Next up are the more mundane things like reapplying for my SIN card, CareCard and that kinda stuff. Small price to pay to live in one of the best countries in the world!

There’s actually some good stuff that I would like to see coming soon (in chronological order):

• Interpol (Apr 25)
• Fall Out Boy (May 06)
• The Bravery (May 14)
• Arcade Fire (May 24)

Considering they are my most played band according to last.fm, I would have killed to go to the Arctic Monkeys concert.

It’s called Jonker St, after the famous street in Malacca. THey are located along Pacific Blvd in Yaletown, around the corner from Urban Fare and next to a Flight Center. There usually is street parking right outside, but you can also park in the Urban Fare parkade and they will reimburse you for the first hour of parking. Their newly expanded menu includes a wide range of Malaysian food, including roti canai/prata, satay, chicken rice, prawn noodles and even KL Hokkien Mee! They also claim to use no MSG in all of their cooking.

We’ve been there twice so far and we’ve been very happy with the food. We were in a big group the first time, and so we got to try a whole bunch of dishes. The second time just consisted of Esther and I, but we still managed to try some new stuff.

The individual reviews start here… but I haven’t managed to bring my camera there… one day!

Prawn Noodles
After the disappointing version at Prima Taste, the one here is much much better! The soup base is chock full of flavor. After listening to my mom lament about the abysmal state of prawn noodles in Singapore, I think this might be even better than the real thing! A definite must-try IMHO.

KL Hokkien Mee
I haven’t had the KL style hokkien mee for years, and after trying it again here, I’m probably going to have to get it regularly. I love the sweet sauce that the KL version is doused in. I find it more tasty than the plain version in Singapore, which tastes too bland for me.

Laksa
The laksa was less creamy (less coconut milk?) than the one at Prima Taste, but still quite good. We missed out on their sambal belachan both times that we ate there though. They do have (homemade!) sambal belachan, but you’ll have to ask for it. We’ll be getting this next time to try it with the sambal!

Hainanese Chicken Rice
Chicken rice is a tricky topic here… and I think it is almost a 3-way tie between this, Prima Taste and Cafe D’Lite. Let me explain why. There are several components of chicken rice that need to come together to make a good dish. The rice must be oiled, grainy and have a hint of chicken in it. The chicken must be boneless, garnished with parsley and drizzled with sesame oil and soy sauce. Finally, the chili must be hot, fresh and have that tangy taste to it. Having said that, the rice served here and at Prima Taste is substantially better than Cafe D’Lite. As for the chicken, all 3 are equally good, although Prima Taste probably holds the upper hand for having roast chicken too (do they have that in Malaysia too?). The chili sauce is equally difficult to seperate, I do find all 3 to be good, but I wish they all would provide larger portions. Honestly, I can’t decide between the 3, but if you want a good serving of rice, then I’d avoid Cafe D’Lite.

Roti Canai
The canai here is pretty thick and not as crispy as the one at Prima Taste, although it does not come with carrots on top. The accompanying curry gravy here is really good though, it has a beautiful colour and flavor to it. Much better than the brown swill they usually serve in Asia.

Char Kway Teow
I don’t remember too much about this dish, but I thought it was a reasonable rendition of a good old favorite. Lots of lap cheong and clams make for a fairly authentic dish. We got it without chili though, and I think chili would improve the dish by a great deal.

Overall this is a really nice place. The ambiance reminds me of the original Senhor Rooster: small, cosy and a friendly owner. Give a try and let me know what you think!

Firstly, set up the light for $5? What the hell is set up the light? Do we pay you $5 to install a light for us? Where do we get the light from? Next up is the bread baker. This might seem ok, until you realize it could be a couple of things. A bread machine, toaster or perhaps a proper oven! At $8 though, I think it’s probably a toaster, or maybe a toaster oven.

The last line is the best: Buy and send the tableware. What tableware? Buy and send it to where? Do we call you and buy it (the tableware) and you send it to our house? What the hell is tableware anyway? Cutlery, plates, table linen… the mystery continues.

The chicken rice platter sounds expensive at $15, but you get a large amount of chicken. I’d recommend getting another bowl of the tasty rice at $1.75 and sharing the platter with another person. The best thing about the platter is that there finally is a place in Vancouver that does the “other” kind of Hainanese chicken rice with the roasted chicken. It’s not just a crappy wannabe too, it really is good! The satay was quite good too, with generous sized chicken and fragrant (but not spicy enough) peanut sauce.

