In-N-Out Burger in California

Best Burgers in Town

There is this burger joint in California that is favorite among Californians. This local familiar chain burger store is not found anywhere outside California. It has remained to be unique and a must try for any foody, food critiques, and in fact for anyone wanting something truly California. They are so popular among the locals, that nearly every in-N-Out Burger store is full with diners. Every In-N-Out restaurant that I past by from LAX to my hotel was packed. That was how popular this place was.

Yummy Yummy Burgers

So, the very next day, my family and I had to dine in one of the In-N-Out Burger restaurant. We asked for the most popular burger and the first bite was supreme. It was deliciously juicy and and flavourful. The burger was just as good as the burgers in Whitespot or Red Robins if not better. And, the price of the burgers was competitively comparable to MacDonalds'. The fries was also uniquely different. They were less greasy and had no salt. Now that I have eaten one of their burgers, I now understand why Californians are so crazy for In-N-Out burgers.

Typical Chinese Cuisines in Anaheim

Fried Butter Prawns

My family and I went out for dinner with some of our friends that lived in Orange County when we were visiting. Earlier in that day we went to the Disneyland Theme Park but left the park at about four o'clock to join the friends for a dinner. We were introduced to this Chinese restaurant in Anaheim which serves typical Chinese cuisines. Before we arrive, our friends had told us about what to expect in terms of authenticity and taste of the cuisines served there. But it is one of those that they would frequent. The restaurant is also owned by a friend's friend and the cuisines should be somewhat satisfactory. I did not know what to expect but had confidence that it should be a good place to dine. Especially, when entering a diner that was packed with happy customers.

Fried Beef Noodle

Service was really good in Lakeside Chinese Restaurant. It was warm and friendly. Many of the diners in the restaurant were locals. And, I guess we were the only people from outside the area. The cuisines were suitable for the local taste and flavours. The cuisines were actually prepared for the local diners, they were not Shanghai, Cantonese or even anything that I was familiar with. It is a restaurant serving very localized Chinese cuisines but was satisfactorily good for the local taste and flavours. The cuisines served were sweeter, less spicy, and lacked the flavours found in most Chinese cooking.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

We had several different cuisines and though they all taste different and unique, I personally prefer to dine in the Chinese restaurants in Vancouver. I guess we have more food diversity in Vancouver. Maybe there are better diversity in the Chinese cuisines in Los Angeles just as Vancouver and I have not been introduced to any of them yet. In general, I have had a wonderful dining experience and would probably return in the near future for a longer stay to try out some of the eateries serving more authentic cuisines.

Christmas Potluck

Christmas Potluck

I was in Los Angeles on Christmas day and participated in the potluck organized by my fellow university Malaysian alumnus living in the Los Angeles area. I have not met with many of them for at least sixteen years. Coincidentally, that was how long I have not visited Los Angeles. My kids also met with the kids of my fellow Malaysian alumnus. Even our former Malaysian Student Association sponsor from the university joined us in the Christmas potluck. I am glad that we were able to join the group for the Christmas potluck.

Curry Chicken

There were so much food brought to the potluck by the group participants but the cuisines were mixed of local Western and Malaysian cuisines. I wanted to cook up something but was asked not to. The most authentic of Malaysian cuisine that I ate was curry chicken which was cooked by the host family. Other Malaysian cuisines were fried beehoon, roasted chicken wings, roasted duck, roasted pork, and spring rolls. In between the Malaysian cuisines were also, Japanese sushi, honey baked ham, mash potato, lasagna, salads and fruit punch.

Roast Pork

Comparing between the group in Vancouver and Los Angeles, the cuisines brought to the potlucks are very much different. Although both groups are Malaysians, in Vancouver our friends cooked better, tastier and more authentic Malaysian cuisines while the Los Angeles group satisfy themselves with local cuisines. I guess this may be due to the availability of Malaysian herbs, spices, paste, sauces and ingredients in Vancouver. Seems like in Vancouver, they are more readily available. I asked the friends in Los Angeles and many of them told me that Malaysian ingredients were difficult to find in Los Angeles.

Kobe All You Can Eat Buffet

Kobe Buffet

Arrived in Mission Veijo California in the afternoon and we were already off to Kobe Buffet for a real treat of California. Kobe Buffet is situated on Portola Pkwy, Foothill Ranch about thirty minutes drive from the hotel we were staying in. I have dined here several occasions before and each time, I have a friend accompany us there. Kobe Buffet serves a wide range of Asian cuisines starting from Chinese to Japanese. The buffet includes seafood, vegetarian and assortment of desserts.

Octopus Cold Dish

Although it was not my first time there but it was the first for my family. The kids enjoyed the Japanese cuisines like sashimi and sushi. I tried a little of everything as much as I could. There were at least one hundred different cuisines and desserts. Some were raw and some were cooked. There were cooks ready to grill, fry and steam the selections of raw ingredients. But still there were only so much we could eat in one meal.

Shasimi

Personally, the buffet's flavours and taste were just satisfactory. Kobe Buffet specializes in Chinese and Japanese buffet not in any particular cuisine. They are known for their wide selections not for the taste and flavours. But undoubtedly, the selection of cuisines served in Kobe Buffet was definitely authentic Chinese and Japanese cuisines. This is a diner someone may visit once a month for it is real value for the money but no too often because there were just too much to eat.

Place to go for a Quick and Value Meal

Soup of The day

Whenever we feel like we need to have a really quick dinner and come home to finish up on our work, we would think of Lakeview Chinese Seafood Restaurant on Sixth and Twelve in Burnaby, near the New Westminster High school on the Tenth Street side. This restaurant is known for serving huge portions. Especially the rice and noodle cuisines. We drop in to dine here every so often and the staff are pretty friendly and nice.

Yong Chow Fried Rice

They have lots of phone orders and the restaurant is busy right from opening from eleven in the morning until late at night. They don't served the best Cantonese cuisines and not the most tasty and flavourful but for a meal less than the usual price you pay elsewhere, the bargain is here. Portions are generously huge. I have seen people taking leftovers home. You just could not finished the food if the orders were as many for the same number of people dining.

Fried Beef Noodle

Lakeview also serves special seafood cuisines like dungeness crab, lobsters and other seafood. If dine here in a big group, seafood choices would be appropriate. Their Cantonese cuisines are not the best in town but neither are they the worst. They are moderately good. Acceptable for a place like this with affordable menu prices. One thing is for sure is that they cook authentic cantonese cuisines and much better than many others Chinese restaurants in the area.

Favorite Home Cooked Cuisines

Sweet and Sour Chicken

In the past few days, lunch has been simple home cooked cuisines. One of our home cook favorite is the sweet and sour chicken which we use boneless chicken. As for the sauce, just tomato ketchup, sugar, salt and corn starch. Other component would be onions, pepper, cucumbers and tomato. And the best chicken meat to use for this cuisine would be chicken breast. I would usually fry the chicken meat with corn starch first and prepare the sweet and sour sauce separately.

Marmite Chicken

Another home cook favorite of ours is the marmite chicken which also starts with fry the chicken meat first. But in Marmite chicken, the chicken meat nuggets are fried longer until the crust becomes crispier. Then, the sauce will be a mix of marmite, sugar and water. Simple, flavourful and tasty. Both these cuisines can be completed within thirty minutes from start to finish. And are good cuisines for the family. My kids have enjoyed them for years.

Tofu Curd

Tofu is another one of our family's favorite food. Tofu are not only healthy but can be cooked in many different ways. There are many great recipes on the internet on cooking tofus. Tofus also comes in different forms and texture. One of the tofus that we really like is the tofu curd which is made up of layers of thin sheets of soy bean skin staked on one another. This tofu curd can be fried as is or added to other recipes. It can also be used as a wrapper.

Dim Sum at Lee Garden

Dumplings Stuffed with Chives

I have been passing by Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant on Kingsway for as many years as I have lived in Burnaby. I have seen the restaurant been renovated and going through the changes to its facade but all this time, I have yet to dine here until a few days ago when a fellow Malaysian who has just returned from a long stay in Malaysia invited my wife and I to join him and his spouse for dim sum here. The restaurant was full of patrons and the parking behind the restaurant was full too.

Shrimp Dumplings

Some people had to park on the road side. Again, the weather was not really favorable as several heaps of snow was seen on the parking lot which have reduced the number of stalls. Anyway, I was lucky to have found a parking space. Inside the restaurant was also packed but comfortable. There were ample space to move around. Lee garden was really a comfortable diner. The management did not lay too many tables until there were limited space between tables.

Glutinous Rice Wrap

But the dimsum choices on the menu was not really that unique. Very common and they served mostly the usual dimsum found in any other dimsum restaurants. I guess after having dined in so many different dimsum restaurant, there is no more new stuff. People start to look for uniqueness and specialties that make one restaurant stand out from the rest of the playing field. By the way, the dimsum served at Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant was good, flavourful and authentic.

