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.

Clubhouse Japanese Restaurant

We were craving Japanese food so we thought it was about time we tried the restaurants in our new hood.

First we stopped at Toko, because Google said it was a Japanese Restaurant and it was heavily advertising their Asahi. After we walked in, I noticed the decor seemed more Chinese than Japanese. Lo and behold we looked at the menu, and saw wonton, chow mein, and a bunch of Chinese dishes. We left.

Then we thought we should try the yakitori place down the road because we walked by it once. The host greeted us, asked us how many (2), and said wait a moment. He proceeds to walk around the restaurant and then grab two menus and set them on a table. Then he walks around the restaurant some more, serves a couple dishes, and tells us to wait 5 more minutes. It struck me as odd until B heard the host say something about happy hour ending soon to a couple patrons. So basically, he didn't want to seat us until 6pm, when regular dinner begins. Why didn't he just say so? Or just seat us and wait until 6pm to take our order? We left.

Finally we thought maybe we should try the Clubhouse since we drive by it all the time and it looks pretty cool from the outside. We walked in, and it strikes me as one of those restaurants on Restaurant Impossible that used to be good and then everyone just gave up trying to make it better.

We started with the Assorted Sashimi. We didn't expect it to be good, but we didn't think it could be this bad either. The knife cuts were noticeably sloppy, the tuna was still frozen, and the salmon had no taste at all. 

The Sweet Jane vegetable tempera roll was better than the sashimi but not that great. The rice was overcooked and soggy, the seaweed was tough, and he yam tempera was undercooked and had a bit of crunch to it still.

Next we had the Chicken Yaki Soba. It tastes like ketchup. B said he's had bad food and he keeps eating it, very rare does he not want to eat something and this was the dish.

The Squid okonomiyaki came smelling like it was burnt-and not because of the smoky fish flakes on top. It tasted a little burnt too, and soggy, and generally had very little texture. We found four squid rings in total. If the chef would only chop them up and divide it evenly throughout the pancake, it would have more texture and we wouldn't notice how little squid there is.

The only redeeming factor was that the owner came to pick up the dishes and saw that we didn't finish the okonomiyaki and asked if we didn't like it. We told her it was bad and she offered to refund us. We didn't want to be those customers who complain to get free stuff, because then our complaints won't be taken seriously. She thanked us for our feedback so we decided to tell her how bad EVERYTHING was. She seems to take it all seriously so I appreciated that. We probably won't return, but I appreciate the effort.

Craft Beer Market

Went to Craft Beer Market for brunch today by recommendation of my brunch date. It was pretty quiet which is great for me since I don't like waiting. We grabbed a table near the window with a view of the water.

My friend said she had the bennies and they were good, so I decided to go for the Avocado and Cheddar Bennie.

The bennies were served on a biscuit instead of English muffins. In theory, that sounds good- but when I think of biscuits, I look forward the the crispy exterior and the soft interior that melts butter as soon as you spread some on it. The hollandaise sauce made the biscuit rather soggy and the biscuit wasn't hot enough. So it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

The hollandaise sauce was different but I liked it. It was kind of more tart than normal, and less rich. The hash browns were well seasoned, but a little soft. I was craving some texture after the soft biscuit and soft egg. It just needed some crunch overall.

Overall solid brunch. Good service while it's quiet - can't say what it'd be like if I went back when it's busy. I'd probably go back on another quiet day and didn't feel like cooking.