Posh

6462 Kingsway #105 (Burnaby),1788 W Broadway (Van), 1123-3779 Sexsmith Rd (Richmond)

Food: 4

Service: 3

Price: Cheap for lunch, fair for dinner

Once again, the annul non-stop rain season has arrived in Vancouver. Since it's inevitable, we will just have to find ways to deal with it. Other than bundling up in warm clothing or suiting up in rain gear, one of the best way is simply to consume pipping hot food. Hot Pot is definitely on my list for this fall/winter season.

I been to Posh numerous time already and I've also visited all their locations as well. However the picture in this particular post is taken at their Burnaby location

Posh does not have any complimentary drinks other than water, so we had to order our tea. Each tea bag cost $2.00 (I think), which I find quite expensive, if you opt for one of their special tea, it can cost up to $4.50. The tea were just average, like the ones you can pick up at any supermarket.

I think value wise Posh is very cheap during lunch ($11.88) compare to a lot of other AYCE hot pot, but keep in mind they only have 2 kinds of meat, and one kind of fish. So the selection is definitely limited. Here are our order of the beef(bottom) and pork(top). The quality of the meat is good, it's sliced super thin so that it can cook really fast and so the meat can absorb the flavor of the soup easily.

We ordered 2 rounds of vegetables and other items, such as rice cake, ramen, vermicelli and fish tofu. Although they don't have a many choices for meat, but they do have a large selections of vegetables, including mushroom, taro, yam, various leafy green etc. They also now feature some kind of fish slice on the menu, but it was horrible, the fish meat was grainy and tough. On the other hand, their fish tofu was really good. It seems hand made, with a strong peppery taste.

Personally I really like Posh sukiyaki soup base. Since the soup base is quite salty, you really don't need any dip. All the food that is cooked in this base is well flavored and delicious.

Overall I would recommend Posh, because for one I like their soup base which makes all the food cooked with it taste pretty good. Secondly, for a AYCE, they have pretty good pricing ($11.88 for lunch, $15.88 for dinner). Plus it's cold and wet these days, so it presents the perfect opportunity to go out and eat something hot and tasty.

New China Kitchen

#112 - 100 Schoolhouse Street

Food: 2.5

Service: 3

Price: Fair

To be honest, I am really not that big a fan of buffets, unless it's the ones in Vegas. However, this time we went to this one for 2 reasons, we were really hungry and it was close by. This is not my first time here, so I know what I was expecting.

They have 2 main buffet tables filled with hot food, and a cold salad bar on the side. Btw, I forgot to mention, we went for their lunch buffet, so barely any seafood present, which is typical.

I went to the buffet table twice to "get my money worth." LOL :), so here are my 2 plates, consist of a lot of the typical dishes, such as broccoli, green beans, and fried food. I find that buffets tend to have lots of fried food, because it's easy to make. They also had a very small selection of dim sum, and as expected it's was below average. I don't think any food stood out at this place, so at best I would say taste is average.

No matter how full I am, I usually can still eat dessert, but the dessert selection here is the bare minimum. They had one type of cake (carrot), and some sandwich cookies/newtons. Nothing really looked appetizing, so I opt for the ice cream, nothing much there either, just your typical vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, etc. In the end, the dessert section is a total fail for me.

So how much is it, see above. There were signs everywhere that state if you don't finish your food, you will be charged an extra $5. Although I found the food barely acceptable, there were still tons of people here. I guess their location is really convenient, since it's next to the movie theater and now the bowling alley too.

In the end, I think I won't be visiting this place often, not only because the food was mediocre at best, but AYCE is just not good for your health. We tend to overeat, and they serve way too much greasy/fried food.

Kim Ga Nae

4260 #3 Rd, Richmond

Food: 4

Service: 3

Price: Cheap for lunch

What a busy weekend, so I must start with an apology for the lack of update. Anyways, I have been going to Richmond quite often lately for various reasons, so therefore I had to find somewhere to dine.

I was just there with my parents last week, and my dad wanted to try an AYCE (All You Can Eat) BBQ he had seen awhile back. He said the place should be right across from Aberdeen center, and he was right, it was in the same square as No. 1 Shanghai restaurant.

We were there on a Sunday afternoon at about 1:20pm there were only about 3 tables. I was quite surprised given this is Richmond, and usually places are packed. This got me a little worried, and started to wonder if the food was that horrible that no body want to come back. Immediately upon entering, they asked us if we wanted regular menu or AYCE (All You Can Eat), because apparently they are two dining area. We went with the AYCE BBQ. Here is the menu for the lunch AYCE, I was surprised that the selection is actually quite large with more than just meat as choices. They had a good selection of appetizers as well.

Of course, like all Korean restaurants, first came the side dishes. It’s mostly just standard stuff: kimchi, potato, bean sprout etc.

First came the appetizers, on the left we have the spicy stir fry rice cake, and on the right is the bibimbap (stone bowl rice with various topping). Sorry for the bad picture of the rice cake, we sorta already dug in by the time I remember to snap a picture. The rice cake was pretty good, the sauce was nice and thick and spicy. I was surprised at the nice presentation of the bibimbap. For a small appetizer, this looked like a small full meal. It tasted pretty authentic too.

The 2^nd set of appetizers we tried is the tofu soup and deep fried gyoza. The tofu soup was a total disappointment; it was so bland that it’s almost tasteless. Needless to say, I think you can safely skip this side dish. The gyoza was average, nothing really interesting there.

We also tried their japchae (stir fry potato noodle) and seafood pancake. Both were really good. The japchae was served cold, but it was still good regardless. The seafood pancake was hot and delicious with lots of seafood as well. I would definitely recommend both appetizers.

Finally, our order of meat came. My favorite being is beef short rib, the marinated was very tasty. The pork belly was good, but it wasn’t really marinated, so you must dip it in the provided BBQ sauce for it to have some taste. Unfortunately no sauce or garlic was provides, so you can’t have it the authentic Korean way. However you can order the lettuce and rice to wrap it with. The chicken was surprisingly very good. Although the marinade was great, I have to say it’s also partially due to the cook, myself that is :). It was very tender, juicy and flavorful. We also tried both the pork rib and spicy pork rib. It came already cooked; you just have to heat it up a bit on the grill. Both were good, but not great. As for the veggie, we had pumpkin, onion and yam. Other then the onion, everything else is really hard to grill, it takes forever to cook, I think I will definitely skip those next time.

We were totally stuffed by the time we finished all the food, they had tons of signs everywhere to remind you not to waste any food or else you may be charged for them. It’s even on the price list sign. As you can see it is only $12.95/person for lunch. I think this is a really cheap deal for a good all you can eat BBQ. In fact, I think the quality is great for the price you pay. Also, I forgot to mention, this place seems to be operated by Korean people, as their servers are Korean, so it seems pretty authentic to me.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal, and the service was pretty fast, although not exactly super friendly. I think servers in Asian restaurants need to smile more often. Despite the average service, I would definitely come back, because their food is definitely worth the price.

New India Buffet & Restaurant

805 W Broadway, Vancouver

Food: 4

Service: 4

Price: Fair

This post is long overdue, because I actually went to this restaurant before I went on my month long vacation. So on a gorgeous Sat., we decided to try this place before heading to QE park. It is conveniently located right across from VGH, and really close to QE park. You have a choice between either ordering from their regular menu or enjoying the buffet. After a quick glance at their buffet bar, we were sold, we opt for the AYCE.

I think for an Indian buffet, they have quite a huge selection. (For example, in comparison to Saffron). They had a main course section, a salad bar, a fruit area (all whole fruits, you had to peel it yourself, but I was too lazy) and a small selection of desserts. It was priced at $11.95/person for lunch (on weekdays, it's $1 less) and maybe $14-$15 for dinner.

This area and the one next to it would be the main dishes. They have a variety of meat curry, such as butter chicken, tandoori chicken, beef keema, lamb curry etc. They also have a good selection of vegetarian curry as well. (Such as spinach and cheese, chickpea curry, lentil and bean, deep fried veggie, etc). They also had a unique dish, a boiled egg curry, it was interesting.

Since it was the weekend, they also serve complimentary drinks, mind you that price for the buffet is slightly higher on weekend. The drinks are located in the buffet area and it's self served. You have a choice of either coffee or chai tea. They don't have any regular cups, they have these mini ceramic urns that you can fill your drinks with. I thought it was a cute and unique experience. However the chai tea was average, it was non-sweeten, but they do provide sugar packets at each table. I don't drink coffee, so I have no idea if the coffee is any good. My guess is that it's probably just you average coffee.

So what type of food do they serve, here are 2 pictures that about sums it up. However the dessert is missing as well as most dishes from the salad bar. My personal favorites are the curry lamb, butter chicken and the rice pudding.

The decor here also deserves to be mentioned. There are regular tables, and row of booth. I like booth seats, as they provide some form of privacy. Also their floor to ceiling windows had these gorgeous deep red drapes. On top that, the view offered from the window seat is that of False Creek area. It was a great view considered it was very sunny that day. Service here was also above par, we felt very welcomed by the host and he explained to us what was offered for the buffet. The plates were taken away quickly. However we did go at 11:30am, right when they open, so there weren't many people there yet.

I would definitely recommend trying out this AYCE Indian buffet. The restaurant ambiance was nice, the view and service was great, and the food was delicious. I would definitely come back if I'm craving Indian AYCE.