Kedah House Restaurant Simply Delicious

Buffet

I long for the flavours from my childhood growing up in Singapore. So it's a rare treat to find a Vancouver restaurant making good Malaysian food at a bargain. For a value of $9.99, Kedah House Restaurant & Cafe's AYCA (all-you-can-eat) buffet offers a small spread of Malaysian dishes that are fresh and flavourful.

Kedah, Malaysia

Owner and chef, Cheslah Othman, named the restaurant, Kedah, after the Northwest Malaysian region of where she is originally from. Operating the modestly decorated restaurant since 2006, she proudly claims to be one of the pioneers offering authentic Malay cuisine in Vancouver. 

Gado Gado plated on the right

I started with the build-your-own Gado Gado salad.  I towered lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, sliced fried tofu, shredded turnip and bean sprouts and then topped it all off with a sumptuous savory peanut sauce. The contrast of crisp veggies and savory sauce was wonderfully refreshing.

Tom Yum Soup

When I returned to reload my plate, Cheslah's husband, Mohammed, told me that the beef rendang is a buffet staple after customers protested when they replaced it with other Malay dishes. After tasting the tender beef rendang that was stewed to perfection in a rich coconut curry, I can understand their addiction!  

Beef Rendang

The fluffy steamed basmati rice and sambal telur, hard-boiled eggs cooked in chilli paste, team well with the beef rendang. It was culinary nostalgia when the familiar combination of complex flavours reminded me of warm afternoons feasting on hot Malaysian food in an outdoor Singapore hawker centre.

The BEST banana cake!

Light banana cake with kopi, Malay coffee known for its stronger, darker and richer flavours, cap off my meal with a sweet ending. At Kedah House you can expect friendly service, bold flavours and good value - a humble approach to simply delicious food.

Kedah House Restaurant & Cafe

1652 SE Marine Drive, Vancouver

604-325-9771

Wednesday & Thursday: 11:30am-2:30pm & 5:30pm-8pm

Friday-Sunday: 11:30am-9:30pm

Monday & Tuesday: Closed

Candice's Recommendations:

Daily buffet: $9.99; From Friday-Sunday Malay fried chicken rice is offered in the buffet; Roti Canai: $6.00

Pinoy Plug: Jazzing with musician Kate Hammett-Vaughn @ Java Jazz

Enjoy a buffet dinner with delicious Filipino dishes and live jazz with Canadian musician, Kate Hammett-Vaughn. Guests will also get to meet Java Jazz owner, chef & musician Salve Sayao. Don't miss out! 

Java Jazz Cafe & Bistro, 412 6th Street, New Westminster
Sept 21 & 22 @ 7pm ($25)
Limited seats available, RSVP: (604) 521-2929

Also, Candice's Cusina will be live on location on September 22, see you all there!!!

Give Peaceful Restaurant a chance

The name may be misleading, but the food is anything but. Packed with diners on a regular basis Peaceful Restaurant is certainly not a calm oasis, but then its understandable given their serious cooking chops.

By the time the doors are set to open at 11AM, the lunch crowd line-up has already formed outside the door. Once you get your table, the cosy seating arrangements also guarantee you’ll be making fast friends.

Open since 2006, Peaceful Restaurant has won the hearts of many regulars and also many accolades, including an award for their “Peaceful Beef Rolls” and a feature on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Owner Charlie Huang is at the helm of the kitchen making hand-made noodles (dragged and blade-sheared) and cooking authentic regional specialties from Northern China. Just before we sat at our table, I peered through the kitchen’s glass window to watch the magic unfold as the chefs effortlessly pulled balls of white dough into long noodle strands then transforming them into something delicious.

The menu is extensive with over 150 items. You get help narrowing down your selection, with the letters “R” beside their recommended favourites and “V” for vegetarian dishes.

My top two recommendations are their 5-spiced Peaceful Beef Rolls and the Dan Dan noodles.

Peaceful Beef Rolls

The beef rolls are a perfect combination of contrasting tastes and textures as you crunch into the flaky green onion flat bread and savour the thinly sliced beef with sweet hoisin sauce.

Dan Dan Noodles

A spicy explosion of flavours, the meaty Dan Dan hand-dragged noodles hold their own against the dense peanut sauce, ground pork and blanched spinach.

Xiao Long Boa Steamed Buns

Chili-Garlic Eggplant

The service is friendly, prices are reasonable and the food is addictive. They only take cash or debit cards so come prepared. Leftovers are another guarantee, good for a delicious lunch the next day. If you haven’t done so already, all I am saying is give Peaceful Restaurant a chance.

Peaceful Restaurant
#110-532 West Broadway, Vancouver
604-879-9878

Candice’s Recommendations:
Peaceful Beef Rolls - $7.25, Dan Dan Noodles - $7.95, Chili-Garlic Eggplant - $11.95 & Xiao Long Boa Steam Buns - $7.25.

All that Java Jazz!

Where else can you find world-class live jazz and delicious Filipino food? At New Westminster's Java Jazz Cafe & Bistro restaurant! Owners Salvacion (Salve) and Ed Dayao have been running the family-operated restaurant and sharing the jazz stage entertaining guests for the last 10 years. Salve does do double duty as the head chef cooking up her made-from-scratch specialities including pastas, burgers, curries and of course, classic Filipino dishes.

Fun Fact: The name Java Jazz was developed from a fusion of Ed's love for coffee and Salve's love for jazz. 

Salve & Ed Dayao

I had the privilege to meet Salve. Her warm and inviting smile easily brightens up the dimly lit restaurant. She sat down to introduce herself and I soon learned that she is also a fellow Pampangan (like me). Both her and Ed are trained musicians who have travelled the world singing (Salve) and playing the piano (Ed). They landed in Canada over 10 years ago and decided to live out their dreams by opening up their own restaurant while continuing to delight customers with their music.

Fan Fact: Pamanga is located in the province of Luzon, Philippines and is also known for their passionate cooks;) 

Salve then slowly introduced more Filipino dishes to the menu over the years with her own unique twists. Java Jazz now offers many Filipino favourites like Kare Kare (peanut-based ox-tail stew), Sizzling Pork Sisig (fried hog head, truly a delicacy but best with beer) & Lechon Kawali (deep-fried pork belly).

Salve's niece and waitress, Cheryl, gave her recommendations to help narrow down the list: Pinkabet Special (sauteed veggies in a shrimp sauce), Crispy Binagoongan (battered & fried pork in a shrimp & coconut sauce) and Beef Calderata (beef stew) - all served with coconut-achiote rice.

Pinkabet Special

Beef Calderata

Crispy Binagoongan

Served in large heaping portions, all three dishes were masarup! My favourite had to be the crispy binagoongan. It had a nice contrast of flavours and textures with the crispy pork coated perfectly in the seasoned shrimp & coconut sauce against the freshly diced mangoes, tomatoes and onions.

You will be welcomed with friendly service, tantalized with tasty home-cooking and entertained with good live music. So come on down and paint the town at New West's Java Jazz!

Java Jazz Cafe & Bistro Restaurant
412 - 6th Street, New Westminster
Closed Tuesdays, 5:30pm-12am

Candice's Recommendations:
Crispy Binagoongan - $12.99, Pinkabet Special - $14.99 & Chicken Wings - $9.95
New customers get 10% off!!

International Food Bloggers Conference - My Top 6 Highlights

This being my first International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), I wasn't too sure what to expect. Will I find the guest speakers and info sessions valuable? Will I be inspired? Will I meet lots of new bloggers and gain their respect? Will I eat lots, drink lots and learn lots to hopefully become a better blogger at the end of the weekend?

As it turned out, going to the 2012 IFBC last weekend (Aug 24-26) was the best thing I have done in a long time. It was a 3-day weekend packed with bloggers, sessions, food, wine, swag, tweets and fun!

Me & Auntie Nas

I took the 8-hour Amtrak train from Vancouver, BC to Portland and was warmly greeted by my Uncle Fernando and Aunt Filipinas (Auntie Nas) who, lucky for me, live in Portland and generously housed me during the conference.  My Auntie Nas is also my idol in the kitchen, a self-taught home cook who excels in cooking all types cuisine, especially Filipino food.

Here are my top 6 highlights from the IFBC conference:

1) Portland
This year's IFBC was hosted in one of my favourite cities, Portland, Oregon! This town is known for its tax-free shopping, outdoors recreation, quaint neighbourhoods, food, wine, micro-brews and friendly residents. Plus, it reminds me of my childhood visiting my cousins, Aunts and Uncles during the summer and Christmas holidays always filled with food, shopping and laughter.

2) Live Blogging
A fun and exciting session on our first day, we had the chance to taste, review, blog and tweet a variety of yummy Oregon food and drinks. Sponsored by Travel Oregon, local restaurants, chefs and businesses gave a 5 minute pitches about their products and best of all, we got to sample them all!!

Oregon Albacore Tuna

Pfriem Belgium Beer

Sweet & savoury caramel with local Oregon truffle oil

Yummy mini chocolate cupcakes

Tried & loved this! Straw Propeller's Curry Up Oatmeal

Local salt from Jacobsen Salt Co. Fun fact: It takes 45-50 hours to make salt.

3) Food Wishes
About a year ago I started following Chef John of Food Wishes educational and funny YouTube videos featuring over 600 delicious recipes, cooking tips and how-tos. On the first day, I got to meet Chef John and got a picture to prove it;)

During his presentation on the last day, we learned that instant mashed potatoes can help make onion rings stay crispy longer and the perfect go-to dessert is chocolate affogato (coffee, vanilla ice-cream and chocolate shavings). The trick is to brew your coffee with cold water so your ice-cream will melt slowly.

