When we visited Pho Han, we put a long forgotten hole in the wall restaurant, Prata-Man back in the our places to visit. We had visited it when we were new to the city. That was more than 10 years ago. We over heard the server telling a customer at the table next to us that Prata-Man has been in business for more than 20 years.
It was a Saturday that we came here. Only Arkensen came with me because Nanzaro wanted to watch a winter classic alumni hockey game that afternoon.
Prata-Man served Singaporean cuisine which is very similar to Malaysian cuisine. We noticed there were quite a number of Costco staff that came here for lunch because of it’s proximity to Costco in Richmond.
There is hardly any decoration and even the tables and chairs are mix and match.
The good thing is they have menu with photos for easy ordering. Their menu is limited, less than 30 items. So, ordering is made simpler rather than some restaurants which offer 100 over items and making choices seemed so difficult. You can click on the photos to have a larger view.
Prata-Man also offers combo for 2 for eat in only from Tuesday to Thursday. It looks like a good bargain. You can click on the menu to have a larger view.
For appetizer, we ordered half and order of BBQ satay. We ordered the mix version, i.e. 2 beef, 2 chicken and 2 pork to try. The half dozen satay costs $7.75.
The BBQ satay is served with sliced cucumber, pickled daikon and carrot and peanut sauce. The peanut sauce is not as spicy as we are used to. But I like the chunky peanut texture. Of the three types of meat, I still prefer chicken which is more tender.
Arkensen agreed to come here because I told him that Prata-Man serves Hainanese Chicken Rice. He loves this dish. The single serving costs $6.95.
The serving of the chicken is quite big. The best thing is that it’s boneless. Arkensen does not like his chicken with bones.
The Hainanese Chicken Rice came with a bowl of clear chicken broth and condiments like green onion ginger sauce and chili sauce. Now, I remembered why we did not return to this restaurant. It’s the chili sauce that is served with the Hainanese chicken rice that put us off when we first visited. The authentic chili sauce should be made with fresh chili and lime but the one that is served in Prata-Man looks like those sweet Thai chili sauce.
The server only served the Hainanese Chicken Rice with a soup spoon which came with the soup. I wanted to ask for proper fork and spoon for Arkensen but he said he can just eat the soup spoon. Kind of weird eating with a soup spoon.
I ordered the Curry Beef Brisket Rice which is $7.95. It was quite a big serving that I had almost half leftover packed to go.
Besides the tender chunky beef brisket with some fatty layers, there is a few potatoes in the curry. I enjoyed this strong tasting curry which goes well with the steamed rice. It has a rich spicy flavour in term of the spices, not spicy hot.
We ordered a Seafood Mee Goreng for takeout for Nanzaro. It was $7.75. The serving was so big that even Nanzaro cannot finish it. We ordered it extra spicy but Nanzaro told me that it was not spicy enough for him. Nevertheless, he enjoyed it.
Prata-Man accepts cash only.
You can click on the take out menu above to check out other items’ prices.
I went there for the first time over 10 years ago and haven’t been back since. Enough said.
There was another reason why we did not go back to Prata Man since we went 10 years ago. We ordered Nasi Lemak and they did not have sambal. When we asked for sambal the waitress did not know what sambal is!
Having said that, many people swear that Prata Man is a great place. I think if you search “Prata Man” on chowtimes, you will find quite a number of for and against comments. *shrug*
Prata-Man is a real hit & miss place. I’ve been there twice. Never gone back. Enough said 😉
Wow 20 years and I haven’t heard of it. We’ll put it on the list of Malaysian type place to try. Any sign of Sambal on the last visit?
Another pretty good Malay resto to try is Kedah House on Marine Drive @ Argyle. Very very good beef rendang !
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/180964/restaurant/Victoria-Fraserview-Killarney/Kedah-House-Restaurant-and-Cafe-Vancouver
Totally agree with you LotusRapper! As a matter of fact, the FIRST resto I went to the moment I got back from spending the last few months away was to have dinner in Kedah House. You can’t beat the value their buffet provides. Not a lot of choices but what they have is just enough to make one happy. 🙂 Ben
Welcome back, Ben!
Prata Man is a wonder to me…not sure how they have survived 20 years?
I suppose the business has changed hands serval times….they just keep the name.
Guess that explains the hit and miss factor a bit. My visits are years a part as well.
Good to be back, Joyluckclub. I haven’t seen much updates from your blog. Been cooking and eating well, I presume! 🙂
How long are you back for, Ben ?
No long enough, LotusRapper. But at least I will be around YVR this whole month.
Since I haven’t been to Kedah House’s buffet, I took my son with me yesterday. Noon time and we were the first customers. “Tidak apa” attitude from workers. You are right on the choices. There were western salad, gado-gado, malay-styled fried mai-fun, hard boiled egg in sambal tumis, beef rendang (sauce was so diluted; was like water), fried chicken, basmati rice, soup. Dessert were green beans in coconut milk (bloody sweet!!) and some cakes (didn’t touch it). The taste was ok. Particularly liked the soup.
Do you know if these are the same food every weekend?
Got a touch of Malaysian “hospitality”. The guy gave me my change, while watching the TV and said, “Thank you. Come again.” yeah, right…
Hi Lissa: We used to see different items on the buffet before but for the past few times we were seeing the same items. Ben
Hi Lissa, the sauce of beef rendang I had was thick and rich. Too bad to hear yours was watery 🙁
Maybe one way to see what their recent buffet offerings are is to see what other bloggers are having:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/180964/restaurant/Victoria-Fraserview-Killarney/Kedah-House-Restaurant-and-Cafe-Vancouver
I used to live in the neighborhood behind Prata Man and even I didn’t to very often. Not because I didn’t enjoy the food…the Hainanese chicken isn’t bad and I really enjoy the Mee Goreng…but the level of grease and heaviness of the food is often overwhelming. I got sick once too.
I guess it’s more of a novelty than anything…remembering what it was like eating there when I first moved to that house 15 years ago and eating there on occasion when skipping school with friends.
I can never understand why restaurants can’t serve the proper Hainan chili sauce. I make my own every year in the fall and freeze like a gallon of it for the year. It is so easy…hot peppers, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, vinegar, in a blender.
strike one – more than ten years ago
strike two – about two years ago
… why waste money on strike three ?
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