One of my favourite places to recommend and go to for comfort Hong Kong style eats is Ho Yuen. The hidden cafe on the outskirts of Marpole known for their in house made pineapple buns.
Worth mentioning is that you can now also get their buns from local Asian grocery chain, 88 Supermarket. And that every Thursdays they are on promotion for only 98 cents per bun, with a limit of two per person, for the first 100 customers.
They also make giant pineapple buns, that I would love to get as a birthday cake. We didn’t get to try it, but a picture says a thousand words.
One of the things Ho Yuen prides themselves on its updating their menu to better serve their customers. This is done through new dishes and improvements made on their most popular dishes. Today we would try a selection of both.
The classic Hong Kong style iced cafe drink is lemon tea, and at Ho Yuen they have taken this to the next level with their Ice Tea BB. This is a more concentrated lemon tea with more pulp, therefore making it a thicker drink with more Vitamin C per sip. It was still as refreshing, as a complimentary way to cleanse the palate in between bites.
A new add on to their menu is the curry options. Like the Pan Fried Chicken Chop on Rice available in the regular Soy Sauce, and now Curry Sauce. Their curry is similar to Indian style curry in pungent taste and spice, but like Japanese style curry in how thick and gelatinous it scoops. Each glob concentrated with more than enough in the serving to flavour the chicken filet and all of the rice.
A dish they have recently tweaked is their Satay Beef in Instant Noodles Soup. They have sourced a new type of Nissan noodles, different than the ones you get in at the grocery store, and the bowl is served with its own sesame oil packet for extra fragrance.
Tender and fatty pieces of beef that is enjoyable to chew through, paired with chewy noodles with a starchy texture. The flavour comes from the soup that reminded me of beef brisket in richness and satisfaction.
Not just food they have also switched up their music. Instead of just 90’s old school canto-pop they now have more lo-fi, jazz melodies to cultivate a more relaxed environment.
They also make their own curry fish balls in-house. These are not like any commercial fish ball I have ever tried. The way your teeth sinks in on impact and how the ball’s dough slightly sticks to them is a pleasant sensation. These were dense and chewy, furthered by the jello-gravy-like texture of the curry sauce. Same as above, and just as tasty over rice.
The balls above and the rest of the dishes we tried came from their table advertised, Signature Bite menu.
They typically use a smaller, four bite pineapple bun to sandwich satay beef, but they ran out of the minis so we got it as a full sized bun. This is the same beef used in the noodles above, where the pineapple bun is the star with its iconic crispy topping. There was a nice similarity of sweet and savoury-sweet, between bun and meat. I was not expecting the texture of crumbly bun and sinew-y meat to jibe so well.
The last two items on the signature menu is Kaya toast done two ways.
The classic is Kaya jam and salted butter toast was my favourite of the two. The bread is toasted for crispy edges, and a square of butter and their locally sourced Kaya is spread onto it. I could have used more Kaya paste to be able to taste its more.
The second option is Kaya French Toast, as a remix. Eggy and fluffy bread with butter and kaya spread. Once again I could have used more Kaya, but the side of condense milk we had with it as an add on was great.
We finished our meal off with one of their house made egg tarts. A soft custard-like centre with a cookie crust. Simply delicious.
In short, this visit only reminded me of why they are my go-to for classic Hong Kong style cuisine. Familiar childhood flavours made with local BC ingredients. I have yet to have a meal with them, that I didn’t like.
Ho Yuen Cafe
#113 – 1750 W 75th Ave, Vancouver, BC V6P 6G2
(226) 368-3891
hoyuencafe.ca