The food was just as good as last time, which it should be since everything comes pre-packaged. It looks like all the cooks do is prepare the food according to the instructions, but the results are still very good. It might be cookie-cutter cooking, but it is very good cookie cutter cooking!

It’s a pretty swanky looking place, lots of dark wood and fancy recessed lighting. It wasn’t too busy for a Friday night and we got a nice table for ourselves. The menu has the usual suspects you’d expect from a Singaporean restaurant. Chicken rice, laksa, various fried noodles and roti prata. The noodle dishes are pretty reasonably priced at around $8-$9, while they have meat dishes such as curry for around $12-$13. We got some green beans in sambal belachan and roti prata to share, while Esther chose the prawn laksa and I got the prawn noodles.

Green Beans in Sambal Belachan
This was the first dish to arrive, it was pretty cold by the time anything else arrived. It smelt really really good when it arrived though. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very good at all. The beans were undercooked, the sauce was fragrant yet tasteless and it was overly oily. A definite no-no, especially at $12! It tasted slightly better when we packed the remainder home and reheated it the next day, but still not very good.

Roti Prata
This was inexplicably served with sliced carrots on top of the prata. After scooping off the carrots, it was surprisingly good. The prata was light, fluffy and pretty tasty overall. The curry was not spicy enough for me, but Esther found it to be just nice. I’d think this is one of the better pratas in Vancouver, but it doesn’t come cheap at $4 for 2 smallish pieces.

Laksa
This looked great when it arrived, and the taste was equally good. The tau pok (tofu puff) soaked up a huge amount of soup and it was just heavenly on a wet and cold autumn evening. The prawns were of a decent size too. My only complaint (a minor one at that) would be that the noodles were a little bit overcooked, but still a very nice dish.

Prawn Noodles
I haven’t eaten a good prawn noodle since I was in Singapore in 2004, and although this was not bad, it wasn’t good enough. The soup needed more prawn flavour to really taste good, although the basic taste was there. The noodles were cooked right, and they served cut red chillis with soya sauce! Too bad the chilli weren’t spicy at all. A decent dish but I’d try something else next time.

Besides all the stuff that we had, they do have some other dishes that look good. I’m pretty sure this is the first restaurant here to serve the roasted style of chicken rice. All the other places here focus on the steamed chicken version, which is good in its own right but the roasted one is really tasty too. That would be what I’d get next time. They also have 6 sticks of satay for $7.25, which is not a bad deal I suppose. They also have a whole range of Singaporean desserts like cheng tng, chendol and gula melaka. I’m not a fan of those desserts though, so I’ll give those a skip.

Our bill for the night came up to just over $40, including 2 very fragrant green teas by this company called Mighty Leaf. It sounds fairly expensive, but we’ll definitely skip the green beans the next time (or any vegetable for that matter) and stick to ordering more entrees. The bill can get high pretty quickly though, there was a couple to our right that spent over $60, while a table of 4 Singaporeans to our left ordered a huge amount of food so it couldn’t have been cheap too.

Prima Taste is a welcome addition to the Singapore/Malaysian food scene in Vancouver. I think it’s probably able to give Tropika and Banana Leaf some healthy competition. Go try it out and let me know what you think!

The interior is really quite nice, it feels like a giant log cabin with a view that is just fantastic. Every seat in the house is able to get some kind of view, so not to worry if you end up far away from the windows, you’ll still be enjoying the view! I think coming slightly earlier (maybe 630 at this time of the year) to catch the sun setting would be just perfect.

The menu mainly consists of seafood dishes, although they do have steak, chicken and lamb. A nice touch was a customized menu with my name and birthday wishes on them, I’m sure they get a lot of anniversaries and birthdays so it’s probably something they do for everyone who mentions such occasions. The seafood on the menu is all sustainable, so don’t feel bad eating it… it is nice to see restaurants making efforts like this! I chose a lobster bisque to start, and went with the chef’s creation for my main, while Esther had a filet mignon and tiger prawns combo.

Lobster Oil
The Cannery makes a big deal out fo the fact that they have this special lobster oil. They even have a dedicated page about it on their website! After you place your orders, a server will arrive with some bread and 2 bottles. He will then proceed to explain that he is now serving you lobster oil mixed with balsamic vinegar. I must say it is actually quite good! We managed to clean up 3 fairly large pieces of bread thanks to the oil.

