chinese food Archives - Curiously Carmen

Tasty Hand-Pulled Lanzhou Noodle, New York City

June 19, 2016

Since I’ve gotten back from New York, people have asked what my favourite moments there was. Undeniably, the Empire State Building, Matilda the musical, and visiting all the urban parks were at the top of the list!

But what about food? Would you believe me if I told you it was this small, dingy, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Chinatown called Tasty Handpulled Noodle? Perhaps it’s the noodle crazed fanatic in me talking, but I still constantly think about this place and how delicious their hand-pulled noodles were.

House special noodle soup, $8.50: For $8.50, this bowl was definitely worth the price and so filling.
Beef noodle soup, $7.25: I ordered the beef noodle soup because I don’t really like tendon.

The star of the show here is definitely the hand made and hand pulled noodles. Each noodle bowl is made fresh to order. Your noodles start from a lump of dough, and once you specify the type of noodle you want, you can see the worker in the kitchen pulling and cutting the noodles before throwing it in the boiling hot water.

The noodles had a great chewy texture, and were pretty thick too. The slightly ribbed edges of the noodles allowed for the beef broth to soak inside, which led to a very delicious taste in your mouth!
Roast duck noodle soup, $7.75: We both loved this place so much and couldn’t stop thinking about it after lunch, so we came back for dinner the same day. Yup, we loved the noodles that much and the price made it even better!

Instead of ordering the beef noodle soup again, we decided on trying the roast duck noodle soup. The base and noodles were the same, the only difference is that it came with duck instead of beef. I actually liked the duck more than the beef because it was more tender and had more flavour.
Here is a photo of the chef pulling the dough to create the delicious noodles!

Tasty noodle, you were DEFINITELY tasty! Don’t judge a book by its cover or you’ll miss out on some delicious noodles. Give this place a try if you’re ever in New York City’s Chinatown neighbourhood!

Yay!

Thanks for reading,

Carmen

Duotian Fish Soup Noodles Restaurant – Stingy restaurant =\

July 14, 2015

Hi everyone!!

Cheese and I decided to have lunch here one day because we were craving Hong Kong style iced lemon tea, and it was the closest place. I didn’t really have a good experience here last month, but I wanted to come back and give it another try.

I’m not sure I’l be back or not, their food isn’t that great because the restaurant is so incredibly cheap and stingy. There are definitely a lot better places, this place falls on the bottom for the make-your-own-noodle -soup combo category.

As I mentioned earlier, Cheese and I came here instead of our original plan at Sushi Uomo because we were craving HK style iced lemon tea. When our drinks came, the lemon slices were incredibly paper thin. The pictures don’t do it justice because you see the front of the lemon slice and not the side.

Because the lemon was so thin, our drinks did not taste authentic and tasted like plain sweet tea from McDonalds. It was pretty disappointing, and we ended up crushing our lemons completely to a pulp in order for it taste a tiny bit like HK lemon iced tea. Overall, it was pretty disappointing.

Continuing along to prove my point of how cheap they are, look at this french toast that my friend ordered. There was barely ANY custard in it, he felt like he was just eating two slices of bread.

There was also barely any syrup on the side, normally they provide a full small tin of syrup for you.

If there was an adequate amount of custard filling, the french toast would have been decent.
Cheese ordered the pumpkin and tomato fish soup with rice noodles, beef balls, and sliced beef.
I ordered my usual century egg and parsley soup with vermicelli, beef balls, and fish balls. I wanted cuttlefish but they were out. =(

The broth was lighter and more watery than I was used to, but the flavour was still good.

Overall, Duotian is pretty meh and I wouldn’t come back unless I was stuck in the area and REALLY, REALLY craving noodle soup. Cattle Cafe and Deer Garden are much better, and they are less cheap with their ingredients.

Have you been here? What did you think of it?

Thanks for reading!

Carmen

Kirin Seafood Restaurant

October 12, 2014

I’m not a fancy dim sum diner. Most of the places I go with friends or family are pretty casual, your typical semi-sketchy Chinese restaurant with questionable English descriptions, mysteriously stained carpets, and disgusting washrooms that haven’t been cleaned in eons as a restaurant attempt to save money. I’m joking…. maybe (not).

But hey, I’m Chinese myself and I was brought up in a family of said Chinese restaurant businesses and if you’re Chinese, you know it’s true. Don’t even deny it 😉 Nonetheless, the food served at these sub-par Chinese restaurants are always authentic and satisfy my dim sum craving. My family doesn’t believe in spending more money at a fancy Chinese restaurant, when you can spend less and have more food at a regular Chinese restaurant.

