Dining in HONS

Cantonese Fried Egg Noodle

My wife and I went out for dinner with another couple we have just made friends with. So, we recommended them to meet with us in our favorite local Cantonese diner, Hons Wuntun House in New Westminster. And since we have just dined here about a week earlier, and we had the Cantonese egg noodle fry for the first time, we recommended them to try out the same noodle cuisine. In fact they have dined in Hons before but was along time ago.

Stir Fried Ginger Beef

We told them that Hons Wuntun House in New Westminster is our favorite Cantonese diner because of the friendly service and of our familiarity with the cuisines they serve. We also ordered a fried glutinous rice cuisine which we had never tried before. It was actually very delicious and flavourful. We should and will remember to order this cuisine the next time we dine here with our kids. The fried glutinous rice was a simple cuisine but was beautifully cooked and mixed.

Stir Fried Seafood Vegetable with Black Bean Sauce

The other cuisine that we have ordered was our family favorite cuisine, the stir fried ginger beef. All together we have ordered four unique cuisines. So, the fourth was also something new, the seafood mushroom stir fry in black bean sauce. At the end of the dinner, we had so much leftover, we had to pack for take away. We actually stayed in the diner from about seven thirty in the evening until close to their closing time  which was nine o'clock.

Our Tofu Cuisines

Fried Plain Press Tofus

We also consume a lot of tofu cuisines since moving to Vancouver. There are many places in Vancouver that fresh tofus are available. From T&T Supermarket to small Asian groceries, we have fresh tofus in Korean, Japanese and Chinese type supermarkets. Although some of the tofus are slightly different in texture and types from the ones we find in Malaysia but the variety here is so much more.

Lightly Sauced Steam Tofus

Depending of the type tofus, there are several methods we cook the tofus with. At home, we like to steam or fry them. We seldom cook tofu soup but occasional we may do so. We also use tofus in cooking tom yam and curry. In the curry, we use tofu puffs. And tofu puffs can also be an ingredient in fruit rojak after they are roasted in the oven. We also use the tofu wrapper to make the famous Penang Lobak, which is another of our favorite cuisine.

Simple Home Cook Butter Prawns

Butter Prawns

One of the seafood item that we like to purchase in bulk is shrimps. We consume between five to ten kilograms of shrimps each month. And we usually only purchase shrimps from Chong Lee Market on Rupert Street in Vancouver because we found that shrimps to be most reasonably priced there. Every first Thursday of the month, many Vancouverites will make their way to this market to stock up on food supplies because it is the market's discount day.

Home Cooked Butter Prwans

We have been to Chong Lee Market on the first Thursday of each month for as long as I can remember. It has become our favorite seafood market. So, other than shrimps, we also buy most of our fish, squid, and all kind of stuff imported from Malaysian there. With Chong Lee Market, we are never out of Malaysian cooking ingredients. Therefore, our supplies of seafood has been constant. And we are able to keep cooking a variety of simple seafood cuisines.

Stir Fried Butter Shrimps

Butter prawns is one of the kids' favorite seafood cuisine. Simple to prepare and cook. All that are need to make this delicious Malaysian shrimp cuisine are a handful of fresh curry leaves, an egg (add two spoons of butter then using a wisk, stir and mix in a bowl), a pinch of salt and two pounds of jumbo size shrimps. Just add two spoons of cooking oil, drop in the shrimps with the curry leaves. Stir until the shrimps turned red, quickly add the butter and egg mix. Add a pinch of salt for taste and transfer to a serving plate.

Pork Chop and Yam Chips

Pork Chop

We had pork chop for dinner last night. The wife went to Walmart for some shopping and while she was there, she saw the pork lion on offer. So, she bought a whole kilogram of it. That was where she had the idea of cooking pork chop for dinner. Anyway, it was a pretty good discount, cheaper than chicken in comparison. Because she wanted to cook pork chop, she also bought a pack of fresh vegetable mix to make salad.

Pork Chop and Yam Chips

And instead of frying potato chips, she oven baked some yam chips. The yam chips were a product that we had earlier bought from Costco Wholesale. For the gravy for the pork chop, she mixed bulgogi sauce with barbecue sauce which turned out to be perfect. The cooking took less than an hour from preparation to serving. With the rest of the pork, I might want to cook curry with it or even make char siew.

Home Cooked Briyani Chicken Rice

Briyani Chicken Rice

We stayed home yesterday and decided to cook the Briyani Chicken Rice. This time the briyani chicken rice did not turn out as we would like it to. The color wasn't as we had expected. We first boiled the chicken, to remove the odour and smell. Then, in a wok we have two spoons of cooking oil. Add the briyani spice paste which we bought from Chong Lee Market. Simmer for a few minutes until aroma fills the the kitchen.

Home Cooked Briyani Rice

After that add the pre-cooked chicken, cooked rice, roasted cashew nuts, raisins, and mint. Mix thoroughly until evenly colored. The briyani paste that I have used for this briyani chicken rice cuisine is a premix of herbs and spices meant to prepare for five adult serving portions. I have used the same method, followed the instructions listed on the box, to cook briyani chicken rice before and each time it turn out to be perfect.

Steam Chilli Fish

Chilli Steam Fish

Other than chicken, fish is the another protein source that we cook and consume a lot at home. With fish we can cook curry, steam or just fried plain. And we typically buy only these several types of fish or rather the ones that we are familiar with. We like pomfret (black, silver or golden), salmon, basa, mackerel, sea bass, perch, and occasionally grouper. We have a wide range of recipe to cook these fish with.

Asam Chilli Fish

Except for the salmon, most of the type of fish we cook at home are tropical fish. And besides fish we also like squid, octopus, shrimps and some shelled seafood. Yesterday, we decided to steam a piece of pomfret with chilli paste mix. The paste we used was also one of those that we bought from T&T Supermarket, the Asam Chilli sauce for fish. There is a variety of fish paste sold in the supermarket that is perfect for steaming fish.

Traditional Lotus Root Soup

Earlier, we have also prepared a pot of lotus root and ground nut soup. In the soup we have added a few pieces of dried squid for flavour and taste. This is a traditional Chinese soup which is a common cuisine in the homes of ethnic Chinese. The preparation is simple and cooking is easy. All that is to be done after preparing the lotus root, ground nut, pork or chicken bones, and dried squid is to boil the soup for about an hour. And add a pinch of salt for taste before serving.

Earls Kitchen Between Style and Authenticity

Fried Squid

The wives of our small group of Malaysian friends met in the family owned restaurant of Earls Kitchen a couple of days ago. The gathering was partly to celebrate the birthdays of three of our friends. Earls Kitchen is a stylist mid class casual diner serving a wide range of fusion and western style cuisines in Vancouver. Personally, I have never dined there before and don't fancy these type of diners anyway. I like restaurants that serves traditional and authentic cuisines.

Fried Chicken with Black Pepper

On my own, I will not choose to dine in Earls Kitchen or any diner of this category for my own reasons. But will only dine in these kind of restaurant if invited to join friends for a casual meal. If I have to organized a place to dine, I rather pay for real flavourful, tasty, and traditional cuisines than for the stylist presentations and for the skills to do that. I am a simple, easy to satisfy diner. So, long as the cuisine is authentic, traditional, cultured and fairly priced, I am okay with it.

Shrimp Cheese Pasta

In fact, other than the nicely presented cuisines, there is nothing really special about the cuisines served in Earls Kitchen. For example, the fried squid and fried chicken wings were very ordinary cuisines that can be found in many Chinese restaurants' menu. I think the wives that dined there can even cook these cuisines themselves. Even the western cuisine that the was served there can be easily be prepared at home. I guess the stylist ambiance and classy diner was the main attraction.