noodles Archives - Page 2 of 11

Shanghai River

August 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

The boyfriend and I were having one of those indecisive nights about what to do for dinner… we must have spent over a hour thinking of a place!!! Anyways, we decided on Aree Thai since it’s been years that we went, but as we were looking for parking it looked absolutely dead… like the waitress was watching movies on her laptop and there were no tables. At this point, we just quickly pulled up Yelp and entered in ‘Richmond’, Shanghai River showed up so off we went. It was a spontaneous decision but it ended up being a really good dinner.

Shanghai River is located in Richmond by No. 3 road. There is free underground parking in the apartment tower that it is in, just make sure you read the signs for the parking. Walking in, it was more upscale than we thought it would be.

There is also a clear glass window where you can see the workers making fresh XLB.

Stir fry sticky rice cake: When thinking of Shanghai food, this is one of my top picks. It’s been awhile since I had this! The rice cakes were perfectly chewy and dense. People usually underestimate them but they are actually quite filling. There was lots of ‘wok hei’ which made it even more delicious. The literal translation of wok hei is ‘wok breath’. I’m not sure how it works exactly but if the wok is at a high enough temperature, it has a distinct delicious taste. The only negative thing was that it was very oily.

Dan dan noodles: This is the boyfriend’s must have when we go for Shanghai food. He fell in love with it and still talks about how delicious it was. The peanuts were very fresh and crunchy and it had a good amount of spice in it.

Xiao long bao: We wanted to compare the XLB here to other places that we tried! It was delicious. They were fresh and juicy.

Pan fried dumpling: Although we had so much food, the boyfriend insisted on trying this as well. Compare to the XLB, the skin was alot thicker. It also had a slight sweetness to it. The meat inside was nice and juicy.

We ordered so much food that we had enough for leftovers the next day! We will definitely be back to Shanghai River when craving some Shanghai food. It was a great find on Yelp!

Yay!

Food: Shang Noodle House

March 19, 2018 Leave a Comment

While browsing Groupon in the fall, I came across a really good deal at Shang Noodle House! The Groupon came with two bowls of noodles, takoyaki, fried chicken, and two cans of pop for only $25! I purchased it right away and we went to go try it a few months after.

After we paid for street parking, we went inside the restaurant and found out that they had free reserved spots -_- so a heads up to all of you driving there, save yourself some money! The restaurant was completely full and it looked like most people also had the Groupon based on the food everyone ordered. I mean, Asian people usually do not buy canned pop at restaurants… we all know it’s really overpriced!

Takoyaki: The takoyaki came out piping out and fresh. The outside was crispy while the inside had a good amount of stuffing and a piece of octopus. It was pretty good!

Chicken wings: The chicken wings also came out piping out and fresh. I really liked them because they had the flavour of chicken karaage. They were also very crunchy and crispy.

Prawn, scallop, chicken, and bbq pork ramen in pork broth: I chose this one since I like my prawn and chicken. The pork broth was yummy and flavourful, with a strong white pepper flavour. The ramen was different than the usual type of ramen. I would describe the noodles to be more like egg noodles actually.

Pork katsu udon in bonito shoyu: The pork katsu came on the side, and it was quite a big portion. Definitely worth the full price of $10.90! Just like the other fried stuff, the pork katsu was very crunchy and fresh. The bonito shoyu broth was tasty as well.

The Groupon was a great deal because the portions here are really filling and delicious. Even without a Groupon, I would definitely come back. If they do another Groupon deal, I’m definitely going to re-purchase it!

While doing research for this review, I found out that this place is owned under the Kirin Restaurant Group. Even more bonus points because Kirin is quite notable for Chinese fine dining.

Yay!

