All Entries in the "Hong Kong" Category
Dragon Lord Cafe on Fraser St, Vancouver
We met up with Rey when Ben got back from Beijing in January. Ben wanted to pass a Chinese culinary book to Rey.
It was a beautiful sunny winter day with the snow capped mountain in view.
We met up at Dragon Lord Cafe on Fraser St. It was a recommendation by Oliver who simply loves Hong Kong style cafe.
We were there around noon and it was already packed. The restaurant has simple decor with long and narrow setting.
Like most Chinese restaurants, specials posters were pasted on the wall.
Milk tea from meal combo, smooth and creamy.
Nanzaro ordered his usual Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice. Serving is large.
Rey ordered a Beef Brisket Curry which came with rice. It was … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Breakfast at Alleluia Cafe, Richmond
Jeannie, Liz and I met up for breakfast to catch up with one another. They are my ex and current neighbours. Jeannie suggested to meet up at Alleluia Cafe, a Hong Kong style cafe. Jeannie wanted to introduce Chinese style breakfast to Liz who is a Hungarian.
The breakfast menu came with a drink. Liz had the honey lemon tea while Jeannie had the hot milk tea and I had the hot Hong Kong style coffee. I had heard that the refill of drink is free here but have never ask for a refill. One cup is enough for me.
Ben had blogged about Alleluia Cafe here but it was for lunch.
The breakfast menu here is pretty reasonable considering that it comes with a drink with free refill. You can click on the menu to have a larger view.
I ordered a Toast with Condensed Milk and Peanut Butter since I already had breakfast at home. This is only $2.95 with a drink. I love the sweet and slightly saltiness combination of flavour from the condensed milk and peanut butter.
Liz had the Spanish Omelete which is a more Western style of breakfast. The Spanish Omelete comes with a toast and a drink too. It is $4.50. The Spanish Omelete is filled with ham, onion, sweet pepper, mushroom and is ketchupy. It is moist. Liz enjoyed her omelet. Liz commented that she likes the sentimental music here. She thought the restaurant will be broadcasting some Chinese music. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Finally, Got to try [CRA 2010 Signature Dish]
Lamb Hotpot 羊腩煲
from Excelsior Restaurant, Richmond
When we came to Excelsior last year in July to try their CRA award wining dish, lamb hotpot, we were disappointed because we were told that they only serve that dish in winter.
So, in this winter, I make sure that I come to Excelsior to try the Bamboo Lamb Hotpot. I came with Lorna to celebrate her belated birthday. Lorna told me that Excelsior has been around for a long time, more than 20 years. Lorna is an old timer here. She’s been here for more than 30 years.
We arrived just before 12pm on a week day. It was not busy at that time but customers started to trickle in soon. Most were middle aged customers. I guess they are all loyal customers who have been patronizing this restaurant. At the far end where the cashier is, you can see the CRA award being hang on the wall.
There are lunch combos range from $6 to below $10 being served during lunch hour. You can click on the menu to have a larger view. We already know what we want, so we just ignored the lunch combo menu.
The Lamb Hotpot was written on a board on the wall. I noticed that the price has gone up since last year. When we visited last year, the menu price was $18.80 but now it was $23.88. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Rhino’s Kitchen at Lansdowne Mall, Richmond
Nanzaro told me that there is a new Hong Kong style restaurant in Lansdowne Mall. He saw that in a flyer while I’m not around town. But he cannot remember the name of the restaurant. I could not search any information about the restaurant since I do not know the name. However, Nanzaro said it’s part of the Top Gun group. So, I checked the Top Gun group website and still there is no information of any Hong Kong style restaurant. My guess is that the new restaurant must be at the old California Cafe location.
My guess is right on the dot. We went there on Saturday around noon and there was a line. The boys did not want to wait. So, we came back on Sunday just after their opening hour, 11:00am. We reached Rhino’s Kitchen at 11:15am and the manager told us there is a 20 minutes wait. Well, this time we waited.
