Hawker's Delight - 4127 Main Street

The word "hawker" usually denotes a person who goes from place to place selling food. And that basically is the origin of the phase hawker food in Southeast Asia and Asia. In the early colonial days, many of these itinerant hawkers were unlicensed and over time, strict controls were implemented to ensure food safety and for better controls in sanitary conditions. The term hawkers eventually evolved from an itinerant trader to one which became settled into a fixed place - where people usually congregate to eat cheap and good street food. The hawker centers are now an ubiquitous feature in many parts of Asia and its a great way to savor a variety of street food.

I was thus very excited to try out the hawkers delight at main street. Actually, the place is pretty gritty itself - small and hole in the wall place and where one can see the chefs frantically stir-frying food in huge iron woks over the hot stove.

For appetizers, we ordered vegetable fritters. I have to say that the dough was pretty light and bouncy and it was so crunchy. Gator loves her fritters.

Crunch veggie fritters

The inside of the veggie fritters

For main course, we ordered two dishes. The mee pok noodles were a HUGE disappointment for me. It came choke full of ingredients - bbq pork, prawns and vegetables. But the brown sauce was weird. The sauce was salty and came with minced meat.Traditionally, the sauce should come with a bit of spicy chilli sauce, mixed with soya sauce and vinegar - it should be spicy, salty and a bit tangy. The sauce served unfortunately was just salty and lacks the oomph factor .Mee pok refers to the type of noodles and can be served with wanton or even with fish balls, fish cakes or minced meat.

Mountain of mee pok noodles

Gator loves her shrimp but the sauce wasn't nice at all :(

View of meat in noodles

The second main course - nasi goreng (in Malay) which means fried rice  was much better. Even then, I found it pretty ordinary - it was fried with onions, tomatoes, shrimp and some pieces of fish cake and tofu. Nothing much to rave about.

My fried rice paradise wasn't much of a paradise :(

Close up shot of the nasi goreng

Overall Experience:
Deco: 2/5 - this is a no fuss, eat and go place. No problems for me in that aspect
Quality of food: 2/5 - except for the veggie fritters, the 2 main dishes were a thumbs down for Gator. Quite disappointing
Value for $$: $$/5 - price is cheap - between CAN$5.25-CAN$9 bucks. But the quality of food is below average
Overall Experience: 2/5

It was an overall disappointing experience for Gator. Hopefully, the other dishes like the laksa will be much better.

Cattle Cafe - Richmond

I have been to Cattle Cafe on two separate occasions and on both occasions, I forgot to bring my trusted camera. So this time, its all photos from my mobile phone. I still prefer to use my camera because I love taking macro shots of food.

I went to Cattle during one of those occasions when I was too busy writing and reading and lost track of time to have an early dinner. I must say that I did not enjoy my first visit to Cattle. I ordered a fish soup noodle combo and did not really like it. Guess I did not choose my soup combination well enough. What Cattle Cafe offers is a variety of soup base - and you choose the ingredients that go with the broth. It was a mini disaster and I did not finish my food.

Ths time, we had fish noodles and beef. This is not from their combination set but I would say that this dish is quite something. The noodles are made from actual fish and there are generous slices of beef. What I really like was the broth - it was thick and flavorful. I wonder how Cattle made their fish noodles. I came across this blog in Taiwan about how the fish noodles are literally made from hand with just fish flour, dough and a wine bottle. Amazing. http://taiwanxifu.com/2011/03/30/tainan-fish-noodles/http://taiwanxifu.com/2011/03/30/tainan-fish-noodles/

I love the broth of my fish noodles - forgot to take a pix of just the noodles

I find this soup so comforting on a cold and rainy day.

The next dish was Cajun Boneless Chicken with steamed rice in honey and tomato sauce. I love this dish - the chicken was seasoned so well. But the sauce was extremely rich. You literally can get full just by drizzling the sauce with the steamed rice. I much prefer it if they serve it by the side though. This dish comes with a hot drink - you can pay a bit more for a cold drink or one of their speciality drinks.

The portions are enormous - the table beside me was asking me what dish I ordered because this looks so good.

I chose Horlicks as my hot drink - was a reminder of my childhood.

Finally, I can never say no to my mango slush. It is my litmus test to any bubble tea place.It was alright I would say - pretty average. Nothing to rave about. Can't beat the bubble tea at my favourite bubble tea joint.

I can't resist mango slush, even though its cold outside :)

Overall Experience:

Deco: this is just one of the typical cafes where you eat and basically hang out. Its not actually the best place if you want to have a private conversation.
Quality of food: 3.5/5. I had a bad experience in my first visit so I am a little cautious about choosing my noodle combination.
Value for $$: $$$/5. I think its pretty reasonable if you stay away from ordering their speciality drinks and side dishes. Some of the side dishes cost almost the same price as their meal.
Overall Experience: 3/5. I am pretty netural with this place. I know some people really love the noodle combos. But I much prefer the rice dishes. I also tend to refrain from ordering laska or tom sum soup base because I tend to make them at home and want something different when I venture out to eat.