So excited to meet Chef John of Food Wishes

4) Gift Suite (aka SWAG!!)
The loot offered at IFBC was beyond my wildest dreams! After the food and wine reception hosted by Oregon's Washington County, we headed to the Taste of Oregon & Gourmet Fair, where tables were topped with tonnes of goodies - beer, wooden spoons, cookbooks, rice, spatulas, bags, wooden cutting boards, food samples and much more. Surrounding the gift suite table were gourmet restaurants, local food and liquor manufacturers offering bountiful samples for the tasting. Foodie paradise!!

Swag table where we got to choose our loot

Thank you to all the 2012 IFBC sponsors for all the goodies!

5) New Friends
Best of all, I met and connected with many great food bloggers and friends. A hub of inquisitive, like-minded and varied group of people gave me a sense of community and belonging. Some seasoned pros and many starting out like me but we all share our love for food and the passion to communicate about it.

Dining with beautiful ladies:
Sunny Diaz of @foodeager and Sala Kannan of @veggiebelly

6) 2013 IFBC
Thanks for the great time and already signed up for next year's 2013 IFBC in Seattle, Washington on Sept 13-15. See you there!

Casa Pinoy: House Built on Taste!

Chef Dennis Pineda & I with the Crispy Pata

After reading several food reviews about Casa Pinoy, some even describing their dishes as not only good but casamazing, I was intrigued and excited to try the food myself. 

Casa Pinoy, means Filipino House, but welcomes all with its broad selection of Filipino, Western and Italian dishes. Tucked inside Richmond's industrial neighbourhood, owners Edith and Eugene Colobong opened shop in February 2011.

With a growing clientele, they cater regularly to the surrounding businesses and restaurant patrons with Filipino favourites like *empanada* (sweet & savory meat pie), *lechon* (deep fried pork belly) and *pancit* (noodles sautéed with veggies & seafood) as well as local comfort foods like all-day breakfast, burgers, fish n' chips, pastas. 

Head chef, Dennis Pineda, took my order and proudly claims that he is the mastermind behind all of the restaurant's casamazing recipes! With so many items to choose from, Dennis suggested their in-house Filipino specialities: *chicken inasal* (grilled chicken leg marinated in coconut vinegar), *crispy pata* (deep fried crispy pork hock) and *leche flan* (caramel custard).   

Crispy Pata

All of Dennis' recommendations were done authentically and to perfection. The crispy pata was by far my favourite! The pork hocks were deep-fried so the skin becomes a crispy crackling and the meat, dipped in a soy-vinegar sauce, was tender and tasty. 

Chicken Inasal with Java Rice

The barbecued chicken inasal with the side *java rice* (yellow fried rice) had a good balance of citrus, coconut vinegar and garlic flavours that all harmoniously melded in my mouth. 

Leche Flan

My feast ended with the decadent, rich and creamy leche flan.

Pork & Chicken Adobo with Quail Eggs

Halo Halo

The portions are generous, prices affordable and the service is friendly.

Casa Pinoy's broad menu offering will appeal to many so I'd recommend bringing several friends so you can all share, taste and experience their variety of casamazing dishes. 

Casa Pinoy
101 - 11911 Bridgeport Road
Richmond, BC V6V1J3
Open 7 days, 10am-8pm

Candice’s Recommendations:
Crispy Pata (served with veggies & rice) $9.99, Chicken Inasal (served with veggies & rice) $8.99, Chicken/Pork Adobo $6.99, Leche Flan $2.99 and Halo Halo $5.50   

Pinoy Pride!

Pinoy Fiesta
August 12, 2012
Memorial South Park, 41st Avenue & Windsor Street, Vancouver

Going to a park that welcomes you with jamming live music, hip-hop dancing, friendly vendors and delicious Filipino food is my ideal way of spending a sunny Sunday afternoon.  For the past three years, Pinoy Fiesta - Unang Hirit sa Tag-init (Filipino Cultural Street Parade & Festival) celebrates and showcases the Filipino culture and heritage with a street parade, performances and, of course food.

The line-ups for all the food vendors were miles deep and most of the cooks were barbecuing up a storm! You could smell the sweet perfume of grilling pork & chicken skewers and salivate over trays of steaming pancit, mounds of golden empanadas and pyramids of crispy lumpia shanghai. This was just the Cabalen Sweets food tent. There were at least 8 other food vendors offering many other delicious Filipino delicacies and treats.

Girlfriends enjoying a Pinoy picnic!

I brought three friends, all non-Filipino, for the excursion and hoped they'd like Pinoy Fiesta as much as me.  The verdict - they enjoyed pinoy food! Here's a sampling of what we feasted on:

Banana Turon

Java Rice with Afritada & BBQ Pork Skewer

Chicken BBQ Skewers

Goldilocks barbecuing the Chicken Skewers

Pork Empanadas

The event was a success and so grateful to the Pinoy Fiesta Management for instilling Pinoy Pride in the Vancouver community and looking forward to next year's fiesta!