We’ve seen this restaurant many times since we pass by it on our way to Sushi Time(unfortunately this place has closed down now.) Since the parking lot is always packed, we thought we’d finally give this place a try.
2683 E Hastings St, Vancouver BC
Tel#: (604) 255-3188
The place feels pretty small once you’re inside, especially if the place is full! We were greeted and pointed at to find a seat at 1 of the booths that lined the right side of the wall.
After we ordered, we were given complimentary house soup. I love places that offer this, and am slightly disappointed when it’s not. Maybe it’s because I don’t get to drink soups often at home.
The sauce for our first dish came to the table. Made me anxious for the meal to come out! To the right is the Fook Chow Fried Rice. This was loaded with toppings on top with the fried rice at the bottom. There was just enough sauce for this rice dish.
Now onto what I’ve been waiting for! We decided to get the Peking Duck because I’ve been craving it for weeks now. We were surprised by how meaty the pieces were! The wraps do tend to stick together if it’s not even while it’s hot. Lucky for us, we don’t usually have that problem since this dish goes quite quickly. The shrimp chips were not stale tasting.
And of course the Lettuce Wrap portion. I actually don’t like eating it with lettuce, so I usually just scoop it along with some rice. There was also a lot of meat here too! Definitely something we’d reorder again here(in fact we did reorder it again on our 2nd visit)
We also decided to get the Chicken & Ham Spaghetti in Cream sauce on the above left. Don’t be food, this isn’t the HK cafe style where it’s baked. This was different, completely different. Perhaps it was the red peppers that were included in this dish, but it didn’t sit well with our tastebuds. We ended up ignoring this dish completely. To the right is the Mongolian Crispy Beef. This was listed as 1 of their specialty dishes on the menu. Unfortunately it was a bit cold by the time it reached our table. I don’t blame them, they were extremely busy and were running around because each table seemed to be flagging them down. It was a mountain of crispy beef, and we’re sure it would’ve been even more amazing had we eaten it piping hot.
On our next visit, we were joined with Marvs family and reordered many of the dishes that have been listed above. The food was consistent in quality so there’s no need to post duplicate photos.
We also ordered their signature dish, the Curry Crab. It seemed like a lot of the tables were ordering this, so we decided to join in too! This huge plate came to the table and the aroma of curry started to fill our senses. The crab definitely had a lot of meat to it, but to be honest, I didn’t think it was anything special.
Next was the Minced Pork & Green Beans. This is my favourite vegetable dish, when it’s done right. This version was ok, and not spicy. I prefer it to have a nice kick of spiciness to it. To the right is theStir Fried Vermicilli/rice noodle. This dish was also ignored as we were all too busy with the rest of the food. Marv said this needed some more flavour as it was too bland.
Overall, we enjoyed our experience at James Cafe and will definitely become regulars here. the food has been good and the service seems to be getting better each time we visit. They also offer the ‘Pick your own Noodle & Soup combination’ during lunchtime. We’ll definitely have to give it a try then!
Post by Colleen
