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Queen’s Cafe by Eighteen Chefs: Laksa, Hainanese Chicken, and Baked Rice in Burnaby

February 4, 2020

There was high anticipation for the opening of Queen’s Cafe by Eighteen Chefs, a new Singaporean restaurant in Burnaby that was taken over by new management of the previous Hong Kong style – Queen’s Cafe. Not exactly sure why they kept part of the old restaurant’s name.

Either way, we were very curious about what they had to offer. My friends and I decided to come here for a quick dinner.

Interior

The whole interior has been redone, so it is much brighter and specious than the previous restaurant. There are even high chairs for kids if you need it.

Salted Egg Yolk Fries

We ordered this to share among the group and we couldn’t say no to salted egg yolk. The fried came in a tin and it comes with salted egg yolk dip on the side. Not exactly what I imagined. The fried were salty on their own, so dipping them into the salted egg yolk sauce made it even saltier. The fries were an ok texture, but could be a bit more crisp.

Beef Bolognese Cheese Baked Rice

This is more of a Hong Kong style dish. It took a while to arrive at the table as it needs to be baked in the oven. It has rice on the bottom, the beef bolognese sauce and topped with cheese. It was a decent baked rice dish but not the best.

Roti Prata with Curry

The Roti was very crispy and definitely needed more delicate and buttery layers. The curry was also super super salty. This was our least favourite dish and we could barely finish it.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

The Hainanese Chicken rice was very interesting. The rice was very soggy and moist. It was ok, but still had many flaws in execution.

Singapore Laksa

The Singapre Laksa was our favourite dish. Even though it was mild, it had a good kick of spice. The broth had a good depth of flavour. There is eggs, tofu puffs, fish cakes, and prawns in the laksa. We would order this again.

Final Thoughts

There were definitely hits and misses to the menu and there was only one dish that we enjoy and that was the laksa. Also, service is non-existent. On a weekend, we were one of the only people here, so it was pretty awkward.

Address:
7090 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC

Website:
https://www.eighteenchefs.ca/

In Kensington

Shiok: Singaporean Cuisine in Vancouver

July 20, 2019

Shiok is in the middle of their soft opening serving up Singaporean Cuisine in Vancouver. I’ve heard lots about Shiok, so I decided to come for a visit with friends.

It was pretty busy on a weekend in the evening. We came at 5:30pm and it filled up very quickly.

Ordering

You have to order up at the counter before sitting down. If you’re lucky, there wont be a wait for a table. They will give you a number and keep that to put on your table.

After you put in your order, grab water, napkins and utensils to your table. It’s pretty much self-serve.

when your order is ready, they will deliver it to your table.

Interior

You order at the counter and then find a seat in the dining area. If it’s your first time visiting, it’s pretty confusing at first. We came with a baby and 4 adults, the seating was a sit cramped but we could have easily left the stroller in the car.

Drinks

Kopi-C and Teh-C was what we ordered. The one on the left is the coffee with condensed milk and the other is Singaporean tea with condensed milk.

Both were good and paired well with the meal.

Chicken Wings

Crispy deep fried prawn-spiced chicken wings were pretty good. Nice and crisp. A good item to share among the table. There were 6 pieces.

Satay

An order has 4 sticks of beef or chicken skewers served with their peanut sauce. We got half beef and half chicken in our order. The satay skewers were thin and not very appealing. I would have paid more to get larger skewers.

Tau Pok

There are 6 tofu puffs stuffed with beansprouts and cucumbers, served with sweet and spicy rojak sauce. It’s a one bite appetizer and we thought it was ok.

Roti Prata

The Roti Prata is served with chicken curry gravy for dipping. I really enjoyed this dish. Very well done and the chicken curry gravy is delicious.

Laksa

This is Singapore’s version of Laksa. You can get these with white or yellow noodles. We went with yellow, but mix is an option too. I thought this dish was so-so.

Boneless Chicken Rice

The traditional Singaporean take on Hainanese chicken rice. The portion was small and the chicken wasn’t very flavourful and was bland.

