Orange Corner (Kerrisdale)

By Andy Wednesday August 29, 2012

Personally, whenever time begins to run out for some occasion, I find that I have a sense of urgency to accomplish as much as possible before the inevitable end. Consider a calculus final I wrote once, where every multiple choice question seems like a long answer, and the long answers cover minute areas of the curriculum that you simply didn’t look at that much. As people around begin to concede, laying their heads down on their tables with their closed examination booklets in front of them, I continued to perform random calculations and integrate pointlessly in a meagre attempt to bag a couple more points. Of course, I really don’t know how this ended up working out for me, but the situation is nonetheless analogous to my stays in Vancouver. As my summer breaks end and my days back home slip away, stomach space and meals seem to become so much more important. No meal can be, well, bad; no significant intake of hundreds of calories can be for nought, as long as I know that there is better food to be acquired elsewhere. That brings me to Orange Corner, where I once picked up a late-night snack and where I once had lunch. Given the variety of other options around, I’m not sure how I ended up here on multiple visits, but I suppose I did.

Orange Corner is a chain of sorts, with locations in Kerrisdale and Metrotown. The former is your typical Taiwanese cafe and located adjacent to a humble sushi establishment that Mama G and our family dentists enjoy.

As we ended up going just as they were about to close, we were forced to wander to a nearby park to partake in the goods. As sketchy as these photographs must appear, nothing of any significance occurred beyond the consumption of these snacks. I had a Nutella thick toast ($3.50). It was nothing particularly special, as I came to realize that one could just slather their choice of topping on some store-bought thick toast at home. In any case, the bread had a subtle sweetness that was accentuated by the distinctive, favourable Nutella spread. Who doesn’t love this stuff? Maybe i’ve just been spending too much time on Tumblr…

My friend had a plain green milk tea ($3.50). It was apparently quite light in flavour.

I ended up returning for lunch with a couple other friends some time later. Their “light meal” lunch sets come with the above, which includes rice, soup, and mini-dishes of noodle and cucumber salads. These side dishes were mostly left untouched by my companions.

I ordered the diced chicken, red pepper, and peanut dish on rice ($6.95). It packed more heat than I thought it would, although it wasn’t too spicy. If anything, it veered more towards the oilier side, although the rice helped to remedy that.

The BBQ chicken on rice ($6.95) also made an appearance. It looks kind of mournful, really.

Finally, in terms of food, another friend ordered the spicy tofu with minced pork on rice ($6.95). The tofu doesn’t look too spicy, although I didn’t get a taste of it myself.

As for drinks, I ordered an almond milk tea ($3.50). It had a pleasant almond taste, even though it came off as overwhelmingly artificial. What else can one really expect, though? The drink was also on the foamier side, unfortunately.

Someone else ordered the strawberry milk tea ($3.50). It was relatively standard.

In the end, Orange Corner isn’t anything too special. Most of their fare is typical of what you might see at any given Taiwanese restaurant/BBT joint. The interior is cold and rather dated, as evident by the red Comic Sans “Internet” sign on the storefront. On another note, the service is distinctively distant, as the majority of the workers looked quite disdainful and frowned constantly. I suppose one can’t expect too much in that regard anyways. Apparently they are notable for their crepes, but I have my concessions towards this, especially since my friend recently referred to it as the “mediocre crepe place.” Hm. Given the variety of similar establishments nowadays, Orange Corner certainly wouldn’t attract customers from faraway places, but I suppose it’d suffice given the area.

Conclusion: Andy ate a fair amount.