BANANA LEAF, W. BROADWAY

Fresh Coconut Juice!


I knew the kids wouldn’t like it, but we ordered it anyway because Bebe wanted to try it.   I ended up drinking most of it.  Coconut juice is in fact coconut water and not coconut milk and doesn’t taste anything like coconut milk.  It was fun to dig out the fresh young coconut flesh though.  This too the girls didn’t like eating.  I knew we should have ordered a fruity drink instead!

Vegetarian Spring Rolls.

These were deliciously crisp and not greasy.  It was accompanied with a spicy sweet dip. Inside, the filling was predominantly cabbage, some carrot and a variety of other shredded veg.

Roti Canai.

The Roti Canai came with a curry dip and was multi-layered and good.

Spicy Eggplant. 

Because Stomach doesn’t like green beans, we modified something on the menu and he requested that the dish be just of eggplant.  The dish came out really good and though it wasn’t as spicy as that from Tropika, it wasn’t as oily either.  Stomach admitted that it was a bit too tame and the Tropika version is better because it has more dried shrimp and heat.  However, I liked this version as it was less greasy.  I agree it could have done with more heat and little bits of shrimp.

Hainan Chicken with rice.

I liked this dish and the girls really enjoyed the tender morsels of chicken.  It was served with a chicken broth and jasmine rice.   You also receive the condiment sauces alongside which to me make the dish.  Tropika serves it with pickled veggies which I always look forward to, but Banana leaf’s version is very good too and the chicken is not as bony.

Hor Fun (fried rice noodles)

We had the kitchen adapt this dish for the kids.   They don’t like it spicy.  The kids loved the big pieces or fresh rice noodles.    There were shrimp, egg, squid and fresh beansprouts in the dish.

Singapore Laksa.

I love laksa.  This was a promising dish as it arrived with tender shrimp, squid and chicken arranged atop the noodle soup.  The rice vermicelli was underneath and though I thought the flavours were really good, I would have appreciated more heat.  Perhaps I’ll have to ask for more heat next time.    It was extremely mild and didn’t have much kick at all. 

Banana Leaf caters to Western palates and the service is attentive.   They also have a drinks menu and though I would have liked to try a drink, I thought it too early in the day!  It was only lunch!

They seem to be accommodating to patrons who do not like heat because I overheard how the table next to us was ordering different degrees of heat for their dishes.  Some of the people were deathly afraid of spice and heat and some were requesting fire.  I think it prudent to inform them what you prefer because if you don’t you may be disappointed.  Because we didn’t indicate heat for the laksa and eggplant, they were not as spicy as we would have liked. 

The restaurant is dark and tastefully decorated with watercolours, rattan and dark furniture.  It is clean and there is parking in the back.  As well, there is some metered parking out front.  I really like Malaysian and Sinaporean food and will probably be back again!

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FISH CAFE

Fish and Chips


All 3 females were hankering for some fish and chips.  Stomach was outnumbered (again!)

Sometimes he just has to go home and crawl into this man-cave downstairs, with its big screen t.v. and watch some war movie or something with explosions, bloodshed, gore and gunfire.


It’s funny…we found out that our parrot is female (after DNA sexing).  He was hoping that she was a he but he also suspected that she was too snuggly and delicate-looking to be a manly bird.  Oh well.  Now Oliver is Olive.  Stomach's the only guy in the household.  Both the girls are daddy’s girls.  So he gets plenty of attention.
 
At Fish Cafe, the batter is really light and crisp and the fish inside was moist and delicate.  I liked it very much.  The tartar sauce seemed to be house-made too.  The chips were huge, crispy and like batons.  I liked them.  Rating:  6/6

My daughters fought over the pieces of garlic bread.  Bib tried to hoard another piece as she eats so slowly.    Stomach had the third piece and that left only one left between the two of them.  Bib was foreward-thinking and grabbed the last one, putting it on her plate even though she hadn’t finished her first.  When Bebe realized that all the garlic bread was gone, she was not happy.  I had to rip Bib’s piece in two to make it all even and square.  

Please tell me at what age my girls will stop fighting over the same thing?  Everything one has, the other covets.   Especially attention.  And food.


To defy our need for fried fish, Stomach ordered Grilled Calamari (appetizer size).   I think it was a pretty good choice as I smelled good char on it.  He had it with the lemon caper sauce and really enjoyed it.  He says next time, he’ll order it again.  Rating:  6/6

Located in Kerrisdale, Fish Cafe is a small restaurant with a menu that features primarily seafood of course.  The menu is on a blackboard and you can order fish soup, clam chowder, salads, a fish burger, fish and chips of course and calamari.  There are some fish specials too and I imagine that those change with the seasons.
Stomach was thinking about the calamari and wondering how he’d recreate that taste on his own at home.  I told him it wouldn’t work on the gas grill as the squid rings would fall through the grate!   I imagine there's some bbq contraption to remedy that, but it's way easier eating calamari in a restaurant!

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STUART’S BAKERY, GRANVILLE ISLAND

Black Forest Cake.


Yes, it’s a little lop-sided from having been smushed against the side of the box, but it was oh so good!

New York Cheesecake.


Rich, dense cheesecake.  Very good and decadent.

Key Lime tart


So Bib’s attending dance classes at Arts Umbrella, which is located in Granville Island.  This gives me a great opportunity to get some shopping done in the market! yay!

After scoring a great parking space and rushing her into her first dance class ever with seconds to spare before the start of class, I realized that she may not be so ready to be left in the class alone.  Some other mothers stayed behind, but I feel it would only prolong the sad-dog faces I’d get as she’d sneak peeks at me during class if I stayed.  Besides, the instructor encouraged us to leave.  I told Bib I’d stay 10 minutes and then would go and buy her some goodies for later.

Fresh blueberry tarts


She seemed more accepting of me leaving with the promise of doughnuts.  However, as I got up to leave and waved bye to her, she stuck out her lower lip and gave me a puppy dog look.  I smiled at her, waved again and rushed out anyway.

Turtle cheesecake!


After purchasing some fruit and veggies in the market area, I lingered around Stuart’s Bakery.  They have those gluten free Bliss Balls.  Their display of desserts and breads was so enticing!  Just look at them all! *drool*

Mango cheesecake

Fresh fruit tarts

New York Cheesecake

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Strawberry tarts

Portuguese Buns.

Braided Challah.


With so many delicious looking desserts and pastries, it was a tough choice.  I ended up getting something I knew the girls would love:  cheesecake.  I decided to have chocolate myself, in the form of the Black Forest Cake.  I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with a purchase from Stuart’s.  Everything is so good!  I especially love smelling the breads. oh man.

When I picked up Bib from class, she didn’t seem out of sorts, but the instructor came over and told me that Bib spent most of class watching rather than doing.  She had to be helped along to participate.   Funny thing is that’s how she is with most of these type of activities.  She did the same thing in gymnastics for the first few classes.  Now she’s been chosen to be in the pre-competitive group.  Bib told me on the car ride home that it was her first time in a dance class and she was shy…and she wanted to watch everything first because she’s never been in a dance class.  This does make some sense I guess.  I promised her a pretty pink skirt to wear for next class and she said that that would probably help. 

She promised me she’d participate next time.    I’m looking forward to exploring more shops in the market next week!

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BURGOO, MAIN STREET

Brie Fondue!


at Burgoo!

It’s been ages since I had fondue and my fond memories in Alsace of having all that reblochon cheese (tartiflette! yum!) and the awesome Cheese Fondue I ate with my great French friends V and P.  Sigh.  Eating fondue in Vancouver just doesn’t cut it, but it sure is better than not eating any fondue.

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade.





Notice the big red blogs floating in the lemonade? Those are fresh strawberries macerating in the lemonade! yum!

