UPDATE Apr 7, 2009: I’m not sure when it happened but Prima Taste has closed down sometime over the winter and in its place is now a sushi restaurant.

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Jenkins and I were looking for a cheap place to go for dinner one day. Even though it’s not the cheapest place around (although the prices are reasonable), I had a coupon for Prima Taste so decided that it would do. It had also been a while since we were last here so it was time for a re-visit.

The dish sizes at Prima Taste are not terribly large, but we usually just order two dishes for us to share. If we are feeling hungry, we may also add an appetizer but this time around, we weren’t too hungry.

The first dish to come was the chicken platter, which came with Prima Taste’s crispy chicken (pictured right) and Hainanese chicken (pictured left). Hainanese chicken is a specialty in southeast Asian countries and is one of my and Jenkins’ favourite chicken dishes. I’m not sure how traditional the crispy chicken is, but it is also very tasty.

The platter cost about $15 and also came with a variety of dips, sauces, Hainanese rice and some chicken soup.

Part of the reason why I wanted to go to Prima Taste that day was because I had a craving for Nasi Goreng. We chose the chicken version (you can also get vegetarian or seafood), which also came with green onions, bean sprouts, carrots, and peas. The fried rice is also slightly spicy, which may be why I like it since it’s something different.

Jenkins tells me that Prima Taste is actually a chain in Singapore and that there are quite a few of the restaurants there. I’ve never been to Singpore so I wouldn’t know for sure myself. But they do have pretty good food and at quite reasonable prices. If you have an Entertainment Book, you can also print out a coupon for 50% off your second dish.

Details:
570 Robson St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-685-7881

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

It was my last evening in San Francisco and I met up with Thu for dinner. She took me to Straits Cafe over in Palo Alto, which is a Asian fusion restaurant. Thu told me that there are actually several Straits restaurants in the Bay area but the one we went to in Palo Alto was the original one.

We started off with an appetizer sampler. It had a good sampling of the more popular appetizers on the menu. Sorry for the dark and blurry pictures. I really need to learn how to take better pictures in dim lighting with my camera.

I can’t really remember what this was but I think it was a fish carpaccio on a potato wafer. What I do remember is that it was very tasty with the carpaccio contrasting with the crunchy potato.

The fresh oyster was dressed with a light Thai chilli sauce which added some spiciness. This was very good and I only wished that there was more than one per person.

The vegetable samosa was also great. The vegetable curry inside was very tasty and the crunchy outside was not greasy at all. I usually find samosas too heavy but this one was just right.

The chicken satay was very juicy and went well with the peanut satay sauce. As far as taste goes, there was nothing special about this but I still enjoyed it.

For our main course, we shared a couple of dishes. First was a pan-fried tilapia with an Indian yellow curry. This was my favourite dish of the evening. The tilapia was crispy on the outside but very moist and juicy inside. The curry was quite spicy and much of the taste was absorbed by the fish and veggies. This dish came with quite a bit of sauce and would have gone great with rice.

We also ordered some Hokkien Bee Hoon, which was vermicelli noodles with shrimp, fish cake, and chillis. This dish was pretty bland and did not have much taste. In a way though, this worked out ok for us because we spooned the gravy from the fish dish over the noodles.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with Straits Cafe. With the exception of the noodles, most of the items we tried were very tasty (especially the fish!). I am usually a bit skeptical when it comes to Asian fusion places but Straits Cafe did a good job with it. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try the other dishes the next time I am in town.

Well, this concludes my California trip. It was fun to try out some new and different restaurants from what I am used to in Vancouver. This will probably be my last post before the new year, so happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Details:
3295 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA
Tel: 650-494-7168

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

UPDATE Apr 7, 2009: I’m not sure when it happened but Prima Taste has closed down sometime over the winter and in its place is now a sushi restaurant.

———————————————-Jenkins and I dropped by to Prima Taste (570 Robson St) in downtown one Friday for dinner. This placed opened a couple of years ago and service a mix of Singaporean/Malaysian cuisine. If you have an Entertainment Book, you can also use one of the coupons here.

We decided to start with the roti canai, which is a pan-fried Malaysian-style pancake. It is served with a side of curry sauce, which you can pour over the roti. I found the roti to be a bit oily this time around and there also wasn’t enough curry sauce.

For our main course items, we shared a couple of dishes. First, came the Malaysian chicken curry. This was served in a clay pot and came with a lot of potatoes (my favourite!). The curry was slightly spicy and the chicken and potatoes were very tender.

We ordered some rice to go with the curry and the two were great together. Check out the size of the potatoes below! They were well cooked and infused with tons of curry flavour but not crumbly or too mushy.

We also decided to try the Chin Kiang pork, which was described as wok-fried pork with Chin Kiang vinegar. I had no idea this was actually deep fried but the pork strips were quite crispy. The vinegar sauce made the whole thing taste like sweet and sour pork. Because there was so much sticky vinegar sauce, it is a must to eat this with rice.

Dinner was pretty good, although I probably wouldn’t order the Chin Kiang pork again. Sweet and sour pork just isn’t my thing although they did try to make jazz it up somewhat.

Details:
570 Robson St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-685-7881

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