"I've gotten takeout from the H.o.G. a bunch of times, but stopped in last night for an impromptu dinner when the resto I was planning on fell through. On my birthday! Good thing I'm flexible. Bad thing I was hungry. Good thing I love Chinese food. Bad thing I'm only armed with about 3 key phrases: \"HO FUN\" (wide rice noodles, my favourite), \"DA BAO\" (take out) and \"M GOI\" (thank you). Good thing my waitress was somewhat patient and managed to understand my wild gesticulations, making a customized vegetarian dish involving - you guessed it - HO FUN happen. Happy birthday to me.\n\nFrom the two tomes of offerings available, we selected the Pineapple and Seafood Fried Rice ($9), Mixed Veggies and Soy Sauce Fried Rice Noodles ($8.50) and Steamed Rice Roll with Deep Fried Donut ($3). The donut was fresh and not greasy-feeling at all, though I'm sure it is. I especially loved the fried rice - expertly done with big chunks of pineapple and flavourful shrimp. All of the food came out fast and hot, with enough left over for lunch the next day (\"DA BAO, M GOI!\" I said, proudly butchering the Cantonese language).\n\nIn summation: Place is clean, service is efficient, and everything is delicious. House of Gourmet, the Chinese restaurant so nice they have menus twice. \"M GOI\" for reading. (Did I do that right?)"^^ . "2"^^ . "2"^^ . "4"^^ . "3"^^ . . "2014-05-05T00:00:00"^^ . . .