Laksa Lemak

I don’t know what Stomach was thinking when he ordered this at Burgoo.  If you want good laksa you go to an authentic Malaysian restaurant.  Anyway,  he was disappointed.  He asked if it was spicy and the waitress said it wasn’t…which should have been a dead giveaway that it was tamed for western palates.  Don’t order this.  On a positive note, he said there were plenty of juicy shrimp in it. 

Macaroni and Cheese.

I think Burgoo does cheese well.  The smell of caramelized melted cheese wafted through the room as we ate.  The bubbly casserole dish arrived on a wooden board and the kids wanted to dig in but…hey, you know the dangers of hot melted cheese!

I was smart and ordered the salmon cakes.  They were good with the accompanying lemon and sauce.

Though the Brie Fondue isn’t exactly like the one that I had that was made from Comté, I still liked it.  It came with cubes of crusty bread and apple chunks.   I'm doing my part to ingest a bit of gluten everyday leading up to my gluten allergy test.  I think I'm supposed to have some gluten everyday so I won't get a false reading in my tests.  Thus my gluttony here.  I figure if I'm going to eat some gluten, I'm going all the way.

If you like comfort food (and cheese) Burgoo is the place for you!  Bebe and I were loving the fondue.  Stomach (lactose intolerant) and Bib (milk allergy) don’t eat a lot of cheese.  Too bad for them!  I can’t wait until Bebe is bigger so she can go with me for a big Fondue meal!  with wine! yum!   When she’s an adult, I imagine we’ll have some cheese-filled meals to make Stomach and Bib’s stomachs churn! hee!

Burgoo has appies, sandwiches, salads and soups.  They do stews from around the world and I almost ordered the Boeuf Bourguignon.  The restaurant was packed inside at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday.  There was a huge patio outside though and it could accommodate just as many people as were seated inside. 

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GF BABY BUNDT CARROT CAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE GLAZE

GF Baby Bundt Carrot Cakes with Cream Cheese Icing

These baby bundts go very well with a shot of espresso.  The bitterness of the coffee is a perfect accompaniment to the carrot cake’s sweet flavour profile.

I purchased 6 silicone baby bundt molds from Safeway of all places.  There was a display of Ricardo Larrivée Cookware and Bakeware (he's a Quebec chef from Food Network Canada) of Ricardo and Friends.  The individual baby bundt molds caught my eye and came in a set of 6.  So cute!  The line is called Ricardo Cuisine.   There were hearts and flowers, but I chose the bundt shape.  I liked the little hold in the middle.

The GF Sweet Rice Flour Blend worked out okay with this carrot cake recipe.  However, I omitted nuts and raisins because my kid’s allergic to nuts and I don’t like raisins in my food.   I used the rest of the batter for cupcakes and piped the cream cheese frosting in a swirl on them.  For the baby bundts, I microwaved a bit of the frosting to make it pourable and drizzled it over the bundts. 

The carrot cakes should be kept in the refrigerator to store.  They taste best the next day.  The texture wasn’t at all heavy but they definitely were moist.   This is due to the use of grapeseed oil instead of butter.    The cupcakes puffed up a little in the oven and shrank a bit after removal from the oven.  So you don’t get a very dense cupcake here.  Instead, it is light and moist.  The tops are not domed so they do look best with a swirled frosting on top. 

Bib and I actually prefer the carrot cupcakes without the frosting as they are sweet and moist enough without.  We easily ate two each before they were frosted.  Bebe likes the frosting.  Without the frosting though, you could take them for a snack at school and eat straight out of hand.  They are similar to banana bread in that way.  Delicious!  If you do make the baby bundts, I do think you ought to gild them with the warmed up frosting. They do look much prettier.

This recipe could be dairy free if you omitted the frosting.

