Congee Noodle House

A return to Congee Noodle House for me means the return to dragon boating. It's close to False Creek, open late, and serves Chinese comfort food at reasonable prices. A visit to Congee is always a likely destination for our team after a long night of paddling in the cold.

This is actually our second visit in as many weeks. Unfortunately, I was so hungry during the first visit that all the food was gone before I remembered to snap any pics.

Today, we started with the classic Preserved Egg and Shredded Pork Congee. With "congee" as part of their name, Congee Noodle House is proud of their congee and they sure know how to make it. It's always creamy, smooth and fluffy and doesn't need to be salted yourself. It's already mildly salted and topped with peanuts and scallions. There were good chunks of preserved/century eggs and shredded pork throughout.

A standard side dish with congee is the Chinese donut. This is a picece of fried dough and comes in a savory or sweet variety. The savory version is usually served as long strips, and the sweet version is normally shaped in an oval. These are also usually cut into chunks for dipping into the congee. Congee Noodle House makes great versions of both, and today, we got the savory Steamed Rice Roll with Chinese Donut. The rice rolls were embedded with dried shrimp and onions, and also comes drizzled in a mild soy sauce with hoisin dipping sauce on the side. This was very tasty as usual, and gobbled up quickly.


We continued the meal with the Honeymoon Fried Rice. This is a fried rice topped with a sweet and sour tomato onion and chicken sauce on one side, and a creamy shrimp and peas sauce on the other. This is also sometimes called Yin Yang Fried Rice, as the two sauces are layered in the same of the yin yang symbol. It's called honeymoon fried rice as well because it's a popular dish served during wedding reception dinners.

To me, the sweet and sour sauce makes or breaks this dish. I like the sauce on the sweeter side, and this version is quite mild. Congee's version is decent, but not great. I like the version served at Koon Lock the best. You can get a picture of their version at Chowtimes. You'll notice that Koon Lock didn't bother to pour their sauces in the shape of a yin yang despite their version actually being called yin yang fried rice on their menu.

To get our recommended fiber for the meal, we got a plate of Kai Lan and Beef. This wasn't on their menu, but is a common dish at Chinese restaurants and was made for us upon request. It's basically just strips of lean beef stir-fried in soy sauce with Kai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) and scallions. The beef was good, lean, tender not overcooked. The Kai Lan was good and crisp but I like mine tender and this was not the most tender that I've ever had. All in all, this was an enjoyable dish.


At this point, we had received everything we ordered, but was still hungry, so we got an order of Sliced Chicken with Green Pepper in Black Bean Sauce Chow Mein. Despite its name, it also had chunks of red peppers and onions. The chow mein was perfectly crispy, and part of what I love about chow mein is mxing the crunchy dry fried noodles with the sauce-soaked tender ones. The thick and savory black bean sauce worked very well for this effect and I enjoyed this dish very  much.

This meal of 4 costs us $12.50 each including tax and tip. Quite reasonable for good old fashioned Chinese comfort food. We left stuffed and satisfied, and I have no doubt I'll be eating at Congee again many times this year until it's too cold (for sane people) to paddle again. (Some might argue it's too cold to paddle now, but I'm steering and not getting wet :-P)

Pros:
-reasonable prices
-decent portions
-good value on set menu if you have a large party.
-huge restaurant with lots of large tables for large parties. 

Cons:
-not the prettiest decor, if that matters to you. 
-that damned parking lot: Almost always full, extremely difficult to maneuver, and accident prone.
-metered parking in adjacent streets, which are also almost always full, and in high traffic areas.

Notes:
-open late, with late night menu (smaller versions of regular menu items with smaller prices).
-free street parking in front of store if you are lucky to find a spot. Otherwise, prepare to pay meter or park a few blocks away.
-open late, but sometimes they run out of stuff like dessert :*(


Menus:

Peart Castle (Sexsmith, Richmond)

Pearl Castle is another restaurant that we've regularly frequented after Tuesday sports night. It's a Taiwanese bubble tea house, as its namesake suggests, but we come here for the food, which is surprisingly decent and reasonably priced. I find their drinks overpriced, as with most bubble tea joints, and come here exclusively for the food.

