Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant

August 6, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Milk Tea with Tapioca

Five Spiced Beef Wrap

Soy Flavoured Chicken – (Three Cup Chicken) with fresh basil

Shrimp Fried Rice

Off I went to Bellevue for the weekend to do some shopping for the weekend. It seems to be a tradition by now that we head down to the south for some shopping during the summer. And even when I’m on vacation, I love to try new food, so of course I urbanspooned some places to eat! My sister ended up finding Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant, which is basically sort of like our Pearl Castle, where they offer bubble tea and Taiwanese food. It was rated 93% on Urbansppon, so we thought it better be good!

The mall was quite small, but was jam packed with cars, and we basically had nowhere to park during the lunch hours. We ended up having to park a few blocks down and walked over to restaurant. The restaurant was quite packed with families and young adolescents eating, but we got a seat quite fast.

We had just ate breakfast during a stop on our way, so we weren’t too hungry. We ended up just sharing a few dishes among ourselves. My sister and I decided to share the Milk Tea with Tapioca, and I have to say I was extremely disappointed. It’s not even up to par with some of the worse bubble tea places I’ve had back in Richmond. We could see the milk tea powder floating up, and when we tried to stir it in, we realized there was no point since our drink was cold. So they basically didn’t even dissolve all the powder to begin with before adding the ice. You could taste the powder, and it definitely wasn’t great. We also got the Five Spiced Beef Wrap as an appetizer, and it was alright. I personally don’t like cilantro, so it wasn’t exactly my favourite. I’ve definitely had better at Chef Hung as well. Next up, we got the Soy Flavoured Chicken. I found it a little too salty and the chicken was a little overcooked, so it was a bit rough. The chicken pieces were however huge. Lastly, we got the Shrimp Fried Rice, which I found was the best dish out of the 3. The flavour was just right, not too bland and not too salty. It also had loads of shrimp, and the rice was cooked well.

Overall, I don’t really understand why Facing East has such high ratings, because I honestly think it was just average. I’ve definitely had better in Richmond, but maybe that’s because Richmond is full of good eats!

Phnom Penh

July 18, 2012May 3, 20131 Comment

Mango Moo Moo Shake

Iced Rainbow Drink

Butter Beef

Special Combo A – Deep Fried Spring Roll, Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane

Filet Beef on Rice with Egg

Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth)

Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot

Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings

I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally try Phnom Penh. It’s been on my wishlist ever since I heard it was one of the top restaurants in Vancouver on Urbanspoon. The only thing really stopping me was where it was located. It’s in the Chinatown neighborhood, which can be a little sketchy at night, but luckily, Phnom Penh is located in a smaller street. The street is mostly small groceries, and is actually pretty quiet, other than the line ups at Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh doesn’t take reservations unless you have a table of 6, but luckily, we got our seat quite quick. We did however have to share a table with another group of 4, but it wasn’t too awkward as it was a long rectangular table.

We decided to grab some drinks, and I got the Iced Rainbow Drink. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of the drink since I don’t like bits of red beans in my food, but my mom said it was the drink for Vietnamese cuisine so she wanted to take a sip from it. It was alright, and I liked the green jelly bits in it. Next up, we got the Butter Beef. This is one of their most popular dishes, and it was really good! It is basically half cooked meat, topped with a lot of cilantro and a special sauce. I really dislike cilantro, so I picked it all out, but the meat was still really good. I loved the sauce and the meat was not tough at all. We also got the Special Combo A, which included Deep Fried Spring Rolls, a Vietnamese BBQ Beef Brochette, and a Prawn Supreme on Sugar Cane. They were all very delicious and I especially liked the Beef Brochette. The beef was extremely tender and flavourful. We also got the Filet Beef on Rice with Egg, which seemed pretty typical, but their sauce was quite distinct. It had an interesting taste that I cannot describe! Next, we got the Phnom Penh Rice Noodle (no broth). I found it a little dry, but I guess it’s supposed to be like that since it said no broth! They have one with broth too, so maybe that one is better. It also had a very unique flavour again. I think the sauce had garlic or something, but I’m not quite sure. This one was just alright. We also wanted to try their curry, so we got the Phnom Penh Curry Chicken Hot Pot. I really enjoyed the curry, but I found it quite different from the usual Vietnamese curry I get back in Richmond. The curry wasn’t as thick, but rather very thin and was perfect to pour onto vermicelli to add some flavour. They also didn’t use potatoes, but instead yams, which was an interesting change to the usual. And lastly, we got the famous Phnom Penh Deep Fried Chicken Wings. People tell me they’re the best wings around, but maybe because I had such high expectations for them, they didn’t really live up to my expectations. They were still really delicious and I loved the dipping sauce that came with it. I have to say my favourite wings around the town are these, and the ones at Wo Fung Dessert in Aberdeen Mall.

