Bodega On Main

Easter Weekend Part 2 - Happy Hour at Bodega On Main. We passed by Bodega on our way to and from Torafuku the day before and thought - we should try that next. Conveniently enough, we had a movie to catch at 7pm, so Happy Hour until 6pm was perfect for us. The price was also appealing.

We both ordered the Bodega Lager, which was a huge disappointment. B believes that, in this city and neighbourhood, no one should be serving bad beer anymore. Plus, we would've been happy with a good brew at $2 off. But paying $5 for garbage was a turn off.

First there was the Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes). Although the sauce was pretty good, by completely submerging the potatoes in sauce, the twice fried potatoes lost their crispiness. What's the point of frying the potatoes twice if there's no crunch to the finished dish?

The Jamón Serrano (cured ham) was also completely soaked, but in olive oil. There's not much I can say about the ham itself - it kind of reminded me of the prosciutto you get at Costco. I liked how the olive oil really balances the saltiness of the ham, but it was A LOT of oil. I think a simple drizzle would have sufficed.

We were quite disappointed with the Calamares Fritos (deep fried squid). Though the squid itself was great - good texture, you can eat it in bites - the batter was bland and boring.

The Pollo Frito (fried chicken wings) was as expected. You really can't ruin chicken wings. The fried skin had great texture to it and the meat was moist and cooked well.

Lastly, there's the Albóndigas (meatballs). The sauce was rich and the meat fell apart, but it tasted good. I was glad it came with the potatoes because the fried crispy texture of the potatoes helped balance out the softness of the meatballs.

Overall, we weren't impressed with the Happy Hour at Bodega; however, since our friends think so highly of it, we will give their regular menu a try one day. We would not recommend Happy Hour though: food and service was mediocre, but the atmosphere was great.

Shining Garden

Came here for dinner with the family. The "kids" table ordered hot and sour soup, two plates of salt and pepper chicken wings, fried pork with mayonnaise, Chinese sausage with gai lan, enoki mushroom and tofu on broccoli, ginger gai lan, and ginger scallop fried rice.

I guess we were a little hyped because it was sooooo busy. It was a good thing we made reservations.

The food came quick and the service was good enough for a Chinese restaurant.

The soup was only okay. The broth tasted like sausage and too salty. Definitely the weakest dish of the evening. Not our favourite soup.

The chicken wings were a little too salty and not spicy enough despite the mound of peppers on it. They were also abnormally big. It was crispy and the batter was nice and fluffy.

The pork was really good. It wasn't crispy, but it was nice and tender and the sauce went well with it. I don't have a picture of it because it went really quickly.

All three veggie dishes were well seasoned and cooked perfectly. They gai lan and broccoli had a good crispness to it. The Chinese sausage really added a lot to the balance.

The rice was also very well seasoned. There were baby scallops in every spoonful.

As dessert, we had pumpkin tapioca sweet soup. It wasn't too sweet and the shredded coconut added some good texture to it. Pretty tasty. Enjoyable.

Overall a decent experience. Would recommend making reservations before your visit.

Indochine

We went to Indochine Kitchen + Bar a couple weeks ago during a week night.

As usual, the food and service were excellent. We happened to be there on a game night so we got to enter a raffle for free tickets four times just for ordering two pitchers and checking in on social media sites.

As appetizer, we had the INDOCHINE Garlic Butter Chicken Wings. If you've ever been to Phnom Penh and had their delicious chicken wings, and you don't want to wait in line, this is a veritable replacement. Plus, you don't get rushed out of the restaurant like you do at Phnom Penh.

We also had the Enoki & Bacon. Although we loved the spicy sauce and just the complex texture of  the dish, we thought the Enoki was a little undercooked. It was really chewy and you couldn't eat it in several bites, but jam the whole thing in your mouth.

As main dishes, we had the Lemongrass Chicken and the Thit Kho. The Lemongrass Chicken was good - nicely seasoned, perfectly grilled. I like that it's served with an egg.

The Thit Kho had more flavour. The pork was very tender.

Overall, great experience. Will return.