Chinese Archives - Page 11 of 14

In Chinese

Chi Lin Vegetarian: Great Eats at Nan Lian Garden Hong Kong

July 28, 2012

We took the day to visit Nan Lian Garden, Chi Lin Nunnery and Hollywood Plaza. Its easily accessible though the Diamond Hill MTR station. The Garden and Nunnery are quite breathtaking and makes for very epic photos. This was my favorite site for far in my trip! You can’t forget the golden temple in the middle of the garden surrounded by modern apartment buildings that go up to 80 floors high (or more).

Sometimes looking for Vegetarian cuisine is quite hard if you are on vacation. Good thing I like to eat anything and everything. It was a good change from not scarfing down tons of pork and beef. I actually really like vegetarian cuisine.

At the eat end of the Garden, there is a restaurant called Chi Lin Vegetarian. It’s very popular for locals and tourists who visit this garden. It is located behind a waterfall and server very good vegetarian food with lots of vegetables, tofu and mushrooms.

Patrons can sit and admire the waterfall at the windows as they dine. This place can get quite busy.

Tea! You also have 2 chopstick of differing colors. One is your communal chopstick where you grab your food without sharing your germs with others. The other one is for eating. It’s a good way to not spread germs, but it’s easily to forget which one is which.

A little side dish arrived at the table. We all couldn’t figure out what this was and was torn between a mushroom or tofu. Nonetheless, it was delicious.

Small Five Fortune Appetizer Platter comes with green beans, beet salad, tofu, mushrooms and cucumber salad. It was really well done and you can see and taste the variety of vegetarian cuisine. My favorite was the mushrooms and the tofu. Just simply delicious!

Small Braised Supreme Assorted Vegetables is also another delicious dish. It has a large amount of mushrooms! I love mushrooms, so it was a delight for me to dig into it. This was probably my favorite dish.

Mixed vegetables with mushroom and Beans has a beautiful presentation with the vegetables on the outside and the mushroom and beans on the inside. It was a good dish, but I think I liked the previous dish better.

Fried Rice with Pinenuts was my sisters favorite dish. She usually doesn’t eat much, but she ate almost all of it and it’s not a small dish either. It was a very good fried rice with good amount of ingredients inside.

Sweet and Sour Bean Curd with Pineapples had a very interesting texture. It was a bit crispy and soaked up a lot of the pineapple sauce since it’s quite porous. I am not a fan of sweet and sour things, so I did not particularly enjoy it.

Overall, the food was pretty well executed and great for everyone. The menu is also in English, so it won’t be challenging for tourists to order. I would definitely go again.

After your lunch, don’t forget to check out Chi Lin Nunnery! It’s very beautiful and not very far away. It’s connected to Nan Lian Garden, so it won’t take too much effort to get there.

Words of Wisdom:

Large variety of vegetarian dishes
Diamond Hill MTR Exit C2

We Rate Chi Lin Vegetarian:

Address:
Long Men Lou, Nan Lian Garden, 60 Fung Tak Road,
Diamond Hill, Hong Kong

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In Chinese

Golden Swan Restaurant: Signature Dishes

July 22, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: ChineseBites.com approached us to try a few signature dishes at Golden Swan. Although the meal was complimentary, the views and opinions expressed are entirely our own.

Last week, I headed out to Victoria Street along with Sherman, Rick and Kevin to try a few signature dishes at the Golden Swan Restaurant. The first dish we tried was the Golden Swan Appetizer Platter (五福拼盤). A very common offering, this opening dish was quite well done. The prawns, bean curd wrapped mushrooms and meats were tasty and definitely whet the appetite for the subsequent dishes. Portion wise, this dish is good for 5-6 diners. For larger parties ie 8-10, you will probably want to order two. Great presentation and good base flavors, a very familiar and welcome start to dinner.

The second dish was the Soft Tofu in Japanese Style (千頁滑豆腐). First off, the name was a little confusing as we were not quite sure what the Japanese element was but that aside, a pleasant dish. The tofu was very soft and well complimented by the sauce and diced vegetables. I think this dish would go very well with a few bowls of white rice. Vegetarians will definitely want to consider this as a light entrée over the meat platter above.

The third dish was the Sauteed Geoduck and Scallops with Sweet Peas (帶子象拔蚌炒蜜磄). For those not familiar with Geoduck, this dish will definitely be an interesting experience. The geoduck was tender but a little rubbery. That said, the highlight of the plate was definitely the large scallops and fresh sweet peas. Again, with a bowl of white rice, the tofu dish above and this seafood offering could be a light dinner unto themselves. Even though I am not a huge fan of geoduck in general, the scallops and vegetables were prepared well.

The fourth dish was the Sauteed Beef Tenderloin with Chayote in Black Pepper Sauce (黑椒合掌瓜炒牛柳粒). I felt the pan tossed beef was decent though I would have liked to see the beef a little bit more tender. The black pepper sauce was good and definitely appreciated as the prominent flavor profile as chayote tends to be rather bland. Personally, I could have done without the pieces of strawberry as they were served somewhat mushy and the sweetness was not really complimentary to the overall dish.

The fifth dish was a deep ceramic pot of House Special Salty Chicken (秘製鹽焗雞). This turned out to be one of my favorite dishes of the evening. The chicken was salty, tender and very clean. There was absolutely no oil residue which left the skin very crisp and crackling. The serving size was quite large and easily accommodated the six of us at the table. With a bowl of noodles or rice, this chicken can very competently stand as a primary entrée.

The sixth dish was an Egg white custard w/Almond milk (天鵝杏汁炒奶). Unfortunately, this dish was by definitely a “miss” in terms of taste and presentation. The white custard was extremely bland and not very appetizing. Visually, the dish was not very engaging so I ended up only taking a small spoonful to try. Although technically it did not taste that bad, I personally would not order this again. I strongly feel a dominant ingredient needs to be added to give this dish some semblance of flavor and structure.

The seventh dish was Angel Hair with Tiger Prawn (天使干燒大売蝦). This dish was an interesting ‘fusion’ attempt, combining the very popular Italian pasta ‘Capelli d’angelo’ or Angel Hair pasta with a very popular sambal prawn component. Overall, this dish was simple but very appetizing. The excess sauce from the prawn went very well with the pasta and almost made for an Asian spaghetti of sorts. I would have liked to see the prawn sauce with a bit of heat but to be fair, it was quite good as it was.

The eight dish was a large bamboo steamer of Lobster, Scallops, Shrimp with Rice on Lotus Leaf (荷香珍珠海龍皇). This large seafood dish was very generous, packed full of lobster, scallops, shrink and rice. Flavor wise, it was pretty good though the rice was a slightly dry/hard for me. Overall, the seafood was prepared very well and the portion was quite dense. A good signature or showcase dish for those wanting a bit of everything.

The ninth dish was actually one of two desserts we received, a Baked Tapioca Pudding (西米焗布甸). Those familiar with Asian cuisine will definitely recognize this dessert dish as it is very common in any Chinese restaurant. Having eaten this baked pudding dish literally hundreds of times, I can say this is definitely one of the better offerings in Vancouver. The pudding inside is not overly sweet and the top crust being slightly thicker than normal, almost like an almond cookie. Although I was quite full from the meal, I actually reached for seconds of this great dessert. A very pleasant end to a good meal.

The tenth and final dish of the evening was a plate of Durian Rolls (飄香榴連酥). For anyone familiar with what durian is, I do not think I need to say that there are few ‘fruits’ in this world more polarizing. Honestly speaking, you either love it or you hate it. Due to the very strong smell and thick, almost meat like texture of the fruit, durian is not exactly a universally embraced dessert ingredient. That said, I personally love durian and found these rolls to be pretty great. The actual flavor of the durian is not overpowering but it is definitely present. The pastry is flaky and fresh and with the durian infusion, is a very unique pastry you have to try at least once.

