*** BREAKING NEWS ***
I had talked about Ramen purists and how they defended venerable bowl of Japanese pork noodle soup.
I tried to garner support from a tiny band of Pho purists to defend with equal gusto the traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup.
I saw a glimmer of hope for the Malaysian Curry Laksa in the effort to be recognized in the company of the big boys in Asian noodle soups.
I am still learning about the promise of the Korean Beef Bone noodle soup and their own proud uniqueness.
It is time now for the Taiwanese Beef Noodle purists not to be out done … to stand up and be counted!
And man was I surprised by the turn out.
For the past few weeks, I had been hearing murmurings about the new Taiwanese Beef Noodle (TBN) house opening in the Aberdeen center. I heard it will be upscale and that it will shake the very foundation of the Taiwanese Beef Noodle Houses in Vancouver. There were talks that the kingpins of Vancouver TBN houses were watching with bated breath.
Two days ago, I read in the Loyaukee Chinese Foodie Forum, that Chef Hung had finally thrown opened the doors of his restaurant. So we planned to go for dinner but was faced with lines that is so uncommon in Chinese restaurants, let alone a TBN.
The wait was excruciatingly long. It took us 55 minutes before it got to our turn. People were patient.
While waiting in line, we overheard one of the leaving customers telling her friend who was standing in front of us that it is “hoe sek” with a thumbs up.
There were a few pictures and signs in Chinese just by the entrance. We could not read it but we can pick up the few words on the background of the pictures. We read the words “2006”, “2007” and “International Taiwanese Beef Noodle Compet …”. Chef Hung is some hot shot award winner, it seems.
They have an open kitchen. Eight people were working in that small space. It is a busy night for them trying to keep up with the demands. We saw them hand making the crispy pancakes and grilled dumplings.
I stopped one of waitress. I had to ask who is Chef Hung. I was afraid that Chef Hung is someone still in Taiwan who merely lent his name to open an outlet here in Vancouver.
She smiled and said “black cap” and quickly walked away with a pot of tea for the customer. Oh yeah … if you are there he’s the guy with the black cap and fancier chef jacket.
He personally prepares the noodles — most of the time anyway. I kept observing him. I noticed that every now and then, he takes a spoonful of the TBN soup and tasted it. It was very often, like once every 10 minutes. That’s a good sign … the man himself doing constant quality control.
He does walk out and speak to the customer. He stopped at the table next to ours but he did not ours!! I was dying to ask him tons of questions. We overheard him telling the table next to us that he takes two days to make the TBN soup.
Chef Hung’s TBN restaurant is clean. Decor was spartan. I don’t think anyone cared, not in such places. It was quite big and can fit quite a number of people.
They even have a VIP room which you can have. However you need to spend a minimum of $200 and are limited to 1.5 hours use. First time I came across this.
We read the menu. Our eye brows were raised when we saw that they are charging $11 for a bowl of their premium TBN. That is expensive when you could get top notch TBN for $7-$8 easily. Scanning the neighboring tables we saw that the bowls are not large, just average … we had seen larger ones.
This better be good.
Here’s the food …
On their menu are 14 different versions of the TBN, ranging from $11 down to $6 for just noodle plus soup.
I asked what is their best version. It is the first item and it is called Champignon Beef Shank with Noodle in Spicy Soup.
It looked simple. I had seen more complex looking ones. The soup does look lighter and does not look spicy at all … no red chili and no film of oil floating on top. First thing I did was to taste the soup. Despite the word “spicy” in the name, it was not spicy — just a faint tinge of spiciness. I like it … the soup was marvelous and flavourful.
We get an option between the flat or the thin noodles. I had to have the best and so asked the waitress what she thought Chef Hung would want to serve. She said thin … and I got thin. Very good … al dente to perfection and tasty too. From my table I could see Chef Hung caressing each strand of noodles before he dumps it the cooker. He made sure that every strand is separated and none sticks together. It was good to have long strands that you pick up one at a time to savour.
