Hon's on No 3 Road

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Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible. ~ Cantonese saying

Hon's Wun-Tun House (or better known as just Hon's) is noted for it's Chinese "comfort food". The restaurant serves primarily cantonese style food and has been a favourite chinese restaurant in Vancouver for many years. Hons is well regarded for its wonton and noodle dishes, pot sticker dumplings (fried or steamed), and barbecued beef. More than 300 dishes are featured on the extensive menu!

Meals are prepared in an open kitchen as diners look on. Although this concept is pretty common in Asia, it is a novelty in Canada. The restaurant started 25 years ago as a lone restaurant and has since opened many outlets throughout the Lower Mainland. We visited the outlet in Richmond's No 3 Road recently.

Although there were so many dishes on the menu, Norman and Marcus always wanted only two dishes -- all the time the same dishes, without fail! One of the favourite is the Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice (ham yee gai lap chow fan). All the servings are huge in Hon's. The one dish is enough for two people or more. The fried rice costs about $8-$9.

The other dish the boys love is the Eefu Noodle with Shredded Chicken Meat. The Eefu noodle are prepared together with bean sprout but since the boys don't like it, we asked that the cook leave that out. This dish too costs about less than $10.

Chinese Sponge Cake

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Let them eat cake! ~ Marie Antoinette

To the chinese, cakes are normally steamed rather than baked. Today, I steamed a very simple chinese sponge cake made primarily from eggs. Total time taken to prepare this cake is less than an hour with 25 minutes for steaming.

Here are the ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (can substitute vanilla if desired)
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk (can substitute regular milk if desired)
• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Here are the directions:

The baking powder and flour are mixed together.

They are then sifted and set aside.

Mix the evaporated milk with the melted butter first. Then add the baking soda to it. Again, set it aside.

You will need four eggs. Crack it into a mixing bowl.

Beat the eggs.

Mix in the sugar and the almond extract. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved.

You then mix in the milk/baking soda/butter mixture to the eggs/sugar. Blend thoroughly using a whisk.

You gradually mix in the flour mixture and blend.

Whisk until smooth and completely blended.

Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan. I use a pie dish about 9-inch.

Bring the water to boil.

Place the cake into the pan with boiling water.

Cover and steam for 25-30 minutes. Use a toothpick to check when the cake is done.

Remove the cake from the pan and slice. Best served when warm. Enjoy!

Bak Kut Teh Instant Noodles

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Not the place where I was born but where I hang my hat is home. ~ African Proverb

We found Bah Kut Teh instant noodles in the shops not too long ago. Although BKT is a common dish in Malaysia served with steamed rice but we have never come across a BKT flavoured instant noodles.

The instant noodles BKT costs 69 centes -- not cheap as far as instant noodles goes. Unless you read chinese, you will simply miss this on the store shelves. I mean, BKT should show a simmering pot on pork, shouldn't it?

There were two packets of seasonings. The bigger packet contained the spices which gives the BKT flavour. For some reason, the packaging also included a packet of chilli powder. The BKT soup has never been cooked with chilli and is not supposed to be spicy, so this comes across to me a strange.

This A1 brand noodles is made in Singapore. Although BKT originated from Malaysia, I don't think any Malaysian companies will manufacture BKT instant noodles because of its association with pork. :-)

The noodle was not too bad except that I can detect the spicyness. The spicyness spoils it for me. The smell sure smells like BKT.

Crystal Mall's Food Court

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Govern a family as you would cook a small fish -- very gently. ~ Chinese Proverb

We went to the Food Court in Crystal Mall for lunch on Saturday because the boys wanted Char Koay Teow. The Crystall Mall is a Chinese Mall located along Kingsway with Willingdon in Burnaby. It was always crowded when we go there during the weekend -- it was just as crowded today. In Canadian standards, the parking was hard to get.

Norm does not normally like spicy food but he says that he only makes an exception for char koay toew. The char koay teow was good -- we find that it is one of the best we could find in Vancouver. We ALWAYS order char koay teow when we eat at this food court. The char koay teow from the Curry King stall costs $5.50.

Marc wanted Shashimi and opted for the tuna shashimi from the Ebi King stall. The dish consists of 5 pieces of average slices and costs $4.95. It did not look particularly fresh but Marc did gobble them all down in quick time. I guess he must have liked them.

Norm has been gaining a big appetite lately. Apparently the char koay teow was not enough and he ordered another serving of sushi. He ordered the 18 piece combo ($5.95) which consists of california rolls, salmon maki and cucumber maki. The pieces are quite large -- Norm did not manage to eat them all and we brought some home.

Suanne ordered Grilled Pork combo from the Korean Taste of Yongs stall. It was a rice dish served in two styrofoam boxes -- it was a lot of food for $5.50. In one box was steam rice with kimchi, bean sprout and topped with a fried egg. The other box contained grilled pork served on glass noodles with some brocolli. This stall seems very popular because we see a lot of people eating it. It sure was great deal for the money.

