Hawker’s Delight is perhaps one of the ugliest looking restaurants around. And they are not exactly one of the cleanest places too. However, we absolutely love this place because it is also one of the cheapest places where one can get a full meal for less than five bucks.
Hawker’s Delight, a Malaysian restaurant, is located on Main St Vancouver.
They have the menu on the wall. Many of the dishes are spicy. So, you want to make sure you know what you’re ordering. The pictures do look very delicious. They only have about seven small tables — very cramped. If you go during their busy lunch time, you will have to wait for a table ala Malaysian style … stand beside the table and try to wait patiently for people to finish their meal!
Don’t expect table service. You have to go to the counter to place your order and get your own drinks to your table. They have self-service hot tea and water. Oh, they don’t take credit cards or Interac at all. It’s cash only. Oh, they also have a tips box on the counter.
Suanne ordered Prawn Noodle. The prawn soup tastes alright. It has a few large prawns and BBQ pork, bean sprout and garnish with fried shallots and chopped green onions. Just like the way they make it in Malaysia.
Nanzaro ordered the lamb curry on rice. It does not look appetizing …
… but tastes great with rice.
For me I had the Mee Goreng. Mee Goreng is fried noodles Malaysian style. It is really spicy. Forget about presentation or garnishing — there is none to it. It looks like just a blob of food … but great tasty food.
Arkensen ordered the Nasi Goreng, the non-spicy version. Nasi Goreng is Malaysian style fried rice with tomatoes.
Our bill came up to only $21. I don’t think we can get so much food for this price anywhere else in Vancouver. Give this a try if you happen to be around Main St and East King Edward and have less than $10 in your pocket. The food is good, not great, but good.
There’s also a very good Malaysian restaurant in the Richmond Public Market food court? It’s called Yummy Malaysia. The food is really really good too and cheap. You can order food cook to order or buy the pre-cooked 2 to 3 dishes on rice. I like their Hokkien mi and their rendang beef. You should try it one of these days.
I’ve heard a lot abt this place, will have to try it out sometime. Thanks for the review.
I disagree with you on the lamb curry–I saw that photo and said to myself, “I want that now!” Perhaps b/c with the wind chill it’s below zero, but your photo made me very hungry. Too bad I’m all the way in NYC.
The mee goreng looks authentic enough! Good to know that Malaysian food is now found in more and more places around the world!
Making me hungry for hawker food!
I’m finicky about cleanliness. I couldn’t even bring myself to buy ‘Prima Taste’ packed spices. They hv a Chinese revolving restaurant inside their flour mill compound in Singapore that once manufactured instant noodles right?
Hawker’s is a fun place because sometimes you just want good quality, down-home food for cheap without paying for the overhead (ambience, staff, pretty garnishes, haha), which HD delivers. They don’t pretend to be anything otherwise. I’m glad they’re what they are and hope they stay in business for years to come. They’re an integral part of the South Main (SoMa) community fabric 😀
I’ve been craving Malaysian hawker food since I started reading your blog and Rasa Malaysia’s. I’m going to hit this place the next time I’m in Vancouver and order everything on the menu!
you sound like an arrogant fool for some reason.
no. more like a petty-bourgeois douchebag.
meh.
Hi “Anonymous”: Whoa!! I think I gotta say that I feel sorry that this post had somewhat offended you. Name calling and posting anonymously is somewhat childish, don’t you think? I mean, you have not given me the chance to know me as a person and passing judgment right off the bat. I thought of junking the comment but then I thought I do the right thing and publish your comments. Am pretty upset but I’ll let it go. Oh well … *shrug* 🙂
Ben,
I wouldn’t spend any more worries on anonymous. It’s the Internet and unfortunately we all can’t expect everyone to agree or behave in a civilized fashion. Keep up the great work. We appreciate all that you and Suanne have done to educate us about Vancouver eats, Malaysian food, your wonderful father, etc.
Dives, hole in the walls and no-frills eateries are fun places to go to for cheap, simple but good food. Those places may be no-frills and short on table service or ambiance but that should not be confused with cleanliness. In Boston there is a food court that fits that description. There are five different eateries that share a dining room. The first few years it was open was like a revelation. There was such variety in the different eateries there and you could order something new almost every time you went there.
Sadly, the years have not been too kind to the place. No-frills has given way to shabby and not so clean…
I visited chowtimes and saw that hate mail you received from Anonymous. Commenting offensively and hiding from it is just a coward thing to do! It was very offensive alright…but you shouldn’t worry about it coz you know yourself better than he does and you are just NOT like what he thinks you are(not even close). He doesn’t have any idea at all! He needs a knock on his head while you deserves a pat on the back. I know a lot of chowtimers felt the same way too. Cheer up and forget it! 🙂
And as my mom might say: “OK, everyone shut up now. Let’s eat !” 😀
I quite enjoy reading your blog from time to time. I really like Hawker’s Delight – great Malaysian food at an inexpensive price. I just wanted to mention that you can actually look up restaurant inspection information in Vancouver if you are concerned about cleanliness. It is located here: http://www.foodinspectionweb.vcha.ca/Nav-Main.htm
Hawker’s Delight passed fine which is good to know.
Thanks gq for the helpful link. Unfortunately, I catch germs too easily.
Chowtimes is a wonderful place to feast one’s imagination. Keep up the good work, Suanne and Ben. 🙂
Hawker’s ISN’T a Malaysian Restaurant, but if you had spoken to the owners and gotten to know more about who and what their food represent, you might have known that.
It’s a SINGAPOREAN owned restaurant, featuring SOME Malaysian foods which by the way, DO influence some of the foods served in Singapore.
And the prawn noodles AREN’T Malaysian style (as you said they were…”just like in malaysia”)- they’re Singaporean style. Malaysian prawn noodles usually has a thicker, brown broth.
Hot, stuffy, self-serve, cheap food, is as traditional as SIngaporean/Malaysian foods get. Kudos to Hawkers and good luck on your other reviews.
Hi All: This review of hawkers certainly drew quite a number of strong comments. I checked their review on dinehere and found also very varied opinions http://www.dinehere.ca/restaurant.asp?r=39. Anyway, I want to reiterate that we absolutely love the food in Hawkers. Yummy!! 🙂
i like the food and come try it
I’m a transplanted Vancouverite and have lived just blocks from Hawkers Delight. I’ve spoken to the owners some years ago and they are indeed Singaporean. The decor had been changed
from the original plastic stools and handwritten menu but is still reminiscent of a asian greasy spoon. I write that with a certain amount of nostalgia for their mee goreng, hainanese chicken rice and veggie spring rolls…because you can’t get that authentic and cheap over in the UK!
I tried the laksa and satay at Hawker’s Delight after work yesterday – It is out of this world good! It is by far the BEST laksa I have ever had in Vancouver! The food, ambience and even the plastic bowls and wooden chopsticks are so authentic – just like one of the hawker stalls in Singapore. Will definitely be back again soon. Can’t get over how good it was 🙂
Hey Ben,
Must try this recommendation. Feeling a bit homesick for Singapore food. btw nice new banner for your site – was different last time I popped by or last remembered.
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Hi Ben and Suanne: We were running some errands on Main Street and decided to drop by your blog to see what’s there to eat nearby. Thank you for this recommendation! The place was packed when we got there, around 2 pm. We had hainanese chicken rice, nasi goreng, gado gado and veggie fritters, we wanted satay but sadly no satay today. The veggie fritters was made a few at a time, ours was warm with a vinegary sauce, crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, very good! The chicken was very tender served with a nice sauce, rice was flavored just right. Gado gado was very good with freshly steamed veggies and great peanut sauce, could use more tofu though. Nasi goreng was good too, tasted just like how the hawker stalls in Singapore would have it, freshly fried… overall we thought the food was good too but we also enjoyed hearing the kitchen sounds as we ate, authentic atmosphere like in a hawker stall. Thanks again for doing a post about this. 🙂
Hi Novi: Yeah, Hawker’s Delight is one of our favourite places. We love their mee goreng. However, we had almost always ordered take out because it is so packed. You forgot to mention the best thing about Hawkers Delight … their prices are delightfully low. 🙂 Ben
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Hi Ben,
Had take out yesterday n the char kway teow (very spicy) was deelish n so was the gado gado. There was so much peanut sauce left it would have gone well with “jhup n rice”.
Hi cmee8: Isn’t Hawker Delight delightful? I often drop by this place to get the Mee Goreng to-go on my way back from work. I remember this post “fondly” even though this is a 4 year old post. I think this is the first post when I had some telling me off … he said “you sound like an arrogant fool for some reason. no. more like a petty-bourgeois douchebag. meh.”. I always wondered who that was that spewed that hate-filled comment. Anyway, what I like best about Hawker Delight is how cheap the food is. That place is always packed during meal hours. The best thing to do in those time is order to-go. Ben
Ben the “char kway teow/mee goreng very spicy” packs quite a punch that my Korean father-in-law has it with rice. The food is really value for money. Cannot complain, lah.
Hi cmee8: Mee Goreng with rice? You know I used to do that when I was young but it was not because it was too spicy. Did you blog about it? Ben