**½~~ (2.5/5)

Last week my coworkers and I went to Tamarind Hill in New Westminster for a birthday lunch. I have been to Tamarind Hill a few times before, for both lunch and dinner, and it consistently stayed as one of the better restaurants in New Westminster to get Asian cuisine.

We started off with Roti Canai, and Lamb and Chicken Satay. The Roti Canai had a really crispy outer crust, and a doughy center. I really wished it was more flakier. It came with a spicy curry sauce, it wasn’t spicy at all, but still a nice compliment to the roti. The Lamb and Chicken Satays were really well marinated. It came with a peanut sauce, which was really nice because the satays would have been a little too dry without it.

I usually get laksa here, but I wanted to try something different this time, so I got the Indian Mee Goreng. The Indian Mee Goreng was fried egg noodles with beef, tomato, bean sprout, and vegetables. I didn’t know what was so Indian about this dish, because it tasted nothing Indian. The sauce was a little bit sweet, it reminded me a lot of those packaged yakisobas you can buy at Asian supermarkets. It was also a little too greasy. Overall, a nice dish, with a misleading name.

The rest of us ordered the Laksa, and Singapore Spicy sweet n Sour Pork Chop with tumeric rice. The laksa was really tasty. I loved the coconut milk soup base, really nice flavors. The portion size of the laska was pretty big, on top of the coconut milk soup, it could be really filling. The Singapore Pork Chops came with tumeric rice and curry vegetables. This dish was good, but nothing spectacular. The pork chops had nice flavors, but they were a bit chewy.

The decoration of the restaurant was nice. The wood chairs did not have cushions, so don’t jump on the chairs with all your weight like I did. It was dim in the restaurant. They were playing electronic-ish music, pretty strange. I have to admit, this time around, I wasn’t too impressed. And the reason was simply because I’ve had better Malaysian food elsewhere since the last time I visited. However, even with a bit of disappointment, this place was still one of the best places to get Asian cuisine in New Westminster.

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Tamarind Hill
628 6th Ave
New Westminster, BC V3M
(604) 526-3000
tamarindhill.ca

****~ (4/5)

Today I was there for Cockney Kings Fish & Chips grand opening in New Westminster, BC. Actually they’ve been around for a while now, and they only moved to another unit in the same complex.

I was there for dinner at around 7pm, and this place was packed with line ups. The atmosphere was really casual, it had a retro furnishing. The kitchen was busy busy busy. They have an open kitchen, you can see all the deep frying action near the entrance of the restaurant.

I ordered 1 piece Halibut and Chips ($9.95) with one piece of Deep Fried Oyster ($1.50 a piece). Presentation wise, the plate gets 5/5. The plate came with a mount of fries, a piece of golden halibut, and a generous amount of coleslaw. Any grumpy hungry person who sees this plate, would get instant happiness.

The halibut came in a nice portion. It was fried perfectly. The batter was light and it had a really nice crunch when I bit into it. The fish was perfectly cooked, it was just one really nice deep fried fish.

The fries on the other hand weren’t anything special, they needed some salt. The coleslaw was really good, very mayo-y, so good with the halibut. I ate all of my friend’s coleslaws.

The Deep Fried Oyster was really good too. It’s good that you can order them individually as well as a plate of them, because if you just wanted to sample one, like I did today, you could order just order 1. My friends also ordered Onion Rings. I liked them a lot, they were in nice big slices, crunchy batter, soft onion. Yum!

Condiment wise, there were 2 types of vinegars on each table, clear and malt. There was ketchup, and a bottle of home made tarter sauce. The tarter sauce was again, very mayo-y, and very good.

I would come back here for sure. Next time I’m going to try other seafood.

Note: Monday – Wednesday All You Can Fish & Chips for $9.50, pop included, can ask for more fries or just the fish. Free Parking in complex.

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Cockney Kings Fish & Chips
1035 Columbia St., #102
New Westminster, BC V3M6H5
Tel: (604) 522-6099

***½~ (3.5/5)

Kirin Seafood Restaurant in New Westminster is probably the nicest looking Chinese restaurant that serves dim sum. The interior design is very modern. The dining area is big, it has high ceilings, and there is a lounge area for you to wait for your seats. And surprise, surprise, they have really nice restrooms! There’s always extra kudos for nice restrooms in a Chinese restaurant.

They have a good selection of dim sum dishes that also includes quite a few vegetarian ones. I really liked this particular dish there, which is fried dough wrapped in rice rolls, I liked this dish in general, but their fried dough is crispier than other places. I can usually order something here that I can’t find or wouldn’t order in other dim sum places because I haven’t tasted anything horrible here. So the last time I went I tried this deep fried taro with mushroom and meat stuffing dish. It looks really pretty and it taste really good too.

The the waiters were friendly, but the managers (the ones with suits) were not too attentive. It is hard to get their attention sometimes. And it is the managers that takes care of your bill, I waited a good 10 minutes to pay the last time I was there. That was too long for me, so I decided to save 5% from my tips. Speaking of bills, their dim sum average $3.50 – $4.00 per dish. Really pricey for dim sums.

Overall this is a very nice restaurant to eat in. If you are looking to bring a friend from out of town for dim sum, this would be a nice place to go to.

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Kirin Seafood Restaurant
350 Gifford Street
New Westminster
(604) 528-8833
http://www.kirinrestaurants.com/