Quilon Restaurant in Richmond

Zee treated me to lunch yesterday to celebrate my belated birthday. She has been an awfully sweet and generous person. I am so glad to have a neighbor like Zee — she treats me like her own sister and I feel so honoured! Zee likes to take a walk at the South Arm Park and has often invited me along. People like Zee are a rarity these days. So, Zee, this entry is dedicated to you.

Zee bought me lunch at the Quilon Restaurant. Quilon has repeatedly been voted as the No 1 Indian Cuisine restaurant in Richmond. It is located on No 3 Rd and Westminster Highway.

Quilon is the old name for Kollam, a city in the Kerala state in south India.

We had the buffet which costs $8.95 each. Oh dear, another buffet again! I mean, I like food but ends up regretting stuffing myself too full. I know it but yet I do that again and again!

Well, the buffet spread wasn’t big but made up by the quality. I love the crispy Papadums (lentil crackers) as an appetizer. This one is good because it’s not oily like the ones that I used to eat in Malaysia.

The main selection of the buffet is the ever popular Butter Chicken and Tandoori Chicken. They were awesome. The butter chicken is made in tomato and cream sauce — rich and creamy. The tandoori is chicken marinated in yogurt and spices for 24 hours before they are baked in a traditional clay oven. Zee swears that Quilon has the bestest Tandoori chicken in Vancouver.

The bowl with the white stuff below are the rice pudding — a dessert. The green stuff is made of green pepper and parsley. It’s is deceptively mild because red means hot to me and green means cold. But it was hyper spicy HOT! I only took a tiny weenie bit to try. Too hot for me!

The red bowl, I don’t what it’s called. It’s slightly sweets and is meant for the chicken.

Some greens and salad. See that lump at the bottom? That is the mango chutney. It was very very salty — too salty for me. However, Zee loves this and took a lot of this. I guess it’s an acquire taste.

Zee told me that she used to make mango chutney at home. She marinates the young mango in coarse salt for several days and then cook them in spices.

The Naan Bread below was not part of the buffet. We ordered them as extras for $1.50 each. It was perfect — all fluffy and soft, served warm. Heavenly.

For dessert, we had TWO rounds of the rice pudding. They were sweet and had a hint of spice. I can’t recall the name of the spice but Zee told me that the spice used were very expensive — it’s even more expensive than saffron.

Thanks again, Zee. I enjoyed myself a lot yesterday and do appreciate so much for this treat.