Today we were at Meet Rice. The weather is only getting colder, and this night in particular was crisp, so a warm bowl of noodles was calling our name.
Already familiar with their chain of restaurants we conviened at their Burnaby location for my sake. A spacious restaurant with plenty of four person tables that ran down the room length-wise. The focal point was a series of seats sectioned off by a wooden roof and frame, set to the backdrop of a sea of houses and mountains. We were seated 3 tables down.
Meet Rice is most famous for their “Treasure Box Rice Noodle” dish, a deconstructed bowl of noodles with all its ingredients individually parcelled out and presented on a visual tray for you to mix together at your leisure and pleasure. We have had it before and outside of the pageantry it isn’t anything special. So sought out something different to try.
The menu is an accordian style fold out. Ten pages of customizable options that may make it overwhelming to order if you have never been and are not famialr with the cuisine. Thankfully they do list their top 3 most popular items and we would stick with those.
My guest went with her usual go-to of anything to do with Szechuan peppercorn and I went with their “Top 1” dish. For each bowl of noodles you have a series of choices to make.
Step 1 has you choosing a soup flavour and how spicy you want it. Step 2 allows you to choose the type of noodle you want. Rice noodle is the standard, and if you want extra it is 95 cents more. For Step 3 you can choose your desired meat. And Step 4 has you considering extra add-ons at a cost.
Szechuan spicy rice noodle with pork. My guest asked for it to be spicy, but the chilli base wasn’t as hot as she wanted it, or was less spicy than she had remembered. The serving also included Tofu, Black Fungus, Corn Kernals, Spinach, Quail Eggs, Ham, Fish Balls, and Dried Tofu Sheets. The same was also presented in my serving below.
Their best selling noodle soup is a fish maw chicken rice noodle with a striking golden yellow broth. It didn’t drink as thick as it looks and tasted like a regular chicken bone broth. I appreciated all the toppings and the variety of textures they provided alongside the slippery noodles. I just could have used a chilli oil or a side sauce to help amp up the flavour mid way through, something to help keep things interesting from start to finish.
We would use an order of the Deep fried pumpkin cake appetizer for that very reason. Crispy and starchy with the mashed up sweet gourd. A bite helped to rejuvenate the palate. This too could have used a tangy sauce for some additional flavour, or at least some chilli crunch. As is, it felt incomplete.
For drinks I enjoyed the nostalgia of an Iced soy milk prepared in house, but was disappointed to learn that the Gourd melon tea my guest ordered was from a can.
We enjoyed our visit, eating slow and colouring. They have colouring sheets and crayons for those who ask. You can colour in their mascot using stackable crayon nibs that you can take home as a souvenir.
Meetrice Noodles 蒙自源过桥米线
5226 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 2E9
(604) 423-3398
meetricenoodlesburnaby.zomi.menu
