Malaysian Dry Sauce Noodle

Home Cooked Dry Sauced Noodle

There are many ways how a noodle cuisine can and is prepared. Even the type of noodle used differs from one noodle cuisine to the other. At home, my family consume as much noodles as we do rice. But among the favorite noodle cuisines would be the dry ones with some sauce or gravy. And the wonton noodle is a favorite. When I do not have wonton noodle in the fridge, I replace the noodle with the thin shanghai noodle (or spaghetti) and rice sticks.

The components used in garnishing this noodle cuisine can be a very long list but it is not necessary to use every single component. So, I usually limit to three with a green vegetable. The most suitable is the yu choy. A very versatile vegetable that is found in many Chinese cuisines.

Con Loh Mee

First, cook the noodles, what ever noodle that is used, in a hot boiling water. Blench according to you own liking. Some people like the noodles to be soft and fluffy, so blench a little longer. I like my noodles firm, so I blench for less than a minute, like twenty seconds. Next is to blench the other components, like shrimp, fish balls and wonton dumplings if any. An done of the components that is a must have is the barbecue pork (Char Siew).

For the sauce, start with a empty bowl, add one spoon of cooking oil, one spoon of lard, one spoon of sesame seed oil, one spoon of fried chopped garlic with some oil, half spoon of oyster flavoured sauce, half spoon of dark soy sauce, sprinkle of pepper, half spoon of chicken essence and a half cup of hot boiling water.

A Favorite Noodle Cuisine Among Penangnites

Add the cooked noodles and the components into the bowl and mix evenly. When served, place the noodles at the bottom and the other components at the side of the serving plate or right on top of the noodles. This dry sauced Noodle is best eaten with sliced picked green chillies. If you like the sauce to be more flavourful, increase the amount of sesame seed oil into the the noodle. Some people even add more lard to improve flavour.

Everyone Calls it The Two Eighty Five Burger

The WakWak Burger Cart on Granville Street

Recently, I was at the SFU's Graduate School of Business for a class and could not help it but noticed the food cart across the road from the main entrance to the building on Granville Street. Seems like the cart has a new image. It is now nicely decorated with a huge image of the burger they sell.

So, right after the class, I decided to take a closes look and it is still managed by the same guys. They have done some improvement to the menu board and the image of the food cart. Now, the food cart is noticeable from as far as a block away. Items on the menu are still the same except that they have itemized the different combinations of burgers to their appropriate prices. The two eighty five burger is still in the menu.

The Two Eighty Five Burger

Everyone that has patronized this food cart used to know it by two eighty five burger because the business did not have a name. And their most popular Teriyaki Burgers were priced at two dollars and eighty five each. That was the reason the name got associated to them. But now the proprietors decided to name the business as Wakwak Burger. Great for them, they are actually moving on.

And about their burgers, they are actually pretty good, tasty and unique. The fellas that is operating the food cart are actually students and of Japanese decent. That is why the teriyaki burgers. There is usually a queue in front of the food cart during peak lunch break hours and most of the patrons will eat there by the side walk.

The Teriyaki Burger

I have even introduced the teriyaki burger to my wife and kids. Every time when we are near the vicinity, I will lead them there for a taste of the two eighty five burger. They liked it too, just like most of the people that has actually eaten it. I guess the price of the teriyaki burger was the main attraction. And they have been awarded best burger in Vancouver sometime back. That tells how acceptable this teriyaki burger is in Vancouver. If there is a chance, you should try the teriyaki burger.

Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean and What Tan Hor

Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean

We invited some friends over to our place over the weekend and feted on home cooked Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean (Hokkein Char) and What Tan Hor (Cantonese Char). Just so happened on the same weekend, we had friends visiting from Calgary and Kelowna. So, we decided to introduce the visitors to some of our friends living without our city.

For the Tai Lok Mean, I use the thick Shanghai noodle. First blench the Shanghai noodle (500g) in hot water, to clean and slightly cook it. Alternatively, can also add some rice stick (vermicelli). Drain the hot water several times and add fresh hot water from the tap. There is no need for boiled water. Do not leave the Shanghai noodle soaked in the water, drain all the water when you are satisfied that the noodles are cleaned.

