Starlight Kitchen

Since I can remember, Phở Hòa occupied the large restaurant space on Kingsway at Nanaimo.  However, it is now a Hong Kong-style cafe known as Starlight Kitchen.  Renovations are not very extensive as the interior looks roughly the same.  However, whatever they saved in their renos, it seems to have gone directly into the portion sizes.  They are quite generous and for the 2 times I've been there, the food has been solid and so has the service.

Let's get right into the usual dishes that we judge an HK-style cafe on.  The most obvious is the Baked Pork Chop Rice.  This was a good version as the fried rice base was nutty and chewy while the ample sauce on top was flavourful and slightly tangy.  It was more sweet than savoury, but it worked well with the melted cheese.  I liked how they didn't skimp on the sauce since there was enough for both the rice and pork chop.  About that pork chop, it was tender and still featured a crispy panko coating.

Next up, we had another classic in the Linguine Bolognese (instead of spaghetti in this case).  Really enjoyed this one as the pasta was almost al dente.  This is significant because many HK-style cafes overcook their pastas.  Just like the previous dish, they put more than enough sauce to coat every strand of pasta.  Furthermore, the sauce was thick, meaty and full-of-depth.  The melted cheese on top was definitely noticeable.

Moving away from tomato sauces, we had another HK-style cafe staple in the Baked Seafood Rice.   As you can see, the theme of "lots of sauce" applies here once again.  That meant that all of the fried rice base was coated with the starch-thickened cream sauce.  It was quite mild but had some aroma and sweetness.  There was a mix of seafood that included fish, imitation crab, prawns and Kiwi mussels.  They were more or less cooked properly.

Normally here, we would be ordering something like the Portuguese Chicken, but nope, this was the Baked Portuguese Pork Chop Rice.  Not sure if there is actually such a thing, but the sauce was the HK-style Portuguese sauce.  It was creamy and coconutty with a bit of earthiness.  Lots of sauce here on top of the crispy pork chop (like the previous dish) and also the fried rice base.  This was good but I personally enjoy the classic chicken version more.

When at a HK-style cafe, it is always a given that they have combo meat plates or other Western complete dish meals.  Hence we got the 2-Item Plate with chicken steak, pork chop with veggies, black pepper sauce and a side of spaghetti (this also included a soup to start).  Yet another solid dish with a juicy deboned and seared chicken leg as well as thin pork chops that were still moist.  Black pepper sauce was well-seasoned and slightly peppery.

Continuing on with a Hong Kong take with Western dishes, we had the Ham & Egg Sandwich with a side of fries.  This would be like the closest thing to what it should be if we walked into a diner.  However, the HK touches included toasted soft white bread without the crust and soft scrambled eggs.  I would've liked the eggs to be runnier and also the bread to be less toasted.  Fries were cooked perfectly being hot, crunchy and potatoey in the middle.

Like most other HK-style restos, they had a Chinese Dishes section of the menu too that included the Pickled Vegetable & Duck Vermicelli.  This was a huge portion that featured al dente vermicelli that was not clumpy nor dry.  There was enough moisture to keep things loose but not making the dish wet.  I found the flavours to be mild for this dish, but I usually add hot sauce anyways...  I would've liked to see just a bit more in the way of ingredients as there was very little of it beyond what you see in the picture.

So for whatever reason, I decided to try the Ja Jeun Mein.  I would say this was the only dish I didn't like in my 2 visits to the place.  I found the white noodles to be far too clumpy and even when I mixed the meat sauce into it, the noodles didn't seem like they wanted to separate.  The made for an overly cumbersome way to eat the dish.  Furthermore, the sauce was meaty but lacking in overall impact.  It was slightly sweet but I didn't get much beyond that.

Lastly and probably one of the best dishes of the bunch, was the Special House Fried Noodle.  This was absolutely massive and had a bevy of properly-cooked components including giant scallops, prawns, squid, BBQ pork and chicken.  The crispy noodles were soften by the proper amount of sauce.  Overall, the food and portion sizes at Starlight Kitchen are very good.  Compared to somewhere like Copa Cafe, Starlight is better in all regards including price point.  This will be one of my go to spots for HK-style eats for the forseeable future.

