man ri sung: hand pulled noodles before and after the move to aberdeen...

its ironic how i'm writing about man ri sung at the old location RIGHT after eating at the new location, but at least i'm finally writing about it (and combining two visits!) i will now try harder to catch up on my 100s of posts still needed to be written. anyways, the food! the noodles were unexpectedly the star of the lunch. knife shaved and toothsome, they were al dente and not all equal sizes but absolutely delicious. 

visit 1: 

 spicy pork with rice - lunch special ($8.99): pretty self explanatory with the delicious banchan as well. good price for the amount of meat give (price is now $9.99 at aberdeen). quite oily 

3.75/5 

spicy seafood noodle soup (~$10): this was so good…the soup was not too spicy and was delicious with lots of al dente noodles sitting on the bottom. the seafood wasn't TOO plentiful but it didn't matter, the noodles were THAT GOOD

5/5

visit 2:

going through my pictures i ordered almost the exact same thing…oops (sorry not sorry) but my pictures are so much better ;D 

the location is A LOT nicer inside aberdeen mall but the service was not good at all..we saw the server once and that was it. still they have a sign that says no refills on side dishes but thats okay...

seafood chow main ($10.99): i had to get their knife shaved noodles again and of course i got seafood…but this was just as good as before. the noodles were addicting and flavourful but this was a little lacking in seafood and the squid was a bit chewy. still gets a 5 in my books because it ate so much...

5/5

spicy pork with rice lunch special ($9.99): so this went up in price a little bit but the portion was still quite large. again quite oily but the slices of pork were very meaty and not too fat. 

4/5

overall: the price has gone up but the noodles remain delicious. the banchan no longer has the garlic sprouts but their kimchi was so good. not too sour or spicy i loved it! 

one heart garden: teppan-yummy noodles

big city perks deal again! :) this time it was only $13 for a meal at one heart garden in richmond. their concept is a lot like bubble waffle cafe or even cattle cafe with pick your own combo noodles but this time, there was a choice for teppanyaki as well! 

make your own teppanyaki: thick noodle, sausage, chicken steak with homemade sauce (originally $7.75) - i was pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed this! the sauce was not too salty but flavourful and there were lots of veggies beneath the noodles! they werent stingy with the ingredients and it was delicious! 

4/5

make your own noodle combo: tomato and pumpkin soup, rice noodle, sliced beef (and 1 more ingredient that i do not remember...) (originally $7.75) - this was not as good as the teppanyaki. the soup was a bit sour from the tomato and very thin as well. there were some bits floating (as seen in the picture) but there were still lots of veggies and meat which was good.

2.75/5

the combos also came with a hot drink each while my mom ordered a hot milk tea (normal), i added 2 dollars to get honey green milk tea with grass jelly. it was very filling but good. 

3/5

we also added a bubble waffle order for only $1 and it came nice and hot. crispy but fluffy in the middle, these were some delicious bubble waffle! 

4.5/5 

(ps this deal also came with curry fish balls) 

overall: at only 13 bucks (+3), this lunch was a steal and we had leftovers too. the teppanyaki and bubble waffle were great for their prices but the soup of the noodles left a lot to be desired.

3/5 

wonton mein saga: after-states late night

wonton mein saga is the place to go when you need a quick bite at night. with quick food and reasonable prices, its not a bad choice for chinese food. 

seeing as it was quite late at night, we wanted some real comfort type foods especially after the american meals in well...america. 

we went with a congee, wonton mein (have to get it at wonton mein SAGA) and sweet and sour pork (yes i am one of those americanized chinese food people)

 congee (~$5.00): i THINK this was sliced fish...but honestly i dont remember. the congee itself was a nice consistency, thick and creamy but also tasty. not overly salty and gingery (i hate ginger) but a good night time food to satisfy and warm the stomach.

3.75/5

traditional wonton soup (~$5.00) - again it was late at night so i dont remember EXACTLY what kind of wonton soup it was but it was fine. obviously not good enough to remember but i know the noodles weren't bad with the right texture. 

3.75/5

sweet and sour pork (~$6-7?) - [sorry my prices are so confused, it was late and i was tired so i hardly noticed] but onto the food, this dish was not very good. i would stick to the congee and wonton noodles here as the veggies were quite raw and the pork was covered in batter and pieces were essentially pieces of fat. there was hardly any meat to this dish and hardly brushed against satisfaction. 

