Ginger Indian Cuisine

Ginger Indian Cuisine left me very pleasantly surprised.

Butter Mekhani

J ordered the usual Butter Mekhani which she shared with H. The portion size was generous and the dish was thick and very rich with flavour. It tasted great and went well with the naan and rice. It didn't taste over complicated with too many different spices. Since H shared the dish, she had to order it non-spicy. 

Daily Special

I ordered the Daily Special which is basically 2 types of curry on a plate instead of 1 (plus a samosa). That night it was Korma and Kadai Paneer (if memory serves). I asked for my dishes to be spicy. I felt that both were a little thin but they were tasty nonetheless. Again, the ingredients in the both curries gave them a rich taste, but they didn't taste too heavy in spices. The samosa was average. I thought it was very light on stuffing. 

The Naan was quite good. It wasn't too thick and it was cooked well and lightly crispy. It wasn't the best I've had in the Lower Mainland but it ranked near the top. We also ordered the Paneer Naan, which is naan stuffed with a combination of cheeses, cilantro, and spices. It was quite heavy and really could have served as a substitute to naam plus rice. It was very good, but in hindsight I probably would have skipped ordering rice. 

Naan

Service was pretty good. It wasn't very busy at the restaurant but many patrons came and went and also commented very positively about the food. Many of the other patrons shared my sentiments in that it was like a gem of a restaurant to find in Richmond.

The restaurant is located in a small plaza on Bridgeport Road near Costco. The other shops in the plaza are all closed at night so there was ample parking. The interior of the restaurant was moderately well-lit and they had a TV on one of the walls playing the hockey game.

Paneer Naan

Overall, I would go back to Ginger Indian Cuisine. I know of several good Indian restaurants in Vancouver, but this is the first one in Richmond that I have tried that I enjoyed enough to want to go back. I recommend it!

Summary
Food: Good. I would almost rate it Very Good, but I did feel that my curries were a little thin.

Service: Good.

Setting: Good. Ample parking and there`s a TV for the hockey game.

Value: Good. The price weren't outrageous and the quality is good.

Malay Curry House 馬拉星

Malay Curry House is quickly becoming one of my go-to restaurants for a hot bowl of noodles. They are located on Kingsway a block from Boundary and they specialize in Malaysian style curries. They also have a killer Hainan Chicken that's boneless and comes with your choice of 2 sauces from a pretty lengthy list of options.

My favorite items on their menu are the curry soup noodles. They have a kick and very deep flavours from the various spices that they use. On my last visit, it was a little bit on the salty side, but it was still very delicious. You get your option of a couple of different kinds of noodles, but I usually go with the oil noodles because they are thicker and don't absorb too much of the soup which I like drinking along with the noodles. You can get mixed noodles as well, which is what J usually does. You also get to choose what kind of meat you want in it. I tried the lamb and I have to say that I still prefer the beef brisket. The lamb was mostly bone and fat, so it took away from the dish. The beef on the other hand, is very good. The meat is on the fatty side, but they more than make up for it in the quantity that they give you. Their soup noodles all come with napa, fish cakes, and tofu puffs.

The Hainan Chicken is one of their specialties and they actually run out of it sometimes. When we go with a larger party, we usually order a half or whole chicken in advance to ensure that we have one for the kids. They serve their chicken boneless which is great for the kids, and the chicken oil rice is flavourful while not being too oily. The chicken comes with some pickled carrots, radish, and a couple of chunks of pineapple. Soup is also included but it's very light and a bit salty so it's nutritional value is questionable at best.

The sauces are the highlight of the chicken dish. The standard choices with Chinese oil chicken are present and they make them quite well. I am referring to the ginger and chives sauce, and the sweet chili sauce. I tried the lime sauce one time and while I was impressed, I still fall back on the standard sauces.

J has ordered a variety of their other soup noodles and she hasn't been disappointed yet. She loves variety and doesn't like eating at the same places very often, so it speaks volumes when she wants to revisit a restaurant within a couple of weeks.

Another feature that I like about Malay curry house is that you can add a cold drink to your meal for fifty cents. They only have one flavour available at a time, but so far it's always been something fruity like peach or passion fruit tea. It's quite good and balances the heat from the noodles very well (especially in the summer).

The restaurant is decently decorated and pretty clean with several tables and a bench by the window. It is quite spacious and I think they could probably fit a few more tables in there without much problem (although I can't comment on the legality of cramming more people in there).

