Cattle Cafe - Richmond, BC

Cattle Cafe - Richmond, BC

It's 7 degrees below 0, there's snow on the ground and it's 8 o'clock at night - where can a piglet get a nice warm meal??? Here!

Cattle Cafe has the same owners as Deer Garden (see previous blog entry) and they serve the same noodle, soup base and topping selections but in a modern/mod environment. They first opened in 2006 on Alexandra in Richmond and lineups were soon going out door and around the block as word of mouth about their great soup quickly spread. Now they've opened a second location on Kingsway in Burnaby with the same great menu. (There's even a Facebook page you can "like" for deals and updates). Cattle Cafe offers a greater variety of other HK cafe dishes than DG, such as steak with pepper sauce on rice and baked seafood on rice, and a greater drink selection making it more similar to a bubble tea house. So if you don't want noodles, take the elevator down from the Deer Garden upstairs and get yourself a nice bowl of....

Baked Spaghetti with minced beef and specialty sausage

It's spaghetti baked in a creamier sweeter tomato sauce with ground beef and smokie sausage pieces. If you're looking for an Italian meal, DO NOT COME HERE. The spaghetti and pasta dishes served at HK cafes are nowhere near what you'd find in an Italian or even North American-based restaurant. The noodles tend to be cooked more, the sauces are creamy and the flavoring is completely different - don't even think there'll be a sprig of rosemary or basil in anything. It's an Asian twist on a European idea and you may or may not like it but I think you should give it a try if you haven't already.

Noodles in soup on the other hand is OWNED by these kinds of cafes and Cattle Cafe does a really nice bowl of noodle. Their fish-based soup is cooked over 5 hours and contains no msg, no additives, no artificial flavoring and no preservatives. Vegetarian? No problem! Carnivore? No problem! You can choose from an assortment of toppings from enoki mushrooms to homemade cuttlefish balls to sliced beef and beyond. Not feeling the variety of fish-based soups? Again, no problem! They have Malaysian flavors, Szechuan flavors, Thai flavors or just plain old Chicken soup if that tickles your fancy. Udon, spaghetti, macaroni, ramen, sweet potato crystal noodles and more! The choices just don't stop! What did this piglet choose to warm the soul?

Original fish soup with cuttlefish balls and chicken balls

The noodles arrived piping hot and the ramen was cooked to perfection. Cuttlefish is good but those chicken balls were really great, not as tough and chewy as the beef version with great flavoring. And that broth? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Some great depth of flavor and seasoning - it tastes like it took 5 hours to make and it's well worth it. This piglet was warm and squishy after slurping down these noodles. Price: $7.95! I just love the pricing at HK cafes - a meal for two never costs more than $25 with drinks and taxes! This meal here? $23. Bam. Take that. Oh wait, there's more! That price also includes that little side dish of delicious ginger flavored fried wings - hot, crispy, savory but also a tinge of sweetness. How much to add on wings? $1.50! Ding ding! KO'd in the second round!

The obligatory lemon tea but Mr. Piglet decided to shake things up with a mix of milk tea and coffee as it was late and he didn't want to go to bed on a coffee buzz.

I know we're not buried in snow in -40 degree weather but this place will warm any cold soul any time of day. Bon appetite!