For me, I knew I could just pick from the other's dishes. Suanne bought about one pound of roast pork from the chinese market downstairs from the food court. That costs about $8. It was pretty good but not really perfect. There were a fair bit bones and the skin was not was crispy/crunchy as I like it to be. The good part is that it does not taste salty at all.

Gosh, we were so full ... I think I will skip dinner again.

America West Airlines' Phoenix Philly

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A kiss without a moustache is like beef without mustard. ~ Italian Proverb

Hello all. We are back blogging again! It had been a busy week for us with me having to travel again. Last week I travelled via the America West Airline with a stopover in Phoenix, Arizona. So, for the blog I decided to get some Phoenix food.

Unlike other airlines, America West offer hot food on their In-Flight Cafe menu. I ordered the Phoenix Philly which costs $5 USD each.

The food came warm and wrapped in foil and a small packet of Horseradish. I did not care for the horseradish and did not touch it.

The Phoenix Philly is basically shaved roast beef served on Tuscan baquette. Phillies are originally made popular in the Philadelphia region by the Italian American community. The real secret of a great Philly is the long roll. Their crust has a medium texture, midway between the hard crust of a baguette and the wimpy crust of a packaged supermarket roll. And, the interior is soft, with a wonderful yeasty taste.

The Philly is topped with melted Swiss cheese and is served warm with dijonnaise. I opened up the sandwich and found that the roast beef is prepared just the way I like it -- the middle is still pink and is medium rare.

It was a good meal. This sure beats the snack boxes from United Airlines.

Nasi Lemak

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Only the man who is not hungry says the coconut has a hard shell. ~ Ethiopian Proverb

We can never go wrong serving the ever favourite Malaysian Nasi Lemak. Nasi Lemak is a favourite rice meal normally eaten for breakfast. It is the closest to being the official national dish of Malaysia. Directly translated from Malay, nasi lemak means "rice in cream". Nasi lemak is spicy.

When I was in Malaysia, I remember that we line up to buy the dish from the hawkers even before they get a chance to setup their stalls. Good Nasi Lemak is hard to come by now in Vancouver. I love the sotongs (cuttlefish) and cangkerang (cockles) for side dish ... sigh.

Suanne made Nasi Lemak for dinner recently. The most important ingredient is the sambal which gives the dish the signature spicyness. Polly gave us some Malaysian-style fried anchovies which we have not found in Vancouver (thanks Polly!). The fried anchovies and fried peanuts gives the dish the crunchiness.

The nasi lemak rice must be cooked in coconut milk (otherwise, it will not be called nasi lemak, wouldn't it?). Suanne put in some sliced ginger for flavouring.

While the rice cooks, Suanne prepared the all important sambal. There are several ways to prepare the sambal but it typically is cooked with onions and anchovies. We prefer the anchovies crunchy and so Suanne just cook the sambal with onions. Making the sambal is a lot of work and does make the whole house smells sambal for a week -- Suanne just uses those bought from the stores.

Making peanuts is well, peanuts. Suanne just pan-fry it for about 10 minutes. Added some salt and once it's all dark brown, it's done.

It's common to have eggs served with nasi lemak. They are served with either hard-boiled or sunny-side up. We prefer the sunny-side up ones because the soft yolk goes really well with the rice.

Chinese New Year Pot Luck

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Time flies when you are among friends. ~ Basque Proverb

Today is Chap Goh Meh, which is the final day of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration. A few of our friends from Malaysia and Singapore met together at Eric and Sabrina's new home. We last met together last summer -- it's good to meet again to celebrate the Chinese New Year together.

Eric made three main dishes. He made a fried bee hoon, yam cakes and pineapple tarts. He always impresses us with his cooking. Sabrina is such a lucky girl.

Polly made curry chicken and potato. She thoughtfully made two versions: one spicy one and another milder one for the kids. It was rich and thick -- very nice. It never goes wrong to have spicy dishes for our group. Polly uses the Prima Taste brand.

Xiao Qin made the ever popular fried rice. Kids always like fried rice. It also goes so well with the curry gravy.

Josephine made a huge pot of mee goreng. Yuuuuumy! We finished the entire pot. You see, spicy stuff is always popular. Good stuff Josephine ... send Suanne your recipe.

Suanne made two dishes, chicken sticky rice and fried lo bak go (the ones that Polly and Suanne made two days ago).

Jessica came late with the dessert but it was well worth the wait. The dessert were awesome. I wish I had more room in my tummy for more! Jessica prepare a Tiramisu, kueh ubi kayu, kueh lapis and a cake I don't know it's called (looks like a flattened log cake but tastes awesome).

Thanks guys for a great time today.