Arkensen and Nanzaro made a huge protest when mum suggested to go to Ginger and Garlic Malaysian Restaurant. They are getting more and more assertive these days. Given a choice, they will go only to Kam Do or California Cafe … sigh, my boys … 🙂 Well, this week is mum’s week — mum gets to chose where to eat out. Tough luck, guys!
The Ginger and Garlic Malaysian Restaurant is relatively new. This place used to be the Honolulu Cafe we used to like a lot. If not for the fact that name of the restaurant has the word “Malaysia” on it, frankly, I would not have known that this is a Malaysian restaurant. It’s just that Ginger and Garlic does not really figure much in Malaysian cuisine. It’s not that ginger and garlic is not used but names like belancan, turmeric, or sambal should have been more an apt name. *shrugs*
BTW this is located 7700 block on Westminster Highway in Richmond.
We ordered the Malaysian Combo Dinner for 2. This one costs $28.80 which includes an appetizer platter, a soup and two main dishes. It started with what they call the Malaysian Platter which included shrimp cakes, spring rolls and roti canai. There are 2 dips included. For my boys, things are looking up … roti canai is their favourite. I can see they are getting a bit more pleased with mum’s choice!
The Tom Yum Kung Soup is the next on the combo.It is ultra spicy hot and sour. Tom Yum is not a Malaysian dish, it is Thai although it is pretty popular in Malaysia. The added bamboo shoot gives a nice crunch to the soup.
The next one had to the best on the combo … Prawns with Sambal Sauce. What we like is the big prawns. For the uninitiated, the taste could be pungent. This is perfect with just plain steamed rice.
The other main dish on the combo is the Oyster with Chili Paste in Hotpot. This is equally great too. The entire pot is full of large juicy pieces of oysters. Cooked with a lot of sweet onions, this one also is great with rice. However, we do see a thick film of oil which we patiently removed. Not exactly very healthy, but it does taste great.
To appease the boys, we had fried rice (again!). This time since it was mum’s choice, she gets to choose what type. Suanne got the Minced Beef Fried Rice with Shrimp Paste. The boys again protested the choice but guess what … when it came, they love it. This plate costs $8.50.
The total bill came to $44 including tax and tips. I recommend you try this place out. It is not the best food around but if you want to try something different amongst all the Shanghainese, Cantonese, HK-Cafes, and Northern Chinese restaurant all over Richmond, this could be a welcome change. If you like sambal, you will like the Ginger and Garlic Restaurant.
Here is the menu from Ginger and Garlic Malaysian Restaurant and Grill in Richmond. Click on an image below to show a larger more readable image.
Business Hour
7 days a week
7:30 am to 12:00 am
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That’s hot and sour soup they have on the Malaysian combo not Tom Yum Kun. Look at it, it doesn’t even look like Tom Yum Kun. Pretty big mistake for food reviewers IMO
OMG, you are right. It does look more like hot and sour soup now that you mentioned it. That post was so long ago … can’t remember what made me wrote that. He he he … Suanne and I are really amateurs. Thanks for pointing that out though.
Haha, Sorry about my tone 🙂
They change their combos regularly there.. It’s not great but it’s not bad either… For the $$ I’ll recommend the place for a casual meal.
Yummy! Do they have hawker style food like Char Koey Teow and Hokkien Mee?