TRATTORIA BURNABY

One of the three Trattoria restaurants under the Glowbal Restaurant Group is located in Burnaby on Kingsway street in the same building with Element Vancouver and GoodLife Fitness, across from Crystal Mall. Trattoria Burnaby is know for their in house pasta, pizza, and a more casual family friendly atmosphere compared to sister restaurant Italian Kitchen.

Walking in, you cannot miss the circular bar at the center of the restaurant. There are both tables and booth seats surrounding the bar, patio tables outside, and more seating arrangements on the second floor. Pro Tip: $13 Tuesday pastas and happy hour runs from 2:00pm to 5:00pm and 9:00pm to closing every day, including weekends! Happy hour menu consists of $5 feature drinks, antipasto for $9.95 and pizza at $12.95.

FOODIES ON BOARD : ALL DAY BRUNCH

Next to Production Way skytrain station in Burnaby, Rod's Kitchen and Grill closed its doors and made room for another breakfast and lunch eatery. Foodies on Board is an unassuming all day brunch restaurant serving sous vide poached eggs, in house protein (bacon, ham and Italian sausage) and focuses on a healthier way of cooking.

GREEN LEAF CAFE : BURNABY LOCATION

For those of you who have never heard of Green Leaf Cafe, it is a very popular Japanese restaurant located in Kitsilano. The Japanese restaurant specializes in aburi sushi (flame seared pressed sushi), is known to be a cheaper alternative compared to Miku and Minami (creators of aburi sushi) and they recently opened a second location in Burnaby near Lougheed Mall.

The Burnaby location is a lot more spacious compared to the restaurant in the West End and has an inviting atmosphere. There are a few Japanese restaurants in this area and considering that Green Leaf is newly renovated, it is definitely the restaurant with the nicest decor as well as more modern dishes.

Angie's Malaysian Eatery

Angie's Malaysian Eatery is a small family run restaurant where the husband is the chef, the wife handles the front of the house and their children help out whenever needed. The restaurant is small with less than ten tables available and has a homey atmosphere, as if you are having dinner at a friend's. From the fabric table cloths to how place mats are placed underneath every plate, the little things add to the homey vibe.

A chalkboard menu is posted at the back of the restaurant with photographs attached and the owners also came by to show us pictures of each dish that the restaurant has to offer. On top of that, the owners provided a thorough description and were helpful in explaining what each dish was like, which we found helpful for those who are not familiar with Bruneian cuisine.

The Boss Restaurant 大班餐廳餅店

With The Boss Restaurant, Fortune House Seafood, Kawawa Japanese and Sekai Udon Bar as the only current restaurant choices in Metropolis at Metrotown, sometimes the food court may be a better option. The aforementioned restaurants are not necessarily that bad (with a couple of exceptions), but the food is not really all that great either. I was curious to try The Boss again though because the place is memorable to me.

The Boss Restaurant is memorable to me because my first visit here was when I was in high school, it was also my first time visiting a Hong Kong style cafe. HK style cafes have never been my type of restaurant to go to and I remember ordering a burger and fries on my first visit LOL. I remember wishing that I could have went to McDonalds instead… I never liked No.9 Restaurant in Richmond too and remember ordering hash browns there on my first visit. But as of last year, I do not mind HK cafes anymore because some of the restaurants carry steaks. Although the quality may not always be the best… the steak options do save me from stressing out about what to order.

Majority of the seating arrangements at The Boss are comfortable booths, but there are a few tables at the back. The restaurant also has plenty of staff so there is no problem waving someone down, but you have to wave them down if you need their attention or want them to clear plates. On our visit, majority of the staff were extremely miserable looking too and impatiently tossed the food on our table. But May was extremely friendly and such a sweetheart. Too bad we only saw her at the beginning and the end.

Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant 利苑海鮮酒家 : Dim sum

DINNER POST ON LEE GARDEN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT 利苑海鮮酒家 [HERE]

I wanted to have dim sum with my mother and I was given two options, Kirin or Fortune House. Pfft… how about none? My mother was not pleased with my attitude and brought up the time when I took her and my father to Top Gun in Burnaby for dim sum. Great, I suffered from a burned thumb which took weeks to heal, mediocre food, and now a former restaurant choice that will be used against me from now on. Well, after some persuading, I asked my mother if she wanted to try Lee Garden. I further showed her photos of the restaurant from my previous visit for dinner, insisted that Lee Garden is a newly renovated establishment and hey, it sold her!

