Congee Noodle Delight (Vancouver)

Since I have been increasingly busy, I have had little chance to update this site – so, I have decided to rely on some friends to “guest post” once in a while. Here’s a guest post from H.W. 

Wanted century egg and pork congee today so I went to my usual hole in the wall for lunch. Located in Tinseltown, Congee Noodle Delight is a place to go if you want affordable Chinese food.

When I got there, the place was empty and the staff were busy cleaning. What happened? Are they closed?

I was asked to seat myself as usual. Waited quite a bit as the staff were getting the place ready as customers were walking in.

Alas, there was no congee today. So, I opted for the Wonton Noodles with Thick Egg Noodles (it usually comes with the thin egg noodles, but I prefer to change it up a bit once in a while). The wonton noodles come with five huge pieces of wonton. I also ordered the Deep Fried Egg Plant as a side dish to go with my noodles.

Everything tastes A-okay today. The noodle soup was a little bland and the egg plant was just right. Not too salty.

 

Patsara Thai Restaurant (Re-visit)

This post covers several visits to Patsara Thai Restaurant, which is located at Seymour and Robson Street in downtown Vancouver.

Back in mid-May, I was there for lunch and ordered their Moo Karitem Kai Dao off their lunch menu. This dish was their stir fried pork meal with garlic and served with fried egg and rice.

It also came with a starter of a small salad and fried dumplings.

I just wanted to try this dish, but really, I wasn’t a big fan of it. The servers were friendly, though. They had smiles on their faces (which, for some reason, you can’t even take for granted these days anymore at so many other establishments) and refilled my glass with water every chance they got.

On another visit, I had a different meal off their lunch menu. This time, it was the Panang, which was red curry in coconut milk with the meat of your choice (among chicken, pork, and beef). It also came with rice.

Once again, the dish came with a small salad and fried dumplings.

As for the meat that I chose for the Panang, I picked beef.

I definitely liked this dish better than the stir fried pork. In fact, I would say I loved the Panang.

I would say the one thing that’s been consistent in all of my visits has been the service. People seem to be cheerful and friendly at Patsara, unlike the customer service folks at certain London Drugs stores or Starbucks. What can I say? It is what it is.

Finally, one more visit some time later… This time, I had the Red Duck Curry, which didn’t come with rice (and you had to order it separately). This one was AWESOME!

Since these three visits, I’d been back but I will post about those other meals next time! But Patsara is definitely worth checking out if you’re in the downtown Vancouver area. The service has been great and the red duck curry and panang have definitely been winners!

Pho Don Vietnamese Restaurant

I had, over the years, passed by Pho Don Vietnamese Restaurant (East Hastings and Renfrew) literally hundreds of times without ever stepping foot inside – until just recently.

During this visit, it was a fairly quiet Thursday evening without a lot of diners. I was seated and given a cup of tea and a menu upon entering the restaurant.

I picked the Sauteed Beef with Spicy Lemongrass dish, which was served with either rice or fried noodles. I opted for the latter, since I’m not much of a rice fan. Actually, I’m not much of a noodle fan either, but I thought it was at least better than rice.

The menu indicated that this dish was spicy (one chili symbol). I didn’t think it was any spicy at all, but I guess the problem was that the beef was rather chewy.

Obviously, this being a typical Asian restaurant, there was not much of any “service” – it was just the bare minimum, much like any other Asian establishment.

There was a flatscreen in either end of the restaurant, but they were not tuned into the sports channels. (It was Game Seven of the Winnipeg-Nashville series.) As for background music, it was – I guess – some sort of satellite radio station with continuous music.

With Asian places, you can’t take it for granted that they accepted plastic – for example, many places in Richmond are “cash only” establishments – but in Pho Don’s case, they do take debit and credit.

The Slocan (Re-visit)

This must have been the umpteenth time I visited The Slocan,* but this time I tried their Southern Fried Chicken for the first time.

*As a writer, I want and need my routine. It keeps the creative juices flowing. What can I say….

Their southern fried chicken was a two-piece meal (drumstick and thigh) and came with a cup of soup along with coleslaw and your choice of fries or mashed potatoes. For C$3.99, you could add an extra piece of chicken.

The server who served me was new, she said, but she did a great job. She was friendly and I had no complaints whatsoever.

As for the chicken, well… I did get an extra piece, but I probably should have tried it once before doing so. The chicken was a tad too dry for my liking. It wasn’t the type of chicken I was accustomed to. The one thing that sticks out was how dry the chicken was.

But hey, I’ve been back since that visit and will probably be back again in the future. I mean, The Slocan is a great place for food and sports… If there’s a hockey game on, you can bet it’s on the multiple flatscreens in the restaurant. Great place.

Fresh Press Coffee Bar (Richmond)

(Photo taken on a Sunday morning, a day the store is closed)

I’m going to call it as I see it. That’s how I am.

The first (and only) time I stepped foot into Fresh Press Coffee Bar, I was not impressed. The lady (whom I assume is the owner) had a very cold voice when speaking to me asking what I wanted to order.

I was surprised because I assumed she would be friendlier. Of course, after taking my order, she turned to her friend (who was a customer) and spoke to her in a warm tone – and they were essentially gossiping about weddings and their husbands.

When my order was ready – it was Peppermint tea – she used a cold voice to announce it was ready.

She, her friend, and I were the only people in the shop at that particular time. I sat down and began working on a writing project. In the meantime, the two were chatting about wedding-related stuff. Girl talk.

And… the friend got up to leave, and just at that moment, a gentleman came in. He, like me, was a new customer. A first-timer. With the friend gone, she was very friendly with the new customer. (Geez, where was that friendly service when I was at the counter?)

Because of the size of the shop, whatever they were saying was very audible. She was admiring his accent and inquired which part of Europe he was from. Don’t get me wrong – she was very charming with this customer. But with me, it was coldness. She told him – and I could hear all this as I was typing away at my computer – that she was interested in knowing what her customers drank.

Hmm – again, where was this when I was ordering?

So, they had a conversation – a lengthy one – and she was asking about his family background, his life coming over to North America, etc. Okay, I get it that she is friendly with customers – and perhaps I might have gotten that treatment had her friend not been there.

But come on… I was also a first-time customer and received poor treatment, if you compared the two visits (mine and the other guy’s).  She was intrigued with him because of his European accent. Yet, if she was as observant as she claimed to be, didn’t she notice I was carrying two phones, a computer, and a digital voice recorder?

So, I assumed she came across journalists or freelance writers every day?

Anyway, gossiping with her friend was annoying, but this different type of treatment was just as horrible – if not worse – considering first impressions are important.

I guess she would prefer that a customer such as me wouldn’t be back.

Just telling it the way I experienced it.

I didn’t stay long; I was in there for 20 minutes max, as I had an appointment in the area right at 4pm and I was there just after 3:30. I later asked a colleague about this place – and he acknowledged to me that the lady there was very chatty – and weird. So, that meant my colleague received the same treatment as the European man.

I guess I’m just not welcomed.