Uncle's Snack Shop

Situated in the old location of Green Lemongrass on Westminster Highway in Richmond, newly opened Uncle's Snack Shop is offering up an eclectic menu that restaurant veteran, Kevin Lin, has developed fusing traditional Asian flavours while presented in non-traditional ways.  Of course I had to see what was cooking, literally and figuratively at Uncle's.  I decided to let the huge lines of the weekend dissipate so I could be first on a weekday and order "one of everything".

Ah yes, doing my best impersonation of Mijune Pak (not that I can be Mijune Pak..), I really did get one of everything including all the sammies.  From top and clockwise, we had the OG Chick Sandy, Hot Chick Sandy, Salty Chick Sandy and Cheesy Shroom Sandy.  They were all solid with the salted egg sandwich standing out for me.  The chicken thigh was juicy and aggressively crunchy on the outside (in a good way).  I could get the richness of the salted egg without it being overdone and heavy.  Nice crunch from the napa slaw that also balanced the richness.  I was pleasantly surprised with the appealing spice from the hot chick sandy where it was definitely impactful without taking over the other flavours including the fragrant Thai basil aoili and the fresh cabbage & daikon slaw.  I thought the OG chick sandy definitely captured the traditional Chinese flavours with the ginger & scallion condiment.  There was a crapload of it where the brightness and zing was apparent.  I would've liked to see more tang from the cucumber salad though.  Of course there was also a vegetarian offering in the cheesy shroom sandy with a cheese-filled panko fried portobello.  Lots of textures here and no lack of cheese.  The tamarind jam added tang, sweetness and spice to liven things up.

There was one more sandy that was definitely different from the rest in the Egg Tofu Katsu Sandy.  Enjoyed this one as the milk bread was ever-so-soft and fluffy.  The thin piece of katsu was tender and not dry while crispy on the surface.  That egg tofu was naturally silky soft while complimented by tangy tartar with bits of pickles and onion.  Katsu sauce provided some salty sweetness as well.

One of the most stealth items was the Pomelo Salad with jicama, pickled watermelon rind, cucumber, mint, caramelized onion, tofu puffs and spicy tamarind dressing.  This salad was a lot of things but most of all, it was about textures.  Lots of fresh crunchy things to go with the chewiness of the tofu puffs.  The tang and sweetness of the dressing went well with the ingredients and the mint added a extra flavour component.

The biggest item we had was Auntie's Staff Meal which was Fried Spicy Ribs on rice with mushroom tofu stew.  For the price ($12.00!!!), this was a lot of food.  If I were to tackle this alone, I probably wouldn't have finished it.  All 3 ribs were large, meaty and fall-off-the-bone tender.  Loved the crisp exterior glazed with a spicy sweet chili sauce.  The rice was texturally sound while the stew was hearty and comforting.

One of their most interesting items was the Taiwanese Sausage Corn Dog with brown sugar chili garlic sauce.  If you are not familiar, a Taiwanese sausage is firmer (oh, cue the jokes...) and sweeter than a regular sausage.  There is also chunks of fat and the casing is a bit chewier.  So this corn dog was considerably different than ones you would find at the PNE.  However, the one thing that put this over the top was the dip.  Sweet, tangy and slightly spicy, it was flavour bomb to go with the corn dog.  I was very pleased that they dared to put Honey Garlic Chickenese on the menu.  These were actually deep fried chicken knees coated with honey garlic butter.  Think of them as small chicken nuggets with the crunch of cartilage.  I thought these were good with the classic sweet aromatics.  I personally would've asked for sauce on the side as I like my chicken knees not covered in sauce.  At the bottom of the picture, we had Uncle Scott's Shake-Shake Tots were dressed in truffle parm (extra $2.00).  These were crunchy and there was definitely enough truffle oil and parm to make them flavourful.

We actually had 2 more items including the Chicken Skin Chickarron and the After School Mac Salad.  However, I'll only discuss the chickarron because the mac salad will be coming off the menu.  Properly rendered and crunchy, the chicken skin was tossed in a sticky fish sauce.  Pretty addictive and if I didn't care about my cholesterol, I would've eaten all of it.  LOL...  Ultimately, we didn't eat all of the food.  We ordered too much!  However, it did give us a good sense of the menu and what Uncle's Snack Shop is all about - interesting food with bold flavours.  Definitely worth a try for a quick bite or a meal.

The Good:
- Bold flavours
- Interesting food
- There's parking!

The Bad:
- Sandwiches are on the pricier side, but this is not a fast food restaurant