Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location:
McKim Wonton Mein Saga   
1180-8788 McKim Way , Richmond , BC V6X 4E2
604-270-6632

There are two Chinese restaurants that I like and I would visit again and again in the lower mainland. One of them is Kirin, a chain of outstanding restaurants offering fine dining on southern and northern Chinese cuisine. Although I love Kirin’s peking duck, braised abalones and the lobster served in rich cream sauce, for everyday Chinese food, I always visit McKim’s. Famous for their wonton noodles, McKim’s is a causal, almost diner-like restaurant. Right next to the entrance stands the open kitchen where big pots of soup are boiling away and many woks are swung in the air cooking different types of stir-fry.

The selection of stir-fry at Mckim’s is incredible. Besides the usual beef and broccoli, chicken stir-fry in black bean sauce and chop suey, Mckim’s has many stir-fry dishes which I consider traditional homemade comfort food. I always tell ET that the food at McKim’s tastes exactly like my mom’s cooking.

The scrambled egg with shrimps and chives is always one of the classic Chinese home-cook dishes. Like the way eggs are prepared by the French, the eggs must not be overcooked for this dish; they should be slightly runny. As I’m never shy to admit, I’m a meatatarian by choice and rice isn’t the most essential item for me in a meal. However, I always ask for a hot bowl of rice to enjoy with this dish.

Lightly coated with syrup, the honey glazed spare ribs is crunchy and has just enough sweetness to satisfy my husband’s sweet tooth. When I order pork served in a sweet sauce like the honey glaze or the sweet and sour sauce, I’m always worry about getting a plateful of fatty pork pieces. The spare ribs served at McKim’s were lean and crunchy.

I always thought seafood are prepared quite well in Chinese cooking. The steamed fish is a good example. This is a steamed sole with cilantro, green onion with a slightly sweet soy sauce. The sweet soy sauce is the best thing in this dish. If you haven’t tried this already, next time when you have steamed fish, try mixing soy sauce into the rice. My dad used this trick to get me eat more rice when I was small. The rice tastes delicious after soaking up the delicious flavour of the fish from the soy sauce.

At the end of our meal, the waitress kindly asked us if we would like to have desserts, which will be on the house. I was really full with the eggs, the fish, the honey spare ribs, but my husband wouldn’t turn down dessert. The glutinous rice sweet soup was standard but it was a good way to end a comfort meal.

Location: Cafe Crepe   
1032 Robson Street‎
Vancouver, BC
(604) 488-0045

After finishing university, I started my career at a company located in downtown. Two years later, I left the company and I have ever since missed working in downtown. Some people might say working in downtown sucks because of the bad traffic and the large amount of time spent on commute. Since I lived in downtown and walked to work, the traffic and commute weren’t my problem. I was getting all the convenience without the bad. I was using lunch breaks to run errands: banking, dry cleaning, even buying groceries. On my way to the dry cleaner, the bank and to work, I discovered many good restaurants such as Miko sushi, Jang Mo Jib, Guu, Kintaro, Le Crocodile and Zeffirelli’s, just to name a few. Among these restaurants, Cafe Crepe is one of my favourite. Located on the busiest part of Robson street, it is difficult not to notice this cafe when the restaurant’s takeout window is constantly surrounded by a crowd of crepe lovers, who wait patiently even in the cold or rain for a taste of the delicious pancake. It was at this cafe that I tried my first savoury crepe. Initially, I found the idea of savoury crepes a little strange since crepes are usually sweet in North America. However, I was never interested in sweet crepes anyway because I don’t like desserts in general. I was excited to learn that crepes could be savoury! After reading through the long list of savoury crepes on the menu, I ordered my first savoury crepe:

The ham, egg and cheese crepe tasted amazing. The cheese binded everything together. The texture of the crepe is perfect – it was light and fluffy. For a long time, the ham and egg crepe remained my favourite and I would order it in my every visit. I was married to it until one day I tried the tuna crepe:

Mixed with mayo, egg and cheese, the tuna crepe is irresistible. The ingredients oozed out of the thin pancake. I’ve been married to the tuna crepe since then.

When I go to a restaurant, I usually try to find out what other people order. Usually the item that everyone orders is the restaurant’s best dish. I have seen many people ordered the spinach and cheese crepe at Cafe Crepe and therefore I gave it a try one day.

Ordering the spinach crepe turned out to be a mistake. The crepe was dried and bland. Although I’m a die-hard carnivore, I like to try a vegetarian dish once in awhile. I had many good vegetarian dishes but the spinach crepe is definitely not one of them.

Over the years the menu selection at Cafe Crepe has expanded. There are new items on the menu such as hamburger, pizza and hotdog. ET tried the pizza and he liked it:

Oh I almost forgot about the sweet crepes. I never order them but my girlfriends all rave about the Nutella and banana crepe. Occasionally I would take a bite at it and I believe anyone who likes sweet
would love it.