Authentic Singaporean Hainanese chicken are usually paired with sweetened dark soy sauce and garlic-chili dipping sauce. The Hainanese chicken served at City 1 Cafe seems to be more in line with Cantonese style Hainanese chicken. However, this does not diminish the tastiness of these chicken. These chicken have succulent and firm meat with plump and smooth skin. With the bones removed, I can’t really ask for more. We recommend City 1 Cafe’s Hainanese chicken.
Chinatown BBQ is by far the best Chinese BBQ place I have tried, and yes, even better than the HK BBQ Master in Richmond. They use the perfect cuts to make the roast pork, and their duck have just the right meatiness without being too fat. Combined with the right process in cooking, Chinatown BBQ creates the most authentic, and pleasant experience of having Chinese BBQ. We recommend everyone to try Chinatown BBQ’s roast pork.
Is Taiwan Eatery a Taiwanese restaurant? Definitely not. But is it a restaurant that provides cheap good food? I think so. The best advice we can give the owner of Taiwan Eatery is that they should be more confident. Taiwan Eatery has great food, beautiful decor, and excellent service so they can definitely start their own Cantonese thing instead of labeling themselves with Taiwan. Even though the food tastes absolutely amazing, we cannot give a full 5-star review due to non-authentic Taiwanese food with the restuarant name like Taiwan Eatery.
Mui Kee Chicken Pot has been in business for quite some time. They have recently renovated for this fresh look. This meal costs us approximately $25 per person, but I think their food quality is there. I would recommend Mui Kee Chicken Pot to people who enjoy heavily flavoured food.
Dynasty Seafood Restaurant may not look like much from the exterior and that’s because they have focused their location on the Northside of the building to give customers that Northshore views through downtown. The food is between average to above average, not top-notch. I like how the servers seem to take every customer seriously even when they are busy. If you go with a medium-sized group who are cost-conscious, you can typically control the spending to about $13-$15 per person. Otherwise, this place costs typically around $20 per person. I think Dynasty Seafood Restaurant is just average, but it seems to be the best choice for a dim sum lunch around the area.
Yes, I agree paying $20 for a plate of Cantonese is expensive. We also know that serving traditional Cantonese comfort food that should’ve been available to everyone at a premium price is going to be met with a lot of resistance. Does that mean this type of dish does not deserve to be made with high-quality ingredients and strong culinary skills? I think the opposite. Cantonese comfort food is an old tradition that should be celebrated. They deserve to be announced to the world as much as Italian or any other cuisines.
I understand the location probably cost a lot more than a stall in Richmond Public Market, but $5.25 can almost buy me two $2.75 drinks from Peanut’s Bubble Tea. When the drinks here don’t even taste as good, I can’t justify coming here. Dessert Dynasty feels like a bubble tea shop who just hoard a good location to make a quick buck.
The menu here is like a patchwork with no focus. This tells me they can make everything, but does not excel in anything. It’s kind of like an upgraded version of a Cantonese Cafe. They serve Southern Chinese cuisine like Szechuan food that is not spicy and Shanghai food that is not delicate. They also serve Northern Chinese cuisine like pancakes and noodles that I did not dare to try. The price of $26 per person is simply too high for the poor quality of food.
Cantonese Cafe has gained enough traction over the years by putting Cantonese spins on major cuisines like American, French, Singaporean, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Taiwanese, and Japanese food. I personally find it insulting because you simply cannot miso in your noodle and call it Ramen. However, there is definitely a demand for this type of food, so who am I to judge? That being said, I would stick to the Asian cuisines offered in i-Cafe. The ever-increasing food cost has reached $14 for a lunch special with a cold drink. What you have to be a little careful about Cantonese cafe such as i-Cafe is some of the semi-hidden costs. For example, $1 extra for cold drinks, or $1 extra if you want to swap out for Ramen noodle.
