Deer Garden is One of The Best Cantonese Restaurant in Vancouver

Fried Pork Chop

Some people say that Deer Garden Chinese Restaurant is the best Cantonese restaurant in Vancouver. But I have dined in many Cantonese restaurants and in each of them there is only a few special signature cuisine that their customers like. The one certainly is, every one of these Chinese restaurants serve generously. The serving portions could actually feed more than one person. And that is the hallmark of Chinese restaurants in Vancouver. Deer Garden Chinese Restaurant is no exception to that. I have been to two of their three outlets and found their Cantonese cuisines to be unique and reasonable tasty and flavourful. But that should not rank them as the best. A few days ago, my family and I dined at the Port Coquitlum outlet which was the nearest to where we lived.

Clay Pot Tofu Seafood

They have several set meals to select from, but I really like to mix and match the cuisines. I would normally go for the seafood, tofu and/or a meat cuisine to get my money's worth because the menu price is the same whether it is a plate of vegetables or a plate of meat cuisine. And besides that, the menu prices of the items in Deer Garden aren't exactly the most competitive. Their menu prices are about ten to fifteen percent more than their nearest competitor in the same mall area. I guest customers still come here in spite of that because of the ambiance and uniqueness of their Cantonese cuisines. At least that is what they think.

Lemon Chicken

Their clay pot halibut cuisine is a must try cuisine. So, they claimed. But one must be very careful when enjoying that signature cuisine because the fish is not boneless. I like their Richmond outlet, where they serve an array of halibut cuisines. Then, we also had the clay pot tofu seafood cuisine which was filled with lots of seafood and fried tofu. Other than the halibut cuisine, the other cuisines we tried were the fried pork chop and the lemon chicken. I guess these later two cuisines were more suitable to the local taste. I favour the halibut and the clay pot tofu seafood more. At least there were some flavour and choices within these two earlier cuisines. The fried pork chop and the lemon chicken tasted rather flat.

Malaysian Potluck Club

Kebabs and Pulut Panggang

I have a group of friends that will get together whenever possible, especially when the weather is cheerful enough. Most of us work during the weekday and then, by weekend we will find something to do together. Usually cook, dine or just for a chat. This has been our summer regime for the past several years. Nearly every week, we will find reasons to get together. Often these gatherings will be in someone's house in the backyard or we find a park that is convinient for everyone to meet.

Beef Steaks

We met for potluck again just a couple of days ago at a friend's place in Vancouver. This time we had the barbecue grill going and also potluck with Malaysian cuisines. The weather was wonderfully fine that day and we set out side on the deck until the sun set. We moved into the kitchen once the sun was gone because it got rather chill in the evening. We continued with our chats and jokes, occasionally filling up our plates with food that was left on the kitchen top. In fact there were lots of food still.

Barbecue Chicken Wings

Just like always, we had more food that we could have consumed in one meal. We were unable to finish the food that was left in the kitchen, so had to distribute the leftovers and have everyone take some home at the end of the session. In fact, I eat quite a bit of food myself and was really full at the end. So, I just eat the fruits, especially the watermelon was really refreshing. I eat a little bit of the items that were on the grill. And I like every one of it. Seafood was something missing from our usual barbecue items this time but we make up for the other Malaysian cuisines.

Everyday Best Lobster Cuisine Deal in Vancouver

Lobster and Spring Onion Cuisine

If anyone were to ask me where is the best lobster cuisine deal in Vancouver? My answer would definitely be Lucky Joy Chinese Restaurant on the intersection of Thorpe and No. 5 in Richmond. The restaurant not only has great deals on lobster cuisines but an array of seafood cuisines from Alaskan King Crabs to more exotic seafoods like giant geoducks. Whenever any of my friends suggest seafood, I suggest Lucky Joy Chinese Restaurant. Of cause their cooking is always Cantonese which by the way has really great seafood recipes. In Hong Kong, where the best Cantonese chefs, cooks and recipes originated from, has been dishing out top seafood cuisines for decades.

