Sugarholic cafe

Grayson and I decided that we wanted to try eating at some place new in Richmond after our long day of shopping at Richmond Center. We usually always eat at the same complex so this time we decided to eat at Aberdeen instead. Yes…we went from one mall to another…just for the sake of eating.

I’m not sure how to describe the food that Sugarholic serves because it’s a mix of Hong Kong and Western cuisines. I guess the best way I can describe the menu is that it would be what you would find if you went to a Western cafe in Hong Kong. Basically they serve pasta dishes, rice meals, high tea sets, and Hong Kong/Taiwanese styled desserts.

Soft boiled egg with salmon caviar ($5.95): To my surprise, this dish was served cold to us. I thought that it would be served warm for some reason so I was a little confused when I first bit into it. Grayson thought that it wasn’t very practical of them to put the mayo on the bottom of the spoon though because it was difficult to experience all the flavors in one bite.

We found that the eggs were a little over on the soft boiled side but overall, the appetizer was pretty good. We liked the contrast between the saltiness of the caviar, the gooey-ness of the yolk and the spice of the mayo underneath it all.

Basil mussel pasta ($11.50): I was debating between this dish and the spicy chicken omelette rice…and I regretfully chose this one instead. When I ordered it our waitress said that this was her favorite dish and that it’s “really spicy” so I was looking forward to trying it but I was completely disappointed when it arrived at our table.

The dish looked NOTHING like how it did in the picture. It was pale and there was barely any sauce on the pasta noodles. Grayson told me to give it a chance so he helped me mix the pasta with the little bit of watery tomato sauce that was at the bottom of my plate. It didn’t help. I tried the pasta and there was no flavor to it whatsoever and it wasn’t even spicy. I let Grayson try some because he’s sensitive to spicy things and he said he didn’t taste any spice in it at all. The only good thing about this dish was that there was 6 mussels in it (not very fresh ones though) and that the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente.

I don’t recommend this dish, it was NOT worth the price and I could of easily made a better tasting one at home.

Basil lemon rolled chicken thigh on rice ($9.95): Lucky lucky Grayson chose a good dish to have. The chicken thigh was moist and the lemon basil sauce on top was very prominent in flavor. He’s not a huge fan of basil but he said that he could have that sauce with his rice all day. The only downside to this dish was that there was that the portion was extremely small. There was barely a bowl of rice in the dish and it seemed more like an appetizer or lunch portion rather than a dinner a la carte entree.

I might revisit Sugarholic one day if I decide to come by for high tea with my girl friends but I don’t think the savory dishes were enticing for me to come back for them.