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.

Rainbow Butterfly

I took by parents out for a belated Chinese new year dinner on Friday. They're in Coquiltlam and I'm in Vancouver, so it was difficult for me to get out to see them other than on the weekend. The selection of Chinese cuisine in the tri-cities area is pretty abysmal, but Rainbow seems to be one of the better ones. I first found it through Sherman's Food Adventures earlier this year, and have been back for dim sum and dinner several times since. They look to be a family run business, with some hired help.

Rainbow Butterfly isn't named like your typical Chinese restaurant, and doesn't look like one either. The place looks like it was a former western diner or coffee house of some sort, and it's clear that they didn't bother to redecorate much. This is probably because the Chinese population around Port Coquitlam is pretty scarce, and they cater to a lot of western clientele. If you ever come here for dim sum and dinner, you'll notice quite a larger demographic of non-asians than at your typical Chinese restaurant. Their menus are heavily based on Americanized Chinese food as a result, with lots of sweet and sour, chop suey, egg foo young, fortune cookies, and other crap like that. No self-respecting Chinese person orders this garbage for dinner.

They do have authentic Chinese cuisine, which I find delicious and well-priced, but they only bother to publish these on the menu in Chinese characters, which is a shame. This means I can only ever eat dinner here when I'm out with my parents or other Chinese literate people. Why they do this is beyond me. They're probably losing a great deal of business this way. It's also probably why their place is virtually deserted at dinner time, while packed beyond belief at lunch. Another odd thing to note is that despite some Chinese-only menu items, Some of their Chinese waitresses at lunch isn't fully Chinese literate!

Since I had my parents with me that night, I got to eat the good stuff! We ordered from their set meal, which comes with soup, a bucket of rice and dessert, with a minimum order of 2 menu items. We ordered 3 items, and was immediately served the soup of the day. It was a pork bone soup with veggies. There were bits of pork that fell of the bone, carrots, onions, and lotus root in the soup. This was mildly seasoned and a very nice way to start the meal.

The last time we were here, we had 3 hot pot dishes. They were all $10.80 and were HUGE. We though it was a great value and expected more of the same this time. Unfortunately, the first dish that we ordered, Cod Fillets with Gai Lan, was underwhelmingly small. As the most expensive dish we ordered that night, we were not impressed with the tiny amount of fish. The last time we were here, we had a cod and tofu hot pot, and it was cheaper at $10.80 and at least 3 times the size; a giant pot stuffed with cod , tofu, shitake mushrooms and Chinese ham.

Fortunately, it was made up for by the extremely tender gai lan and melt in your mouth fish. The dish was tossed in a lightly salted thin sauce. We griped quite a bit amongst ourselves about the disappointing portion  here, but agreed that it was very tasty. We wouldn't ever order this again, but at least it was enjoyable.

The second dish we had was also a bit of a disappointment. It was a vegetarian dish made up of Tofu and Bean curds with Veggies. I don't quite know how to translate it into English, so that's the only description you're going to get. Again, we expected more tofu and less veggies. It became clear immediately that we had ordered more veggies than we would have liked. Again, the tofu was a mild thin sauce and very appetizing, but the broccoli was less impressive than the gai lan we had earlier. Some of it was slightly bitter, and my dad thinks it's probably pesticide that should have been washed off. Yuck! That aside, I still enjoyed this dish.

The last dish to arrive was the eagerly awaited hot pot. We ordered this last time and was my favorite dish so we had to order it again: Chicken and Taro in Coconut Sauce Hot Pot. This was a huge pot overflowing with thin slices of taro and boneless, skinless chicken. Most places I've been to serve this with skin-on, bone-on chicken, and makes it a chore to eat. Rainbow's version is the best I've had, and a great deal at $10.80. The chicken and taro are stewed in a thick coconut sauce with large cloves of garlic, and slices of ginger. This was as delicious as I remembered. We couldn't finish all of it, and I ended up packing it home. I had some for lunch today, and will finish off the rest of dinner tonight. YUM!

To finish off the meal, we received the daily desert, which was Red Bean with Black Glutinous Rice Soup. Most places just give you plain red bean soup, and this version with black glutinous rice was very welcome, and successful. It was not overly sweet, and the rice added a nice pleasing chewy texture. It was a fine way to to end the meal.

The final bill is pictured here, so you Chinese literate people can see what we ordered. It was about $15 per person after tips, and I think it was reasonable. It was a little disappointing today, and we had a much better experience last time with all hot pot items, but I think that we will still return some time in the future.

