After a disappointing meal at No.1 Beef Noodle House, I was craving for some good Taiwanese snacks and headed to Pearl Castle a couple of days later. From what I remember, I thought Pearl Castle sucked and offered nothing but cheap quality bubble tea food. However, after trying Pearl Castle in Richmond, their Taiwanese popcorn chicken along with the beef noodles were good! So, of course I had to try Pearl Castle in Burnaby.
Walking in, my friend and I were hesitant on grabbing dinner here because we peaked into the kitchen and noticed most of the cooks appear to be young students. However, after taking a look at the menu, we noticed the dishes are a lot simpler compared to Pearl Castle in Richmond. The menu is very simple and assuming because the cooks are young, there is less room for mistakes. There are a lot of simple items such as fried goodies, stewed dishes, noodles and snacks, like pancakes as well as egg rolls.
Oh yeah... by the way, I thought this restaurant was Pearl Castle for the whole time until I started writing my post LOL.
Pearl House has comfortable seating arrangements and the restaurant is not cramped at all. In addition, the restaurant is divided in half by bamboo rods and I actually quite like the look of them. As for the service throughout the meal, our waitress was friendly and even checked up on us once. Although she was hard to find later on when we needed the bill, which can be expected at a bubble tea joint.
DEEP FRIED PORK CHOP ON RICE ($8.25).
The pork chop comes with a side of rice topped with slices of pork belly, along with a side of napa cabbage, cooked peanut and a marinated egg. The marinated egg is sliced in half and tastes soft, not rubbery or hard (Golden Swan…). As for the pork chop, the meat tastes tender and is pan fried rather than deep fried. Furthermore, the pork chop is very thin and the portion is quite small, which makes it pricey for what it is. Also, we thought the pork chop would be breaded as well as deep fried, but meh.
BEEF SIRLOIN AND TENDON WITH NOODLE IN SOUP ($10.00).
The broth could have tasted more rich but there is a nice medium level of spiciness. Furthermore, the spiciness is not only from the addition of chilli oil and chilli peppers, which seems like what some bubble tea joints are doing (No.1 Beef Noodle House and Corner 23). The medium spiciness lingers in the mouth and comes from the original stock; the way it should be. As for the noodles, they are perfectly cooked with a nice chewiness. All in all, to compare, Pearl Castle's broth is a lot better.
As for the meat, the sirloin tastes very tender, requires almost no chewing, and has been properly slow cooked. However, the tendon surprisingly tastes very hard and could have been cooked for another ten minutes.
DEEP FRIED CHICKEN NUGGET ($6.95).
The nuggets taste moist and have a pepper n' salt seasoning. Furthermore, there could have been a stronger five spice flavour and the crunchy bubbles of batter are a bit too much for us. Having said that, the nuggets are nicely fried and crisp.
SLICED PORK AND BEAN CURD WITH CABBAGE IN GARLIC SAUCE ($12.95).
The pork belly is sliced very thick and does not taste tender. Also, the lean portion tastes dry as well as chewier, compared to that preferred pleasant chewy snappiness. As for the taste, there is a garlic chilli sauce flavour along with a hint of sweetness, and could have been spicy considering there is a chilli icon next to the item on the menu.
WATERMELON SLUSH ($5.25) AND GREEN TEA SLUSH ($5.25).
Arriving last is our drinks, with no straws until a waitress noticed us ten minutes later. The watermelon slush tastes like what it is, neither watered down nor too sweet. As for the green tea slush, there is a light matcha taste and the drink is well blended, not icy or powdery.
TOTAL: $51.10 + TIP $5.90 = $57.00.
POSITIVES
- Open late night
- Drinks are well blended
- Our waitress was friendly
- Nice interior for a bubble tea joint
NEGATIVES
- Food could be better
Food: 2.5/5 (compared to better bubble tea joints, 2/5)
Service: 2.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment