All Entries in the "Chinese" Category

Sunday Morning in Stanley Park

This post had been lying on my draft folder for ages.  It must had been 3-4 months already.  I am digging up all these old posts which I neglected to blog earlier because, well, I need to stock up on posts before we leave for our 2 week vacation next week.  I want to make sure you all have something to read everyday … LOL!

It was a spring weekend when we decided to go to the Stanley Park for a morning walk.  It had been ages since we were there.

Of all the urban parks in the world, Stanley Park surely must rank as one of the most beautiful in the world.  All visitors to Vancouver MUST make a visit to this park and take a picture of downtown from here.  I always tell visitors that their visit is not complete if they did not take a picture from here.

We woke up real early and brought along some Chinese buns to eat at the park.  We bought the buns from the Osaka Supermarket the day before.  For sheer variety and freshness, not many places can beat Osaka.  (Osaka is located in the Yaohan Mall along No 3 Road in Richmond).

Their Pineapple Bun is really good.  Known as Bo Lo Bau in Cantonese, this is one of the most popular Cantonese pastry and is available in almost any Cantonese bakery.  Suanne makes it at home but had never quite achieved the same level of quality (or even look!) as those we bought from the stores.  Here is the recipe for those who are interested.

The one above is good.  Osaka called it Cake Roll with Dried Pork.  It is a fluffy cake with cream and pork floss.  It gives a very delicate balance of sweetness from the cream and a tinge of saltiness from the pork floss.

I still have not quite figured out why white people can’t stand the thought of eating pork floss.  LOL!  It is one of the best topping and fillings that one can use on almost anything (rice, noodles, pastry, sandwiches or even eaten by itself).  One theory is that it looks like fur, while others says that the name, pork floss, is absolutely gross.

Suanne made it once at home … it was a very laborious process.  Here is the recipe if you want to know how it is made.  We normally buy pork floss from the stores.

Tim Horton’s coffee is our favourite.  We like it over Starbucks anytime.  We always had the same … “double double”.  For those who are not familiar with Tim Hortons, double-double is Timmy Ho speak for two sugar and two cream.

We had a good walk around the park and covered 14 kilometers the whole morning.  Enjoy the rest of the pictures we took below.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Posh Sukiyaki Restaurant in Richmond

Suanne and I are beginning to find more time to ourselves these days.  The boys are getting older and they are having more extra-curricular activities.  It’s a sign that it’s going to be a few more short years before they will be spending even more time on their own.

With the boys involved in another of their activities, Suanne and I took the opportunity to check out Posh in Richmond.  We had always been meaning to try this place for sometime already.

Posh is located at the strip mall by Sexsmith Road.  There are three Posh’es within Metro Vancouver with the other two located on Broadway (Vancouver) and Kingsway (Burnaby)

Despite it being called a Sukiyaki restaurant, I had the distinct feeling it is more Chinese than anything.  At least all the workers spoke Chinese.

I had always thought that it is a big restaurant but were quite surprised how small it is.

There are a few tables upstairs which seats about 20 people max.  They optimize the seating by putting removable wooden partitions since it is just the two of us.  It is OK for us and does give us a bit of privacy in the cramped seating arrangement.

I can’t recall exactly what Suanne ordered.  I think it is called Green Sofa and had some apple flavour in it.  It looked pretty for sure.

For me, I had the sake.  To tell the truth, I had NEVER had sake in my life before.  So when I ordered sake, they asked if I wanted it warm or cold, I had absolutely no idea what to order.  I just chose warm.  It was pretty good.  It came in a small flask and a small cup.

This is a All You Can Eat place.  We had to place our order on the chit provided.

First thing to choose is the soup.  We had the Spicy Soup Base which costs $7.  It was very spicy which was great.  Posh claim that they brew this concotion of 15 herbs and 4 types of chilli over 7 days before serving.

There are extras that one could order like satay sauce for $1, Hot Sauce for $1, extra eggs, butter and vinegar for 50 cents.  We ordered the satay sauce and really, the soup base is flavourful enough and we did not need it.

Tell me … I can’t tell the difference between Sukiyaki, Shabu-shabu and the Chinese hotpot and steamboat.  You know what the differences are?

For some odd reason, they keep on telling us that we get one free egg each.  They told us like four times.  I am not sure what the big deal is really.

We saw our neighboring tables breaking the eggs and eating it raw as dip.  If I did not see them eating this, I would have thought that we’re supposed to break it into the soup base.  This adds a lot creaminess to the sukiyaki.

It was great, for me at least.  Suanne don’t like eggs, especially raw ones.  Good thing too because I got to have two eggs.  Extra egg is 50 cents each.  Next time I come, I’m gonna smuggle in my own eggs from home.

