Dennis and I were looking for a full meal after a visit to the Home + Garden Show. Option one and two were closed and closing so we followed our appetites, which it led us to Congee Noodle House, within driving distance to where we were.
I have not been here since my highschool graduation. I remember this distinctly because this is where my parents brought me for dinner, to celebrate the milestone. However I was a vegetarian at the time and there was nothing on the menu I could eat. I showed my protest, but it fell on deaf ears, and we went anyways.
Everyone ate, I walked down several blocks until I hit Martinis (which is now closed) and ordered myself a slice of cheesecake. This was a time before vegetarian and vegan only places and the need for most restaurants to provide vegetarian options for guests with dietary restrictions. Tonight I was back and able to eat everything.
The restaurant has recently undergone renovations due to a sink hole in their back parking lot. The result was a nicer, cleaner, and overall more comfortable setting than I was anticipating.
We were orginally craving Chinese style barbecue, but was a little apprehensive this late in the evening. Between us two we ordered all our childhood favourites. A noodle dish, a rice dish, and some congee, given the restaurant’s name.
The Sliced beef in soy sauce with fried noodle is a must for any Chinese craving. The flavour was all there and I appreciated how there was more noodles than onions. The beef was just as tender as the chewy noodle, but I could have used more wok hei char.
For those unfamiliar, the Honeymoon fried rice is a ying yang serving of pork and red tomato sauce plus white cream with shrimp over rice. Alone, each a delicious crispy rice with heavy sauce that smothers, together a complimentary match mixed together to make something new.
Dennis was going back and forth on the congee, but I egged him on. A smaller bowl is $10 and it gives us the ability to try all the best things the menu has to offer.
Preserved egg and shredded pork congee with a side of Chinese donut as an add on. Hot throughout, a salty and savoury porridge with chewy pork, crunchy peanuts, and chunks of gelatine-like perseved egg. A good mix of textures in addition to the crispy Chinese donut.
Overall a great meal, completely satisfying, but hard to eat with extra long chopsticks.
Congee Noodle House
141 E Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5T 1W1
(604) 879-8221
congeenoodlehouse.com