We arrived on a weekday and the restaurant was not busy, which made parking very easy compared to finding a spot in a residential area like last time for dinner. After we walked up to the hostess' podium and stood by the sign which says "wait to be seated", we were greeted by a manager who yelled across from the dining room. This is when my mother said, "why let us stand here if you are going to yell across the room?" LOL...

SMALL ($3.88) || MEDIUM ($4.68) || LARGE ($5.18) || SPECIAL ($6.28)

Top Gun Hot Pot 尖東火鍋 : Dim sum

TOP GUN HOT POT 尖東火鍋 POST [HERE]

Top Gun Hot Pot is one of the five restaurants that belong to the Top Gun group. The restaurant is located in Crystal Mall and serves as a dim sum restaurant during the day, but turns into a hot pot buffet in the evening. I have never been here for dim sum before but my parents have many years ago and according to them, the only edible item was the salty rice pudding, which is no longer available. This probably explains why ever since I was a child, the only dim sum restaurant in Burnaby we would go to is Fortune House at Metrotown. Although I do not know why they even like Fortune House because the food is overpriced for the quality and the line up is always ridiculous.

Anyhow, fast forward to years later, I finally get control of where we go for dim sum! After begging my parents to come here with me for two weeks… My sudden interest in having dim sum here is because ever since I had dinner at Top Gun J&C in Richmond, I thought Top Gun may be a fine dining restaurant and serve good dim sum. I actually looked through some of the dim sum photos from Top Gun J&C and the food looked good, so I assumed Top Gun in Burnaby would serve the same dishes… But I was wrong. Oh well, I had nothing to lose because I received an e-mail that dim sum would be 40% off for members.

The restaurant has plenty of booth seating arrangements along with well spaced out tables. The seating arrangements are not cramped either and are fairly comfortable. But when considering that dim sum starts at $4.95, the atmosphere does not match the higher prices. With regards to the service, there were no plate changes as well so the service does not match the higher prices either. However, the staff were fairly polite. There is only a Chinese check list menu and when I asked if there was an English version, the manager mentioned I could tell him what I wanted to order in English and he could check the items off for me! Also despite that the order sheet is in Chinese, the actual menu has English.

Xu's Wonton House 白玉蘭麵家 (2nd visit)

My favourite place for Shanghainese soup dumplings (xiao long bao) is located in Crystal Mall, at Xu's Wonton House. The food stall is also apparently known for a few other dishes, with one including their rice cake which I have never tried. Actually, the only item I have tried here is the XLB! As for the service, man… the staff ain't friendly. However, I decided to speak in Chinese this time and wow… what a big difference it makes! The owner's wife was super friendly and even asked how many plates I needed. FML even the cashier was friendly when I said "thank you" in Chinese as I returned the steamer.

Hanok Korean Restaurant 韓屋 : Burnaby Location

There are plenty of Korean restaurants in Burquitlam, hence why the city is also known as "Korea Town". Some of the better restaurants in the area would be Toe Dam Korean for gamjatang and barbecue, Wang Ga Ma that specializes in soup, and Chom Chom Fusion which serves jokbal, albap and fried chicken. Cheers Chicken and Noodle would also be on the list for serving one of the best fried chicken, but unfortunately the restaurant recently closed.

Hanok is located in Burquitlam as well and in the same plaza along with Yan's Garden. I have always tried to avoid Hanok in Burquitlam because the restaurant does not offer barbecue and also because I was not impressed with the location in Richmond. As for the interior, the restaurant is not that big but the seating arrangements are comfortable. Our waitress was also friendly which is rare at a Korean restaurant!

Private Home Chinese Cuisine 一點心意 (2nd visit)

FIRST POST ON PRIVATE HOME CHINESE [HERE]

Do car sales associates make too much money these days? We had plans to purchase two company cars from Honda and visited a couple of dealerships on the same day (Richmond Honda and Kingsway Honda), but none of the sales associates even acknowledged us! After leaving fairly puzzled, we decided to check out OpenRoad Honda in Burnaby the following day.

The Burnaby location was very convenient for us too because I have been wanting to revisit Private Home for quite some time. And from what I can remember, I declared the xiao long bao and pan fried dumplings as a must order! I also remember the menu being fairly limited and mentioned I would only revisit for lunch rather than dinner.

On a weekday afternoon, the restaurant was empty and the service was non-existent. There are two sides of seating arrangements in the restaurant and all the waitstaff were on the opposite side of us. This made ordering and getting the bill very difficult, despite waving like a crazy person.

