Updated: 7 June 2009 – this restaurant had been replaced with a new restaurant.
We met up with a Christina and Ed for the first time over lunch a few weeks ago. We got to know them because, like us, they are also food bloggers from Richmond. We decided to meet up and picked the new Famous Hakka Restaurant.
It turned out that Christina and Ed are real foodies and very knowledgeable about Chinese cuisine. Christina, in particular, takes food seriously. She told us that meal times were formal events in her home when she was young. The family meal is very important and must have at least a meat, a veggie and a soup. I thought it was quite funny when she told us that she had never had Chinese takeout until she was 12 — and how it was an event for her. Christina and Ed had a knack for properly describing the food … Suanne and I only describe food we eat with words like yummy, good, delicious … LOL!!
You guys should check out Christina and Ed’s food blog. It is called Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken. Remember the word “taste” is spelt as “TaZte” — you ask them why. OK, back to food …

The Famous Hakka Restaurant is located along No 3 Road in the strip mall near the intersection with Cambie. It had just opened for just a couple of months or so. Actually, this is our first trip to a Hakka cuisine restaurant and looked forward to learn more about it.

It still being new, the entire place is neat and clean. With wrap around floor to ceiling windows, it is bright making it perfect for taking pictures.
I really know very little about Hakka cuisine even though I grew up with lots of Hakka friends. My impression is that Hakka food is simple, has little garnishing and emphasizes on the main ingredient. If it is chicken, all you see and taste is chicken … they normally don’t add stuff like cucumbers, leafy veggies and such. Is my perception correct?

We left the ordering to Christina and Ed. For tea, they ordered the Gook Far Char (Chrysanthemum Tea). Gosh … for all my life I did not know that Gook Far Char and Gook Bow Char are different. I thought they are the same. I learned something new today. I had been playing around the idea of doing some research on Chinese tea and making a series out of it. He he he … that will certainly make you all cry foul worse than my tedious travel series! But seriously, I think that would be great for the Google Search Engine and will bring even more traffic to this site.

So, since this is supposed to be a formal meal and according to Christina a formal meal MUST have soup, we ordered soup. We had the Pork Stomach with Salted Veggie and Peppercorn Soup. (more…)