Kurumba

Part of what makes me proud of being Singaporean is the food. Unable to have authentic (and cheap) Singaporean fare in hawker centres like back home, I'm always on a look out for good little eateries that serve decent and reasonably priced Singaporean/Malaysian cuisine. The typical ones are Banana Leaf and Tropika, with Tropika on Cambie &14th Ave being my favourite. I need to do a review there.

Close to where I live is an independent eatery that my family likes to frequent. It is located in Port Moody, and is run by a Sri Lankan Chef who moved to Canada years ago. His restuarant was recently featured in the Vancouver Sun.

Review Snippet

Overall: Memorable and authentic food, good service

Price: Reasonable, $10-$15 per person

Food: Singaporean/ Malaysian/ South-east Asian (SEA)

Ambiance: Spacious, quaint with SEA-inspired furniture and decorations

3033 St. Johns Street.

Port Moody, BC

604-461-2245

A must-order for my family whenever we are there is the Seafood Hor Fun. Remember to ask for "Singaporean Style" as this version is not on the menu. For as long as I can remember, we always order this version such that I don't even know how the "regular" one tastes like. My dad, a hor fun expert always raves about how fresh their horfun (the rice noodles) is and wonders where they get it from. Plenty of tasty gravy and seafood. I love the soft and tender fish slices!

Beef rendang- a staple malay/ peranakan (term for the chinese-malay mixed race in Singapore) dish. Rich, thick curry and tender pieces of beef, this dish was pretty good. 

Spicy, garlic chicken wings. This was really tasty and we enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the garlic and onion bits/chips over top.

My order- sambal fish and egg plant. This was part of their lunch special and for $8, is such a deal! I had this once before and it has stuck with me ever since. The fish is nice and crispy and I love the sambal chilli paste served with it. They definitely could have been more generous with the eggplant though.

Overall, Kurumba Restaurant is highly recommended if you ever make a trip out to the tri-cities or live around the area!- Sara

Lougheed Wonton

Review Snippet
Overall: Not recommended; Run of the mill dimsum
Food: Chinese/ Dim Sum
Price: $8-$10/ person
Ambiance: VERY chinese


Lougheed Wonton


2408 St. Johns St.
Port Moody, BC 
604 939 8388


Helping out at the salmon hatchery does indeed work up an appetite, scratch that, i'm always hungry. Debating on where to head over to for lunch, we decided to go to lougheed wonton instead of Rainbow, butterfly , for inconvenience sake. Also, due to the fact that my dad had been hinting over the course of the week about wanting to eat their fried eggplant..

Seafood Chowmein

There was a variety of seafood, such as prawns, squid, scallops, with the excpetion of pork. It was a decent rendition of seafood chowmein, but was a tad bit too salty.

Char Siew Pao

Not being a particular fan of Char siew pao in general, i liked it better than other places as it was not overly sweet and the skin wasn't that thick.

Siew Mai

Being on the more meaty/porky side, as compared to the more delicate ones filled with mostly prawns, i wasn't a huge fan of the siew mai.

Stuffed Eggplant

Memories of economic rice in Singapore come flooding back. I've missed eating eggplant and this did not disappoint! The stuffing on the top,  a mishmash of prawn and fish cake was really tasty, as well as the black bean sauce, complementing the rather bland, but soft eggplant.

Honey Spare Ribs

 The ribs as quoted by my father were a little too tough and boney, but the rest of us felt that it was alright, nothing much to be able to rave about. My mum thought it was the best dish though.

Egg Tarts

Although the crust may have been on the normal, less flaky side, the custard was really creamy and oh-so good. Sara and my dad enjoyed it though, particularly because of the firmer crust. - Isabel

Rocky Point Park- Pajos, Sun, Music and Whoopi (Goldberg)

We headed over to Rocky Point Park in Port Moody after church today as my mum was excited to check out the spca/animal festival that was going on. Being half-hearted dog lovers (half-hearted because we like dogs but don't enjoy the hassle of cleaning and picking pick up after them, please don't judge us) we haven't owned one one years. Visiting this festival was my mum's way of "owning a dog vicariously". Needless to say, Rocky Point= Pajo's Fish and Chips for lunch.


