2010-12-21 Lunch @ The One Restaurant

ADDRESS :  5908 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC

PHONE     :  604-569-1866

Dad and I had an appointment with the Chinese herbal doctor this morning...yups...yucky, bitter, dirt-water medicines...but hey...it's good for us!  Hehehe!  Anyways, Buddha Boy took the day off so I made him drive us to the clinic, then after, we had lunch with dad.  Since we had to pick up Buddha Boy's sister, MoMo, from YVR later in the afternoon, we really did not want to head into Richmond for lunch, so we thought we would stay somewhere in Vancouver or Burnaby.  In the end, we decided to try The One Restaurant, brought to you by Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodle House.

The place looked more like a karaoke lounge than a restaurant.  The tables were too close to each other.  The seats were way too bulky for the tables.  Moreover, there's a piano sitting right at the entrance...for what?  Honestly, I don't know whether I should use the word "horrendous" or "horrible" to sum up my experience at this restaurant...I mean...c'mon...the service was terrible, the food was below par (though, couple items did taste okay)...really, they can only fool people who have not yet been to Taiwan or who knows nothing about Taiwanese food.  Remember our visits to Magnetic Cafe?  Well, that being #1, this would be #2.

Salty Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets (鹽酥雞)...this was one of the okay dishes...acceptable texture and flavor, however it was over-seasoned with five-spices...way too much powder...

The One Egg Roll with Green Onion (香蔥蛋餅)...holy...why make the name so complicated?  It's just simply a Green Onion Pancake with Egg...anyhow...skin was thick and sauce was way too salty...we did not enjoy this.

The One Deep Fried Pork Large Intestine (香酥肥腸)...I'm gonna use the word "horrendous" to describe this dish...the "inner" was not cleaned thoroughly, the skin was chewy (as it has been sitting for a long time, then re-fried), and it had very minimal green onions...one word...GROSS!

Ok, one would think that being the subsidiary of Lao Shan Dong, the noodles should be up to par...well, not in this case.  Dad ordered the Braised Beef Flank & Tendon with Noodle in Soup (半筋半肉麵)...and according to my dad, it was, well, not awful, but close to it.  You see, after being in the food industry for more than half of his life, my dad knows what's classic or authentic.  He does not often complain or picky about food, however, he did this time.  He thought the noodles were over-cooked, soup was bland, meats were flavorless, and most importantly...where was the preserved sour veggies (酸菜)?  It's the most important side ingredient in beef noodles.

Another "okay" dish was my Taiwanese Railway Style Sausages (鐵路香腸便當)...the sausages, to our surprise, was quite nice...and it was perhaps the ONLY item that we enjoyed.  These were juicy and flavorful, sweet yet not over-sweetened.  Buddha Boy and I suspect that these sausages were supplied by our secret supplier...hehehehe!
(UPDATED 2010-12-23) Yups, it's been confirmed...and we were right...these Taiwanese sausages were, and still are, provided by our secret supplier...hehehe!

Buddha Boy ordered the Taiwanese Style Chicken with Three Spices (台式三杯雞飯)...though it said it's "Taiwanese Style"...but to those who are not familiar with this dish...classic style should not have fish cakes.  Anyways, this was a bit bland, and not much basil taste to it (main flavoring ingredient)...Buddha Boy said it was "poor"...LOL!

All rice combo meals came with four side dishes.  Honestly, these side dishes tasted better than the mains...LOL!!!