Nanzaro is right about Rhino’s Kitchen belongs to the Top Gun Group. The above poster was displayed at the door. You can click on it to have a larger view. Being part of the Top Gun Group, I think the card holder will enjoy some kind of discount. Anyway, I’m not a card holder, so I do not know what is the discount like.
We waited for almost 30 minutes before we got a table. The restaurant is really busy. Apparently, it has just opened for a week. I overheard the manager chatting with a customer that the staff is not experienced enough to handle the crowd.
The partitions in the restaurant make it feel a bit cramp but it did create a bit of privacy instead a big open space. The wall is decorated with pictures of rhinos. I wonder what is behind the name Rhino. Anyone has any idea?
Unlike most Chinese restaurant which will serve hot tea without asking, here the server will ask if you want hot tea or ice water before serving. It’s a good practice so that we dont have to end up with two extra cup of hot tea which my boys dont drink. They always ask for ice water.
Rhino’s Kitchen has the typical Hong Kong style food. On top of that they also have the Build Your Own Noodle Combo for $7.25. You can click on the menu to have a larger view.
The above is the order sheet for the Build Your Own Noodle Combo and Rice/Spaghetti combo. You can click on it to have a large view.
Arkensen ordered an item from the Rice/Spaghetti Combo. He ordered the Baked Pork Chop Rice for $8.25. The combo came with … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Hollywood Steak House on Leslie Road, revisited
It’s always a nightmare to find a parking spot in any eatery in Richmond during the weekend. I was rounding from one restaurant to another and finally found a parking spot at Hollywood Steak House. We had blogged about Hollywood Steak House in 2007. It’s time for a revisit.
Hollywood Steak House is located on Leslie Road, a side road from the ever busy No. 3 Rd. I’m surprised that there were ample parking spots here.
This place looks nicer that what I remembered. Even the chairs have covers. There are 2 flat screen TVs too.
Since this is a Hong Kong style cafe, we had hot and ice milk tea for our drinks which come with the our meal order. There is $1 extra charge for the cold drinks.
Nanzaro got the more expensive dish. The above Shrimp Paste Rice Noodle is $9.95. We could smell … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Flo Tea Room in Richmond
When Marian, Emily, Lorna and me had a meet up at the Yuemicka Noodle House which ended up to celebrate Marian’s birthday, we vouched to get together again for the next birthday among us. September is Emily’s birthday. I tried to organize a lunch since mid September but we just cant have a date that suit all. After several dates being postponed, Marian finally suggested that we get together first without the birthday girl and organized another meet up for Emily’s birthday. So, Marian, Lorna and me met up at Flo Tea Room in Richmond.
Flo Tea Room has two locations; one on Granville St and this Richmond location is a new addition. This location used to be Ginger and Garlic Malaysian Restaurant & Grill. The original Flo Tea Room on Granville St. is a Taiwanese place with bubble tea. So, I thought the new Flo Tea Room in Richmond will be the same.
The Flo Tea Room in Richmond looks nicer than the old Ginger and Garlic. It must have been renovated when Flo Tea Room took over the restaurant.
We were quite surprise to find that the menu is more like HongKong style with the addition of some Taiwanese snacks and bubble tea. You can click on the menu to have a larger view. The menu is elaborate, range from snacks, salad, soup, vegetarian, hot pot, set meals, western, special eastern and noodle soup.
We ordered two drinks to try. The one on the right is Mango Slush with crystal jelly for $4.50. It is quite sweet. The one on the right is Taro Milk Tea with crystal jelly for $4.25. We did not even get to try the taro milk tea as we were very full at the end. I took the drink home and tried it later. I found the taste was kind of artificial.
For appetizer, we ordered the Roti Canai for $5.25. Roti canai is a Malaysian street food. The roti canai here is not as flaky and crispy. It came with a very mild curry sauce.
The roti canai came with a drink. Marian opted for a Coffee Tea Mix (Yin Yeong). It has pretty strong flavour.
For the main course, we opted for a special of the day called Duck with Pamelo Skin. The dish which came with steamed rice and steamed bok choy … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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U Good Restaurant on Union Square, Richmond: No Longer Just Hot Pot
We had always thought that U Good is a hot pot restaurant. That is why we had never quite had the desire to give them a second glance unless we want to go for hot pot.
