Update 15-Nov-2009: Aroma Garden is now closed. In its place is a hotpot restaurant. However, Aroma Garden has now moved to a new location 5 minutes walk away and is now known as Bushuair Restaurant. The menu in Bushuair Restaurant is identical to Aroma Garden.
I … errr … get very excited easily.
So you gotta learn how to look beyond my excitement while reading my blog. This is one more restaurant that really excites me. Bear with me OK?
I was driving past the new Aberdeen Skytrain station on No 3 Road when I spotted this sign above — Mao-Ze-Dong’s Most Favoured Dishes. I am not sure about you … but for me, I am a true sucker for taglines like these. So, last weekend we went to check it out.
We got confused. The sign outside by No 3 Road says that the restaurant name is Aroma Garden. However, in this strip mall, there is only ONE restaurant with a sign that says “Gordon Park” and “Xiangcai Museum”. We had to walk out to the sign and match the Chinese characters. The Chinese characters matches but the English translation is downright different.
What is this thing about “Xiangcai Museum” anyway? Anyone knows?
Anyway, I am going to call this restaurant Aroma Garden based on the receipt we had. Aroma Garden is located just at the Aberdeen Skytrain station and tucked right at the back of the strip mall. You can’t see the restaurant from No 3 Road. You gotta drive in. Parking is at a premium here during dinner time.
Aroma Garden is a very Chinesey restaurant. You will likely find mostly Mainland Chinese customers speaking Mandarin here.
I like the decor here which looks authentic Chinese with lanterns and wooden window frames.
This is a Hunan cuisine restaurant which explains the Mao Zee Dong reference. Mao, you see, is Hunanese. I am almost a Hunan race. Bet you don’t know that. I belong to the Hu-man race.
LOL! Alright lame joke.
The restaurant is filled with the distinctive aroma of Sichuan peppers. Their menu is a colorful catalogue with pictures which helps us decide our choices. This helps especially when their English translations are horrendous.
The first thing we try to look for in the menu is any reference to Mao’s favourite dishes. We only found one that says “Mao Pork Braised in Brown Sauce”. This is $10.
So we asked our waitress for other Mao’s dishes. She laughed! She said …
More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Aroma Garden (Hunan) Restaurant on No 3 Road, Richmond (640 words)
© ben for Chow Times, 2009. |
Permalink |
11 comments
Post tags: Chinese, Hunan, Restaurant Review, Richmond