Tri-ty Cafe (map, 130 – 8100 Ackroyd Road, Richmond, BC, Canada, phone: 604-231-8997) is a Taiwanese cafe and bubble-tea house located near #3 Road and Westminster Hwy in Richmond. The restaurant has trendy, modern decor, and serves casual Taiwanese dishes as well as a selection of teas, slushies, ice cream or yogurt shakes, and lots more. I tried the Pudding Ice Cream Smoothie (pictured below, around $5) which was gigantic and the perfect sweet refreshing treat for a hot day. The ice milk that they use is like a slushie, and I was slurping on the cold pudding and ice cream so quickly that it gave me a “brain freeze”.
At most tables you get this little LCD screen that continuously flashes food porn a la Tri-ty, making you wish you had ordered that noodle dish instead of the one you did, then actually making you order more. This is a great tactic!
(above) Large Taiwanese style Pudding Icecream Slushie (around $5)
Mui Garden Restaurant (map, web site, 5960 Minoru Boulevard, Richmond, BC, Canada, phone: 604-303-7977) is a Hong Kong style cafe that specializes in authentic Malaysian Curry.
This restaurant is well established within the local Asian community and I was one of the few Caucasian diners enjoying the food that night. However, I think the fantastic flavors at Mui Garden would appeal to many people regardless of their ethnic backgrounds.
For example, the Chicken Satays ($8.50, pictured below) were the most juicy, flavorful chicken satays I have yet tried, in my opinion beating out the satays at the more upscale Tropika on Robson. I also tried the Beef Brisket Curry served on chow mein noodles ($9.50, also pictured below), and the combination of spices was really great, making for a really satisfying main course to share with my friend.
I’ve eaten in Mui many many times and I always order the beef brisket curry (fish curry is good as well), green beans with minced pork, and anything else that my friends and I feel like at the time. I have never been disappointed with the food. Besides being Chinese, I’ve grown up eating Chinese food and Mui definitely one of the top with its awesome curry among other things.
Video from Mui Garden:
(above) Chicken Satay skewers at Mui Garden restaurant in Richmond ($8.50)
(above) Beef brisket curry on Chow Mein noodles from Mui Garden restaurant ($9.50)
Beatty Street Bar and Grill (765 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-688-3504) is one of my coworkers’ favorite lunch spots for Friday afternoons, and it’s also a great place to grab a beer or some food before (or after) a BC Lions football game at BC Place Stadium or a Canucks hockey game at GM Place. This restaurant / bar is located very close to both stadiums, and is decorated with sports memorabilia. The many TV’s tuned to the sports channels make it easy to keep an eye on the current games.
The Beatty Street food menu is fairly basic, but quite well executed, with daily specials such as Fish and Chips on Fridays, a soup and sandwich special, burgers, pastas, and the usual appies. Prices for lunch are in the $10 to $15 range, which are quite reasonable considering the downtown location. I especially enjoy their pastas, such as the Chicken Pesto Pasta ($13.99, click here for photo), and the Prawn Linguini ($14.99, pictured below). The Prawn and Mussel Linguini was prepared in a simple way, with a basic tomato sauce, lots of yummy cheese, several prawns that were hidden throughout the pasta, and some mussels which I quickly devoured. My only suggestion for this dish would be to add even more prawns, but I was quite satisfied regardless.
This restaurant is located in the Georgian Court Hotel, a popular downtown Vancouver hotel for tourists and business travelers alike. For some more photos of the Beatty Street Bar and Grill please view Part 1.
(above) Prawn Linguini pasta at Beatty Street Bar and Grill ($14.99)