As with a lot of Taiwanese restaurants, they offer "set meals" which encompasses an entree with a bowl of rice, some daily appetizers, and a dessert. Pearl Castle offers set meals for under $9. I've been told that their food used to be over $10, but they've lowered their prices in recent years to be much more reasonable prices.

I felt like having fish today, but most meats in Taiwanese cuisine is deep fried,  and I didn't feel like a deep fried dish today. I asked the waitress which fish meal wasn't deep fried, and it turns out there was only one: Sliced Cod with Dried Soy Beans.

I've never seen this item before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. It turned out to be a fillet of cod topped with a puree of soybeans stir-fried with scallions and dark soy sauce. The soybeans were very crunchy and nutty, and complimented the cod well. It was a little on the salty side on its own, but was delicious when mixed with the cod and rice. I enjoyed this dish quite a bit, and the fact that it's healthier than their usual fried meat dishes is a big plus.

The appies today consisted of stir-fried celery, stewed cabbages, and sweet and sour tofu with scallions. The veggies were well-seasoned and very tender. Both were cooked in a nice broth and not overly salty. The tofu was very nice and tangy, and I wish they gave me more than the 5 tiny pieces.

Unfortunately, the dessert have been quite underwhelming here lately. Maybe it's because we come here so late, but we've been getting just a small cup of prepackaged lychee jelly. The first time we came here, we got some house-made sweet grass jelly, but since then it's been this crappy commercially bought crap. I hope it's just because they've ran out for the day, and not defaulting to this to cut costs.

Only Material Boy came out with me today for late night eats. He ordered the Fried Pork Chop with Rice, which turned out to be fried rice. The is your typical Taiwanese fried meat, which some people love but I'm not a big fan of. This pork chop was lightly breaded and not overly oily. There was also a lot of bone, but I guess it's the luck of the draw.

The rice was fried with egg, scallions, grated carrots, and large slices of onion. This was a very large portion, and also very delicious. Material Boy thought it was a bit on the oily side though. He though his meal was too large and couldnt' finish it all. He elected to eat all the rice instead of all of the pork chop, and I think  he made the right decision since the rice was very tasty. This also came with a complimentary dessert, which again, was the store-bought lychee jelly. He also ordered a Mango Slush, which was nice and refreshing, but again, I think is overpriced.

I think the food at Pearl Castle is well-priced for what you get. It's also well-executed, and we're sure to be back from time to time in the future.

Pros:
-good food
-decently priced
-decent portions

Cons:
-overpriced drinks (IMHO)

Notes:
-plenty of free parking in the complex 

Menus: (Argh! blurry pics again...)

Matsuyama

I've been going to Matsuyama quite a bit lately. We need some late night eats after sports on Tuesdays, and a friend has allergies that sort of limit our options. There's nothing safer than just fish and rice, so we normally go for Japanese.

There are plenty of options for late night Japanese in Richmond, but we almost always end up at Matsuyama because they have a cheap late night menu, and while the quality is not stellar, it's the best I've found at this price point. I've always though Matsu was Kishu prices at twice the quality. They're actually a better deal than Kishu since you have to order at least $5 of food for Happy Hour at Kishu, which always means at least 2 items with their pricing scheme.

Today, I decided to sample their line of nigiri. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, but always got distracted by other menu items. At $0.89 each, they are dirt cheap on the late night menu. The ones I ordered today are, starting from left to right on the top row are: spicy scallop, spicy salmon, spicy tako, spicy tuna, tamago, saba, tai, and amaebi. These were all very well made, and not overly small despite the small price tag. The rice was firm, and had just enough tangy sushi rice seasoning, but not overpowering.

