Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Bright clean place that looks suspiciously like a Freshii outlet. Decent-to-good food at a rather good price for mains. Price for portion is actually rather good and they aren't skimpy with ingredients like the chicken in my chicken curry. 46. Basil Garden Chicken Curry (with choice of Vermicelli or Rice; $12) This was a pretty big bowl for what you get. Obviously the curry soup is a part of what you get but they weren't skimpy with the chicken. Sweet potato made this a bit more interesting and gave the soup a slight sweetness. Not especially hot-spicy. Chicken pieces looked dry, unfortunately, but of course there's curry soup all around. Otherwise pretty decent bad and the price for portion is rather good. 1. Garlic Butter Chicken Wings ($12.50 - about $1.60 per wing) Came piping hot, juicy, crispy on the outside. But it was also the last item of our order to come, despite being an appetizer. Overall pretty decent. I think I would have liked the butter and/o...

Basil Garden Pho has been open just 4 months but the family has been in the restaurant business since the 90's. The unassuming exterior opens into a bright, clean, modern, newly renovated space close to Renfrew Skytrain Station just a couple blocks down the street. Weekday lunch is usually so busy that they are not able to take reservations, although larger groups could try an 11.30am or 11.45am reservation. Evenings and weekends are calmer, presumably because the nearby college and commercial buildings are less populated. DISCLOSURE: I was there for a complimentary tasting so. We got a chance to try some of their popular dishes, some "special menu" items, and some test kitchen items. At the moment the "special menu" is basically available when the owner Philip is there to cook it but in maybe a month or less the menu will be updated and hopefully those items won't be do elusive. They are also short on desserts at the moment and have experiment...