Pajo’s Fish and Chips @ Steveston Wharf

Since it’s that time of year again when the blistering sun comes out and nobody can resist that urge to get outside, we decided to pay a visit to one of our old friends, Pajo’s!

This fish and chips shack has been here for the longest time ever, proving to be one of the more popular locations in this area. They are very family-friendly as they have many picnic tables and benches for larger crowds of people. Furthermore, it just so happened that the Richmond Maritime Festival was taking place at the Steveston Wharf when we went. Finding a parking spot was every man (or woman) for themselves! We constantly missed chances at parking, and obviously we weren’t going to pay $10 for the special parking lot for a 1 hr lunch. The key is patience, and pure luck. Both proved useful as we found a spot after half an hour of  patrolling  the area, only costing us $6 for 2 hrs of parking.

To buy and get your food, you have to walk down a ramp, which means strollers and wheelchairs are happily accepted. Of course, Pajo’s specialty is to set you in the ocean-kind-of-feel while you eat your meal to complete the experience. However, I don’t absolutely adore the murky green water that surrounds the place or the seagulls/birds that fly around the eating benches.  It’s a decent touch and I won’t bag too much on it. For us, we went back up the ramp to the picnic tables.

Out of curiosity, I peeked through the ordering window ( which is not what you see in the picture, by the way, this is the pick-up window) and checked out their working “environment”.

Sunway Restaurant

Since I’ve mostly been visiting Chinese style restaurants for the last couple weeks, I changed it up a bit and decided to visit a… Taiwanese restaurant! All right, I realize that they’re very similar, but I actually do know a very popular-ish Taiwanese restaurant that goes by the name of Sunway Restaurant.

Hopefully, if you regularly go to Richmond or live there, you would’ve visited Parker Place by now. Right next to it, you’ll find Empire Center; where the famous Hon’s Wun-Tun House was located before King Buffet took over. This also happens to be where Sunway Restaurant is stationed and you have to go into the center before you can spot it. (If you’re coming in from No.3 Road, it will be in the far left corner. If you’re coming in from Hazelbridge Way, turn right and you’ll see it.)

 

 

Silver Tower Cafe Restaurant

As mentioned in past reviews (countless times), Silver Tower Cafe Restaurant replaced Golden Award Cafe Restaurant about 4 years ago. My brother and mom have different opinions on said restaurant, which made me want to try this place even more.

 

You may have noticed Silver Tower if you’ve ever went to Chubby Lamb Hot Pot across the street, a very popular establishment with a very limited amount of space. What’s interesting is that it’s located right next to Matsuyama, a Japanese restaurant that conveniently burned down a couple years ago.If you do decide to drive there, like most do, their parking isn’t that great. Just a heads up.

Deer Garden Signatures

Just yesterday night, my brother informed me of a hidden place known as Deer Garden Signatures, right above Cattle Cafe! For all who have no clue where I’m referring to, it’s on Alexandra Road near Lansdowne Center in Richmond. On that street, there are hot pot, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese restaurants, so this is a very popular spot to eat.

Actually, I went to Cattle Cafe before, around a year ago! I remembered that they had this noodle combo where you can choose your own noodles, ingredients, and soup base!  It was pretty good too!  Yet now, my brother tells me that Deer Garden Signatures has an even better noodle combo deal. Therefore, this was something I had to try!

 

When I first reached Cattle Cafe, I was a bit confused on where to go. From a distance, it’s probably going to be difficult to spot the cage door on the left of Cattle Cafe. Anyways, you go up the really steep stairs and turn right to find Deer Garden Signatures. It’s not a big restaurant at all and that was mainly why there were a lot of people waiting. The lady told us that we would have to wait for 15 minutes. Obviously, you need a lot of patience if you’re going to come here on a weekend night. A group behind us was told to wait 20 minutes, and decided to leave.While I was waiting, I notice that Deer Garden Signatures recently won the award for Best HK Cafe in the HSBC Diners Choice Awards 2011!

Kam Do Bakery and Restaurant

Why are all the old restaurants ,that we know and love, being replaced? I realize that this is not a sudden trend, yet it is still apparent to the masses. If you remember my review on Enjoy Cafe 1+1, you’ll know that E-Canteen was recently replaced by entirely new staff and under a new name.

However, another restaurant that was replaced a very long time ago (~4 years) was known as the Golden Award Cafe Restaurant. This was a restaurant that my family and I visited quite frequently before it closed down. We were very close with the owners and some of the waiters as well. Their Baked Pork Chop on Rice was probably the best you could ever get in Richmond and Vancouver! So many memories in that place, and we were pretty sad when it closed down too…. Anyways, it’s now called the Silver Tower Cafe Restaurant and we might just try it next time! Click here to check out Chow Times’ review on Golden Award Cafe Restaurant.

**this is the back entrance for Kam Do!!**

What I didn’t realize is that there was always this one restaurant that has stayed true and alive; Kam Do Bakery and Restaurant. This place has been here for who-knows-how-long and we definitely haven’t paid them a visit in a long time!

Also, if you noticed that next to Richmond Center’s Shoppers Drug Mart, there’s a Kam Do Bakery that’s opening up. When we asked the owner, she said that it will actually be just a bakery and not a restaurant! Apparently, everybody already knew this and I was just the last to hop on board.