S&W Pepper House 西南風

Unintentionally spending an unproductive day from grabbing a breakfast snack at Mancakes (which was good), then going for mediocre dim sum in Richmond at Red Star but having to rush back to Vancouver, followed by a scare of Xu's Wonton House permanently closing which resulted in us trying North Meixi for a couple of unpleasant dim sum dishes, to walking around Crystal Mall afterwards because we needed to kill time before eating dinner. After all this, I just wanted to go home! I hate unproductive days and it was pretty much having to come back to Vancouver that caused the hiccup in our plans, sigh.

The good news is, killing time by walking around Crystal Mall was not so bad because it was worth it in the end to have dinner at S&W Pepper House. We did not even have to circle around for parking this time too! S&W Pepper House offers authentic Szechuan cuisine and the restaurant uses dried chilli peppers as well as Szechuan peppercorns, therefore no BS chilli oil and soy sauce only!

Walking in, the restaurant looks very simple and there is no decor, however the place is fairly clean. There is a nice chilli oil and dried chilli pepper aroma, but in a good way and not "greasy" whatsoever. As for the seating arrangements, there is one table suitable for large parties and booth seating arrangements along the wall. The owner and staff were also friendly and inviting!

Chong Lum Hin Seafood 新東寶小館

Sometimes trying new restaurants and ending up with mediocre food can get discouraging, especially if it happens for more than a couple of consecutive days within the week! Having said that, there are quite a few Chinese restaurants in South Burnaby as well as New Westminster, but not many good ones that serve live seafood. Au Wing Kee is not the cleanest restaurant (similar to the Sing Kee level), Lui's Chinese as well as New Lakeview are average at best, and Lee Garden is great. But there is only one good restaurant?

Chong Lum Hin is located in New Westminster and according to a couple of BFs' clients, the dim sum is not bad. However, dinner? No one seems to have tried and there is not much information online. So after picking up some things from Metrotown, we decided to drop by.

Walking in, I was skeptical and assumed that Chong Lum Hin serves North Americanized Chinese food. There was a large table occupied by a Chinese family, and two tables with non-Asians. Plus, considering the area. As for the interior, there is nothing special and the restaurant looks old. I even remember a decade ago, the former restaurant was a Chinese buffet? We were given the option to seat anywhere by our friendly waitress and of course, went straight for a four person table.

Costco Food Court : Brighton Location

Ever since I was a child, I always look forward to Costco's food court. There is nothing better than having fast food and loading up the cart with boxes and boxes of junk food as well as ice cream and popsicles, what kid would not be happy? Although I guess after growing up, the boxes of junk food become "healthier" crackers as well as cookies and the cart is filled with more fruit. However, the boxes of ice cream and popsicles remain the same!

During busier times it is a struggle finding a seat, but who really needs to sit when grabbing a quick bite? I even remember years ago when Costco never had half the amount of seats they do now!

SELF SERVE STATION.

There is a self serve station where all the napkins, plastic cutlery and garnishes for the hot dogs are. The selection includes mustard, ketchup, relish, onions and pickled jalapeño rings as well as pickles. Although I think Costco no longer carries jalapeño rings and pickles anymore though, since I never saw any a few recent visits.

Curry King Cafe 咖哩皇餐廳

After finishing up with some groceries at T&T and needing dinner ASAP in the area, we settled on Curry King. Curry King seems to be one of those places where many people drive by and think the restaurant is probably "meh", or at least for me it was. The restaurant is located on Kingsway Street in Burnaby and is in the same strip along with Bubble World, Waves as well as Hot Luck.

When we walked in, the interior surprised me. The restaurant is bigger as well as cleaner than I thought, and does not look run down. In addition, there was a nice fried rice aroma and the restaurant has AC. Another thing that surprised me was the waitress. She looked miserable, pointed towards which seat we should take, and tossed the menus.

Curry King has a large menu which includes a variety of congee, soup, laksa, ramen, udon, build your own noodles, curry, and the typical HK style cafe selections such as baked dishes and hot plates.

Lui's Chinese Restaurant 添記美食館

I never go out of my way to try any restaurant along the Edmonds strip because honest to truth, none of the restaurants are very appealing to me. However, there was a plan to try Lhy Thai which is located in the area, until the restaurant closed at 8:00pm! This was a problem because I have tried many restaurants in South Burnaby and there are no more places that I want to try, except for a new hot pot joint that I was not in the mood for. So, we decided to try a random restaurant and hoped for the best. Plus, the exterior did not look too shabby or old, compared to the many restaurants in the area.

