牛仔餐廳 Cattle Cafe

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Wendy

As promised!  Cattle Cafe post!!

I’ve went to the Richmond location quite a few times already.  It was around the time the no-MSG fish-soup-noodle-combo thing started to get popular.  They really do make quite good food.  And they’re always packed.

When a good good friend of mine came to visit from Taiwan, we wanted a no-frills lunch so I took her there.  It was probably the only time in quite a few years that I ventured into the Alexandra Road area on a Sunday at 1pm.  I really hope I never have to do that again actually….

My choice is always the Cilantro (they call it Parsley there) & Century Egg soup with the thicker vermicelli (米線), fish puffs, and basa fillet.

As usual there’s tons of napa cabbage and tofu puffs in this.  I like the soup here much more than that of Deer Garden ‘cuz the version here is less salty.  Much much less.  It tasted more authentic.  They also put more of your own chosen toppings too.

I guess M wasn’t much of a soup noodle person.  Her choice was the Cajun-style Boneless Chicken on Rice.  It was actually very very good.

I like how they give you tons of sauce.  Now the sauce tastes just a lil’ bit like Thousand Island sauce but the “cajun” was still there.  It was slightly spicy.

The chicken was done very well.  It was crispy and moist.  My only complaint would be that they didn’t give a lot of veggies on the side.  But it’s an Asian restaurant.  What did I expect eh~

M also ordered the XO Sauce Pan-fried Turnip Cake.  Man this was so good.  It was done quite perfectly in that the sides were just the right amount of crispy and they definitely didn’t skimp on the XO sauce either.  For me it was quite spicy but I could stop eating it either.  They pan-fried it along with some garlic bits and onion slivers which were an awesome touch.

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Filed under: Bubble Tea, HK Style Cafe, Richmond | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

鹿園 Deer Garden

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Wendy

I’m back to being addicted to HK-Style Milk Tea.  Lately, I’ve noticed that there really isn’t a restaurant in Richmond that really makes it good anymore.  The only ones that come to mind who makes decent ones are Alleluia, Cattle Cafe, and Joy’s Kitchen in Parker Place.

Actually, I really really like Cattle Cafe.  They’re one of the ones who I think started the trend of “No-MSG Fish Soup Combo Noodle” type meals.  Now Cattle Cafe’s post will be coming soon (I hope).  Today we’re gonna talk about Deer Garden.

G’s actually the one who introduced me to it.  Now he’s Filipino but he eats out in Richmond more than me (and I live there!).  He highly recommended that I try their version of the Fish Soup Noodle dish.

My parents and I went on a weekday at around 11am or so and that’s probably the best time to go.  Lots of parking still available, and seated right away.  By the time we finished the waiting area was packed.

Having said that, they still stuffed us into the backroom where it was quite hard to flag people down.  But then I thought the young servers did still try their best.  That room was quite stuffy though.

I guess it’s kind of convenient that they place these sheets on the table so you can mark down your own choices.  But then when we handed them the sheet they still just wrote down the whole order on the back, so I thought it was more of a waste of time.  It seems to confuse them too.

I picked their signature soup (the first one on the list) which was something like ChaoZhao Fish Soup w/ Minced Pork.  I also picked handmade squid balls, fresh bean curd, and thick vermicelli.  Also a cold milk tea.

I guess I should’ve read the sheet over clearly, as apparently it already comes w/ bean curd and mushrooms.  So I got lots and lots of bean curd.  They were stingy w/ the squid balls too.  I only got three.

Now for the taste.  The soup was quite salty, so I was suspicious about the no-MSG claim.  The vermicelli was chewy as always.  The squid balls, were quite small and uneventful.  Overall a “meh” experience.

The milk tea, well, I think I’ll stay w/ Cattle Cafe.

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Filed under: Cantonese, HK Style Cafe, Richmond | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Sensus Bistro: Pork Cartilage Ramen

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Wendy

Update Jan 28, 2011: This restaurant is now closed.

As I said before the next dish I wanted to try at Sensus Bistro was the Pork Cartilage Ramen.  I finally got the chance to try it.

This was $7.95 and it’s quite a large portion size.  The soup looks flavorful and it was, it didn’t really taste like MSG.

