Prima Taste in Vancouver

Prima has expanded and grown so much. Besides the Ready Mixes packages which I have been using to make Mee Siam and Prawn Noodles, there are also Prima Taste Restaurants overseas. The Prima Taste Restaurant is totally different from the Prima Revolving Tower in Singapore. That serves more Shanghai/Chinese food, and is the restaurant often frequented by my family for Sunday lunch.

The Prima Taste restaurants serve Singapore local food and a bit of others. But the usual suspects are there - Laksa, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Mee Goreng, Beef Rendang, Char Kway Teow, Fried Hokkien Mee, Bak Kut Teh, Chendol, Ice Kachang, Roti Prata, Chili Crab etc. Quite a wide range of food available at the Prima Taste Restaurant in the Vancouver outlet. I finally got the chance to try it last night. It seemed like the laksa was the most authentic of all, so I tried it even though laksa was never really my favorite hawker dish :p

I had the prawn laksa (C$9.50 before taxes) which was surprisingly good. It was lemak enough with a slight hint of spices. It came with 4 pieces of fresh prawns, 4-6 slices of fish cakes, 2 tau pok and bean sprouts. The "chor bee hoon" could be better. That was the only disappointment. It was a bit rubbery, just a different texture from the thick bee hoon we get back in Singapore.

The sambal was fantastic, a pity it came in a miserable portion, then again maybe most patrons do not take much chili stuff. Jason loved it so much he slurped up all the gravy. Being in Singapore and health conscious, you just rarely see people drink up all the spicy coconut gravy at all. Something else was missing. The lack of "hae bee" (dried shrimps) taste in the dish. The generous sprinkling of fresh laksa leaves did a good job of infusing the real laksa taste to the otherwise "curry noodles". I guess if one is away from Singapore for too long, Prima Taste is a wonderful restaurant to dine at for those local food.

We came back again later in the evening and this time I tried roti prata, ice kachang and teh tarik. The roti prata was pretty good. Crispy. However it was not flat crispy like the usual stuff we get in Singapore. It was crispy, fluffy and a bit scrunched up. The curry dip could be better, that was a real disappointment. The ice kachang was average, I am not a big fan so I can't really comment on it. The shaved ice was not that fine, I could taste some chunks of ice in it. The teh tarik was like Lipton tea with milk and sugar. Bad. I miss the real teh tarik in Singapore, especially from Mr Teh Tarik in Far East Square. Good teh tarik is made with loose crushed black tea leaves, not tea bag style and is milky sweet.

I wonder what I should try next time. Fried Hokkien Mee (but the one in Singapore branch was not that great) or Bak Kut Teh or Char Kway Teow? I don't know, we shall see next time :)

Location

Prima Taste Restaurant

570 Robson Street, Vancouver

Tel: 604 6857881

Fax: 684 6857882