For as long as I can remember my family has been visiting On Lok for Chinese food. We use to get our $6 hair cuts in the area and then grab Little Caesar’s Crazy Bread as a snack after, or have On Lok as take out for dinner.
The neighbourhood has since changed and the barber shop and fast food pizza chain has been torn down to make way for high rises, and all that remains is On Lok.
The transformation has taken years and for years my partner and I have been saying we ought to visit before they are torn down as well.
I don’t recall ever dining in with them, but today was the day, after our original choice of dim sum within our neighbourhood saw a long line and we were in no mood to wait. It was Boxing Day and Chinese food was on the menu, no dim sum here, but classic Chinese cuisine would suffice.
The restaurant itself isn’t much to look at. It is dated through its wear and tear, and walking in you get the faint waft of wetness and mildew from age. And I won’t even go into detail on the washrooms with rubber bands holding the toilet paper dispenser together and the outdated reusable hand towel dispenser.
All the Chinese hallmarks are present including lucky waving cat, happy Buddha, ancestor shrine, and empty seafood tank advertising live crab. There are also push carts to bus tables with and a sign closing off half of the restaurant not in use.
We sat down at our sticky, recently wiped down table and could still smell the scent of wet rag. Truthfully it was all a grungy sight and an uncomfortable eating situation, but the running joke is that Chinese restaurants are only good the dirtier they are. And if you can get past this and everything above, you are in for a delicious meal.
For those who have never been, you can watch them prepare their wontons and wonton noodle soup from the exterior window. They have their own kitchen dedicated to boiling them, so naturally this is what we ordered.
Similarly, they have a separate counter and window space for their Chinese barbecue selection. Bbq pork and duck hanging on hooks. We would order this too because of its presentation.
I came in wanting to try the wontons, not having recalled how they tasted, was not disappointed. We ordered it as part of their two person set dinner menu. It is between 2 choices for $39.90 and they vary by their soup and main dish.
Combo A included 2 Chicken Wings (which the menu listed as “FREE”), Wonton Soup, Beef Chop Suey, BBQ Pork & Shrimp Fried Rice, and 2 Fortune Cookies.
The chicken wings were a drumlet and wing fried crispy and tossed in a salty mix with more on the side for dipping. They reminded me of Taiwanese-style popcorn chicken.
The soup was the most flavourful broth and dumplings I have ever had. A chicken bone broth with a fragrant fishiness. The dumplings are made in house, a meaty combination of shrimp and pork in larger chunks, wrapped in a silky and chewy robe.
Tasty as is, we still made good use of the on-table chilli oil. It added just the right amount to heat, not spicy, but with a kick that builds.
The Beef Chop Suey was tender slices of beef and a good mix of vegetable including broccoli, baby bok choy, mushroom, water chestnut, baby corn, carrot, celery, and coloured peppers. This was a balanced main that went well with the fried rice below. Tasty enough, but not overpowering to dominate the rice and its own ingredients.
The shrimp and fried rice is a classic. Crispy and chewy bites of broken rice in need of a main.
And for desert the combo comes with two fortune cookies. A tasty cookie that was fresher than most. The fortune was more like an accurate introspective look at ourselves.
To further our meal we also ordered a plate of their bbq pork. Not my favourite version, but it hit the spot for tender pork with a candy-like coating.
We also got an order of beef fried flat noodles. This, I have been enjoying for years and know to travel all the way for. Their’s is the best in the city. Succulent cuts of fatty beef, gently soy salted noodles, and a good amount of “Wok Hei. “Wok Hei” is yhe distinct charred and smoky flavour of stir-frying foods over an open flame used in Cantonese cuisine. I have never had a bad order of this from them and when I don’t order this from them I am never satisfied.
Despite the rundown conditions of the restaurant itself, I whole heartedly recommend their wonton soup with and without noodles, and their beef flat noodles as is. They have been open for this long and continue to be my go-to after all these years for a reason.
On Lok Restaurant & Won-ton House
2010 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V5L 1T8
(604) 253-3656
onlokrestaurant.com
