All Entries Tagged With: "Malaysian"
Bo Laksa King’s on Joyce and Wellington, Vancouver
I just gotta see for myself what this hype was all about.
When a group of pro chowhounds goes crazy in the forum over a particular food, it has to count for something. After having tasted something that costs about $5, they are yearning for more. They are even talking about throwing in $50 each to the chef to cook for them.
From the way I read it, everything that the chef creates, will turned out to be a winner. They had already been surprised by the chef weekend after weekend when the chef concocts something new.
So … I just gotta see for myself what this hype is all about.
And all these is happening in the most unlikeliest of places. All these is happening starting from one dish — Laksa.
Unless you live in the neighborhood, you will never walk into the Joyce-Way Food Market to buy your grocery. Even if you do, you will not even think they have an eatery in it.
This convenience shop is located on Joyce in Vancouver. It is just a short walk north of the Joyce Skytrain station. Word has it that some Aussie chowhounds stumbled upon this place and before you know it, the Vancouver chowhound community were scrambling over each other to check it out. All came out liking what they tasted.
IF … Even if … even if you went into this convenience shop, there is not sign of an eatery. It is tucked in a hidden corner. You gotta walk around some of the grocery display to see it.
The only hint you will see here is the orangey sign outside that says “Bo Laksa Kings’ – Famous Laksa and Wraps”.
The Bo Laksa Kings’ name got into the chowhound circuit initially because of their Laksa. No one really cares for the wraps. What really gets the chowhounds interested is what that is not on the menu.
Ladies and gentlemen … presenting, Bo Laksa Kings’!
Oh yeah, it is just a counter. It is mostly mean to be a to-go place. After all this is in a convenience shop. For good measures, they have two tiny round tables with four folding chairs if you so chooses to eat in. There is even ONE stool by the counter.
Even the cutleries are cheap looking. I was looking at the spoon and thinking to myself that it’s too small for Laksa. All these add to the intrigue of Bo Laksa Kings’.
Chef Bo was not around. His lovely wife was. It was just slightly past 4PM when Suanne and I were at the counter. We only planned to get a bowl of Laksa to share between the two of us. We just wanted to try the Laksa and the go for a real dinner afterwards.
It was an odd setting. You can see for yourself what the ambiance and decor Bo Laksa Kings’ has to offer. The odd customer walking into the last aisle ends up … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Kari House Restaurant on Bayview St., Richmond
When Polly and I took a walk at the Steveston Harbour after dining at the Steveston Cannery Cafe, we walked pass this Kari House Restaurant by the water on Bayview & No. 1 Road in Steveston Village. Polly had eaten at this Malaysian restaurant before and she enjoyed the view from the restaurant. I have never dine here before.
What caught our attention is the new dishes brochure displayed on the front glass panel besides the lunch special for only $6.95.
Polly loves black vinegar pork knuckle. It looks so scrumptious and makes ones mouth watering just thinking of the sourness of the vinegar. So, we return to Steveston Village the very next week to try out this dish.
Kari House Restaurant has a very nice spot with a great harbour view. The decor is very tropical with a wall painted with coconut trees and tropical scenery and the ceiling is covered with some fishing nets. It is very bright with ceiling to floor glass panels facing the harbour.
Without hesitation, we ordered the Black Vinegar Pork Knuckle which priced at $12.95. We ordered a bowl of rice to with this dish. We were a bit … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Tamarind Hill on Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver
Everyday Friday Suanne and I go out for dinner just by ourselves. We leave the boys at home. They are happy to get rid of us, just as long as they get to play the PS3 and hog the computers. They appreciate time away from us as much as we do them. They think we don’t know but I know they practice wrestling moves with each other at home. When we are at home, we forbade the boys from strangling each other blue. Nanzaro especially, is a wrestling nut and is totally addicted to everything wrestling. I don’t know what to do with him really. He just loves that barbaric sport. He knows every wrestlers name and can even describe their outfit down to how many loops of shoe laces they wear.
But last Friday, Nanzaro decided to gatecrash our Friday dinner. As soon as he heard that we are going to the new Tamarind Hill restaurant, he decided to hang out with us instead of his ko-ko (older brother).
Logistically, it was going to be difficult. I would get off back from Burnaby, drive back to Richmond to pick Suanne and Nanzaro up and then on to North Vancouver. Believe it or not, that is almost 90km round trip! And you know how bad Friday traffic could be.
So we decided to try using the new Canada Line instead.
I bet you remember of the lines on the first day of service when rides were free. People are mad enough to wait up to 3 hours in line to get on the train. Crazy!
Well, my dear son was one of those crazy folks. Nanzaro went with his best friend and his dad to catch that free ride. They waited for 1.5 hours at the Lansdowne Station and then gave up. So Nanzaro was glad we are taking the train. It was rather confusing using the machines when Suanne insisted on using her FareSaver as part payment. Translink ticket machine is not some of the easiest to use if you ask me.
We met up at the Station by the River Rock Casino. They have free parking for now. Even though it is free, there were lots of spaces left in the multi-storey park and ride. I expected that a lot more people would have use the park and ride. Anyway, come Sep 8, they will charge $2 for parking.
I was not too impressed with the Canada Line. The cars we were in had too few seats. Almost 1/3 the train was a big empty standing only area. I realize that they did it that way because this line goes to the airport for baggage lugging passengers too. I noticed that the stations were designed just to fit the existing configuration of four cars. I would have thought that they would have built the platforms longer in case they need to extend it someday.
The best part of the journey is taking the seabus to North Vancouver. For those of you who had never been to Vancouver, the Seabus is the cheapest harbour cruise here. I always recommend visitors to try take the seabus. I am not sure what the fare is for the two-zone ticket … $4?
Vancouver is simply stunning viewed from the Burrard Inlet.
We took the connecting bus on Lonsdale Quay. It was just 5 minutes to the Tamarind Hill.
The Tamarind Hill is the newest Malaysian restaurant in Metro Vancouver. This is opened by the same people who also owns the Tamarind Hill restaurant in New Westminster. We had been to the Tamarind Hill in New West and we loved their food.
We found out about this new restaurant because the owner wrote informing us about it. They knew we had a positive review of our visit to their New West restaurant. Suanne and I decided that we go visit them incognito and unannouced — just to please you all readers.
The North Van restaurant is smaller than the one in New West. OK the picture above shows empty tables but it was at that time when that section was just cleared of customers that I managed to take a sneak shot. I was surprised that they have so many customers even though they were opened for just a few weeks. And it was quite glaring that we were the only Asian customers that evening. I remembered that restaurant in New West too has lots of white customers too which led me to think that Malaysian cuisine appeals to non-Asian too despite its spiciness.
They have an extensive wine list but we do not drink. The decor is red-brownish with roughly the same sort of theme as I vaguely recall in the New West restaurant. It is decidedly Oriental even Arabic, but certainly not Malaysian for sure. Even the piped music is western. All these do suggest to me that they try to target the non-Asian segment as their customer base.
But that’s about it. Am glad to see that the food is very authentic Malaysian and every bit as good as the ones in the Tamarind Hill in New West.
I ordered the Curry Lamb ($13.60). It is described on the menu as boneless lamb marinated with ground fennel and Malaysian curry, slowly simmered in coconut with fresh onions, garlic, cloves, cinnamon and coriander.
I really have to give this a thumbs up. It has a …
More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Yummy Malaysian Delights in the Richmond Public Market
It had been ages since we stepped into the Richmond Public Market. We were shopping for groceries around that area and decided to go to the Richmond Public Market to get some desserts — ice plate specifically. Something tells me that we could get it there.
The Richmond Public Market was a great idea which I felt went wrong. Unlike the many public markets around Metro Vancouver, the Richmond Public Market seems to be suffering from some bad choices of tenants. About the only thing that will draw us here is the food court.
The design of the Richmond Public Market is good. It is brightly lit with a sky roof and the layout is practical. However, they seems to allow all kinds of businesses here without much regard on how they fit in to the overall image. For instance, I felt it strange to see a lot which sells mattresses and beds next to the butcher stall.
I am just not proud of my city’s public market really.
What is interesting at the Richmond Public Market is the food court. It is like a collection of Asian hole-in-the-walls. Obviously this is MSG-city but the food here is cheap and in many instances really authentic. There are a few stalls which specializes on little known regional Chinese cuisine.
There is a stall just right at the entrance to the car park. For some reason, this strategic spot had always been a Malaysian stall. This place must have changed hands at least once in the past 10 years. I am not surprised if it had changed owners several times already.
