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!

Bubble Waffle House

January 13, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Ramen in Hot and Sour Soup with Sliced Beef and Beef Ball

Ramen in Satay Sauce with Vietnamese Ham and Cuttlefish Ball

Bubble Waffe Cafe has been opened for a while now, but I never got a chance to try it since it’s usually very packed by dinner time. This time, I went a little earlier than dinner time, and got a seat very quickly. Their main specialty seemed to be their “Make Your Own Noodles”. Basically, when you are seated, they don’t give you a menu, but instead, you each get a small piece of paper with a pencil. From there, you choose what type of soup base you want, what type of noodles, 2 toppings on top of the cabbage and mushrooms which are included, and a hot drink. This comes to around a little less than $8. You can however add extra toppings, side dishes, drinks and desserts for a very cheap price. I decided to add egg balls to my bowl of noodles, but oddly enough, they gave me two bags of them. The lady said one was for free! I wish she had told me earlier though, since I really just wanted to try a little, and I was way too full at the end to even finish the other bag. I didn’t get a picture of the egg balls, but I have to say they weren’t the best. I found them a little too soggy, even though they were just fresh out of the kitchen. Noodles were also only decent, but it is a huge bowl for the price. I think I’ve had better noodles elsewhere though. Also thought their egg balls would be really good, since the restaurant name seems to be named after them, but they were a disappointment.

Sunway Restaurant

November 6, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Taiwanese Beef Noodle

Deep Fried Pop Chicken

Sunway Restaurant is located in Empire Centre, the mall next to Parker Place in Richmond. They are famous for their Taiwanese Beef Noodles and their Deep Fried Popcorn Chicken, so of course I had to try them. The beef noodles are great, but what really caught my attention were the popcorn chicken. I’ve tried a variety of popcorn chicken, like the ones at Pearl Castle and Well Tea, but these tasted very different. They had a unique outer crispy layer that was very different from the others I have tried. It felt less oily, and the crispy layer wasn’t too thick. Prices were also very reasonable with large portions. These popcorn chicken are a must try!

4 Stones Vegetarian

September 24, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Ground Veggie Meat Sauce with Rice

Curry Fried Rice

Veggie Chicken Cutlet Noodles in Soup

Veggie Chicken Cutlet

My friend brought me to 4 Stones Vegetarian Restaurant and I was really amazed at the dishes they were able to make! I’ve had vegetarian food before, but haven’t tried this place yet, and people had given 4 Stones great ratings. They have a large variety of choices and the fact that they could make chicken cutlet vegetarian was pretty cool. All their rice dishes were also made of brown rice, which made it really healthy. So if you want to try some healthy vegetarian food, or if you’re vegetarian and wanting some variety, this is the place to go!

Pearl Castle

September 2, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Fried Pork Chop with Noodle Soup

Chicken with Three Spices

Seafood Udon Soup with Sliced Pork

Pearl Castle is one of my favourite go to places for Taiwanese food or bubble tea. There is always a large variety of food and drinks to choose from and they all taste great! This Pearl Castle is the Richmond Centre location and I found that their food did not taste as great as the one on Capstan. Perhaps it is a franchise? Not too sure. Service also took a little longer. Overall, still decent food.

What8ver Cafe

May 25, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Ice Cream Toast

I finally got a chance to try What8ever Cafe. Yes, such a weird name eh? This small bubble tea shop is located in Richmond, and when I say small, it really is SMALL. There are a total of 4 booths I believe, with two outdoor tables. Service is also extremely slow, so if you’re in a hurry, this is not the place to go. I hear they also have extremely long waits during late nights, but luckily, I got there early and had no wait. They have typical Taiwanese dishes and drinks, but they also have cream floats which aren’t found at most bubble tea shops. Definitely a must try! And of course, their famous ice cream toast! It’s basically a loaf of bread with the center block cut out. It is then cut into small sticks, and are like french toast sticks, that are put back in. It is finished with ice cream and topped with fresh strawberries, banana, Pocky sticks and an Oreo cookie. Delicious! Be sure to make reservations if you want a seat though!

Check out their site for the menu: http://www.what8ver.com/