So … soup, good … noodles, good.
Champignon beef shank … nice! Large chunky ones at that too. Needed at least 2-3 bites to eat it. I took smaller bites to savour it with a spoonful of soup each time. It is not fibrous like other TBNs where you get this annoying problem when the tough meat gets stuck between your teeth. This meat has … errr … integrity? LOL!
While waiting for my TBN, I saw that there is one person in the open kitchen who was assigned solely to torch beef strips … one at a time. I was really curious and wondered what dish that was being prepared. I wanted to order that too.
So, I stopped one of the busy waitress, pointed to the torching and asked what is that being made for. She said, you have it … the beef strips being torched are served with the #1 TBN noodles.
This is it. A little bit of the all important fat. It has a smokey flavour, slightly different from the champignon beef shank.
I can see why this is so popular. It is different from other TBNs and very good — every single component of it. It is also simple without the complex tastes compared to mainstream TBNs.
At the end, I wanted more and asked Nanzaro if he wants to share another bowl. Good sense prevailed — we did not get another bowl.
This is $11. You should try and let me know if you like it.
TBN must have pickled mustard. Theirs is yellowish and chopped more finely. It is served on the side — not thrown into the bowl if you don’t want it.
Nanzaro had the Braised Beef Shank and Tripe with Noodles in Spicy Soup. This is the same as mine except for the beef parts. It is cheaper at $10. Poor Suanne was dying to try the soup but were limited to a few spoonful by Nanzaro and I.
I said poor Suanne, right? She tried something different. It was the Braised Beef with 5 Kind of Vegetables in Clear Broth ($8). What was she thinking of?!? LOL!
She complained that hers is bland – not salty enough. Loads of vegetables that includes corn, bok choy, tomato, brocolli and carrot. Don’t order this colourful dish — trust me.
It is more expensive than other TBNs. I think it is partly because of the location too. The line at the restaurant is testament to its reputation. I am not sure of their story behind Chef Hung winning awards in Taiwan but would like to know.
If you have 1 hour to wait in line and the matching patience, I suggest you drop whatever lunch or dinner plans you have today. It is fun to join in the hype. Let me know if you think it is “hoe sek”.
To us, it is indeed “HOE SEK!”
That looks really good! I’m salivating right now. The soup looks so delicious.
BTW, if you can recommend OTHER TBN place, what would you recc?
Hi Ben, Suanne, just letting you guys know how much I have enjoyed visiting your site, your write-ups are very interesting and often times humorous! I also like your posts on recipes, I’ll have to try them out. Thank you so much for sharing and thanks also for dropping by both my sites.
Here’s sharing with you 4 places we tried but have enjoyed our food:
-Prince Chinese Seafood Restaurant at 2881 Grandview Highway, Vancouver (recommend to arrive before noon for dim sum as it gets busy later)
-Ma Dang Coul (Korean, small restaurant) at 847 Denman Street, Vancouver (have enjoyed grilled chicken, dolsot bibimbap and seafood pancake)
-X-Site Grill and Bistro at 4625 Hastings Street, Burnaby ($4.95 lunch special Mon to Sat but must order a drink with special, entrees under $10)
-Joey at 550 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam, website http://joeysglobalgrill.com/home
Ahhhhhh! Been waiting for this too…will try to go tonight or tomorrow! Thanks for the heads up Ben. You really have to stop making me homesick though.
The Champion TBN definitely looks good! I was just at Aberdeen last weekend and didn’t see it coming!! Perhaps the next time in Richmond I’ll give it a try.
As Ben suggested, I went there today for lunch. I quickly got in at 11 am as soon as they open. A few minutes later there was already a line-up at the door. I ordered the beef shank, tendon and tripe with thin noodles and clear non-spicy broth. It was good but I don’t think it’s 11 dollars good. There are lots of other good Taiwanese beef noodle places in Vancouver with less expensive menu.
