'Appy Hour at The Flying Pig (Olympic Village)

B and I have been on a Happy Hour binge lately. Our latest visit was to The Flying Pig, where we've been for brunch and dinner before. It's always been solid: good service and good food.

It's amazing how different food is when served at Happy Hour and at Dinner. When we visited during Dinner, the Truffled Jumbo Macaroni was delicious and left you wanting more. During Happy Hour, it was bland and average. There was a good amount of it though, so you'll definitely be full.

B liked the Beef Carpaccio, but I thought the greens on top made it too bitter and overpowered the flavour from the beef.

I don't know why I keep doing this, but it's never a good deal to order a Meat & Cheese Board at a restaurant unless you know they cure their own meats. Based on the selection, I would've been better off going to Costco and getting a variety pack.

The Beef Short Rib Croquette was fine. I actually thought we ordered the Mac n' Cheese Bites from Dubh Linn Gate because the texture of the Croquettes were gooey and not meaty at all.

When these P.E.I. Mussels arrived, B's first words were "This must be the smallest serving of mussels I've ever seen." One of them was closed too, so we couldn't eat it. But we got 2-3 each. They were fine, we were just disappointed that they didn't catch the closed (dead) one.

Overall, we think Brunch and Dinner is good at The Flying Pig, but wouldn't return for Happy Hour.

Banh Mi Quest: Pho Quynh Express

Apparently Pho Quynh Express open just over a month ago and we had never seen it until this weekend. Only a block or so away, our friends told us the Pho is good, all signs point to this as THE restaurant, THE replacement we've been looking for.

Cost per Sandwich: $5.75
Bread: 3/5 - The bread isn't super dry and hard like it's stale, but it's not fresh and soft either.
Sauce: 0/5 - We couldn't be sure if there was any sauce. It looked like they may have just spread butter on it, because we couldn't taste any sauce and it was very dry. In a way, it was good, because the chicken flavour really stood out.
Filling: 2/5 - There was a good amount of filling, but it also included lettuce, which is not very traditional, and the vegetables weren't pickled enough.
Meat: 4/5 - The chicken was tender and you could taste the flavour, but lacking moisture - probably because there was no sauce. There was a decent amount of chicken though.
Value: 3/5 - A little on the pricier end but it's within walking distance for us. It's not the greatest but the chicken was really quite good.

Bao Down Gastropub & Raw Bar (Olympic Village)

I've referred to Bao Down's service before in my post on the Flying Pig. It's great to finally see how it works at the restaurant itself. But first, the decor. It had a nice rustic yet industrial look to it. Raw.

I especially liked the reclaimed wood, but it makes me think of this article about burgled barn wood because of interior design trends.

We started with 2 dozen oysters (they were $1 each during happy hour). They were very well shucked. I only got one piece of shell in the dozen that I ate. We especially liked the jalapeno ginger sauce that came with it. The Joyce Point ones were the best in our opinion. At least we *think* they're "Joyce Point" because the server who brought us the oysters didn't know what they were. It was only later, when the bartender / oyster shuck-er walked by and heard me talk about it that he pointed out what they were. This happened the second time we visited the restaurant as well. No one knows what they're serving except for the bartender / oyster shuck-er.

Of course we had to try their baos. Mini baos were $4 each during happy hour. We tried one of each flavour (from left): Bao Chicka Bao Bao, Vevo, and YVR. Our favourite was the Bao Chicka Bao Bao because it had some texture in it and the lemongrass flavour was prominent. The Vevo and YVR weren't that great because they had no texture at all. It was mush in a bun, but the flavour was good. I especially liked the peanut flavour in the Vevo.

Wings were half price and we chose the Spicy Thai flavour. They were well fried and the sauce was well balanced, though not spicy at all.

We liked the Bao Chicka Bao Bao so much we ordered one more for each of us. Unfortunately, the inexperienced server (referred to above) brought it to the wrong table and we waited quite a long time before following up with another server (who was serving the table next to us). She asked if we were sure it didn't come and then told us it will come soon. I then saw her approach the inexperienced server to tell him he brought the baos to the wrong table.

Overall, the food was good. The service was so-so. Our first server (the bartender) was quite attentive and knowledgeable. But then he kind of disappeared after we ordered the last two baos and the place got a little busier. It would have been more professional if he told us, "Hey, it's getting busy and I'm going to get behind the bar now. So and so will now be your server." We had no idea who to flag down when we wanted to order more food.

The staff need to communicate with each other better, or find a way to educate everyone. When the server brought us our oysters without knowing what they were, it was unprofessional. He was obviously not as well trained since he brought our food to the wrong table too. We later overheard him bringing more food to the table next to us, food they are sure they didn't order.

We will likely only return during happy hour (which we have done already) and recommend that people visit during happy hour as well. It's not as busy so they'll serve you better.