HK cafe and Cantonese restaurant on Kingsway and Nanaimo on the NW corner, next to the gas station. Parking is availalble in the sketchy underground lot, as well as above ground. Probably safest to park on the street. The inside is pretty bare bones. This place used to be a Pho Hoa (Vietnamese), and there's still the old logo stuck to one of the windows. Basically one doesn't come here for the decor. Staff are friendly and chatty. Food prices are a bit on the high side. They have HK lunch combos (stuff like curry beef brisket rice, or pork chop rice etc.). These combos are actually available for dinner too for a few dollars more. I would recommend going this route for the best value. The portions are decent sized. Special mention. This place also does fancier banquet style dishes such as live seafood, but it's not cheap. With that said, the food is pretty decent quality. My friends and I left happy. Wouldn't mind coming back at some point. Recommended. read more

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Visited Starlight Kitchen, a HK style cafe, for a weekend lunch. Plenty of open booths/tables. It's in the same plaza as Thanh Xuan Cafe. - Fried rice with diced chicken & salted fish ($18.98) - smell's distinct but adds extra flavour - Pan fried chicken steak with linguini in black pepper sauce ($17.98) - noodles were meh, tender chicken - Pan fried vermicelli with diced beef and mushroom in BBQ sauce ($20.98) - excellent beef. Vermicelli two ways (crispy on top, regular underneath) - Fried rice noodle with beef in soy sauce ($17.98) - decent wok hei, standard fare - Pea tips leaves with garlic ($27.98) - good - Sweet & sour boneless pork ($23.98) - standard - Curry lamb ($18.98) - good flavour to the curry. Lamb slices were solid Big portions but typical HK eats. read more

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We tried out Starlight Kitchen 星悦餐厅 for a Hong Kong-style lunch and went for their noodle combo special--you get to pick your soup base + 2 toppings + noodles + drink. We ordered: Pickled Mustard & Pepper Fish Soup with fresh bean curd sheet & fish tofu Malay Laksa Soup with sliced beef brisket & fish slices Both bowls tasted super similar--almost like the same base with slight tweaks (one had laksa sauce, the other had pickled mustard & pepper). Unfortunately, the soup was nothing special, like an instant soup pack from the supermarket. The portions were decent. We feel like an average spot for a quick bite. Food: 3/5 Can Try! Service: 3/5 Kids: 4/5 Yay! Table spacing is good. Price: $30-50 for two (lunch) Presentation: 1/5 Parking: 2/5 Plentiful underground parking and free 2-hour street parking in the neighbourhood. Would I Return: Maybe read more

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I came to this restaurant again but this time I ddi not order any food. I gave an elderly neighbour a ride here to order take out. I added photos of the menu. They have 3 menus printed on both sides, there is a wide range of food available but it is very confusing. My neighbour simply wanted to order a dish to take home for dinner, she could not read Chinese and the English translation of the menu is not very good. Luckily, the server was very helpful and helped my neighbour pick a dish. Another thing to note is it is not easy to take a senior to this restaurant. Street parking close to the entrance are frequently taken and the spots at the plaza are very narrow and tight. I stopped at the drive way closest to the restaurant entrance and let the senior off before I went to park underground. This means the senior had to walk into the restaurant on her own. read more

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A Reliable Spot for Classic Hong Kong-Style Fare This was my second visit to Starlight Kitchen, but my first dining solo. I stopped in around 3:30 PM, comfortably past the lunch rush, and the quiet atmosphere was perfect for a relaxed meal. I always have to order my favorite: the Pan-Fried Rice Noodles with Beef. The lunch portion is impressive--significantly larger and more substantial than other Cha Chaan Tengs that might charge a few dollars less. You get a proper, full-sized plate. The dish itself was well-executed. It tasted authentic and wasn't overly salty, likely because they skip or use less MSG. The classic Hong Kong-style technique was there with green onions and bean sprouts. I appreciated that it wasn't overly greasy; no pool of oil was left on the plate. My only critique is with the beef: the pieces were a bit chewy and could have benefited from a longer marinade or a touch of baking soda to tenderize. The meal comes with a hot Hong Kong-style coffee or tea (note: iced is an upcharge). Unfortunately, the coffee was a letdown. It lacked the strong, aromatic punch I expect and wasn't served piping hot. The small cup felt a bit skimpy. Service was efficient and friendly, aided by the post-rush calm. To avoid credit card fees, I paid with 25$ cash. Overall, it was a solid experience. I'm giving a confident 4 stars and will be back to work my way through the rest of their menu. read more

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We came on a Saturday and it was empty when we walked in at around 11:30am. They have lots of parking downstairs. Pork intestine ($14.98) - very crispy on the outside, large portion, well cleaned and chewy on the outside. The sour sauce on the side is much appreciated. This was a hit among the table. Would order again Sweet sour pork ($13.98) - again quite a large portion for the price. But unfortunately the meat was a bit dry and some pieces can be chewy. The flavour was good and the outside was well coated with the sweet and sour pork. Wouldn't order again Pan fried Vermicelli with bitter melon (20.98)- the noodles were perfectly crispy. Not overly oily. Again generous portions. Too much bitter melon for me but the elders liked it. They would order again Scallop fried rice with egg yolk ($19.98) - generous portion, lots of small scallops and prominent egg yolk flavour which was good. The rice is very separate from each other (Chinese saying) which is good. Would order this again Milk tea (came with the meals)- were not bad. Not horrible and has a good amount of tea flavour. It wasn't silky smooth but not rough either. The service at this place is not horrible but not the best either. It's prompt and what you expect at chinese restaurants. The food was overall a hit. I would come back and try more of their dishes read more

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....Starlight star bright what are we to have for dinner tonight?..... ....OK maybe lunch instead... .....asked her what we should have for lunch... ...she said Starlight that took over Pho Hao space... ....went on a Tuesday at 2pm...5 tables had customers...servers greeted us and promptly took us to a table...gave us menus and tea...looked over the laminated one sheet menu and ordered 1 appetizer and 2 dishes... ...appetizer was salted yolk on rice cakes with deep fried shrimp....dish one was crispy noodle with shredded chicken , bean sprouts in Beijing style sauce....dish 2 was deep fried vermicelli with bitter melon, shredded pork and pork jowl in black bean sauce... ...appetizer shrimps were fried well (crispy, bouncy, well seasoned)...the rice cakes(noodles) were tender, chewy, soft with umami flavor from the salty egg coating... ....with dish one I was expecting a darker sauce with a spicy kick....what I got was unexpected, different but pleasant ...the sauce had a slight fermented bean curd taste with a rich sauce...not overly salty...chicken was tender and seasoned and the beans sprouts had good flavor with a nice crunch... ....dish two I was a bit leery about the bitter melon...definitely not the season for it so I was expecting it would be from frozen, mushy and tasteless...instead I got crunchy,juicy and tasty....add the umami from the blackbean sauce, the crunch and chewiness of the noodles, taste/bounciness of the pork jowl makes almost a perfect dish.... ...both dishes came with hot drinks...we ordered Ovaltine and a coffee.... ....we knew one of the servers so she gave each of us a free soup.... ...this is a HK "style" restaurant with some of the previous restaurants decor....it will take a while for it to make it's own proper identity... ...in the meantime it will serve its neighborhood very well.. ....I will be back.... read more

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Love their big portion, and generally it's good for value but recently the prices on their lunch menu are getting higher and sometimes it takes way too long for them to serve the food. Dinner sets are definitely recommended, a set for 6-8 people is actually enough for 10, and each person can still bring some leftovers home for tomorrow. Food quality is probably better than the average diner cafes and seafood restaurants in Hong Kong. If you want a mini-banquet, with 8-20 people, this is the place that you should go. read more

This Hong Kong style cafe recently opened in the neighborhood. Service was friendly. We were greeted and seated shortly after entering the restaurant. Tea was served once seated. The menu looks confusing and busy at first glance. Some menu headings were missing their English translation. The server explained they had just opened so they will revise the menu on a later date. Food came quickly once our order was placed. The fried rice was a favourite for the kids. The fish noodle soup lacked some depth in its flavor profile. There was a good quantity of noodles in the soup. I wished it had a bit more toppings. The fish noodle soup comes with a drink at select hours according to the menu. The restaurant has lots of seating. It is bright and clean. Parking is available in the building's underground parking lot, along Kingsway or in the residential area. They accept credit card for payment if bill total is $50+. There is currently a 10% off promo if you pay by cash or debit. read more

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this is a new HK cafe occupying the former Pho Hoa space on Kingsway. Kind of a dingy looking strip mall. free parking is pretty easy to find on the street, and they have a lot as well. The place is clean enough inside. Service was friendly but their english was not strong so it'll be easier if you speak some form of Chinese. Their menus are super confusing. Theres a lunch menu which they still show at dinner time, but they verbally tell you certain sections of that menu are unavailable. Then theres an actual dinner menu as well, with some larger combo deals in addition to dinner-sized dishes, many of which are duplicates from the lunch menu at higher prices. Our group of 3 ordered 3 dishes. 1. Portuguese chicken on rice. Pretty good, standard at most HK cafes, and done pretty well. solid 4/5 dish. 2. pea sprouts stir-fried with garlic. Also good, young shoots, not tough, and cooked just right. solid 4/5 again. 3. special crispy chow mein. This was a let down. The noodles were nice and crispy and the toppings were fine, but it didnt have enough sauce so the dish was too dry. There was also no flavour in the sauce. quite bland. The veg in the sauce was also overcooked. Prices are on the high side at dinner time (rice and noodles were $21 each, veg stirfry was $29). For a casual neighborhood HK cafe, this is pretty expensive. However, portions were quite generous. We only finished about half of the food and took the rest home. The place was pretty dead around dinner time. The space is huge, but only had 3 tables of customers on a weekday at around 630. Overall probably 3.5/5 is fair. But its not a 4/5 place. Too bad for them there is a ton of competition here in the HK cafe space. read more

Starlight... a dimming light in space? Saw this place when driving by; a new chinese restaurant replacing the once iconic Pho Hao? Yes I grew up with Pho Hao when I was a kid until it self destructed from its glory years. Out of curiosity, I decided to give this place a try and it's been almost 10 years since I last walked into this building. Inside, the layout was very similar to how Pho Hao was before. The only changes were the light metal chairs? Everything else was just like walking into a pho restaurant or almost felt like a food court environment? Well it definitely didn't have the Hong Kong cafe vibe or a chinese restaurant atmosphere. Plus the menu was a bit confusing, took a minute to figure it out and here were the food I ordered; 1. Sizzling plate combo; AAA 6oz Ribeye steak + 2 grilled large sausages with borscht soup, rice and hot Ovaltine. First of all, the steak wasn't even qualified as a steak, I can't find a word to really describe how bad it was. It's like a badly aged piece of meat and the cook didn't know how to salvage it. The cheese sausages tasted too boiled rather than grilled. The rice was hard like overnight leftover perfect for fried rice. Lastly the plate wasn't heated so not a hint of sizzling whatsoever. The only decent thing was the borscht soup but would be nice if it came with a dinner roll or garlic toast. 2. Sizzling plate combo 2; chicken steak with 2 sausages, fettuccine noodles, borscht soup, cold Hong Kong milk tea. Everything was the same as what I said except the chicken steak was decent. Overall, the restaurant's theme or identity is somewhat at a lost? It can't really be categorized as a Hong Kong cafe as it lacks everything of it. And can't really be considered as your typical family chinese restaurant as its setting and atmosphere has more of a Vietnamese pho vibe. The menu also needed to be a bit more organized. The atmosphere was very casual and the service was okay. As for the food I ordered, they were far from being acceptable in this star system. Maybe I should've tried their chicken pot instead of Hong Kong cafe style? Anyways, this place really needs to work on its identity and food for it to survive. Unfortunately wouldn't be a repeat for me anytime soon . read more

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Portion are large and service is excellent. The restaurant is spacious and clean. Menu is large so lots to choose from depending on what you are in the mood for. read more

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Had the house special baked cutlet on rice. Sweet tomato sauce that reminded me of ketchup. Rice seemed to be a simple egg fried rice. Cutlet was delicious overall a nice warm meal that was not too expensive. read more

Their services and food quality are getting worse days after days since the end of soft openings. I went there one day and waited for 10 mins before they could take my order. Then, another 30 mins wait for my food. I definitely not recommend this place. read more

Love this spot. Great addition to the neighbourhood. Easy to get a table and great for takeout. The baked pork chop rice and house chow mein is our go to. Eating in your portion is quite large, you definitely get less when you do take-out (but for opening, they offered 10% off). Debit or cash only. Highly recommend for all your typical hk cafe style eats. read more

First time here. Great food and value. Good for large groups as well. Friendly staff. read more

Starlight Kitchen - Baked Pork Chop Rice - Chinese Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

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First time trying this restaurant. The servers were friendly and the food was good. We ordered the Thai style chicken fried rice and the baked linguine Bolognese. We would definitely go back again and bring our family. read more