Mama’s Diner or 妈妈饭 is a newish restaurant in Richmond (BC Canada) offering Korean-Chinese comfort food.
Korean Chinese Culture
If you’re unfamiliar, the North Eastern region of China (like the province of Jilin) which borders Korea is home to a large population of Chinese nationals that are ethnically Korean. That is where you will find a lot of Korean cultural influences, including cuisine, in China.
In terms of food, Korean Chinese food tends to be more mild, less spicy.
A little segway here, but I actually recently learned a bit about the Korean Chinese culture through this movie I watched called “The Breaking Ice” staring one of my favorite Chinese actresses Zhou Dong Yu. The movie was set in Jilin.
Mama’s Diner Menu
The menu features Rice Sets; Noodle Sets; Deep Fried items; Hot Pots for 2 – 3 people; Stir Fried Dishes and more. Their Rice or Noodle Sets are around $12 – $15.
The menu features Rice Sets (like Bibimbap); Noodle Sets; Deep Fried items (like Fried Sausages and Chicken Tenders); Hot Pots for 2 – 3 people (like Beef Short Rib and Beef Entrails); Stir Fried Dishes (like Teppan Squid and Mama’s Spicy Pollock) and more.
Lunch Experience
We visited them for lunch and here is my not sponsored, honest review.
To start, we received some banchan including kimchi; bean sprouts; braised sweet potatoes and so forth.
My favourite dish was Mama’s Special Bone Soup $17.85 which was a steamy, hot beef bone soup. We had a pretty nice sized beef rib but the meat could have been cooked a bit more to make it even more tender and fall off the bone but it was OK.
We also had Mama’s Dolsot Bibimbap $14.35 which had a reasonable amount of ingredients to rice ratio. There was a fried egg on top and we mixed up the dish ourselves.
Mama’s Traditional Black Sausage $14.65 was pig intestine (I believe) which was steamed and wrapped around rice. This is one of their more unique dishes that I would recommend trying once.
We also had a cucumber side dish $7.65 which was crunchy and garlicky.
There was also Garlic Eggplants $8.25 – a cold dish which was on the saltier side.
You pay at the front with cash or debit. There is a surcharge for credit.
Our bill was $66 plus tip which was OK.
Interior
The interior is bright and minimalist with neutral tones.
Service
Service in my opinion could be better and it wasn’t that they were understaffed. The staff weren’t particularly knowledgeable of the menu when I asked them for recommendations. It was just better to look at the dishes noted as “Chef’s Recommendations” on the menu.
Mama’s Diner is located at 4791 Mcclelland Rd #1623, Richmond, BC (Walmart Plaza).
Check out my video recap below: