Updated: 13th Dec 2014; This restaurant is closed and the owner has reopened as John 3:16 Malaysian Delights.
Note: The latest post about the Richmond Public Market is of February 2011 and is found on this link.
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.
Ais Kacang is made with shaved ice. Yummy Malaysian Delight uses one of those machines used to shave blocks of ice. It is a very simple dessert really. The Ice Kacang is $3.75.
It is shaved ice with lots of dessert ingredients which is never quite standard. The most common ingredient is of course the presence of the red bean. In Yummy Malaysian Delights, they included corn, cendol, leung fun and lychee. The sweetness of the Ice Kacang is from adding rose syrup, palm sugar syrup and some condensed milk.
What is notably missing is peanuts. Ice Kacang MUST have peanuts and they did not even include it! How could they? LOL! Next time I am here for this I am going to bring along my own packet of peanuts.
What is notably added is a scoop of ice cream. Ice Kacang MUST NOT include ice cream. How could they? LOL! The ice cream made the Ice Kacang unneccessarily creamy. We decided we not mix the ice cream and just eat by scrapping off the sides until the ice cream topples over.
We decided to also get a Malaysian salad called Fruit Rojak. This is $5.50 and is quite similar to those found in Malaysia. In this salad are cucumber, pineapple, “jicama”, tofu puff, bean sprout and loads of crushed peanuts. The dressing is what makes this a Rojak. It is made from shrimp paste, chili and sugar.
Haven’t been there for awhile, but they’re 1/2 block east of my mechanic, so every time I drop my car off for service I’d walk over and get a snack (or even try to justify a lunch at 10am !) at the food court. Everything you described is about bang on, LOL, but actually of all the Asian malls in the region (Yaohan, Aberdeen, Crystal) I like RPM’s the best. There’s something very homey and un-pretentious about the vendors and their foods. And I find their foods authentic, cheap and good in comparison (actually I’m somewhat allergic to MSG and I’ve never found their foods affect me).
The curries at Yummy’s are to die for. But some of the Northern Chinese foods from vendors on the other side, as well as that Taiwanese stall at the far corner where the coffee/espresso vendor is are quite good.
Wow I am surprised they serve rojak! yum…
I miss Prima Taste’s ice kacang
Hi Ben,
The Rojak looks really good! Is the stall owner from Penang? You guys really have it good there – having the best of both worlds!
JL
Hi John: I don’t know if they are from Penang. Looks is deceptive.
Don’t know how you guys think about their Laksa but I like it~
Wendy: Never tried their laksa before. They have a lot of Malaysian dishes there. Will definitely make a visit … someday!
I haven’t had great ais kacung since I went to Singapore as a kid!
lol – ice cream in ais kacung, how could they?!? It defeats the whole purpose of having the dessert! 😮
The reason why there are no nuts is a large number of Canadians are Allergic to nuts and single peanut can be fatal to them.Ice cream makes it into a Philippine Halo Halo So you had a Halo Halo which is like an Ice Kachang
You sure know how to field these type of questions, PinoyGourmet … as always!
fruits rojak I love it, but some very salty.
Makan Dulu!
Great food. Yumyum
I just went here the other day! I really wanted to order the Rojak, but I didn’t know what it was. So opted for the rice +2 items. The rojak looks good though! I’ll have to try that next time.
Hi Mijune:
You can easily try to make this at home if you want. We have the recipe here: http://chowtimes.com/2006/12/08/fruit-rojak/
Ben
Feb. 18, 2010 – Just returned to SF Bay Area from Richmond for the Olympics. Discovered RPM while checking out the neighborhood near the Richmond O Zone, and headed straight for the Yummy Malaysian Delight. At last! tasty and authentic Chicken Rice (served with broth, rice, chicken and dipping sauces, all for $6.95). Tropika in the Aberdeen Center charges $1.75 for the rice, and it was gummy! — no soup at all. We also ordered the laksa — loved the coconut flavor in the broth. So we had a good time at the Olympics and didn’t spend a fortune on food. Such a deal.
Hi Pearl: What? You are back in the Bay Area already? The Olympics had hardly started. LOL! We like Yummy Malaysian Delight too. But I see that this stall in the Richmond Public Market had changed hands several times already but always Malaysian food.
Ben
We went for lunch today and had the Nasi Lemak, Rojak, Mee Goreng, Roti Canai, Eggplant, Garlic Ginger Halibut, Tea Tarik Keor Tiaw (no idea how to spell that). Very authentic flavours. Delicious actually. They’re from Sungai Petani (not sure about spelling), Kedah, Malaysia. You should all go soon because they might be moving to the interior this summer. So try it while you can. Next on my list is their laksa and ice kachung (not available right now).
The owner (Daniel) moved to Kamloops. Will miss the Mee Goreng.
They have moved to Kamloops. My good fortune. Finally an autenthic Malaysia place at middle class prices. It’s called Chilli King at 1415 Hillside Drive, Kamloops. LC.
Hi Lincoln: Are there several Malaysian restaurants in Kamloops? Yes, we miss Yummy Malaysian. We had been to the new Yummy Malaysian for cendol … THREE times and at all times they don’t serve it. Yet they have the the cendol signage on the counter. Quite frustrating. Ben
Hi Ben,
There was a semi-Malaysian place called Oriental Gardens. Still there. But the Malaysian owner retired to Vancouver 2 years ago and the Malaysian dishes dissapeared. I ate there once four years ago. Now it’s just strictly Chinese-Japanese. So Chilli King is now the only Malaysian place.
Here’s Oriental’s website http://www.oriental-gardens.com/ . LC
Ben, I had their cendol a month or so ago at the new Malaysian stall that took over the Yummy Malaysian stall. It is served in a bowl, not what I’m used to and not as sweet and liquidy as cendol in a glass. This version is more like a shaved ice dessert in a bowl type of cendol.
Hi Chiann: Cendols are normally served on bowls in Malaysia. And they should not be like shaved ice dessert. The ice is just to make it cold. This should not look like ice kacang. Take a look at these pictures! http://bit.ly/bgCZBG Ben
The new owners are from china. Daniel spent a couple of weeks ‘training’ them. Based on my visit, they don’t get Malaysian food flavor profile. The new owners are from the north or north east China I forget where exactly. The char kway teow had wok hei but the seasoning and flavoring was off. Too much dark soy. And no see harm which ben likes. 😉
Daniel’s curry laksa was at time’s very food and good value, bigger portions. Although inconsistent, he food was good many times I was there. I think the new owners are good cooks, just not in Malaysian food. Heck even Pierre Gagnaire would screw up cooking Malaysian food the first time. You can’t cook what u don’t understand.
Daniel New Restaurant Name ( Chilli KinG ) In kamloops
Chilli King webside ( http://www.ChilliKing.ca )
Rex, we know about it already. It was posted in August 1st here.
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