Petaling Street Tai Lok Mean

In a wok, must be a large enough wok (size 32cm is perfect), drop in about four spoons of cooking oil (can replace with lard), add one spoons of chopped garlic, chicken strips (200g), squid (200g) and shrimps (200g). Simmer until cooked, should take approximately two to three minutes on high heat. Add yu choy, I like vegetables, so I put in quite a bit of the greens. Cover the wok with a lid if needed and do not over cook the yu choy. Throw in some sliced fish cake (120g cake). Then, put the Shanghai noodle into the wok on top of everything in the wok. And do not stir yet, add about seven spoons of dark soy sauce, I prefer the Malaysian type dark soy sauce (dark caramel), a spoon of chicken essence and a pinch of salt. And then, start stirring and mixing until evenly colored. Leave the noodle to simmer once in a while in between stirring. This noodle cuisine is best, most tastiest and flavourful when served hot. So, quickly transfer to a serving plater.

Cantonese Noodle Cuisine

And the second Cantonese noodle cuisine I cooked up for the friends was the What Tan Hor. This time I added some rice stick too. So is now the yin yong cuisine. instead of what tan hor. For this cuisine, I have to prepare the noodles separately from the gravy. The rice stick were deep fried in a pot of cooking oil, then drained off the cooking oil. The hor fun (500g) was stir fried in the wok with two spoons of cooking oil and a spoon of dark soy sauce.

Once the noodles are ready they are put aside in the serving platers. Remember to place the rice sticks at the bottom and the hor fun on top of it.

What Tan Hor

Next, would be the gravy that goes over the noodles. In a hot wok, add in four spoons of cooking oil or lard, two spoons of chopped garlic, chicken strips (200g), squid (200g) and shrimps (200g). Stir and simmer until cooked. Then, add water (you decide to the amount). I like to have lots of gravy, so I put in about one litre. Once the water is in the wok, add two spoons of chicken essence, salt for taste and some vegetable (yu choy or cabbage). Wait until boil, add corn starch, stir well and turn off the heat. The corn starch is to slightly thicken the broth. Quickly pour in the beaten eggs (three eggs) into the broth to further thicken and flavour it.

Pour the gravy, when it is still hot onto the noodles in the serving platers. Like the Tai Lok Mean cuisine, this Cantonese cuisine is best served when it is still hot and warm. Enjoy.

Dine on a Gold Train Express

Chicken Chop on Fried Rice

My wife and I was on our way down to Vancouver and we decided to stop by the Gold Train Express, a Vietnamese restaurant located around the Kingsway-Joyce intersection for lunch. It was our first dining experience at this place. The food and ambiance was okay, so we decided to return with our kids the very next day for dinner. This place opens and serves for twenty four hours, so timing isn't an issue.

The cuisines wasn't that spectacular, flavourful or unique. But the plus points were, the large portions and the menu prices which was attractively affordable. They also have a wide variety of cuisine selection, from subs, noodle soups to rice entre. And the Vietnamese cuisines were definitely authentic. So, if you happen to past by this area, this would be a good place for a quick meal.

Beef Noodle Soup

Between the two trips here, we have tried out at least five different cuisines. We were comfortable with the taste and flavours of the cuisines served to us except for the curry beef which tasted more like beef brisket soup than a curry cuisine to me. Although, the curry beef cuisine did not look or taste like any curry cuisine I have eaten before, there were lots of meat in the bowl. Likewise with all the other cuisines, they were pretty generous with the portions.

The beef noodle soup was much better than the curry beef anytime. The soup has the flavours and aroma of a authentic Vietnamese pho noodle soup. And besides that, there were lots of meat and beef balls in the noodle soup.

Pork Chop on Fried Rice

We also ordered the beef steak with steam rice and the pork chop with fried rice. Both the cuisines were okay for the price that we are paying. We should not expect too much from an express restaurant. Just like not comparing the burgers, between MacDonald and White Spot.

By the way, this restaurant was full both times that we were there. People that dined here was not bothered with the taste and flavours, they were here to satisfy their hunger. So long as the food served were decently satisfying.

Spicy Stir Fried Chicken Nuggets

Spicy Stir Fried Chicken Nugget

At home, I sometimes experiment with a totally new cuisine by using different sauces I have bought from the grocery store. Recently, I cooked up something like the Spicy Stir Fried Chicken Nuggets. First, cut up some chicken meat into one to two inch cubes from a chicken breast meat. I used about three pieces of the whole chicken breast meat.

Add about five spoons of corn flour and a pinch of salt onto the cut chicken meat cubes, stir well until every piece of the chicken meat is coated with the corn flour. Prepare a wok with four spoons of cooking oil and when the cooking oil heats up, add the corn flour coated chicken meat cubes into the wok.

