We always like to order more than we can eat in one meal as we can eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.

We ordered:

The soup was a welcome departure from the cornstarch laden soups you find at a lot of Chinese restaurants these days. It had lots of tender pork meat and was very flavorful. The farmers pork was a bit too spicy for me. Felicia loved it, being from Hunan she can handle the heat. They use thinly sliced pork belly in the dish with has crispy fat and tender lean meat mixed in. The immortal rice bowls were steamed rice with a chinese jujube in the middle and steamed in little bowls. The vegetable was very crispy and fresh and not overly seasoned. I however found the vegetable a bit overpriced. Why is it that most Chinese restaurants price their greens at such a high mark-up? The green onion pancakes were just OK. It was silly of me to order green onion pancakes at a Hunan restaurant as they are not really part of the Hunan diet anyways. They came out very very dry and cardboard like. Out favorite dish that evening was the steamed salt fish with homemade bacon. It was really well executed. The salt in the fish was absorbed by the bacon. It reminded me of steamed pancetta. The bacon was sliced razor thin and blanketed over the salt fish. It went really well with rice and had a smokey earthy flavor to it. Service at this place rocked. I have come to expect surly or indifferent service at most Chinese places I eat at. This place was the exception to the rule. The waitress was warm, courteous, and efficient. She took the time to explain menu items we didn’t understand and actually smiled. Total damage was $53.00 plus tax and tip.

Plus

• Large quantities of food
• Pleasant service
• Food tastes great

Minus

• Vegetable is way overpriced
• Green Onion Pancake can be used as a frisbee

As today was my Mom’s birthday we decided to take her out for lunch. Being in Delta we are usually limited to eating either Indian food or marginal Chinese food. We decided to go to Richmond to eat. I had to make a pit stop at the Future Shop on Scott Road and noticed the Taste of Singapore sign out of the corner of my eye. Visions of laksa and char kway teow were dancing through our head so we decided to check it out. Taste of Singapore is a small family run place that focuses on Muslim Singaporean food. You will not find pork or alcohol on their menu; in fact they claim to be halal. Upon perusing the menu we decided what we wanted. Much to our shegrin most items we wanted were not available. I think they had 1 out of 5 dishes we wanted available. No satay, no char kway teow, no chicken rice. We were debating going somewhere else to eat at about this point. They did recommend some dishes and we decided to stay as we were running out of time as my Mom had to get to work. We ordered their nasi biryani, beef rendang and peppercorn fish. All dishes were $9.00 , which was pretty reasonable considering the portion sizes. The nasi biryani was excellent. The chicken pieces were very juicy and tender and the rice was well spiced. It was probably the best biryani I have had in Vancouver. Usually we avoid ordering biryani as it is either too greasy or the meat is way too dry. The beef rendang was also good. I wasn’t looking forward to eating rendang as most places we go use fatty hunks of beef brisket. I think they used stewing beef in their rendang which was a plus to me. Though rendang usually permeates with the smell and flavour of coconut, this one didn’t. I did feel the coconut flavour was missing. The fish we ordered was lightly dusted in flour and pepper and deep fried. It was tossed with crispy tiny dried shrimp, fried shallots, and garlic. We found the fish a bit too salty for our liking but the the shallots and garlic went well with the plain rice they gave us with the rendang. Overall we will definitely be back, hopefully next time they will have their menu woes sorted out.

Plus

• Good Value
• Awesome Biryani
• Pleasant Staff

Minus

• Many items on menu not available