V’s Malay and Thai Food is located in the Richmond Public Market (Westminster Highway) and offers prepared hot foods, as well as a few dishes cooked to order. 

I chose the nasi lemak, and with an order of roti, the meal came to only $11.20.

It could have easily fed two people.

I waited a few minutes for my order, then seated myself near the ever-present group of older Chinese men who sit in the food court and play board games.

Seeing them always reminds me of the grey-haired, impossibly-short men I used see in Italy.

In groups, they’d plant themselves in the same piazza every day, or gather on a street corner and talk for hours.

I’ve now had nasi lemak several times, which is a Southeast Asian dish with a million and one variations depending on location and chef.

V’s version consists of a huge mound of steamed rice, a hard-boiled egg, chili sauce, a heaping spoonful of chicken and potato curry, salted peanuts, sliced cucumbers, and crunchy little fried fish.  It’s a satisfying mix of flavours and textures – particularly the rice + peanuts + sauce + fish – though my one complaint was that the chicken wasn’t hot enough.

The tiny fish were fried anchovies, also known as ‘ikan bilis.’

Of course, the star of the show was the roti.

It was so soft, flaky, and rich I felt like I was eating puff pastry.

Add to that the buttery, salty sauce it came with - I decided I’d better head to the gym afterwards.

A plate of nasi lemak with roti is pure comfort food.

While I feel slightly panicked about finding new restaurants for roti, V’s is fairly central in Richmond, so if I have any terrifyingly urgent cravings for it, I’ll be ok.

On my way out, I couldn’t help but notice a display of what I’ll call ‘can snacks,’ for lack of a better description.

They caught my eye solely because Stacey introduced me to them to me at Kuo Hua, and now I’m interested to see just how many varieties there are.

Congee is one, apparently!

 

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Lindsay Anderson is dining out at 365 Richmond eateries in 365 days for Tourism Richmond. The Asian Pacific Post is featuring excerpts from her blog each week. See www.365daysofdining.com for Anderson’s blog.

 

 

V’s Malay and Thai Food 

8260 Westminster Highway, Richmond BC

(Second level of the Richmond Public Market)

604-278-1869

Cash only

Vegetarian options available