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 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.

Suanne had the Phnom Penh Dry Egg Noodle. The large one costs $7.00. The egg noodle was great with the right combination of sauce. We did notice that it had quite a lot of meat in it. This is one what we will order again the next time we are here.

I ordered their $9.50 Combo A. This is a combination of the following:

• Grilled Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane
• Grilled Minced Pork
• Spring Rolls
• House Salad Special, and
• Vermicelli or Steamed Rice

I enjoy this a lot and it actually has a lot of food on the plate. The simplest item, the vermicelli, was what I like especially with the fish sauce.

The best item on the plate is the Grilled Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane. It was springy … so springy that if I were to drop this on the plate, I bet it will make a couple of bounce at least. I don’t know the reason why this is served with the sugar cane though. There is no flavour imparted on the shrimp “paste”. I left the sugar cane alone but do one really suck on the sugar cane juice?