So it was quite a surprise as I found myself in such a fine dining Chinese restaurant one afternoon. This is what fancy dim sum looks like! Kirin has a few locations in Vancouver, we went to the one in downtown. The outside is deceiving since the restaurant looks smaller than it actually is.
First up, was the taro root puff. Basically, there is seasoned pork or other type of meat, depending on the restaurant, enveloped by taro. It is then slightly deep fried, so that only the outside layer is crunchy. I fell in love with the taro root puff at first bite. It was delicately crunchy, and tasted very fresh. The taro was a bit sweet and went well with the saltiness of the meat inside. I normally don’t order this dish at dim sum, but I think I’ll be trying it again at other places!

Up next, was the shui mai. Since there were only four pieces and six of us, I decided not to eat it so that the others could have it. It was one of my friend’s first time having dim sum, and she really enjoyed the shui mai.

The pan fried rice noodles came next. I am a big fan of rice noodles, and this plate was a lot better than most I’ve tried at other restaurants (what a difference fine Chinese dining makes, eh). I liked that some of the noodles were slightly crispy, which added some dimension to the dish. I’m paying more for this dish than at other restaurants, so I’m glad that it was made very well.

Afterwards, the deep fried tofu arrived! Just like the deep fried taro root, the deep fried tofu was very crispy but not overly fried or oily. The batter was quite thin, but just enough to be crispy. It was seasoned with garlic and salt, which went with the delicately soft tofu perfectly.

Up next, was our steamed shrimp dumplings! I wanted to dive in right away because I love my shrimp, but decided to wait until it cooled down =( Nothing special or bad in particular about this dish, it tasted average. The pan fried radish cake followed, I find that these are hit and miss at dim sum. At Kirins, it was a definite hit!

The radish cake was very moist and had a nice consistency, while the outside was lightly fried. There was some little dried shrimp pieces and pork (I believe, can’t really recall) as well.
Our last two dishes of the day! I really love my prawn and shrimp, and requested that we ordered the prawn spring roll. Give me anything with prawns or shrimp at dim sum, and I will be very happy. I’ve never seen prawn spring roll presented like this before, I thought that the batter looked a bit unusual. Turned out that it was actually wrapped in deep fried bean curd, cool! The bean curd was very flaky and crispy, which I loved. Since the batter wasn’t as thick, there was more prawn and garlic inside. For dessert, we ordered egg tarts. They were so delicious that we ended up ordering another plate, and I considered ordering one to go LOL. It was very warm, with a flaky crust and was a bit sweet. Overall, what a perfect egg tart should taste like.

Service wise, we were greatly taken care of and there were many staff walking around. However, I do think that the manager got mad at our table when we asked him to separate the bill. It’s not that common in Chinese places to ask for separate bills. It was definitely awkward. I’m not sure why he was so upset, it’s not like we weren’t paying and the restaurant wasn’t that busy when we paid. People do it all the time, he should get used to it even if it takes a bit longer to pay.

All the dishes at Kirin were executed very well, and demonstrated what delicious and ideal dim sum should taste like. My favourites were the deep fried bean curd spring roll and the deep fried tofu. For the price we paid, it was definitely worth it as the quality and preparation in each dish really showed.

-Carmen

Ken’s Chinese Restaurant

August 6, 2014

After my cousin’s high school graduation, we were all hungry and looking for a late restaurant to feed our hungry tummies. We were going to go to Congee Noodle House, but knew it would be busy since all the Chinese families that attended the graduation would probably go there. We drove a bit further into Burnaby, and went to Ken’s Chinese Restaurant. Funny, we went here a few years back for my high school graduation. We also sat at the same table this time as well! Ken’s serves authentic Chinese dishes, and satisfied my craving for late night Chinese food.
(Picture taken from Urbanspoon). Ken’s Chinese Restaurant is located in a small strip mall on Kingsway. There is plenty of free parking in the strip mall.
To start off our da lan, we got the standard plain congee, which came in a huge pot. The congee itself was good and was great quality. It wasn’t too runny and watery, and had a bit of a sweet taste to it. Very warm, and comforting. If your purchase is over a certain amount (my uncle told me this, I didn’t read their menu), you can get unlimited congee refills. We had two refills after this, and the quality and taste of the congee remained delicious. Some restaurants (like my visit to AYCE sushi at Toyotomi) diminish the quality of the orders, but this was not the case.
Stir fried broccoli with garlic. Unfortunately, I forgot the prices of each dish this time so they won’t be included. The broccoli was very crunchy and tasted fresh. There was a definite garlic taste to it, and the tips of the broccoli were smothered in garlic sauce. However, the garlic taste wasn’t unbearably strong, and not enough to give you horrid garlic breath afterwards.
Another late night classic! Clams in black bean sauce. This dish was very tasty as well. The sauce was very flavourful, and came with fresh green onions on top. The clams were also really juicy and there was a generous amount. I’ve been to some Chinese restaurants where they serve a plate of clam shells, where you have to scavenge for what little actual clam meat they have. This tastes really good when you add the shell, which is full of sauce, into the plain congee.
Deep fried tofu with spicy garlic salt. Another classic. Ken’s made this dish perfectly. There was a generous amount of peppers, and the tofu tasted really good with the garlic. The tofu was piping hot and crispy on the outside, while soft inside. I am definitely coming here again when I crave deep fried tofu.
Braised string beans with minced meat. We felt pretty gross after eating the deep fried tofu and clams because they were both such heavy (albeit delicious!) dishes, so we decided to order some veggies. The string beans were very crunchy and flavourful as well. However, this was a bit heavy on the oil so I’m not sure if ordering this dish was the best to “clear” our tummies with. But, it was delicious!

