Updated on 1st Oct 2008, this restaurant had been replaced by another new restaurant.
Once in a while, we chance on a nondescript restaurant … you know, ones that looked so unassuming from the outside that chances you will never give it a second glance? The other day, our boys wanted to go to e-Canteen for a HK-Style lunch. We got to the entrance to e-Canteen before we changed our mind. We decided that we don’t want another HK-Style meal (yeah, we’re really fickle-minded when it comes to food!).
We looked across the parking lot seeking for another place for lunch. This was in the strip mall right across the road from the Richmond Public Market.
For the outside, the Paterson Restaurant does look very much like a small and quaint place for a casual meal. We decided to check out the many hand written poster-menu on the window and peered inside. It was alright, the prices looked really cheap and they have a bit of a unique dishes that is not run-of-the-mill stuff we had come to expect from places that looked like this.
We were there early and were the only customer in the restaurant. This looked very much like a family run business as we see children seated at one corner of the restaurant having a meal and doing homework.
There are nothing much to the decor really — with low-maintenance and efficient glass top tables and wooden chairs. I have not seen such chairs for a long time — such designs were really common in coffee shops in South East Asia.
Despite this, what really surprised us was the food they serve. They have on their menu specials such as Congee with a choice of Chinese Donut or steamed rice roll or chowmein with soya sauce for only $3.99. I can’t think of anywhere we can find such a meal for under $4 nowadays.
They also have on their menu (which we gather is their specialty) 2.5 lb crab dishes for only $14.99. Since it was really early in the morning, we took a raincheck and told ourselves we will come back to Paterson to try their crab someday … soon.
See this one … it is called the Oyster Rice in Soup. Oh man, this is such a simple dish which I remember having so much when I was really young. It’s just broth with oysters and rice but I enjoyed it a lot. For a $5.95 dish, there were surprisingly a lot of oysters and mushrooms. This is truly a homestyle fare which you do not find in other restaurant.
Nanzaro and Arkensen, as usual, went for their Salted Fish Chicken Fried Rice. Do you all have any advice for us? Suanne and I need to ween the boys off from fried rice. I mean, how on earth will they take chowtimes.com over from us if they continue to only eat fried rice? He he he … maybe they will just rename this blog to chowfantimes.com. 🙂 [Note: fried rice in Cantonese is called chow-fan]
The fried rice was OK. With salted fish, fried rice is always OK no matter how it is done. I remembered that it was really fragrant. $7.95 gives a plate big enough to whet the appetite of two growing boys.
The Mui Choy Khau Yoke Rice (Pork Belly and Preserved Vegetable on Rice) is another homestyle comfort food we don’t normally find else where. It is just $5.95. The sauce was excellent and goes so scrumptiously well with the rice. The pork belly slices were thick and tender. You MUST try this — even though it is not exactly really healthy food.
The Paterson Restaurant is opened from 10:30AM to 10:00PM everyday. Note that they take only cash which is understandable because of their cheap prices. The total bill came up to only $23 including taxes and tips.
chowtimes.wordpress.com 
alright, lecture time.
The pork belly with preserved vegetable (or Mei Cai Kou Rou in pinyin, which I prefer to use) uses mustard green as the vegetable part. It is usually served in a clay pot, and it surprised me to see it topped on rice.
It’s a hakka dish, although quite popular in both Northern and Southern China. A variation of this dish uses the yam to replace the mustard green. A comparable dish is the Don Po pork of Hangzhou.
To ween kids off food you could try what we did with my nephew…who insisted on only eating peanutbutter and jam sandwiches. Let them have rice but also insist that they try something new. If at home you can serve the “new” thing in interesting shapes. But, my nephews 3 and your boys are older so that may not work!
You guys are very lucky to live in a place where has so many Chinese restaurants to choose!