October 1, 2010

food cart madness - part iii - csk chinese skewer king

CSK Chinese Skewer King
Location: Southeast corner of Burrard, at Pender

My third stop in... wow... in 45 minutes is CSK Skewer King. Seriously - let's take a look at this, in 45 minutes, I've had a pulled pork sandwich, big glass of iced tea, tiny cup of absolutely disgusting smoothie (the less I say about that, the better), and a slice of pizza. Such is the difficult life that I lead to bring everyone news of the food world.

You're welcome.

CSK closely resembles any of the innumerous skewer stands at the Richmond Summer Night Market, or at many street markets in Asia. There are a few choices of skewers: the holy trinity of beef, chicken and pork; lamb; tofu; and mixed peppers/mushrooms. Just to continue the tradition of Chinese fast food, there are value combos available for your dining dollar - all at quite reasonable prices, from $5.50+. Each skewer runs $2.50 and is jam-packed.

I decided to go all the way with the pork theme, and they threw the skewer fresh onto the grill for me. That was a nice touch. They asked if I wanted "spicy" and as it was a fairly chilly day, I said yes and they proceeded to shake this magic powder onto it.

As I took my first bite, I took note of how fresh and hot this sucker was, and just how much meat was on the stick. Upon first bite, I got the familiar taste of "super secret recipe MSG spicy powder" (my description not theirs, but isn't it so much fun to say?) in my mouth, which was then replaced by a glorious explosion of pork fat juice. Yes folks, they did not skimp on the pork. There was plenty of meat on here and it was yummy and juicy, unlike the prototypical overcooked dry and stringy souvlakis and hawker stands we generally see.

There was enough meat to keep me quite satiated as a snack, and certainly a combo of 2 with pop and bread would suffice me nicely for lunch. Though next time, I'll ask them to go light on the "super secret recipe MSG spicy powder" (SO much fun to say!).

The fun continues tomorrow with PanDa Fresh Bakery in Yaletown!

Chinese Skewer King on Urbanspoon

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