I don’t go to Hong Kong-style cafes that often, but when I do it really brings me to that special place…it’s like Asian comfort food. Cheap, big portions, can be a touch greasy, but with satisfying Cantonese flavours you know and love. Silver Tower Cafe Restaurant is a great example of HK-cafe style food that does the job and does it well.

Driving and parking in Richmond is always a pain. But we totally lucked out and grabbed a spot as someone was pulling out of their tight and tiny parking lot.

If you’re ever hungry late at night, you don’t even have to think about it — just come here! Even open on holidays! How Chinese of them.

They have all the HK-cafe classics like Baked Ox Tongue on Rice.

Curry Beef Brisket sounds great too. Everything comes as a combo with a daily soup and a hot or cold drink. They do smaller and cheaper combos during lunchtime.

I chose the tomato soup.

Score! Chunk of beef! Soup was nothing amazingcy…not free range this or organic that…it just tastes good.

Wicca chose the Chinese herbal soup.

This one had stuff that I’ve seen my mom use in her Chinese herbal/medicinal soup. Less Canadianized readers might know what this is…

Wicca upgraded to a Red Bean & Grass Jelly Cooler with her combo. Shaved ice and condensed milk on the top. There’s no alcohol in this, even though they call it a “cooler”.

I went with Horlicks. Horlicks.

Horlicks.

Shredded Beef & Preserved Veggie Chow Mein. I love preserved veg in my chow mein. Those hunks of slightly sweet, tangy, little bit crunchy pickled veg make it a little bit more special. The outer noodles were really crunchy and made me very happy. Add the gloopy sauce, sliced beef, and a slight greasiness and you’ve got a Cantonese classic that I’d order again and again.

Baked Ox Tongue with Tomato Sauce on Rice. Another must-order whenever I go to an HK cafe.

Looks like they grill the slices of beef tongue here! I love these little touches. Wicca didn’t mind the cheese on top either.

They also use an eggy fried rice in the baked ox tongue dish! The tongue just tender enough. Wicca loved it. I prefer my tongue a bit more tender. Still very enjoyable though.

Duck Meat & Preserved Veggie Fried Rice. This dish uses another kind of “preserved veggie” called mui choy, which is different from the veg used in the chow mein dish.

Good stuff! Not that oily at all. All the grains were separated and the texture was light in the mouth. Fair amount of duck meat and mui choy. This kind of fried rice was a first for us.

We just might order this kind of fried rice from now on instead of that egg white and dried scallop one. In this shot you can see the strands of mui choy and some egg.

Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli). Chinese people are big on vegetables, which we generically call “choy”. We asked for oyster sauce on the side.

Curry Beef Brisket with Rice. Another must-order comfort dish. The curry in this one is similar to the Japanese curry roux blocks that you can buy, like Glico, House or S&B.

I kinda doubt they make their own curry sauce from scratch, but they don’t have to cuz pre-made curry roux has that kind of taste that I kinda like! Silver Tower might jack it up with their own seasonings cuz it does taste like it’s got a little something extra to it. Good amount of beef brisket swimming in a tasty sauce. It’s an easy way to eat large amounts of rice.

Chicken with Ginger & Green Onion. I’ve never had chicken served like this before. It’s smothered with this gloopy sauce that tastes like it was made with chicken broth. Actually VERY delicious, made even more delicious by the fact that they use free range chicken!

I love the tight, yellow skin of free range chicken. The meat is firm, flavourful and not flabby. This chicken (hopefully) lived a good life and now I’m living a good life! Thank you, chicken!

I would have no problems doing this whole meal over again, with all the same dishes. Delicious and satisfying Asian comfort food!

A note about the service: the service was actually good! Friendly, pleasant manner. Not rude at all. YMMV.