chinese Archives - Page 12 of 14

Richmond Night Market 2015 – Part 2/2

June 28, 2015

Hi everyone!

Continuing part 2 of my trip to the nightmarket with some friends a few weeks ago! Here is part 1 if you missed it =)

As we were walking around, I noticed a stand from Mogu Street Eats. I’ve read about their food truck and heard great things about it, and my friend said that she saw it on The Food Network. So, my other friend decided to get the chicken karage and see if it was actually that good!

Honestly, it didn’t look too appetizing to me because the batter looked pretty old and it looked pretty oily. He insisted that I try it and my opinion was right – it was soaked and dripping in oil.

It’s probably prepared better at their actual food cart because there’s no way that this chicken could get such great reviews.

The nightmarket was almost closing, and we saw that some places were beginning to offer closing specials (they weren’t super good deals though so no point waiting to come later). Decided to ask this stand if they were offering any closing specials, and they said no, but offered us a cheaper price.

After some negotiation, we settled on a price we were both happy with (sorry forgot what it was)! We got the lamb, prawn, and chicken skewer.

The chicken skewer was still a bit raw inside, so I didn’t eat it because I didn’t want to risk feeling sick afterwards. The prawn was also slightly raw too =( If they were both cooked fully, it would have been pretty delicious as the seasoning was great!

The last thing I got was a mango shaved ice!

The mangoes tasted really fresh and ripe. Drizzled with condensed milk, it tasted heavenly!

The ice cream tasted very cheap and like ‘cardboard’ to quote my friend. It wasn’t exactly the best quality ice cream, you could definitely taste the lack of quality in it.

As for the shaved ice, it was just crushed ice with no flavour because well… it was just crushed ice LOL. I was expecting something like this, but maybe this is a different style. There was more ice than toppings, so it was hard to combine the ice with the mango/condensed milk/ice cream to make it taste better.

Overall, this dish was definitely not worth the price.

——

Richmond Night Market 2015 – Part 1/2

June 24, 2015

Hi everyone!

Last year, I wrote a post on the Richmond Night Market so I thought I would do one again this year. That post received quite a few views, so I figured that you readers like to hear what’s good/bad at the nightmarket!

There are two nightmarkets in Richmond, this is the one by River Rock Casino (the more popular one to go to). There is free parking, but the lot was apparently ‘full’ so we drove around the area for a good 15-20 minutes looking for parking. But when we actually walked across the parking lot, half the lot was empty so I’m not sure why they said it was ‘full’. =.=”

Admission to enter the nightmarket is $2.75 per person. You can buy a booklet with 10 entry stamps and skip the long line ups if you think you’ll be coming here often though! Even though the line was long, we waited under ten minutes.

I took a picture of the booth at the top, followed by what we ordered underneath. All the food here is cash only! Although it is street food, it’s not exactly cheap.
The boyfriend loves his takoyaki, and quickly set off looking for a takoyaki stand! While I was in line for squid, he came back with this!

We enjoyed the flavours of the takoyaki. It was well seasoned, tasted fresh, and came with a generous amount of flakes and sauce on top!
While he is obsessed with takoyaki, I am obsessed with squid and a trip to the nightmarket is not complete without some grilled squid.

I ordered the ‘signature’ squid, which had a salty but sweet aftertaste. The squid was nice and crunchy, with a hint of smokiness from the grill.

My friend ordered the ‘garlic lovers’ squid, which I liked more than the signature. The flavours felt more rounded and I liked the strong garlic taste, compared to the sweet aftertaste that I had with the signature. They were both delicious, but my personal preference was the garlic lovers.

My friend, who came here a few weeks before us, said not to get the bubble waffle from the ‘orange stand’, so we went to this place instead LOL.

Although the wait time was pretty long, it was worth it. The bubble waffle was nice and puffy, with a crisp exterior and soft interior.

Thanks for reading! I felt that this would be too long of a post if I included all the food we tried, so stay tuned for part 2 =)

-Carmen

The Bubble Tea Shop – Specialty Bubble Waffle Time!

June 19, 2015

Hi everyone! =)

Maki and I were looking for things to do in Richmond one night, and a trip to Richmond obviously isn’t complete without engaging in over indulgence of Asian food. At least, that’s what I always look forward to when going to Richmond. Maki was craving bubble waffle, so we decided to give this place a try!

This is totally off topic but I just want to tell you guys how cursed the boyfriend and I are with visiting Mango Yummy. We have been wanting to try Mango Yummy since it opened, and have probably tried going there at least FIVE times now. They all failed. Either they were closed, we didn’t have enough time, or it was way too busy to even try attempting to score a table. BUT, we are not giving up yet. WE WILL GET TO YOU, MANGO YUMMY.

After you order, you then proceed to find a table. Since we came on a busy night, it took us awhile to get a table. It would be nice for them to have more seating, but the cafe itself isn’t that big so it probably isn’t possible =(

We shared the ‘triple decker’ bubble waffle, which came with fresh strawberries, banana, and whipped cream. Since it was busy that night, our food was a bit slow to arrive.