Mini Baby Bundt Carrot Cakes (GF)
adapted from Simply…Gluten-free Desserts

• 2 cups organic cane sugar
• 1 1/3 cups grapeseed oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups sweet rice flour blend [or your favourite GF flour blend](see HERE for a recipe)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 pound carrots, finely grated (about 3 cups)

1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting 

• 8 T unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/8 t salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan with paper liners and/or prepare mini bundts on a sheet pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the sugar, oil and vanilla.  Lower speed and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each egg is fully incorporated, and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula after each addition
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the sweet rice flour blend, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt
4. With the mixer on low speed, add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Add the carrots to the remaining flour mixture and toss well to coat.  Add to the batter and mix well using a large spatula, and making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl well.  Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.  Tap the pans on the counter three times gently to settle the batter.
5. Bake the cupcakes for 35-45 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Cool for about 10 minutes in pans then remove from the pans and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.  When completely cool, frost, if desired.
7. Refrigerate carrot cakes to store.  Unfrosted cakes can be frozen.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Cream the softened butter and cream cheese until smooth. Mix in confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt until well combined. 

To Decorate Mini Bundts:
In a small custard cup, heat the cream cheese frosting until melted (check every 10 seconds).  Set the bundts on a rack on a sheet pan and drizzle the glaze over the bundts, allowing the excess to fall off through the rack.  Allow to set.
To Decorate Cupcakes:
Using a 1M tip, swirl frosting from a piping bag in a circle starting from the outside perimeter of the cake towards the centre.

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GOOD CHOICE FOR DIM SUM

Spicy Pan Fried Radish Cake. 


Having had a great dining experience the last time we ate at Good Choice, we gave it a go for Dim Sum today.

The pan fried radish cake had just the right amount of heat.  It had fresh chilies, fresh bean sprouts and the cubes of radish cake held well with a light crispy exterior and soft interior.   Rating:  6/6

Scallions and Pork Neck in Soy sauce. 

By far, my favourite dish of the whole lunch!  It was so good!   The meat was a little springy, very tender and not fatty at all.  I loved the abundance of scallion.  Very savoury and I would definitely order it again.  Rating:  6/6

Black bean sauce clams. 

This dish was okay.  I liked the portion size.  The sauce was on the watery side and I don’t like like it so “wet”.  I liked a drier version myself.  Rating:  4/6

Har Gow.

Stomach is the har gow expert.  He liked it very much.  The skin was pretty good and the shrimp inside flavourful.  Rating:  5/6

Lotus Leaf Sticky Rice.

The filling of the sticky rice consisted of pork, Chinese sausage and a piece of salted duck egg yolk.  This is the kids’ favourite and Bebe ate a whole one on her own (after flicking they yolk on to Stomach’s dish).    Rating:  5/6

Green Onion Pancake.

This version  is fried.  Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  But it is definitely not as flaky done this way in my opinion.  Rating:  4/6

Black Bean Sauce Spareribs.

Juicy, plump, tender morsels or pork ribs and just the right amount of black beans…and seasoned just right.  This dish was good.  Rating: 5.5/6

The clear disappointment of the whole meal was the Singapore Fried Rice Vermicelli.  Though it looks pretty enough, the noodles were hard (not soaked long enough) and needed flavour. 

Though this dish had plump shrimp, I was disappointed with the insipid flavour.  There was no heat and not enough "wok hei” or caramelizing going on.  If it had more heat, more curry flavour or more meat/shrimp and scallion, it would have been saved.  I took the whole dish home and fixed it by adding curry powder and cooking it until the noodles softened more.

Deep Fried Meat-stuffed Dumplings.

This dish was good and had plenty of meat filling.  The exteriors were crisp and the dough was nice and chewy just like it’s supposed to be.  Rating:  5/6

Coconut Pudding .

Really, it’s more like a hard jello.  Anyhow, what’s a meal without dessert?  This coconut pudding was nicely set and tasted cool, milky and refreshing.

Just click on the menus to see the Dim Sum menu up close.   

Good Choice was actually very good for Dim Sum.  I was happy and would come back again.  I just wouldn't order the noodles dishes now that I know that the Singapore Rice Vermicelli was a flop.  The regular items on the dim sum menu were all really good though and I'd like to order some other ones to see how they are too.  There are some interesting items on the menu that are more innovative than the regular Dim Sum fare.

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