The girlfriend has long preferred Tropika to Vancouver's other predominant Malaysian restaurant, Banana Leaf, and as I had only tried the latter, we'd been looking for an opportunity to correct that. We visited the location on Robson, and after climbing the stairs, were greeted and seated immediately.
We decided to start with some Roti Canai. The bread was soft and chewy, yet slightly flaky, and the curry dipping sauce was very delicious, having just the right amount of spice. This was a great start to the night. This was at least as good as Banana Leaf's version.
Roti Canai (Malay Bread)
Next up were some Indonesian spring rolls. We asked for vegetarian, but got chicken instead, which we didn't realize until after we'd bit into them. They were not what I was expecting, as they were very different from the spring rolls you usually see. They were also a bit bland.
Indonesian Spring Roll
Peanuts and chicken
My girlfriend mainly wanted to eat the stir-fried radish cake. I thought this dish was OK, but my girlfriend loved it.
Stir-fried Radish Cake
I was in the mood for curry and decided to try the Kari Ayam which was amazingly good. One of the best curries I've had. The chicken was cooked with the skin and bone on which made it taste so much better. I like that they didn't remove these to try to cater more to Western tastes. The chicken fell off the bone and was moist and delicious. We ordered a side of coconut rice to go with this which was good but didn't add a whole lot.
Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry)
The final dish I wanted to try was their Mee Goreng, as I'm in love with Fresh Bowl's version of this dish. This was pretty good, but the shrimp was a bit fishy and the beef that came with it was that typical baking soda soaked beef you see in Asian restaurants which I don't really like. It as good as Banana Leaf's version, but I'd give Fresh Bowl the win on this dish.
Mee Goreng
Overall Impressions: I really dug my first Tropika experience. The service was excellent as was the food. I'd really like to try some more of their curries.
Tropika at Robson
1128 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC
Phone: 604.737.6002
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