Noshwellmenu

[rating:2]

Beautiful Island is a Taiwanese restaurant located on Imperial Street in Burnaby that appears to have been recently renovated.

The dining room at Beautiful Island is quite spacious and smells like new paint. The wood flooring and dark tables add a modern touch. A bubble tea bar is located right up front near the entrance. Portraits of photographed tapas are displayed on the walls. The place is sparse, and feels more like someone’s office space furnished by Ikea.

(Top to bottom: 1. Taiwanese Meatball 2. Bubble Tea.)

Although they have a regular menu, we ordered some small dishes to share: Oyster omelette, Taiwanese meatball, Taiwanese sausage, Chicken braised in wine, a couple bowls of rice and a hot milk green tea.

Our milk green tea arrived first and it was awful. The tea was lukewarm and the milk concoction tasted a bit off. We sent the tea back to be reheated in hopes it would taste better when properly heated. It did not.

The oyster omelette looked like slop, but luckily tasted better than it looked: bits of scrambled eggs, oysters mixed with rice cake and topped with red sauce (which tasted like ketchup mixed with Sriracha hot sauce). The steamed wine braised chicken was moist and tender, but a bit salty to my liking. The Taiwanese meatball had barely any minced meat and bamboo shoots and was mostly sticky rice cake. The red sauce over top did not have any of the chili or garlicky goodness we were used to. Finally, the Taiwanese sausage was decent and paired well with the slivers of raw garlic served on the side.

(Top to bottom: 1. Oyster Omelette 2. Taiwanese sausage with slivers of raw garlic.)

Our bill including taxes and tips came to just under $25. The prices are decent at Beautiful Island and they have a large menu. The food, though, is mediocre (perhaps working through some kinks in the kitchen?) But the hot milk green tea — I feel nauseous just thinking about it.

Perfect for: Last ditch effort for late night snacks in Burnaby. Avoid the bubble tea.

The Details

#1 — 4648 Imperial Street
604.468.0258

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