White Lotus Cafe: Busy Hidden Gem

Okay, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you probably know that I’m not really inclined to wait in long lines for restaurants. I usually pre-plan and look up when places are busy to avoid those hours. Unfortunately, Google’s not always that accurate (I probably shouldn’t say that out loud… I can hear the black helicopters hovering nearby as I type this).

We headed out for (what we thought was) an early lunch at a place that just popped up on my radar recently… White Lotus Cafe. This Vietnamese restaurant is located in an out-of-the-way strip mall off of Lougheed Hwy, near Holdom. We were a bit surprised that there was already a line-up out the door when we got here. When we entered the restaurant, we quickly figured out why… this is a really small location. They’ve only got seating for maybe 20 people at best. But since we were just a party of 2, they said the wait shouldn’t be too long.

The first item that we ordered was the Gỏi Cuốn ($5) which is basically a salad roll filled with shrimp and Vietnamese ham and then wrapped in rice paper roll. The rolls were shorter than I’m used to but they were much fatter as well. These were really good and came with a thick peanut sauce.

The main reason why I wanted to come here was for their White Lotus Platter ($16) which is basically a sampler platter with a side of vermicelli, pickled vegetables, and fish sauce and topped off with fried shallots and green onions. In the platter, you also get Chả Giò (deep-fried spring rolls with ground pork and shrimp), meat patties, sugar cane shrimp, and grilled meats. The price is well worth the amount and variety of food that you get in the platter.

Last up was the Bánh Mì ($5.75) served with pâte, cilantro, cucumbers jalapenos, pickled daikon & carrots, mayo, and your choice of meat. In hindsight, I probably should have stuck with a cold-cut version instead of ordering the chicken variety. I’m used to chicken bánh mì being made with grilled chicken and I found this chicken was more like roasted chicken so it was a bit drier than I would have liked. That being said, this Viet sub had a nice crusty exterior when you bit into it and the rest of the filling was quite good.

So, with all of that said… the food here is pretty good (especially given the area). But expect a bit of a lineup… especially during their busy hours.

5901 Broadway
Burnaby, BC

whitelotuscafe.ca