Ben and I were at the Yaohan Foodcourt looking for breakfast.
We settled with Wah Yuen Noodle House for some Hong Kong style breakfast.
Ben had a multi meatballs noodle soup for $6. It came with some seaweed too.
I had a Beef and Tendon dry mix noodle. It is also $6. (more…)
When Ben returned from Beijing, he often looks forward for some comfort food. We were at Yaohan for some groceries shopping and Ben wanted to get a bite from the…
Updated: 4th July 2012; This restaurant had closed according to Urbanspoon.com.
I can’t quite explain it.
But I’ll try and it is based on my very personal judgment.
There is something about Luda that jumped out at me when I first came across this restaurant more than a month ago. Something tells me that it is a restaurant that can’t be ignored.
Maybe it is the simplicity of the English rendition of name, Luda.
Maybe it is that the Cantonese name, Low Dai, means Big Brother. Just like a Chinese gangster would address his boss.
Maybe it is because of the billboard outside the restaurant which I rarely come across … well, not billboards as big as those you see above.
Maybe it is also because they mention their dishes on the signs. It says that they are “King of Beef Balls” and they also mentioned Hainanese Chicken and Curry Dishes. To me it reminds me of the restaurants in Asia where they specialize in certain dishes and they serve nothing but that one dish. I don’t see many of such specialty restaurants in Vancouver.
But I think most of all, Luda has that “Richmond-esque” that I don’t expect to see in this part of Vancouver. If Luda is located in Richmond, I would perhaps not bat an eyelid.
But in East Hastings, I felt that it is somewhat interesting.
I was so intent on eating there but I know the best way is do it in a group. That way I could order many more dishes to try. So, I organized a mini chowtimes dinner — just enough to fill one table. So I thought. That ONE table became a table of 14 people. I had to cap it at 14 because that was the largest table they had in Luda and I did not want to have a 2 table party.
Gosh. The restaurant sure was busy. While I was focused within our large table at the corner of the restaurant, I did turn around every now and then. It is remarkable how busy and popular this restaurant is.
The decor is modern. I like the large calligraphy Luda words on the wall. It looked like it was taken straight out of some gangster movie from Hong Kong.
And they are seriously under staff. It was not just our table but I can see that the waitresses were having a hard time trying to keep up.
Too bad I don’t read Chinese. They have a seasonal menu on the board at the back of the restaurant.
One of them read Lamb Hot Pot. I had wanted to always try the award winning Lamb Hot Pot in Excelsior and since Luda is related in someway to Excelsior, I thought I want to order this. But there were no takers that night … so yeah, we did not order that.
The meal started off with the Pork Stomach Soup. I selected this because this is a dish that must be pre-ordered one day in advance. Suanne says that I always want any dish that needs pre-ordering without considering what it is. 🙂
This is somewhat expensive. It is $38. The soup is murky and quite peppery. However, it seems like it did not go through enough cooking time (Chinese “for hao”).
The ingredients of the soup which is pork stomach and pork bones were served on the side. I was quite happy and thought wow, so much pork stomach.
But no … (more…)