Red Persimmon Taiwanese Cuisine

Red Persimmon Taiwanese Cuisine
2133-4500 Kingsway
Crystal Mall
Burnaby, BC

Ah… Crystal Mall… The parking hell hole of Burnaby… Whether by design or due to how it is used, I don’t care. Whenever I need to go there, I just take Skytrain or just park at Metrotown. However, that brings the other question: why to go there to begin with? Yup, their well known food court. While not as modern as, say, Aberdeen Centre, one thing and lacking some options as in Yaohan Centre, one thing it can’t be taken away: it has good eats of it’s own. So, I was there one of these days looking something for dinner but was a bit too tired to think. In other words, hoping to go there and decide based on what was available or fancied. On that night? Red Persimmon.

One of the reason I remembered Red Persimmon was that, some long time ago, I visited another stand in the same food court called Beijing Restaurant. While this one closed (to be replaced by Xiang Yuan Qiao Bridge Rice Noodle), what I did remember from Beijing Restaurant was rou jia mo, aka, Taiwanese burger. From what I got afterwards, in addition to this place, there was one other that sell the same goodies: Red Persimmon. That was the reason I ended up here. Now, I am jumping ahead… First, another dish I ordered that night:

While I wasn’t extremely hungry, I was “hungry” enough and knew the “burger” won’t be enough. Looking at the menu, I found this rice bowl + pork for just under $3. What? $3? Yup, no typo here. For under $3, you get rice in a bowl plus some minced pork. In a way, this would be the type of food I would be eating in a down day – a comfort food of sorts. Was it good? The ground pork ain’t necessarily a fancy cut: it could have been “butt” but, again, it really does not matter. What did matter was that it was cooked through and, when served, it was served with the juices as a result of the cooking, which moistened and flavoured the otherwise bland rice. Furthermore, they had a small container of hot sauce. And, let me tell you, “hot” might be an understatement. If it wasn’t because I added it only on one side, I would have certainly regretted it, as it was spicy enough to make me sweat profusely… Now, would I order their larger version? Probably no, unless it came with some veggies, as otherwise,

And here it is, what in the menu appears as a burger, but, far from it being a burger, this looks more like a braised pork sandwich. Once again, at under $3, this is a deal. Better (and cheaper!) than a Big Mac or a Whopper. Why should one go for those if you can have one of this? Well, probably if you are not used to this. Regardless, it is a good option. The pork was soft but not extremely so. Enough for it not to “break” down when eaten but not too mushy. The pickled mustard greens gave a bit of crunch as well as some contrasting flavour. The layer of peanut (?) and sugar (?) added another layer of contrasting flavour. Overall, the combination worked quite well. However, for some reason, this is not something I necessarily want to eat on a daily basis, despite it is pork… For some reason, it was starting to feel heavy after eating it halfway. Probably as a once in a while…

So, indeed, Red Persimmon is a good option in Crystal Mall food court. With the departure of Wang’s (for XLB), I was starting to wonder which of the remaining stands would make me come back. In the case of Red Persimmon, it seems to be a good starting point. Hope the rest of their menu were as good as these two dishes I ordered.

Tagged under: Burgers • Burnaby • Food Court