Domo Is Craving...: Uncle Lu

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to Domoiscraving and today we will be talking about Uncle Lu! The chinese wording at the front is exactly like Corner 23 so I assume they have some sort of a relation to each other. I'm not sure if this is exactly true but I heard that the boss of Corner 23 sold that name to another person and now opened Uncle Lu in Richmond to continue the popular Taiwanese chain restaurant here in Vancouver.

This restaurant is located in Continental Centre in Central Richmond. This plaza is usually filled with people because majority of the stores are restaurants. When we got there, we noticed at the front of the restaurant they have a sign up sheet where you can put down your name & number of people & they'll base off that list and give you a table accordingly. Also this place is CASH ONLY! Since their front isn't extremely big, we decided to step out to wait for our table. They taped up posters along the windows showing their signature dishes. Just looking at the images was making me drool already.

When we got to our table, we were given menus and they were probably the nicest looking menus I've seen in a Taiwanese restaurant. Their interior is smaller than expected but because of their tall ceilings, it didn't feel constricted at all. They had lantern decoration light fixtures above and at the back wall they featured this big piece with a bunch of asian words. Because my Chinese only goes to a certain extent, there's no way how I can translate that but at least it looks cool!

If you've read my previous Taiwanese blogs, you would know I ALWAYS, well 90% of the time I'll just order Honey Milk Tea ($4.75). The cup is much bigger than I thought it'll be and I think it's a great value for this drink.

Phil on the other hand tried something much different than his usual. He ordered Peach Oolong Tea ($4.50). It had great flavored and he highly recommends trying this drink!

For appetizer, we ordered Deep Fried Fish Cake ($4.95). It was good but nothing spectacular. I thought it could use a tad more flavour. Easy appetizer to share and eat.

Wan Luan Pork Hock (Small- $10.50) One of their signature dishes at this restaurant and it is a definite MUST order. The side sauce is a garlic mix and it pairs extremely well with the pork hock. We loved this so much and I highly recommend ordering this when coming here!

We wanted something other than meat, so we decided to order a plate of Hakka Stir Fry ($10.50) which contains dried tofu, pork & green onions. This was my moms favorite dish and I usually don't eat green onion pieces straight up but this had amazing flavor and I actually enjoy pairing this with white rice.

Obviously we had to try the 3 Spice Sauce Chicken ($10.50). This was very enjoyable and delicious.

We also ordered a dish of Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets ($6.75) and this tasted amazing. You can really tell by eating it that they use a different type of batter. The flavor was so different and it was by far one of the best deep fried chicken nuggets I had. The portion you get from this plate is so worth the $6.75. Highly recommend ordering this as a combo with white rice or just order this as a snack and share with friends!

Saw this on the menu listing as Taiwanese Radish Cake ($4.50) so I had to order this to see whats the difference between this and our usual Chinese dim sum radish cake. To be honest, the radish cake is exactly the same as what you get from dim sum and is nothing spectacular. The only thing that wowed me was the side sauce they provided. It's like an elevated oyster sauce and it pairs extremely well with the radish cake.

Last but not least, we ordered the Deep fried Pork Chop ($5.95). Usually at the Taiwanese restaurants we go to, they use the same batter used for chicken nuggets on the pork chop. I was very surprised their batter for this pork chop was different from the one used for chicken nuggets. The pork was very tender and juicy. The batter paired with this was perfect! This was my favorite dish for this meal and I would order this again and again.