Pearl House

I remember a long time ago (2013 in fact), I had visited Pearl House out on Sperling at Kingsway in Burnaby.  It was solid Taiwanese fare that was reasonably-priced.  Well, that location has closed permanently and now houses Singapore Hawker.  Now we find that Peal House has reopened on the West side of Vancouver where the Meet Up used to be located.  Jackie and I paid a visit to this new location and upon entry, it was pretty much the same setup as before (when it was Meet Up).  So it was fairly spacious and inviting.

Of course, the space is one thing, but the food needs to be good too right?  We began with a Taiwanese classic in the Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets.  These were pretty big pieces of thigh meat, which helped them keep juicy and tender.  They were also nice marinated so that the meat had a mild saltiness to it.  As for the batter, it was not too thick while being crunchy and not overly greasy.  There was also the usual slight pepperiness and fried basil to compliment.

Continuing on with the appetizers, we had the 3-item Marinated Combo with sliced pig ear, beef shank and eggs. I thought the items here were prepared quite well.  I was actually quite impressed with the marinated eggs as the egg yolk wasn't completely obliterated.  Notice that there was no ugly green ring around it.  The pig's ear was sliced thin and had plenty of flavour including a background hint of star anise.  Same with the beef shank, as it was also tender and moist.

Naturally, at any Taiwanese restaurant, one must order the beef noodle right?  We did that but opted for the Beef Shank & Noodle Soup.  I found the broth for this bowl to be a bit mild, yet not flavourless.  I could taste the meatiness, but at the same time, it was not as rich as the one found at Myst.  The noodles were plentiful and perfectly al dente.  The beef was fall apart tender and flavourful while the tendon were in large gelantinous tender pieces.

We went a bit off the board with our next dish with the Deep Fried Unagi Bento.  This was literally 2 fillets of eel that were breaded and deep-fried.  Honestly, I didn't enjoy this bowl as the best things about eel (being buttery and soft) was absent after the breading and deep-frying.  Furthermore, it really didn't go with the rice that well as it was dry without any sauce.  Hence, we just ate the eel.  This also came with some veggies and 2 slices of Taiwanese sausage.

Our last savoury item was the Deep Fried Chicken Thigh Curry featuring a large chicken thigh.  I'm sure they added the green onion for colour but that was far too much of it.  The pure taste of the curry was partially obscured by the green onion.  Too bad because the curry itself was excellent having a sweet earthiness where the viscosity was just right.  The rice was firm enough to receive the curry while the chicken was juicy and tender with only a thin layer of fried coating.

For dessert, we had the Snowy Mango Pomelo with a cheese mousse on top.  This was refreshing and fruity as expected.  I found the shaved ice to be nicely texture without big chunks.  It was completely flavoured with the mango syrup.  For our drinks, we selected the Roasted Oolong Milk Tea as well as the Passionfruit Slush.  I thought these were solid and not merely an afterthought.  The tea had a noticeable roasted nutty flavour while the slush was fruity and completely blended.  Overall, Pearl House is a solid place for Taiwanese eats, desserts and drinks.  Portions are generous while the pricing is reasonable (given how expensive things can be in this area).

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:
- Generous portions
- Solid eats
- Spacious dining room

The Bad:
- Some dishes could be tweaked