Luda

I was super tired from Canada Day celebrations the previous day, so I really wanted to head out for dinner. I was having a hard time picking between this restaurant and another restaurant (Gingeri in Richmond), but Gingeri was full for dinner so we went to Luda. By the time we got here, I was already really hungry and I looked forward to trying their Oyster Omelette, a Chinese dish of Chiuchow origin. Chiuchow food is rare in Vancouver, so I am excited every time I get to try the Oyster Omelette.

If you have never been here before, you might not expect much in terms of cleanliness and/or food quality from a place on East Hastings. When you walk inside, you'll be surprised by the coziness of the restaurant; and the prices are in line with restaurants that appear higher-end. This definitely is not a hole-in-the-wall place serving Canadian Chinese food.

Here's what we ate:

Salted Fish Fried Meat (Pork) Pie $14.98     5/5

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• The "bouncy" feel felt by your mouth when you bite into the meat was present here
• Contrary to steam, the method of preparation used at most Chinese restaurants for this dish, Luda takes it up a level and fries the Pie, I believe this gave a better feeling in the mouth and a feeling of more "fire"
• The salted fish was distributed in little pieces, there weren't too many, so the Pie was not excessively salty
• Goes very well with a bowl of rice

Oyster Omelette $16.80     5/5

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• One of my favourite dishes of all time, Luda does a great job with it
• Traditionally, oyster omelette would be prepared using small oysters, however, small oysters are more abundant in China and not so here on the West Coast, so what most chefs do is cut big oysters into small pieces; personally, I do not have that big a preference regarding this because it still tastes good since the oyster was fresh
• The omelette was not too thick or thin, just the right amount of starch was used to give the egg a thicker consistency
• Not too oily
• The onions sprinkled through out the omelette augmented the taste and texture of the omelette greatly, because the onions added more crunchyness to the omelette
• Fried just to the right level, not over fried, and fried just to the right level in that the egg is still crunchy
• Lots of oysters 

Spicy sauce and another sauce (I did not really like the taste)

椒C Fermented Bean Curd Spinach $14.98     4.5/5

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• Good texture (crunchy)
• Usually I do not like spinach, however, when it is prepared with this method, I love it because the taste is excellent for going along with a bowl of rice
• Fresh

Overall: All the dishes were served steaming hot. It was quite a nice dinner with comfortable seats. I can tell that the chef has put a lot of effort into preparing the dishes. I'll be back.