Beyond the Rhetoric

You don’t have too many options when it comes to late night eating. There are the fast food joints or greasy diners like 24-hour Denny’s, but sometimes you want something else. And that’s how I came to find The One Restaurant at 5908 Kingsway in Burnaby. It’s located near Imperial, about halfway between Metrotown and Highgate Village.

They’re not open 24 hours, but they are open to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays (1am the rest of the week). I went in with the expectation that this was yet another bubble tea place that happened to also serve a little bit of food, but it looks like The One is a legitimate Taiwanese restaurant, not unlike No. 1 Beef Noodle House or Ali Shan Taiwanese Restaurant. The difference is that it does feel more trendy, polished, and upscale with comfortable booths and plenty of mood lighting.

Yes, it’s a restaurant, but the bubble tea part of the menu will obviously garner quite a bit of attention. This is especially true when it comes to their slush drinks. What you see in the image above is actually just one slush drink. It’s served towering up through the glass on the far left and the server then slices down the top portion into the smaller second glass. All said, you’re getting about about a foot worth of slush.

It is a little pricier than some other places at $5-$6 (plus 50 cents for pearls), but you’re easily getting two portions worth. I’d recommend sharing one with a friend.

Going along with our late night dining adventure, we ordered the House Special Cold Meat Combo ($9.99). The platter — which includes pig ear, marinated beef, beef tripe, and bean curd — gets a generous slathering of sauce and cilantro. Considering that any one of these items would cost you about $2-3 at the supermarket, the $10 platter is a decent value.

The flavors and textures weren’t exactly enthralling, but they were hardly terrible either. They’re pretty much what you’d expect from a Chinese or Taiwanese style cold platter.

And here is “The One Sliced Beef in Pancake” ($6.75), which you may find on other menus simply as beef rolls. I was expecting the thinner, flakier green onion pancakes, but this version was actually a fair bit thicker and “doughier.” It was still nice and crispy on the outside, but I would have preferred a thinner pancake. Long’s Noodle House on Main Street serves a very good beef roll.

To be fair, I was only here for a late night snack, so it may not be completely representative of what The One has to offer. I’d like to go back and try their dumplings, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and hot pots, for instance. From what I did experience, though, The One seems like a decent option for a midnight meal, especially if you get that giant slush.

Tags: eating out, taiwan, vancouver restaurants

Filed under Food and Drink.