Located along Bayview St just off Steveston Harbour, this restaurant has a side water front view. It's sort of tiny inside which wasn't very obvious from outside. It was around 12 pm when we walked in. I was pleasantly surprised that the restaurant was already pretty busy. It's comforting to know that their kitchen has warmed up already and higher chance that we'll get fresh items rather than maybe yesterday's leftover ? ha..ha.. Just kidding.
We pretty much know what we wanted to order and straight away ordered roti canai for appetizer, char kuay teow, char bee hoon and eggplant stir fry. I have been avoiding oyster sauce because it has given me allergic reaction. And I found out some Malaysian stir fry noodle used oyster sauce in their stir fry. So I inquired the lady that took our order. She said they do use oyster sauce and it couldn't be omited from our orders because the sauce was already premixed. I didn't want everybody else to change their orders to cater to me so we stuck to the order.
The roti canai came a bit charred with a tiny bowl of light curry sauce. The curry tasted watered down. Then came the char bee hoon - stir fry rice vermicelli with veggies and pork. The veggies used was bean sprout, matchstick size carrot and thinly sliced cabbage. Then topped off with a leaf of green lettuce and fried shallot. The taste was pretty mild, not too salty and not too sweet. One thing I thought was missing was the wok hei - that caramelized sweet burnt smell that can only be created with high heat wok.
The char kuay teow - fried rice noodle - came out looking quite dark. It had been sprout, egg and thinly slice chinese sausage (lap chiong). Same like the rice vermicelli stir fry, the taste was pretty mild with a bit spiciness to it. But again I think it was missing the most important identity - the wok hei. Since we couldn't mimic wok hei at home without the high heat wok, it is a must have when we dine outside.
The meal was saved by the stir fry eggplant with sambal sauce. It came with sliced bell pepper and onion. A little bit oily but the eggplant was tender without being mushy.
Kari House
3900 Bayview St, Richmond, BC V7E 0A4
Phone: (604) 275-5274
karihouse.com
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