Kung Fu Noodle

My guest and I drove around Alexander in Richmond, undecided over what we wanted for dinner. Looking for something that would suit our appetites, “Kung Fu Noodle” eventually caught our eye. It was catchy from its name alone, but with its panda mascot, the deal was sealed. The panda was the loveable Kungfu panda from the animated movie of the same name. He stood like “Po” and seemed to have an appetite like “Po”, but unlike “Po” he choose noodles over dumplings. I couldn’t help but wonder the restaurant legality for using this imagine in their marketing. The restaurant was your standard Chinese casual cafe set up. An open square of space with several tables, each set uniformly apart. The concern was more for function than for form, everything was made accessible and visible. The recycled tin can with chopsticks protruding, the stack of leaning styrofoam take out boxes, the push cart stacked with used dishes, and the black plastic bags of garbage ready to be tossed. It was one thing to be on the cleaner side, a fact noted and appreciated by all their customers, but it is another to have to watch the room being cleaned as you are eating. Cleaning was an on going task, completed by a very vigilant server. She was using all her down time between serving guests to mop up, sweep right, or wipe down. That is when she wasn’t hunched over the counter, responding to texts from her dinging cellular phone. We watched her pushing a bucket of mop water across the room, and adding dust to the growing pile at the bottom of her pink dustpan. Once again I repeat, function over form. Even the staff were dressed down: casual in sweatpants and comfy in house slippers. Their wardrobe choice gave them plenty of flex for the chores above. However what I found unprofessional and hampering in my dining experience, they saw as a common place practice. At least they choose constant busy work over congregating and chatting in the centre of the room. Similarly, the decor was more geared towards p

Great food, great price, will be back.

Excellent price, excellent food