In this stall now is the Yummy Malaysian Delights. They had on their menu a lot of Malaysian delights but we were only looking for this …
In Malaysia, this is called the ABC. ABC is short for Air Batu Kacang, literally translated as Red Beans in Ice. It is also known as Ais Kacang. This is an excellent choice of dessert for summer.
Weekend Buffet at Kedah House on SE Marine Drive, Vancouver
Man … were we surprised, pleasantly surprised!
I was just checking our old posting on Kedah House and found that the last time we were there was three years ago, almost to the day. I drive past Kedah House to and from work everyday and yet we had not eaten there for that long.
As always, Arkensen and Nanzaro wanted pho or sushi for lunch. The boys can just live of those stuff everyday — together with instant noodles. Suanne and I overruled that choice. Suanne does not like raw sushi at all. We finally settled for Malaysian instead.
We were going to drive all the way to Seri Malaysia in the far reaches of Vancouver until we remembered Kedah House. For some reason we did not have a good impression of Kedah House’s food. Perhaps that’s why we had not made an attempt to visit them after all these years.
Kedah House is located on SE Marine Drive (Vancouver) in a little strip mall just east of the Knight St Bridge. Many years ago they used to operate on Fraser Street until they moved here.
This is what changed our perception of Kedah House. They have a $10 buffet lunch on weekends. [Note: Malaysians normally call all-you-can-eat as buffets].
The decor is really basic with lots of misplaced Tourism Malaysia posters all over wall. As far as I remembered, it is much better than we visited this place 3 years ago. It is cleaner and brighter.
The buffet spread is placed along the wall on two sections of a long table. There was not a lot of varieties but more than enough for a good hearty lunch. Despite that, the quality is pretty awesome for a buffet.
We were kind of surprised how busy this restaurant was on a weekend. We got seated at a strategic location … just next to the buffet table! It does make it easier for repeat trips. Not sure about you, but I like many return trips to the buffet table for a “focused” selection of food rather than piling up the plate with all kinds of grub.
It is very Malaysian (or rather I should say “very Malay”) the way water are served in a plastic pitcher. He he he … they even serve it in a very Malaysian type of glass too. These kind of glasses are very common in Malaysian coffee shops, like 99.999% of the shops uses glasses of this design.
I will consider this as the “salad/appetizer”. It is not really an appetizer as Malay cuisine does not really have the concept of appetizer (well, unless you count munching on dates is considered as an appetizer). This is called Gado-Gado. Oh boy … this is soooo authentic that reminded me of the comfort food I grew up with.
The best part of the Gado Gado is the peanut sauce. They were marvelous and served warm too. I drenched the entire salad with the peanut sauce. I like the fact that they keep on refilling the peanut sauce so that they remain so deliciously freshly made on the buffet table. This is perhaps the best Gado Gado on this part of the planet.
All the usual ingredients were there … cucumber, ketupat, turnip, dried tofu, rice cake and hard boiled egg. Oh, talking about hard boiled egg, my mum (as in ALL mums in Malaysia) forbade me to eat overnight hard boiled eggs when I was young — I emphasize the word overnight. It was OK for girls to eat overnight hard boiled eggs but not for boys. Can anyone share with everyone why?
I had the cold hard boiled eggs. I don’t care if anyone stare at my pants. LOL!
Nasi Minyak is literally translated to as Oily Rice. It was really fragrant. We can pick up the smell from afar. The fragrance is from the spices used, primarily star anise and curry leaves. For once, forget the name but they are really delicious by itself.
This is a salad … freshly made from cucumber, pineapple, onions and chilli for that extra heat. Although we were told that this is sometimes taken by itself, the waitress recommended that we do it like this … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Cafe D’Lite on West Broadway
How was it? How did you like all the snow the past week? LOL!
I’ve never seen so much snow falling in the Vancouver area for as along as I can remember.
To think of it, it all came even before the official start of winter. Here in Richmond we had almost 2 feet of snow in all. Try walking in the snow and the snow will reach up to your knee.
There is this something about snow … it’s mesmerizing to watch it falling. While it is still powdery and fresh, it’s beautiful until it starts to turn in a slushy mess … or …
… you try to drive out to the streets. The city of Richmond did not bother to plow the side road until the day of Christmas which made it quite a challenge to get to the main streets. I think the worse is over now because yesterday many parts had turned into puddles of water. Suanne and I ventured out on an errand Vancouver downtown and ended up having lunch out.
