Gin's Kitchen & Cafe- Fails To Impress ~ Eating With Kirby

1 February 2012

Gin's Kitchen & Cafe- Fails To Impress

Trixie told me about this new sort of “hole-in-the-wall’ restaurant in Richmond that supposedly had really cheap $4.95 lunches. Since we were both feeling particularly cheap that day, we decided to try it out.


Upon first glance, it really did look like a hole-in-the-wall. The name of the restaurant (in English) is not visible and it is squished in between two larger establishments so you probably wouldn’t notice this restaurant at all when walking by.

The interior looked a lot prettier than I imagined and it reminded me of Liu’s Taiwanese Restaurant (post).

Their $4.95 Lunch Special is from 11am-3pm and the meal does not come with a drink. :(

We first ordered a Matcha Green Milk Tea (~$3.75) to share. When it arrived, both of us could already tell that it wasn’t going to be good. Isn’t Matcha green milk tea suppose to be green? I guess this goes to show that they don’t use real Matcha powder. Regardless of the colour, the drink was incredibly watery, flavourless, and downright bad. It tasted exactly like the Matcha green milk tea I had at Accord Food House (post).

I ordered the Curry Beef on Rice ($4.95) but it was a MAJOR disappointment. The ‘yellow sauce’ tasted so bland that it might as well be called ‘white flour sauce dyed yellow’.

Trixie ordered the Chicken Steak with Instant Noodles in Soup ($4.95) and this dish specifically indicates that it will need 20 minutes to prepare.

Trixie said she tried the chicken steak here before and thought it was quite delicious.

The chicken steak was indeed quite good, but it did not blow me away. The chicken steak was overall quite oily and I would have preferred a little bit more crispiness from the skin.

I guess for $4.95, you get what you pay for. The service was a bit slow during our whole meal and the food was disappointing so I doubt I'll return. If I hear they have improved, then MAYBE I’ll give them one more try.

Based on these reasons:
  • disappointing drinks (not cheap either)
  • don't order the Curry Beef on Rice
  • inexpensive and cheap lunch
Service Rating: 2/5
Food Rating: 2/5
Price: $

Overall Rating: 2/5

Happy Eating!


Gin's Kitchen & Cafe on Urbanspoon

9 reacties:

  1. For $5, I won't expect much. I mean, not many places can even offer lunch special at that price. I think that they already know they are slow. That is why I saw the "(Need 20 min)" on the lunch special menu. :-)

    Thanks for sharing!
    Ben

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  2. Hey Kirby: One more thing ... just a suggestion ... perhaps you want to consider finding ways to get rid of the blue tint on the nice pictures. :-) Let me know if you need help/pointers. Or even let me know if I am too nosey! :-)

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    1. Haha thanks Ben for your input! Yeah I realize it is a very cheap price they are charging so I shouldn't be too picky with the quality :P but In the future, I'd probably spend two bucks more and get sth better elsewhere!

      And I totally don't think you are nosy! :D I did notice the blue tint but that is because of the intense blue lightning in the restaurant. I could have gotten rid of it using the color alteration function right? I think once I get more comfortable with my new camera I should be able to work out the kinks :P

      Thanks again Ben!

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  3. Out of curiosity ... what camera are you using? If it has the ability to take pictures in RAW, you can rescue shots using color correction. It's an additional step in picture processing and the downside is the picture size is big. Everytime I am in places with such problematic lightings I take it in RAW. Otherwise jpgs is much less hassle to handle for sure! :-)

    Ben

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    Replies
    1. I have a Canon Powershot ELPH 300. I am not sure if it has the ability to take pictures in RAW. Hmm I will check! Thanks Ben!

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  4. wow $5 is pretty good deal LOL maybe i should venture out to richmond for that :p

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    Replies
    1. You should! But if you are going to purposely venture to Richmond, there are totally better restaurants you should try :P

      Even though this place is cheap, the quality is just so meh that I don't know if it's worth it lol

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  5. I had the worst experience with the Taiwainese set meals here. They pretty much use the same starchy sauces and the same veggies for every single dish. But I heard that the rice noodles in fish broth is good.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah! I read your post on this place and you didn't like the so-called "Curry Beef on Rice" either! It was honestly REALLY bad.

      If I ever go back, maybe I'll try out their fish broth noodle thing. But then again, why go there when Deer Garden can guarantee me fantastic fish broth noodles? :P

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