Foo Chow Rice Wine Noodle

Chinese Red Cooking Wine Noodle Soup

We are so blessed to have friends that can cook traditional cuisines. We were invited to a friend's place for some real traditional Chinese red cooking wine noodle soup. And this was not the first time. In fact, we have this special noodle soup once a year and always cooked by the same friend. The Chinese red cooking wine noodle soup is a traditional specialty only synonymous to the Foo Chow clan in Malaysia.

Red Wine Fried Chicken

But this time, the friend also used the red rice wine to marinate some chicken drumstick which later fried. The fried chicken drumsticks were deliciously good and tasty. All of us that we invited really enjoyed the meal and had a good chat about the happenings and events in Malaysia. Much of the conversation were on politics and the rest on the best cuisines, the whereabouts and ingredients for the best flavours and taste of Malaysia.

Barbecue Spare Ribs for Dinner

Barbecue Spare Ribs

We decided to have Western dinner but home cooked. Earlier in the day yesterday, I went to Costco for some grocery shopping yesterday. And other than picking our usual stuff like eggs, bread, fruits and cereal, I bought a box of barbecue spare ribs too. I though of blending the spare ribs with rice rather than mash potatoes. And for salad I will use up the remainder of the leftover raw vegetables I brought back from the community potluck the other day.

Western Style Dinner

Yes, the raw vegetables were still fresh but I am going to cook everything. The barbecue spare ribs were easy because it was already cooked. All that is to be done was to heat in the oven for twenty minutes on high heat. While the spare ribs was in the oven, I boiled a pot of water and added a few drops of olive oil into it. The olive oil will create a shinning glaze on the vegetables. Once the rice, vegetables and the spare ribs were done, I separated the items into different plates.

The Congee Noodle King

Fish Congee

A few days ago, my wife and I went out with another couple for brunch at the Congee Noodle King on Kingsway and Joyce in Vancouver. We have been trying to arrange a suitable day to meet for sometime now. It seems that they had recently returned from their vacation in China and we on the other hand was so busy with work. And on top of that, the weather wasn't helping. After a long spell without see a drop of, snow suddenly came in abundance.

Fried Chow Mein

So, once the road conditions eased up a little and we could find time to meet, we decided to do it over a meal and have our usual chit-chat sipping Chinese tea. In fact, most diners in Congee Noodle King were actually taking their slow sweet time with their meals sipping tea. The weather outside the restaurant was below freezing and inside we were enjoying hot meals and the heat. Like wise to most diners come here for, we had two types of congee. The first was fish congee and the second was pork congee.

Fried Beef Rice Noodle

We also ordered the beef fried noodle and fried chow mien. Somehow, all the three orders wasn't really that good. I was kinda disappointed. I remember having dined here before and the food was much better than this. Anyway, maybe there is a change of chef or something but we were there not solely for the Cantonese cuisines but more to finding a place to have a undisturbed conversation. In most restaurants that are packed at this time of the day, we won't have the chance to spend more than forty five minutes sipping tea. In Congee Noodle King, we were in the diner for more than an hour and a half.

Fried Ikan Parang or Wolf Herring

Fried Parang Fish

This is my family's favorite fried fish. Plain and simple, kampung style, salted and deep fried. Sometimes this parang fish are also used for curry, assam pedas or preserved soy bean paste. And Malaysians are not the only people that like this fish. Seems like everyone from South East Asia like it the same. One thing about this simple traditional way of preparation is that when frying, cooking will be splashed all over the kitchen. And the cleaning that follows will deter you from frying fish for a long time.

Stir Fried Broccoli with Chicken

So yesterday, other than the fried parang fish, I also stir fried some broccoli for dinner. On the other day when I attended the community potluck, I brought home some salad which was a salad plater of raw vegetables such as broccoli, peas, baby carrots, cauliflowers and kale. So, instead of wasting the raw vegetables, I was cooking them, turning the salad into stir fried cuisines. The broccoli was stir fried with some chicken nuggets and flavoured with oyster flavoured sauce.

Wonderful Egg Plant

I also have another vegetable cuisines which needed to be cooked. My wife had bought some egg plants which she had forgotten about and yesterday when we were sorting through the fridge, we saw them. So, we just decided to fry them too and add black bean paste to the egg plants after the egg plants have been fried. The soft texture of egg plants ones it is cooked is plain. It will only taste nice depending on the sauce that is used to marinate. I usually use preserved soy bean or black bean sauce and add it to the egg plant once they are cooked.

