Just got in from lunch with some relatives. To cut down driving, we went to Mak’s Noodle Restaurant at Cambie & 8th. You see, we’ve been trying to go there because it’s the closest “congee noodle” place to this bustling intersection but they have hours of operation something like 11a.m. to 10p.m. everyday, not a place for late-night eats.

Upon first glance, it’s an upstanding place - open, with clean furniture and settings, and a row of booths with colourful upholestered seats. If you go there, you can park in the Fairchild Plaza parking and get your ticket validated with a meal. (We didn’t know that.)

As I was in charge of ordering, I ordered preserved egg and lean pork congee (4.25), braised beef brisket with wuntun noodles in soup (4.25), and a hainan chicken meal (8.50). Later, uncle would add a wuntun dumplings with wuntun noodles in soup (4.00).

The braised beef brisket arrived first and we were taken aback by the dainty size of the bowl of noodles and beef. It was a good sized portion for one person. But you see, we are used to receiving basins of noodles and the price is still that for one person. For that little bowl, however, there were plentiful cubes of beef brisket, braised just right for melty tenderness and flavour. Likewise, the congee (a rice porridge) arrived in a dainty bowl and it was so smooth on the surface I thought it was milk. The pieces of pork were very lean indeed and hence slightly boring.

The Hainan chicken dinner came with a clear broth with fuzzy melon that was good, homemade quality consomme. About a third of a chicken was served with the dinner and bowl of rice that was steamed with oil (or something) and I couldn’t decide which dish was the greatest “rip off.” Uncle ordered another bowl of noodles because everything was so dainty in size!

If you’ve been around to “congee noodle” diners in Vancouver (to name a couple others, Hon’s Wun Tun House with several locations around GVA, Kwong Chow on Main, and Congee Noodle House on Broadway near Main), you’d be accustomed to - no joke - basins of average-tasting food and we attribute Mak’s reserve on portion sizes to having a more “west-side” clientele and also having a larger rent check to raise every month. It’s hard to say that I would go back when Congee Noodle is not far away down the street.

—————————————–
Mak’s Noodle Restaurant
525 Broadway West 17, Vancouver, B.C.