Cold Tofu Garnished with Fried Anchovies and Chinese Sausages

Once the chicken nuggets turn golden brown, add sliced or diced tomatoes (from two large tomatoes), bell peppers (half of two colors), red chilli paste (two spoons), preserved soy bean paste (one spoon), sugar (one spoon) and tomato ketchup (two spoons). Stir fry everything until properly mixed and close the wok with a lid. Allow to simmer for about a minute to two and transfer to a serving plate.

And the second cuisine for the evening was simply the cold tofu garnished with fried anchovies and Chinese sausages. After frying the anchovies and the Chinese sausages I add one spoon of oyster flavoured sauce to improve the flavour.

Mek Thai and Malaysian Restaurant

Mek's Mamak Mee Goreng

Mek Thai and Malaysian Restaurant in Surrey on hundred and fourth avenue  is one of the two Malay owned restaurant in Vancouver. I came here once before some time back. May be two years ago. We, that is my wife, two other friends and I, decided to have lunch in one of the Malaysian restaurant in Surrey and when we got there the restaurant was closed. So, we quickly diverted to Mek which was the other nearest choice.

If I remembered correctly, my first experience dining at Mek was not really good. The food wasn't really bad but I was not satisfied with the cleanliness of the diner. The floor were sticky and the tables were oily. And the place was dark inside. I like to see the food I put into my mouth.

Mek's Nasi Briyani Chicken

So, after spending at least ten to fifteen minutes looking for parking, we finally were able to walk into the diner. First impression was, it was so much cleaner and the floors not sticky as before. And the people managing the the restaurant has also changed. It seems the wife to the previous proprietor is managing the place now. I went ahead to order our food as there were no other diners in the restaurant at that time.

The first item served was the Mamak Mee Goreng which judging by Malaysian standards was not even close to authenticity. The cuisine has the wrong condiments, components and ingredients even to closely look like a Mamak Mee Goreng. It even tasted different altogether from an authentic Mamak Mee Goreng.

Mek's Fruit Rojak

The next item served was the Chicken Briyani Rice which looked like a briyani rice cuisine and tasted like a briyani rice but lacked the flavour and fragrance of a good briyani rice cuisine. And finally, the fruit rojak was the closes to good and authentic. But yet again, this was the first time I have bean sprouts in fruit rojak. I don't really know about the authenticity of their Thai cuisines because I never did return to this restaurant often enough. After this second experience, I don't think I am going to come back to dine here on my own. If I do, it will be a very long time from now.

Lakeview Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Spring Onion and Ginger Crab

Sometimes, my family with another family goes out for dinner together. And we like to dine at places not too far from where we live. So, there was a day, we went to Lakeview Chinese Seafood Restaurant to dine. And coincidentally, this restaurant  was located not too far from HONS in New Westminster and is a direct competitor to HONS as they both serve Cantonese cuisines. But Lakeview has a fresh seafood menu which the other does not. We have dined here several times before but still found HONS to be the better choice. Usually, there were no special occasion, except to share stories and catch up after not meeting for a week or so.

Stir Fried Broccoli with Beef

Occasionally, we still return to Lakeview because their Cantonese cuisines are slightly different and their portions are the most generous of all restaurants we have dined in. It is just another choice within are area. But, this time round we decided to try out their crab cuisine. We were recommended several different choices of cooking styles for the crab cuisine which we picked the most familiar to us. We decided on the Spring Onion and Ginger Crab cuisine which actually turned out to be good. The crab was obviously fresh because it was caught from the aquarium and transferred to the chef's wok.

Honey Garlic Spare Ribs

The second cuisine was the Stir Fried Broccoli with Beef. Like I mentioned earlier, Lakeview serves large portions and the vegetable cuisines was really large sized. The choice of cuisine was good as the beef on the broccoli was fresh and tasty. The beef was cooked right not over cooked and still tender.

Our third cuisine was Honey Garlic Spare Ribs, the kids favorite.  This is one of the must have cuisine in our list when we have large group of people dining together. We actually ordered five cuisines for the eight of us and because of the expected large portions, the food was more than enough for all of us. In fact, we had to pack the leftovers to take home.

Spicy Fried Garlic Shrimps

The two other cuisines were Steam Fish Fillet in Light Soy Sauce with Ginger and Spicy Fried Garlic Shrimps.

The Steam Fish was an appetizing cuisine as the sauce was flavourful and tasty. I enjoyed sipping the sauce and mixing with my bowl of rice. It was tasty. The Spicy shrimp was equally good, adding some spicy flavour to the meal and the aroma from the garlic was really mouth watering. Eating in places like this, we have to bear with the lack of presentation in their cuisine but they make up for generously larger portions.