Best Taro Dessert Ever: Beijing Noodle House

Beijing Noodle House is a small restaurant in Richmond that is consistently full because of it's very reasonable prices. I've been there a few times and every time I don't see any Hong Kong-nese (and I think no Taiwanese) patrons there. Quite understandable because we don't really know what to order either. It's pretty interesting how they have virtually no presence on Urbanspoon, despite the fact it's been in business for quite some time now. Since I haven't been there for quite some time now, I was craving their taro dessert and that was really the main reason I wanted to go.

The decor inside is not very new and it's not very fitting with anything really.  It has a partially open kitchen behind the glass, and as a result, the windows fog up quite easily.

To start off, we ordered the vegetable and pork wontons in soup ($5.50 for 12 pieces). I recall from my last visit, someone coming here by themselves for dinner and ordering just a bowl of wontons. I figured that they were probably pretty good, and a $5.50 dinner would be pretty awesome for future reference. Unfortunately, we didn't really like them. The wonton skin was quite thick, almost to the degree of dumplings. They weren't very soft either. The filling inside was more vegetable than pork, but I didn't mind that. I just didn't like the skin.

We ordered two noodles: the first one being the zha jiang mian (炸醬麵, $5.50). This was my other hope for a cheap meal -- $5.50 for a huge bowl of carbs. Beijing is famous for their zha jiang mian, which was another reason why we ordered it. We also noticed a lot of other tables ordering it and some ordering a few bowls so they could each have a bowl themselves. It had a very strong and fragrant dou ban sauce (豆瓣酱) flavour, but we were a bit disappointed that it was overly salty. I liked the noodles though, as this is one of my favourite types and it wasn't cooked too soft. There was quite a bit of pork pieces in it as well. I'm not sure if I would order it again just because it was way too salty for my taste.

The other noodle we got was the fried pork chop with noodles (大排麵, $6.50). Fried pork chop seems to be a reoccuring theme with my parents -- they want it in noodles, with rice cake, with rice cake, by itself, and in any type of cuisine. This dish was quite good, since the pork chop had a strong five flavour powder flavour (五香粉) and wasn't overly fried. I really, really like the noodles for this one because they actually had a lot of flavour themselves and therefore didn't just serve as a carb for the dish, but rather tied everything together. It had a bit of five flavour powder flavour (try saying that five times) and had a lot of the flavour from the soup, which I believe was chicken broth and soy sauce based.

And finally, the much awaited for candied taro dessert (拔絲芋頭, ~$10) arrived. There aren't that many restaurants that serve candied desserts, let alone taro. I know Shanghai River serves the banana version, and they do a pretty good job of it. I do like my starch vegetables though, especially taro. Everytime  I've had it here, the taro is perfect and very "powdery". 拔絲 is basically stir frying the item in sugar-water concoction. The item, in this case, the taro, is usually deep-fried beforehand. When it arrives at the table, the taro is all covered in syrup, and roasted sesame seeds are usually sprinkled on top. At the table, you're supposed to dip it in cold water to cool down and solidify the sugary coating on top, and this separates the pieces and results in a crispy sugar coated layer. My whole family loved this dish since the taro was really good and powdery.


Rating: ★★★

All the dishes were just alright, but the taro dessert was really amazing.  If you like salty sauces, then I'd recommend the zha jiang mian.  Lots of other tables seemed to enjoy it, but it was a bit too salty for our tastes.  I'd suggest skipping the dumplings.

Beijing Noodle House 北京麵館
190-6451 Buswell St
Richmond, BC
(604) 278-2323