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Large portions
- Well-priced for what you get

The Bad:
- Not sure how it will be in the winter, but the dining room gets stuffy
- Service is good but hurried

 

Deer Garden

When my parents used to live in Coquitlam, I remember frequenting Deer Garden for dinner.  That stopped as soon as my parents moved into Burnaby.  Mind you, I could've easily just ate at Deer Garden without them, but it was out-of-sight, out-of-mind.  Such a shame really as their food was generally solid and well-portioned.  Recently, along with other foodies, I was invited to try out a variety of dishes at their new location.  That's right, they are no longer on Westwood Street.  Rather, they've moved into Henderson Centre right across from the New Pacific Market.  

We started off the meal with an Appetizer Platter consisting of Salty Peppery Pork Chops, Fried Wontons, Honey Shrimp and Fried Eggplant.  Loved the crispy and light batter on the pork chops.  Inside, the meat was tender and not dry.  There was enough seasoning to flavour the pork chops.  The shrimp were also good with a starch coating.  Since it was tossed in sweet mayo, the exterior was just somewhat crispy.  The shrimp itself was meaty and buttery.  I found the fried eggplant to be cooked-through without being mushy.

Next dish was the Whole Lobster steamed with garlic.  Nothing complex with this dish and really, the most important thing is that they served a live lobster.  That was confirmed with the delicate bouncy texture of the lobster meat.  It was sweet and fresh-tasting.  The ample garlic on top did not overwhelm the lobster.  It only accentuated the already-present lobster aroma.  Absolutely loved that they put the lobster butter on the side so we could easily eat it.  So much umaminess!

Moving onto a classic dish, we had the Hainanese Chicken with chicken oil rice.  The free-range chicken was beautifully prepared with tender and moist pieces of both white and dark meat.  I found that the skin was perfectly gelatinzed while a bit of gelatin lurked underneath.  The pieces of chicken were delicious on their own but the accompanying condiments helped in that respect.  As for the chicken oil rice, it as nutty, a bit fatty and full of umaminess.  The rice itself was chewy and nutty.

Like many restaurants of this style (think Miu Garden) we also had the Coconut Curry Bef Brisket to go along with the chicken dish.  This was every bit as good as Miu Garden with big chunks of beef that were super tender and surprisingly not that fatty.  The coconut curry was rich and creamy with so plenty of aromatics and proper seasoning.  Really needed white rice for this and with the sauce, maybe a few bowls of rice just for myself!

Going in a totally different direction, we had the Seafood Congee with a side of salty donut.  The congee base was a bit more homestyle than other Chinese restaurants.  The colour was bright white and the seasoning was mild.  It was still thick though and the amount of seafood was generous.  I found the slices of fish to be tender and flaky while the prawns had a perfectly-cooked meaty snap.  There was also delicate slices of scallop.

We moved onto a pair of soup noodles after this including Beef Tendon & Tripe Noodles as well as Home-Made 4 Kinds of Meatballs Noodles.  Both featured chewy wonton noodles that had an appealing resistance to them.  The tendon and tripe were tender, but not to the point there was no texture left.  I found the soup base to be quite good.  As much as it isn't as good at a dedicated wonton noodle house, it was still flavourful with a sweet meatiness.  Not much to say about the meatballs other than there were a good amount of them.

We always go for the default with the Sweet & Sour Pork mostly because we enjoy the dish.  However, it is so beloved by everyone, I tend to judge most places with this dish in mind!  Well the version here was actually quite good.  It featured medium-sized nuggets of pork that were juicy and tender.  This was definitely fried-to-order, which meant the exterior batter wasn't hard nor was the meat overdone.  Sometimes restaurants par-fry the pork to make preparation faster.  They didn't here.  The sauce was on the sweeter side and could've used a touch more tang.

We moved onto the a pair of hot pot dishes in the Singing Pork Sparerib Hot Pot and the Satay Sliced Beef Vermicelli Hot Pot.  Both came out sizzling with still vibrant veggies.  I found the ample amount of spareribs to be meaty, yet tender without much in the way of fat of cartilage.  It was seasoned properly with a starch-thickened sauce.  As for the sliced beef, it appeared that the cuts were more with the grain than against the grain, so the meat wasn't as tender as it appeared to be.  It possibly could've benefited from more tenderization through a longer marinade.  It did taste good though with well-seasoned vermicelli.  Love the chewy texture that was not hard nor was it too saucy.

We had a HK-style dish next with the Baked Pork Chop Spaghetti.  Yes, normally, this would be a baked rice, but honestly, I like spaghetti more anyways.  This was a large portion that would be best for sharing.  The spaghetti itself wasn't exactly al dente, but it wasn't soft either, so that was a good thing.  I found the sauce having the right viscosity and having a pleasant taste including just the slightest of tomato tang with balancing sweetness.  There was so garlic notes too.  Served in cut up strips, the fried pork chop was tender and not dry.

The same sliced beef from the hot pot showed up in the Beef with Egg Sauce on Rice.  Hence, it looked great on the place being cooked perfectly.  However, it as still chewy due to the combination of cutting with the grain and not being marinated long enough.  Despite this, the dish was still tasty and went will with rice.  The eggs were silky and the starch-thickened sauce was flavourful and the right viscosity.

We ended off the savoury part of the meal with the Fried Rice with shrimp paste, shrimp and chicken & the Supreme Fried Kuiteow.  The noodles were pretty good despite missing the usual flavour profile of a true chow kuiteow.  It had good wok hei which meant it was a a a bit smoky without any residual moisture.  I would've liked to see some brininess but it still tasted fine.  I found the rice to be quite good with plenty of ingredients.  It had enough of a hot wok fry that it had some caramelization and colour.  The ample amount of shrimp were cold-water crunchy.  I would've liked maybe more aggressive seasoning with this though. 

For dessert, we had the HK-Style French Toast with butter and syrup.  Classic Hong Kong Cafe-style, these French toast bites were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  There was a layer of sweetness already between the white bread, but the addition of syrup made this a satisfying dessert. In the end, we were quite satisfied with the combination of classic Chinese dishes and HK-Style cafe favourites.  Things were generally well-prepared except for the beef.

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

The Good:
- Well-prepared dishes
- Good portions
- Fairly large menu

The Bad:
- Unfortunately, the beef was not tender
- Kuiteow didn't taste like one, but really, it was still delicious

 

Happy Valley Food City

We all know the location that used to house Swiss Chalet out on Lougheed Hwy in Burnaby.  It was seemingly going to be there forever until it was heading towards closure, then didn't, then actually closing late last year.  Shortly after, signs went up indicating Happy Valley would take over the spot and operate it as a hybrid restaurant with one side being Chinese BBQ/Dim Sum and the other, HK-Style Cafe.  We finally made it out to try the HK-Style Cafe portion and interestingly, the restaurant is truly sectioned as such.  You cannot sit in the BBQ section and order anything other than BBQ.  Hence, we had to wait for a spot to open up on the HK-Style Cafe side even though the BBQ section was not full.

Looking over the menu, there was one page of HK-Style Cafe favourites and on the other side, typical Cantonese dishes.  We had a mix of dishes including the classic Baked Pork Chop Rice.  They were still ironing out the kinks of a new operation, so they kept coming back to ask if our pork chop was with spaghetti or rice.  This cumulated in us getting one each of Baked Pork Chop Rice and Baked Pork Chop Spaghetti.  We sent the spaghetti away since we didn't order it.  As for the actual dish, it was disappointing.  First of all, the sauce was bland and lacking in tang and savouriness.  Secondly, the pork chop was a tad on the chewier side.  Fried rice base was okay though.

Continuing on with the basics, we also had the Baked Spaghetti Bolognese.  This featured fairly al dente noodles that were topped with a pretty typical HK-Style Cafe bolognese sauce.  For those who are unfamiliar, this version generally does not include all of the usual herbs except for possibly a bay leaf and some oregano.  You might even find some star anise and soy in this version.  Also, it would not be cooked slowly for a long time such as the Italian version.  It was rich with tender morsels of beef.  I found it to be on the sweeter side possibly due to the ample amount of onions.  Overall, this was a decent version of the dish, yet at the same time, it could've benefited from more seasoning.

Moving onto a soup noodle, my son chose the Beef Brisket Noodle with wonton-type noodles.  It was a pretty large portion where he didn't even finish all the noodles.  They were mostly al dente, but naturally got softer as it soaked in the hot broth.  About that broth, it was pretty solid with sweetness and aroma from the starch-thickened brisket stewing juices.  As for the brisket there was a decent amount of it.  The meat was generally tender and not very fatty, which meant there was a decent amount of meat.

We stuck with the Cantonese dishes and ordered the Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice.  We ended ordering the smaller meal portion size that also included a beverage.  It turned out to be still a decent amount which was enough to share.  The rice was a touch soft, but still had decent wok hei (enough to caramelize) which meant the rice was nutty and not too moist.  I wished that there was more salted fish as the rice ate a bit plain.  The lack of salt contributed to this as well.  However, there was a good amount of tender chicken and the rice was chewy enough.

