Still open for take out : Ipoh Malaysian Cuisine @ Crystal Mall - Burnaby, BC

The last time we went to Crystal Mall food court was about a month ago. It was the beginning of a few cases of COVID-19 in Vancouver area. I remembered there was a rumor of one of the staff member of one of the restaurants contracted the virus. It was sad because of the malicious rumor the restaurant lost lots of business.

Hubby liked the char kuay teow at Ipoh Malaysian Cuisine located at the food court there. It would be a shame if they go out of business. So we decided to support them last week by doing take out during #NationalTakeOutDay.

We ordered char kuay teow, fried rice vermicelli and nasi lemak. When I went to pick it up the orders were all ready. All I needed to do was pay and grab. Pretty easy. All utensils were included too. Though seriously we don't need those.



The food court was pretty quiet. No sitting down is allowed. Only a few stalls were open at the time I went there. The stall that sells soup dumpling (Shanghai Fortune Cuisine) was close when I went there. A few others closer to the elevator were still open though. So was the tofu dessert place on the lower level.

Okay. Now the verdict. Char kuay teow was amazing as usual. It has become hubby's best char kuay teow in the Greater Vancouver area. He introduced it to his friends and they all agreed. This char kuay teow is Penang style with chinese sausage, bean sprout and chives.

My new found favorite was Ipoh fried rice vermicelli (炒米粉). Their version was very close to my childhood favorite back in Indonesia. They used the thin rice vermicelli, choy sum, bean sprout, shrimp, fish cake and sliced pork. The end product was dry and not wet. This is what makes the difference between their version and John 3:16 Malaysian. Though hubby said he likes John 3:16 version better.

The nasi lemak came with fried chicken, crispy fried anchovies with peanuts, sliced cucumber and a tub of sambal. The sambal was quite amazing considering this is pretty close to home and we could get anytime when we miss it. It's a bit on the oily side. The fried chicken as you can see in the picture wasn't the same as nasi lemak style fried chicken but more like KFC fried chicken. But considering the price I really couldn't complain. I would try other dishes next time to see if there are other dishes they do well.