The saba in particular was very sweet. It was the first time I had saba and I will be ordering more of it the next time I'm here. The amaebi was also very sweet, as it always is when I get it here. The spicy nigiri were all dressed in a mildly spicy sauce, with a spinkling of sesame seeds and occasional chili seed. The spicy scallop was also rolled in tobiko as is the norm with chopped scallop rolls. In retrospect, I probably should have ordered the regular version of the scallop nigiri for variety. Nothing special to note about the tamago - it was pretty standard. The The only one I didn't particular care for was the tai. It tasted flat and the soy/wasabi didn't help it out much.

Cheema started with the crab + tobiko salad. This is basically just finely minced imitation crab on a small bed of cucumbers, smothered with mayo and topped with tobiko and more mayo. It is served in a large bowl and a very large portion for a mere $2.95. This is the dish to get if you like california rolls and don't want to fill up on rice. It will satiate any hunger pangs - guaranteed.

She then had the chopped scallop roll, which was pretty standard fare. Chunks of scallop rolled in mayo and tobiko. It is pretty well made here, and a popular item when we visit.

Several people ordered the oyster motoyaki, and we see this a lot as they are very tasty here. The mayo is mixed with tobiko and chopped spinich, both of which add a very pleasing taste and crunch. Matsuyama motoyakis are awesome and never sit in a pool of oil. These points combined pretty much makes it mandatory to eat all the mayo, which is not something people normally do with motoyakis. It's a credit to the chef when every mototyaki ramekin I've seen consumed here is pretty much cleaned completely of mayo. It's not so great for our waistlines though...

It is also worth noting that the motoyaki ramekins are raised and hollow at the bottom, so the portion is not as large is the picture would suggest.

Material Boy decided to start with the ika karage. Even though it's only $3.95. I've always found the portion for this to be a bit disappointing. This is the late night portion pictured, and though I've never ordered the regular menu version, I hope it is a more generous portion than this. Matsuyama does make this pretty well though, as the ika we've had were always tender and crispy, but never too oily.
 
He finished off with a plate of assorted nigiri (hokigai, tamago, chopped scallop, crab salad) and unagi roll. I don't like hokigai, so I can't comment on these. The crab salad roll is pretty much the same as the crab + tobiko salad, or basically california roll filling. It is worth nothing that the late night unagi roll here is the same price ($2.95) as the other rolls. This makes matsuyama one of the more affordable places to get unagi, which is often quite expensive. It is also a popular item when we visit Matsuyama.

Others in my party ended up with sushi plates as well. Backhand ordered 4 salmon nigiri, spicy tuna nigiri, spicy tuna roll, avocado roll, and a spicy tuna cone. He remarked that the salmon nigiri looked unusually large today, and it indeed looked larger and fresher than the ones we usually get. Let's hope this becomes the norm from now on.

Blunt had a plate of chopped scallop roll, unagi roll, and dyanmite roll. He had no complains about his food. I've always wanted to try their alaska and dynamite rolls. I'll have to remember the next time I'm here.

It was unusual for everyone to have ordered sushi today. Normally, the donburis are a very popular item for our group. At $4.75, they are a great deal and many people just order a don end up completely full.

Another nice touch I've noticed is that if you order the chicken or beef teriyaki rolls, they give you extra dipping sauce on the side. It's attention to detail like this that sets Matsuyama apart in my opinion.

Material Boy has remarked that he noticed that the scallop used in the rolls don't taste so fresh to him, and that the chicken in the rolls and donburis often have a bit of freezer burn. I haven't noticed these, but I don't eat as much high quality Japanese cuisine as he does, so I'll defer to his expertise. I find the taste and texture of both here to be satisfactory.

All in all, Matsuyama is a great place to unwind after a late night of sports. It's affordable, delicious, and clean. The place does get very busy, which is a good thing in terms of keeping a high turnover of fresh meat, but not so great when it comes to parking, waiting for tables, and getting staff to take orders or refill your tea. At times, it can seem to be slightly understaffed. Still, I highly recommend it for good, cheap late night eats.

