Banh Mi Quest: Kim Châu Deli

When we were on our way to Pho Thai Hoa last time, we passed by Kim Châu Deli.

There was a picture of a sandwich etched on their window, so we thought their sandwiches must be good. Unfortunately, we were wrong, and though their sandwiches are averagely priced, we won't be returning.

Cost per Sandwich: $4.25
Bread: 2/5 - The bread was dry and tasted stale, but at least it doesn't scratch or hurt our mouths when we eat it.
Sauce: 2/5 - We can see the sauce and taste the moisture, but there was absolutely no flavour to it.
Filling: 2/5 - The vegetables had good texture and amount, but needed more pickling.
Meat: 1/5 - They didn't have shredded chicken, so it was hard to compare. We ordered both roasted pork and shredded pork because we didn't know which one would be the most similar. The roasted pork was very heavily salted and the shredded pork was mixed with something that gave it a strange flavour. There was also not enough meat in both sandwiches.
Value: 2/5 - The sandwiches were cheap comparatively, but not very good.

On a side note, they have a major packaging operation running and we might return to try something else.

Banh Mi Quest: Pho Tai Hoa

Today we decided to go try Pho Tai Hoa. I wanted to check it out, as I have seen it many times while driving on Kingsway, and they prominently call themselves a 'Kitchen & Banh Mi Bar'. It also tops this list of top 10 Banh Mi places in Vancouver: https://vancouver.eater.com/maps/vancouvers-top-10-try-before-you-die-banh-mi/pho-thai-hoa.

We ordered two shredded chicken banh mi. One spicy, one not. After waiting more than 15 minutes (in an almost empty restaurant), we received our sandwiches, neither of which had any peppers. The sauce was not your normal banh mi mayo based sauce, but was instead some sort of teriyaki. It was not good. A bad sandwich, poor service, and a touch on the pricey side means we will not likely be coming back.

Cost per Sandwich: $6 + tax
Bread: 3/5 - Soft and toasted at first, but toughens up, like it was microwaved.
Sauce: 1/5 - Not normal cream sauce. Teriyaki-ish, sweet, soy sauce base. Leaves you wanting and overpowers the rest of the flavours in the sandwich.
Filling: 3/5 - Vegetables had a solid crunch, good vinegar taste, good amount, but overpowered by the sauce.
Meat: 2/5 - The meat was ok, nothing special. Not consistent, some pieces were dry, and a few bits of cartilage in the mix. Really suffers from the poor sauce.
Value: 2/5 - Overall not a great sandwich, a tad pricey, poor service.

Banh Mi Quest: Battle of the Ba-Les

Everyone says Ba-Le has great banh mi because they bake their own bread in-house. What's the difference between the two Ba-Les then? We went and tried them both. First up, Ba-Le Sandwich Shop (Chinatown).

We had high hopes. It was a small hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pops kind of place. Our old favourite (Golden Garden, who's stopped selling sandwiches now and sparked this quest) was just a block away. Everything pointed to this being our potential replacement. Unfortunately, it did not deliver.

Cost per Sandwich: $4.00

Bread: 1/5 - As soon as you touch it, you know it's stale. It was too dry and too flaky.

Sauce: 1/5 - The consistency is very thick, which may be why it didn't spread and ended up being so little of it we couldn't tell there was any sauce at all

Filling: 2/5 - Too much onion, not enough chicken or anything else. The onion is all you taste.

Meat: 1/5 - Barely there and too dry.

Value: 2/5 - Average price. We would eat it again if we had no other choice, but it's hardly worth it.

There's a reason the Ba-Le on Main Street is a "Sandwich shop" and the one on Kingsway is a "Deli and Bakery". The bread here is baked in-house and just about as fresh as you can get it. There's always a line, so it pays to call ahead to order - unlike the one on Main Street, where it's set up like a subway and made immediately. This is likely another hint at how everything at Main Street's just not as fresh as Kingsway.

Cost per Sandwich: $4.50
Bread: 5/5 - Even though it's toasted, it still feels soft, fresh, and moist.
Sauce: 4/5 - Good consistency and amount, but could do with more seasoning.
Filling: 3/5 - Good texture and flavour of vegetables, decent amount of chicken, but not enough vegetables.
Meat: 4/5 - Good amount of chicken and moist, but could do with more seasoning.
Value: 4/5 - Pricier than other places, but worth it. The bread is the freshest we've had.

Winner: Ba-Le Deli & Bakery (Kingsway)

Banh Mi Quest: Yen Linh

Today we went to Banh Mi Yen Linh. This restaurant was recommended by a fellow Banh Mi enthusiast.

With "Banh Mi" in its restaurant name, we thought, "Their banh mi has to be good." It was. The banh mi here sets a good baseline to build on. One downside is that they don't have regular chicken sandwiches, but they do have lemongrass chicken.

Cost per sandwich: $5
Bread: 3/5 - very toasted (hard), which is a hint that it's not freshly baked
Sauce: 3/5 - tastes fine, but not evenly spread and there wasn't enough of it
Filling: 3/5 - good amount, but not enough pickle flavour
Meat: 3/5 - has a very strong lemongrass flavour, but a bit dry
Value: 3/5 - more expensive, but we won't mind eating it again

Sushi by Yuji

We've heard and read good things about Sushi by Yuji and decided we had to give it a try. We saw that usually they're quite busy, but we decided to risk it and go at 5pm, when it opens, without a reservation. The sign on the door said "Open" so we walked in and all the tables had a reserved sign except for this one table for 2. We were lucky, I suppose. As soon as we sat down, one of the servers flipped the open sign to "Open for Reservations only". Only able to seat about 18-20 at most, I don't think they necessarily need to take reservations and still do well.

Wasabi and garlic was served separately. I suppose we could have asked for more, but I did wish they gave us more to begin with given that we ordered 18 pieces of nigiri. That being said, the wasabi was very fresh, it still has flavour despite the burn.

First up was the chopped scallop and ikura gunkan. It was smart to serve it first, so the seaweed doesn't get soggy and tough. The scallop was really cold, but creamy and delicious regardless. The Ikura was sharp and oily, just the way I like it.

Next up, I had the Tuna and Ika, B had 2 Ikas and 2 Takos. The tuna just dissolved in my mouth. It was not fishy at all, but it was a little on the cold side.

The Ika was very creamy. It wasn't hard to chew because of how small it was.

The Tako was sliced very thin, which gives it a different texture. It wasn't crunchy or chewy, but soft.

You may recall from the post on Shima-Ya and my complaint about the portion of rice and how large it was. I really enjoy the small rice portion here at Sushi by Yuji. Much smaller and more manageable.

Next is the Saba. It was really good; it was fresh and clean. Despite the saltiness, the flavour still came through well.

I ordered the Toro, B had the Hamachi, I had the Engawa, and B had the two Hokki. I thought the Toro was less creamy than the tuna, which is odd because it's supposed to be more fatty. The engawa had a nice crunch to it but very bland otherwise.

B thought the Hamachi was really good and "It melted in (his) mouth in fresh flavour." The Hokki, however, was very chewy and he got sand in one of them. It had an unpleasant texture and was very gritty.

The last nigiri was the Aji. It was very lemony, and did not have the same fishy-salty flavour as the Saba. We didn't like it as much, but it was still good.

We also ordered the Grilled Kanpachi Kama. The sauce was sweet, but not disgustingly sweet. It was enjoyable. The topping / rub was also very well developed. It had better flavour than the one we had at Sushi S, and cooked better, being more moist. However, we still prefer the salty and heavier flavour of a Saba Shioyaki.

We also saw that they had a big selection of Sake, so we ordered a bottle to be served hot. It was very smooth, too smooth, too easy to drink. We tried to portion it and make sure we had enough to last the whole meal. For some reason, the bottle couldn't keep the sake hot enough. It's weird, because when we had it in Kyoto, our sake stayed hot despite being poured out into a cup.

Overall, we had a good experience. We would recommend it, but we're not sure if we'll return because we really like our grilled mackerel, and they didn't have it.

Anda Miro Korean Restaurant

We had been meaning to go to Anda Miro for a while since it opened so close to home.

Once we stepped in, we noticed how sparse it was. But at least it was clean. That's the most important thing.

Beer was reasonably priced. At first I wanted to have the Makgulli, but it was more than triple the price you'd pay at BC Liquor so I just couldn't bring myself to order it. The pitcher of Asahi was only $16.50.

We decided to order the $30 Dinner Special meant for 2-3 people. Of course it came with the usual sides. I was a little disappointed that there were no potatoes.

First up was the chap chae. It was good. I liked that it was dense - lots of vegetables and meat. Each bite held more than just noodles. Well seasoned and well cooked.

Next was the LA Bulgolgi. It was very flavourful. B wished there was more sauce to put on his rice, but I thought it was perfect. I thought it was a tad undercooked because it was harder to get off the bone than normal.

Next was the seafood pancake. As usual it was decent. Well seasoned, nice balance of flavours, and evenly distributed. We didn't even need the sauce that went with it. B wished it was a little crispier.

Last was the sundubu. We wished it was a little spicier, but it was good. It was flavourful, and STUFFED full of seafood. There were two mussels and two shrimps jammed in this tiny bowl. The egg was a nice touch, I don't normally see that.

Overall it was good. Solid food, good value. We ended up packing more than half the food home for lunch tomorrow. We would come back and definitely recommend it.

Seoul Doogbaegi Korean Restaurant

Had dinner at the closest restaurant that wasn't our normal go to. I've been to Seoul Duck Bae before with friends and family, and it was always solid. It's very quiet at 5:30pm.

Since it was so cold, we wanted something spicy and warm, so we started with the Yuk Gae Jang, which is a spicy vegetable soup with beef and vermicelli. It was really well seasoned and the right amount of spice. Split very well between the two of us.

We also ordered the Goon Man Du and the Jeyuk Bakum. The prices may shock you at first, because I used to order Man Du in Korea for less than $5 and here it's $9. What the take out Man Du in Korea  did not come with was all the side dishes. Here we have, potatoes, daikon, bean sprouts, kimchi, and two bowls of rice. I'm sure we could've got unlimited refills on those too.

The Man Du were really tasty. Crispy on the outside and flavourful on the inside. It also had a nice balance of meat to vegetable ratio.

The Jeyuk was really great. The pork had great texture and the sauce was very well seasoned and had great flavour. Don't be fooled by the word "vegetable" in the description though, I think there was one leaf of cabbage on the bottom and then it was all pork - not that I'm complaining.

My one complaint is that there was no drink menu presented and she didn't come back to ask us if we wanted anything to drink. If she did, I would've ordered some makgeolli. But we couldn't get her attention until she came with the food and by then I felt it was too late.

Overall, it was a positive experience and we'd recommend and return. Not only did it feed us dinner, but we packed enough to make us really full for lunch the next day.