The inside of Kam Do Bakery and Restaurant has not changed a bit,

Food Court Wonders: Yummy Yummy

Ah, seems as though I had just visited Aberdeen the previous day to try out some decent Cantonese food. Well, the following day, I found myself at the Parker Place food court, hungry and ambitious again! Well, maybe not that last one…

In the last Food Court Wonders, I had mentioned that such food courts like Aberdeen Center food court and Parker Place food courts are always flooded on weekends. So it was no surprise when you walked through the doors of Parker Place, to find tons of people. To me though, it Aberdeen Center food court is still a little more popular than Parker Place food court on the weekends. The reason being that you’ll always find that Aberdeen Center’s humongous parking lot is jam-packed on weekends. Sure, not all of those people will eat the food court, but it’d say that the majority does.

Speaking of past reviews, I recently reminded myself that The One Cafe actually originated from The One food stand at Parker Place. Now that they’re a restaurant, the torch has been handed to a newcomer who actually isn’t so new anymore; Yummy-Yummy!

Food Court Wonders: Leung Kee Cantonese Food

As I’ve realized by now, most of my reviews were from dining experiences that were during the night time. So to change it up a little, I decided to review a food court for the very first time! Obviously, I’m not going to try every food stand in one day, so I’ll split up the reviews, and these will be called Food Court Wonders.

Saturday mornings are always great, with most people off from work while kids are at home enjoying themselves and watching TV. However, take a look at places like Parker Place and Aberdeen, and you’ll find that it’s flooded with people. What’s more, don’t forget about all the old Asian grandmas and grandpas who wake up super early just to have dim sum!

As I’m attempting to become an amateur photographer, we set out to NCIX in Aberdeen to buy some crucial equipments. Out of convenience, we decided to eat at the food court there instead of the Parker Place food court. The food court at Aberdeen is huge with many different types of food stands. If you thought this food court was just for Asians, think again because it actually has a Triple O’s stand on the far left when you come up the escalator. Since the last time I was here , a Teppanyaki  stand has recently opened up as well and I hope I get to try it next time.

While I was with my brother, he told me about this stand that has really great portions and the food is not bad. When we arrived, we also realized that it was one of the places

Pearl Castle

**Brr..**  Vancouver is definitely strange with this sudden cold weather that is unexpectedly blown into our paths. I’m sure a lot of people might recall a thunderstorm yesterday on Thursday at around 5-6pm, which was honestly pretty scary… If you were out on the streets at that time in Vancouver, (and you’re alive…) you must be very lucky!

 

 

 

Due to this dreary weather, we decided to go to Pearl Castle in Richmond Center, seeing as we were already there in the shopping center until closing time. Let me tell you though, the place was packed when we got there and there were people waiting in line and waiting for take-outs! Maybe it’s because of the awful weather or something, but I remember that the last I came here,  there was no line.

Richmond Ninkazu Japanese Restaurant

Few weeks ago my family decided to go to eat all-you-can-eat buffet. At first we were kind of hesitated to go to places like these because first of all we know that we will be extremely stuffed afterward and we know the quality of Japanese food will not be the greatest. So I suggested to go Ninkazu Japanese restaurant because I personally think that it is one of the best all-you-can-eat place out there. My mom and brother were excited because they haven’t tried this place before. Usually they go to other places like Richmond Sushi or E-Bei Japanese restaurant, which I don’t really like unless I just want to stuffed myself. Their quality were mediocre and their ambient was ok. Especially at E-Bei their floor is always slippery and their tables are tiny. When we arrived at Ninkazu it was super packed. However since our party only has three people we got seated right away. We were lucky that we got a window seat and we get to see the view of the dark parking lot. After we got seated, we quickly ordered a few items to start because all of us were starving.

First to arrive was the salmon sashimi. Since they only allow a certain amount of sashimi (2-3 slices/person), we can only order so much. They were quite fresh looking and tasted quite good. However I find that the slices is quite small. This is quite typical all-you-can-eat style because of the cost.

Second to arrived was the BBQ spare ribs, spinach gomae(japanese spinach salad) and the tonkatsu(Japanese fried pork chop).  Their spare ribs was quite good. The meat were quite tender and flavorful. It has the korean BBQ 

The One Cafe

Ah, spring is just around the corner, even if it’s starting to feel like winter again… Before long, spring break will commence and all the teenagers and children will be released from school to enjoy their two school-free weeks. As spring usually means a fresh start, we decided to find a new regular restaurant to go to as E-Canteen is gone…*sigh*

If you have ever went to Richmond Center by Canada Line SkyTrain, you may have noticed a restaurant called The One Cafe. It is still pretty new ( only opened up last year) and the owners moved from their small spot in the Parker Place food court. To be honest, this place was actually doing quite well in Parker Place, serving as one of the busiest stands, especially in the morning with their breakfast meals. How does The One Cafe, if in any way, differ from The One at Parker Place?

Their restaurant is quite nicely decorated and laid out, giving a warm and mellow sort-of feel to the dining experience. Everything in the restaurant seems very modern and it works!  They even have the nice, large glass window up at front like some cafes do. We arrived at around 9pm on a Friday, and there were many tables available, surprisingly. Everyone is probably off in Downtown Vancouver, hitting the scene, getting loose; that stuff.

As for the menu, they have reasonably priced dishes, most of the regular ones are $7-$9, and the more deluxe meals (like steaks and lamp chops, items of that variety)  are $10 and up. As a HK style cafe, it featured some basic Chinese style meals: fried noodles, fried rice,