Lobster Bisque
Fancy presentation! First a large bowl (with a teeny piece of lobster in the middle) is placed in front of you. The server then proceeds to scoop soup out of a aluminium container into the bowl. Why they don’t just serve the soup directly in the bowl is beyond me, but I suppose it adds to the perceived level of service. The soup itself was tasty, I just wish there was more lobster in it.

Chef’s Creation
This was a combination of wild coho salmon and halibut in a dijon cream sauce, with a couple of miniscule prawns, garlic mashed potatoes and veggies. I liked the halibut over the salmon, which tasted a bit too fishy for me. The halibut was nice though, very soft and less flaky than the halibut at Go Fish. The rest of the dish was solid if unspectacular. The carrots were surprisingly tender and sweet though.

Filet Mignon and Tiger Prawns
The filet mignon was good! The beef was cooked exactly the way we wanted it (medium rare), and it was topped with some buttery thing. The tiger prawns were pretty average though. Not the biggest prawns and we didn’t find them all the good. Nothing wrong with them, just not up to our expectations I suppose. I’d give the prawns a skip next time.

We ended off with some dessert. One thing that we found really weird is that they place the dessert menu in front of you without asking if you want dessert… kinda rude if you ask me but I suppose it helps their bottom line. We got this selection of desserts from the pastry chef that was… interesting. There was a raspberry tiramisu which tasted nothing like tiramisu to me, peppermint ice cream on a edible spoon which was not bad, and a strawberry salsa which was just chopped strawberries and mint leaves. I also got a chocolate mousse cake thingy for my birthday but it was just too heavy for me to finish off.

Overall it was a wonderful evening. Great company, food, service and view all came together for a most pleasant experience. However, now that I have finally gone to the trouble of getting there and having a meal, I’m not sure if I would do it again. The prices aren’t all that cheap and I’d personally rather try all the other places that I want to before heading back. Not their fault though, and if you haven’t been there you really should check it out!

Shopping online this time was a suprisingly pleasant experience, I’d definitely recommend going through The Tire Rack for your next set of tires!

The place itself is really small. There’s only space to seat about 20 people at a time. The decor is very quaint, lots of little curios adorn the walls, while the furniture and cutlery all make you feel like you’ve stepped into a little fantasy wonderland. There are a large number of cakes on the menu, but their special cake (whose name I just can’t remember right now!) caught my eye, while Esther had a tiramisu.

My cake was pretty good. Esther didn’t like it because it wasn’t sweet at all. It had a sharp, tarty taste to it which I thought was a nice change from the super sweet cakes you usually find. There were raspberry seeds too, which added some crunch. Perhaps a little expensive at $8.75 but I did like it.

Both of us liked the tiramisu. The top bit was the best, as it was pretty light and full of marscapone. The bottom was full of Lady Fingers, which were totally soaked inrum, which made for a heady experience! I think it would be better if the dessert was spread out more evenly.

Besides the cakes, we also had a tea to share. We went safe and chose English Breakfast. I believe it was organic and it arrived in a pretty French press. We only got the small size which really is a bit small, but one of the waiters (or maybe the owner?) kindly refilled the press with hot water for us.

The total damage came up to just under $20. A bit expensive for dessert perhaps, but it was good dessert and the ambience of the place is just plain cool. Definitely a place to try out if you are sick of all the other places around!

The menu basically consists of 3 items: tacos, burritos and enchiladas. For $6.89, you can get either 3 tacos (any combination of fish, chicken or beef) or a single burrito or enchilada. I decided to just try 1 of each taco… hoping that I’d find at least one tasty one. They have the usual fixins for your meal: guacamole, salsa etc etc. You can also add cheese and a couple of other toppings for about a buck.

This was the end result! The tortillas were nice, they felt fresh and handmade, unlike the premade crap at Taco Bell. I found the fish taco to be pretty bland, while the chicken and beef were… just ok. At least the beef wasn’t ground beef but rather real pieces of beef. The salsa was nice though, not overly hot or mild, it left a nice lingering warmth after I was done with the meal.

It was a decent meal for under $10, but given the choice, I’ll walk next door and grab a burger from Vera instead. Try it out and let me know what you think!