All Entries Tagged With: "Cambodian"
Pho Tai Hoa on Capstan Way in Richmond
This was a few weeks ago … when there were still a bit of snow. This years seems to have a lot of snow compared to the previous few years. I think the worse is now behind us now … unless mother nature decides we get another dump as a parting winter gift. Spring is sure slow in coming this year, huh?
Anyway … cold weather = hot soup.
And … hot steaming soup = pho.
We knew about this place for a little while already and had it on our “to try” list for a couple of months at least. Pho Tai Hoa is new, I think. It is located at the strip mall where Richmond Sushi is and fronts Capstan Way. You will see Pho Tai Hoa driving along Capstan Way but you need to walk around the corner from the car park to see it.
Pho Tai Hoa seems to be a former seafood restaurant or something. The decor is sea themed which is kind of out of place for a pho place. Still this is one of the cleanest and neatest Vietnames Pho restaurants we had ever been to. Seems like they pay a lot of attention to details. That, to me, is a sign of a good restaurant and speaks volumes of the people who run this restaurant.
I love their tea cups. This is even better than most upper scale restaurants. We also like the color choice of the table cloth (under a glass surface for practical reasons). Details, details.
Suanne ordered the Hu Tieu Nam Vang (Cambodian Style Rice Noodle in Soup) which came served in a glass bowl. They gave a lot of green onions — the way we like it.
In it are pork ribs, prawns, pork slices, quail eggs, and pork liver. So, you can see that it’s really loaded with ingredients. This is a perfect choice if you want hot soup noodles but wanted to try something else other than pho. The regular is $6.25 and the large one is $7.25.
I have been eating way too much and wanted to take something lighter. The Bi Cuon ($5) was what I had.
Pho Queen Restaurant in Richmond
It had been abnormally cold the past week or so here in Vancouver. It’s kind of unbelievable that we have temperatures below the freezing point even in high afternoon. The sun was shining ever so brightly but as soon as you step out doors, you just feel the chill right down into the bones.
The boys were away at their friends which leaves Suanne and I alone again. It’s a blessing that we have more time to our own but then again, we know that as the boys gets older, they will spend lesser and lesser time with us. Eating out together is what I had always enjoyed.
Suanne and I had nothing much in mind. Weekend after weekend, we normally do not know what we wanted to eat. When it is time to eat, we just jump into the car and drive. We decided to drive to the Union Square, a strip mall with lots of Chinese restaurants along Capstan Way. Since it was so cold, we actually were thinking of either pho or hot pot. We decided to check out the Pho Queen.
Pho Queen had just opened because I recall this place used to be a Chinese restaurant. Pho Queen is perhaps the classiest Vietnamese restaurant around because they have a chandelier in the middle of the dining room. The restaurant is roomy and spacious because obviously this used to be a large Chinese restaurant. Even the tables are the expensive marble ones.
Their menu had a lot more varieties than the usual pho places. Despite the name Pho Queen, their menu is dominated by the non-pho stuff. The pricing is very reasonable with a large bowl of pho at $6.50 to $7.00. They even have Cambodian dishes.
I had scanned their take-out menu into PDF here if you want to check out it out.
I had the Egg Yolk Condensed Milk with Soda on Ice. How does that sound to you? What a weird combination right? This one is $3.00. It does seem to me it is blended although I am not sure exactly how this is prepared. It just tastes like a very rich but fizzy milk to me. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Phnom Penh in Vancouver Chinatown
Suanne and I met up with Ed and Christina of Doesn’t Tazte Like Chicken for a weekend dinner. This time it was them who chose the location. We enjoy having going out with them because they are as real a foodie as it comes. We learn a lot from them and most of all we enjoyed their stories … like $200 sashimi and having Kobe Beef in Japan.
We went to Phnom Penh located in Chinatown. Although we had heard so much of the place we had never been there before. I was kind of surprised to find that it’s located in such a quiet street. In the evening when we were there, Phnom Penh was about the only shop opened on the whole street.
I was taken aback how popular this restaurant is. It was utterly packed. Ed made reservation prior to coming but it was quite useless because even with reservation, we had to wait quite a bit past the time.
