5300 No.3 Road, Richmond, BC
604-273-0022
We heard that to help jet lag, you should eat as soon as you get off the plane. So after picking up my mom from the airport, we headed over to Top Gun Group's newest addition, Rhino's Kitchen. This new HK-style cafe is located where the former California Cafe was in Lansdowne Centre. Our visit was about ten days after they had their inaugural opening.
I ordered a meal and chose to upgrade to the Lobster Soup for an additional $2.50. The soup itself was flavorful (probably tons of MSG) and rich with a good depth, but the "lobster meat" came in the form of crayfish...and it was really bad quality crayfish. The texture of these little guys was very soft and mushy. The soup started out well, but when the "lobster" turned into "crayfish" in a "lobster soup", I felt cheated.
My Minced Pork with Salty Fish on Rice 鹹魚肉餅飯 was machine-grounded meat that had no texture along with rice that had no bottom crusting. As for the salty fish, well, I could smell the salty fish, but because it was mixed in with the ground meat, not every bite had fish. I prefer a simple hand-chopped meat with a piece of the salty fish on top.
Mom ordered the mix & match soup noodles: Rice Vermicelli 米線 in Fish Soup with Tomato and Pumpkin 番茄南瓜魚湯 with Shrimp Ball 手打蝦丸, Deep-Fried Fish Cake 炸魚片 and Fresh Tofu Skin 鮮腐皮. We didn't spot much "tomato" nor did we taste any. Mom thought it was okay, but I think she was just being nice about it.
Buddha Girl also went with a mix & match noodle combo: Udon 烏冬 in Fish Soup with Cilantro and Preserved Egg 芫茜皮蛋魚湯 (requested no napa cabbage and no fresh tofu skin) with Chicken Ball 雞肉丸, Pork Ball 豬肉丸 and Vietnamese Sausage 扎肉 (properly speaking, it's "Vietnamese Ham"). After two returns back to the kitchen, they finally got it right. The first time, the bowl was loaded with napa cabbage. The second time, the noodles didn't look right. We acknowledged our server but she insisted that's their version of udon, until the manager correct her and asked her to change it. The meatballs were not the greatest quality, let's just say I wouldn't even feed Buddha Dog with it. The soup didn't have much fish fragrance, more like a combination of pork and fish broth with lots of MSG.
We had three additional add-ons. The first was Pork Chop in Maggi Sauce 美極豬扒. This was small but tasted okay, however, nothing special.
Our second add-on was Teriyaki Chicken 照燒雞扒. Now, what part of this looked "teriyaki" to you? The chicken was moist, but that's about it.
The best part of this meal was our add-on of Gillette Pork Chop 吉列豬扒, or simply, a pork cutlet. A bit small but the chop was moist with a crispy outer coating. Okay, exactly why is that in Chinese restaurants, pork cutlets are always served with tartar sauce?
Unfortunately, we will not return. The menu was too limited and the food was not good. Price points were not cheap. The manager in charge was really trying, but with a team of green staff (especially having a server like ours, Stephanie C., who was quite ignorant and impatient), I feel sorry for him. Honestly, if you want decent fish soup noodles, go to Deer Garden Signatures 鹿園魚湯米線, if you want good rice pots, go to The One Spot Soup House (湯.com) on Victoria Street or James Snacks 占士叻煲仔飯 in Empire Centre 帝國中心, all these places are cheaper and way better.