1.5/5 

overall, not a horrible choice if you choose the things that they are known for. happy eating! 

umi japanese eatery: decent japanese food court noms

after having a pre-lunch snack at let's roll, my mom and i stopped by richmond center after her hair appointment for a bigger meal. the new dining terrace has a lot of choices but umi looked pretty good! this is the same japanese stand at most food courts except this one has more hot food like udon and appetizers and also separate section for desserts. 

chicken udon (~$8) - this was unexpectedly good! the udon noodles were a good firm texture and they give a pretty big portion of chicken as well. it was quite salty though and the soup didnt have much taste other than salt...but it wasnt bad!

3.5/5

takoyaki ($~5) - this was very normal and a bit room temperature but at least it had lots of bonito flakes! 

3/5

overall: if i was coming back to richmond centre for lunch, i wouldnt mind coming back but i hear good things about bourbon st. grill so i would try that first! 

red pagoda: good pork, not so good beef brisket

more entertainment book coupon usage! it was buy one get one free entree at red pagoda, a vietnamese restaurant on commercial street. 

i really wanted something warm that day so we went with pho and we also wanted to try a combo dish and i'm sure glad we did. 

pagoda special beef noodle - beef slices, beef brisket, beef balls, tendon and tripe ($7.95) - filled with different cuts of beef this was not bad. the soup was quite flavourful although a tad oily. the only complaint is the brisket was extremely chewy. it was fatty but not tender kind of defeating the purpose of brisket. also, regular price the amount of noodle is not the best deal considering other pho places. 

3/5

lemongrass pork, spring roll and prawn on sugarcane combination plate with rice - ($11.50): this was delicious. every component was good including the fresh veggies and especially the pork. it was tender and perfectly lemonly-grass seasoned. i would come back for a huge bowl of this any day. the spring roll on the other had was not memorable and i'm not a huge fan of sugarcane shrimp. (this was also the moment i realized i love vietnamese style rice..short grain i believe) 

4.5/5

worth a try if you're in the area, happy eating! 

guu richmond: its guuu'd

ah guu, delicious authentic japanese food in richmond! guu is an izakaya type place with lunch specials that are different every day and lunch boxes that are available all the time. perfect for any japanese cravings while at aberdeen. 

i usually come here with my mom because she loves izakaya but does not like driving downtown so this location is perfect. we ordered 2 dishes to share and it was more than enough and very delicious! 

overall, i love guu and the variety that is has to offer plus the super fresh fish every time we go, just looking at the pictures makes me wanna go again! (even though i went last week :P) 

nabeyaki udon ($8.80) - udon with prawn tempura, egg, chicken, fish cake and green onion - this was a very good flavourful broth with al dente noodles and a decent amount of toppings. not bad for the price! 

4.25/5

one complaint though was the tempura, the batter was not crispy or flaky enough and we already had it on the side. 

sushi box ($12.95) : tuna, boiled shrimp and salmon sushi, salmon and sweet shrimp sashimi, california roll, egg, grilled mackerel, chicken karaage and rice - this is our go to at guu richmond. it has the perfect variety to please both the fish and deep fried cravings. my mom loves mackerel and this one is good albeit a bit salty. there is also this tiny portion of spicy fish right in the middle and this goes perfect with the rice. 

4.5/5

cattle cafe: pick and choose your noodle

i absolutely LOVE noodles. from pho to udon to basically anything that isnt rice, i love and cattle cafe satisfies my craving perfectly. everybody probably knows already but they're popular for their noodle combo where you choose a soup base, a noodle, 2 toppings and add $2 for up to 2 side dishes. it also comes with a drink which you can upgrade to bubble tea! they also have amazing egg waffles and french toast that are worth trying!  my favourite location is the richmond one, just tastes better to me, but it's pretty consistent across the locations but here is my usual order minus the additional sides. 

mango slush with mango stars 

noodle combo ($8.50): tomato pumpkin fish soup (so good!) rice noodles with beef brisket and something fish for my mom (: it also comes with mushroom and napa cabbage which makes me very happy since i LOVE my veggies!