Tamarind Hill

Early last month, I had blogged about eating Malaysian Cuisine at Tamarind Hill and how I was rather disappointed in their inconsistency. However, this time around, everything tasted great. I suggest people read the Malaysian Cuisine entry before continuing to read this one. It will fill you in on what I've said about their Restaurant.

This time around, I will be showing some photos of their interior decor.

The picture above and below shows a section where people can wait before being seated.

Here's a view of the counter/divider.

We decided to try some new dishes, but we did order the Malaysian Calamari and the Roti Canai again. The Malaysian Calamari was nice and crispy and the Roti Canai wasn't as bitter as last time. I sure love the dipping sauce that comes with the Malaysian Calamari.

This is Soto Assam. It's spicy hot and sour seafood soup with cut up tomato and papaya. It wasn't even that spicy, but it's quite acidic in taste and flavor. Quite appetizing.

This is a blurry photo of Mixed Seafood Sambal with a bit of onions and various peppers. Sweet and tasty.

This is the Malaysian Curry Laksa. It has egg noodle with dried shrimp, tiger prawns, chicken, bean sprout, egg and fish cake in spicy zesty curry broth. You can choose from three types of noodles for this one. I must admit, this was probably my favorite besides the Malaysian Calamari. The broth was aromatic and flavorful. The only thing we wished for, was for it to be a bit more spicier. I've tried the Singapore Laksa before and it's coconut base. I'm not a big fan of coconut, but it really did taste good. I still prefer the Malaysian Curry Laksa over the Singapore Laksa.

I think what they serve is moderate in heat and that the general public can easily accept it. As for my family, we can take a lot more heat than what's served at Tamarind Hill, but their dishes are really tasty and flavorful. There's still one place that serves Malaysian Food I have yet to try. Hopefully one day, I will be able to try it. I also recommended some really good restaurants that serves Malaysian/Singaporean Food in this Malaysian Cuisine entry. So go check it out.



Location:

Tamarind Hill
103 - 628 6th Avenue
New Westminster, BC
1-604-526-3000

Bad Experiences

Just as the title says, I had a bad experience with what I ordered on Saturday at both places. For lunch, we went to Golden Oscar and I ordered Curry Beef Brisket.

I've been to Golden Oscar numerous times and ordered the same thing before, as well. However, I was very disappointed with how it turned out this time around. The meat was tough and the curry itself was so salty. The dishes my family ordered was actually pretty tasty.

For dinner, we went to this Taiwanese Restaurant beside Richmond Sushi. I think. I'm really not too sure and I don't remember the name of the place, but I will probably never go back. We ordered some side dishes that weren't bad, but the main meal was pretty bad for all three of us.

This is Deep Fried Tofu with a chili soy sauce. It's not bad, just average.

Next up we have, Deep Fried Pork Intestine. Very crispy on the outside. I ate the very small pieces since I'm not too fond of pork intestines.

I ordered this Vermicelli with cuttlefish and fish paste in soup. The mouth feel of this, kind of reminds me of the sour and spicy soup. It had so much vinegar added to it that I almost wanted to gag. It's a healthy portion of vegetables, but everything was just drenched in vinegar and cornstarch thicken soup. It was nasty. I tasted the cuttlefish and its rubbery texture, but the fish paste wasn't really fish paste. It was more like, bits of cuttlefish tossed in a batter and deep fried. It was all soggy. My parents weren't very impressed with what they ordered, either.



Location:

Golden Oscar Cafe And Restaurant
3868 Rupert
Vancouver, BC
1-604-437-8138

Northern Delicacy

If you've noticed, I tend to go out to eat on the weekends the most. It's like a tradition, almost. I would sometimes go out to eat for brunch and then head over to church, but I usually go out to eat dinner. It was just my dad and I today. We left church shortly after 4:30PM and headed in the direction of what I called, the Asian food city. Which is, Richmond, technically speaking. I would suggest those who visit BC, Canada to go to Richmond for food and down town Vancouver for shopping. Then again, it depends what you're in the mood for. Since my dad had an errand to take care off at Aberdeen Center, we decided to have dinner there instead of going for a Japanese place. There's a few restaurants there and a food court with a wide variety to choose from. Since I wanted to eat something light and less salty, it was only obvious to choose Northern Delicacy.

Getting right to it, my dad ordered two side dishes and this Szechuan Beef Noodle in Soup.

The noodles were handmade and knowing from my previous experience, the noodles has a good bite feel to it. Meaning, it's not hard or soft and at the same time it's a got a good chew-ability. It has a slight kick to it, but the soup is filled with rich flavors. It has both beef and the tendon, some vegetables, topped off with a bit of chopped green onions. I decided to order something new, the Tender Chicken Noodle in Soup.

The portion was slightly larger than what my dad had. Again, the noodles are all hand made. Overall, the taste was pretty good and the chicken was indeed, tender. If you're thinking the chicken looks a bit raw, I can assure you that I'm still alive and kicking. It may look like it's raw, but it's just dark meat. However, the noodles were overcooked and the soup was quite salty. Even though, I wanted something that wasn't too salty. It didn't taste that light in flavor, but the chicken taste in the soup made up for it. I really liked the idea of chopped bak choy instead of leaving it whole and any one who has eaten a whole bak choy, knows what I'm talking about. Presentation wise, the chopped bak choy does nothing to help. One of our side dish is, Xiao Long Bao.

You have no idea how much I love eating Xiao Long Bao. Basically, they are steamed pork dumplings and these tiny delicate morsels are packed with flavorful juices. Today, the skin was a bit thick, but only just a slight bit. Never the less, they were still good. Usually, you would eat it with a bit of vinegar. Their vinegar is so aromatic and enticing for the appetite. There's variations of the Xiao Long Bao as well. The best variation I've ever had is with a bit of crab meat stuffed inside the dumplings. Those were just heavenly to consume. The other side dish we ordered was pan fried pork dumplings. They weren't that appealing so i didn't take a picture. They are a different size and shape steamed pork dumpling and pan fried on the bottom. They tasted pretty good, but the skin was really thick. Despite, having such a thick skin, the flavor of the skin was really good.



Locations:

Aberdeen Center
4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, BC
(SW Corner of Hazelbridge Way & Cambie Rd.)
1-604-270-1234
http://www.aberdeencentre.com

Northern Delicacy
Unit 2788, Aberdeen Centre
4151 Hazelbridge Way
Richmond, British Columbia
V6X 4J7
1-604-233-7050
http://www.northern-delicacy.com