One thing I dont like about this place is that they are really rushing you out. Literally, as soon I put down my soup bowl they took it away. A few seconds later, they took the placemat and was about to take my teacup away when I told them I’m still drinking my tea. I hate that. Then they gave me my bill without asking. I checked my watch and it only took less than 17 mins from the time I sat down till they gave me my bill. No time at all to finish your tea and digest your food a bit. Other than that everything was fine. There are lots of waitresses to make sure your tea is always refilled.
“It was good but I don’t think it’s 11 dollars good. There are lots of other good Taiwanese beef noodle places in Vancouver with less expensive menu”
Because you are paying for the ambiance, decor, and free indoor parking. The price is all right in very nasty winter weather (freezing, raining, snowing), it is a huge plus you can park indoor and walk to the restaurant without being exposed outdoor. You don’t have to deal with cold, ugly rain or snow. You can wear whatever you want and your clothes and shoes won’t get dirty from rain or snow. It’s nice to dine out in this horrible weather but your clothes still remain intact and clean. Women like that. 🙂
In better weather? That place seems less appealing for 11 dollar beef noodle. LOL!
We were at Aberdeen for dinner on Friday night and saw the line-up. JS and I were actually looking forward to another TBN place; I didn’t know this Chef Hung is supposed to be a hotshot, though. 😉 Anyway, I wasn’t going to line-up that night, but will definitely check this out soon. Perhaps when all the hype has died down? I’m thinking of just getting the plain “hong zao” beef noodle soup, instead of the “Champignon” one, to compare with other TBNs.
Nice write-up, btw. Hehe. =)
Hi Ben,
Do you read Chinese? Interesting to know that you read Loyaukee as well. Most of the post there are in Chinese thought.
Anyway, nice review. I will try this place when the line-up is gone.
Winnie
Hi Winnie:
I don’t read Chinese but thank God for Google Translate. LOL! Anyway, many of the posts on Loyaukee is in English so I do follow the discussions.
Ben
Wah! I am amazed that you try to get restaurant news everywhere. Google translate is a good tool. I use it to navigate through Japanese pages when I planned for my trip 2 years ago.
You should post link of this food review (on a new topic because the other one is hidden) at Loyaukee.
Winnie
Wow, they threw the gauntlet down on this one eh ?
I’d like to see a “Gordon Ramsay” version of TBN, LOL !
Now I’m so intrigued. And hungry.
I really, really want to try this. I don’t mind the $11 per bowl, but I do mind the 1 hour wait.. hopefully it will subside over time!
Might man up and just wait an hour though…
Hi All: You know I had been thinking about the lines in Chef Hung’s. Normally in Chinese restaurants, they will take down names and then let people mill around and call the customer when a table is free. Here in Chef Hung, I think they cleverly manufactured the line. When I was dining there, I observed that they kept getting people to get into line … single file so that the people “don’t block the entrance”. This effectively made the line longer. What do you all think? LOL!
Ben
Ben now that you mentioned it, you are right. I haven’t seen any restaurant in the Lower Mainland that will not take you name but instead makes you line up single file. Even G-Men Ramen has a clipboard to jot down your name. This is absolutely odd but as you suggested, it could be just a gimmick to make an appearance that people are lining up for the restaurant. Pity the old folks that will not be able stand in line for 30 to 60 minutes.
Kintaro Ramen on Denman and Robson make you line up too. It’s a better system than taking names, because it’s first come first serve. It’s more civilized than chaotic dim sum places like po king in burnaby. if you go in a group, they’ll fill the smaller tables with people that come after you.
I did the one hour wait and discovered that tables of 2 moved much more quickly. For such a busy restaurant, I thought it was actually kind of small. i liked the minimalist decor.
As for the food, the spicy noodles and beef are definitely worth waiting for, but there are other options and $11 for a bowl of noodles is a little steep. However, I must say the noodles, beef and soup stock are king of the heap of taiwanese beef noodles in Vancouver. I just may be too cheap to appreciate it on regular basis.