The star of the sukiyaki is their thinly sliced pork and beef.  We ordered way too much … 12 trays in all!  We had no idea how much a tray was and was shocked when they stacked it up on the table.  We sheepishly finished it off because the order chit specifically said that “wasted meat will be $3/portion”.

Posh claim that they serve only premium Alberta beef.  For Suanne and I, we can’t tell one type of beef from another.  But it was awesome.  It was great.

Besides the meats, there are over 30 other types of ingredients.  There are no way we could try everyone of them.  They offered to help us fill the order but we sort of declined in case they gave us only the cheap stuff.  LOL!

I must say that the service was great and genuine.  They were quite patient with us and took time to explain things for us.  Seeing this being our first time, they came by often to check if we’re OK and if we wanted more.  (We did not want more … we wanted them to take some away because we had over-ordered).

Total bill was $55 which was kind of pricey but we love every aspect of the meal.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Lucky Fortune Seafood Restaurant in Richmond

For a change, Polly and I decided to go for dim sum instead of cake. Actually, we had no luck that morning in search of a good cake place. First, we went to Richmond Bakery at No. 5 Rd and Cambie where we found out that the parking is only limited to one hour maximum. On top of that, when we checked out the bakery, it does not meet our appetite. Then we decided to go to Le Bon Bon but found out that it only opens at 11:00 am and it was not even 10:00 am at the time. So, we finally decided to go dim sum instead.

I remembered my neighbour had recommended Lucky Fortune Seafood Restaurant for their dim sum. So, Polly and I decided to check it out.

Lucky Fortune Seafood Restaurant is located at Union Square.

The restaurant is of medium size and the tables fill up quickly. We noticed that the prices for Chinese dishes are very reasonable too, range from $5 to $8. The Dim Sum price is only $2 for small, medium or large before 11:30 am and there after it’s $2.50. The restaurant opens at 9 am.

The only problem is that the dim sum menu is in Chinese only. Luckily, Polly can read Chinese. Ben and I will have some problem coming here ourselves.

Polly and I ordered 8 dishes to share, a bit too greedy. Here are the items which we ordered.

Steamed Black Bean Pork Ribs.

Steamed Beef Ball with Bean Curd Skin. We thought that it is a wrap when we ordered this.

Steamed Squid which is very tender.

Siu Loong Pau.

Chicken Feet or Fung Jau.

Prawn Rice Roll. The prawns are relatively large and springy.

This is special for today, Steamed Fish Head, with lots of ginger. This costs $2.50.

The fish eye ball is the only thing left as Polly and I dont eat the fish eye ball. Any one of you game for the fish eye ball?

Sticky Rice.

Instead of wrap in lotus leaf, the sticky rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves.

The bill came up to $21 including tax and tips. We were amazed at our appetite. After the meal, we decided to go for a walk to digest all the food we ate.

River Road is Polly and family’s favourite place during spring and summer for an evening walk. The river view with the north shore mountains as a backdrop is simply breath taking. One can also watch the planes take off from YVR airport.

In a glorious spring day, even the dandelions are smiling at the sun. I simply love spring except for my allergy which comes with spring.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Mak’s Noodle Restaurant in Richmond

I know I am soooo behind in my blogs but I just realized how behind I was. Well, we went Mak’s in January and it is until now I got down to blogging about it. Frankly, I find so little time to do the things I enjoy these days. But anyway, I only have this entry and tomorrow’s to go before I get started on the Seattle Spring Break series.

For today, it’s about Mak’s Noodle Restaurant. We only got to know about Mak’s when Erick commented that they have one of the best wonton noodles in Richmond. Erick is from Seattle and he comes over to Richmond every now and then just for food! So, I guess being a true-blue foodie, he knows where the great food is.

We would not have found Mak’s on our own. It is sort of tucked deep in a strip mall along Alexandra Rd, the “eat street” of Richmond. The address if you are interested is 1200-8580 Alexandra Road. It is a Cantonese restaurant and their specialty is wonton noodles.

Table condiments are the all important chili oil (or oil chili?) for wonton noodles. As important as the wonton and noodle, the chili oil is just as indispensable.

There are vinegar too but I had never understood the use of vinegar here. I mean, what do you use that with?

Nanzaro insisted in making his own order. As long as he does not order Fried Rice again, we just let him decide on his own and stay out of commenting on his poor choice. He ordered the Lo-Mein with Shredded Pork in Spicy Brown Sauce. Six bucks … hmmm … and it does not really looked tasty. After some cajoling, he let us taste a bit … it was too oily and salty.

Arkensen ordered the Supreme Wonton Noodle Soup. I am kind of glad he ordered this because, well, it is what Mak is known for. It is just $4.25. It was not bad but do think that the wonton is a bit too salty for our liking. Otherwise, it is great.

When Suanne finds her pants a bit too tight, she orders something like the ones above. LOL! She even ordered the Mixed Seafood Congee and not the one with pork meat. It was pretty good for $5.

I would have ordered ones with pork liver and intestines with lots of sliced ginger, soya sauce and white pepper powder.

The Chinese Donut were extras to go with the congee. $1.50 … in Asia you could get this for 30 cents but you can’t compare right? But this one is great — freshly made and very crunchy.

Me, I had the Braised Beef Brisket/Tendon and Dumpling Noodle Soup. I like everything about it … the broth, the stringy noodles and lots of meat. Just $6.00.

In all it was an excellent recommendation from Erick. The service here is fast but understandably the servings are small … for some reason, I had never seen really good wonton noodles served in humungous bowls like the Vietnamese Pho.

The total tab came up to $26 including tax and tips. Be warned that they accept cash only, no Interac or credit cards accepted (for American readers, Canadians does NOT accept cheques).

Anyway, we felt rather thirsty after meal … they must used a lot of MSG here. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Popularity: 8% [?]

Da Hong Yun Shanghai Restaurant in Richmond

Have any of you ever been to this Shanghainese restaurant right across No 3 Road from the Richmond Centre Mall? For some reason, they had been changing hands several times over the years. I am not sure why because they seem to do very well as evidenced by how packed it is all the time.

It is now called Da Hong Yun but I remember they used to be called Shanghai Wind and at another time it was called Chen’s. We went there because we were enticed by the Live Crab banner that they put up outside.

The restaurant is smallish with something like 10 tables at the max. It’s so cramped that it was hard to move around once all the tables were filled. Decor wise, there is nothing much to it (why they even have Chinese New Year decorations still hanging in the store even today).

This is a very traditional Chinese restaurant which means that they cater to mainly Chinese customers. It’s because there is only one waitress who could barely managed to communicate in English. So ordering here was quite difficult for us.

Despite the language difficulty, we managed quite well ordering the Duck with Fried Gluten. The duck was extremely tender and meaty, much to our surprise. For $12.95, it was a half duck dish. What we liked best was the tasty sauce and bamboo shoots.

For the vege, we ordered the Tou Meow Seong Tong (sprouts in soup) which was quite crunchy and the steamy soup was great for a cold night. However, it was quite expensive. I am not sure why such a dish would have costs $12.95.

We ordered crab and decided order what they call Kam Sar Gook which is literally translated as Golden-Sand Steamed. It is actually cooked with salted egg yolk and was very crispy … so crispy that we do not need to use a cracker to break the shell.

However, there were not much meat at all in the crab. If I recall correctly, they charged $10.99 for a crab regardless how you want it cooked.

Despite ordering only three dishes, it was too much food for the four of us in the family. The total damage was $47 including tax and tips. I felt it was too expensive for a smallish place like this. Good food but quite pricey.

What we did not like was that they charge for rice separately. At least, they gave us a small bowl of lime water, free … it taste quite nice really. ;-)

Popularity: 11% [?]

Michigan Noodle Shop in Richmond

I can almost swear that this place is new. Well, not new-new but new as in about 4 months new. We had been eating around Alexandra Rd every other weekend but it never quite notice it until recently. You know, with a name like Michigan, we can almost guess this is another HK Style Cafe. Suanne and I still have not figured out why so many HK Style Cafes are named after American Cities.

The Michigan Noodle Shop is located at the eastern end of Alexandra Road. It is actually on the same strip mall as Zen Chinese Cuisine and across the road from Coco Chili. You won’t miss, not with that bright yellow signboard in an otherwise drab looking strip mall. Parking might looked to be very limited but just so that you know, you could actually drive up the ramp and park upstairs.

We really thought that this place is one of the more expensive restaurant especially with their decor and expensive cars parked outside. It turned out that it’s a very traditional Chinese restaurant and nothing like any of the HK Style Cafes.

We like this place and the ambiance. It does seem upscale with the customers mostly very well dressed. The waitresses too were garbed in traditional Chinese costume. The tables and seats were quite plush.

Service was great — confident and cheerful. When Suanne and I placed our orders, the waitress explained to us that we are ordering the same type of noodle dishes and recommended something different.

Like most Cantonese tables, there are the ubiquitous chili oil.

Their House Special Rice Noodle is just like Malaysian Style Rice Noodle — not exactly like Penang Fried Kuey Teow but that’s the closest I would describe it. It had lots of nice big juicy prawns. I am quite impressed with this because in most places, there are lots of bean sprouts and very little ingredients. Now for $7.80, I think this is quite cheap.

The other dish we ordered was the Seafood Braised E-fu Noodle in Pot. This one has scallops, prawns, dish and squids and costs $11.80. Hmmm … this is quite bland and tasteless. Also, the E-Fu noodles absorbed the soup very quickly and made the dish quite soggy.

The total bill came up to $23 including tips and tax for the two of us.

Popularity: 8% [?]