Food: Rhinofish

December 11, 2017 Leave a Comment

I first heard about Rhinofish in a news article, highlighting their truffle oil Taiwanese chicken nuggets. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never tried Taiwanese nuggets with truffle oil so I was quite intrigued. I finally had the chance to try Rhinofish with Cola a few months after they opened!
Growing up, I was in Chinatown with family often so I remembered this place as a Chinese tea speciality store – Ten Ren Tea to be exact. I was a bit sad to see it go, but change is really evident in Chinatown these past years. Rhinofish also kept the original green tile from the tea shop so that’s good.
We went on a chilly November weekday evening, and it was pretty quiet. The place had new and modern decor, but it had that old building smell and the floors seemed like the original. I quite liked the vibe in here.
Open kitchen and the rest of the restaurant.
Taiwanese chicken nugget w/ truffle oil and parmesan, $8.50: When this arrived, it smelled heavenly. I love the smell of truffle oil and when the scent wafted to my nose, I couldn’t wait to try it! It also came sprinkled with a generous amount of parmesan cheese, which melted a bit from the heat of chicken nuggets.

I was a bit disappointed because I couldn’t really taste the truffle oil at all. After the initial scent of truffle oil when it arrived, the smell dissipated. It tasted like ordinary Taiwanese chicken nuggets, which were still delicious. They were juicy and fresh, just no truffle oil taste.
Taiwanese beef noodles, $14.50: The classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This was delicious and just perfect! The broth had a nice depth and richness to it. Meanwhile, the short ribs were richly marinated, incredibly tender and melt in your mouth.

It was the perfect bowl of Taiwanese beef noodles for me, although I read that some people found it too salty. However, I am a savoury food lover (savoury>sweet any day) so take it with a grain of salt, literally ;).
Huadiao rice wine chicken noodle soup, $14: Cola decided to try a different type of noodle soup that night. I tried a bit of the soup, and I found it to be sweeter but flatter than the beef noodle soup. The veggies were clean and fresh, just like my bowl of noodles.

Despite the fact that I came here mainly to try the truffle oil chicken nuggets, I really liked the Taiwanese beef noodle soup. This place is pretty hipster as you can tell with this cute plant IN the table LOL, (along with all the new restaurants popping up in Chinatown), but they do capture traditional Taiwanese beef noodle soup really well.

I can add this place to my list of Taiwanese restaurants for when I am craving beef noodle soup… and with winter coming, you know that I’ll be getting my noodle fix more often!

Yay!

Food: Mr. Chili Noodle House (Two visits)

November 27, 2017 Leave a Comment

When Mr. Chili popped up in the area last year, I was quite excited to try it because I looooove noodles. However, the initial reviews online weren’t that good so my excitement died down. For the past few months, they have been on Groupon so I decided it was time to try it.

I didn’t realize I bought two Groupons for this place on two separate occasions so I went twice… but once was probably enough as it was meh.

I feel like many people don’t know that this place exists. I’ve told my parents, boyfriends, and a few friends about it and they’re all like ??? despite frequenting this area. It’s one of those places that you just pass by without a second glance.

Both Groupons were essentially 50% off the bill. If you’d like to be specific, the first Groupon was $10 for $20 worth of food, while the second Groupon was $20 for $40 worth of food. Again, I don’t remember why I bought two Groupons… must have been really tired the first time and forgot that the Groupon existed…

One thing I’ll give Mr. Chili is their interior design and decor. In fact, I loved their design more than I loved the food.

It’s also very clean and spotless in here (maybe because no one ever comes? LOL ok I’ll stop being so harsh...)

Beef Noodle Soup, $9.50: This beef noodle soup was DEFINITELY not worth $9.50. The soup was very flat and flavourless. It tasted just like salt water. In addition, the brisket was quite tough and flavourless as well.

On the plus, I quite enjoyed the noodles. They had a denser texture to them and were cooked perfectly.

Chicken laksa, $8.95: On the first visit, the boyfriend decided to go with the laksa. It was a way better choice than mine because the laksa actually had flavour to it and was creamy. There was also a good amount of spice. Meanwhile, the chicken was tender.

Now, it’s time for the second visit!