I was more interested in seeing what all the hype was about, as you don’t see line ups for restaurants very often, except for dim sum.
DONT BOTHER COMING HERE:
I had been hearing rumours about this place for a few weeks and when it finally opened the missus and I were very excited to try it. Apparently Hung is a five time champion of the taipei noodle festival.
I can honestly say that I will never ever return here. I’ve always felt that all TBN in the city should be atleast acceptable, and for the first time I was extremely dissapointed, EXTREMELY.
Tonight we arrived at apprx. 6:30pm and it took us a good half hour or so to get to the front of the line. The host guy (middle age man who spoke canto) told us to “go to that table over there” and just waved us off (annoying). The table we had was as close as possible to the waitress station, I would have been able to lean over and poke one of them. Somehow.. with four waitresses on the floor serving what looked like only 20 or so tables, they missed us… seemed like we were invisible. I let them do their thing because I work in a restaurant too, but when I noticed the couple that was behind us in line already recieving their food, that pissed me off.
Eventually we got to order after flagging the host guy down, we ordered the “champion beef noodle in spicy soup” of course. This is easily the worst noodle I’ve ever eaten, if it weren’t for the fact that I hadn’t eaten all day I would have just paid and left.
The Noodles Breakdown:
-Noodle lacked texture and mouth feel(chewiness). acceptable, but the portion was very small.
-Soup was extremely bland, lacking flavour, aroma, and salt. It tasted exactly like watered down beef broth and nothing more. Spicy? only if you find water to be spicy (I may be desensitized to this sensation).
-Beef, the shank pieces were small, scarce and of average quality.
-Vegetables were non existant unless you count the slivers of green onion, they were also super stingey with the mustard greens which were salty and not the sweet-sour kind to which most are accustomed.
The only good item we had tonight was the daikon pancake thing, which was tasty. This place is not worth coming to and definitely not worth waiting in line for, at this rate I give them two months before their business dies off and they will close up shop when their lease ends.
*you will find this review at dinehere in a few minutes.*
Hi Wayne,
Even though I have not tried it yet, my mom did and she said the same thing……the noodles were small (not worth $11 and the soup was bland and no flavour……In my opinion, for TBN, nothing beats Vancouver’s TBN……There’s this place near oakridge which in my opinion has the best TBN in town and MUCH cheaper too….
Christine – is that the place directly across the mall, on the east side of Cambie ? They (sadly) had the front-row view to the Canada Line construction, yet they survived the 4-year construction and now is still there. I maybe making the wrong assumption about the TBN restaurant you are referring to, though.
Speaking of which, that other new TBN restaurant on Oak and 67th (forget name, but Ben reviewed it no long ago) is quite good IMHO.
I think this Chef Hung place is probably just “ok” but to some, the ambiance and prices may influence them into thinking the food is better than it really is. For others, the effect is totally opposite ….. nothing will convince them that a bowl of noodles (TBN or not) is worth more than $10.
Anyway that’s just my opinion. I suspect places like this with “higher-than-average” prices for what is a fairly pedestrian food will be polarizing to many diners, esp. foodies like us 😉
Christing, I’m not sure which place you are talking about but if you leave an address I’ll be sure to give it a go sometime.
LotusRapper, I have no problem with a place trying to make a better product at a higher price but this place falls far below average. I don’t know if they simply did no market research before opening but you should try it yourself, it is afterall only $11.
Yes – that is the place I was referring to. You can read more reviews at the dinehere site http://dinehere.ca/vancouver/tonys-beef-noodle. And yes, they survived the Canada Line construction . I’m sure the décor and atmosphere is not as fancy as Chef Hung’s but I go there for the food and think their soup noodles (beef noodles) are delicious. I usually just try the regular beef noodles (thick noodles)- the 1st one on the menu, although, they do have a spicy version of it for a bit more.
