Gourmet Castle Restaurant

Had Kung Pao Spicy Chicken, it was the best. no MSG

The curry chicken I had was runny and lacking in taste. Not the best Chinese food in the area.

Got the late-​night munchies and ended up here. Parking is plentiful in the parking lot out front.
As the place had several tables full, I figured it would be pretty decent. Unfortunately this was not the case.
Thousand year egg and pork congee — egg was mushy and broke apart when I tried scooping it with my spoon. Pork was salty with a capital S. Last time I checked, people did this to prevent spoilage, so I’m suspecting they may have a problem with inventory turnover. Red flag.
Thai-​style rice noodles — not too oily at all, which is good. However, it tasted really plain (not to be confused with bland). The «wok air» was missing. In other words, it tasted exactly like something you’d get at a food court, but more expensive.
Dare I say it. No9 is better than this.
The only thing this place has going for it is the fact it’s open late.
One last thing: you HAVE to see their website. It’ll bring you back to 1994 in an instant. Most kids in high school can make a better-​looking site than this.
I’m going to search around to see if there are any other places open late in this area.

When I hear the word «Gourmet» it brings me back to a day far removed out of my post-​clubbing party life, where drinks still poured, cigarettes still lit, and everyone was still hanging out, and usually it would be at this joint late in the wee-​morning, as in 4 AM or later. When my mother said that we were going here for dinner, and she named it in Chinese, I was wondering where this place was, till I figured out it was «Gourmet». Memories of the mixed menu, from Chinese, to Japanese, to Vietnamese still go through my head of poor quality served to half (or full on) drunk clientele.
Gone is the mixed menu, as from what my mom said, they hired Chinese actors to do their commercials on the Chinese channel, so whoever is running this joint now is stepping up to change the reputation of this place. Walking in here still brought me to those days of yesteryear, and the offerings of more alcohol way into the night, with a cloudy view of smoke from this old ‘hot-​boxed’ restaurant, gone were those days, and on this night I saw families at tables, ordering authentic looking Chinese dishes. They have the ‘dish’ menu, where if you order 3 you get some special of the day soup, and your choice of a partial chicken or whatever the other menu item was (was not paying attention). I can say that the dishes were big in size, and for the four of us here on the night, we were stuffed with what came. The food is resonable in price, and ok, your not getting anything extravegant and let’s leave it at that.
For value, this place does fit the bill, as there is choice, as in selection, so no more Vietnamese of Japanese dishes for those who were hoping that, but true to form Chinese dishes. The plates are huge, and being in the same plaza as Tom & Jerry’s, I guess you can’t charge anything more.

WE were in Vancouver looking for somewhere to celebrate our 45^th wedding anniversary weekend and originally were hoping to find a nice Chinese restaurant in China town. Many years ago we had eaten there in a restaurant — down an alley way and up a narrow stairs — but there was no way we were going to find that place. LOL After driving around for a while on Sunday evening — I decided I was not comfortable with the area and we left but put «Chinese food» on our GPS. That was how we found the Gourmet Castle Restaurant. That night we were the only European descendants in the location — all Asian locals — which is always a good sign and it turned out to be correct. I will give the food 5 stars, service 4.5 stars but the atmosphere a 1. The main restaurant is fine — but they put us in the overflow room which is a large storage area and not much fun. I still gave them 4 stars overall but they need to update the storage room in order to move up. Many times, Asian staff in restaurants is professional but «stiff». Here they were friendly, prompt and made the meal a pleasant experience.

Despite the same name in English — there’s new Chinese signage and it’s undergone a régime change. It’s pretty similar as before — open until 2AM on weekdays and 5AM on weekends so you can get your post-​drinking Chinese eats on — but with some important differences.
Frankly, I was a bit hesitant coming here — I heard some not-​so-​glowing reviews even after the management change and when I pulled up here on a late night run, the manager was peering out the window at us – we were separated by the large window but I could still smell his desperation. The restaurant was empty and he was like Babu Bhatt — just begging for someone to come in. But since the nearby Wonton Noodle House shut down, I was forced unless I was ready to revisit Penny Restaurant (… long story… but the wound is still too fresh…).
This place got really Chinese-​y… dare I even say Sinocentric — gone are the lame-​ass fortune cookies and the half-​assed ‘Western’ and ‘Japanese’ dishes. It’s a legit Chinese restaurant now with a culled down menu. Hell — the daily special sign listed crispy fried chicken and roasted pigeon. But was I really going to trust ordering squab at 1AM? And plus, I don’t live the lifestyle to be chowing down on roasted little birds in the wee hours of the morning — I imagine that it’s something to do for greasy uncles with silk suits, drive convertibles, smoke cigarillos and have ménage à trois they totally didn’t have to pay for. Oh how, I loathe and envy thee.
But not to worry though — tons of English translation and blazed-​out ‘good old boys’ that rolled in after us easily found and ordered the more ‘accessible’ Chinese staples. You know… faux Cantonese dishes… and no, there’s no secret Chinese-​only menu… as far as I know… get out of my face, gwailo.
I must say, I was pretty impressed that the ‘auntie’ waitress was pretty spot-​on and reminded us that we could order more beer. I was done for the night, but good hustle.
My buddy got the beef brisket on rice (his staple and he remembered it behind half-​decent during the old days) — but he found it chewy and not very good. My salted fish & diced chicken on rice was pretty solid with big chunks of salted fish. Let’s face it, when you’re under the influence — you’re looking for copious amounts of salt and fat. Both dishes were a pretty good portion for ~$ 8 each.
Anyways — on the whole, I think it’s better than Gourmet Castle of old. Although I will miss those shitty house special spaghetti dishes I liked so much. Glad to see the late night Chinese joint within stumbling distance of my place up their game.

Gourmet Castle is as old school Chinese as you can get on East Hastings, and I mean that in the best possible way. I was here twice in one week and ordered the mixed veggies each time — and each time it came out completely different but absolutely fresh and fantastic. The chefs are not sticking to any recipe, they are putting out whatever they have that is fresh and on hand. The veggie spring rolls are fantastic with a delicious mix of veggies wrapped in a paper thin and super crunchy wrapper. The first night we got plum sauce in little packets — which everyone loved — and the second time we were given a little squirt of dipping sauce in a little bowl that was also extremely good. The chow mein here is wonderful, and I had a tofu and broccoli dish that was completely out of this world.
The service is very friendly, very attentive, and very Chinese (you all know what I’m talking about). I will be hitting here every time I’m in town.

this place was the only hope when we checked in @ our hotel ~11pm, its open till 2am. It serves chinese, thai, vietanamese dishes. We ordered quite few dishes like drunken noodles, kung pao chicken, eggplant soup. The only thing i didnt like was that it uses lot of oil in the food but in the end the taste was good and we were just hogging the food. If you are around this place and looking for late night bite not a bad place to eat …:D

Somehow, after all of the bars close, even the kids from the suburbs know that Gourmet Castle will still make them chicken chow main, california rolls, and Vietnamese-​style spring rolls. Not to be confused with fusion food, this restaurant serves a royal sampler of classic asian food in all of its MSG glory.
With its obnoxious hoards of late night clientele and its cheap pitchers of terrible beer, it truly manages to capture the feeling that you’re still at the bar, only now you’re eating too. The food is delicious, and the perfect way to sober up and bond with friends.
Worth mentioning is that during the day the food is actually pretty terrible compared to most self-​respecting restaurants, perhaps because of the lower turnover rate of customers, or perhaps because alcohol makes a lot of things more attractive.