Ken's Chinese Restaurant 南軒中西美食: Chinese-Style Afternoon Tea

Sometimes, I just want to go to a Hong Kong style cafe because they're fast, affordable, yummy, and satisfying. Well, not as fast as the ones in Hong Kong....except there might be a line up for seats in Hong Kong since there's always so many people, everywhere, all the time.

Here, afternoons are usually pretty quiet for restaurants. That's why Ken's Chinese Restaurant has a special offer of 10% off starting at 2:30pm to 5pm. I ordered from their Special Set menu which comes with soup of the day and a drink. I got one of my favourites of all time... 

Baked seafood rice

Yes, that's right - baked seafood rice! Just looked at how nicely it's baked. Now let's dissect it a bit.

baked seafood rice

What's in it? Big shrimps (or are those prawns? I can't tell),  slices of fish and squid, scallops, mushrooms - all covered in melted cheese and creamy sauce. Wow, I think I just made it sound better than it tasted. But you can never go wrong with the baked seafood rice, it's like the complete package for a seafood fan.  

As a lover of thick noodles, I also chose the Shanghai Stir fried noodles. Now this was mostly noodles - it could have definitely use more meat/cabbage. 

Shanghai stir-fried noodles 上海粗炒面

Getting a set meal makes me feel complete. For soup of the day, I got to choose vegetable or creamy soup and I chose the creamy soup. Now it does not look very good and it wasn't. It was kind of watered-down. Optimistically, at least it didn't fill me up before the main dishes came.

Soup of the day - creamy soup

As for drinks, you can choose from the typical list of drinks at a Hong Kong style cafe in cold/hot:  

- Hong Kong style milk tea 港式奶茶

- Hong Kong style coffee

- Hong Kong style half coffee half tea 鴛鴦

- Hong Kong style lemon tea

- Lemon and honey 

- Almond 杏仁霜

- Ovaltine 阿華田

- Horlicks 好立克

... and the list goes on....

Hong Kong style milk tea 

Almond drink 杏仁霜

 I believed the entire bill came to less than $20. I've also heard of their late night dinner with all you can eat congee. In Cantonese, that's probably called "siu yeh" Hahaha. They're opened until 1am - perfect for those night owls! I'd loved to come by here on a late night for "siu yeh" :)

U & I Thai: Modern & Fine Dining

Looking for a place that's modern place with good service, yet reasonably priced? U&I Thai is a perfect place for an affordable meal with a unique ambience. It seems like a western fine dining restaurant, but it is actually a Thai restaurant. Located on Cambie Street, it used to be the location of another Thai restaurant (Sala Thai, I believe).

Upon entering the restaurant, I noticed the western modern style fused with Thai decorations. Simple, modern, yet nicely designed...giving off a "fine dining" vibe. There was only one other table and so we did not have to wait for seats. It was a pretty quiet day for them, so I wondered about their food.

I ordered from the lunch menu special, where most items were $10, and came with soup of the day.

Thai soup

I'm not sure what exactly was the soup, I think hot and sour soup, but perhaps tung yam kung? I have no idea but it was probably made from frozen veggies and lots of spices. Because it was a little sour, it was appetizing! But in my opinion, the spices were too strong and the soup was too oily for my liking. Still better than the "gym locker" tung yam kung I had at Tropika!

Pad Thai $10