Seafood laksa noodle soup, $8.95: Since the boyfriend’s chicken laksa soup was pretty good during our first visit, he and my mom decided to try the seafood version instead.

When it arrived, they were both pretty disappointed with the amount of “seafood” inside. It came with a measly 3 fish balls cut in half so it looked like more, a small piece of shrimp, dried shrimp flakes, and a mussel (which was very small).

The soup was still flavourful but the value didn’t seem worth it. Better off to get the chicken laksa instead.

Spicy pork intestine noodle soup, $8.50: My dad enjoyed the spicy pork intestine, which I found surprising because he can be very picky sometimes!

Tomato seafood noodle soup, $8.95: I decided to try this since the beef noodle soup was disappointing (see above). This was disappointing as well. The soup was very bland, with only a hint of tomato flavour.

All in all, Mr. Chili was quite meh. Would I recommend coming here without a Groupon (aka paying full price)? Definitely not.

Service was also very, very, very slow. On the second visit, my mom’s seafood laksa came first and she was almost done her bowl before the rest of ours came. In addition, the 2 servers seemed very frazzled, confused, and rushed all the time… but there were only 3 tables??? We think that there was only one kitchen staff because our food came out super slow and one at a time.

Honestly not too sure how this place will survive with how quiet it is. I really wanted to like this place so I had a close noodle joint to go to but there are a lot of better noodle options in the Lower Mainland.

Nay….

Chef Hung Taiwanese Noodle

October 19, 2017 Leave a Comment

In August, I had a craving for Taiwanese noodles, even though it was very hot outside. So after doing some research, I remembered that SFU had just opened a new Taiwanese noodle place, Chef Hung!

I’ve been to the Chef Hung at Aberdeen Center in Richmond at least 6-7 years ago and remembered that it was really good but haven’t gone back since.

Seeing that the distance between Chef Hung’s and another Taiwanese beef noodle place was about the same we decided to go to SFU because we knew that it would not be as busy on a Friday night.

Since it was semester break the restaurant was pretty quiet. Prior to visiting, we called the restaurant to see if it was open as many other food places at SFU were closed during the break.

I’ve heard that during school time the restaurant is pretty lined up and busy though.

The restaurant was pretty comfortable and also very clean! That’s always the plus side of going to new restaurants 🙂

Champion beef brisket in clear noodle soup: I just wanted the standard Taiwanese beef noodle but the menu was a bit confusing as the descriptions didn’t seem to have it. So I decided to just take the chance and get this one and hope that it was the correct one.

Unfortunately, I was wrong! This was not this Taiwanese beef noodle soup that I was craving but I decided to try it anyways! I wasn’t a big fan of the meat because I don’t normally enjoy eating skin or tendon or anything like that, so luckily the boyfriend was able to have all of the meat.

As for the broth, it was really clear and it tasted pretty healthy. I was hoping to have the dark beef broth with preserved veggies that usually comes with Taiwanese noodles but this one was alright too. The only thing that matched my cravings were the chewy flat noodles which were delicious. There were dense and chewy.

Award-winning beef shank and tripe in tomato noodle soup: I guess beef shank was the meat that I was looking for but it’s quite confusing because restaurants describe their meats differently.

So we ended up trading the meat and I had the beef shank, which the boyfriend didn’t mind because he liked the meat in my bowl better anyways. The beef shank was PERFECTTTT, it was so tender and full of marinated flavour!

Just like my soup, his tomato soup was pretty clear and also healthy not to oily or salty.

Taiwanese chicken nuggets: The boyfriend was curious as to how the chicken nuggets fared here. It was a good choice because he really liked them! They weren’t too salty, not overcooked, and very fresh and crispy.

Overall I think that this place is a bit overpriced but you do get what you pay for! All the ingredients are of good quality but it was disappointing to see that they didn’t have the standard Taiwanese beef noodle soup that most Taiwanese restaurants have. However, it’s definitely a decent option to have if you are stuck on campus.

Yay!