Overall, Phnom Penh lived up to their high ranking on Urbanspoon. They definitely have great food. I’m still however confused what exactly is authentic Cambodian and Vietnamese food. Maybe I ordered the wrong dishes. But I’ll definitely come back again for more. The prices are however more expensive than I had expected, but it’s decent. Oh and to add, the interior was newly renovated, so it was actually really clean with brand new furniture.

The One Restaurant

April 9, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Matcha Slush

Cheesecake

I’ve been seeing these pictures of gigantic slushes on Facebook everywhere and now I finally got to see it in real life! The One Restaurant is famous for their gigantic slushes, and I’m guessing their gigantic plates of food too… Although I never got to try their actual food, I saw the other tables’ with enormous portions of food! The Matcha Slush was huge! And I believe it was only $5.50, which is the price of normal sized bubble teas at other shops. So definitely a good deal! And the slush is so tall that it starts to fall when it melts, so the waitress brought another cup for us to take the top portion off for us. The matcha was actually surprisingly not too sweet which was good, and for some reason, it actually tasted even better when it was melted. It was almost like matcha milk or something and it was really good! As for the Cheesecake, it was a total disappointment as I believe it was just a store bought frozen cheesecake. The blueberries were still frozen, and the cake was just of bad quality. We were also quite unsatisfied with the service. We had come here for just the matcha slush to share, but we knew that most bubble tea restaurants probably would have a minimum charge. We looked around their menus and they didn’t have it written, so we just decided to order the slush for now. We totally understood that it is acceptable to have a minimum charge, but we weren’t sure if this was the case. Minutes later, the waitress came back and kept asking if we wanted to order more, but she never mentioned a minimum charge. What felt like 2 minutes more, she came back interrupting our conversation, finally stating that we had a minimum charge of one order per person. We told her we would take a look and order in a bit, but we were in deep conversation so thought we could wait for a bit. But she came back literally 2 minutes later to ask if we were ready again. Totally annoyed us as we were planning to get more drinks and food but she wouldn’t even give us time. So service is definitely not so great, but food was decent for the price and portions.

Shang Noodle House

April 8, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

BBQ Pork with Ramen in Pork Broth

Spicy “Tan Tan” Ramen with Crushed Peanuts

Shang Noodle House has actually been open for a while, although it is still fairly new. I believe they opened around the start of this year. I remember watching all the shops underneath the Paloma apartments renovate and Shang Noodle House was one of them. I finally decided to give it a try since it was close to home. The shop has a very modern vibe and is extremely clean and service was very well. Really enjoyed the BBQ Pork with Ramen in Pork Broth, as the broth was very tasty. Overall, I was very satisfied with the food and would definitely recommend giving it a try if you’re looking for noodles. They also serve snacks that you can share, as well as bubble teas and desserts!

Shanghai Fusion Restaurant

April 3, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

We had originally wanted to go to Sunway Restaurant for some Taiwanese food again, but it wasn’t opened yet at 11 am and we were in a hurry. We looked around Empire mall, and ended up trying Shanghai Fusion Restaurant. It was empty except for us and and another table, but it was a little early I guess. We decided to get a “build your own combo” for 4 people, with two appetizers, two dim sums, one soup noodle, and one fried noodle or rice. Unfortunately, I was only able to get 3 pictures of the food since I got caught up in a phone call, and my family ended up eating all the food before I could snap some pictures. Don’t exactly remember all the names of the food as well…Food was decent, nothing too special, and portions were alright. Price was quite reasonable as well, so not bad.

