Pearl Castle Cafe - Richmond, BC

So, last we took you to a casino and you thought the piglets couldn't take you any lower but we have! Welcome to Richmond Center - the epicentre of bad driving and even worse parking! And why are we here? To grab last minute gifts (bad decision, very bad decision) and as we waste away whilst looking for that last minute gift that will inevitably turn out to be a gift card due to my indecisiveness, we see the Pearl Castle and walk in for bite to eat. The main draw of this cafe is the Bubble Tea - fruit based sugary drink in a variety of flavors from matcha to all flavors of fruits that you can order as a slush or just a juice and add things like gelatinous balls (the bubbles), pudding, etc. The BB tea here is good but it's the food that is surprisingly delicious.



Fried Chicken Nuggets Taiwanese style - these little nuggets of yummyish are deep fried to crunchy goodness but is hot and moist on the inside and covered with with salt and pepper on the outside. My mom has tried to replicate this dish several times and just can't get it quite like PC does. Even she, who doesn't eat out much and is an amazing cook, gets excited for these little salty and peppery morsels.



And the winner of the Best Fried Rice Category goes to... *stumbles with the envelope* Pearl Castle! My god, I don't know what magic they employ to make this rice but it is delish! Moist, flavorful... The weird plate on the side? Red fermented pork that is nothing short of amazing! It's deep fried to crunchy goodness on the outside, moist porky goodness on the inside and then topped with a garlic sticky sauce. Let the salivating begin...



This piglet stuck with the Spicy Chicken - deep fried chicken in a spicy sweet and sour sauce served with rice and a few side dishes that changes everytime we visit. This time is marinated celery, a cold tofu and a cold marinated cabbage which cuts the spicy sweet and sour sauce perfectly.

On the menu, the dishes are listed as coming with a side dish and dessert. Well, dessert here means a little packet of taro wafer or a mini jello cup. A little weird. I suppose if you're here, then you'll have a BB tea which will serve as your real dessert.



To wash our deep fried meal down, we ordered the hot chrysanthemun tea with goji berry which is a nice counterbalance to all of the salt and oil we were consuming. No BB tea this time but if I could recommend something different if you're already accustomed to BB tea, I would recommend the Japanese matcha with red bean. For those first timers, stick to the fruit slushes with mango jelly instead of the bubbles if you don't like that hard jelly texture in your drink.