I can imagine how popular this place is judging by the many awards and newspaper clippings they had accumulated throughout the years. I even see that one award was dated back 12 years (1992!) … so they must have been around for ages.
Even Anthony Bourdain ate here before and signed a copy of their takeout menu. Gosh … if I were them I would frame it up instead of leaving it pinned on the board. That signed menu is a huge bragging right if you ask me.
I actually had half a mind of doing one for them too … you know, “Fantastic Meal, Many Thanks … Chowtimes, Ben and Suanne” LOL!
Suanne and I shared a drink called Soda Egg. I am not exactly sure what this is but does remind me of the Egg Cream (which has neither egg nor cream) I had in New York. It was very sweet and we like it. $3.95 was how much it cost.
We left the ordering to the experts since they had been to Phnom Penh many times before. We like the way the bean sprout was served with garlic chilli. I think it is supposed to go with the noodle but since they served it on the same plate, I mixed some of the chilli with the bean sprout, and it was great … the chilli gives that extra kick to the bean sprout and does somewhat goes together well.
The Dry Egg Noodle (six bucks only) was great. The egg noodle was delicious and springy. I could just eat this with the sweet soya sauce alone. I understand that this is one of their more popular dishes. We like pork liver especially and how it was lightly cooked and tender.
The Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot was the priciest item we ordered at $13.50. Considering the size of the hot pot, it was more than enough for two persons. We ordered this with two large baguettes. The curry was light and was quite mild. I wished it was a bit more spicier.
This one goes equally well with either rice or bread. It would be better if we had BOTH rice and bread … bread to dunk into the curry and rice to eat it with the chicken and other stuff on the hot pot.
The baguette was crispy and very light and so it was perfect for dunking into the curry.
I think their numero uno dish is the Deep Fried Chicken Wings. 99.99% of the tables ordered this and I can see why. The looks itself made me drool. It was lightly battered and came with some vinegary-peppery dipping sauce. Awesome! This costs $12.50. If we come back again to Phnom Penh, it will be because of the wings. One more time … Awesome!
For desserts we ordered the Durian Sticky Rice. It was creamy and rich but they only have a very thin layer of durian on it. Have you guy ever tried durians before? it is often called the King of Fruits.
The meal costs $66 with tips included. I must say that this is a place you cannot hang around and chat. They were trying to shoo us away because there was quite a lot of people waiting for a table.
Their menu was really extensive. Suanne counted about 130 items in all — not bad. Phnom Penh is named after the Cambodian capital but I really doubt they are authentic Cambodian. This is because the workers here speaks Cantonese. Despite all that the food was really good.
Ed and Christina blogged about this meal more than a month ago h-e-r-e.
Duffin’s Donuts on Main St.
This restaurant had closed, updated on 11th Oct 2008
I can’t really describe this place. Duffin’s Donuts had been an icon in Vancouver Eastside for a long time. Driving past a Duffin’s Donuts, one gets the impression that it’s a shop selling donuts only but when you get into the store, you’ll find that it’s definitely much much more than just donuts.
Duffin’s is actually a Cambodian family owned joint, originally located on Main and 33rd. They are famous for their homemade fresh donuts and Vietnamese subs. But then they also serve all kinds of food from Mexican Tortas, bubble tea, fried chicken, Chinese rice and noodles, — the selection is amazing.
We went to the Duffin’s Donuts on 41st and Main.
Arkensen ordered a double cheese burger for $4.79. The burger looks juicy. I like the buns in that it’s does not look dry at all.
Suanne ordered Machaca sandwich for $3.50. The hot sandwich is made up of shredded beef, lettuce, tomato, slice onion, pickled pepper, avocado on a crusty roll — tasty and filing.
Nanzaro ordered fried rice noodle with honey pork and chicken. They were just ho-hum but I guess Nanzaro just wanted some dry noodles and did not care much about what sides it came with.
For me, I ordered a seafood chowmien which is loaded with prawn, squid, pollock, fish, sweet pea and carrot. The seafood portion were surprising large considering that it costs about $8.
We also ordered a coffee mocha with pearl to share.
It’s not in any sense elegant dining but for us, this place sure beats McDonalds for a fast, and cheap meal.