Sunway Restaurant

March 3, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Assam Red Milk Tea with Agar Aloe

Taiwanese Road Side Fried Noodle

Special Deep-Fried Tofu

Mayo Dried Pork Egg Roll

Three Spice Chicken

Popcorn Chicken

Second visit to Sunway Restaurant now! Sunway is a very small Taiwanese restaurant located in Empire Center in Richmond. I believe it is a small family owned business. The whole atmosphere makes you feel like you’re at home. The restaurant it extremely small and they probably only make one round of business during dinner hours, so be sure to go early to grab a seat! Tried their Assam Red Milk Tea this time, and it was so good! They use a special red tea that is called “Assam”, which I really like the taste of! The Agar Aloe was a good addition to it and having it hot was great on a chilly day. The Taiwanese Road Side Fried Noodle was just okay. I expected more from it as it had the words ‘road side’ in the name, but it was definitely lacking some flavour. Quite bland for my taste, and I don’t even eat very feisty food usually! Next, we got the Special Deep Fried Tofu which was so delicious! The sauce made it extra tasty, but after my second tofu, I found the spiciness of the chili sauce starting to kick in! Good regardless though! Next up was the Mayo Dried Pork Egg Roll. I really enjoyed this! It reminded me of those Taiwanese beef rolls, but it had dried pork and egg inside instead. The mayo on top was a great complement to it. We also decided to try the Three Spice Chicken, which I felt was made and tasted a little differently than the ones I have tried elsewhere. They had a lot of vegetables with it, but I found it not to be as flavourful. Lastly, I had to get the Popcorn Chicken again! I swear that I looked around and every single table had this dish. It was pretty much why I wanted to come back. Their popcorn chicken is made so differently that it is to die for. I find that it is not as oily as others, and the fried coating tastes so different from other restaurants! I don’t know what it is, but I would definitely get that again. Delicious meal! And pricing is quite reasonable. I find it a better deal than other bubble tea places like Pearl Castle. Only downside is that seats are limited so go early!

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodle House

February 24, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Boiled Seasonal Vegetable

Braised Beef Flank with Noodle In Soup (Small)

Braised Beef Flank And Tendon with Noodle In Spicy Soup (Large)

After a early shopping trip at Metrotown, my friend brought be to a Taiwanese Noodle House nearby that was claimed to be really good. Apparently, it’s supposed to be the best Taiwanese noodles in Vancouver! To be honest, I think it wasn’t THAT amazing, but I have to say, the noodles are really good. You can tell that they’re handmade, and not like the ones you get at bubble tea places. The vegetables were a dish that I actually hadn’t had before. I’m not sure if it’s some typical Taiwanese dish, but it tasted really good. They had like bits of onion and garlic chips as well as a special sauce in it. Quite different from the Cantonese style dishes I’m used to. The size of a small was already very big, and when my friend’s large came, I was in shock. It was huge! That would probably be enough for two. The soup base was very good, and they say that there isn’t any MSG, which I trust, as I wasn’t thirsty afterwards. They have a lot of seasoned radish type of things on top which gave it a nice crunch while eating the noodles. Overall, pretty good, but I don’t know if it’s the BEST.

Bubble World

January 18, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Tofu Dessert with Red Bean

Matcha Ice Cream Slush with Agar Jelly

Been to the Bubble World in Richmond a few times already actually, but never really took pictures in the past… Bubble World is usually really packed during after dinner hours, especially on weekends. I went on a random weekday in the afternoon though, so it was basically my table and another table. Quite empty so service was really quick. They’re similar to Pearl Castle, with a variety of food and drinks to choose from. I tried their Matcha Ice Cream Slush with Agar Jelly which was quite large in size to my surprise. The Matcha was not bad, but I wish it actually had ice cream in it. I didn’t really get the ice cream texture, and it was more like all slush and ice instead. It was my first time trying agar jelly, which I heard was pretty good. I wanted a change from the normal pearls and coconut jelly. To my surprise, it didn’t really have any flavour to it, but it had a very nice chewy texture – not as chewy as pearls or coconut jelly. Nice change for once, but I think I still prefer coconut jelly!