Review Snippet
Overall: Recommended- great food and ambiance
Food: Fish and chips; Lunch/ snack
Price $8-$10/ person
Ambiance: Surrounding park atmosphere and inlet views greatly added to the charm


2800 Murray St
Port Moody, V3H 1X2
604-469-2289

Between the three of us, we had shared a large (cod) fish and chips and an extra 2.5 pieces of fish on the side. This came with an ample serving of fries, way more than we could finish. The fish fillets were perfectly done-  the batter was crisp and light, leaving me crunching after almost every bite, while the inside was tender and piping hot. Add a touch of tartar sauce and we're golden (no pun intended). The fries were also worth mentioning as they too were nice and crispy.  I don't know why I haven't noticed this before, but at the condiment stand they even offered Vietnamese chilli sauce! Needless to say, I took a helping. Everything tastes better with a little spice!


To wash down all this batter and oil, and make our meal seemingly healthier (although I highly doubt the nutritional value-add of this) we ordered some freshly pressed lemonade. This was cold, sour and thirst quenching. Highly recommended.


Pajo's does a pretty mean fish and chips, despite it being a F&B chain. It's so light and crisp, deluding you about the amount of oil and batter that goes it its preparation. So be careful...once you pop you can't stop!


This outlet at Rocky Point is definitely one of our favorite spots for fish and chips, mostly because of the surrounding park atmosphere, backed by the beautiful inlet and coquitlam mountain ranges.  Today, we were also lucky enough to catch a free summer swing/jazz concert under the tentage. With cute furry creatures running about, live music and the gorgeous sun, this was definitely a fun day at Rocky Point Park :)

There was this guy with two lizards on his shoulders- a bright green iguana and a tangerine coloured bearded dragon. Needless to say, a picture was necessary. I squirmed as I gave each a light stroke...don't know what came over me.

Live Jazz/Swing band

Hello Whoopi!

We also met these ADORABLE hugarian sheepdogs- angel, isabella and whoopi. With dreadlocks like those, a name like whoopi (golberg) was no surprise. Fawning over dogs (and babies) these days is scary, I think I might be succumbing to the whole maternal instinct thing. -Sara

The boat house

Review Snippet

Overall: A place of convenience, if you want a knotch above average diner food

Food: Pacific-northwest; steak; seafood
Price:$20-$45 per person Ambience: Romantic, by the water
Service: Good but the food took a little too long

The Boathouse Restaurant

2770 Esplanade Ave

Port Moody, BC

Tel: (604) 931-5300

This was a backlog from april, when we went to celebrate my mums' birthday. She considered a few places but eventually gave in to convenience as this was about a 15 minutes drive from our house. Also, since we had not dined at the Boathouse for dinner before, we decided to give it a shot.

Sea scallops & prosciutto

This appetiser was done well, with the salty fried prosciutto ham complimenting the sweet scallops.

House caesar

The caesar salad was excellent. It was simple but, the salad leaves were very crunchy and fresh, alongside the

parmesan and wonderful bite-sized croutons.

Sirloin & grilled jumbo prawns

This was not too bad, however the sirloin and the mashed potatoes were a little dry.There was little sauce to go with the sirloin and was rather bland and stiff.  On the upside, the jumbo prawns were very thick and juicy.

Miso crusted halibut

According to my sister, the sweet-tangy soy-glaze sauce which went alongside the crunchy-crusty halibut was really tasty. Also in this main, we felt that the mashed potatoes were rather dry and bland.

Creme Brulee

The creme brulee was not bad, it had a tinge of coffee flavouring in the custard and was definitely a winner. We thought it was quite an interesting twist as we tried guessing the extra ingredient.

Molten chocolate brownie

To our surprise, our server having found out that it was my mum's birthday, came out with a bang, with this dessert(on the house) in hand, sparklers atop the brownie, singing her a birthday song, definitely a memorable birthday dinner.This molten chocolate brownie was amazing. It was so chocolaty rich and warm, with the pairing of strawberries and vanilla ice-cream, its one we will order in the future. This indeed satisfied my chocolate craving for the night.

Overall, although the food was good, it felt run-of-the-mill similar to the other chain restaurants, such as joey and cactus club. The service was pretty good, even when it was quite a busy night. However, our food took a little long in coming out and left us sitting, wishing, waiting for more.In price comparison to the edgewater restaurant at whistler, this is definitely less value for money as they're charging almost similar prices for the appetisers, mains and desserts. We would go back again if we're too lazy to venture more than a 20 minutes drive from our house. -Isabel