I've also been here for dim sum before, and as I mentioned previously, it's always packed. Their dim sum items are quite reasonably priced at $2.75 for most items, and with a wide selection to boot. As their restaurant was originally designed as as western diner, they have little room for push carts, so dim sum is by order forms only. They also have some cheap lunch specials from Monday to Friday, but the fact that these prices were only for weekdays is noted in Chinese only. This led to quite a rude surprise when we got the bill. The price for some items increases by as much as $2 on weekends, and others no longer come with soup and rice. On week days, these are under $7 or $8 and quite a deal in my opinion.

Also of note is that when I first sat down on Friday, I started snapping pics of the menu while my parents perused the menu. One of the wait staff (looks to be the owner or owner's wife) saw me and immediately came over to ask me to stop. She made it clear she didn't want their menu posted anywhere, and I will respect her request. I took one of their handout pamphlets on the way out, and will post pics of this instead. Unfortunately, it looks a bit outdated, and not quite the same as the one we were given at the table. Hopefully it will give you an idea of what they serve here and the price ranges.

Pros:
-large portions on hot pot items
-decently priced
-cheap dim sum
-mostly well-executed food

Cons:
-lots of westernized Chinese food on menu
-doesn't look like a Chinese restaurant
-packed during dim sum hours, doesn't take reservations for lunch
-good dinner items are in Chinese only
-inconsistent portion sizes
-parking lot can be packed during lunch hours

Notes:
-street parking can be found about a block away
-have cheap weekday lunch specials

Menu: (owner requested for full menu to be omitted, so here is the take out menu/pamphlet)

Peart Castle (Sexsmith, Richmond)

Pearl Castle is another restaurant that we've regularly frequented after Tuesday sports night. It's a Taiwanese bubble tea house, as its namesake suggests, but we come here for the food, which is surprisingly decent and reasonably priced. I find their drinks overpriced, as with most bubble tea joints, and come here exclusively for the food.

As with a lot of Taiwanese restaurants, they offer "set meals" which encompasses an entree with a bowl of rice, some daily appetizers, and a dessert. Pearl Castle offers set meals for under $9. I've been told that their food used to be over $10, but they've lowered their prices in recent years to be much more reasonable prices.

I felt like having fish today, but most meats in Taiwanese cuisine is deep fried,  and I didn't feel like a deep fried dish today. I asked the waitress which fish meal wasn't deep fried, and it turns out there was only one: Sliced Cod with Dried Soy Beans.

I've never seen this item before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. It turned out to be a fillet of cod topped with a puree of soybeans stir-fried with scallions and dark soy sauce. The soybeans were very crunchy and nutty, and complimented the cod well. It was a little on the salty side on its own, but was delicious when mixed with the cod and rice. I enjoyed this dish quite a bit, and the fact that it's healthier than their usual fried meat dishes is a big plus.

The appies today consisted of stir-fried celery, stewed cabbages, and sweet and sour tofu with scallions. The veggies were well-seasoned and very tender. Both were cooked in a nice broth and not overly salty. The tofu was very nice and tangy, and I wish they gave me more than the 5 tiny pieces.

Unfortunately, the dessert have been quite underwhelming here lately. Maybe it's because we come here so late, but we've been getting just a small cup of prepackaged lychee jelly. The first time we came here, we got some house-made sweet grass jelly, but since then it's been this crappy commercially bought crap. I hope it's just because they've ran out for the day, and not defaulting to this to cut costs.

Only Material Boy came out with me today for late night eats. He ordered the Fried Pork Chop with Rice, which turned out to be fried rice. The is your typical Taiwanese fried meat, which some people love but I'm not a big fan of. This pork chop was lightly breaded and not overly oily. There was also a lot of bone, but I guess it's the luck of the draw.

The rice was fried with egg, scallions, grated carrots, and large slices of onion. This was a very large portion, and also very delicious. Material Boy thought it was a bit on the oily side though. He though his meal was too large and couldnt' finish it all. He elected to eat all the rice instead of all of the pork chop, and I think  he made the right decision since the rice was very tasty. This also came with a complimentary dessert, which again, was the store-bought lychee jelly. He also ordered a Mango Slush, which was nice and refreshing, but again, I think is overpriced.

I think the food at Pearl Castle is well-priced for what you get. It's also well-executed, and we're sure to be back from time to time in the future.

Pros:
-good food
-decently priced
-decent portions

Cons:
-overpriced drinks (IMHO)

Notes:
-plenty of free parking in the complex 

Menus: (Argh! blurry pics again...)

