Several weeks ago, our hunger pangs brought us to the other side of the city to check out the much-talked about new restau­rant, ‘Kumare’, located at Park Road, Richmond. Driving from Vancouver via Granville Street to Richmond wasn’t really bad during rush hours. As expected, Tuesday was not busy for most businesses.

The restaurant offerings pack­age a wide selection of popular Filipino and Asian dishes at rea­sonable price per serving. Mel and I got glued on the display counter of baked goodies like Empanada and Ensaymada topped with gen­erous grated cheese were instant favorites. Buko Pandan, Pande­sal, Leche Flan and Sans Rival to name some of the few items we have feasted in courtesy of the Boss of ReyFort Media, Rey For­taleza.

For our appetizer, we had Ca­maron Rebosado (Deep-fried Bat­tered Shrimps) served with chili Sauce. The shrimps were not as crispy. I figured that the shrimps were not properly pat dried to re­move moisture or dredge in flour to locks moisture to sip into the batter when dipped before frying.

For our main dish, we had Chicken Pandan, a popular Thai Specialty chicken dish. It was made of flavored chicken cutlets wrapped with Pandan leaf, deep-fried and served with chili sauce. On the side, Pancit Palabok was rich with flavors. The another main dish, Chicken Kare-Kare, deboned chicken pieces cooked in thick yellowish peanut with green beans, eggplant, bok-choy veggies was yummy. It had been ages since I tried using chicken in Kare-Kare. Of course, our Kare‑Kare was superb with Bagoong Alamang (Spicy) of Barrio Fi­esta. Kumare’s Empanada filling was made of generous ratio of ground pork and potatoes. Rai­sins gave a sweetish flavor when bitten with crispy crust. Buco Pandan and super rich Sans Rival, layers of meringue crisps with rich butter icing in between were a real treat for a long drive back to Vancouver suburbs.

< Prev		Next >