Mee Siam

This has sweet, sour, and mildly spicy rice vermicelli topped with shrimp, tofu puffs, and egg served in a tamarind-base gravy. The was an interesting dish but it was a miss as we didn’t like the tamarind gravy as it tasted like fermented bean paste.

Nyonya Chicken Curry

Delicately fragrant Peranakan coconut chicken curry. It was a bit hard to eat it with the bones. It has 2 pieces of chicken and a potato in the curry.

It’s a good size for one person but definitely too hard to split among the table.

Beef Rendang

This dish has slow-cooked spicy curried coconut beef served with rice. This dish was really delicious and we enjoyed it.

Clean Up

Once you’re done with your meal, you have to clear and sort all your dishes, cups and utensils. We had a lot so we made multiple trips to the bins.

Final Thoughts

The prices on the menu are really good until you actually see the portion size. I could easily eat two entrees and an appetizer on my own. My friends ended up sharing everything family style. Dishes were very hit and miss for our personal tastes.

They definitely have a few things to work out as they are still in their soft opening phase. I love how its family run and operated, a lot of people seem to love this place, but sadly it didn’t work out for us.

Address:
1716 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC V5N 2S4

Website:
https://shiok.ca/

In Richmond

Coco Hut: Hainanese Chicken in Richmond

July 19, 2016

Coco Hut is a restaurant in Richmond with Hainanese chicken and roti. A few of us met up before an event to see how their Hainanese chicken compares to other places in town. They are located in Union Plaza across from Bubble World.

The interior is pretty small, so there aren’t too many tables here. Since we came on a weekday early in the evening, it wasn’t full yet.

Roti comes with 2 pieces per order, but we got 4 to each person at the table could have on to themselves. Good taste and I like how its slightly crisp on the exterior.

BBQ Satay has your option of pork, beef or chicken. All the satays were overcooked and very dry. It is also served with a peanut sauce and pickled veggies.

Coco Hut Special Fried Rice was decent too. It looked like it had eggs, veggies and the rice all put together.

Single order of Hainanese Chicken with rice and soup. This is what a majority of us ordered and its affordable as its around $7.

This item is what most people get when they are here. The chicken is boneless, soft and tender. I did find there was quite a bit of fat and jelly around the skin.

Decent, but it still doesn’t compare to some other places in town.

Overall, the food is decent, but it wasn’t anything special. With so many options in Richmond, I prefer Prata Man, which is a few minutes away.

We Rate Coco Hut:

Address:
Union Square, 1118-8328 Capstan Way,
Richmond, BC

In Kid Friendly

Prata Man: Singapore Cuisine in Richmond

August 8, 2015

Prata Man Singapore Cuisine is located in Richmond in Oak’s Plaza on Capstain Way and Garden City Road. A lot of people have been telling me to come here to check out their Hainanese Chicken.

This place is cash only, so make sure you have some before coming here. Typical Richmond right?

The interior is alright, but not easy on the eyes. Very basic, but it will do. The service was quite bad when we were here, but we really focused more on the food. One of the neighbouring tables helped us flag down a waitress to get us some plates and utensils to share the food.

Single order of Hainanese Chicken with soup and rice ($7.25) was a pretty good sized meal for one. The chicken was nice and cold. When it’s dunked into the ginger and green onion oil, it’s so damn good. We didn’t really use the other sauce as it’s really all about the other sauce.

Curry Beef with Prata Bread ($7.95) was pretty good too. I liked the curry sauce and the huge chunks of beef.

The prata bread was pretty flat and dense like a pancake and not flakey all. It was ok, but i have no idea what prata bread is supposed to be like.

Mee Goreng ($6.50) was very different than what I usually would think it would look like. Either way, it was delicious and one of our favourite items from the menu.

BBQ Satay Skewers (half dozen – $7.95) we asked them for 2 chicken, 2 beef and 2 pork. These were ok but a bit on the drier side. I’ll probably pass on this next time.

Overall, I was impressed by the Hainanese Chicken, Curry and the Mee Goreng noodles. The prices are quite good and we all left with a very good impression. We were able to overlook the bad service since it is a family run restaurant. It’s all about the food right? I’m sure the food here isn’t 100% Singaporean cuisine, but good food is good food.

We Rate Prata Man Singaporean Cuisine: