IKEA 99-cent 10-Piece Meatball Dinner Promotion Feb 17-20

I first caught wind this nationwide deal perusing RedFlagDeals. I've always known IKEA had a restaurant, but have been warned to stay away and save my money. But 99 cents for 10 meatballs and mash? That's pretty safe to try I guess, so I went to line up at the Richmond branch of Ikea at about 6:30PM.

The lineup was pretty massive and it took a good 25 minutes before I even got to the cash register to pay for my food. I must say the management there prepared for this very well as there were staff there handing out free "Daim" candies to the people in line. These are Swedish chocolate covered hard caramel candies that they sell at their food section for about $7 per 400g bag. These were pretty darn good. Next time I have a chocolate fix I may come by and pick up a bag.

Since it was questionable if I would make it through the lineup again if I was still hungry, I got 2 plates of the meatball dinner. The choice of sides were mash or fries. I got one of each, and just so I don't feel like a total cheapskate, I also got one of their regular priced pieces of garlic bread at a whopping 50 cents :-P

Each plate of meatballs came with a ladle of thin gravy and a scoop of lingonberry jam. So was it worth the wait? The meatballs were tender and very mildly spiced. They reminded me of the Michelina's frozen dinner stroganoff meatballs. You could tell they were highly processed and slightly freezer burned. Not surprising since you can often pick up the frozen dinner versions for 99 cents too. IKEA also sells these meatballs frozen at their Swedish Food Market. You're basically paying them to rip open these bags and heat them up for you.

The thin gravy did not add much to the meatballs and were severely lacking in flavor itself. Although the fries were not oily, they were all limp and not crisp at all - even the ones not smothered in gravy. The mash potatoes were just that: potatoes. I could not taste any salt, butter, or garlic. Definitely go for the fries here. They were not good fries by any definition, but were much better than the mash. The garlic bread was soggy and didn't have much garlic taste either.

The saving grace of the meal was the lingonberry jam. This was sweet, tangy and delightful, and tasted like a mix of strawberry and raspberry jam, minus the seeds. This went well with everything: the meatballs, fries, and mash were jazzed up nicely with this fusion of sweet and savory. I love this stuff! I have a lot of jam at home already or I would have picked up a jar from their Swedish food store.

Unfortunately, you're not given nearly enough jam to go around. I had to resort to salting my own fries, shaking my own pepper and adding vinegar to make the flavors more palatable. The whole meal reminded me of a frozen dinner, and I guess at 99 cents, that's acceptable. Would I pay the regular $4.99 for a plate of this stuff again? I'm kind of torn. If they let me get more jam, then yes. Otherwise, probably no.

Now the jam left me with a bit of a sweet tooth, but the lineup was too long for me to go get a piece of dessert from their somewhat wide and tasty looking selection. Luckily, they also have a "Bistro" downstairs that featured frozen yogurts for $1 - and 10 times shorter lineup. I noticed that they also sell self-dressed hotdogs here for 50 cents each and they were going at quite a pace. I will have to come back some other time to try one.

The yogurt was very large for $1, and very smooth and creamy. It was just the right amount of sweetness and thoroughly enjoyable. I will remember these in the summer when it's sweltering and I need a frozen treat.

If you happen to miss this 99-cent 10 piece meatball dinner deal, they also have a 15 piece meatball meal promotion that will last until April from what I heard. It's also a pretty safe price point to try if you want to see what their food is like.

Pros:
-cheap 

Cons:
-cheap
-you get what you paid for, pretty much just reheating frozen foods for you.
-mostly flavorless food, requires some self-assembly (seasoning)
-more of a cafeteria than restaurant. You bus your own tray and get most of your own food.

Notes:
-ample parking in IKEA lot
-prepare for a LONG lineup if you're going for the 99-cent deal this weekend

Website and Menu:
Richmond, BC: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/store/richmond/restaurant
National: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CA/IKEA_Food/restaurant.html

Empire Seafood Restaurant

I've been to Empire twice before.  Each time, it was because my dad found an ad in the newspaper for what he considered a good deal on a seafood set meal, and this time was no different. Well, financially, it was a lot different, because this time I didn't have to pay! Some relatives flew in from overseas, and I get some good company and a good meal. Hooray!

The last two times here cost me $40 and $30 per person respectively for their king crab and lobster dinners. Neither of those experiences really wowed me. It was comparable to other Chinese fine dining in the lower mainland. They do have some unique flavors compared to other expensive Chinese restaurants I've been to, but nothing worth the price point in my opinion. Each time, the centerpiece of the set meal, the seafood, had an underwhelming portion, while the rest of the meal was good and tasty. Lo and behold, we had more of the same this time around.

The unfortunate thing about these set meal dinners at a lot of restaurants is that the menus are written in Chinese characters only, and I can't read these for squat. So, I don't really know what to expect and what everything is called. This time, we had the $128 lobster dinner for 6, but we had a party of 5.

I do know what the first course was though, since this is a common starter for a Chinese meal:  Fish Maw Soup. Empire's version had chunks of crab, shrimp and of course, fish maw in a mild syrupy egg drop soup. This soup is always served with red rice vinegar and white pepper powder on the side, and you season it yourself to taste. I like mine with lots of vinegar, and lots of pepper. Empire's version had lots of real crab, and was delightful to eat. A good start to the meal.

The next course was Peking Duck Wrap. They brought the whole roasted duck out and carve it out in front of you on a side table. You get the skin on top layer of meat, and they take away the rest of the duck. My uncle says they often give you the whole duck when they serve this in Hong Kong, either for the meal or to take home. I've never seen any GVRD restaurants offer this with this dish. The carved duck is served along with some fried rice chips.

What you do with this dish is take the duck, place it on a steamed wrap, garnish with scallions and cucumber, drizzle on some hoisin sauce, then roll up and eat. The duck was roasted to a nice crispness, and nicely fat and moist. The wrapper was also of a good fresh consistency.

Restaurants often give you less wrappers than actual pieces of duck and Empire was no different. I guess they expect you to put more than 1 piece in each wrap, but nobody ever does since it makes you look greedy or foolish if you are left with more wrappers than duck. This isn't a huge problem since the duck is very tasty on its own, and we had a lot left over. They probably would have given us more wrappers if we asked, but we didn't want to fill up on carbs.

Next up was the signature Lobster. This was again an underwhelmingly small specimen. It was cooked in a garlic and ginger sauce, and was the same as other Chinese restaurant lobsters in my opinion. I have to admit that I'm rather indifferent to lobster, crab and other crustaceans in general, so I'm probably a little biased here. I often like the noodles that get served in the sauce much more, and it was disappointing to me that this was just the lobster alone. I wouldn't consider this lobster big enough to satisfy 6 hungry lobster lovers.

We then got served a Fish Stir Fry. We didn't know what type of fish this was, and didn't ask. We just know it wasn't cod. The fish was chopped into nuggets with skin-on and bone-in, fins and everything. Stir fried with onions, garlic, scallions, and a ton of oil. This was incredibly greasy to eat and sat on a pool of oil. If that wasn't bad enough, the fish didn't taste very fresh at all, and had a slightly rotten fish taste to it. Surprisingly, my uncle loved the fish, but nobody else had very much of it.


The next dish was Pork Lettuce Wrap.  I've never liked this dish very much and consider it a cheap overpriced item. It's basically ground pork and chicken stir fried with water chestnuts, onion, garlic, scallions and rice cracker bits. Again, you drizzle on some hoisin sauce, and roll it up to eat, but this time it's on a piece of green lettuce.

For the essential fiber portion of the set meal, we got a plate of Bok Choy and Mushrooms. This was a good assortment of tender mushrooms served on a bed of tender bok choy. I think it was slightly under seasoned and could have used a touch more salt, but was otherwise enjoyable.

The carb portion of this set meal was Fried Sticky Rice. Empire's fried rices have always been a high point of the set meals I've had here before, and it was the case again tonight. They really know how to make good fried rice. The rice was of a good chewy consistency, with each individual grain separate but glutinous and not overly oily. This was fried with bits of dried shrimp, scallions, Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms and egg. If there's anything that would entice me to shell out the dough for dining at Empire, it's their fried rice.

The dessert though, was just plain Red Bean Soup. For a seafood set meal, this is a disappointing end. I never understood why high class restaurants choose to serve such an underwhelming item as a complimentary dessert. Dessert is the last item your guests enjoy, and I think it pays to give them something spectacular to end on a high note. Would it really hurt your bottom line to throw in something extra like tapioca pearls, or black glutinous rice, or coconut milk to jazz things up a bit? A lot of places also offer a choice of mango pudding or some other dessert, but we've always ended up with just plain red bean at Empire.

Overall, I'd say the dining experience at Empire is more or less the same as its competitors. Your plates get changed often, and staff are abundant. I think they do have above average decor though. You get a decorative plate underneath your utensil plate, and a nice velvet cloth napkin instead of paper. Their restaurant is also large and very well furnished. We walked in at 6:30 PM without a reservation, and was seated and served right away despite the restaurant looking busy and packed. I think Empire is a decent choice for affordable Chinese fine dining. It's not cheap, but doesn't totally break the bank either.

The meal today was a little less impressive than the last two we had here. Last times, the set meals included an awesome almost western style tangy Pork Rib Onion Stew, and very fragrant Yeung Chow Fried Rice with Taro. These weren't items you typically see on a competitor's menu and I thought they were both incredibly delightful to eat. I was hoping to see these again tonight, but we got a more typical serving of dishes instead.

Pros:
-very good fried rice dishes
-large and adequately staffed
-attentive service
-good decor

Cons:
-small seafood portions
-not cheap
-complimentary dessert could use some choice or pizazz for what you're paying

Notes:
-abundant free parking in mall complex

Congee Noodle House

A return to Congee Noodle House for me means the return to dragon boating. It's close to False Creek, open late, and serves Chinese comfort food at reasonable prices. A visit to Congee is always a likely destination for our team after a long night of paddling in the cold.

This is actually our second visit in as many weeks. Unfortunately, I was so hungry during the first visit that all the food was gone before I remembered to snap any pics.

Today, we started with the classic Preserved Egg and Shredded Pork Congee. With "congee" as part of their name, Congee Noodle House is proud of their congee and they sure know how to make it. It's always creamy, smooth and fluffy and doesn't need to be salted yourself. It's already mildly salted and topped with peanuts and scallions. There were good chunks of preserved/century eggs and shredded pork throughout.

A standard side dish with congee is the Chinese donut. This is a picece of fried dough and comes in a savory or sweet variety. The savory version is usually served as long strips, and the sweet version is normally shaped in an oval. These are also usually cut into chunks for dipping into the congee. Congee Noodle House makes great versions of both, and today, we got the savory Steamed Rice Roll with Chinese Donut. The rice rolls were embedded with dried shrimp and onions, and also comes drizzled in a mild soy sauce with hoisin dipping sauce on the side. This was very tasty as usual, and gobbled up quickly.


We continued the meal with the Honeymoon Fried Rice. This is a fried rice topped with a sweet and sour tomato onion and chicken sauce on one side, and a creamy shrimp and peas sauce on the other. This is also sometimes called Yin Yang Fried Rice, as the two sauces are layered in the same of the yin yang symbol. It's called honeymoon fried rice as well because it's a popular dish served during wedding reception dinners.

To me, the sweet and sour sauce makes or breaks this dish. I like the sauce on the sweeter side, and this version is quite mild. Congee's version is decent, but not great. I like the version served at Koon Lock the best. You can get a picture of their version at Chowtimes. You'll notice that Koon Lock didn't bother to pour their sauces in the shape of a yin yang despite their version actually being called yin yang fried rice on their menu.

To get our recommended fiber for the meal, we got a plate of Kai Lan and Beef. This wasn't on their menu, but is a common dish at Chinese restaurants and was made for us upon request. It's basically just strips of lean beef stir-fried in soy sauce with Kai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) and scallions. The beef was good, lean, tender not overcooked. The Kai Lan was good and crisp but I like mine tender and this was not the most tender that I've ever had. All in all, this was an enjoyable dish.


At this point, we had received everything we ordered, but was still hungry, so we got an order of Sliced Chicken with Green Pepper in Black Bean Sauce Chow Mein. Despite its name, it also had chunks of red peppers and onions. The chow mein was perfectly crispy, and part of what I love about chow mein is mxing the crunchy dry fried noodles with the sauce-soaked tender ones. The thick and savory black bean sauce worked very well for this effect and I enjoyed this dish very  much.

