Chada Thai Fine Cuisine (Coquitlam, BC)

Thai food again. What can I say though - when we get a hankering for any type of food, we tend to indulge until we get a little bit of food coma. In the case of Thai food, any time is good for Thai food!

We were near Coquitlam Town Center one weekend and happened upon Chada Thai. The restaurant is in the same shopping plaza as Save on Foods, A&W and Taco Time. The last time we were in the area, the Chada Thai was not open yet, so when we saw the number of people walking briskly into the restaurant, we thought we'd try them out.

It is a small restaurant, and at lunch it always seems quite busy. To make things simple, there is a limited lunch menu where everything is $10, and includes a small salad, soup, and crispy wraps. All lunch items come with rice as well, save for the pad thai.



Service was very attentive and hospitable, and the soup was offered at the beginning of the meal. I settled on the green chicken curry, while M ordered a pad thai.



Chada Thai does not "dumb down" their flavours! We both ordered the meals with "medium" spiciness, and the waitress cautioned that their dishes were a little spicier than other restaurants. We still chose medium spicy. When the food came, it was still palatable and delicious, but next time we'd order a less spicy entree. The pad thai was very flavourful - less tamarind than Lhy Thai, and a generous garnish of sprouts and roasted peanuts. M finished his entire dish!



I *love* green chicken curry. While my entree seemed small, it was actually very rich and had lots of vegetables and chicken in it. I was a little embarassed to ask for a doggy bag, but I *really* wanted to use every drop of the sauce!

We thought the meal was great, and would certainly come back for lunch! I did have a glance at the larger dinner menu online, but since we rarely venture into Coquitlam for dinner, we may not get to try their appetizers and other dishes.

Chada Thai Fine Cuisine

107-2991 Lougheed Highway [map]

Coquitlam BC

P: (604) 464-5300

Vanya (Vancouver, BC)

I thought I had done a post on Vanya / Van-ya, but I guess I was wrong!

Vanya has been in operation on Harold Street in Vancouver for as long as I can remember. Originally, it was owned by an older couple and as far as I know, it is where me and my family began our love affair with sushi!

I remember going when I was in elementary school and working my way from the California rolls, to their special rolls - an ever-changing assortment of fish and seafood packed into a roll. We continued going to Vanya as we grew older - it made for healthy and hearty lunches, a quick eat-in or take-home dinner. Suffice to say, it helped out mom a lot as it was something that she would eat, and that us kids enjoyed as well!

A little over a year ago, Vanya changed hands to a younger couple, and for the first bit, the old owner / chef stayed on to train new staff. The food has held up their quality and standards, and prices have gone up a little, but that is quite understandable in todays' economic climate and inflation!

The restaurant serves a number of bentos / combos and also a slightly different number of bentos for take out. It is all good. :)

One one occasion with M, my mother and sister, (before work got all crazy!) we enjoyed a simple dinner. I didn't get all the photos I wanted, but here are some highlights!



Vanya serves fresh sashimi. Another perk is that they serve wild Sockeye salmon - better eat up before its all gone! Both the salmon and tuna are carefully picked over for bones and sliced beautifully and arranged.



The aforementioned Special roll - filled to the brim with fresh, mouth-watering sashimi, it makes for a healthy, low-fat meal for one, or the perfect dish to share. The dynamite roll is also tasty. My mother always says that Vanyas' tempura is the best; the perk of a small restaurant is that your food arrives quickly, and fresh, crispy tempura is what makes a dynamite roll excellent.



Here is one of my favourite dishes, katsudon, at Vanya. You could say that its one of my favourite comfort foods! Deep-fried pork cutlets with egg cooked onto the top, on a bed of carmelized onions. M is not necessarily great at remembering the names of restaurants, so for the longest time, I referred to Vanya as "the pork chop rice place! You know! How can you not remember?!?" Finally, he is remembering Vanya, so no need to call it the "pork chop rice place". You know. Less confusion. :)



Here's a last shot of the tempura. Crispy, fresh, tasty while still retaining moisture in the shrimp. Vanyas' yam tempura and assorted tempura are also very good.

As an aside, if you order the Nabeyaki Udon, be sure to order the tempura on the side. And in the summertime, be sure to try their cold noodle.

I'm glad Vanya hasn't changed too much with the new management - the place has a lot of nostalgia for me!

Vanya

5615 Harold Street [map]

Vancouver BC

P: 604-433-1303

Catching Up... (Krause Berry Farms, Langley, BC)

Since I didn't post much this summer, and in light of the downpour of rain the past two days, I'd thought I'd relive the excellent time we had berry picking at Krause Berry Farms in Langley. I've heard about Krause Berry Farms ever since I worked across the water in Maple Ridge. I'd heard about their mountainous pies, their fresh produce, and all the agri-tourism they had at their farm. Little did I know, though, how busy they actually got!





Krause farms offers something for everyone - there's a small petting zoo including a miniature horse (and a donkey that spits! some kids that were bugging the donkey while were there found out first hand. :). There is also a small refreshment stall selling scones, smoothies, and other beverages. We sampled a blueberry scone while waiting for the weather too cool down a bit, since we got there earlier in the afternoon. While other bakeries have scones with a couple pieces of fruit sprinkled on top or mixed into the dough, Krause Farms loads it up with a filling of berries - yum!



At the time we went (mid August), the strawberry season had ended, and could choose from blueberries or blackberries to pick - if I remember correctly, we were charged $1.60 per pound and the service everywhere on the farm / premises were excellent. Yes, there were a lot of high school and university students, but these kids were dillegent, professional, and well spoken. One person who stuck in particular was Zack - he told us about how line ups generally go out the door on busy days (totally believable! - I've heard stories about people getting into fights over their beautiful pies!). He also helped us out the door with all our purchases - two custard pies, a flat of blueberries, a flat of blackberries that we picked ourselves, bakers dozen of corn, and a bag of Krause farms' "corn nuggets". It was kind of like a home-made version of corn puffs!



The blackberry picking was wonderful - the field was well marked, and there were tons of magnificently sweet berries hiding under leaves and that other pickers had missed. Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves. We shared some with family, and rinsed and dried our take before freezing them on shallow trays. I *know* that I'll appreciate the work once January / February rolls around and we can snack on berries from the freezer...you know, if they make it that long. :)

The piece de resistance were the custard pies. One may ask, what could possible be so interesting about a pie?

Well, Krause does not make any ordinary pie (I still want to go back for their pumpkin, blueberry, and peach pies!). I'll just let the photos speak for themselves, although they do not do the actual pies any justice.




We're talking a flakey crust topped with a sweet custard and piled (mile) high with a mountain of fresh strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, then topped with a berry glaze. Looking at the photos again, I have a real hankering for more pie. It was just that good!

Although the blueberry and blackberries are no long in season, Krause Berry farms is currently still selling (everbearing) strawberries, fall raspberries, and pumpkin pies, just in time for the fall season!



Krause Berry Farms

6179 - 248 Street [map]

Langley BC

P: 604-856-5757

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

Sooooo Busy

Sorry foodie fans - I have been horrendously bogged down with work. ...I forecast that it will be like this for another couple weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to post on weekends, but lately I've just been using the weekends to unwind. :o\

I hope it doesn't last longer - this reminds me of how I was feeling about three years ago. *sigh*