Late night Chinese snack is absolutely delicious, and Ken’s did not disappoint! The servers were also very nice as well. I would definitely come here again when craving late night snacks, but hopefully, that is not for a long time since it’s so unhealthy (minus the plain congee)!

-Carmen

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant

April 12, 2014

During work one night, I was craving Chinese late night snack (aka “da-lan”) and found out from my friend Venice Garden is open until 2am!

I have been to Venice Garden numerous times, since it is a convenient location, food is decent, and they accept debit unlike most other Chinese restaurants. Since I always get the same two things here, this review will be relatively short.

But this was my first time having late night snack here, so we’ll see how it goes!
I used to come here a lot when I was a child. I think it used to be named “Happy King” and I’ve heard some sketchy rumours why they had to change it which isn’t worth mentioning.

We got here around 11:30pm, after I finished working. Normally, this parking lot is filled to the brim with people so it was quite refreshing to see it so quiet here for once.

When we got in, there was only one other table eating here. Compared to the daytime, their service at night was SO MUCH better, I can’t believe it’s the same restaurant. It’s not even due to the fact that it’s quieter so they have more time to serve us. We’ve been here during the day when it wasn’t as busy and their service is very brief and sporatic. So, it was a great surprise to have friendly service!

Incase you’ve never had Chinese late night snack before, let’s give you a quick rundown. The menu is completely different from the rest of the day. A lot of the things are deep fried, and the portions are smaller but cheaper. Some popular items are deep fried Chinese donut, congee, deep fried fish/tofu/prawns/clams in spicy salt, or fried green beans with spicy pork. The first thing we ordered was congee with preserved duck egg and shredded salty pork. This is my go-to congee, I love preserved duck egg and I could care less that it’s a health concern (well I care, but I don’t eat it that much so whatever). The amount of preserved duck egg and shredded pork that they give you is very generous.

Their congee is really flavourful, and is cooked perfectly for my taste. I also love how much green onions and peanuts they include, it makes the congee taste so much yummier! We stir in the peanuts and onions, so that the peanuts give you a “crunch” when you’re enjoying the congee. The salted pork is extremely salty, even for myself so definitely eat it in moderation! We usually don’t end up finishing the salted pork since there’s so much sodium in it.
The second thing I was craving that night was deep fried beancurd (tofu) in spicy salt. I was a bit surprised when this came because I’m used to the tofu being cut in larger rectangular chunks, but this was fine too. They gave a great amount of jalapeno peppers, so I ended up eating all of those with each piece of tofu.

Overall, I thought that this tofu was too soft for my liking. Yes, I know that soft tofu is good, but I was craving the firmer and rectangular chunks of deep fried tofu restaurants normally use for late night snack. The tofu they used remind me of the Sunrise tofu dessert, which didn’t feel that fitting but the boyfriend thought it was fine, so it’s probably just me.
This was not from the late night menu, but the lunch menu when we came a few months ago. I love spaghetti bolognese. I find that this place doesn’t have the greatest spaghetti bolognese, but it’s not atrocious either. Their sauce has more tomato flavour to it, making it more acidic tasting. The acidic taste takes away the rest of the flavour of the dish.

Overall, Venice Garden is a decent place to eat Chinese food if you’re in the area, but it’s nothing too special. Their service is sporadic, and minimal at best unless you go during late night. I would love to try more of their late night dishes but there was only two of us, and we didn’t want to stuff ourselves with that much food.

-Carmen