This trip back to Vancouver was a bit of a wander down memory lane, with my taking the time to slow down and reminisce each time I revisited someplace familiar. One of those places is Kam Gok Yuen, an old-school Hong Kong style restaurant located in Vancouver’s Chinatown. My parents favoured this joint for ages (my father still does) and I remember eating there since I was young. One of the waitresses still recognises me even though I now return only once a year – she’s seen me growing up throughout the years and I think she too has a daughter about my age. The restaurant itself used to be located near the library, I think, but relocated to its current position sometime since I moved over 10 years ago.
How about a feel of the place? Splitting the two large windows in front is the main entrance: on the left hand side, you can see all the Cantonese style roast meats hanging while on the right, a man boiling noodles and dumplings is just visible through the steamy window. These are the two strengths of their menu and really the only dishes we eat there! When you enter, you’ve got to wind your way around the scrum at the counter (they’re paying for their meal and/or ordering things for takeaway) and grab a seat at one of the tables or booths lining the left hand side. This last visit, I got a booth (score!) with my father but most of the single diners tend to grab a seat at one of the large tables in the middle (they end up being communal tables). Actually, look around the large room on a weekday lunchtime and you don’t feel like you’re in Canada anymore.
Every table is set with soy sauce and their homemade chili oil – the latter is absolutely fantastic with loads of aromatics in the mixture.
Chinese tea is complimentary and the table setting is complete with chopsticks, Chinese spoons and small sauce dishes. This sauce dish is essential for you to mix together your favoured combination of soy, vinegar and chili oil (I like their chili oil neat) and allows for double dipping – why don’t London restaurants offer them?
A menu will be offered to you but if you’re a regular, you’ll already know what you want. I almost always go for their sui kau mein – large prawn, pork and black fungus dumpings wrapped in wonton wrappers served in a noodle soup. Their noodles are beautiful – thin, yellow and with a good bite. There are no soggy noodles here. Don’t forget to eat it all with that magnificent chili oil!
My father, having recently had their sui kau, opted to have wonton noodle soup instead. These were almost all prawn and though smaller than the sui kau, you do get more in one order. Again, delicious.
When my brother visits, he always orders either char siu (barbequed pork) or siu yoke (crispy roasted pork) or both on rice. These roast meats on rice can either be ordered in a bowl or on a plate – the latter is a larger portion but we’ve found that the bowl is enough for one person. Each order is drizzled with a delicious soy and roast meat juices sauce and you can ask for extra on the side.
The bill will be delivered to your table sometime during your meal and when you’re ready to leave, you take that bill to the counter (join the scrum) to pay. Service at the restaurant is curt but I’ve never found them to be deliberately rude – they’re just very busy!
What my family has been doing for a while is ordering the roast meats to takeaway – like most places in Vancouver, these can be ordered by weight (does any restaurant offer this in London?). Having tried a lot of the Chinese roast meats throughout the city, this place serves the best, we think. The char siu is tender, not fatty, and yet so flavourful and the siu yoke is meaty, again not too fatty, and topped with very crunchy skin. The noodles can also be purchased as well as jars of their heavenly chili oil. With these three things, kon lo mee, a dry noodle dish served with the roast meats, can be had at home (I’ll have to blog this one day!).
Kam Gok Yuen
142 E Pender St
Vancouver, BC
V6A 1T3
Canada
Tue, 9 Jun, 2009 at 22:14
The crowd in the dining says it all. It simply cannot be anything else but the real McCoy. Im hungry S-L.
Wed, 10 Jun, 2009 at 10:30
Looks great! I *heart* dumplings with chilli oil and siu yoke!!
xox Sarah
Wed, 10 Jun, 2009 at 12:54
Looks good – how nice that you can buy these things to take home, I hope you stocked up! It’s annoying that sauce dishes are not more widely given on tables in London. The noodles and dumplings look good, not suprising there’s a scrum!
Wed, 10 Jun, 2009 at 13:53
su-lin, those dumplings look amazing! what a nice looking restaurant too. Now I’ve got a craving…
Wed, 10 Jun, 2009 at 17:46
Mmm! The dumplings looked like they were filled with all sorts of goodness. It must be comforting to know that a place you grew up with is still churning out the goods.
Thu, 11 Jun, 2009 at 06:26
How lucky you are, to go back to a place you remember from way back, and find the same family running the place!
Thu, 11 Jun, 2009 at 14:25
the crowd totally reminds me of the cha teng in HK, but thats a good thing. plus when that much old ppl are eating there, it means its cheap & good. hehehe
Thu, 11 Jun, 2009 at 15:17
The place reminds me of the Chinatown eateries in Melbourne Australia. Used to live there as a student, and it looks so similar!
Those sui kao looks enormous!
Thu, 11 Jun, 2009 at 16:29
This looks just like a HK eaterie, and the wontons and sui kau are certainly impressive. I think I’ll be going to Vancouver next year, so this is definitely going to be on my list of places to eat. I’ll consult you before I leave!
Fri, 12 Jun, 2009 at 00:54
i never spent enough time in chinatown while i was living in vancouver. so i never knew of this place. i have to go there next time i’m there. looks very nice with great food!
xxx
Fri, 12 Jun, 2009 at 16:00
You’ve given me some great ideas for places to visit next time we’re across the border. Those dumplings look SO GOOD.
Fri, 12 Jun, 2009 at 22:02
Les: It definitely is! I’m getting hungry again too…
Sarah: I love that chili oil…shame I didn’t bring a jar back. But it would have been a nightmare if that oil leaked into my suitcase.
Boo: I didn’t stock up…but my father did! We also ordered some of the barbecued meats for home and we had enough for two meals for the three of us!
foodhoe: They’re pretty good – might make some wontons at home now but mine never turn out as good as theirs!
Gastronomer: It’s a great place…but I am still sometimes weirded out by that waitress’ memory – it’s good.
travelrat: And the waitress doesn’t look like she’s aged much!
maomau: Cheap and good is correct! I wonder if there are places in London that are equally packed like this on a weekday afternoon.
keropokman: The sui kau were pretty big! Good to know these places exist around the world too!
Helen: Oooh yes! Give me a shout when you start your planning – I’ve got a few interesting Vancouver based blogs on in my reader. You should try Phnom Penh too!
aixxx: How long were you in Vancouver? Some parts of Chinatown are particularly grotty and can be quite scary (as you probably already know) so I can’t really blame you for not wanting to spend lots of time there. There’s one shop there that specialises in Vietnamese and other South East Asian products but it’s on a scary street – we wouldn’t head there alone!
Jessamyn: Oooh, I hope you like the place! I hear their roast duck is quite good too!
Sat, 13 Jun, 2009 at 21:51
Ooooh I remember ordering char siu by the weight in Hong Kong. Happy memories – I wish more London places would do so!
Wed, 17 Jun, 2009 at 21:50
Lizzie: I don’t know of anywhere in London that does sell roast meats by weight – do you?
Mon, 29 Jun, 2009 at 23:31
I used to work in gastown a few blocks from this place, and I had lunch there many times. Great food, and the price is so right. BBQ duck and wonton noodle in soup, yum !
Mon, 6 Jul, 2009 at 21:16
Vancouver Web Design: I’ve not had their duck – next time!