DinnerMui Garden

[rating:4]

Mui Garden

Mui Garden on Main Street is an Asian diner/cafe that serves a mix of Hong Kong and Malaysian dishes. This gem has been around for years. It’s not the fanciest place to dine, but if you want simple, quick, cheap and tasty — Mui Garden has all that. The best time to come is during tea time (usually around 3 to 6pm) — when their mini meals are just under $6, including a drink  — an extra buck if you want the drinks cold.

Mui Garden is a small chain with locations scattered throughout Metro Vancouver. But the Main Street location is our favorite — there’s something special about this one. It feels old school, the flavours are good, it’s somewhat clean (we’ve seen worse), and the waitresses are (for the most part) attentive. Mui Garden is known for dishes like their Hainan Chicken: free range chicken boiled and served with rice cooked in chicken stock. Let’s hope mister rooster isn’t related to any of the dishes served.

Mui Garden
(Clockwise: 1. Stir fried flat rice noodles in XO sauce. 2. Iced lemon coke. 3. The house special XO sauce.)

Tre and I arrived just in time before tea time ended, and the waitress appeared anxious for us to order. Tre orders a classic dish: stir fried flat rice noodles with beef in XO sauce. XO sauce is a chili sauce flavoured with seafood, typically dried scallops, fish and shrimp. You can find it bottled, but the best is made in house. I order my favourite: tomato and stir fried beef over rice. I haven’t had this dish for ages so I’m really looking forward to this tasty delight. To accompany our mini dishes, we ordered two iced lemon cokes.

Our meals arrive quickly. Tre’s noodles were delicious as expected. The chef fried the noodles perfectly, giving it a nice smoky flavour without making the noodle soft and squishy. The XO sauce flavoured the dish well without overpowering it . The sliced beef was tender and well seasoned. My classic tomato and beef dish was awesome and I gobbled it up quickly. The beef was tender and the sauce wasn’t overly sweet. I did have a few pieces of bad onions, which were disgusting, but it happens unfortunately.

Our meals were good and didn’t put a big dent in our pockets. The bill came to just under $18 including taxes and tips. Leave the plastic at home, Mui Garden is cash only.

Perfect for: Cheap, quick and good meal.

The Details

4265 Main Street, Vancouver
604.872.8232
muigarden.com

Mui Garden on Urbanspoon

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