The Point Grill

Instead of going to the student-run Pit Pub for the upteenth time, today we decided to go to Point Grill. It was sunny out for a change, and no one was interested in sitting in a divey, aptly named Pit in a dark dank basement. The Point Grill is on the pricier side of campus eats, and just a shy less expensive than dining at the Sage Bistro.

I've never been here before, and was recommended to go for the Berber Chicken Burger, or one of their gourmet thin crust pizzas. I haven't had a burger in quite a while, so I decided on this plus a gluttonous side of their famous garlic fries instead of a healthy salad.

The burger "patty" is several slices chicken of boneless, skin-on chicken thighs marinated with "berber" sauce and topped with vegies and avocado salsa. Berber sauce is apparently a sauce of north African origin, and it was very mild here. The thigh, while moist and barbequed to a nice crisp skin, wasn't very flavorful on its own, and the sauce and salsa was a bit to mild and didn't quite work for me. I ended up having to add a couple of shakes of Frank's Red Hot sauce to kick up burger up a bit; It wasn't very tasty on its own. There also wasn't a lot of thigh meat on the burger, and it was definitely less meat than you typically get with a chicken breast patty. I find this odd since thighs are usually cheaper than breasts.

The Garlic Fries, however, were a great side. They were fried to a good crispness but not oily to the taste, and tossed in a generous amount of aromatic garlic salt. There were also a good portion served with the burger, and I had to pass some around as I just couldn't finish it all. Despite the generous portion of delicious fries, I would rather have had more meat on the burger instead.

The other burger they are famous for is the Canadian AAA Prime Rib Burger. This is a 6oz patty topped with cheddar, bacon, onion marmalade, mustardy  mayo, and greens. Mr. Production practically inhaled this burger and accompanying fries without chewing. He  loved the burger and was fully satisfied and fully stuffed. I probably should have ordered this instead :P


The third burger we had at our table was the Veggie Burger. It's a brown rice and soy patty topped with gruyere and avocado salsa. Few people who order a veggie burger get it with fries, and of course, Bookworm opted for a side of Farmer's Green Salad instead, which again was a very generous portion. She had no complaints about the burger.


Point Grill is also remarked for their thin crust pizzas, and the one represented at our table was the Prawn & Crab. This was adorned with large chunks of prawns and real crab, feta, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and onions. This also looked very delicious and something that I want to try when I come back.

A unique item on their menu is the High Fiber and Protein Wrap, described as "Vancouver Island smoked tofu, bulgur wheat, Colusari red rice, quinoa flakes, brown flax seeds, alfalfa spouts, & tomato salsa, all wrapped in a jalapeño tortilla." Booties loved the smoked tofu and remarked that this is probably the "whitest" tofu you can get. She's probably right since I don't think I've ever seen "smoked" tofu served at any asian restaurant. As with the veggie burger, fries wouldn't be on the mind of anyone who orders a high fiber tofu wrap, and Booties too opted for a side salad.

One of our party had already eaten lunch, and so ordered just a dessert. She choose the Chocolate Marquise, which is described as a "chocolate paté" garnished with heavy cream and fruit coulis. She didn't really enjoy the paté, indicating that it had the consistency of a very hard fudge.

The last item at our table was a side Classic Caesar Salad. This again was a very generous portion for a side salad.

Although I didn't really enjoy my burger, the fries were very good and most everyone else seemed to be happy with their meals.  I was told that the food would take a long time to arrive, and it was indeed a long wait after we ordered before we received our food. The decor was sharp and wait staff was very attentive, constantly  refilling our waters. It is more than twice as expensive as the burgers we normally get at the Pit Pub, but the quality of the burger and fries were definitely a few notches up. The locale is also well-designed with large sunlit windows on every wall. A great contrast to the dark dank pit that is, well, the Pit Pub.

The point grill is decent place to go when you are at UBC and want a good dining experience that doesn't break the bank, but if I wanted a good burger, I would go to Vera's Burger Shack at the UBC Village Complex. I will, however, have to come back sometime to try their prime rib burger, and the high fiber protein wrap.


Pros:
-new restaurant with modern pleasing decor and well sun-lit dining room
-attentive staff
-a place to eat at UBC that isn't a cafeteria, franchise, or hole in the wall.
-large side portions

Cons:
-food takes a while to prepare
-a tiny bit on the pricey side for what you get
-parking on campus is pricey and limited unless you are already there for the day.


Notes:
-parking available across the street at West Parkade

Website and Menu: http://www.food.ubc.ca/locations-and-hours/campus-restaurants/the-point-grill