Mui Garden – Richmond

A good friend of mine, Lucy came to Vancouver for the holidays and so we decided to make a day of eating part of our plans. We hit up three different places and this was the second one- Mui Garden as suggested by Nickie. I heard about Mui Garden previously from reading other blogs and also a raving review about their laksa by a man I met at the BC Home and Garden. We visited the Mui Garden located in Richmond and we were in between meal hours (it just turned 5pm) so it wasn’t so busy when we got there, but by the time we left it was packed. Mui Garden originated in Hong Kong serving up a fusion of Chinese and Malaysian food – most notably their Malaysian curry.

They have specials that come with a drink ranging from noodles, rice and dishes served with rice.

We started off with some Roti ($5.50). Served with a bit of their curry sauce, it was a little underwhelming but it wasn’t bad. It was a little more greasier than say, Kaya Malay Bistro but not as greasy as Bo Laksa King. However, I prefer the roti at either Kaya or Bo a bit better. Why? Kaya has layers of roti that you can rip off and it’s quite enjoyable and Bo serves it a bit crispy which is nice. This is sitting right in the middle of these two places.

Up next is our Malaysian Fried Rice ($8.95). This was a great fried rice dish, good flavour, not too greasy and a good helping of shrimp in it. The portion was a little small – but that’s because it’s a combo and most likely a huge portion for one person to eat but not three people (or a hungry couple!) to share.

Their signature Beef Brisket Curry ($9.50) came up next and it was everything everyone talks about. The beef is tender and can be pulled apart quite easily and the curry is not too thick with a great liquidity that is enjoyable with some rice. It is mild, so it’s a good curry for anyone to try out.

Finally, I decided to see what the fuss is about and ordered the Singapore Laksa ($7.00). Mind you, Laksa is such a diverse dish depending on the region it’s made – so you really have a different experience at different restaurants, so it’s hard to come up with a baseline of what makes a great bowl of laksa. This laksa is by far a great laksa – the soup base is spicy, a little oily and a bit creamy which is the perfect balance for the beginnings of great laksa (in my opinion anyway). The bean sprouts, meat and tofu were nice but didn’t really contribute much to the dish other than texture and crunch (and substance, I guess! 😉 ). The noodles are thin noodles which makes for a nice, full taste.

I would love to try out the Victoria or Main street location and order other dishes (but …maybe some curry too because while in Rome…)!

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Check out their menu and website here.