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Pan-Asian food in the middle of downtown, next to BCIT.
Mrs. C and I were in the DT feasting our eyes on the new convention centre, and we decided to have a snack at the TOH. The (empty) restaurant was clean and modern looking inside (including the w/c) and kind of like a Korean Earl's. I am told by my beloved dining companion that this place is not owned by the other Hon's. That would explain the entirely different menu, etc.
We had milk teas (3 bucks plus a half a buck for pearls or jelly) and something called Arh-loo Katalate, which was a deep fried potato ball with a little meatball in the center. It came with some hot sauce. Normally I never order anything with the word "loo" in it, but I was intrigued. Despite the crazy name, it tasted good. The BBT was from a mix, and was okay for the price.
Service was good enough, and for some reason there was an older white guy acting as maître d'. Not sure if he was official or just volunteering for tips...
My only quibble was the location of the w/c's. They were located at the end of a rat maze at the back and would be a definite security issue for the ladies.
Okay for snacks.
A co-worker mentioned there was a restaraunt nearby called Taste of Hons. I never been there before so I decided to check their website to see the menu. The food on the menu sounded so yummy so I decided to order food for pick up. I ordered the tiger beef, honey garlic wings & salt and pepper wings. The food was ready in 15 minutes. Upon picking up the food, I took a quick glance at the place and it was pretty decent looking. The service seemed nice and I was greeted and guided to where I pay for the food. When I got back to the office (which only took me 3 minutes to get back) I opened up the food to share with my co-workers. I tried the tiger beef dish and the mushrooms, onion & pepper was tasty. The beef on the other hand tasted very weird and had a sour taste to it like it was rotten. I then decided to get rid of the flavor by eating a chicken wing. I am a HUGE fan of chicken wings and generally assume nothing can really go wrong. I soon discovered I can no longer make such assuptions. The dry wings we're overly oily and the honey garlic wings were a gooey mess and tasted like it's been out for days. My co-worker even tried to reheat them in the toaster oven to dry them up, but we still have no idea what kind of ingredients they use because that glutinous jelly slime just simply doesn't want to dissolve. Nevertheless, he ate them anyways just so his $10 wouldn't go to complete waste. This is by far is the worst experience My co-workers and I have ever had and will NEVER go back. A waste of $30.
To be honest, I was actually quite hesitant to check this place out, based on the past reviews. I found everything tasted pretty good, and I liked the diverse flavours for each of the dishes that I ordered. Had the Tiger beef, HK style pork cheese rice bake , and the Tandoori Chicken. The tiger beef was tasty, and had hints of basil, lemongrass, and star anise...which was really unique, b/c never had beef dressed up like that. The pork cheese rice bake was very tasty as well, and the pork was not fried, which is different from other HK style cafes which fry their pork. The tandoori chicken was quite tasty, and it came with butter chicken sauce and rice...altho the sauce was a little sour, its probably from the tomatoes.
The service is pretty good. The hostess was friendly and really smiley as we entered the restaurant. our server was really polite, and she checked up on us, and asked if everything was okay, but not in an annoying kind of way.
The value was pretty reasonable for DT. All dishes were under $10, and the portions are pretty big.
The ambiance is pretty cool, nice stylish and hip. Comfy chairs, and the tables are cozy. Theres like 3-4 flatscreen TVs, very enjoyable time.
I really enjoyed my experience here, b/c they take traditional azn style dishes with a little twist, by adding spices or introducing new flavours to the dishes, which is makes the azn dishes less mundae, and more innovative. Also, what I like is that there are no dishes that add mandarin oranges to make is more "azn" like, unlike other restaurants that try to add that...azns do not cook food with mandarin oranges!
I would definately recommend this place to anyone that enjoys azn style food. I would come back to this place again, if Im in DT.
I wish they would have opened a standard Hons in this location so I can eat $5 wonton noodle etc but anyways. I order a chow mein, fried rice, and pad thai. None of these dishes were fresh and none had any flavours except for some pepper spinkled on top. Portions were ridiculous for $9/$10. You can easily get way better asian food anywhere else in this city. Three words: don't come here
I was very curious about this location, actually, i was excited when I went by on the bus, a new Hon's location. I love their noodles and soups and have been going there for many years.