LotusRapper- I have not tried the Oak and 67th Ave Beef noodles, but from what I saw in Ben’s post, its similar to the one on Cambie.
All this talk makes me want to check out Tony’s. Will probably do it in the next few days. We went to Cambie for lunch today. It was a toss between Copa and Tony’s … we went to Copa because Arkensen and Nanzaro does not want TBN.
Ben
What did you think of COPA ? BTW, I can’t say their name without wanting to follow with “CABANA” 😉
They’re one of my parents’ favorite places. But standard modern HK fare, albeit in a pleasant and modern setting.
Hope this works:
http://maps.google.com/maps?key=ABQIAAAAQnwoqj5EUkU1lWFjsMYb_xRQT7ix3HWJa4RstUp4Ip80ejcpYRTPr2PhWwQnYqHzU6qnt58A5RWXvQ&sensor=false&mapclient=jsapi&ie=UTF8&ll=49.215579,-122.988467&spn=0,359.957471&z=15&layer=c&cbll=49.215478,-122.988452&panoid=DT8nc2gVnZ3mfvbxEUV30A&cbp=12,262.09,,0,-4.5
Sunflower Cafe is the left-most shop (yellow signage) in the small strip mall.
Had one of the worst meal experiences in Copa. Definitely like Cafe Gloucester who’s a few blocks down more.
LotusRapper, the place at Oak & 67th is Taiwan Beef Noodle King!
A little history class for those not in the know. 🙂
“A little back history of the owner of this restaurant is needed. Do you know about Taiwan Beef Noodle House? Actually, it’s now called Wang’s Beef Noodle House, I believe. What about Tony’s Beef Noodle? Anyways, these two restaurants and a couple other lesser known ones were started up and sold by the current owner/chef of TBNK (yea, I abbreviated it, too much typing). His first location was on Main near 35th avenue, and that was ages ago.”
– http://www.604foodtography.com/2009/07/30/taiwan-beef-noodle-king/
So now, Christine, if you think that Tony’s and TBNK are similar..you have a very valid reason to think so. 🙂
I think Christine was referring to Tony’s Beef Noodle house. The one that’s right across from Oakridge mall. Here’s some info from Urbanspoon.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/762695/restaurant/South-Cambie-Street/Tonys-Beef-Noodle-Vancouver
tried it last night, won’t go there again.
this is place is a joke~
Just tried, Small Portion, Nothing special ! Worst of the worst! . Not worth $11 for a bowl like this!! This place won’t last long!
Christine – two another places for Beef Noodles are:
1) LIN’S (W. Broadway btwn Granville and Fir)
2) PEACEFUL (W. Broadway btwn Cambie and Ash)
Both are *not* Taiwanese cuisine but mainland Shanghai & Northern fare. And both are as authentic as can be. I highly recommend them.
Oh, I tried Lin’s just last week, but not the noodles tho. I thought the service was fab, and the food was amazing too. Gotta try the noodles the next time I’m there.
I go to Tony’s quite often, but I don’t really think the noodle is something extraordinary. It’s cheaper, but it’s just okay to me.
Sorry, but another beef noodles place I go on a semi-regular basis is The Sunflower Cafe. They on Royal Oak just north of Rumble (immediately north of the Chevron station).
This is a fairly typical Taiwan fare/bubble tea joint. Small, modern, cheap and cheerful. Service is decent and food is average to above-average. Actually I think their beef noodles is quite good:
http://dinehere.ca/burnaby/sunflower-cafe
.
“Ben says:
December 21, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Hi All: You know I had been thinking about the lines in Chef Hung’s. Normally in Chinese restaurants, they will take down names and then let people mill around and call the customer when a table is free. Here in Chef Hung, I think they cleverly manufactured the line. When I was dining there, I observed that they kept getting people to get into line … single file so that the people “don’t block the entrance”. This effectively made the line longer. What do you all think? LOL!
Ben”
Glad you noticed that fabricated line of customers.
