Deer Garden 鹿園魚湯米線 (Sexsmith)

Deer Garden is famous for its signature fish soup noodles and there are currently 2 locations in Richmond. My parents have been to the Alexandra location, but they said their experience was very disappointing and the fish soup was bland and flavourless. They didn't have much faith in the chain after that, but I convinced them to give the Sexsmith location a try. I thought that all those positive reviews must have come from somewhere. Most people order from the noodles combos menu which offers a choice of soup base, 2 toppings, noodles and drink for $8.50. Additional toppings can be added for $1.25 each. The following picture is the watercress and almonds fish soup with rice noodles, fish puffs and specialty pork sausage. I thought there would be something special about the specialty sausage, but it was just a regular hot dog sausage with a slightly crispy skin. The tofu puffs were good though and I would definitely get them again.

Only hot HK style milk tea or coffee are included with the combo. Cold drinks cost an extra $1 and specialty drinks cost an extra $2. I usually just stick with the hot milk tea since it's not bad. I find it a bit odd that it's served in metal mugs though because it could burn the lips.

This is definitely the place to go for fish soup noodles in Vancouver. There are not a lot of places you can get a decent and filling meal for under $10. No wonder the restaurant is always packed with people lining up at the door. It doesn't matter what time you go — weekday, weekend, afternoon, night — there is almost always at least a 10 minute wait for a table. This just shows how popular the place is, so give it a try if you haven't already.