Kam’s Place – Singaporean Restaurant on Davie
Today I tried out a restaurant at lunchtime that I’ve never been before. I’ve heard from a few that this place is quite a bit better at dinner, so we’ll have to take this into consideration with my review (and I’ll have to try it out for dinner another time).
There was a very inexpensive lunch menu available, which included dishes ranging from as low as $5.25 up to $6.50 and that comes with rice, soup, and a “salad” (basically head lettuce leaves with a sweet vinaigrette).
The items that we ordered today included a few things: the Long Bean Spicy Chicken (and the same dish but with Pork), the Black Bean Sauce with Pork and Veggies, and the Spicy Tofu. Each one came with a sort of hot and sour spicy soup (not sure what it’s officially called), which contained tomatoes and bean sprouts.
First to come to the table was our appetizer-sized Hot and Sour Soups. None of us actually finished these, as they weren’t really all that good. They were spicy, and almost too sour in flavour in my opinion. I just couldn’t be bothered to finish it up when I wasn’t sure what was yet to come.
Next was the Spicy Tofu. This I didn’t try. But here is a lovely picture for you all to see.
The next items to show up were the Long Bean Spicy Chicken and Pork. I enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t too much sauce in the dish, although the beans were a bit overcooked for my liking. I still like them to have a bit more crunch to them than they did, and then they don’t look so shrivelled – makes it a bit more appealing as well. The chicken and pork was cooked well though.
So it’s pretty funny, but I got my food last after everyone else had already eaten half of theirs. I think they forgot about me and I had to ask if my food was still coming. This actually happened after a co-worker started eating what seemed to be my original dish that I ordered (the Long Bean Spicy Pork). I think it was a bit of a miscommunication with our server. So, once the Black Bean Sauce with Pork came along, we burst into laughter as we realized we had our meals switched up. Regardless, I’d already tasted the others, so I went along and ate what came. The problem with dishes that have Sauce in their name, is that they usually have too much sauce on them! I liked the zucchini in the dish, but had to pick out pieces of red and green pepper and kind of wipe them off a bit so that it wasn’t too much. I found that the ‘salad’ actually tasted okay because it was lighter and more fresh in taste to counteract the overpowering black bean flavour. Sorry about the awful glare in the pic – the sun came up suddenly (wow, sun in November!) and I couldn’t get the lighting to work right (and was already starving by then after all the waiting).
I’m hoping that this place is actually much better for dinner, although I have to say I am a bit skeptical now. I was disappointed by both the service (slow, and food mix-up) and the lunch itself. Although I know the meals were very budget-friendly and often you get what you pay for, so really, it’s difficult to not try this again for dinner at least once more.
Please leave me a comment and let me know if my experience was unusual, and if it is in fact worth going back!
Kam’s Place (sorry, couldn’t find a website)
1043 Davie St
Vancouver, B.C.
604.669.3389
