2012-10-07 Lunch @ Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant 海皇美食

#262 - 2800 East 1st Avenue,Vancouver, BC

604-876-8828

It was a "Date Sunday" for the fat couple.  Well, there's one glitch, Octopus, a self-proclaimed "Food For Buddha Third-Wheel", tagged along.  Sigh...speechless...

Our first stop was Capilano River Hatchery in North Vancouver.  This hatchery is open to the public everyday and there's no admission charge.

Next, we drove to the head of Capilano River Regional Park and visited Capilano Lake and Cleveland Dam.  This concrete dam was build in 1954 and supplies approximately 40% of the drinking water in Lower Mainland.

After the tours, we wanted to grab lunch in Downtown/Chinatown, but the crazy backup for Lion's Gate Bridge prompted us to cross Second Narrows Bridge instead.  With three hungry stomachs, we wanted somewhere quick and simple with reasonable prices.  Buddha Boy took the leadership and made the decision to visit Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant 海皇美食.  To start, Buddha Boy had an order of Shredded Chicken & Bean Sprout Fried Vermicelli 銀芽雞絲炒米.  While not much meat, the noodles had good wok-hei 鑊氣 (or huo-hou 火侯 in Mandarin) and overall tasted okay.

Buddha Boy's second item was Steamed Rice Roll with Chinese Donut 炸兩.  While the doughnut was not light or crispy, it was not doughy or thick either.  And, most importantly, the doughnut was fresh.  The rice roll wrap was not thin, but it was made in-house.

Octopus and I each had an order of mix & match noodle soup combo.  Nothing extraordinary or worth noting, except...Octopus' laksa broth tasted like hot water (not even fish broth) and curry powder...very disappointing.

Other than the prohibited napa cabbage (as per my Chinese herbal doctor) in the little bowl, I cleared my bowl...even my drink!  I was hungry!!!