Yeah, they started off as a hot pot restaurant and indeed they are known to be one. The other thing that we did not take a closer look was that, this being a hot pot restaurant, their windows are often misted up. So we could not even take a look as we drive past.
I don’t know when this happened but U Good had stealthily changed their name by dropping the words “Hot Pot” from their sign. I knew they were closed for a bit sometime last year. Maybe that was when it happened.
That day when we visited, Suanne and I were unsure of where we wanted to go for dinner since the boys were away again for their extra curricula activities. We thought we just go to the Union Square in Richmond and walk around to see if there is anything that will pique our interest. There are quite a few restaurants in Union Square that we have never blogged about before anyway.
We were not interested in having hot pot but we happened to park right in front of the restaurant. What we saw was … wow, this is not a hot pot restaurant only. As a matter of fact, they are now a HK Style Cafe AND a Hot Pot restaurant. We were not aware of that transformation and so I am thinking here that there could be a number of people who are not aware of another HK Style Cafe in their midst.
The restaurant is quite big. If I am not mistaken, they had expanded to take up two shop lots. It is like a two-in-one place. On one side is still set up as a hot pot place with built in burners and sprinkler systems. On the other side it is like what you see in a HK Style Cafe — booth tables and all.
When we were there, there were more customers having hot pot than there were on the HK Style Cafe side.
This is not a AYCE (all you can eat) hot pot restaurant. Click on the menu pages above and you will see what I mean. The hot pot is individual plate orders and they serve the plates in a nice gold multi-tier serving platters.
We did not have the hot pot but they do look like a higher end, better quality kind of hot pot. The soup base is $5.00 to $10.00. The meats are mostly in the $4.00 to $5.00 range. There are also more expensive (“current price”) meats on the menu too like … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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New Mitzie’s Restaurant in Chinatown: In Search For National Dishes
Dashed!
Last weekend, Suanne and I went to check out a new and exciting little restaurant that had just recently hit town. Let’s see how many of you can guess which restaurant I am talking about. Here are some clues for you:
- It serves an ethnic cuisine that is rare in Vancouver. There are two other restaurants that covers this ethnic cuisine but they are nowhere near what this restaurant does.
- It is small and family owned. Limited seats. At max, only 18 at an incredible squeeze.
- They don’t have a signboard outside the restaurant. When asked why, they said they cannot keep up and dare not let anyone know more about them until they deal with the overwhelming demand.
We thought we be smart and go and have lunch at 2:30PM and guess what … the restaurant was packed with people waiting for a table even at that hour. There was no way we will get a table for the next 1.5 hours.
We wanted to try their national dish which is a bean-based dish but like I said “dashed!”. We made all the way there and thought we would be OK at 2:30PM for lunch. Now I know why my friend was raving about this new little place. The people were really nice people and was apologetic that they are unable to seat us. Before we left, we looked at the sweet lady and vowed “We shall return!”.
Let’s see if anyone of you can make a right guess which restaurant I was talking about above. Any guess?
OK, here is another clue. The small new restaurant I was talking about is quite near this place above.
Since we were already in the neighborhood, Suanne and I needed to come up with a Plan B. We figured that since we could not try that national dish in the small new restaurant, we go instead to try another national dish.
It just so happen that it was the Burmese Water Festival that day and the national dish of Burma (Myanmar) is Mohinga. We remember Grayelf telling us that Mitzie’s have good Mohinga on their menu.
With disappointment in our hearts, we walked over to Mitzie’s instead. But really, it was a good and interesting alternative. We like trying new exotic dishes.
The New Mitzie’s Restaurant is the name of this restaurant. Being just a “teenager” in Vancouver, my knowledge of such old establishments goes only so far. I am guessing the “New” in their name was a result of a change of ownership at some point. Yeah, I love learning and reading of the historical backgrounds of these restaurants.
Does anyone know the origin of that name Mitzie’s?
Anyway, the New Mitzie’s is basically a Hong Kong Style Cafe. The interior is dated. Sitting there Suanne and I did feel like … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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