One of my stand bys when I’m not sure where to eat is usually a Hong Kong-style cafe. I grew up eating at such places so the food is quite familiar to me and it also doesn’t hurt that the prices are generally quite reasonable. I was first introduced to Cafe Gloucester several years ago and I remember it was my first experience with the HK cafe classic, the baked pork chop with rice. When Louis suggested one day that we venture out of downtown for lunch, we decided we should make the short jaunt to Cafe Gloucester.

We were lucky to be seated pretty quickly because Cafe Gloucester is pretty popular and is usually quite packed. I quickly settled on the baked pork chop with rice because it had been quite a while since I last had it. Looking at the picture below, you’ll see that it’s not the healthiest dish. The pork chop is battered and fried (kind of like a tonkatsu) before being nestled on top of some fried rice, topped with a sweet tomato sauce, and baked in the oven with a sprinkling of cheese. It’s definitely a rich dish and is probably not for the faint of heart. I ended up eating only half of this dish and packed the rest away for lunch the next day.

Like many dishes at Cafe Gloucester, my order came with a hot drink of my choice. I decided to go with the hot almond milk, since it was a chilly day. Unlike some places, the almond milk had a nice flavour and was not watered down. Still, it was likely made from a powdered drink mix.

Louis wasn’t too hungry that day so he decided to have a Portuguese chicken sandwich. The sandwich was a bit smaller than he expected. The chicken itself was only lightly seasoned and came with some lettuce and tomatos. Flavourwise, Louis wasn’t sure what made it Portuguese and said it was your run of the mill grilled chicken sandwich. He also noted that the fries were a bit boring and did not seem very crispy.

As expected with such places, service was brief but fairly efficient. I generally stick to the Chinese classics or baked items as that is generally what HK cafes are good at making. I’ve never ventured to try their sandwiches but I wasn’t surprised at the lacklustre nature of Louis’ Portuguese sandwich. In general, portion sizes are quite generous and unless you’re very hungry, you’ll likely be able to pack some to take home with you.

Details:
3338 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-873-3338

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $

It was my grandma’s big 80th birthday back in June and we celebrated it the way our family knows best: a big Chinese dinner at Fisherman’s Terrace in Aberdeen Centre.    My aunt pre-ordered a banquet menu for us so all we needed to do was pretty much show up and chow down.

First came a mixed cold appetizer platter.  I found the duck (pictured below on the far left) to be on the oily side but the other items were quite tasty.  The roast pork skin was nice and crispy and I also enjoyed the jellyfish.

Next, we had a scallop dish with snow peas and some seaweed strips.  Although the seaweed was an interesting twist, it quickly got soggy from the juice created by the scallops and peas.

The deep-fried crab claws weren’t too bad but I felt that it was a bit over-fried because the skin was quite oily.  I dabbed some of the excess oil off with a paper napkin. 

The shark fin soup had chunks of crab in it as well.  I always like to drizzle a bit of red vinegar in my shark fin soup.

The lobster was obviously a hit with my Uncle Jack, who insisted on being in the picture with the lobster.    I felt the sauce was too creamy and would have gone nicely with some noodles or something to balance out the sauce.

The abalone and mushrooms were quite tasty.  I always like eating whole abalone and then using the juice afterwards with my noodles, rice, or veggies. 

Roasted squab is one of my favourite dishes but I found this squab to be on the greasy side and a little too salty.  For those of you new to squab, it is young pigeon and has a stronger taste than duck.

The yee mein noodles were overcooked and also somewhat oily.  I like my noodles to be slightly al dente and these definitely weren’t.

The lotus leaf flavour came out quite strongly in the lotus leaf-wrapped rice but it was hard to taste the other flavours, even though there were dried scallops and pork.  The rice also seemed to be a bit on the mushy side.

As is customary with Chinese birthdays, we had birthday buns shaped in a peach and filled with lotus paste.

The red bean soup was too sweet and watery for my taste.

I hadn’t eaten dinner at Fisherman’s Terrace in quite a while but I was a bit disappointed with the quality of food.  There was also a wedding going on at the same time, so it was possible that they neglected us a bit in order to tend to the wedding guests, but then I’m just making excuses.    Fisherman’s Terrace is also on the pricier side in terms of Cantonese restaurants so they really have no excuse to be skimping on the quality of their food.  Service was quite brisk and attentive though so I have no complaints there.

Details:
3580-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
Tel: 604-303-9739

Summary:
Food: 2 out of 5 stars
Service: 4 out of 5 stars
Price: $$$