Westwood Cafe

If one was ever in Richmond...  They might want to take transit...  Kidding aside, if one was in Richmond, there would never be a problem finding a HK-style cafe.  There are so many to choose from.  However, when one leaves Richmond (where they could get back into their car), the choices become thin, especially outside of Vancouver.  Moving even further East, it gets downright pathetic in terms of choices for HK-style cafes.  Consider Coquitlam, where there is a large Asian population, and you'll find less than a handful of them.  I've already been to Copa and it was "okay", so that meant I had to visit the other one, being Westwood Cafe.

I met up with Rich Guy, since he lives in Coquitlam, to find out if there were any good eats to be found there.  Well, it didn't start off great with the Borscht. It was very pale and not very flavourful.  It was lacking in tartness and overall impact.  This was part of his 2-item meal consisting of Chicken Steak and Fried Fish Filet. The chicken steak was fried up crispy on the outside while dry and chewy on the inside.  This could've benefited from a slight dusting of flour or starch.  The fried fish was good though with a crispy exterior while being moist inside.  The mushroom sauce was mild and did the job.

I went for the Baked Spaghetti Bolognese and it wasn't particularly attractive where the meat sauce was dry and very dark.  After a quick taste, it was in fact crumbly and dry.  It was particularly sweet with little in the way of any tomato and no carrots. We shared one more item being the Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice.  It was not too greasy where each grain of rice was discernible and chewy.  The good wok heat ensured a nuttiness and no excess moisture.  There was no absence of saltiness to the dish from the combination of the fish and seasoning.  However, this was probably the only complete dish we had.  Everything else was pretty disappointing.  Oh well, back to Richmond we come...

The Good:
- Friendly people
- Lots of choice
- Not much competition for them

The Bad:
- Below average food
- Decor is a bit tired