Having grown up in and around the Oakridge area, I’d often noticed Tony’s Beef Noodle right across the street from Oakridge Mall but for some reason, I never ventured inside. Maybe it was because it always seemed empty in the evenings or maybe because I always had other plans in mind for lunch. In any case, Jenkins and I happened to be in the area one weekend afternoon and decided to finally check it out for lunch.

I debated a bit about what to order but in the end, I decided to order the small beef noodle in soup. As you can see in the photo below, the broth was not too greasy and it also had a ton of great beefy flavour. Instead of thinly sliced beef shank in many other beef noodle places, the beef here was actually thick chunks of beef, which were cooked quite tender. The noodles were a tad overcooked for my liking but overall, the beef noodles exceeded my expectations. I should also note that the small order of the beef noodle was more than enough for me that day.

Jenkins decided to order the crispy salty peppery chicken with rice. This was pretty substantial and also came with half a marinated egg, some cabbage, and tomato with egg. The chicken was indeed quite crispy with a pretty thick batter. I would have liked for there to be slightly more chicken so that the pieces were juicier but this is my personal preference when it comes to this dish. It went quite well with the rice though and the tomato with egg added some moisture to the dish. Even though the tomato and egg was just a side dish, it was actually one of my favourite components of this dish.

Overall, Jenkins and I enjoyed our lunch at Tony’s Beef Noodle. For days when we’re at Oakridge and don’t feel like eating at the food court, it’s nice to know that this place is conveniently located just across the street.

Details:
5754 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-327-5061

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $

There have been many restaurants located in the same space where Wang’s Taiwan Beef Noodle House is located today. Unfortunately, it’s just the latest in a string of unsuccessful ventures. I was actually pretty surprised that Shanghai Village closed down since I thought the food seemed to be pretty good. In any case, Jenkins and I decided to check out Wang’s for dinner one evening.

It was around 7pm on a Saturday evening and there were only two other tables occupied in the restaurant. That doesn’t seem to bode well but Jenkins and I were still optimistic. I ordered the minced pork with rice and pickled vegetables. The pork lacked flavour and I wasn’t too impressed with the fact that the pickled vegetables were still cold. My bowl was also mostly rice with only a thin layer of pork and pickled veggies on top. The marinated egg was also cold but it did have a nice five spice and soy flavour to it. If the egg had been warmed up, I think it would have tasted much better.

Green onion pancake with beef is one of my favourite Taiwanese dishes. Unfortunately, the pancake here was either too doughy or slightly undercooked and similar to the pickled veggies in my dish above, the marinated beef shank was also cold. This was definitely one of the less successful versions of this dish that I’ve tried.

Jenkins decided to have the crispy chicken on rice. The chicken was actually fried quite nicely and exhibited a nice flavour with just the right amount of saltiness. It went quite well with the rice but due to the fried nature of the chicken, this dish was a bit on the dry side so you may need something to wash it down. Jenkins noted that the side veggies included were a bit run of the mill.

Unfortunately, neither Jenkins nor I were too impressed with our meal at Wang’s. I can see why there was no one inside and unless they improve the quality of their food substantially, it might not be long before another restaurant sets up shop in this space. I do have to note that service was quite friendly and attentive at first, probably due to the fact that there was basically one server per table. However, maybe boredom got to them after a while because our server disappeared towards the end of the meal.

Details:
3250 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-872-3618

Summary:
Food: 1.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 2 out of 5 stars
Price: $

I normally visit my parents on the weekend for dinner but they happened to be out of town one weekend. I wasn’t in the mood to cook for Jenkins and myself and I suspected that Grick and Snoopy were in the same boat so I called them up to see if they wanted to join us for dinner someplace. Lucky for me, I was right and we agreed to meet up at Dinesty for dinner that evening. Dinesty had actually been around for a while but it was one of the few restaurants I never tried out when I was still living in Richmond.

Everyone left most of the ordering up to me so I was able to pick some of my favourite dishes. First up was some cold cucumbers in garlic sauce. The cucumbers had a good amount of spiciness from some chillis to them. The garlic and sesame oil flavour permeated through the crunchy cucumbers and this was a great appetizer for us.

Next came the xiao long baos (steamed pork dumplings). It took me a couple of shots before I could capture the picture below because they were so hot and steamy, my camera kept on fogging up. The skin on these baos were quite thin, although not as much as the ones at Shanghai River. However, they had a ton of soup in them and there was a burst of flavour when I popped them in my mouth.

The pork in the shredded pork in hoisin sauce with pancakes was amply sauced and slightly sweet and salty at the same time. It came with a few pancakes to wrap them in (similar to the one used for Peking duck) but not enough to accommodate this mountain of pork. We ended up ordering another plate of pancakes to finish off the pork and also ate it with rice, which was really tasty.

Marinated beef with soy sauce wrapped in pancake is one of my favourite Taiwanese dishes. I wasn’t too impressed with the version here though. The beef did not have a very strong flavour to it and the green onion pancake was also slightly greasy. I would have liked the pancake to be crispier.

We all agreed that our winner dish of the evening was one of Grick’s choices, the wok-fried spare ribs with salt and hot peppers. The ribs were crispy with very little batter and spiced with jalapenos, Thai chilis, and garlic. They also had a hint of sweetness which really rounded out the flavours. We ate the spareribs with rice as well and I could have eaten bowls and bowls of these.

Snoopy suggested that we also add a tofu dish so we decided to go with an old standby, the Mapo Tofu. There was more tofu than pork in this dish but we really didn’t mind. There was a slight hint of spiciness in this dish as well but it was more garlicky than anything else. As you can imagine, this was another dish that went really well with rice.

