E-Canteen

In Richmond, HK-​style cafes are a dime a dozen. So what makes this place stick out? PRICE.
You can get a big heaping plate of rice or noodles, with a drink, for just $ 7. Seriously, I have no idea how this place stays afloat, as the floor space is also quite large. How large? The place is never at capacity (not a bad thing).
The food here is decent, but to be honest, it’s not the world’s greatest. I must say I’m disappointed in any of their «spicy» dishes, such as Thai or Malay-​style fried rice. They simply can’t pull it off. It tastes like something you’d buy from the frozen section of T&T. But their other dishes are generally OK.
Parking is ample thanks to the large lot in front. The location smack in the middle of Richmond also makes it an ideal gathering place.

Not impressed.
This Karaōke Restaurant turned HK café is singing a little off key for my tastes. The themed karaōke rooms have been converted into private dinner rooms and look pretty cool, but the rest of the restaurant, including the bathroom = boring. Our food, was nothing spectacular, maybe if we tried something else on the menu it would have been good. We had ordered 4 different plates and shared, but in the end, nobody wanted to take the leftovers home. We came here because it was open late, was fairly busy inside and thought eating at a restaurant on a second floor might be cool.

Bizarre letdown!
Hmm… where do I start?
The service was not rude, it was just rare. The menu? Tacky, filled with too many options and not enough pictures (when I’m hungry I don’t want to read a novel).
The food comes in large portions and it’s great for sharing. The dishes were average, but I requested something not on the menu and it tasted great! If/​when you go, get the spicy eggplant on fried noodles. It was a winner…
Having just read Vincci’s review before ordering, I made sure to confirm that pearls were available. Affirmative. 10 minutes later the manager came out to tell us that there were no pearls. No biggie, but it was not surprising either. Our drinks came long after our meals were served. We could see them waiting on the bar for over 10 mins, but the staff (who casually talked to each other most of the time) neglected to bring them to us. When they did serve them, the slushes had melted considerably and the server man-​handled all of our straws trying to determine which drink was which.
The atmosphere of the place, unless you score one of the private rooms (that is the only way I would return) is uninspiring. It actually irked me a little. I mean, if it were a hole in the wall, I would appreciate the boring simplicity. E-​canteen can try harder. Seriously. The larger-​than-​life white wall adorned with the line of miniscule framed mirrors needs something… colour, for one, and some kind of décor large enough to fit the expanse. HK café’s in my opinion should have a kind of youthful warmth to them. That could just be me though…
All this being said, the food is good value and tastes decent. It’s just not a place I would desire to visit again.

Middle of the range in taste to this HK café located right across from RPM (Richmond Public Market). The food isn’t bad here, it’s just not the best compared to all the other food you can get in Richmond, and all the competition in regards to the «HK style café».
This place however is good when you have big groups as sometimes you get the rooms to sit in. This place used to be a restaurant/​karoake and when E-​Canteen took over, they decided to keep these rooms, and it works out when you have a good group of people, and you get to sit in here.
The menu selection is quite big, and also quite cheap, so you can never break the bank on any of the food here. The drinks are also a fairly good size, but on this day my HK coffee was kinda off, as in the cream, that’s what I’m thinking.
The other thing good about this place is that the parking lot is fair sized, so most likely you will find parking. Nothing to rave about, but a meal that is affordable, with alot of selection, and big portions.

Another Hong Kong style café restaurant The food is inexpensive and bountiful but nothing special and the service staff is rude. The only good thing about this place is the cold Hong Kong style coffee.

Another HK-​style café in Richmond. I can’t bear to give these anymore than 4 stars, because, it’s a HK style café. These aren’t meant to have any ambiance, great service or superior food. Don’t stay and hang out for too long either, as there are always line ups to get to these.
This one is located on the second floor, so it might be a little hard to find. Even though this is a large restaurant, there is usually a short wait for the table.
Their menu has a wide variety of selection, noodles, rice, western style or eastern style, snacks, and these combos where you can choose your meats/​veggies, and it comes with a drink and soup.
There’s something about their fried rice here that’s really good. Sometimes a little too oily, but they always do it right. Their Laksa’s are also suprisingly yum. Flavourful soup broth, not too spicy, and come with chicken, veggies, and some seafood. All their food comes with a drink, and I always opt for my favourite iced milk tea. It’s only ok here though, but the Laksa makes up for it.
If you’re ever looking for a quick and filling bite and as long as you’re not going to be picky, then this is a place to try.

Located on 2^nd floor… over the years have gone many times as my in-​laws think it is a good value. When we have a large group we use 1 of the private banquet rooms.
Large selection of Hong Kong style café cuisine. The food is consistently good. The last time we were there for lunch… ordered a house seafood style noodles, Xiamen noodles (slightly orange curry sauce), and house fried rice. The rice had bits of spam which I do not like and had to tediously remove. Otherwise all was good. Portions are large… we had plenty to take home.
The service was prompt… although they did not refill our tea glasses.
It does get busy! During our lunch we noticed all the tables were full and there were people waiting for a table.

A large HK-​style café that almost always have room for any size of group. They have a wide variety on their menu, from the typical fried rice dish, noodles, congee, to 2– or 3– meat choice meals, they have it all. They have all the typical beverages plus bubble tea too, although they seem to always sell out of tapioca…
The food is decent with large portions, I always have to take half home next day’s lunch. The service could be a little slow as they seem under staffed for such a large area when they are really busy. They’ve got private rooms for large parties, so that’s pretty nice. We go there all the time, especially after 9pm for the discounted meals :)

The food came out HOT and quick. My water was not refilled until I asked, and seemed to take a while. Otherwise service was good.
The table we were seated at was stiff and uncomfortable– not sure if the booths are better, but I’ll definitely ask for one next time.
They have a mix and match menu as well as the traditional soups and rice plates.

When my friends brought me here I thought they were taking me to one of those cyber cafes that all the kids went to to play counterstrike at.
E-​Canteen is a HK style café. The décor is a little odd but fits with their orange coloured theme.
Service was exceptionally well paced and friendly which was also a little odd for an HK style diner. Instead of getting that feeling we were being rushed through our meal, it was actually relaxing and enjoyable to sit and eat here.
Perhaps due to its location on the second floor and the close proximity to Alleluia Café, I have never seen this place busy. Which is nice. noise level here is definitely half of what you would experience at the other popular spots.