This meal of 4 costs us $12.50 each including tax and tip. Quite reasonable for good old fashioned Chinese comfort food. We left stuffed and satisfied, and I have no doubt I'll be eating at Congee again many times this year until it's too cold (for sane people) to paddle again. (Some might argue it's too cold to paddle now, but I'm steering and not getting wet :-P)

Pros:
-reasonable prices
-decent portions
-good value on set menu if you have a large party.
-huge restaurant with lots of large tables for large parties. 

Cons:
-not the prettiest decor, if that matters to you. 
-that damned parking lot: Almost always full, extremely difficult to maneuver, and accident prone.
-metered parking in adjacent streets, which are also almost always full, and in high traffic areas.

Notes:
-open late, with late night menu (smaller versions of regular menu items with smaller prices).
-free street parking in front of store if you are lucky to find a spot. Otherwise, prepare to pay meter or park a few blocks away.
-open late, but sometimes they run out of stuff like dessert :*(


Menus:

Yet Another McDonald's Buttermilk Biscuit and Chocolate Banana Pie Review

(Chowtimes has now run out of gift cards) In case you missed McDonald's free biscuit sandwich promotions on Feb 9 and 10, or want more free sandwiches, Chowtimes is giving away gift cards for additional free sandwiches courtesy of  McDonalds Canada. Head over to their review page to claim your copy. While supplies last!

There is also a giveaway over at Eat 'n About. Go claim your gift card!

As a semi health nut, I normally avoid McDonald's and other fast food joints. However, I'm always interested in trying everyone at least once, and never one to turn down free food. So, I also got in line to get one of McDonald's new Buttermilk Biscuits. In fact, I got 3 over the course of the 2 day promotion. Unfortunately, I ate the bacon one before I got a picture, and on the 2nd day, in the chaos of the free giveaway madness, they gave me two sausage instead of one of each that I ordered, so I only have a picture of the Sausage Buttermilk Biscuit with Egg.

The first thing I noticed about this breakfast sandwich is that it's one greasy artery clogger. So greasy, in fact, that in the short bus ride from McDonalds to work, the oil had soaked and disintegrated part of the wrapper, dissolved the ink on the receipt in the paper bag it was in, and soaked through the napkin and paper bag. I then proceeded to blot the sandwich with 2 more napkins and it still showed no signs of drying up. This is not surprising since one of these sausage biscuits contain nearly 600 Calories and 60% of your recommended daily fat intake.

So is this monstrosity tasty enough worth the massively increased risk of heart disease? Not in my humble opinion. Compared to the classic McMuffin, the biscuit is more moist and flakier due to the increased fat content. However, I like the chewier textture of the English muffin, and the fact that it doesn't crumble and leave a mess anywhere. Rest assured, you will make a mess of crumbs while eating the biscuit. I also have an aversion to foods that leave a film of oil on my lips, and the biscuit does this in strides. If you're also worried about sodium, each biscuit sandwich also contains about 50% of your daily  recommended sodium intake.

In the battle of bacon vs sausage, the bacon is slightly healthier at 460 calories, lower in fat and sodium, but far less tasty. I find that in the midst of the greasy salty biscuits, the bacon kind of gets lost while it helps accentuate the McMuffin by adding a bit of oil and saltiness. The sausage biscuit wins the taste test in this contest.

As for biscuit vs muffin, I would be sticking with the classic McMuffin. I find it far more palatable, and the fact that it's also the healthier option seals it for me. I won't be ordering the biscuit off the menu if I ever choose to have breakfast at McD's.

I also had the opportunity to try one of their baked Banana Chocolate Pies lately. I think this is quite a worthy addition to their lineup. It's not overly sweet, and the banana custard is creamy and the chocolate is smooth compliments the custard. The crust is the same delightful flaky pie crust that is used in the classic apple pies. Unfortunately, I don't think this pie will be in the lineup for very long. A lot of the people I've talked to vehemently hate it and that seems to be the majority opinion from other web reviews I've read. I don't believe this pie will end up being a permanent part of the menu. Given the choice though, I'd rather see something like their baked blueberry pies back on the menu. I see these at select locations but not all of them. I've always rather enjoyed McD's baked pies, and priced at 2 for $1.40 right now, they are quite a bargain as well.