Where The Orient Meets The West

Papaya Salad with Salmon Fillet in Lemon Sauce

This is a rather unique cuisine which I learned from watching this documentary about special cuisines in the world on Netflix. Immediately following the documentary,  I thought that I could also prepare this particular cuisine which the chef call the papaya salad. In the documentary, he also introduced the same tropical flavour to a fish fillet. So, yesterday I did exactly the same cuisine using the same ingredients but with a switch from the barramundi fillet to the salmon fillet.

Western Fillet Eastern Flavours

Salmon fillet are easier sourced in Vancouver than barramundi. There are barramundis in supermarket but they are much smaller than the ones found in Australia. Most farmed barramundi are much smaller in size than the wild ones. But salmon on the other hand are native to British Columbia and are much meatier and larger in size, even the farmed ones. I replaced the barramundi fillet for the salmon fillet also because they were kinda similar in texture.

Lemon Sauced Flavoured

On the fish cuisine I added egg and cabbage omelette. After I was done cooking. The plate was rather empty, so I quickly fried some eggs and I have some leftover cabbages. So, we did not eat rice on that meal and with the fish fillet, vegetables and omelette, it satisfied our hunger. The papaya salad and fired fish fillet was really simple to cook. Except for the green papaya, I could find everything I needed in Save-On -Foods.

Community Potluck

Stir Fried Beef Broccoli 

I attended a community potluck with my family a couple of days ago in Coquitlum. It was my kids' Royal Canadian Air Cadet League year end family get together which was the biggest assembly of international cuisines and culture I have ever got involved in. The venue for the potluck was in a school gymnasium somewhere near our home. In fact it was the same venue where they have their weekly air cadet meetings. The community really came out in full force to support this annual event.

Sweet and Sour Pork

There were at least three hundred people at the potluck. And we have desserts, cakes, sandwiches to specialty cuisines from different cultures. There were rice and noodle cuisines to Italian pastas. The parent sponsor committee which I am a part of had also contributed with Cantonese cuisines that were ordered from a local Chinese restaurant nearby. There were just a lot of food and at the end there were so much food left that we had to ask people to take the leftovers home.

Hons Cantonese Cuisines

Stir Fried Crispy Beef in Sweet Ginger Sauce

Went out for dinner yesterday because we had so much to do before going for vacation. We spend our day between office work and home chores. By the time we got done, it was already about time for dinner, so we decided to dine out. Easiest and fastest option would be a dinner within our city limits. So, we went to HONS Wuntun House on Sixth in New Westminster for dinner. Like usual, the diner was full with patrons.

Clay Pot Seafood Tofu & Egg Plant in Black Bean Sauce

Our first order was the Stir Fried Crispy Beef in Sweet Ginger Sauce which was a common cuisine that we always order when we dine at HONS. We like this beef cuisine because it has a sweet flavour and crispy bite to it. Even the vegetables were crunchy. There was also a strong taste of ginger in the cuisine. The next cuisine that we ordered was a direct opposite to the beef cuisine. Everything in the clay pot was soft. The seafood, tofus and egg plant was much softer to bite. Even the flavour was different. It was the Clay Pot Seafood Tofu & Egg Plant in Black Bean Sauce.

Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs

Then, another favorite for the kids was the Crispy Spare Ribs in Sweet and Sour Sauce. Plain and simple Cantonese cuisine. Just fried spare ribs sauced with sweet and sour sauce. I think this cuisine was everyone's favorite because I saw many other diners ordering the same exact cuisine. We like dinning at HONS because it is our familiar diner. We can just walk in and know what we want even without reading the menu. And I have observed that it is the same with most families that dine here. People are so familiar with the favorites cuisines in HONS.

Western Buffet at Workplace

Plater full of great cuisines

I was among the staff that was feted at a recent company lunch buffet. In the morning we attended professional development training on safety and risk management. Then, for lunch we were all feted to a sumptuous lunch. On the menu was turkey, salmon, chicken, and a range of different salads. And equally impressive was the selection of sweet desserts and cakes. I also took two fresh dinner rolls and a few pieces of the smoked salmon.

Buffet Lunch

I had to try everything, even the briyani rice but all I could eat was one plate full. So, I took a small portion of everything and filled my plate as much as I could. I was determine not to go for seconds. I did managed a small second plate of fruits. Every now and then, I do get a chance to try out western type buffets at work. In fact this occasion would have been my fourth for the year and still have one or two more scheduled before the end of the year.