Lui's Chinese is a small mom n' pop operated restaurant and the staff was very inviting as well as friendly. Usually the friendliness is expected at small family businesses, but my last experience was the opposite (Poco Ocean). On a weeknight, the restaurant was packed and as many tables were finishing up, the staff provided a couple of thick slices of watermelon per person rather than the generic dessert soup or a fortune cookie! I was actually quite looking forward to the watermelon.

As for the interior, the restaurant is small and there are only a few tables along with a couple of larger ones for parties of more than eight. However, the seating arrangements are not cramped and although the restaurant may appear to look run down, the interior is clean (not the table setting though…), comfortable, simple as well as casual, and Lui's is a family style joint. Furthermore, the restaurant is also well ventilated with three ceiling fans and the AC running.

Estea Beverage Club 生活小品 : Burnaby location

Continuing with my interest in finding a regular bubble tea joint to frequently visit, Estea Beverage Club was next on my list to try. There used to be a couple of other Estea locations in Burquitlam as well as Richmond, and both the restaurants have closed. The only Estea locations that appear to be surviving is the restaurant in Burnaby and an "express" location at the Aberdeen food court.

Walking in from the back, we seemed to have startled the owners and the wife immediately walked up to greet us. She was friendly and passed us off to the rest of the staff, where the rest of them greeted us as well.

Estea is a very large restaurant and is the largest bubble tea joint that I know of. There are plenty of seats and the seating arrangements are not cramped at all.

Pearl House Restaurant 珍珠小館 : Burnaby location

After a disappointing meal at No.1 Beef Noodle House, I was craving for some good Taiwanese snacks and headed to Pearl Castle a couple of days later. From what I remember, I thought Pearl Castle sucked and offered nothing but cheap quality bubble tea food. However, after trying Pearl Castle in Richmond, their Taiwanese popcorn chicken along with the beef noodles were good! So, of course I had to try Pearl Castle in Burnaby.

Walking in, my friend and I were hesitant on grabbing dinner here because we peaked into the kitchen and noticed most of the cooks appear to be young students. However, after taking a look at the menu, we noticed  the dishes are a lot simpler compared to Pearl Castle in Richmond. The menu is very simple and assuming because the cooks are young, there is less room for mistakes. There are a lot of simple items such as fried goodies, stewed dishes, noodles and snacks, like pancakes as well as egg rolls. 

Oh yeah... by the way, I thought this restaurant was Pearl Castle for the whole time until I started writing my post LOL.

Kamamarui Ramen & Don

Going for ramen can be good or bad. To some, a hot bowl of ramen fills the tummy and does the job. However, there are others who do not bother trying certain ramen joints because they hate settling for mediocre. Without stating which category I belong in, it is safe to say that homemade ramen is obviously the best. Well, isn't homemade food always the best? Furthermore, since the profit margin for ramen is very high, why shouldn't people be selective? 

Kamamarui is a small ramen joint that is located in Burnaby. The restaurant has less than eight tables available and the interior is fairly clean (more than the utensils). The interior looks simple and is not cluttered. There are dog tail hooks along the wall as well as the menu, and chalkboards by the counter. As for the menu on the wall, I kind of struggled because I have bad eyesight and my contacts were dry that day lol.

Hanwoori Korean Restaurant

Hanwoori is one of the two Korean restaurants in Burnaby (with Potter's Garden being the other) that offers table top barbecuing. There are tatami rooms along the left side of the restaurant and booth seating arrangements on the other.

When we walked in, we secretly hoped that our table would not be too small since the two of us tend to order a lot of food and fortunately, we were seated at a table for four! In addition, I noticed a push button on the table and already knew that service would not be an issue. 

No.1 Beef Noodle House 京園牛肉麵

To conclude a disappointing day at Steveston (Sockeye City, then Timothy's), the best choice was to stay home and cook. But, I really wanted some green onion pancake with beef wraps without having to make them myself. So, we headed to No. 1 Beef Noodle House. Plus, like I was really going to start cooking shank after a crappy day...

Many people mention that if the restaurant's name states what the restaurant specializes in such as wonton houses or Taiwanese beef noodles, the specialized item should taste good.

Well, I never really thought about that and honestly, it makes sense! As for No.1 Beef Noodle House, it used to be a frequent restaurant of mine throughout high school but the noodles have never been a Top Five! Thinking about it now, how does a restaurant not feel embarrassed? Personally, it is not a big deal to me because I never come here for the noodles. However, I do end up always ordering them. Perhaps I subconsciously wonder if the restaurant will improve. But hey, makes sense though eh? The restaurant should have great noodles considering their name...