Modern City Chinese Restaurant 新上海酒家

A friend of mine is not a picky eater and loves to follow the hype regarding restaurants. She enjoys the atmosphere more than the food, is always one of the first to follow the newest food trend in Vancouver, and declares a dish as great because it is from a certain restaurant. Furthermore, her expectations are not very high and if something sucks, the food must be bad. Having said all of that, I was a bit hesitant when BF suggested to try Modern City because my friend did not like it one bit. Honestly, she only dislikes a restaurant once in a blue moon. Well,  around every half year is more realistic.

After finally finding an optical retail store that carries Victoria Beckham and the style/color I actually want, I was happy enough to not care where dinner would be and the choice was Modern City. Modern City is located in Kerrisdale and is the only Shanghainese restaurant in the area. However, there are a few Chinese restaurants in the area and our choice was actually between Chongqing or here.

Modern City is a clean restaurant and the interior is a well lit. There are booth seating arrangements along one side of the restaurant, and a good amount of tables which are not cramped. As for the food, there is a mix of Cantonese style cuisine, Szechuan as well as Shanghai, and live seafood is available.

Bubble World 大頭仔 : New Westminster location

Bubble World is a Canadian franchise restaurant with ten locations in B.C, but only five of the restaurants serve food while the rest sell drinks. As for the Bubble World in New Westminster, the restaurant is located within seconds from Douglas College and I remember making a visit years ago, but the food was not very good. At that time, I concluded this location caters to students and declared the restaurant as probably being the worst out of the whole franchise.

So why the revisit? A friend of mine moved in to her new condo in New West and it was based on convenience. Plus, perhaps the food has improved and she could also find out if the restaurant could be her go-to for late night snacks.

The interior looks modern as well as clean, and nice for any Asian fast food restaurant. Also, there is a good amount of booth seats and comfortable as well as spacious seating arrangements. When we walked in, the staff was friendly and there was Taiwanese pop music playing in the background. If anything, because the restaurant has two sides, it may be hard to get service for those seated on the side without the counter (like us, which we thought was fine).

North Garden (3rd/4th/5th/6th visit)

FIRST POST ON NORTH GARDEN [HERE]

SECOND POST ON NORTH GARDEN [HERE]

Having said my story of Lougheed Wonton Restaurant, here is another of North Garden. North Garden is located in Burquitlam and is one of the only two Chinese restaurants in the area (the other being Yan's Garden). The restaurant is a family run business as well as the sister to Lougheed Wonton, and the staff often switches between both restaurants.

The interior is large and there is a high ceiling which provides better air circulation. In addition, there are plenty of booth seating arrangements (which are kind of wearing down) along with tables suitable for larger parties such as more than eight. As for the food, well… some items are not so good. I used to hate coming here because asides from the mediocre food at best, the staff always looks miserable! Geezus. However, there is one lady who is always extremely friendly on every single visit. Furthermore, after revisiting many times, I finally picked out a few dishes that are actually good. 

So, considering the lack of Chinese restaurants in the area along with a few dishes that taste great and an extremely friendly waitress, North Garden works for me. There is no more sulking whenever I hear North Garden… if I am in the area.

Lougheed Wonton Restaurant (3rd, 4th and last visit)

FIRST POST ON LOUGHEED WONTON RESTAURANT [HERE]

REVISIT POST ON LOUGHEED WONTON RESTAURANT [HERE]

This is my story of Lougheed Wonton Restaurant.

On my first visit, I never expected to return because the restaurant looks old and not very clean. As for the food, there were a couple of good dishes while most were mediocre. However, based on convenience, there is always someone who wants to come here rather than travelling far. But hello? I am supposed to drive far to have dinner here?! Although I will take partial blame because when Coquitlam Centre has something I really want and when I cannot wait a few days for a store transfer, I am in the area and agree to stop by for dinner.

As for the service, the first few visits were great. The staff was friendly, always remembered my face and there was only one issue; it is hard to get service when the restaurant is packed (like most restaurants). However, after more visits passed and despite being a regular, the staff started to neglect us and it was impossible to get plate changes … not sure why. Perhaps because the staff knows I am a regular and will always be around, so they chose to focus on other tables?

Anyways, the restaurant has plenty of seats and none of the seating arrangements are cramped. However, Lougheed Wonton Restaurant can be considered a "dirty" and older Chinese restaurant.

Lui's Chinese Restaurant 添記美食館

I never go out of my way to try any restaurant along the Edmonds strip because honest to truth, none of the restaurants are very appealing to me. However, there was a plan to try Lhy Thai which is located in the area, until the restaurant closed at 8:00pm! This was a problem because I have tried many restaurants in South Burnaby and there are no more places that I want to try, except for a new hot pot joint that I was not in the mood for. So, we decided to try a random restaurant and hoped for the best. Plus, the exterior did not look too shabby or old, compared to the many restaurants in the area.

Lui's Chinese is a small mom n' pop operated restaurant and the staff was very inviting as well as friendly. Usually the friendliness is expected at small family businesses, but my last experience was the opposite (Poco Ocean). On a weeknight, the restaurant was packed and as many tables were finishing up, the staff provided a couple of thick slices of watermelon per person rather than the generic dessert soup or a fortune cookie! I was actually quite looking forward to the watermelon.

As for the interior, the restaurant is small and there are only a few tables along with a couple of larger ones for parties of more than eight. However, the seating arrangements are not cramped and although the restaurant may appear to look run down, the interior is clean (not the table setting though…), comfortable, simple as well as casual, and Lui's is a family style joint. Furthermore, the restaurant is also well ventilated with three ceiling fans and the AC running.