Updated: 24th Nov 2014; This restaurant is closed.

We had passed by Sensus Bistro many times before.

But the thing is that we had never had the urge to go in and check it out … until now. You know what I think? I think it is because they have dark windows throughout the frontage that firstly you cannot see what’s in it. For us, we were a bit hesitant too because we were not sure what this place is. With a name like Sensus, who knows it’s like a bar or something which we do not normally go.

Sensus Bistro is located in Union Square on Capstan Way in Richmond. This is the place where Liu’s Taiwanese, Han Ju Hot Pot, Pho Queen and Richmond Sushi is, to name a few.

When we walk past this time on the way to @Ease, we notice the poster above pasted on the entrance. It looks like it is a Hongkong Style Cafe in the likes of Bauhinia … an upscale, more expensive type of HK Style Cafe. We thought this would be a much better idea than @Ease and decided to lunch here instead.

Don’t be misled by the empty looking restaurant above. We were there early for lunch as we normally do (i.e. it was just after 11AM). So they had just opened and the lunch crowd had not started trickling in. By noon, the place was packed. Sensus is obviously a popular restaurant and we had not heard of anyone talking about them before.

The decor is modern … OK, relative to all other HK Style Cafes. It is clean and well maintained. We had a good feeling about this place. If we had not pushed opened the door and walked in, we will have never discovered this place. If you ask me, the dark windows should go.

They have a relatively large menu with the same kind of offerings you find in Bauhinia. It is in color and have selected dishes pictured on it too. I had taken a few pictures of their menu and put them way down this post. Check that out.

On the table was this thingy above showing their special. I already know what I wanted. I had always wanted to try this (at Bauhinia). It is expensive though … $18 but on Thursday it is a special of the day at $14.

It sure is a mouthwatering chunk of meat isn’t it?

I ordered this with spaghetti on the side. The spaghetti is very well made … not too soft and firm to the bite.

While it is really nicely deep fried and crispy on the outside and the meat is tender and juicy inside, the pinkishness of the meat really puts me off. As for the taste … it does not taste nice at all. So … no, I did not enjoy it and struggled to eat this.

It’s something about the meat that does not agree with me personally. It is not that it is rotten or what. Looks can be deceiving for sure.

The Pork Knuckle came with buns which is warm. Surprise, surprise. And quite nice too although it is small. It also came with a choice of soup which is also good. The soup is definitely a notch above those you find in other HK Style Cafes.

Not pictured above is the milk tea. Some of the dishes came with free hot beverage with $1 extra for cold.

Suanne ordered their Japanese Ramen Soup with Pork Soft Bone. This one is $9 and comes with a hot beverage.

Suanne likes this, especially the soup which has distinct garlicky taste to it.

For those of you Ramen purist, I just want to add that it is unnecessary to bash this because we do not consider this ramen the likes of Kintaro’s. It is just a HK Style Cafe’s take on Ramen. He he he … wanted to say this in case some of you Ramen purist have this urge to say this is NOT RAMEN. LOL!

Suanne loves the fatty pork with a strong fermented beans flavour. She likes it a lot.

Arkensen’s choice is the Seafood Fried Rice with Crunchy Garlic ($9). Like the ramen, this one had a pronounced garlic flavour to it. It looked greasy but taste-wise, there is nothing much to write about. Just alright tasting carbs for a growing teenager.

Nanzaro wanted to order the Malaysian Style Fried Rice but they said they don’t do that anymore. I felt it was kind of strange because if they could do Arkensen’s fried rice, I am sure they could do this one too.

Instead, Nanzaro got the Baked Seafood Alfredo on Fried Rice @ $11). This came with a beverage, choice of soup and warm bun. Nanzaro said this was tasty. Suanne and I thought it was way too rich and it dries up into a clump when it got cold.

Nanzaro did not manage to finish it. I think despite what he said, he did not quite like it because he hardly touched it.

The bill is just over $50. Frankly, the food we ordered was nothing to shout about. Actually, let me put it this way … we were disappointed. Maybe we got the wrong stuff because I can clearly see that this restaurant is popular and is packed when we were there.

Anyway, below is a section of their menu … click on it for a clearer image.