Friends of Tai Chi Dinner at Shiang Garden, Richmond

Lorna invited me to the Friends of Tai Chi Chinese New Year celebration dinner at Shiang Garden.

This is an annual event for the Friends of Tai Chi group. The master of this group had been teaching tai chi for 20 years. She used to be a member of the Richmond Community Kitchen too.

The event began with tai chi performances by some students.

A duo sword performance.

The master performed a sword performance.

I particularly like above performance where the performer recited the poetic movement along with his performance.

The master ended the performances with a fan performance. I like the sound of flipping open the fan during the performance.

A round of lucky draw before dinner was served.

Dinner started off with a thick soup, “geng”. The above is Fish Maw Soup with Crabmeat. A little red vinegar to cut the richness of the soup.

Duck served in two ways. The server brought the whole duck to the table to have a view of it and brought it to another working table to carve it. (more…)

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Red Star Seafood Restaurant on Cambie St., Richmond

It was Lorna’s special day. She invited me and Marian to join her and her friends on their weekly dine out to celebrate her special day. By the way, her friends do not know it’s her special day.

We had dinner at Red Star Seafood Restaurant at President Plaza in Richmond.

These were the items they ordered. A whole soy sauce chicken. They were juicy.

A tofu dish with scallops and fish roes. The scallops are of good size and the tofu is silky smooth. (more…)

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Angel Cake Cafe on Fraser Street, Vancouver

It’s the celebration of a colleague in the office. We initially wanted to order take out from Panos Greek Taverna but unfortunately, it was closed on Monday.

So, we had to go to plan B and went for Angel Cake Cafe. By the way, the birthday cake above was from Maxim’s Bakery on Fraser St. We always pre-order the cake for the 10% discount.

Here were what we ordered; Prawn and Chicken with Green Vegetable.

Honey Garlic Spareribs for the meat lover. (more…)

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Chongqing Restaurant on Commercial Drive, Vancouver

A few of the participants from the Experience Works program which I attended in early 2018 got together for lunch.

Eva suggested Chongqing Restaurant as she and her gardening group used to dine here. The restaurant was not very busy on the Saturday that we met here.

Elena and I arrived first. She ordered a pork dumpling from the dim sum section to start off as she was hungry. When the rest of the group arrived, she took charge of the rest of the ordering. We had fried rice with shrimp to go with other dishes.

Since Eva is a vegetarian, we ordered one of her favourite dish, Fried Green Bean Szechuan style. (more…)

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Popeye’s on Hawkins Street, Coquitlam

After the walk at the Lights of Lafarge, Nanzaro recommended to have dinner at Popeye’s in Coquitlam since we were in the neighbourhood.

Popeye’s is located in the Fremont Village. Luckily, it’s opened on Christmas day.

The seating area is partitioned into 2 sections by this spice display unit, quite creative.

Since this is a fast food place, you order at the counter and pick up your order. They will call your name when the order is ready.

The walls are decorated with the Popeye’s history and how the chicken is made.

We ordered the 8 pc family deal for $19.99. It came in a paper box.

The top layer are the big pieces from chicken breast and thighs. (more…)

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Dhaliwal Sweets & Restaurant on Fraser St., Vancouver

My office celebrated a colleague’s birthday on Christmas eve. We ordered take out from Dhaliwal Sweets & Restaurant as the birthday girl is from Gujarat.

We had Fish Pakora as starter. The fish is marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic

The Chicken Biryani was quite spicy.

The Prawn Goa Curry was creamy and mild, cooked with ginger, garlic, onion and coconut milk. The prawns were on the skimpy side.  (more…)

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Good Choice Restaurant on Fraser St., Vancouver

My company had the Christmas dinner at Good Choice Restaurant. It’s convenient for everyone due to it’s proximity to the workplace.

The restaurant was busy and it was full house after 7PM.

My boss brought a couple bottles of red wine. I’m not a wine drinker, so I just pass.

Snacks for us to munch while waiting for dishes. Fried peanuts and pickled daikon and carrots to vet our appetite. We love these so much that we asked for seconds.

XO sauce is served when the dishes is served.

We started with the daily soup which is pork bone soup with some kind of root vegetable. The root vegetable in Cantonese is called “fern got”. Anyone know the name in English?

We had Ling Cod prepared in two ways. The first is stir fry ling cod balls with mixed vegetables. This was pretty good. (more…)

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Simple Bites on Fraser Street, Vancouver

We decided to have breakfast near my work place on a week day. We always walk past this restaurant which opens early for breakfast, 8:00AM to 8:00PM.

It’s a Japanese style restaurant with simple bites, hence it’s name.

The menu is simple and price is reasonable.

Customer orders and pays at the counter.

Food will be delivered to the customer. There is 2 small tables in front of the counter and a long bench seating facing the wall, so seating is limited.

Nanzaro ordered a Sausage and Scrambled Eggs Muffin for $2.50. The scrambled eggs were fluffy. (more…)

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Gia Minh Vietnamese Restaurant on Fraser St., Vancouver

Jo invited Ben and I for dinner on a weekday impromptu.

Jo ordered a couple of appetizers. The first one was the above BBQ squid. It was tender and it came with a dipping sauce.

Jo wanted the salad roll but ordered wrongly and got the spring roll instead. The spring roll was rather skinny. I prefer those wrap in rice paper.

Jo decided to order another salad roll which she originally intended. Salad roll is more healthy without the deep frying. This came with a peanut dipping sauce. (more…)

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