All Entries in the "Asian" Category
$4 for half a glass of Vietnamese Ice Milk Coffee
The boys wanted Vietnamese for lunch as they claimed that they have not have one for a while. So, we went to An Nam Restaurant for lunch.
Nanzaro wanted to have an Ice Vietnamese Milk Coffee for his drink. It costs $4. I told him he can get his coffee from McDonalds on the way back but Nanzaro is very stubborn. When he wanted something, he will insist on getting it.
Vietnamese Milk Coffee is served with the above special dripping cup with condensed milk at the bottom of the glass. Since Nanzaro wanted the Ice Milk Coffee, they served the ice in another glass.
After the coffee finished dripping, I told Nanzaro to stir the coffee to dissolve the condensed milk. Then he added the ice to the coffee. He was quite disappointed and kind of regretted as what he got is only half a glass of Ice Milk Coffee as in the photo above.
I would prefer the Ice Milk Coffee from Pho Han which is only $2.99 and it came prepared in a glass already. At least the glass is full and not half.
Nanzaro and I got the Special Seafood Dry Noodle. This is $8.50. It has generous amount of … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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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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U-Enjoy in Richmond Public Market on Westminster Hwy.
It was new year day. This time, Arkensen refused to go out since he had gone out with me the day before. So, Nanzaro and me drove out to explore if there is restaurant opened for business. We were surprised that a lot of restaurants were opened on new year day.
We decided to try the fairly new restaurant in the Richmond Public Market. I had suggested several times to the boys to go there to eat earlier but they refused to. They were skeptical about the food there.
The interior is partitioned into several sections. The partitions looked really high but it does make the place smaller than it really is. t looks better than the previous tenant as far as I remember.
The photos of the dishes pasted on the window look quite ok.
There were some daily specials on the wall, mostly appetizers. This place opens until 12:00am; so it’s a da-lang place. I asked the server about the parking after 8pm as the upper level of the Richmond Public Market will be closed. The server said customers can parked on level one or if needed, they can open the gate for customers for more parking on upper level.
We ordered from their lunch special which comes with a main dish, a side dish and a drink from $8 to $9.
Nanzaro settled with a Malaysian Satay Seafood Fried Rice after much flip flopping. The server told us that they blend the belacan themselves. It was pretty good and Nanzaro said he will come again for it.
More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Prata Man on Capstan Way, Richmond
When we visited Pho Han, we put a long forgotten hole in the wall restaurant, Prata-Man back in the our places to visit. We had visited it when we were new to the city. That was more than 10 years ago. We over heard the server telling a customer at the table next to us that Prata-Man has been in business for more than 20 years.
It was a Saturday that we came here. Only Arkensen came with me because Nanzaro wanted to watch a winter classic alumni hockey game that afternoon.
Prata-Man served Singaporean cuisine which is very similar to Malaysian cuisine. We noticed there were quite a number of Costco staff that came here for lunch because of it’s proximity to Costco in Richmond.
There is hardly any decoration and even the tables and chairs are mix and match.
The good thing is they have menu with photos for easy ordering. Their menu is limited, less than 30 items. So, ordering is made simpler rather than some restaurants which offer 100 over items and making choices seemed so difficult. You can click on the photos to have a larger view.
Prata-Man also offers combo for 2 for eat in only from Tuesday to Thursday. It looks like a good bargain. You can click on the menu to have a larger view.
For appetizer, we ordered half and order of BBQ satay. We ordered the mix version, i.e. 2 beef, 2 chicken and 2 pork to try. The half dozen satay costs $7.75.
The BBQ satay is served with sliced cucumber, pickled daikon and carrot and peanut sauce. The peanut sauce is not as spicy as we are used to. But I like the chunky peanut texture. Of the three types of meat, I still prefer chicken which is more tender. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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Hong Mi Korean Restaurant on No. 3 Road, Richmond
Polly and I chanced upon this new Korean Restaurant Hong Mi on our usual meeting. We were looking for a place for lamb hotpot since the weather is cold now and we just drove out from Lido as we were told that they dont serve lamb hotpot during lunch hour. As we pulled out from the mall where Lido is and wanted to go to Aberdeen Mall, we saw that a new Korean restaurant has taken over Kim Ga Nae (also a Korean restaurant) used to be. So, we decided to check it out.
We were told by the server that Hong Mi has just opened for a month. We like that there are pictures of Korean dishes on the windows. It’s a good way to advertise.
The restaurant is big. It is divided into two sections. The area above is for regular diner whereas the far end behind the Christmas tree is another area for hot pot. We went for the regular Korean dishes. This area alone seats about 100.
We like the menu especially the first two where the appetizers are. It is loaded with photos which made ordering much easier. You can click on the menu to have a larger view.
We ordered mainly from the lunch special menu. The server told us that 3 items on the lunch special is on promotion now which is $4.99 per item. You can click on the lunch special menu to have a larger view. The items on promotion is L7, L10 and L14.
Something that is different here from other Korean restaurant is the chopsticks. Korean restaurant usually uses metal chopsticks which have very pointy ends. The above are more like Chinese chopsticks.
Four banchans are served here; kimchee, beansprouts, seaweed in a sweet soy sauce and the last item is a jello like item served with soy sauce.
We found out later that the jello like banchan is made with some kind of yam. We saw the item in T&T supermarket after lunch when we went to get some groceries. Polly bought some for her kids to try.
We ordered an appetizer called Mini Bossam. It costs $9.95. It is steamed cabbage, pickled daikon and poached pork belly served with a bean sauce (ssamjang), raw garlic slices, jalapeno and a Korean fish sauce.
The way to eat the Bossam is to place a piece of the cabbage on your palm, top with a piece of the pork belly, a piece or two of the daikon, garlic and jalapeno (optional) and season with the sauces to taste. If the cabbage is big enough, you can wrap it up as a bundle or just place the whole stack of food into your mouth. The spiciness from garlic and jalapeno gives it a good kick.
We ordered all the 3 items on promotion from the lunch menu. It’s a table full of food. Polly pointed out that … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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New India Buffet on West Broadway, Vancouver
Arkensen and Nanzaro had an eye checkup in Vancouver during the winter break. Normally, they have their checkup in January but this time I was given the appointment during winter break. I’m so glad because I dont have to worry about them missing classes for their eyes checkup.
Arkensen and Nanzaro wanted to eat at the New India Buffet & Restaurant which is located in the same building where their optometrist is.
Arkensen and Nanzaro had tried the $5 lunch box take out here before. It was during their previous year visit to the optometrist during a school day. Since we had to rush back to school, they just had the lunch box take out and eat it in the car on the way back to school.
New India Buffet & Restaurant has a nice view of Vancouver. I can imagine the night scenery from here will be very beautiful.
The interior of the restaurant is made of multilevel dining area. It is big and decorated festively.
We came here for the buffet. Actually, for Arkensen, he only wanted butter chicken with rice. Arkensen does not care for variety. When we go to Kedah House for their buffet, Arkensen will only eat rice with beef rendang. His new slogan is know your limit, stay within it. Hm, that sounds familiar. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
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