Clay pot Halibut with Tofu Cuisine

Other than seafood cuisines, Lucky Joy Chinese Restaurant has a rich and rather wide range of different types of cuisines listed on their menu. If I dine there with my family, I let my kids do the selections and they always prefer those that they are most familiar like pork ribs in garlic honey, clay pot halibut with soy sauce, jumbo shrimps in sweet and salted sauce, and chicken bits with spicy dried chillies and ginger. But over the weekend, we went there to dine with some friends which actually arrived before us and to save time we have them do the cuisine selections. So, some of the cuisines were new to us.

Fried Shrimp Omelette

The cuisine form Lucky Joys menu that we had for the first time was the salted fish tofu cuisine. Not bad for taste and flavour but the kids did not like it and was the last cuisine to finish. Another new and unlikely cuisine that we had was the fried omelette with jumbo shrimps. That cuisine was too simple a cuisine to be in the restaurant's menu. It was basically fried eggs with shrimps. That omelette cuisine was the most expensive plate of omelette I have ever eaten. So, we learned that some of the menu items in the list are convenient cuisines which was not worth ordering. We always like to make sure the cuisine we order were worth the value. Even in a familiar restaurant like Lucky Joy, have to be certain and careful with the choices of cuisines.

One serving at a time of the famous Penang Char Keow Teow

Penang Char Keow Teow

Invited some friends over the weekend for another cookout in a nearby park. Like usual, the famous Penang Char Keow Teow was the cuisine on the menu. Instead of getting everything by ourselves, we got friends to contribute some of the different ingredients of the Char Keow Teow. Actually, we distributed some of the work to others, like one family responsible for the shrimps, another the eggs, another the Chinese sausages and so on. It became so much simpler when the work is distributed amongst everyone that participated in the cookout. Of cause, I was the designated Char Keow Teow cook, which role, I could not exactly share.

Famous Penang Char Keow Teow

Other than cooking, I was also tasked to prepared the noodles and the sauce used for the Char Keow Teow. I also brought the outdoor grill/stove for the cookout. I set up the stove and wok ready before everyone arrived at the park. Once all the Char Keow Teow ingredients and components arrived, I started frying. Every time we have this kind of cookout session, I normally would fry up to about forty plates of Char Keow Teow but this time I fried more than fifty plates including the ones that were taking home. I am really grateful to my Jalan Jalan Cari Makan buddies for pulling together with the different tasks and lessening my work load in getting ready for the cookout this time as I was really busy at work in the summer.

The Famous Penang Char Keow Teow

I am inspired by the reviews these friends have for my Char Keow Teow. And they are the privileged few that have actually enjoyed my cooking. As I do not cook for a living nor do I manage a restaurant business, it is rare that anyone of my blog followers actually get a chance to sample my cooking and that of my Malaysian friends. Our authentic Malaysian cuisines are definitely out of this world. We do it better than the established Malaysian restaurants and those serving Malaysian cuisines in Vancouver. I am also privileged to learn from my Jalan Jalan Cari Makan buddies and also get to enjoy some of their best cuisines. So, over the past weekend, I took the opportunity to invite a small group of my blog followers to join us in the cookout.

Celebrating with Smoked Meat Sandwiches

Assembling the Sandwiches

Smokehouse Sandwich Co. in Vancouver provided the food and venue for a private function hosted by the place where I work to celebrate and appreciate the volunteers for a just concluded event. There were so much food that day and the variety of sandwiches were just good for the small group of attendees. I was there early and was in time to see the sandwiches being assembled. I am amazed with how much meat they actually put in the sandwiches. Smokehouse Sandwich Co. was really generous with their portions and they accommodated me with a special request for a change in the choice of bread.

Charcoal Bread Sandwich

I had my sandwich assembled with their special charcoal bread instead of the usual wheat flour sandwich bread. Although the charcoal bread looks a lot darker than the usual bun, it was the healthier of the two choices. The choice of meat I had in my sandwich was Smokehouse Sandwich Co.'s popular smoked beef. The other sandwiches that were prepared for the function included the smoked beef, smoked pork belly, smoke pulled pork and smoked pulled chicken. The sandwich buns used in the sandwiches were the six inch sandwich buns which were just right to contain the smoked meat and vegetables stuffed in between the two slices of the buns.