There’s also quite a few pieces of the pork cartilage.  They were perfectly marinated and were fall-off-the-cartilage tender.  Even though they were soaked in the broth they didn’t lose any flavor.

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Filed under: Casual Dining, Chinese, HK Style Cafe, Ramen, Restaurant Reviews, Richmond | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Sensus Bistro Revisited

Posted on August 8, 2009 by Wendy

It has been a while since we’ve visited Sensus.  Business has picked up since we’ve last been here.  We had to wait about 10mins for seat.  However, the head waitress here was very nice.  She kept coming to reassure us that we’ll have a table soon.

So we finally did.  Boyfriend always orders the same #19 (the salt and pepper chicken) here.  I saw that aside from the set menu, they also had a “Spring Menu” (yes…it’s almost the end of Summer and they still have their Spring menu….that’s chinese restaurants for you~!).

The thing that caught my eye was the 3 noodle dishes with the smiley faces.  I plan to try all 3 :D

This time, I tried the Special Crab Paste w/ Crushed Tomato w/ Rice Vermicelli in Soup.

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Filed under: Chinese, Fusion, HK Style Cafe, Richmond | Tagged: , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Celsius Cafe 匯 – CLOSED

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Wendy

Update Feb 11, 2011 – This restaurant is now closed.

Driving down No. 3 one day, Boyfriend and I noticed a new restaurant where Montreal’s Roast Chicken used to be (never had a chance to try that one by the way…).  It seems like a HK-Style Cafe and we all know how much I love those, so I made a mental note to visit it.

In fact, we went the next night!  The night of the thunderstorm!!  And we enjoyed it so much, we went again the next night!  So there’s going to be lots of pictures in this post~

First of all, I thought the place was pretty stylish.  I especially liked the hanging pictures in front on top of the bar area.  They also have a liquor license for those interested.

As they’re new, they had a few deals.  We took advantage of the 2nd one on our next night.

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Filed under: Bistro, Bubble Tea, Casual Dining, Chinese, Fusion, HK Style Cafe, Ramen, Richmond, Snacks | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Seventh Heaven Cafe 七重天

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Wendy

As we’ve said before, the staff of Boston Steakhouse has migrated to Seventh Heaven in Aberdeen. Not sure what the reason for the move was though.

Anyways, continuing with my HK-style Milk Tea craving as of late, Boyfriend took me to Seventh Heaven.

It has quite a unique decor.  It’s supposedly to be I guess 60′s style?  There’s jukeboxes and old Coca-Cola signs, but it’s quite weird in that there’s a mix of old Chinese and English style posters.  For instance, there’s posters of 50′s/60′s Chinese style girls, but also Casablanca, Marilyn Monroe posters.  A weird combination if you ask me.  The theme is almost there but not quite.

So we both ordered from the Afternoon Tea menu naturally.  Again they charge $1 for cold drinks.

Boyfriend had his favorite hot Almond Tea again, while obviously I had the cold milk tea.

But perhaps I should’ve ordered the hot one…it was so cold in the restaurant!!

Milk tea was decent but, once again, it’s no Alleluia.

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Filed under: Bistro, Cantonese, Chinese, HK Style Cafe, Restaurant Reviews, Richmond | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Bauhinia Restaurant 洋紫荊餐廳

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Wendy

It seems like I’m on a HK-Style Milk Tea binge lately.  I crave for it every meal ever since Alleluia.

Our restaurant choice this time was Bauhinia Restaurant.  It used to be on Saba Road but now it’s located in a little strip mall along Granville Ave. and St. Albans, near An Nam.

Bauhinia has always advertised itself as a more upscale HK-Style Cafe, and its prices show.  It is a bit more expensive than your conventional one.

The interior is nice and clean, the lighted Bauhinia on the wall is a nice touch.

We both ordered from the Afternoon Tea menu.  It’s pretty extensive.

As with most other similar restaurants, cold drinks are an extra $1.

Boyfriend enjoyed his Almond Tea, my Milk Tea was ok, but not as nice as Alleluia’s.

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Filed under: Chinese, Fusion, HK Style Cafe, Richmond | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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