Lucky Joy BBQ

It is time for our annual Alaskan King Crab family dinner! Of course, being in the industry, Daddy Lam always know the best place to go for a top notch dinner with great value. We held our AKC family dinner at Lucky Joy BBQ Chinese Restaurant last year and it was amazing. The fresh king crab still lingers in my memory since. Definitely excited to share a whole king crab for the six of us!

Last year, we had a 13.7 pound king crab, 3 entree dishes, and a dessert. It was definitely way too much food. We had to pack most of the entree dishes to go. This year, we decided to focus our dinner mostly on the king crab. We will be having it cooked three ways: steamed, fried, and baked with rice.

Starter Soup
Average clear soup served in Chinese restaurant.

Our Alaska King Crab this year is 12.2 pounds!

King Crab 3-Way: steamed king crab legs
The legs of the king crab are opened and steamed to perfection! It is topped with fried garlic and green onion. I love garlic and this was really good! It is not overwhelmed with pungent garlic flavour; you can definitely taste the fresh sweet juicy flavour of the king crab.

King Crab 3-Way: salty-peppery fried king crab
Light salty-peppery batter on pieces of king crab. Very delicious. Despite it being deep fried, the batter does not overpower the fresh sweet taste of the king crab meat itself. My parents actually found the fried king crab to be cooked better.

King Crab 3-Way: baked king crab pieces over rice
The remaining pieces of the king crab is mixed with a curry sauce and baked over rice in the shell of the king crab. Great presentation and great taste too!

Fresh Noodles: 'sang mein' cooked with the king crab broth
When we finish devouring the steamed king crab, there are king crab broth/liquid that leaked from the legs. Often, people will cook it in noodles for the fresh king crab taste. We choose to cook it in two fresh noodles (sang mein). Slightly too much flavour, we should have cooked it in three fresh noodles.

Seasonal Vegetable: garlic 'gai lan'
After a hearty king crab meal, we definitely need some vegetable in our diet. We ordered garlic 'gai lan' as our final dish. I enjoyed it, as it was not overly salty like most other Chinese restaurants.

We were all very satisfied with Lucky Joy BBQ Chinese Restaurant. Especially if Daddy Lam is satisfied, it is a good indication of quality food. Definitely a restaurant I will recommend for an Alaskan King Crab dinner. This time, we ordered the right amount of food for 6 people! If you are coming with a party of 10, I will suggest getting a 14 pound king crab and 3 entree dishes. The 3 entree dishes includes dessert in the end as well.

Food: My whole family loved it! Great flavours.
Service: Not much service provided. We had to ask for our dishes to be exchanged and to have our tea topped up.
Price: The total came to $290 with tax for six people.
Recommended? Highly recommended for Alaskan King Crab.

- Hippo


Lucky Joy BBQ Restaurant
11780 Thorpe Road
Richmond, B.C.
Phone: 604-303-8172

Lhy Thai

It's been a while since I have updated my blog. Well, that is because I have been away for 3 weeks on an Asia trip!! It was super amazing. My girl friend and I had a ton of fun. And of course, knowing me, I definitely tried a lot of traditional and cultural food that you do not normally find in Vancouver. I will be blogging about that once I finish sorting through the million of photos I have taken.

But anyways, I am finally home in Raincouver. Definitely not missing the rain, but I do miss the lovely, breezy Vancouver weather. I took it easy with the food I ate the first week I was back. Now, I am ready for more food adventures! My friend, Flash, was mentioning to me that we can eat emu at this restaurant in Richmond. Despite it being such a cute animal, I was totally down for trying new meat. Unfortunately, the restaurant we were originally going to did not serve emu. Being slightly disappointed, we decided to go grab some Thai food in Burnaby at Lhy Thai.

When you enter Lhy Thai, it is a small, cozy restaurant that appeared to be family owned. Very laid back and casual dining. On a Thursday night, it was not busy at all and our server was highly attentive. After reviewing the menu, we have decided on a couple of simple dishes:

Phat Thai Gai: rice noodles fried with chicken, tofu, green onion, tomato sauce, bean sprouts, egg, and sprinkled with peanuts ($10.95)
This pad thai was very tasty. You can choose between chicken or prawn. We chose the chicken. The portion is smaller than most restaurant, but it was full of flavours and definitely had a good balance of sweet and spice to it. However, it is a bit oily and can be heavy if you were to finish the platter to yourself. I will recommend sharing.

Green Curry with Beef: bamboo shoots, green and red pepper, sweet basil ($10.95)
This curry disappointed me. It was very liquid and watery. We ordered the green curry in mild, so I hope they did not just dilute it with water to achieve the mild flavour. We didn't want it too spicy, but we still wanted the thick curry flavour. The sliced beef was average and slightly dry. Side note: this dish does not come with rice. We ordered a bowl of steamed rice for $1.50.

Lhy Thai is located near the South Burnaby-Kingsway-Edmonds area. It is on Edmonds Street and Linden Avenue cross street to be exact. There is free street parking at the front of the restaurant on Edmonds Street. The restaurant is quite small, so I will make reservation if you plan to attend with a larger party. Please note: they are closed on Sundays. Their hours of operations is as follows: Lunch from Monday to Friday (11:30am to 2:30pm); Dinner from Monday to Saturday (5:00pm to 10:00pm).

Food: Only average. They serve great pad thai, but definitely need to work on their curry.
Service: Excellent. Warm and friendly staff from a family owned restaurant.
Price: We paid a total of $25 with tax for two people.
Recommended? I do have preference for other Thai restaurants, but they are located in Vancouver.

- Hippo


Lhy Thai
7357 Edmonds Street
Burnaby, B.C.
Phone: 604-526-8085

Marulilu Cafe

I absolutely adore this cozy little brunch cafe. With our conflicting work schedule, this has been an overdue brunch date with Panda. We both woke up early and started our day with some food. It is my first time dining at this restaurant and it is definitely a great recommendation from Panda. To my surprise, it is actually a Japanese-style brunch/lunch restaurant. It attracts many locals and Japanese families.

The interior of the cafe is not fancy, but in my opinion, very cute. It is laid back and casual. The food tasted great! And the price is very reasonable as well. The menu features traditional breakfast items, Japanese lunch sets, and Japanese snacks.

Salmon Eggs Benedict with 2 Hashbrowns ($7.99)
Absolutely love their hollandaise sauce. Thick and flavourful, yet it is not heavy with MSG. The poached egg is slightly over cooked, but 75% of the yolk is still runny. They used a generous amount of smoked salmon as well. Very good for the price. The hash was a tad too oily for my taste, but it had a nice crisp to it and tasted great. Their eggs benny is definitely worth a try.

Okonomiyaki: with cheese and seafood ($8.99)
This is a Japanese pancake, topped with teriyaki sauce and Japanese mayo. One of the best okonomiyaki I have had in Vancouver. It is thick and tasty. The batter was nicely prepared, as it was not overly soggy and does not easily fall apart. Very impressed. Highly recommended by Hippo.

Real Fruit Smoothies: 16oz ($4.95) Choice of Milk, Soy, Plain Yogurt, or Vanilla Yogurt (additional $0.50)
Peach Mango with Vanilla Yogurt ($5.45) - left
Mixed Berry Banana with Vanilla Yogurt ($5.45) - right
Both amazing. Highly recommended. I can taste the fresh fruits. The vanilla yogurt was a great addition to the smoothie; makes a thick and tasty smoothie. Surprisingly, the smoothie came last, after our meals. I was watching them freshly prepare our drinks.

I really enjoyed my brunch at Marulilu Cafe. Everything was nicely prepared and tasted amazing. No complaints. Excellent experience. We were both very satisfied and full after devouring all the food above. Initially, Panda said we had to get their waffles in the end, but it seems like we have to postpone that to our next brunch visit!

Location: On West Broadway and Cambie Street. Very convenient, as it is close to the Canada Line. Paid meter parking on Broadway.

Food: Amazing. Thoroughly enjoyed everything we ordered.
Service: Friendly staff. You order up front and they serve the food to your table.
Price: The total came to $31 with tax for two people for brunch. It can be very well-priced if you don't order the smoothies and get a glass of water instead.
Recommended? Yes. A very cozy fusion Japanese brunch cafe!

- Hippo


Marulilu Cafe
451 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.
Phone: 604-568-4211

Tung Hing Bakery

If you walk down Kingsway in Vancouver, it is a strip of Vietnamese and Banh Mi heaven. We were in the area and I suddenly started craving for a Banh Mi snack. Of course, we were traveling in the wrong direction, so Meko made a quick U-turn and stopped at Tung Hing Bakery. When we got there, they actually ran out of bread. This was actually a good thing! They started to bake fresh bread in the oven. We had to wait for 15 minutes for the buns to be done. And it was definitely well worth the wait. Nothing can compare to a delicious-fresh-out-of-the-oven sandwich bun!

