Chiffon Chinese Cuisine on Garden City and Alderbridge Way, Richmond

Strange as it might seem to you but we had NEVER ever driven into the strip mall at the intersection of Garden City and Alderbridge Way.  I mean, we know fully well there is a strip mall.  I think it’s the way it is laid out that makes people bypass this place.

Firstly there is a hedge all around the area which partly obscure the strip mall from the busy intersection.  Moreover, it is the awkward way the car wash is positioned that partly hides the access road too.  I think if they demolish the car wash, this place will open up to more traffic.

Little did we know that there is a Taiwanese style cafe located here.  We only knew reading about the Chiffon Chinese Cuisine on Wendy’s Eat n About blog here.

We are not sure how long Chiffon Chinese had been around but they looked new.  It has quite a big dining area … a signed by the door says that there are 90 seats here.  It is clean with a modern and bright interior.

It is quite apparent to us that this restaurant caters to the younger customers from the decor, and the loud (Mandarin) music.

They have a surprising large number of staff.  Being early eaters, there were hardly any customer on our visit.  So, it felt kind of odd having the staff out number the customers.

You know, Nanzaro and Arkensen does not want to share dishes anymore.  I am not sure why.  They just wanted to order their own dish.

Chiffon has a $25 Combo for Two which you can pick three dishes and includes dessert, soup and rice.  It would have been perfect to share between three people but none of the boys wanted to share.  Suanne decided it was way too much for the two of us (despite it being a Combo for Two) and dropped the idea of ordering this.

One thing we noticed.  In Taiwanese restaurants, they normally print your order and cello-tape it to your table.  Did you notice that it’s normally in Taiwanese restaurants only?  You certainly don’t see this from HK Style Cafes.  They mark off the items as each dish is delivered to the table.  It’s a simple way to validate your order and also keep track of what had been delivered.

Is this practice widespread in Taiwan … anyone from Taiwan can confirm this?

Nanzaro, ever the one who wants to order fancy dishes, decided to get the Pig Intestines in Chili Hotpot.  This is $8.

There were not much pig intestines here.  You get a lot of stuff like pig blood … lots of it … and …

… beansprout.  It does look full and delicious but frankly, it was just so-so.More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Chiffon Chinese Cuisine on Garden City and Alderbridge Way, Richmond (299 words)

© ben for Chow Times, 2009. |
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Post tags: Restaurant Review, Richmond, Taiwanese

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