02.12.13
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Visiting Ming’s for Chinese New Year

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Ming’s Restaurant
1321 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC
(250) 385-4405

E: Either I’m far too critical about my culture’s approach to cooking a decent meal or I do not find Chinese food all that tasty anymore. Has my palate been spoiled? Or when it comes to dining out during the start of Chinese New Year, are the cooks at Ming’s feeling just too unsympathetic to wanting to create a tasty meal? What James and I ate here was a mixed bag of digestion problems.

Hours later, after the meal, I have to wonder if the MSG in my tummy is turning sour.

J: I think it’s possible Ed’s stomach was revolting on him. It may be the cultural background. My grandmother, a Newfoundlander, can’t look at seafood now without feeling ill or having bad memories resurface. Back in Port Rexton/Trinity Bay they used to use squid when growing the potatos> Back then it was used to fertilize the soil and now it is something I consider eating. Sorry granny but I love seafood.

I’m not sure if it’s a Scottish hand-me-down or having Newfoundlander in my blood but either way you and grandad are partly to blame. Perhaps in future I need to steer Ed clear of a Chinese restaurant or else I’ll be steering him to the closest open window. But in this small city of Victoria, the Two Hungry Blokes, like General George Armstrong Custer, are surrounded by them. Ed may commit Seppuku. I’m sorry Ed but I’m eating my way out of this one. Tell my future wife (or the closest facsmilie thereof) and my illegitimate children that I would have loved them…maybe.

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02.11.13
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The Beacon & Eggs Super-sized Challenge

Note: This restaurant is no longer at this location

Beacon and Eggs
Suite 3-2305 Beacon Avenue 
Sidney, B.C.

E: Only James could get lost in the small downtown of Sidney, B.C. We were off to Beacon and Eggs since the Breakfest Club needed to be challenged, y’know?

I mean, this man can eat his weight in gold! He lives in the 80’s and still loves the Japanese anime from that era. Just look at him, and he’ll tell you his many fond memories of growing up at places he’s not seen for close to two decades.

J: It’s all true and do I regret any of it? Hardly. I am who I am and I’m a man who can put away 6 eggs benedict and still retain my hunger (I’ve never attempted 7 because I don’t wish to appear as the little piggy).

I got lost in Sidney because I confused Pier One Restaurant with Beacon and Eggs. It’s a simple mistake. Ed didn’t think so but I managed to drown out his voice and enjoy one of the little communities I so love.

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02.09.13
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Lunch Time Shorts at the Victoria Film Festival ’13

The Victoria Film Festival (VFF) started their week of movies with a series of food-related shorts that I couldn’t resist going to see. I could have paid to participate in the Feast and Film program, where movie-goers are treated to a meal at Spinnakers (that I’ve reviewed a few years ago) and a movie, Azul Intangible, a film about oceanic life in the northwestern part of Mexico. Fortunately, I had the willpower because I do need to start saving my money.

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02.05.13
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Ebizo’s Worth the Wait

Ebizo Sushi
604 Broughton St.
Victoria, BC
250-383-3234

J: Nothing says hungry like a magazine launch party at Belmiro’s Restaurant & Lounge when Ed and I show up too early. To be honest, I ate very little in expectation of us consuming mass quantities of hors d’oeuvres and fine wines at the Niche Magazine Red Carpet Gala.

My back up plan was to wander the streets of downtown Victoria using our eyes and noses to locate good eats.

E: And that usually means trouble for two hungry walruses like us. We were not quite the blokes tonight. I pointed out the nearest place was a Japanese restaurant that we often pass by, but always arrive at the worst possible timing.

We finally arrived at Ebizo, Victoria’s quaintest place to have a bite of Japanese cuisine!

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02.04.13
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Movie & Food News & Reviews: Godzilla’s Alive! And Uchida Keeps the Tradition

Uchida Eatery/Shokudo
A22-633 Courtney St.
Nootka Court
Victoria, BC
250-388-7383

In a mad rush to a Springboard Lecture to launch 2013’s Victoria Film Festival, a quick bite was needed. Inside Nootka Court, I lucked out at seeing that Uchida was still open. I remember this place used to be Daidoco, but this operation closed before James and I could return to weigh in at more of the tastes this Japanese diner offered.

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02.04.13
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GT’s Kombucha for the silver-tongued?

Fermented tea? With a drink called Kombucha you betcha! And with a variety of brands sitting in many a health food store and Fairway Markets over a year now, I finally made the decision to try this concoction.

GT’s Synergy brand seems to be leading the crowd, and this carbonated drink is not for the weak of heart. Simply put, the drink is highly carbonated and sour. I tried to polish one bottle off over a few days, taking a sip each day, and I did not get that far.

No matter what the added flavour is, this particular style of a fermented drink is not for everyone. This brew is nothing like beer. Try as I might, I didn’t get used the bitterness of this drink at all. I can see the drink working as a mixer to help balance out the acridness, but as for the health claims, the evidence is not there. I’m better off brewing my own mixture of herbs, fungi and bark prescribed from a traditional Chinese medicine man to mend my ailments away.


Ironically enough, that’s where this drink comes from. The origins of this kombucha drink can be traced back to ancient China where it was considered a “remedy for immortality.” So if the drinker wants a short life, he should sip this liquid? That’s a twist.

Another tale tells of how a Korean physician, Dr. Kombu, gave it to a Japanese Emperor as a healing tonic. Seriously, I think this drink is a product of folklore and many a Wild West tale. If readers remember all those travelling physician carts purporting to carry cure-it-all medicines, I’m willing to bet that kombucha was one of them.