The four of us walked away feeling super full but also very satisfied. If I had known how great the food at Dinesty was, I definitely would have come a lot sooner! Their mix of Taiwanese and Shanghainese food seems to work for them and that can be evidenced by the steady stream of people walking in all evening. Service can be a bit sparse but once all your dishes arrive, you don’t need to interact too much with the servers anyway.

Details:
8111 Ackroyd Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-303-7772

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

One thing that I always lamented about downtown was the lack of bubble tea and casual Asian eats available. I was used to my old stomping grounds in Richmond where there were a multitude of options available to me if I wanted to have bubble tea or go for some Hong Kong-style cafes or Taiwanese food. With several options opening up along Cambie Street, including, Corner 23 and Copa Cafe, there were some places close by but downtown options were still a bit lacking. Louis told me one day about the new Well Tea location opening up on Dunsmuir and Seymour so we knew we had to give it a try.

My first trip to Well Tea was actually with Tarri. We had been wanting to meet up for lunch for a while and when I told her that Well Tea had bubble tea, we decided that it was the place for us to meet up. I decided to order the Taiwanese sausage with rice set meal. It was actually pretty standard…the sausage itself was a little bland tasting and it was also a bit smaller than the servings I’ve had at other places.

The veggies that came with my meal were also a bit bland. The celery and cabbage tasted pretty similar (top and middle) and the potato salad had too much mayo for my taste.

I decided to go all out and ordered some bubble tea as well. Actually, I ordered milk tea with no pearls, so technically, I suppose it wasn’t bubble tea. One thing I like about the milk teas at Well Tea was that they give you the option of choosing how much sugar you want in your drink. I usually go with 25% sugar because I find bubble tea is normally too sweet.

About a week later, I went back with Jenkins for a quick bite to eat before going to the movies. I decided to have a hot pot item this time and chose the lemongrass chicken hot pot. I expected this to have a lot of chicken, but it was actually more of a cabbage hot pot with some chicken and fish balls. I also found the lemon flavour stronger than I would have liked, and I think it was because slices of lemon were also added. With so much cabbage added to the hot pot, this turned out to be a very filling dish but not really my cup of tea.

Jenkins decided to go with one of his favourites, the three-cup chicken. This was a pretty well made version of a Taiwanese classic. Unlike some other three-cup chicken dishes that we’ve had, spring onions were also added, which gave the dish a slightly different spin. The pieces of chicken were also pretty meaty and Jenkins noted that he was quite full afterwards.

I’ve been to Well Tea quite a few times now and although there seems to be a lack of consistency with their dishes, they are generally executed quite well. Service also seems to be a bit spotty at times but I think it’s due to the fact that they’re still trying to iron out the kinks. All in all, it’s not a bad option to check out if you’re ever in the mood for some bubble tea of Taiwanese food in the downtown core.

Details:
551 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-681-9777

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

Despite my less than impressive bubble tea outing at Corner 23, I decided to give it another try and went there for dinner with Ann and Karen.  I had noticed from the last time I was there that most people had some food along with their drink, so I figured it would be good.

Ann ordered some deep-fried crispy chicken for the three of us to share.  This is always one of my favourite appies to order at Taiwanese restaurants even though it is definitely not the healthiest.    The chicken was very crispy and had the slightest hint of spiciness.

I decided to go with the three cup chicken with rice meal.  Three cup chicken got its name because it is made with three main ingredients: one cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine.  I enjoyed this version quite a bit because it was not too oily.  The deep fried basil probably was not the healthiest but was very tasty.  Several of the meals at Corner 23 also include some side dishes, such as pickled vegetables and broccoli.

I had a blueberry green tea with my meal and surprisingly, this time, it was very good!  The blueberry flavour was nice and I think it went well with the green tea base.

Karen was feeling a bit sick so she went healthy with a seafood hot pot with vermicelli noodles.  There was quite a variety of seafood included and a swirly egg as well.  I’m not sure how good this would be normally but it was quite suitable for a sickish person. 

Ann chose the deep-fried pork chop with rice.  If I recall, it was about $8 and as you can see below, was enough food to feed a very hungry person. 

I must say that this visit to Corner 23 was much better than my first visit.  I went back another time after this and the food was still quite tasty.  I suppose they’ll have to work on their consistency if anything else, but in general, both the service and food at Corner 23 are a good value for your money.

Details:
4008 Cambie St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-709-9788

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

I went to No. 1 Beef Noodle House in Burnaby the other day for lunch. Located at the corner of Moscrop & Willingdon, it is a small Taiwanese eatery that is extremely busy at lunch due to its location by both BCIT and a high school. Not only do they serve great lunch dishes but they also have bubble tea.

Despite the busy hubbub inside, our food came pretty quickly. I had Taiwanese pork sausage with rice, which also came with two small dishes of vegetables. It was very filling but the sausages could have have used a little more salt. The veggies were tasty and a nice complement to my main dish.

Renee had a bowl of noodles with a marinated egg, minced pork, and preserved veggies.

She also had a side of deep fried tofu that looked very tasty. She said the tofu was fried perfectly but the sauce was a bit bland.

Chris had a curried pork chop with rice, which came with the same veggies that I had with my sausage. The curry looked to me like it should have been sweet but it was actually quite savoury. The pork chop was lightly fried and came with some potatoes.

All in all, our lunch was great. I’m glad it is so close to where I work and it is always one of my top picks when I am looking for a place to go for lunch. The service is brisk and the food usually comes quite quickly. Their menu is fairly extensive and the prices are reasonable. The bill for the three of us came to about $22. The next time I come here, I will try to review the bubble tea.

Details:
4741 Willingdon Ave, Burnaby
Tel: 604-438-6648