Service is where a lot of people get turned off by the restaurant. The servers are not well trained and very inefficient. They are slow to respond to customers and they don't monitor the dining room very often. On one particular visit, our server took orders from 2 people at a time from our table of 8. She took 2 orders and went to the kitchen, came back for 2 more orders and went to the kitchen again, and then returned to take another 2 orders. It was quite bizarre and very inefficient.

We have had orders mixed up before too. I had ordered oil noodles and my friend ordered mixed noodles, but we ended up with each others' noodles in the soups that we each picked. They also forget small requests like additional plates or bowls. We end up just walking to the counter instead of requesting them from the servers.

Finally, and this is the biggest problem and probably a deal breaker for many people, the restaurant (or just the servers) often make mistakes on the bill. I know friends and relatives who have eaten there and been billed for more items than they ordered, or billed more for what they did order. This happened to me on both the last 2 visits I made there. Less than a month ago, we were billed for an extra meal. On my last visit, the prices on the bill were higher than on the menu, and we were billed for an entire Hainan chicken instead of just the meal. The number of mistakes we have experienced and have been reported by friends and family are quite high, but I will leave it at that. Make sure you read your bill carefully!

Summary
Food: Very good. Great noodles and Hainan chicken.

Service: Poor. Service is not great, even by Chinese restaurant standards.

Setting: Average. Parking on nearby streets and the dining room is spacious and clean.

Value: Good. Great food and decent prices.

The Reef (Main St.)

The Reef was featured on You Gotta Eat Here, which is the Canadian equivalent to Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives, so I wanted to give it a try. It was a Saturday so we called ahead and made reservations at the Main Street location. Half of our party was late because the parking situation along Main Street and King Edward is bad, even on the best of days.

Our reserved table was available right away so we sat down and got settled in quickly. Our server came by and took our drink orders soon after we sat down. I ordered a virgin Pina Colada and J ordered a regular one. Both drinks were quite bland. My guess is that they used less than half the suggested serving amount for whatever Pina Colada flavour mix they used.

For our dinners, we ordered a Mo-Ca Burger (jerk beef) with plantain chips, the Trini Roti wrap with chicken curry, and a Fish Dinner for H. The food took about 20 minutes to arrive, but while we waited we were served some complimentary fried bread with butter. This was probably the highlight of the dinner because they were hot, fluffy, and soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. The butter added to the flavour, but really wasn't necessary. We tried the bread with the house hot sauce that they have placed on every table and it was spectacular.

Our dinners all arrived at the same time and it didn't feel like any of the dishes had been sitting under a heat lamp (like some other restaurants). I really wish I took some photos, but I didn't have a camera with me and the restaurant was too darkly lit for my phone to take any decent pictures. My Mo-Ca burger was served in an open fashion and presented very well. It came with some soft of aioli dip for the plantain chips that was really delicious. The burger was simply fantastic. The beef was lightly marinated and spiced, but very loose and moist on the inside. The pineapple ring really added to the overall package of the burger, which also had a sweet and mildly spicy relish.

J's Trini Roti was quite large, filling move than half her dinner plate. I found the curry a little salty, but it went well with the roti wrap, which was a little on the thick side but soft enough that it wasn't tiring to eat. The coleslaw was very fresh and lightly seasoned with just the right amount of dressing. It was a little tangy and very light (unlike traditional coleslaw dressing in a bottle).

H's Fish Meal was a good size for a kids' meal. The tilapia covered more than a third of the dinner plate and came with quite a bit of rice and some steamed vegetables. The fish was lightly seasoned and H gobbled it up (which is quite rare). The veggies were a little undercooked for her baby teeth so I ate them for her.

The restaurant atmosphere was nice, although it was a bit too dark for my liking. There wasn't any noticeable trend of demographics for the other patrons. Ambient noise volumes were moderate to high, but the open patio may have contributed to that. There was an empty table with a Reserved sign next to us throughout our visit, which was odd because the rest of the restaurant was busy the entire time. I certainly hope they didn't miss out on potential customers because some idiots made reservations and didn't show up or cancel.

Our server was very nice and she was around most of the time whenever we needed something. Although it was busy, I never felt like I was waiting for her to come around.

The Reef is definitely worthy of a return visit and I would recommend it for diners who want to try urban dining with a Caribbean twist.

Summary

Food: Very Good. The food is tasty, unique, and comparable in price to most urban dining chains. Drinks were weak in taste.

Service: Average. Nothing good or bad to mention.

Setting: Average. Parking is a pain. The restaurant was very dark with moderate to loud background noise/chatter.

Value: Average. Urban dining is urban dining. Main and drink will run you about $20 each.