Feb 11, 2011 Update: Pics of Alaska Roll and Agedeshi Tofu

Pros:
-cheap late night menu
-quality remains high despite low pricing

Cons:
-can be difficult to find parking at peak/late hours. Carpool if possible.
-despite being a large restaurant, can fill up completely even during late night
-staff can be overwhelmed and forgetful at times

Notes:
-open late with late night menu
-has daily specials

-small parking lot, hard to find street parking on foodie street (Alexandra Rd)

Menu:
 

Late Night Menu (Better one can be found on Urbanspoon link below)

Menu 1

Menu 2

Menu 3

Kishu River

Kishu River has always been an oddity. They have "Happy Hour" pricing on certain items starting at 7pm. This translates into some awesomely priced dinner eats.

Now I've been to Kishu frequently over the last year. Not too frequently though, since some of my friends are wary of the freshness of their ingredients given the low price tag. However, I've never had an issue with their food, which I always found to be well seasoned, appropriately portioned, and decently priced. The general feeling, though is that their hot food is better than their cold, which can be iffy with not so fresh raw fish.

They're a small family-owned shop, with what looks to be young teenaged kids waiting tables at times. They are impeccably mannered though - nothing like me when I was a teenager :p. Probably Vietnamese owned, as they have a small Vietnamese section of the menu. However, I've never had a chance to try their Vietnamese food as they aren't part of the happy hour discounts. Even though it's just the usual pho noodle soup and lemon chicken rice etc, I'm going to have to try them one of these days.

Today though, I decided to go with the seafood yakisoba, and negitoro roll (6pcs). The soba was stir fried in soy sauce with chunks of prawn, salmon, imitation crab, squid, cabbage, and onion. The noodles were al-dente and the portion was generous for the price ($4.17 with happy hour discount).

The negitoro was pretty standard, although they probably used regular tuna instead of fatty (toro) tuna. I couldn't tell. For $8 flat including tax and tip, this was a decent meal.

The rest of my party decided to get oyako don, beef teriyaki don, prawn and salmon tempura, bento box A, and orders of negitoro and california rolls as well.

The oyako don is a personal favorite of mine: boneless chicken pan fried with egg, onions and vermicelli, served over seasoned rice. The beef teriyaki don was also served with egg and vermicelli , which is a bonus in my book since most restaurants don't bother with these when you order beef/chicken teriyaki don. My friends thoroughly enjoyed these dishes, and they were again a great value at under $4.50 with happy hour discount. Sorry for the grainy pictures. Still fiddling with my new camera >_<

Mr. bento box A decided not to opt for any happy hour items. The bento came with chicken teriyaki (this was NOT served with egg or vermicelli which he would have got if he ordered a don), california roll, assorted veggie and shrimp tempura, green salad, miso soup, and a slice of orange. This is not a bad deal for $9.95, as a lot of Japanese joints jack up their bento box prices for dinner time. Mr. Bento must have been stuffed since he didn't eat his orange.

The prawn and salmon tempura was interesting as not many places do salmon tempura. This dish was a real winner. I had a bit of the salmon and it was very well done. The batter was light and not oily or overpowering, and the salmon inside was moist and flavorful. This was not a happy hour item though.

Everyone was happy with their food, and left satiated. I've always been happy with Kishu, and it's safe to say we'll be returning every once in a while.

Pros:
-very well priced "Happy Hour" discounts at 7 PM!
-friendly service

Cons:
-low prices may mean some sacrifices in ingredient quality (according to some)
-small shop can fill up quickly. No guaranteed seating for large parties.
-must order at least $5 for Happy Hour, which means at least 2 items with their pricing

Notes:
-open late
-happy hour discounts after 7 PM
-plenty of street parking or across the street at London Drugs complex

Menus: unfortunately, they have a large array of menus and I forgot to snap everything.

Happy Hour Menu - January 2011

Menu Page 1 - January 2011

Menu Page 2 - January 2011

Menu Page 3 - January 2011