We went to one Malaysian restaurant we had always heard about but never tried before. As a matter of fact, Cafe D’Lite has been on our To-Visit list the past three years or so. It’s just because it was really out of the way for us. Cafe D’Lite located in 3144 West Broadway. Actually it is just next door to the famous Notte’s Bon Ton Pastry. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Chilli Padi on Fraser St, Vancouver
We met up with Angie (of Sea Salt With Food) again for a Sunday lunch. We wanted to go for Indonesian and choose the Sweet Chili Cafe but it was closed on Sunday. Being already hungry and all set for hot and spicy South East Asian food, we went to the next place we can think of.
A short drive to 41st and Fraser brought us to Chilli Padi. Chilli Padi is a Malay restaurant and located in the old location of Kedah House (another Malaysian restaurant). I describe Chilli Padi as a Malay restaurant as opposed to a Malaysian restaurant because it serves Malay food. Malaysian food encompasses a wider cuisine that includes Chinese and Indian cuisine.
Not knowing really what to expect, I was quite surprised how nice and clean Chilli Padi looked compared to Kedah House when it was here. The decor is quite Malay with rustic wooden panels. The place is quite smallish though … smallish but with a cozy feel to it. Most of their customers, we can see, are obviously very Malaysian … Chinese Malaysians and Malay Malaysians.
We started off by ordering a very popular soup found in Malay hawker stalls. It is actually a more Thai soup than it is Malay. It is a hot and sour soup but what characterize this soup the most is …
… the Chilli Padi. Of all chillies, I love Chilli Padi the best. Despite it small size, it is lethally hot … just a slight tad milder than habanero which is way bigger. Chilli Padi is called that because of it’s size … padi means a grain of rice in Malay. The big bowl, good for the seven of us, costs $10.
We also got some Satays to share. The six sticks costs almost $7. They were really good and must tip my hat to them because they made it like the way it is supposed to be … with charred bits too. Say, is it true … charred or burnt meat is carcinogenic?
Anyway, I love it. The only downside is they gave so little peanut sauce and they did not even chilli it up. it came with sides of onions, cucumber and cube rice.
Their Rendand was great — some of the best I had ever tried. It is a lot more drier than what we had in Tamarind Hill. The Beef Rendang costs $9.
If you dine out in a Malay restaurant you simply must order Rendang. To me it’s like ordering Pad Thai in a Thai restaurant. Rendang is stewed in mixture of spices and coconut milk over a few hours to a thick creamy sauce. The ultimate is that the meat must be soft and tender … and it was so. Chilli Padi does their Rendang really well.
We also had what they call Kacang Buncis which is basically long beans. It is cut into short sections and stirred fried in chilli sambal and minced dried shrimp. A good dish is when the long beans is fresh and chrunchy … it was. $7.65.
The Sambal Sotong (squid) was a complete disappointment to say the least. The texture felt kind of funny in that it is chewy (not springy as expected). Me thinks that the squid must be bordering on going bad. $12 … just wasn’t worth it. We practically left this untouched.
The Apek Char Koay Teow was very good. It is a Malaysian style fried rice noodle in sweet soy sauce with lots of chilli, eggs and minced garlic. I must say they have one of the best Char Koay Teows in Metro Vancouver. $7.65.
I don’t want to talk about the above. Who else but my boys ordered this. Sigh … at this rate they are going, how on earth are they going to inherit chowtimes from Suanne and I.
The bill came up to $75 before tips and taxes. It was not bad considering the amount of food we ordered. If you look at it, their entree generally costs less than $10.
Overall the meal was better than expected but was somewhat marred by the somewhat funny tasting squid. The Beef Rendang was good … the satay was good … the char koay teow was good … the tom yam soup was good. You should check it out yourself.
Oh … we got the 50% discount coupon above because they charged us THREE times on the meal. We got quite a shock that our credit card statement showed the transaction three times. We called them and they promptly reversed the charges … and gave us a 50% off lunch and dinner coupon too. We like the people in Chilli Padi … they are good honest people.
BTW … how do you spell Chilli anyway? With a double L or a single L.
