Singapore Hawker Burnaby — Restaurant in Burnaby

June 14,2024. 3rd visit

Well, everytime we come to.this restaurant there is something changed. This time.we don't order at.the counter, We have to scan the barcode at the table and then order online. Then the waiter bring all the utensils and water and left it on the table to.help yourself. And then they bring.the machine to make us paid including the tips before they serve the food. WHY do we have to pay before we eat, and why do we have to pay 12% /15% tips when there is hardly any service. They left all the tray on our tables, and worst of all there is no water refill when most dishes r spicy. There r so many waiters on the floor walking around but no service provided after the food was bring to table. If the food wasn't good I definitely will not come back to this restaurant.

Either u want to be a fast food or a.full service and not a half & half restaurant. Don't expect full tips if u don't want to be a full service restaurant!

1st visit

It was chaotic. We arrived at the restaurant right at it opened at 11:30 on a Sat. I found out it is a self serve restaurant. It should be simple, buy your food and then sit down and eat. But no. You buy your food, they bring you utensils and water. Then they call your number of your order, but they don't come all at once. We ordered 5 dishes. My son has to get up to the counter 4 times to pick up the dishes, and one time they brought it to us. We had like 5 trays on the table, if we don't bring back the tray to them there will be no place to put our food.By 12 pm , the restaurant was full It was so chaotic, the front counter kept on calling number like McDonald's and customers has to keep on going to the front counter to pickup the food. It was nosiy and customers were all over the restaurant. It was a very stressful experience, and we felt like we were working for the restaurant. The curry brisket and rice, has very little curry. The curry that came with the roti was quite sweet. One of the fried noodle was too spicy to our liking. The fried chicken wings was not bad. The best dish was the hoi Nam chicken rice. It is trying to operate as a fast food...

Just for the birds?!?

I had a take out order when it first opened and it was more than disappointing so decided to come back here for a dine in experience I hope of a better experience.

This place is located on the corner of Kingsway and Sperling in Burnaby. There are a few tight butt parking spaces on the side parking lot or around the streets.

Inside the restaurant is similar to a cafeteria concept; the bare basics of tables and chairs with minimal decors, order and pay at the counter, food will be brought to your table when ready.

Upon entering, was guided to a table already occupied by another diner (wasnr busy and many empty tables, why a shared table? this isn’t Singapore tinder?!? I am here to eat not in hope of making a new friend and feeding eat other roti?!?)

Here were the food I ordered;

Satay skewers (chicken). I find them quite tiny in portion wise, would’ve been better if they were slightly more chunky. Roti Canai. The roti itself was quite flaky and good but wish the curry wasn’t so watery so sticks to the roti more. Nyonya 3 kinds pan fried with shrimps. Were out of okras but I okay’ed it. Pretty basic noting exciting much. Singapore laksa. The soup base was too sweet that it masked most of the flavours away but the fish balls were decent. Maybe a cleaner presentation would be nice too. Boneless Hainanese chicken on rice. The chicken was missing that silky smoothness and the rice didn’t have that nice Hainanese chicken flavour to it.

Overall, I believe the second time around confirmed my first time experience here. The customer service here was quite limited besides the cashier who was quite nice and friendly. The ambiance was a very casual cafeteria style which I guess it kind of fits the “hawker” part. The food was… ummm… I would say could’ve been better; in terms of quantity it was okay but in terms of quality, it was off. Plus hawkers or street vendors equal to large portion of good food for a very reasonable price, I personally find the price a bit higher than what the name stands for. I personally prefer Green & Oak more… not a repeat for me anytime soon.

2...

It is spacious & well lit inside. You are seated first. Water, menus, cutlery and dishes are brought to you. When ready, you order & pay at the front counter. (Cash preferred but credit card machine is available.)

We got rendang beef, nyonya yellow curry chicken with veg, braised short ribs and holy basil minced pork with coconut chicken (level: 'spicy') and a side order of ginger rice. • ⭐️Rendang was out of this world tender, complex flavours with lemongrass topnotes, Huge chunks of brisket, not fatty. • Nyonya chicken was listed as chicken breast. Due to velvetting (?), seemed like dark meat texture. Flavour was sharper than rendang, but mellowed a bit by the rich coconut. Some veggies were mmm incognito-deep fried before being added to curry. The eggplant & green beans were divine. • ⭐️basil minced pork was amazingly pungeant. Lovely hits of Thai red chilis. I had ordered it 'extra spicy' but since this was our first time, the cashier suggested 'spicy'. • Beef short ribs- tender, large pieces. Garlic and chilis floating in the thin braising sauce. It was sweet sour from maybe miren? Friends who had come previously said that this was the star. For us, it was a lovely flavour but it was a smidge on the sweet side. We typically go for pungeant, rich, spicy, garlicy flavours. We likely wouldn't order this again. But if it was on a share table, we'd defo eat it & enjoy it.

❔️ NO WAITING - It was busy when we first got there for a late lunch. But we got seated immediately. Then it fizzled out. A half hour later, hoppin busy again. We didn't have issues finding parking or a table. But we were seated by the front door. It was cold and a bit noisy. (Luck of the draw.)

PORTIONS were large. We ate a big lunch. And had enough for dinner that & the following night. Resto food is rich so we added our own steamed brocco to spread out the portions. All 3 meals were very satisfying. The takeout boxes appeared to be on the small side.

RECOMMENDATION: put down your device and go eat...