The restaurant itself is very nicely decorated, if a bit cold. But very clean and bright and the waterfall is a nice touch. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon around 1:30, and the waitress sat me so i could watch the news and finance channel on the flat screen tv. I took the other side of the table, did not want to watch that!
Anyway, on the most important part, the food!
I ordered the hot and sour soup (4.00) and the chicken chow mein (8 3/4) (that's how they do the prices on the menu, cute.) Hot and sour is one of my favourites and not all Hon's locations do a good job of it, in my experience the Richmond location makes the best. I was also treated to a delicious sample of the Lychee black tea, which i would wholeheartedly recommend if you are looking for a fruity sweet cold drink.
My hot and sour soup came first, and I was happy to see a huge bowl and a smaller bowl to ladle it into. On closer inspection though, there was a scum on top (indicates to me it had been reheated in the microwave, not good) and it was quite thin in texture, but it did seem to be full of veggies and tofu. Unfortunately, the
soup was watery and quite tasteless, a tiny bit sour, but barely spicy. I looked in vain for the promised chicken and shrimps and found none.
Thankfully, my noodles arrived next. Lots of chicken and veggies, it was pretty good, not hon's style as I was hoping and a much smaller portion. It also tasted quite sweet, which is not to my liking but overall pretty good and I think some would be very happy with the flavor.
To the restaurants defense, when I told the waitress I did not like the soup and why, she agreed to take it off my bill. She then came back and told me the kitchen had offered to remake it but by then I was a little disgusted with it and declined. I would have been happy with a smaller bowl full of flavor and more veggies, ie mushrooms and scallions and the advertised chicken and shrimp.
Not sure if I will be back here, but perhaps in the summer I will stop in for a takeout tea, those seemed really yummy!
Only decided to go because of coupon in the Straight, and thought it would be similar to the other Hon's around town. How wrong I was!
Once inside, the restaurant was surprisingly large, airy and well lit. In spite of the last, it still has some small areas for more private dining. There is even a small water fall one of the walls!! Lovely look and feel.
Then not only were the servers very friendly and interested in what the restaurant had to offer, but were happy and eager to recommend what in their opinion were the most tasty. Our server even told us if we wanted dessert, they would need a little more time since they were made when ordered. That was good, because they would be fresh and helpful if you are in a rush.
The menu was truly "Pan Asian" as advertised. They had food from almost all the SE Asian countries. There were many items on the menu but not overwhelmingly so. We tried the Laksa, a rice vermicelli in a curryish soup. Spicy but not too bad! It was large, and generous with at least 5 big prawns, 1 whole boiled egg, tofu, bean sprouts, chicken chunks, lemon slice and more jalapeno slices. Since i know this dish well, I am quite shocked, happily that is, to find it so authentically flavourful and very tasty...and not too salty. Good to the last slurp!
My friend had the Chicken Linguine...which normally would have had jalapeno and black beans, but because she didn't want spicy, we asked to have the jalapeno left out. No problem! It was presented in a very pretty 'lopsided' white bowl, and was also a large serving and very, very delicious. Both of these could have easily been halved and saved for another meal later. And O before i forget, the dinnerware is very unusual and eye-catching...japanese influenced(?)
Right now, in January 2009 (I think), there is a special where you buy the first entree and the second is half price. Also, if you order a drink, you could have a full butter chicken meal with the works for $2.95!! Both specials are dine in only. But you could take out anything they have there.
When we were there on Saturday, Vancouver was still snowed in, and there were few people in the place, but everyone who ate there said the food was very good.
Since it's downtown, the restaurant gives you 1 hour free parking if your order is $25 or more. The parking is just beside it on Seymour.
Honestly, I can't wait to go back to try their other offerings. What a little gem at the price!
| 1. | Gotham Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar (1 m) |  |
| 2. | Ben Z Noodle Restaurant (1 m) | |
| 3. | Go Go Curry House (1 m) |  |
| 4. | Submore Cafe (1 m) | |
| 5. | Dae Hak Ro Korean Restaurant (1 m) |  |
| 6. | Bay Sushi Cafe (1 m) |  |
| 7. | Seymour Pizza (1 m) | |
| 8. | Starbucks (9 m) | |
| 9. | Sunset Burgers (38 m) | |
| 10. | Commune Cafe, The (48 m) | |
