Chao Mami (Formerly Brokenrice) — Restaurant in Burnaby

It’s been a while since we last visited Broken Rice in North Burnaby. This Vietnamese restaurant located on Hastings Street has always been a spot where we knew we would get a good quality meal. Unlike most Vietnamese restaurants which seem to be hole-in-the-wall joints, Broken Rice seems to be of slightly higher ambiance with beautiful blue and white dishware.

On this revisit, we decided to stick with their appetizers and ordered the Fried Chicken Wings ($8.95) tossed in a tamarind fish sauce, Pork and Shrimp Salad Rolls ($8.25), and the Coconut Shrimp Cakes ($9.50).

We’ve had their garlic butter chicken wings previously and, while not on the same level as the wings at Phnom Penh, we thought they did a good enough job that we wanted to try their other flavour. The tamarind fish sauce added a mix of sweet and tanginess to the wings.

Meanwhile, the pork and shrimp salad rolls were stuffed full of vermicelli, shrimp, lettuce, and bean sprouts and served with a thick and creamy peanut dipping sauce.

I think my favourite dish of this visit was the Coconut Shrimp Cakes or Bánh Khọt. These amazingly crispy mini pancakes made up of rice flour batter and coconut milk are fried into the shape of round molds with a super soft and creamy filling of minced shrimp, pork and green onions. To top it off, they serve it with nước mắm sauce which adds to the sweet, sour, salty, and savory complexity of flavours.

UPDATE Jun 2024 - It's been a while since we were last here (probably 5 years ago when it was known as Broken Rice). Since then, the restaurant has been taken over by the younger generation and they've rebranded as Chao Mami.

First off, it was quite chilly inside because they keep the large windows open in the front. This might be fine during the really hot summer weather but our visit in June was so cold we had to ask to be moved to a table further inside. We weren't the only ones as we saw other diners who came after us also asked to be moved further inside.

Ok, on with the food... we ordered a lychee shake (would have liked to see some whole lychee in here) and the coconut Thai iced tea (which was a bit stronger than other Thai iced teas we've had before).

The butter beef carpaccio looked really nice. The beef was nice and tender but we kept feeling like something was missing from this dish like a punch of flavour.

The chicken wings garlic butter had a perfect crispness to it and I could eat it all day long. Not much garlicky flavour to it tho.

Last off was the Mami's house vermicelli platter with sugarcane shrimp, spring roll, chicken and pork skewers. A pretty good collection of items here.

Not super fond of the small chairs with flat wooden seats as they were not super comfortable and provided no...

Came here for $10 happy hour pho. The food tasted good and the portion size was decent. I left feeling full.

They charge an extra $1 for the garnish that normally comes free with pho, which I thought was really strange. And they took away the condiment bottles (sriracha and hoisin) away from my table without asking if I was done about 3/4 of the way through my meal, so that they could give them to another guest. I feel as though a restaurant should have enough condiment bottles available to stock each table, so not sure why they had to move mine to another table while I was still eating. It wasn’t even that busy when I was there. They also do not provide sauce dishes (maybe they’re available upon request? Annoying), despite giving people condiments, which I thought was inconvenient (especially if they take away the condiments before you’re done eating)

The service was honestly pretty exceptionally poor. The servers look to be teen to young adult ages, and they seem to prioritize standing around socializing with each other behind the front counter over properly serving customers. I ran out of water halfway through my meal, and it wasn’t topped up until after I had already finished, even though I ate pretty slowly and noticed the servers standing around doing nothing, avoiding eye contact with their tables. When the server finally came around, she refilled my glass pretty carelessly and spilled a lot of water on my table, then asked “are you done?” without clearing my empty dishes, which made the question seem more like she was trying to usher me out.

I’m no stranger to dining at pho restaurants, and I know that one usually doesn’t come for the service, but this was such lazy, terrible service that I feel like it needed to be mentioned. You don’t always need to be ultra-friendly and smiley to your customers, but at the very least, make sure they have everything they need to enjoy their meal. Provide napkins and condiments freely, and refill water regularly.

At these prices, you’re not exactly paying for good service, but isn’t that what tipping is for? And if you don’t want to have to serve customers so attentively, provide a water refill station and keep cutlery and napkin dispensers on each table so we can at least...

Burnabys best and brightest! Don't believe the "$$" rating, this is one of the best vietnamese restaurants within Van I have grubbed at in a LONG time and it's incredible value for money! First, the restaurant is extremely lovely inside with fantastic authentic grass roots decor, a very nice cozy, relaxed and laid-back vibe with a nice community and family orientated feel. The staff are extremely talented, extremely friendly and very helpful - they make awesome yum food!! The menu is precise and accurate, nails all the best Vietnamese cuisine and caters very evenly for veggies. We started on the Gỏi cuốn (Vietnamese Fresh Shrimp Salad Rolls) in which we kept the shrimp as pescaterians. The peanut sauce was absolutely incredible, so delicious and the rolls are beautifuly presented, absolutely stuffed with incredible tasting flavors. We then both tucked into a Bún Chả Giò Chay (Vegetarian Vermicelli) which is my new favorite place to eat this dish. A huge plentiful portion and a great balance of refreshing salad with noodles oozing in spicy soy and fish sauce, but some huge crispy spring roll and tofu squares tucked inside. AWESOME!! This was huge in which my wife had to take some home in a doggy bag. I topped off this fantastic dining experience with a Slow Drip Vietnamese Iced Coffee which was absolutely incredibly delicious. It's so rad. You get to watch it Drip during the course of you eating your main dishes and finishes in the perfect time your tastebuds are craving sweetness at the end, especially in this current heatwave! It was the perfect delicious balance of sweet milk with bitter but delicious authentic coffee. Next time I'm trying the Cold Red Bean Dessert for sure, that sounds rad!! Love this place and the...