Ever since my knee injury (this was awhile ago and had recovered from it), I haven't been called out to play Thursday night hockey. As such, I've not only lost another session of exercise, the food that followed evaporated as well. This was further exacerbated by the fact there would be no Friday hockey for the week. For some odd reason, the league has us playing every other week. Egads. Don't they know I need my team to eat out every Friday??? Anyways, like it was fate, I got called to play on Thursday when I needed it most. Excellent, I got to play hockey and go out for eats as well. As per usual, I offered Gordo a ride and he was essentially my hostage for food after the game.
We decided to hit up Enjoy Cafe, which resides in the former location of E-Canteen (and going way back, Top Gun). We arrived 30 minutes to closing and had to get our order in before last call. Gordo decided to try the Shanghai Fried Noodles as well as a Mango Slush. At first, when the noodles arrived, we were a bit worried with the lack of colour. As a result, the flavour wasn't as deep as it could've been. I guess they just didn't use much dark soy when they wok-fried it. The lack of caramelization kept the flavours muted. In the end, the noodles were cooked properly, which made up slightly for the lack of savouriness. The cabbage still had a crunch while the meat was tender. We liked that the dish wasn't too oily either. As for the Mango Slush, it wasn't overly sweet and it was blended well too.
For myself, I was torn between ordering something light and going all-out. Hey, it was close to 1:00am after all! Yet, as always, I had to get something substantial which turned out to be the 3 Item Combo which included a soup. I opted for the Cream of Ham and Corn over the HK-style Borscht. For what it's worth, the soup was pretty decent. Sure, it was more floury than creamy, but that's typical. There was a nice sweetness from the corn and the bits of ham provided some savouriness. And then came the main event - Chicken Steak, Rib Steak and Ox Tongue with spaghetti, veggies and black pepper sauce. I thought all of the proteins were prepared properly. The chicken steak (deboned leg) was moist and tender with crispy skin. Although the steak was of the baking soda-tenderized variety, it still had some chew and was a perfect medium-rare. As for my favourite item, the tongue was super tender without being mushy. It's great to get tongue at 2:00am in the morning! Er... The black pepper sauce could've used more flavour though, especially for the amount of meat.
Seeing how we I only got to eat a pile of meat for our visit here, we came back a few months later after another session of late night hockey in Richmond. Amazing how fun it is to drive here when it's late at night! So this time around, Gordo had the Fried Noodle with Chicken and Vegetable. He asked for the noodles to be soft, rather than crispy (trying to be healthier?). As such, the noodles were a bit soggy (yet, that is what he wanted, not the restaurant's fault). I found the starch-thicken sauce to be on the milder side while the chicken was tender and the Shanghai bak choy crunchy. I went for a HK-style cafe classic in the Baked Pork Chop on Rice. The pork chop was prepared nicely as it was tender with breading that wasn't too soggy from the sauce. About that sauce... it was on the bland side, but in the end, it was okay. The rice was chewy and did not go mushy from the abundance of moisture. For the price, we felt from the 2 visits that the food is a decent value. Furthermore, the food is comparable to one of my favourite late night HK-style cafes - Alleluia. In fact, Gordo and I agreed that Enjoy Cafe is another decent late-night joint to hit up after hockey in Richmond.
The Good:
- Reasonable pricing
- Good portions
The Bad:
- Flavours are a bit weak
Enjoy Cafe
Posted by
Sherman Chan
on Thursday, August 9, 2012
Labels:
Chinese,
Hong Kong-Style Cafe,
Late Night,
Richmond
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