To get some greens into our diet, we ordered the Pea Shoots with Garlic.  This was a good portion considering the price.  I would say the pea shoots were slightly old, but it wasn't enough to make or break the dish.  There was good wok heat where the pea shoots were cooked through, yet did not leave any moisture on the bottom of the plate.  Plenty of garlic and seasoning for impact too.

 

Since we love the dish, we got the Sweet & Sour Pork and once again, it was a huge portion for $22.00.  It consisted of large chunks of pork and the result was juicy meat that had extensive marbling.  I'm guessing they might've used pork belly here (or very fatty pieces of shoulder).  I found the batter to be just right and still had a bit of crunch left.  There was just enough sauce to cling to each piece.  It was more sweet than sour though.

Now at this point, we were practically finished our meal and we were wondering when the Singapore Noodles would arrive.   They did so before we got a chance to ask about them.  It was worth the wait though as this was one of the better dishes.  As you can see, there was enough curry to both colour the noodles as well as providing spice.  There was also enough salt and the amount of ingredients were sufficient.  Overall, we thought the food was a decent and the prices were reasonable.  They still need to work on the pork chop rice though.  Service was good despite being a bit disorganized (forgivable since they are new).

The Good:

- Decent eats

- Okay pricing

- Service was okay given the circumstances

The Bad:

- A bit disorganized at the moment

- Since it is essentially 2 restaurants in one, both have limited seating especially the Dim Sum/HK-Style Cafe

M Cafe

Unless you live in Richmond, there seems to be a limited selection of good Hong Kong-Style cafes in the city.  Even with that, I personally believe there aren't enough HK-Style cafes in general and that includes Richmond.  This is especially true where I live, in North Burnaby.  Thankfully, there is a Happy Valley opening up in the ol' Swiss Chalet soon, but otherwise, I have to go all the way to Metrotown to the Boss for HK-style eats.  One other option is to head into Coquitlam and either hit up Copa or M Cafe, which we did this time around.

We've been here before many times, but I decided that an updated post was in order.  Like with all places like M Cafe, there is usually a soup included with most meals.  The choices range from borscht, cream of something and Clam Chowder.  This is what I had and if you've ever had a HK-Style version, you will know that it is less of a chowder and more like a cream of clams and veggies.  I found this just thick enough and loaded with clams and soft veggies.  Flavour was mild and it wasn't briny at all - a good version in the end.

For my main, I had the Dual Steak Combo and selected a chicken steak and a ribeye steak.  This came with crunchy fries, mixed veggies and I went for the black pepper sauce.  This was quite a bit of food where the chicken steak (deboned chicken leg) was juicy and well-seared.  The ribeye was medium-rare as requested and was sufficiently tender.  I found the black pepper sauce to be salty enough and quite peppery.

We had to get the classic Baked Pork Chop Rice.  This is a HK-style cafe staple with fried rice base topped with pork cutlets coated with a crispy breading.  I found the pork chops to be juicy and tender.  As for the tomato sauce on top, it was textbook being only mildly tangy (maybe could've been tangier) with plenty of sweetness.  It was thick enough to coat all the pork chops and some leftover for the rice.

Continuing on with the tour of HK-style cafe staples, we also had the Baked Spaghetti Bolognese topped with melted cheese and served with garlic bread.  For those who aren't familiar, this isn't an Italian bolognese.  Rather, think of a meat sauce with onions and carrots but with the addition of star anise (sometimes) and soy as well as some other Asian ingredients.  The sauce here was a bit tangier than usual, yet still tasty.  The noodles were al dente and overall, this was a solid.

We just had to also include the Baked Seafood Rice which also featured the same fried rice base.  It was topped with a mushroom cream sauce and assorted seafood.  Again, for those who don't know, the cream sauce found at HK-style cafes are mostly starch-thickened milk-based sauces.  With that being said, this was still flavourful and the sauce was just thick enough.  The seafood was not overcooked either.

Going for something more of a Chinese dish, we had the Curry Beef Brisket.  Although this can be found at most Cantonese restaurants, it is also another HK-style cafe staple.  This was served with a plate of rice.  Another solid dish where the pieces of brisket were mostly tender and not dry.  It appeared to be a mix where there was some beef finger meat too.  The curry itself was on the thinner side, yet was still plenty flavourful with only a mild amount of spice.

Another Chinese dish was the Scrambled Eggs and Shrimp on stir fried flat rice noodles.  My son actually wanted this one as scrambled eggs and shrimp is his favourite Chinese dish.  However, when it is served atop rice noodles, it is more of a starch-thickened sauce with egg drop and shrimp in it.  This was good though as the noodles were not mushy nor clumpy while the sauce had plenty of cold-water shrimp and delicate egg swirls.

