouver BC
Phone: 604-879-6002
However, it is also one of the "different" restaurants that my mother and grandfather really likes.
With my father out of town and my mother wanting to go out for dinner, she chose Tropika, and I obligingly agreed - they do somethings right, if not all. And secondly, as I'm sure many others will agree, mom is always right.
I would like to note that it was just my mother and myself dining that night, although she ordered enough food for another two people! Meh, who am I to argue though, mom is always right.
First up, we have roti canai. One order includes one roti, and will set you back about $3. My mother ordered three. Yes, three. And we finished it all!!! (it was the one thing we finished.) Tropika *does* still do this right after all these years. Time after time, the rotis are fluffy, slightly buttery, and light, served with an appetizing sauce for dipping and dunking. I could probably eat an entire meals worth of roti canai, but you know...it'd be a little unhealthy. :) I have to say, for Vancouver, Tropika makes the best roti, hands down. The side of sauce makes it a great appetizer, although you could also use the roti for dunking into curry or whatever else you order.
The next dish the waiter brought was half a dozen of beef satays, and half a dozen of lamb satays. Sadly, neither were very good. The lamb was slightly gamey and the beef was not tender at all! I snickered softly as I tried to chew through a satay. My mother asked me (demanded to know) what I was laughing at.
I laughed and mentioned that good thing my grandpa "wasn't eating this, otherwise he'd be here all night!" She laughed and we ate some more.
It was right before they brought our next dish that my mother noticed that although we had ordered half a dozen of each satay, there were only eleven sticks on the table. booo!!! What was worse was that the waiter hesitated and questioned us on this when we brought it up. Geez Tropika, don't you know that mom is always right?!
Shame on them.
I had seconded my mothers decision of ordering a Pineapple Fried Rice - Tropika always had served them in pineapple halves, with chunks of pineapple. I did notice that the size of the dish had gotten larger (I spied it at another table first!). Even while we were eating, a neighbouring table remarked, "that pineapple fried rice is quite large." I liked the size, and the fact that the rice had large chunks of pineapple and smaller pieces of meat in it. However, mom thought it was average. She wasn't impressed by the size, and didn't think that there was much to it. Who am I to argue?
...mom is always right
Next up was the rest of the satays - that's right. Two people, two dozen satays. My mother doesn't do anything half way! We had the chicken and pork satays, which were much better than the first dish of satays. The chicken satay at Tropika is very tender and flavourful. You get a good taste of the grill, along with slight lemongrass and curry flavours. Yum! After having the pork satay that day, I'd order it again too. All satays were served with a meager helping of peanut satay sauce.
By the time the beef curry came along, we were so full we could only manage a couple bites. It was average for the price. But the pieces of meat were plentiful and braised until very tender.
Afterwards, I stopped by Cheesecakes Etc to pick up a cake and some strawberry sauce. It was so good! Although I didn't like what I saw in the restaurant. One of the employees was packaging the strawberries for take out, and a couple of lids fell onto the floor. At first, she just attempted to kick it under the shelf. When that didn't work, another employee picked the lids up off the ground and put it back on the lower shelf. Now, interpret that as you will - I didn't see them put the lids onto any containers for usage, but I didn't see them clean or throw them out, either!
It was good to see my mother and the company was definately better than the food, even though we packed about 75% of it to go. :)
2975 Cambie Street [map]
Vancouver BC
Phone: 604-879-6002
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Mmmm. Scallion Pancakes. (Part II)
I made Scallion Pancakes (Recipe: Basil & Ginger) this weekend, and although I *love* them, TM tends to be a neaderthal and likes a
Me, I could live with eating meat only 2-3 times a week, but since I've moved in with him, I've kind of been forced to cook and eat meat more often than usual. Perhaps this is the reason behind my recent emotional state? Possibly.
Anyways I made some more scallion pancakes yesterday with the dough left over from the weekend. Let me say, the recipe is delicious as it is, and the simplicity of it allows lots of room for adjustments and additions of yummy ingredients. Last time I used a sweet Thai chili sauce & cream cheese in place of the butter, yesterday I added in some diced cooked Chinese sausage (lap cheong) into the mix and dipped the finished product in sambal oolek. Heavenly. Or, perhaps devilish if you consider the fiery sambal.
Chinese Sausage & Scallion Pancakes. Or in Chinese, Lap Cheong Chong Yau Bang. Deliciously simple, with three main ingredients: cooked finely diced Chinese sausage, sliced scallions / green onions, and the dough, comprised of 4 parts all purpose flour, 1 part warm water, salt to taste, and oil / lard for cooking.
First, you roll out the dough into thin discs, after letting them rest sufficiently. Last time I followed the recipe and rolled out the dough *right* at 30 minutes. This time, I waited an hour before I touched them again. It seemed to work, as the dough was more relaxed and allowed me to roll it out nice and thin. I then slathered (I mean that!) the dough with melted butter, and sprinkled liberally with the cooked sausage and green onion.
Starting from one side of the disc, roll the dough tightly around the filling, pressing lightly as you go, into a long cigar shape. This helps create the layers of the finished product.
Think of it as puff pastry, or pie crust. The layers of water and fat sandwiched between layers of thin pastry helps create the fluffy, flakey layers later.
I coiled the cigar shape into a spiral, and tucked the ends under. You want to keep in all the filling, and try to keep a uniform shape.
At this point, I wanted to cool down the coiled spiral as it was a warm day - if I rolled it out right after forming the coils, I would chance loosing the layers as the butter was still really soft. I refrigerated the covered coils for about half an hour.
After letting them cool down, I rolled those suckers flat! I took care not to exert too much pressure (and risk the dough breaking and all those precious goodies falling out!), and tried to keep a uniform circle shape.
After rolling, the pancakes went into a heated pan with a generous amount of oil to crisp up. Don't be stingey with the oil. It helps keep the browning as uniform as possible, and helps cook the pancake!
I think I ate about one and a half of these while cooking. :p
TM liked this batch better than the previous meatless ones, and the sausage did provide more umami notes. I still like the simplicity of the green onion, but I'd like to try making some with dried pork floss, chili oils, or possibly even a sweet hoisin peanut one. Mmm. The possibilities are *endless*!
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