You missed all the comments in Vancouver Chinese forums. Most are outrageous with such dishonest business tactics, and do not recommend the food quality & taste there.
Just checked out Chef Hung’s TBN and i’m sorry to say that I won’t be going back. It is totally not worth the 25 minute line up or the high prices they charge. The beef and the noodles were really good but the soup was a little lacking in flavor and wasn’t spicy at all. The portion was also really small. I think i’ll just stick to my favorite TBN at Huang’s on 54th and Victoria.
Hi fresh_one: I was at Aberdeen for dinner tonight. I still see the long lines even till today despite all the bad reviews and feedback. What I am observing about Chef Hung is perplexing to say to least. It will be interesting to see how long it will take before the novelty dies down.
Ben
Like the old adage: “There’s one born every minute” …..
I’ve been hearing/seeing alot of ads for Chef Hung’s TBN on chinese tv and radio! They are really heavily promoting the place.
Also, I know of a Sunflower Cafe bubble tea and taiwanese food joint right by the Joyce Skytrain station too. I wonder if it’s related to the one in Burnaby?
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IMHO, to charge 11 dollars for a bowl of beef noodle, you expect to get something better than the cheaper TBN in other places. But it didn’t deliver. In the end, you feel like you’ve been ripped off.
Being married to a Taiwanese woman and having traveled to Taiwan many times I have eaten a lot of TBN in my life. Chef Huang’s is def one of the most overrated I have ever tried. It is def not bad but I would never go again for that price and the many other options available around the city. I believe the majority of people that do go and lineup are falling for that curiosity factor. I know I did haha. For TBN I totally recommend Sunway, Ben and Suanne reviewed it here
http://chowtimes.com/2009/10/25/sunway-restaurant-on-no-3-road-richmond/#more-14687
I have to say it is my favorite TBN place now and me and the missus travel to Richmond from Vancouver just for their food often. Its one of the closest I have tried to authentic Taiwanese food in Vancouver.
Cheers!
Best beef noodles in Richmond are Dinesty and Tri-ty. Lots beef and great flavor.
Sunway is no good. Small serving, not a lot of beef, flavor is not that strong.
Hi guys,
Very nice review, I like the way u walk us through the entire ordeal… haha.
I went there and also waited for 1 hr. Ordered the thick noodles, and I regretted. In comparison of the noodles only, the thick noodles at 41st/Cambie were much much much better then the $11 bowl. I wouldn’t recommend anyone ordering the thick noodle at Aberdeen.
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I tried this restaurant over the weekend with my fiance. Although we both had a good experience, we agreed that it was really, ‘nothing too spectacular’ and that if we had a choice we’d rather stick with Lao Shan Dong by Kingsway in Burnaby. It’s closer, and the soup is more flavour plus a lot cheaper.
Schweetb: Is there still a line at Chef Hung?
Hi Ben,
Last Sunday I went to Aberdeen for lunch and my fiance and I noticed that there were no line ups. This was around 1:30pm’ish…the food court was packed with people! Sadly, no long line ups in front for Chef Hung.
Very interesting! Thanks for reporting back on this. We’ll see how long Chef Hung will last. BTW, when I was at the 12B dinner last weekend with foodies/chowtimes readers, one of them who is Taiwanese swear that Chef Hung has the best TBN and added that for those who do not think it is good, they don’t know TBNs. LOL! I was sitting there and just thinking … “he sounded very convincing”. One thing for sure … Chef Hung has divided the opinions of Vancouverites on what TBNs is and is not. PRICE is their achilles heel.
Ben
Everyone’s tastebuds are unique to their own liking, I guess. I agree with on the price though!
Have you and Suanne had a chance to try out the new Cafe downstairs where Luk Fook used to be? It’s called Aoyama Cafe, a Jap/Euro fusion restaurant.