Within the 15 minute we have been standing and waiting. A line up actually started to form behind us. It may be deceptive when you walk into this empty bakery, but Tung Hing is actually a high traffic bakery. The service is quick with customers stepping in and out.

Tung Hing Bakery features Chinese/Vietnamese style fresh buns and pastries. They also have a Banh Mi bar, where they make your sandwich right in front of you (similar to Subway). These Vietnamese submarines are delicious! Banh Mi, which directly means 'bread' consist of your selected meat and vegetables (cucumber, pickled daikon, carrots, cilantro, and pepper).

House Special Banh Mi ($3.25)
Includes 3 different Vietnamese ham/meat and vegetables in a 12" French baguette. Really good!

I watched the employees freshly prep all the ingredients behind the counter. She was shredding the garlic chicken. It is real chicken breast pieces! Not a mix of dark, white, intestinal pieces. I was very impressed! Great quality for the price you are paying.

 

All the Banh Mi prices are taxes in. Please note that starting April 2, 2013, they actually have a slight price increase of 25 cents on all their Banh Mi submarines.

Food: Great! We tried all of the different variety of Banh Mi at Tung Hing Bakery and none of them disappointed us! Our recommendations are the House Special and also the Honey Garlic Sausage.
Service: Courteous bakery clerks and quick preparation of the sandwiches.
Price: Each Banh Mi are very reasonable at $3-$4 each, taxes in.
Recommended? Yes!

- Hippo


Tung Hing Bakery 同慶餅家
1198 Kingsway
Vancouver, B.C.
Phone: 604-875-3394

Bob's Submarine Sandwiches

Wow. Bob's Submarine Sandwiches is the perfect place for a carnivore! Unlike most healthy sandwiches joint, Bob's Submarine is a meat eater's heaven. For example, Subway features a large piece of bread and focuses on the add-on fresh vegetables. The meaty ingredient is often the more expensive component of a sandwich. Bob's Submarine managed to overflow the sandwich with delicious meat for a very reasonable price.

Please note that the sandwiches are huge! I definitely recommend sharing with a friend. I will probably not devour a 12" submarine sandwich all to myself, despite how delicious it is. My stomach will not be happy with the overwhelming amount of meat they include. We purchased two submarines, 6" and 12". We were only able to finish the 12" and we both felt stuffed and satisfied. It does get quite messy after a couple of bites. I am glad we got take out and I can happily enjoy this at home with my fork and knife.

Pepperoni and Salami 6" Submarine ($4.90)
Vegetable toppings include: lettuce, tomato, mushroom, caramelized onion, and cheese. As you notice from the photo, the quantity of meat they used is monstrous. The pepperoni and salami is very tasty, although it may get a little salty when too much is devoured. It is tender and moist - cooked just right. Very satisfied. Recommended by Hippo!

Super Sub 12" Submarine: salami, pepperoni, capicolla, steak ($11.80)
Another one of their hot submarine sandwiches, topped with the same vegetables as the previous one. This one has all their variety of meat. We actually found the steak slices too dry and lacking flavour. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it, as it complemented the salty salami and pepperoni. My sandwich actually began to fall apart after my first few bites. Prepare to get your hands greasy and eat like an animal! There is no getting out of it, no matter how neat you are. 

Each 6" sub is approximately $4-$6. Each 12" sub is approximately $8-12. Very cheap for the quality and quantity you are receiving. Plus, it flows quite well with my attempt on a low carb diet (which can be difficult, I love bread and rice too much!). Forget Subway; I am going to always head to Bob's Submarine Sandwiches for delicious, fresh, and cheap sandwiches!

Location: On Cook Road and No. 3 Road. In the plaza across from Richmond Center. A couple minutes away from the Brighouse Canada Line Station. There is parking in front of the restaurant.

Food: Very good for the price paid. Quality and quantity both achieved. Note: eating may be very messy!
Service: N/A. We ordered take out. Meko noticed they were all Korean, not sure if that matters.
Price: We spent a total of $16 including tax for two people.
Recommended? I really enjoyed this cheap eat place! I will be trying their breakfast sandwiches on my next visit.

- Hippo


Bob's Submarine Sandwiches
6390 No. 3 Road
Richmond, B.C.
Phone: 604-273-6710