Maji Restaurant 麻吉台式熱炒

This is a relatively new Taiwanese Stir Fry restaurant in Vancouver. Taiwanese Stir Fry is one of Taiwan's very popular local restaurant cultures. And they are all so tasty. The essence of it is to mix all ingredients in a pan and quickly stir fry them with different spices accordingly.   

There used to be a very good one called 508 Bistro in Burnaby. I mean they are still in business, but I heard its main chef has left and opened up Maji in Richmond. As a result, 508's food quality declined drastically but Maji becomes the new rising star in the same Taiwanese Stir Fry field. 

Maji is considered expensive in terms of the nature of the food they offer. They offer very casual family style dishes with traditional ingredients. However, each portion is relatively small, like tapa style, Taiwanese version. With this said, 2 people should order about 4 dishes.

I quite like the interior. It's one of those modern hipster style, which is very rarely seen in Chinese restaurants.

One thing notable about Maji is they serve a collection of Taiwanese Beer. The fruity ones are so refreshing and yummy, especially if you are like me, who prefer sweeter alcoholic drinks. The fruity beers include Orange, Grape, Pineaapple, and Mango flavors. I've only tried the Mango one and I thought it just tasted like Sparkling Mango Juice. haha.

We had five girls that day, five very hungry girls I should say, so we ordered a full table of food. Is it a requirement for food bloggers to describe each food ? Looks like that's what every food blogger seems to do but me, hahahaha. I really suck at remembering or translating the names of each item. And I have no talent in picking out what ingredients or spices were used. That's why I'm not a food blogger, I'm a life style blogger ! Free style blogger ! *excuses

Okay, in this post, I'll try to describe the foods so please allowed me to humor you.

Below is Deep Fried Corn. It's basically errrr corn being cut into smaller pieces and then being fried, then seasoned with salt and pepper. Sounds easy but their salt and pepper seem better than your slat and pepper. It's super good !

Okay, this second dish is just cabbage what can I say about it. I believe it was fried with garlic, because that's the only way I know how to stir fry them, hahaha. You just have to trust me when I say all of Maji's dishes are good !

OOoooo okay okay, this is the shit ! This is Pork Kidney. It's Pork kidney stir fried with sesame oil, then cook with fine ginger and rice wine. It's sooooo good and I dare you to be adventurous to try pork kidney if you've never. It doesn't taste odd or has a weird texture. It's quite chewy and no particular taste. But it tastes amazing with the way the chef prepare it. TRY IT.

This one is called the Spicy Deep Fried Chicken. It is essentially boneless chicken legs being deep friend and dressed with chili sauce and cilantro. This dish is actually not spicy at all. It's a sweeter kind of spicy sauce that tastes like Singapore's garlic chili sauce being served in Mcdonald's. It's something I shamefully steal and hoard back to Vancouver every time I visit Singapore. I order this dish every time I eat in Maji.

This is another one that I will always order. It's Pan Fried Egg Tofu and then sipped in a very thick and flavorful sauce with a strong sweet hint of onions. The egg tofus are crisp on the outside and very tender inside. I make egg tofus at home with just salt and pepper being sprinkled on them after I pan fried them, and it already tastes so good. Now, imagine this complicated creation.

This soup is the best soup in the world. It's called the Sesame Oil Chicken Soup. It's very suitable choice in the winter - extremely warming and nutritious. It's made of chicken broth with goji berries, chinese dates, chicken legs, and sesame oil. I have no idea why but I also tasted alcohol in this. Maybe it's because this soup is too good that I was drunk by the awesomeness.

Last one, Hakka Style Pork and Squid. It's shredded pork belly stir fried with squid, bean curb, dried shrimps and chili. I also forgot to mention, all of these dishes go so well with rice, especially this one. Remember to order a pot of rice if you are dining with a bigger group.

Maji has gained its popularity very quickly not long after it started on Alexandra Road of Richmond. Its customers ranges from teenagers to seniors, from couples, to group of friends, to a table of family. Its a very successful concept and I only see it become better and better into the future.