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)
Shanghai 1949 (facebook, 1215 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone 604-699-8878) is a modern Chinese bistro located in Vancouver’s downtown West End neighborhood. It was almost 10pm on a warm Monday evening and I happened to be meandering around downtown with a friend, taking in the sights and sounds of citizens at leisure (the next day being Canada Day). The modern decor of this restaurant always intrigued me and we decided to pop in for a quick bite.
The 1949 Spring Rolls ($4.00, pictured below) were quite frankly the best spring rolls I have ever had. I believe they were made with pork, and were incredibly juicy.
The restaurant was all out of Cod fish, but instead the chef prepared a special Malaysian-inspired spicy Tai (snapper) fish, which was bursting with flavor and was quite a generous portion ($12, also pictured below). We also ordered a plate of steamed white rice ($2). Not bad for a late night snack, and I’ll definitely be back to try some of their other selections.
(above) Spring Rolls from Shanghai 1949 Chinese Restaurant ($4.00)
(above) Chef’s special Tai fish (also known as Snapper, $12) from Shanghai 1949 Restaurant in downtown Vancouver.