Just thought I’d give my opinion… simple Chinese fare, like beef noodles, is a failure when it goes upscale. Price isn’t important in the equation, I don’t think. I’ll pay a lot for a bowl of good noodles, but there’s something about a big dining room and a fancy kitchen and an army of waitresses that kills simple food like this.
This is food that is best served in small batches to a tiny room, with a one page menu, one cook, someone to jot down orders.
If you want to try some good beef noodles, take the Canada Line to Oakridge-41st and go across the street to Brother Wang’s Beef Noodle 王哥牛肉面. You’re in a room that seats 15 people, the menu is short and sweet. Order the braised beef noodles 红烧牛肉面, choose thin or fat noodles, and then grab a couple random snacks.
Death to lame upscale Chinese xiaochi. Long live stripmall noodles and public market rou jia mo.
Whoa, that’s too violent. LoL. Anyway, I passed by Chef Hung this afternoon (Jan 24th) and suprisingly, there is still a line-up. Don’t know if there are any repeat customers in the line-up. I know for sure I won’t be back there.
Despite my bombastic comments here, I have been to Chef Hung’s twice.
I mentioned Brother Wang’s Beef Noodle 王哥牛肉面 before, right across from the Oakridge Mall, and it’s probably my favorite beef noodle in the city. So, how does it compare to Chef Hung? If you take away the price (Brother Wang is going to come in quite a bit cheaper) and you take away the atmosphere (I prefer Brother Wang’s 15-seat dive atmosphere and surly waitresses), the noodles match up pretty well and are quite similar. I think what Chef Hung’s does very, very well is the soup, which is really rich and is happily lacking an MSG helper.
Chef Hung’s, compared to other places, seems to use a more meatier cut of beef. Brother Wang’s braised beef noodles feature big, ol’ pieces of tendon-y fatty beef that have been braised to perfection: you have the sticky, almost toffee-like texture of braised beef tendon and the rich, ice cream-like texture of tender fat. Kinda missed that from Chef Hung’s, but I’m sure it’d just be a matter of asking for the meat I wanted.
On the side dish front, Brother Wang is superficially more limited but actually has a lot more going for it. If you order a dish of cold pork in garlic sauce 蒜泥白肉 at Brother Wang’s, you’ve got a nice little stack of delicious, thin sliced pork belly in garlic and sesame sauce, and you’re extra happy because it’s cheap. I ordered… what’d I get? Soft tofu with century egg, which was okay, but extremely small. And deep fried little fishes (I forget the real name for these in Chinese and English) with cilantro, which was a thin layer of fried fish over a deep bowl of peanuts, with a sprig of cilantro on top. Come on, Chef Hung. Shanghai-style salted soymilk was really good, though.
I ain’t mad, though. The soup was crazy. Worth it just for that. Strike my previous comments from the record.
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hahaha, some people are like that pro-Japan while self-hating.
This is very good high-class Chinese la mian, way better than those Japanese la mian.
The texture of the noodle is chewy which is good, the beef shank is good, the soup base is very good. This is a must try restaurant.
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My family and I went there for dinner because the place we usually go ( next door ) was closed for renovations. No lineups on a Tuesday night. We all ordered TBN soups and also two appetizers. All of us were not particularly impressed with the soup as the taste was somewhat average and the noodle portions were on the small size for what was charged. The appetizers were also ordinary in way of taste and also on the small size. Anyways, total bill came to $49 for 3 soups and 2 appetizers. For what we got all of us felt it was a tad on the expensive side. Therefore, instead of leaving a 10% tip of $5 we only left a $3.5 tip.
What really got to us was the waitress saw our tip size and then began to question why we didn’t leave the standard 10% tip. I was surprised she asked me for more tip and told her a tip in not an obligation but extra for good service and good meal which I felt was not. Anyways, we were all taken aback by her boldness and attitude. Nevertheless, that will be our first and last time dinning there. Definitely do not recommend this restaurant as there are much better value for your money elsewhere.
For those into noodles I would recommend you try Deer Garden on Fraser. Much better value for your money.