Updated: 4th Nov 2014; This restaurant is closed.
We had come to like Jubilant a lot. That is, we as the whole family and not just Suanne and I only.
We first visited Jubilant almost two months ago and since then, we had been to Jubilant four times already. It helps especially when both Arkensen and Nanzaro likes the restaurant also. Its rare especially when our boys favourite restaurants are Kam Do and Banzai Sushi.
Jubilant is located in the small strip mall on No 3 Road and Browngate Road. This is the same strip mall where Golden Spring Szechuan and the No 1 Shanghai Restaurant is located. It is also across the street from Kim Ga Nae and HKYK Seafood Hotpot.
So you can quite imagine parking is an issue with so many big and popular restaurants concentrated here. There is a paid parking lot next to Kim Ga Nae which has a lot of space but it is outrageously expensive. If you can’t get a parking spot here, your next next best bet is to park in Aberdeen Mall and take that long walk over.
Jubilant is described as a Cantonese noodle house but we don’t associate them with a noodle house. We would say that they are more Cantonese cuisine than it is a noodle house.
The tables and chairs are comfortable but the arrangements are also very tight. They obviously try to squeeze in as many table as they can because they are a very popular restaurant.
We are lamenting again that we can’t read Chinese. All their specials are in Chinese and pasted along all the walls and windows … nary a single alphabet in sight.
Their lunch special is not bad. It is $8 for each of the 20 items and that includes rice and soup.
You may click on the menu above to show a larger image if you want to read the small prints.
We were drawn to their Chef’s Specials. The Drunken Chicken, which we ordered, is my favourite. I liked it so much that we had it three times out of the four visits here. Their other specialty is the Empress Chicken.
The combos are for those who likes variety. We did not try this at all but it looks like something we would go for breakfast. These combos are quite expensive ($11 for two choices or $14 for three) … but not if they serve full sizes for each choice.
See what I mean when I say that they are not quite a noodles restaurant? They also serve more expensive dishes too.
Their menu is so full of my favourite kind of food. That is not including all the specials on the wall. There are also $6 lunch specials together with drinks too.
Overall the prices are quite cheap for the quality and that is what we love about Jubilant. We came here looking to try the CRA award winning noodles but ended up discovering more than just noodles.
The Jubilant Restaurant won silver in the Cantonese Noodles category with the dish above.
While the CRA folks called it Vermicelli in Fish Broth with Fish Balls & Squid Balls, Jubilant called this slightly differently on their menu — Fish and Squid Balls in Noodle Soup combination. This is just $6 which is cheap considering that this also came with … a choice of drink.
We get a choice of noodle and we naturally picked vermicelli since this is the combination that won the award.
There is very little not to like about this dish. The broth is white and milky but mild tasting … not overwhelmingly milky.
It also has a lot of seaweed, and tung choy which mixes well with the vermicelli. There are also some fish cakes in the bowl too.
The best part is the squid balls and the fish balls. They are very smooth and bouncy. Both of them presents a different texture (the squid ball is rougher/coarser and less bouncy).
Look at the fish ball … look at how bouncy it is. For just $6 and with a drink thrown in, what more can one ask for.
This dish deserves to win Gold, not Silver in my books.
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This is my favourite dish at Jubilant. I just love the herbal soup and the fragrance of the wine. Jubilant by no means is the only place with this dish. Another place I enjoy this is at the Neptune Wonton Noodle, also on No 3 Road.
This is listed as one of their Chef’s Special where they have this listed as Drunken Chicken Hot Pot Assorted Plate. For two people it is $27 and for four people it is $40. Those are bigger servings and it has other stuff.
We almost ordered the $27 serving for two people. The waitress was kind enough to point out to us that one of the promotions on the wall is the Drunken Chicken Hot Pot which is only $11.
The soup base has wolfberry, scallions and tong kwai for flavouring.
This $11 version is simpler … just soup and chicken, no frills. That suited me fine because I was only eyeing the soup.
The chicken served here has both skin and bones on. He he he … I had been telling the world that they should always have meat with bones and skin on. That is the only way to enjoy it.
I also like the soy sauce which is sweet. I keep asking Suanne why we can’t have soy sauce like this at home and she keeps telling me she doesn’t know how that make it that sweet. Can you buy these type of soy sauce from the stores?
For $11, there is more than enough food for one person. Suanne prefers the wine-infused herbal soup from the fish broth and uses that to go with her vermicelli (she doesn’t quite like the milky soup). It actually tasted great.
I had the herbal soup with rice — I just love to eat it this way. The rice was extra at $1.10. We were wondering that, instead of getting the steamed rice, if we could order steamed vermicelli or glass noodles on the side.
Service at Jubilant is very good for a restaurant that is so busy. We never expect them to come to change the plates (for the bones from the chicken) but they did. Most Chinese restaurants like Jubilant would not even bother.
Arkensen ordered the BBQ pork on rice which is $6. That came with iced milk tea. Cheap right?
The BBQ Pork looked too dry to be good. As expected, Arkensen said it was good — everything is good for him.