Our last item was staying on the theme of classic HK-style items with the Clubhouse Sandwich served with fries.  This was stuffed with a fried chicken cutlet, bacon, fried egg, cheese, tomato and lettuce all on crustless toasted white bread.  It was fulfilling and the ingredients were on point where the chicken was juicy and the bacon was crispy.  As you can see, the food at M Cafe is pretty solid and they have all the favourites and then some.  Prices are reasonable for the portion size too.  Don't have to go to Richmond right?

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Fair portion size
- Reasonable prices

The Bad:
- Admittedly, Richmond HK-style cafes are better, but not significantly more

North Garden Cafe

A long time ago, we had dined at North Garden Cafe up on the corner of North Road and Cameron.  My memory escapes me, but I do believe that location used to be Lone Star BBQ.  Anyways, we thought the food was fine, but the actual location was in a bit of disrepair with the laminate flooring coming apart underneath us.  Furthermore, the service was really poor.  After it shut down awhile back, I thought it was gone forever, but to my surprise, it showed up again in the plaza right next to the new Safeway on Clarke Road near Como Lake.  It is not a much smaller spot run only by the husband-and-wife team.

We decided to check it out again in its new home with the whole family including my parents.  Unlike the old location, the menu trends more towards Cantonese dishes rather than HK-style cafe ones.  Hence, we went for the build-your-own-dinner for 4 (and added some other dishes to supplement).  This included a choice of soup and we had the Egg Drop Corn Soup with Chicken.  It was quite good with just enough starch to have a silky thickness and there was plenty of chicken in it.  Soup was sweet and could've used a bit more salt, but that didn't make or break it.

Now the pictures don't do it justice, but the plates here are enormous!  The Sweet & Sour Pork was easily 1/3 to 1/2 bigger in size than most other restaurants.  In terms of execution, it was also quite good.  There was a lack of fatty pieces, which meant it was mostly meat.  With that said, the meat was still tender and juicy due to the slight marbling.  Batter was not too thick and in fact, was still crunchy in spots.  We found the sauce to be tangy enough with balancing sweetness.

Again, the picture of the Gai Lan with Beef doesn't illustrate the amount of meat piled on top of the veggies.  We kept eating it and it didn't seem like we were making a dent.  We found the gai lan to be a touch old, but it was cooked in enough wok heat that it was crunchy while mostly tender.  The beef was a bit overtenderized by baking soda, so it was in smaller pieces, but as a result, it was super tender and nicely caramelized from the wok fry.

At this point, we were being overwhelmed by the portion sizes as the Beef Brisket Hot Pot was briming with meat.  Sure, there was some veggies underneath, but make no mistake, this was mostly brisket.  There was a good mix of leaner pieces with fattier ones.  Yet, all of them were tender and stewed perfectly.  The starch-thickened sauce was flavourful and stayed thick even mixed with the veggies underneath.

Going in a different direction, we had the Mixed Seafood with Snap Peas next.  Just like everything else, they did not hold back on the seafood consisting of squid, fish and shrimp.  Due to the high wok heat, everything was cooked just enough and there was no moisture on the bottom of the plate.  Fish was tender and flaky, squid was soft with some chew while the shrimp had a snap.  Veggies were crisp and vibrant with just enough seasoning.

To get a sense of their limited HK-style cafe offerings, we got the classic Baked Pork Chop Rice.  Yep, they decided to use a large Pyrex plate and hence, the portion size was massive.  Underneath the tangy and balanced tomato sauce, we found many pieces of tender fried panko-coated pork chops.  Beneath that, there was a fried rice base that was nutty and chewy enough to accept the sauce without being soggy.

Lastly, we had another HK-style cafe staple in the Spaghetti Bolognese.  Now this dish was a bit weird.  It resembled more of a "Ja Jeun Mein" sauce rather than a HK-style Bolognese.  Now if we look at it from that view, the dish was tasty with al dente noodles coated in a meaty and savoury sauce.  It just wasn't what I was expecting.  So as you can see, this meal was super good value due to the enormous portion sizes.  With inflation these days, it is harder and harder to find good deals while eating out.  This is definitely one of them and great for takeout as well.  Yes, there are superior restaurants out there, but for the price, North Garden does an admirable job in providing decent eats that are a good value.

The Good:
- Decent eats
- Gigantic portions
- Nice people

The Bad:
- There is better, but not at this price and portion size
- Small restaurant, would get full easily if it were busy