Moncton Cafe

120 - 3651 Moncton Street
Richmond, BC

On a late Saturday afternoon, W and I were just chillin’ inside a Starbucks in Richmond when a friend of W texted him asking if he could join us for dinner. Well sure, why not? They threw out some ideas like sushi, Korean food, or hot pot but they were all vetoed (by me LOL). Finally, I suggested trying Moncton Café out at Steveston because I read a food blog about it and the Houji ice-cream they served really intrigued me. W and his friend were game so off we went to the quiet seaside town!

Moncton Café actually serves Yoshoku cuisine, which is a Japanese take on Western/European cuisine. Some typical items include curry (which is milder and sweeter than Indian curry), tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet, similar to schnitzel), and pasta.

There were a few tables occupied inside the café when we arrived but generally it was pretty quiet. Good for a nice quiet dinner and chit-chat with friends! We sat down and started perusing the menu. We wanted to have some tea but they charged money for a pot (I’m so used to getting free cups of tea) so we just had water…

Seafood Carpaccio ($10.25) - thin sliced assorted sashimi with olive oil garlic dressing

The 3 of us decided to start with an appetizer so we chose the Seafood Carpaccio. It consisted of 3 slices each of salmon, tuna, and scallop atop some salad greens and thinly sliced radishes. Haha, the portion turned out just right because we all had equal amounts of sashimi. The sashimi was fresh but I thought the overall flavour was average. Nothing to shout out about.

House Hamburg ($14.95) - hamburger steak with demi-glace sauce

For my main, I ordered their House hamburg. On the iron hot plate, there was a substantial beef patty pan-fried to a nice brown caramelized colour and a juicy flavourful inside! It was laid atop grilled onions and smothered with a rich demi-glace sauce. Yum!! Corn niblets, veggies and fries rounded out the plate. I actually would have liked to have rice as the starch component instead of fries but they were still pretty good when they soaked up the sauce.

Prawn Curry ($14.50) - breaded shrimp with curry sauce over steamed rice

W was trying to decide between having the katsu curry or the prawn curry. Finally, he went with the prawn. When the dish came, I thought it was quite small. There were only 5 pieces of the panko-crusted prawns on top of the rice. And it didn’t seem like there was enough curry to go with the rice either. I tried a bit of it and I found the curry to be a little spicier than usual. I think they used the medium heat level of Japanese curry. On the side was a small pile of pickled radishes which helped to break up the constant bite of curry after curry. I think I would opt for the katsu curry for a more filling meal.

Mentaiko Pasta ($14.00) - spaghetti with mentaiko (spicy cod roe) cream sauce

W’s friend, Mr. E, declared that he was very hungry so he went for the pasta dish on the menu. Well! When it arrived, we were all taken aback by the size of the dish! It was small!  Even when Mr. E loosened the noodles with his fork, there was not a lot of spaghetti. Despite the small portion, he said the mentaiko sauce was quite tasty.

Chicken Sukiyaki Udon ($10.50) - chicken, vegetables, tofu and udon in sukiyaki soup

Since Mr. E was not filled up after the pasta, he ordered the Sukiyaki udon as his second main dish haha… It came bubbling hot in a shallow sukiyaki pot filled with chicken pieces, tofu, various veggies and udon in a deep-coloured sukiyaki broth. With a dash of Shichimi spice powder, Mr. E gobbled up the hearty noodle soup, so I think it’s safe to say that he found the udon good.

After our dishes were cleared away, we studied the café’s dessert menu. Right from the beginning I knew I wanted to try their Houji ice-cream. The full name of Houji is actually Houjicha or Houji tea, which is a roasted Japanese green tea. I love regular green tea ice cream (usually made from matcha tea) that is common in a lot of ice-cream parlours and restaurants so I wanted to see how different the flavour of Houji ice-cream is.

Houji Ice-cream ($4.00) - Japanese houji tea ice cream

I found it quite pricey for such a small scoop of ice-cream but I’m guessing the restaurant decided that the uniqueness of the flavour warranted this price tag. The Houji flavour was apparent in the first few spoons. I loved the taste of roasted tea in the ice-cream! However, maybe because my palate got used to the subtle tea flavour, it slowly faded away with each bite. The ice-cream was also more on the icy side rather than the creamy side. The dessert was garnished with a sweet and crisp waffle cookie which made the bowl look less bare.

Melon Cream ($5.50) - Espuma melon soda with ice cream

Mr. E was intrigued by the photo of the Melon Cream dessert. Even though it was described as ice cream with melon soda, we were wondering where the (liquid) soda was! The photo just showed a scoop of ice-cream with some light green cream piped around it!

When he took the first bite, his eyebrows raised and had a pleasantly surprised look on his face. Curious, I took a scoop of the light green cream to try. My reaction? I also raised my eyebrows and went “Ohhh!!” I was hit by a fragrant (although artificial) melon taste with the fizzy carbonated soda feeling on my tongue! The green cream was actually melon cream soda in solid (creamy jelly) form!!! We had unknown expectations for this dessert so in the end, we were captivated and pleased by it.

Places that serve Yoshoku cuisine are hard to come by around Metro Vancouver. Even though Steveston is quite out of the way, I would gladly pay another visit for their hamburg meals and desserts! Except, beware of attack chef!! LOL Oh Engrish....