Nanzaro’s choice was better. It is Szechuan Spicy Hot Sauce with Tossed Noodle ($6). This also came with a free drink.
The free drinks were not bad too. At that cheap price, I thought that it would have been somewhat watered down but they were good.
There are many reasons why we like coming back to Jubilant. We love the varieties on the menu. The service is good and efficient. Although they are busy, we can easily get what we want by flagging them down. The food is tasty and most important of all, it is really cheap.
The bad part is just the parking. Go early like 11AM for lunch and 5PM for dinner and you can be assured of parking.
Business Hour
7 days a week
11:00 am to 1:00 am
Jubilant is also one of our favorite restaurant. Their dishes are not as salty as some Cantonese restaurants. As you said their lunch specials are really inexpensive. I would even say they are cheaper than food court dishes. I usually order the ginger milk pudding dessert instead of drink. You can subsitute it without extra charge. Last time I was there, we ordered live spot prawns sauteed with soya sauce. It was gooood and cheap at 10.99 a pound.
I used to go to Jubilant on a weekly basis, but had to stop going not due to poor quality of food, but due to POOR VENTILATION of the restaurant. During winter time when a number of tables ordered that Drunken Chicken Hot Pot, the smell was suffocating. What’s worse, the smell would settle into my hair, coat and clothes. I had to wash everything I wore every time after visiting there…..in the summer, their air-conditioning was not strong enough and again with such a crowded restaurant you could barely breathe. I sure miss their food, so now I mostly do takeouts.
I’ve wondered about this place since it replaced a Hunan resto IIRC. The food sounds great (another place for the ginger milk dessert!) but I’m not so keen on the HVAC problems — will have to try to go when it’s not too cold or too hot :-).
Hi Grayelf:
Jubilant used to be the Famous Hakka Restaurant which did not last long. Maybe the Hunan resto you are referring to was before then. Anyway, we have a review of the Famous Hakka here: http://bit.ly/ciE4Fz
Ben
Oops, my bad, I meant Hakka, not Hunan, you are quite correct!
I just got back from a dinner at Jubilant. I just had to try that drunken chicken hotpot. It was good. I enjoy the broth butfor non-Chinese they might get put off by the strong herbal smell and taste. It is a healthy soup but it’s an acquired taste. I was also going to order spot prawns but they dont have them today. I wonder if the season is over. The last time I was at T&T they didnt have any spot prawns either. As far as ventilation is concerned, I didn’t really notice any stuffiness. However, I went for an early dinner and there were only a few tables occupied.
Regarding the Hunan place that Greyelf mentioned, I wonder if she is thinking of Golden Spring which is a couple of doors away from Jubilant.
Can’t be. Golden Spring is a Sichuan restaurant. I thought of that at first actually, Crispy Lechon.
Oh I forgot to mention, when I ordered the drunken chicken hotpot, I said, I want that hotpot priced at 11 dollars. I didnt want to be charged 27 or 40 dollars. I insisted that its 11 dollars. They told me its 12.98. I reluctantly went with it. Hey, 2 dollars is a lot of money for me. LOL.
Anyway, coming home from dinner, I re-read the post, I noticed in the bill posted above the price was really 12.98 and not 11.00. LOL.
LOL! We did not notice that. For some reason, we thought it was $11 when the waitress recommended that dish to us and we did not check the bill when we paid for it. We stand corrected. It is $13, not $11.
Hi Ben, we recently went to Jubilant and ordered their wine chicken cooked in herbal hot pot. It is now in their special fall/winter menu so it’s now priced at 10.99. It was good and we just had it with a couple of bowls of rice. There were some left overs and I had it packed and on the next day I added some noodles and had a good herbal chicken noodle soup.
T.T..
Thanks to you,shermen and secret garden..I know where to go to eat when i come to vancouver in a week (from calgary)!
U guy’s foodblog are the best.
But I “hate” you guys now,as I feel miserable living in calgary with NO DELICIOUS food.NONE.
And to dine out here is so expensive.
I want to LIVE in vancouver NOW simply because of the food there!
I love to eat so much I literally will cry when i eat something heavenly and people laughed at me thinking im so exaggerating!LOL.
I read thru you guys blog,I still cant decide which dim sum place is a must try since I only have 5 days in vancouver..
I choosed kirin @ richmond.
what do u think?
Thank you so much^o^
Hi Alisha:
For Dim Sum in Richmond, there are a lot of choices and most of them will not disappoint. If you were to ask me for one suggestion, I suggest you check out this one: http://bit.ly/9vM4NP
Ben
hi ben ^-^
Thank you so much for your help!!
The price @ The Empire Chinese Cuisine is scarry.
My head says No, but my stomach says YES!
Will definitely check that place out!
wish all the best you,and to your wife and kids as well 😀
Ur kids are so lucky having their parents knowing the art of eat so much!
I LOVE THIS PLACE TOO!! It is probably my favorite!!
We like to order the ‘yut bun wor’ – filled with fish balls and squid balls, vegetables, squid, octopus, shrimp, mushroom, etc.. all for only $11 =D considering it so cheap, you would think the portion is very small, but its soooo big!! we usually have to share it amongst 3 people :9
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