OPA! of Greece – Tsawwassen Mills

After walking around the huge Tsawwassen Mills outlet mall, we got hungry and needed to rest up at the food court.  Tsawwassen Mills has a huge seating area at the food court, but in comparison to other large malls, it actually does not have a lot of food vendors.

We decided to go for OPA! of Greece.  They had souvlaki plates for around $10.  They had a promotion happening for wild salmon souvlaki so we gave that a try too.

We watched them cook the salmon so we know it would be hot.  There were 5 pieces of salmon on the skewer.  The salmon itself didn’t have a lot of flavour so this is where the tzatziki  sauce came in handy.

For the 2nd plate we ordered chicken.  The chicken had good flavour but it was just warm.  We didn’t see them cook the chicken as they took it out of a warmed container.

Both plates had a generous serving of rice.  The rice was very good and was not too wet or soggy.  The potatoes were also fully flavoured with the lemon zing throughout.  The Greek salads were fresh too.   Each plate comes with a full piece of pita bread freshly pan fried.

Overall it was OK and is basically food court quality.  It would have been better if they didn’t precook the chicken.  We would not have minded to wait for it to come straight out of the pan.

We saw many people ordering the fried calamari and it smelled really good.  We certainly would like to try calamari next time.

SFDD gives 3.5 out of 5 Delights.

Pepper Lunch – Richmond Garden City

Pepper Lunch opened it’s 2nd Richmond location in the new Walmart Smart Centre shopping centre at the corner of Garden City and Alderbridge.  One thing going for this location is lots of parking spaces compared to the No3 road location.

It’s the same setting where you order and pay, then they will assign a table for you.

This location feels a lot bigger and brighter too.

We ordered the beef rice on the sizzling hot plate.  This one is the normal sized order:

This one is the extra beef order:

The bigger order didn’t look bigger but it actually is. We found it strange they did not surround the rice with the beef, just like what they did with the normal sized order.  Perhaps this is their way of distinguishing the sizes. 

Both plates arrive sizzling.  You then slowly mix the meat together with the rice and the veggies that come above the rice.  There is extra sauce on the table which you can add for more flavour.  The beef was very tender and was not too fatty.

We also ordered the salmon sizzling plate:

It comes with several pieces of fresh salmon that you would cook the same way.  Cooking salmon or pork would require more time just to be food safe.

Overall the flavours and service were rather consistent with the location on No 3 road.  It was not too busy during our visit on Sunday.  Luckily there is plenty of parking available in this shopping centre.

SFDD gives 4 out of 5 Delights.

Chop Steakhouse- Richmond

For Dine Out 2017, we tried out CHOP in Richmond. 

Chop is located by the Sandman hotel so there an be plenty of parking available from the huge lot.  It might be hard to find if you are not from the neighborhood.  It’s next to highway 99 leading up to Oak St Bridge.

Inside the restaurant was like a maze because the dining area was separated from the bar area.  Chop also has 2 separate entrances, so make sure you go through the right one.  The washrooms were also very fancy.  There’s a large comfortable couch in side the men’s washroom.

We were lucky to get a Friday evening reservation but it was early for 5:30pm.  On the Dine Out menu online, they only showed a $30 dinner menu.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that they also offered a $40 menu as well.  Popular restaurants fill up fast for Dine Out.   

Our server was extremely friendly and pleasant.  After taking our orders we got some multigrain dinner bread.

Being a healthy multigrain based bread, it was kind of dry.  We would have preferred something like sourdough bread.  Nevertheless, this was easily fixed by adding lots of butter.

They didn’t have any beer specials that evening, so we ordered Granville Island lager from the tap.

We all ordered salad as a starter.  Here is a Cesar salad.

This is the artisan green salad which is a bit more unique than the Cesar.

Both salads were very fresh.

If ordering from the $40 menu, you get an extra appetizer.  Two of us ordered from the $40 menu so we shared the following appies:

The Crab Cakes here were nice and fluffy with a tangy chipotle sauce to complement.

Next are steak bites with some bbq sauce underneath and some horseradish aioli.

The steak bites were very tender and tasty.

For the main course, we had prime rib, cooked medium.  This is from the $40 menu.

We did not know it was going to be such a large serving!  It was also cooked perfectly red for medium.  The prime rib was very very tender and it really kicks the Keg’s butt!

Next is maple bourbon haddock.  This is from the $30 menu.

The fish was cooked perfectly too.  It  was not overcooked and remained very moist.  The sauce was a bit too overpowering though.  It was a bit too sweet for our liking but not entirely bad enough to ruin the fish.

Dessert time!

Tiramisu:

The tiramisu is served in a cup and was too creamy.  The lady fingers were too soggy though.

Warm apple crumble with vanilla bean gelato:

The apple crumble was sour and tangy but was perfectly balanced by the gelato.

We really enjoyed our visit to Chop.  Our server was very attentive, laid back and checked up on us several times to make sure things were OK.  The captain also came by a couple of times to make sure we enjoyed our meals.

We certainly like to come back to hang out during happy hour too as their happy hour menu looked quite delicious.

SFDD gives 4.5 out of 5 Delights.

Provence Mediterranean Grill - Point Grey Vancouver

When we heard that Provence was going to be closing down at the of this year, we thought it was a good time to go visit one last time to enjoy their well prepared dishes.  We were never disappointed from our previous visits.

We made a reservation for a  Halloween dinner.  It was is always busy at dinner time here.  It’s a rather cozy atmosphere and the service is always friendly.

Lets get on to the main dishes.

Beef Tenderloin:

This was cooked perfectly to order (medium rare)  Their tenderloin is always the best quality naturally seasoned served above fresh veggies.  Each bite will melt in your mouth.

It came with a large serving of fries on the side:

Next is also a popular dish at here, Bouillabaisse:

It is a soupy dish with lots and lots of the freshest and highest quality seafood like prawns, mussel, clams and fresh fish.  The seafood here is always flavorful and cooked just right.

Next is the Seafood Linguine:

We were very surprised that it came with so much fresh seafood!  It was almost like having the Bouillabaisse with added linguine as a bonus.  The linguine was cooked to a perfect al-dente texture, and was tossed in an attractive plum tomato sauce.

We shared 2 desserts.

Berry and white chocolate clafoutis:

Chocolate Terrine:

Surprisingly, both desserts were not overly sweet (as we prefer).  They were both beautifully presented.

It is sad to see this location close down.  Each time we come here for dinner, the food always surpass our expectations.  Prices are not cheap, but it is not unreasonable either given the quality, attention to detail and friendly atmosphere experienced here.

SFDD gives 4.5 out of 5 Delights.