ed - triday, duly 4. 19a - ‘North Shore News

UNIQUE CROSS-POLLINATION

Chinese restaurant is

both good and cheap

EVEN without a view, the Capilano Heights Chinese Res-
taurant manages to provice its clieatele with atmospheres
and scenery peculiar to West Coast Canada.

Located at £020 Capilano Road,
ust east of the Cleveland Dam, the
restaurant can easily be missed by
visitors rowring north to sample tae
panoramic wonders of Grouse
Mountain or taking a sharp) turn
west to gaze down the dam.

Capilano Heishts’ exterior is tar
from the garish architectural
flamboyance adopted by so mans
Chinese restaurants, An opening
scan of the restaurant's interior
decor would betray nothing
special: a lot of big round tables
surrounded by high-backed chairs
and a few Oriental knick-knacks
decorating the restaurant's walls.

But, despite its low-profile,
Capilano Heights has achieved a
unique cross-pollination. After 13
years, it has become a_ genuine
ne ghborhood restaurant that
serves genuinely non-neighborhood
food.

table

by Timothy Renshaw

EFFICIENT HOSFITALITY

Owner C.C. Sun and manager
Michael Mah share personalities
that are at) once affable and
hospitable. The Capilano Heights
kitchen efficiently churns out a
wide-ranging selection of Canton-
ese cuisine that is both good and
cheap.

Sun and Mah see to it that
everybody is welcome, especially
families, those howling units of
unpredictable humanity so dreaded
by most restaurants. The combina-
tion of good food, goad prices and
good family atmosphere, as any of
the restaurant's legion of regular
pations will attest, is difficult to
beat.

A recent addition to the Heizhts*
experience is a new 60-seat
solarium that looks out over the
restiurant’s finely manicured
back-yard garden.

On summer hot evenings, such
as last Friday, the new section is an
ideal location to sit: bathed in a
bracing blend of mountain air and
fleeting West Coast sunshine.

As in most Chinese restaurants,
the selection oftered by Capilano
Heights is exhaustive. There are a
dozen different menu subsections,
offering everything from soup to
ducks.

Complexity of food goes from
eve-roll simple to such show piece
productions as the Mongolian Fire
Pot ($100 for eight) people). A
wintertime dish, the fire pot is a
Chinese fondue fuelled by charcoal
blazes and filled with seafood and
soup base. ft originated in the
wilds of the Mongolian Steppes.
Orders require 24-hour notice —
designed for the Ghengis Khan in
everyone.

Prices dor indistdual Capilano
Heivhty dishes are in the S4o te $s
range, Where they hase remained
for the past two years,

My wife and Ptested an order of
Lettuce Wraps with Minced Beef
($8) while the wee man explored
the restaurant's gardens.

The dish is the Chinese rendition
of tacos. Lettuce leaves take the
place of taco shells and a blend of
wok-fried meat, and vegetables,
and deep-fried spindles of batter
do the work of re-fried beans. It is
a combination that is at) once
refreshing and filling. Be sure to
make use of the excellent black
bean Hoi Sin sauce provided for
dipping.

We also tried orders of Diced
Chicken with Brown Chili Sauce
and Pan-Fried Prawns with Hoi-
Sin Sauce and Onions ($8.50).

Both dishes were very good,

and, dor these whose tastes hanker
for more than sweet and sour es.
citement, very spies.

Cupiane Heivhts’ service is es.
tremely efficient, a characteristic
necessitated by the ling-ups that
seem to form in the wake ot cach
evening's dinner bell.

A low-profile favorite for the
past 130 years, the Capilano
Heights is open daily trom th a.m.
Be sure to ask about the restau-
rant’s dim sum breakfast, which,
unfortunately, is soon to be phased
oul

TASTY MORSELS

THE HERITAGE ROOM AT
THE INTERNATIONAL PLAZA
1999 Marine Drive, North Van-
couver.

LIVING up to his surname, the
Plaza’s manager Gordon Chow is
working to put his hotel’s main
dining room back on the five-star

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

CAPILANO HEIGHTS Chinese Restaurant owner C.C. Sun shows off
his restaurant's exhaustive menu in the well-lit confines of the aew
Capilano Heights solarium. The North Vancouver restaurant is a favorite

for Cantonese food enthusiasts.

GE a ems se ee ss ee eT) OS

Join the French restavrants of Greater i
Vancouver and Victoria ina celebration
starting July 7 until Bastille Day

July 14. Puta little French in your life. ry
Taste what we have been cooking for
you in the renowned tradition of

French cuisine. Present this advertise-
ment in restaurants displaying this

sign, and members of your party will i
receive a discount coupon towards the
purchase of Parfum de Toilette ‘IT’S
NOT: The French fragrance that

comes in more than 10 famous scents A

dust 112 blocks west
of the SeaBus,
on your way to
or from Expo.

Open 11-11 7 days a week
Free parking

117-260 W. Esplanade

986-2228

Dinner Special

7 oz. Sirloin Steak &
10-12 oz. Live Lobster
Choice of potatoes
rice or pasta, Garlic and
cheese bread

§1 9%

“Just a few blacks ateay from
B.C. Place”

culinary map. On June 26, Chow
kicked off a week-long celebration
commemorating Canada's friend:
ship with the United States. The
Heritage Room's “Between
Friends’? menu will be served to
July Sand features such Canads-
U.S. delicacies as Louisiana ‘vator
pate with Vancouver Island bush
berries ($5.80) and the Ultimate
Hamburger, featuring an cight-
ounce filet mignon patty, garnish-
ed with white and black truffles
and pommes souffle ($17.76) —
for the hamburger hound who has
everything.

For Reservations Call

683-7671
637 Hornby St., Van.

NOW OPEN FOR
BUSINESS

CHINESE FOOD

TAKE OUT & FREE DELIVERY
SERVING E4ST OF SEYMOUR RIVER

929-0203 929-0300
1022 DEEP COVE RD.

B 921-8161 for reservations,
B horseshoe Bey banduets & private

THE PIZZA
MADNESS
continues

Celebrate with the best-tasting pizza in town.
Large Pizza
5 Toppings:

« Sauce e Cheese
e Plus any 3 others

smail

Only
S7s9
To Take Out
or $8.99 To Eat In
$3.99

: * 7 Medium
Hours: Sun Thurs Som-i 1pm
Fr &Sat Som-tam _ $5.
Free Delivery after 5S pm, minimum order of $6.95
wooden Plate Restaurant
Fully Licensed 2988 Mountain Hwy.
986-3010 986-2475