The bubble waffle wasn’t as fluffy and thick as I hoped it would be, but not bad either. The strawberries and bananas were nice and fresh.

I’m not sure if this was worth $7.25 (2015 pricing), I’ve had better bubble waffle at the nightmarket for a cheaper price. But I’m glad that we tried this place. The workers were friendly and informative, while the cafe was very clean despite being busy and that customers are expected to put away their dishes.

If I were to come back, I probably would stick to their standard or deluxe bubble waffles, which are cheaper.

Do you like bubble waffles?

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

PF Chang’s, Seattle

September 26, 2014

Four starving Canadians in downtown Seattle, roaming the streets for somewhere to eat. Compared to downtown Vancouver, I noticed that the food options in downtown Seattle were more limited. As our street count rose higher and higher, and the grumbling in our stomach got louder and louder, I noticed this “PF Chang’s” restaurant sign while we were looking for a place to eat.

I casually suggested it, as the building it was in looked nice and decent, and I was so hungry I didn’t even care if PF Chang’s was authentic Chinese food, let alone Chinese food at all. To my surprise, Maki and Nigiri had been to PF Chang’s before, absolutely loved it, and agreed to go. Okay, that’s all my starving stomach had to know.
The decor of this PF Chang’s location was very warming, clean, and had both Asian elements (the Terracotta warrior as seen above), Chinese artwork, and Chinese music contrasted against an open concept kitchen, stone tiled walls, and table set ups seen with Western restaurants.

At this point, I was pretty impressed with the fusion and friendly service. I decided to completely strip away my expectation of authentic Chinese food, and try this place as a new Asian-Western cuisine experience. Here is how that went.
For starters, I decided to order their cucumber strawberry limade ($3.95 US). I am a HUGE fan of adding fruits into my drink, those who have dined with me are used to it and I get made fun of all the time. Even though this came first, I decided to wait for my lunch entree before trying this as I wanted the full flavours of cucumber and strawberry to come out (yes, I have fruit water nailed down to a science..I love my fruit water).

I was in love at first sip. The tartness of the limeade went really well with the strawberry sweetness, while the cucumber gave it a really refreshing and crisp end. I also loved how the strawberries were fresh, and weren’t the syrupy ones.

The downside to this drink was that it’s not bottomless, as many of their drinks are. But that goes to show you how much fresh strawberry and cucumber is put into this delicious drink!
After taking a long time to decide on what I wanted, I chose their lunch special which comes with a choice of brown or white rice, a choice of soup (veggie or sweet and sour), and the entree.

I decided on getting the hot and sour soup. I didn’t really enjoy this dish as much because I felt that it had a strong soya sauce and teriyaki taste to it. I would have liked it more if there was beef, chicken, or prawn.

There was a good amount of spicy and sourness to it though.
To this day, I still miss and can’t stop thinking about their chicken-orange rice dish. I have been trying to find a way to copy the recipe so I can still eat it at home, it was that delicious. This was the main lunch entree, orange peel lunch ($9.95 USA) which came with fresh oranges, Hunan chili sauce, and garnished with sprouts.

This was absolutely delicious and I found myself conserving every last bite. The oranges were sweet, fresh, and juicy which mixed well with the spicy chili sauce.

The brown rice was cooked perfectly to my liking, and the chicken breast was lean and juicy. I also liked how my dish was filling, but I did not feel bloated or greasy afterwards!
Maki ordered the lunch bowl as well, she chose Chang’s Kung Pao lunch with choice of scallops ($11.95). I had a bite of this and liked how crunchy the cashews were. She also had no complaints about her food!

Instead of getting the soup for her side, she chose the salad which I really enjoyed. It came with a light, sweet and tangy taste and a variety of different dark greens, my favourite type of salad! Not to mention, the size of her salad was enourmous!
Another entree we got was the pad thai ($12.95). I didn’t try this, but Nigiri enjoyed this dish.
Da boyfriend ordered dan dan noodles ($10.95), which came with a spicy red pepper and garlic sauce, minced chicken and scallions, cucumbers and bean sprouts. He was not expecting his dish to look like this, but ended up enjoying his dish. I had a bite and I liked how the egg noodles had a bounce to them. We both agreed that although the sauce was very flavourful, but was very salty.

All in all, we made a good decision coming here and I left with a good, new opinion of Western-Asian fusion dishes. I’ve never really been a fan of Western-Asian fusion dishes, but PF Chang’s had delicious dishes and lovely ambiance. We had many questions about the menu and our server did a really great job in explaining everything patiently and informatively. He even gave us a sample of the black iced tea!

I wish that PF Chang’s will open in Vancouver one day, as my waiter told me every other Canadian customer has told him. #PFChangstoVancouver anybody?

-Carmen