ETEA: an affordable and underrated Asian fast food restaurant in Vancouver

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During my month-long visit to Vancouver, I dined at the same restaurant multiple times. Let me tell you the reasons. :) 

One evening, I just finished penning a new essay for an American think tank, and so I decided not to do my cooking as usual. I went to this place is called ETEA Cafe, located on 3281 E 22nd Ave, in Vancouver (Renfrew-Collingwood). 

As the name would suggest, this is not a place for fine dining. ETEA Cafe is indeed a fast food restaurant. In fact, it is advertised as a Taiwanese bubble tea restaurant.

The night before, I went out past 9 pm and only two restaurants were open in the neighborhood: this one and a Korean restaurant. I went for the latter: Damn! Their food was meh and it was a total rip-off! (please picture this: flavorless udon noodles with two shrimps and two oysters costing over $15 excluding tax and tip!)

ETEA Cafe is a very pleasant surprise. So hungry I was, I did not take much time to study the menu. I ordered porkchop rice with egg sauce. Wow, the order consisted of four pieces of porkchops - two big and two small. These photos are not professional: in case the food does not look very mouth-watering, I want to ensure you that while the sauce may look like soy sauce, it was definitely egg sauce. Even the porkchops, all crispy and fresh, had an egg-flavor added to it. 

The meal was big. I had to put some pieces on the dish before I could eat the rice. I guess my only complaint was that they should have served both the pork and the rice on a big dish instead--those oval-shaped ones typically used at similar restaurants.

I felt so full and contented. There was some rice left uneaten--I had to reassure the very nice Asian waitress that I felt very satisfied. I did not finish the rice because I happened to have a small stomach.

If I had gone with Mom, we would have made just this order, plus a small side dish. Given that this order cost a little under $16, the two orders would have cost barely over $30 (tax/tip included). That would be more than enough for two women who do not have very big appetites. 

I wish Mom was there. She would have agreed, "it's so big!"

Overall, it was a good deal--one that exceeded my expectations in a city like Vancouver where prices have been skyrocketing over the last couple of years. I decided to visit again before I left. 

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During my second visit, I ordered a combo meal consisting of rice noodles with fish ball and wonton (dumplings) in milk soup. It cost just under $16. This time the photo is a lot prettier As you can see the restaurant offered good value for for the cheap price. As for which meal was better? Well, it depends on how hungry I am. I definitely prefer the porkchops with rice as I was once known as a "rice bucket" (and still am), although I love fishballs. Here is a picture of the menu:

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On my third visit, a different combo meal: mini ham spaghetti with soup and Hongkong-style milk tea did not disappoint me either. In fact, as you can see from the picture, the spaghetti was not at all "mini," and was almost as good as that I ate in Hong Kong. If I have any complaint, it would be that the restaurant only offered me sugar to add to the tea, but no pepper for the spaghetti.

Part of the thrill of visiting a Taiwanese/Hong Kong-style restaurant like this came from my yearning for the good old days, when we had quick breakfast/lunch at similar cha-chan-teng's (literally translated as "tea restaurant") in my neighborhood back home (Hong Kong). Those are typically noisy and quite busy--more so than ETEA and customers, who mostly live nearby, love to chat with the servers. 

One thing that I miss about cha-chan-teng's is that its spaghetti with soup has a special taste that is not found in those offered at more stylish places. A while ago I talked to a friend about this taste: he knew someone who owned a cha-chan-teng and could confirm that the soup base likely contained a little meat in it and so the flavor cannot replicated simply by adding MSG.

The soup base at ETEA could not compare to that I had in Hong Kong. However, the milk tea was just as good. I could tell from the smooth texture and rich flavor that the excellent texture that it was made from tea leaves in a rather old-fashioned manner, rather than from an instant tea pack (or even a tea bag). Even the mug helped to invoke in me that feeling of home.

I suffered from a cold and my sinuses were very irritated, which only got slightly better in the evening. Still, this simple meal left me feeling very content. :)

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I still felt a bit drowsy on my fourth visit. I picked pork and chicken chops with black pepper sauce + Hong Kong style milk tea (the latter is not in the picture), which cost less than $20 including tax/tip.

Oh my! ~ the chops were so tender and delicious!  I can't recall how many times I avoided ordering combo meals with beef/chicken/pork chops at some chain fast food restaurants in Hong Kong: in my experience, the chefs there tended to overcook the meat so the tenderness is gone.  The kimchi was a little too spicy (I used to buy lots of kimchi and my favorite Korean brand is the least spicy). It was a nice surprise to find the cucumber.

By the way, the decor here is minimalist but warm (see the wall decorations). The atmosphere is cozy enough so that you wouldn't be in a hurry to leave. I dined a couple times more after this visit for this combo. My sickness was gone by then, but my nose was runny after every meal due to the spicy kimchi and black pepper. I love that feeling though. :)

Like I said, I will definitely visit again whenever I go back to Vancouver.