Chicken Kebab

Chicken Kebabs and Fries

We had Chicken Kebab for dinner yesterday. I bought a box of chicken kebab from Costco Wholesale in the morning and just have to reheat the kebabs in the oven for about fifteen minutes as the per the instructions. They were really fresh, as if prepared from scratch. But instead of the usual satay peanut sauce that we are so familiar with when eating barbecue chicken meat skewered on a bamboo stick, there were siracha sauce instead for dipping.

Chicken Kebabs

I also oven baked some french fries to supplement the chicken kebab. We have a portable electrical oven that is suppose to be a healthy way for baking food using little or no cooking oil. On the oven's original box it is called an oil-less fryer. Because it is small, we had to bake the potato fries several times just to have enough to share between the five of us. We sometimes use the same oven to bake fish and chicken wings. Anyway, the dinner yesterday can be considered easy and fast. We did not do any cooking except placing the kebabs and fries in the oven.

Nyonya Baba Spicy Assam Fish

Nyonya Baba Assam Fish

On a typical day at home, and between my wife and I, the day starts with preparing and planning the meals. After preparing the kids' breakfast and lunch for school, and soon after they leave for school, immediately we would plan for dinner. Normally, we would decide what to cook and grab whatever ingredients that we would need for use later in the day. Today, I took out a few pieces of salmon fillet from the freezer to thaw.

Steam Tofu with Oyster Flavoured Sauce

So, looks like one of the dish will be a fish cuisine. In fact, I have not decided on the recipe yet when I took the fish fillet out from the freezer. But later when came time to cook, I decided to make do with one of the pre-packed assam fish paste, which was much easier than preparing from scratch. I switch between pre-packed paste and doing from scratch depending on the time I have. When I am really busy with work, I will use a pre-packed paste or sauce. It save me a lot of time.

Calm Omelette

But when I have time, I prefer to prepare the paste from scratch. And on a typical day, dinner will be served with three cuisines. One main cuisine and two simpler cuisines. Like steam tofu with oyster flavoured sauce, garnished with mushrooms and spring onions is considered a simple cuisine. Another simple cuisine could be omelette. Like bitter melon omelette, shrimp omelette, onion omelette or calm omelette. Sometimes, we would even open a canned of sardines, baked beans or chicken curry.

Simple Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Stuffed Tofu

Came home from work and dinner was ready. It was the wife's turn to cook dinner yesterday. She prepared three different varieties of the Hakka Yong Tau Foo and that was enough for dinner. In fact, we ate more than enough because there was more food on the table than our usual. I could only eat a piece of the stuffed tofu and a few pieces of the stuffed egg plant and stuffed okra. But the dinner was excellent and healthy one.

Stuffed Okra and Eggplant

We always try to have healthy meals. Yong Tau Foo is a pretty healthy choice of cuisine. Mix of meat, vegetables and tofus. Even when we dine out, we would like to have variety and choice of healthy cuisines mixed with spicy dishes. We consume a lot of tofus in our diet and always have tofus in our meals. We have also learned to consume lesser carbohydrates like rice and noodles. We do not go for a second bowl of rice when we are eating at home. We prefer eating lots of meat, vegetables and tofus.

Steam Alaskan Hagfish in Spicy Soybean Paste

Steam Hagfish

A good friend of mine gave me some hagfish he bought from a supplier that delivers fish caught in Alaska. At first, I did not know what to cook the hagfish with or how to cook the fish at all. Later, I tried frying them and the hagfish turned out to be tasty and fresh. The hagfish's flesh was like that of grouper or sea bass. So, I cooked the hagfish the way I would cook a grouper or sea bass. One thing about the hagfish was that the flesh was really fresh.

Assam Steam Fish

I think, I am going to try cooking curry with it. The assam type of curry. Yesterday, I decided to steam the hagfish and it turned out to be just as tasty and delicious as if I was cooking with sea bass or grouper. I guess the flesh is similar because both the hagfish, grouper or seabass are sea bottom dwellers. For this cuisine, instead of preparing fresh ingredients from scratch, I relied on a pack of Thai Assam Fish Paste. I cleaned the fish, steam them in a steamer. Once they were cooked, poured away the excess water.

Steam Assam Fish

After that, I poured the Thai assam fish paste on the fish and steam again for another five minutes before serving. I took the fish plater out of the steamer and continued with some okra. After about three minutes and once the okras have cooked, garnish them on the steam fish with some thinly sliced spring onions. This hagfish cuisine was our one dish for dinner yesterday. The Thai assam sauce blended well with both the fish and the vegetables.