Smoked Beef in Sandwich

I was sure each sandwich would fill a normal size adult but because the sandwiches were so fresh and juicy, many of the attendees eat more than just one sandwich. We had so much to eat on that day and with some notable absentees, those that were present took the opportunity to sample different type of the smoked meat sandwich other than the sandwich they had eaten earlier. The drinks that were served were also very unique. The two signature drinks that Smokehouse Sandwich Co. provided for the function were the honey ginger and the strawberry mint. Some of the attendees opted for their routine drink which was coffee.

Typical Cantonese Style Home Cooked Meal

Cold Steam Chicken Cuisine

I took the family out for a simple dinner meal in one of the restaurants that serve one of the most simplest of Cantonese Chinese cuisines. I wanted to introduce them to these simple cuisines which really are common in most homes of people of ethnic Cantonese Chinese decent. All together we ordered about six cuisines. Some of the dishes were served in small plates and some with a larger portion. The restaurant's menu had a large range of Cantonese cuisines starting from vegetable to meat cuisines and to noodle cuisines.

Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet

This restaurant's name is Tsim Chai Noodles. They are located just on the Westminster Highway, right across from the Richmond Public Market. The first item that we ordered were the cold chicken dish, called white chicken in Cantonese. This chicken cuisine was recommended by the waitress. The second was a common sweet and sour cuisine. One good thing about dining at this place is that their service is really quick. It took less than fifteen minutes from the time we finished with the orders to being served with the first dish. I was really impressed with that.

Stir Fried Beef with Mixed Vegetables

The next order that followed was the stir fried beef with mixed vegetables. The slices of beef in this cuisine was really tender and had a different flavour from the first two cuisines. So, each plate was different in taste and flavour. What I like about this particular cuisine was that the cook was very generous with the portion that was in the plate. In fact every plate was filled up to the brim and at least three inches tall in the centre of the plates. This has become a norm in many Chinese restaurants throughout the metro Vancouver. Diners are looking for larger portions, the taste and flavours has somewhat became not the priority any more. Value is what diners are looking for.

Manila Clams in Oyster Flavoured Sauce

Those that favour taste and flavours over value will usually not dine in this kind of restaurants. I see a lot of families and groups with larger number of people in the diner. I so happen to also prefer value over presentation. The next few cuisines came together nearly at once. They included the fried smelt fish, the fried pork ribs and the manila clams with oyster flavoured sauce. We were satisfied at the end of meal and had to bring some leftovers home because we were unable to finish the food in one meal.

Another One of Penang's Famous Street Cart Cuisine

Char Keow Kak

Penang is just full of wonderful and flavourful cuisines. Especially, in the night, there are so much of these food carts (we call these hawkers) serving so much of the most delicious cuisines authentic to Penang. In the city, there they are almost everywhere. Some will park on a street corner somewhere near a coffee shop, or some of them will just gather and create a food court like section on a street of their own, and many of which are actually in food courts or coffee shops. Where ever they may be, it is a food heaven.

Penang Char Keow Kak

Penang is famous for it's hawker food and the mention of Penang, brings back such memories. An because of that I wanted to try my hands on frying this famous Penang Char Keow Kak. I know the components and ingredients of this famous radish cuisine but have never actually fried the radish cuisine before. So, during one of the summer potluck sessions with some friends, I actually fried the Char Keow Kak. And it did not turn out to my expectations because the radish cake that I have made earlier was too soft. So soft that the radish cake became lumpy and sticky which did not look anywhere close to a CHar Keow Kak.

Authentic Penang Char Keow Kak

Upon tasting the radish cake, I noticed the taste was really good and flavourful. So, last week when we went to the new Asian grocery store in Richmond, I bough a block of the ready cooked radish cake for under four dollars. With that block of that ready to cook radish cake, I fried the famous Penang Char Keow Kak. The preparation was simple and the cooking was easy to follow. With that one block of the radish cake, I could actually fry up about six individual servings of the Cantonese cuisine.