Sunshine Cafe

Needing to grab a quick bite before my hockey game at the Richmond Oval, I decided to eat at Crystal Mall.  Uh...  Crystal Mall and Richmond on the same day and within 30 minutes of each other?  Did I have a death wish?  Am I a masochist?  Did I lose my mind?  Do I hate my car that much?  Well, I must admit, there are good eats to be found at Crystal Mall, so I can't avoid it on the account of a crappy parking lot right?  Well, I didn't park in the lot after all, so that negated some stress.  Furthermore, the eating destination was Sunshine Cafe, which is located on the outside of the mall.  Hence, parking in that deathtrap of a circle wouldn't have made sense anyways.

I met up with Viv and the kids (they arrived separately and parked at Crystal Mall!) and quickly ordered.  The first dish to arrive was the Szechuan Beef Noodles which was actually decent.  The noodles were al dente while the broth was spicy enough, yet it was a touch thin lacking depth.  The beef shank was moist, but could've stood for more braising as it was slightly chewy.  For the kiddies, we got them the Fried Chicken with Noodles.  The salty, peppery chicken had a good dusting of five spice which result in plenty of flavour.  However, the crispy chicken was somewhat dry.  This could've been alleviated with bigger chunks of chicken.  As for the al dente noodles, it sat in a mild broth that was flavoured by a good amount of pickled vegetable.

For myself, I decided to try the Railway Pork Chop set meal.  I wasn't a huge fan of the soggy fried pork chop.  Although it was tender and flavourful (albeit really sweet), the texture was off-putting.  The rice wasn't much better either as it was really mushy.  I would've also liked to see the pickles with more impact as well.  Lastly, I got an order of the Taiwanese "Burger".  This popular item is actually a slice of stewed pork belly stuffed inside a mantou with sugar, pickled mustard greens, cilantro and ground peanuts.  This one had a really large slice of pork belly which didn't have an appealing colour, but was moist and flavourful regardless. However, I found the burger plain and short on sugar. Not sure if this was the best pre-game meal one could have before hockey, but it was acceptable with some "meh" elements.  Okay for a quick meal, but not really somewhere I'm dying to do a return visit.

The Good:
- Okay pricing
- Decent portions

The Bad:
- Overall, the food was "meh"
- Small and cramp