One week of food: Day 2
New favourite noodle house: Deer Garden.
They have two locations in Richmond: one on Alexandra and the other in one of newer Chinese plazas off Cambie.
Their real name is Deer Garden Signatures, since plain old Deer Garden used to be a nondescript Chinese restaurant. They have now reinvented themselves with as a new Hong Kong café style noodle house, where you are given order forms to check off your very own bowl of customizable noodles.
They specialize in fish soup bases, which are all MSG free. The rest of their soup line is, regrettably, not. However, I don't like fish soup, so I've tried, in turn, the rest of their soup bases. 4 out of the 5 non-fish soups are spicy, with the non-spicy one a classic chicken broth.
My favourite is their tan-tan soup base. There are whole peanuts that are the right texture - not crunchy, like the crushed ones they put on top of congee, but not as soft as if they served their time in the pot of daily broth. They have also absorbed a bit of the spicy flavour. What is nice about the soup is that it is sufficiently spicy for a good kick, but does not make the mistake of being so spicy that eating several mouthfuls in succession is a challenge. Most of the red chili seeds are clumped together, so you can choose to stir all of it in, or if you're feeling like a little less bite - you can take some out yourself.
I have noticed that their customizable menu manages, in one respect, to be idiot proof. There is no plain tofu even though this would be expected to be a rather popular topping, or other bland food that will not absorb the flavour of the broth, so you cannot blame the restaurant for serving a bland bowl of noodles. Very smart. The basic bowl, in addition to the standard 2 toppings you choose, already come with nappa, shredded bean curd sheets, and some chopped cilantro and green onions. Surprisingly, however, there are only 2 green vegetable options that are available, even though meat options occupy ore than 2 columns.
They have two locations in Richmond: one on Alexandra and the other in one of newer Chinese plazas off Cambie.
Their real name is Deer Garden Signatures, since plain old Deer Garden used to be a nondescript Chinese restaurant. They have now reinvented themselves with as a new Hong Kong café style noodle house, where you are given order forms to check off your very own bowl of customizable noodles.
They specialize in fish soup bases, which are all MSG free. The rest of their soup line is, regrettably, not. However, I don't like fish soup, so I've tried, in turn, the rest of their soup bases. 4 out of the 5 non-fish soups are spicy, with the non-spicy one a classic chicken broth.
My favourite is their tan-tan soup base. There are whole peanuts that are the right texture - not crunchy, like the crushed ones they put on top of congee, but not as soft as if they served their time in the pot of daily broth. They have also absorbed a bit of the spicy flavour. What is nice about the soup is that it is sufficiently spicy for a good kick, but does not make the mistake of being so spicy that eating several mouthfuls in succession is a challenge. Most of the red chili seeds are clumped together, so you can choose to stir all of it in, or if you're feeling like a little less bite - you can take some out yourself.
I have noticed that their customizable menu manages, in one respect, to be idiot proof. There is no plain tofu even though this would be expected to be a rather popular topping, or other bland food that will not absorb the flavour of the broth, so you cannot blame the restaurant for serving a bland bowl of noodles. Very smart. The basic bowl, in addition to the standard 2 toppings you choose, already come with nappa, shredded bean curd sheets, and some chopped cilantro and green onions. Surprisingly, however, there are only 2 green vegetable options that are available, even though meat options occupy ore than 2 columns.