Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant, Langley BC

Unfortunately, due to the nature of my work, I spend a lot of time traveling; however, on up side it gives me plenty of opportunities to try new restaurants. Recently, while staying in the Langley I had the pleasure of stumbling across Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant. Now, I will not profess to be an expert on Vietnamese cuisine, but I will say that I do enjoy it.

Mai's isn't your typical Vietnamese restaurant, it comes off as a little more upscale than most I have been to. As I noted earlier, I am not an expert on Vietnamese; therefore, I tend to stick to what I know (BBQ Pork, Vermicelli & Spring Rolls or Pho). This time I chose the Vermicelli, BBQ Pork and Spring Rolls ($16). I must say that the pork was delicious and the spring rolls were also very good. I have had better spring rolls, but I wouldn't kick these ones out of bed for eating crackers. Seriously, they were pretty good. I cannot comment on the service or the overall dining experience since, I got my food to go. I will say though, that the food was made fast, the portions were large, it tasted fantastic and the price was reasonable.

I enjoyed Mai's so much that I went back again for the same thing on the last day of my stay!

The Reef, Downtown

I have been patiently waiting for a while now to try the Reef. Well, the time finally came on St. Paddy's day, but not for dinner, instead I went for brunch. The wait was definitely worth it or, should I say...why the hell did I wait so long? The Reef was bloody freakin' awesome!

Big bold flavours of deliciousness; something, that I rarely find in Victorian restaurants and definitely something that I crave. However, I don't rate restaurants solely on the food, but the overall enjoyment and I must say that between the tasty food and impeccable service, the Reef really hits the nail on the head.

Brunch started off with a couple of "special" coffees ($6 each), which is something I wouldn't normally order, but since it was St. Paddy's day...what the hell. My wife ordered the Callaloo Benny ($11). The Callaloo Benny is an assortment of grilled spinach, tomato and provolone cheese topped with a poached egg, chimichurri sauce and their delicious citrus hollandaise. My wife absolutely loved the Callaloo and said the combination of the chimichurri sauce and citrus hollandaise was simply divine.

I ordered the Jamaica Me Crabby benny minus the eggs ($11) which consisted of english muffins topped with curried crab cakes, citrus hollandaise and fresh tomato salsa. Again another home run for the Reef. My benny was fantastic! The crab cakes were flavourful, yet the curry wasn't overpowering. I would say that this was probably the best benny I have ever eaten (period).

 
Like I mentioned earlier, dining out is not just about the food - service is also important. The lone waitress at the Reef was friendly, attentive and strived to make our experience one that would make us come back again. The Reef adds the little touches of comfort to your dining experience. While waiting for our meal they brought us out a bowl of Johnny Cakes (fresh donuts filled with mango) and cocunut mango butter to go with. The Johnny Cakes were fabulous. The server was also kind enough to add a few more Johnny Cakes to our bowl for the lack of eggs on my benny.

Overall - It was awesome and I can't wait to return (for dinner).