Steveston Restaurants

Last year new development went up on prime Steveston waterfront, opening up spaces to house new restaurants and boutiques. I've been spending so much time away from home in recent months that I haven't been witnessing these changes. Sometime within the month, Steveston's first and only Malaysian restaurant, Kari House, opened, and I had no idea! Steveston - home of fish 'n chips and 4 Greek restaurants, had a Malaysian restaurant? Since when?

Lucky for us, this restaurant is literally down the road. Finally, Steveston's starting to adopt some of the tasty and flavourful Asian cuisine that the rest of Richmond and Vancouver savours. Certainly, Steveston always had Japanese and Chinese options, but never south-east Asian delicacies such as Malaysian food!

We decided to order this food for pick-up, so I never got to enjoy the full sit-down experience, but there's always next time!

Favorite Dish: Kari House serves very fresh, flavourful and spicy Malaysian food. My mom was expecting something similar to westernized Chinese food, but was quite pleasantly surprised to taste these treats! My dad (who had been to Malaysia), whose passion is tasty, ethnic cuisine, was in heaven.

My family shared the following for dinner in October of 2004:

Roti Canai ($2.95) - 2 pieces of Mayasian flaky bread served with curry sauce. I found this similar to Indian naan bread, except it was lighter, less buttery and more flavourful.

Malaysian Satay ($7.95) - 4 skewers of grilled marinated chicken with peanut sauce. This is no different than chicken satays I eat in local Thai restaurants.

Chicken with Cashew Nuts ($9.95) - Boneless chicken pieces with cashew nuts and vegetables, stir-fried with whole red chili peppers to make this one very spicy dish!

Curry Mixed Vegetables ($9.95) - Mixed vegetables with curry sauce and coconut milk. The vegetables seemed to be a blend of green cabbage, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, among others.

Mee Goreng ($9.95) - Pan fried noodles with ground peanuts, egg, and dried onion on top. It had a very sweet tamarind flavour. We decided to order the beef mee goreng, but we could have also chosen chicken, pork, prawns or vegetarian.

All together this came to a little over $40. All prices in Canadian dollars of course. Not a bad way to feed a family of four on a Thursday night!

We'd heard so much about the fish and chips served up in Steveston that we had to pay a visit. We suprised by just how many different vendors there were but decide to go for PaJo's. We chose halibut which was the most expensive fish but my favourite. The chips we good, fried with the skin on. The fish was tasty too but the mrs thought there was too much batter. They had plenty of condiments including brown and tartar sauce. Next time we'll check out one of the others to find out which is best. Portions were large. We share on large poition between the two of us and it was plent big enough. Seating is plentiful and they have these custome made seats for to which have hole cut in them to slot your cone of fish and chips.

Along the boardwalk/pier there are many restaurants to choose from - lots of fish & chips to try. We picked Jakes because of the fact that there were a couple of tables outside available with shade, and the fact that people weren't walking past the tables, doing what we had done - checked out people's plates to see what looked good! My only criticism of the patio was that the railing was just a little too high to have a clear view of the harbour while sitting down. Minor problem in the big scheme of things.

Favorite Dish: I had the 2 pieces of Halibut with chips (fries) and coleslaw. They were big pieces of fish and a nice, crispy batter. I thought that it was about the best fish I'd had - the fries were good but I'm not a big fries fan. The coleslaw was quite good too.
My cousin had the salmon & chips and she found the 2 pieces a little too much. Her husband had the special - scallops and oysters (or was it clams?) deep fried. He felt that there was too much batter on them and it was difficult to tell them apart. That wasn't a big hit.

Pajo's claims to have world famous fish and chips, and it situated right on the water in Steveston. My friends saw they are really great, but I have yet to eat here.

Favorite Dish: Hey, you can't go wrong with world famous fish and chips!

For a real treat, pick up take-out fish and chips at Dave's Fish and Chips (3460 Moncton) or spoon up chowder (summer only) at Pajo's, a boat restaurant anchored at the dock. For more of a meal try the patio at Sleigh's Restaurant (terrific paella or crab) or Steveston Seafood House (3951 Moncton Street, 604.271.5252).

Dining at the Crab King is a special thing, because the restaurant floats in the Steveston harbour. At times the way to the place maybe steep, so wear some flat shoes.

Open daily: 11AM - 9PM

Favorite Dish: Crab.

Cimona Cafe offers great breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Of course you can stop by in between for a coffee or so.

Business hours:
Mo-Sa: 8AM - 9PM
Su: 8AM - 5PM