To wrap up with a few final thoughts, I felt the evening was a fairly strong showing by Golden Swan. Although there were one or two misses, the majority of the signature dishes we tried were quite good. With good presentation and simple, traditional seafood dishes, eating at Golden Swan will definitely feel like a very familiar experience to those well versed in Chinese cuisine. For those just starting out and wanting to learn more, I think this restaurant is a pretty safe choice for a solid orientation. I didn’t find anything startlingly innovative or new but for the food they do make, they do it quite well.

Words of Wisdom:

Anything with prawns, scallops etc. is a pretty safe bet
For vegetarians, there are several rather tasty selections to be had
Nothing ground breaking but traditional fare prepared well and at fair prices

We Rate Golden Swan Restaurant:

Address:
5380 Victoria Dr.
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Website:

http://www.goldenswanrestaurant.com/

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In Causeway Bay

Hui Lau Shan Healthy Dessert: Mango Desserts in Hong Kong

July 21, 2012

Hui Lau Shan is Hong Kong’s most popular and famous mango dessert restaurant. It has various locations all over Hong Kong. You are bound to see one near an MTR station or a large mall. Joyce of VanFoodies highly suggested I visite here. During my first few days in Hong Kong, I noticed so many locations everywhere. Their branding does change slightly depending on which location you go to, you keep your eyes open since not all shops are written in english. The exterior of this shop was written in Chinese, but the interior has english.

The location I went to was across from Sogo in Causeway Bay. It was a super hot day waiting for the bus, so the family and I decided to go on a hunt for a cold drink. To my surprise, it was only steps away from our bus stop!

They have a large amount of items to choose from. If a friend isn’t into mangoes, you can find some other alternative on the menu. I had a very hard time choosing since I wanted everything.

Mango Drink with Aloe Jelly was what my sister ordered. When it arrived, we were so surprised the aloe jelly was so green! I’ve never seen it this color. They are very generous with the jelly and makes up a large amount of the drink. The drink was really good, but she was a ad disturbed by it’s unnatural green color.

Mango Drink with Coconut milk and tapioca was what my mother ordered. It was very refreshing especially for the hot day humid weather in Hong Kong. The mango was very fresh tasting and not diluted at all.

Mango Sampler Platter comes with three different dishes. Its great for indecisive people who just don’t know what to order. It comes with Mango chunks with Mango Puree and Glutinous Rice Balls (Bottom left), Crystal Jelly with Mango chunks and Mango Ice Cream (Bottom Right), and lastly Mango Mochi with Fresh Mango (Top).

My favorite item was the Mango chunks with Mango Puree and Glutinous Rice Balls. Its a very popular item to order even if you are not getting the platter! Anyone that goes here must order this item…or get their friends to order it! Its refreshing, has a great fresh mango taste and is a must to have! The mango ice cream was really good. It was very icy, but for some reason I couldn’t get enough of it! So good!

Overall, it’s a great place to sit down to have a drink or get take out. Don’t be too discouraged by the large crowd or the occupied tables. The turn over is quite quick, so if you and a few friends want to sit down, your wait shouldn’t be too long.

Words of Wisdom:

Anything mango is a must!
Good prices

We Rate Hui Lau Shan:

Address:
Shop 3, G/F, 2-6 Yee Wo St
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Website:

http://www.hkhls.com/

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In Chinese

Hanami Japanese Restaurant: Dining on Dim Sum at YVR Airport

July 20, 2012

Hanami Japanese Restaurant is located right before you enter the security check for flights. They serve dim sum and Japanese food. Right before my flight to Hong Kong, my parents and I decided to have some dim sum since we went to the airport way too early.

We waited for a server to seat us at our table, but there was only one waitress on staff. There were two cooks at the sushi bar area, but they did not acknowledge our presence to help us get a seat. After an awkward long while, we just sat ourselves down. Off the bat, we were not impressed at all.

Tea! I’ll say this every time!

Deep Fried Mixed Meat Puff ($5) is not my favorite dim sum item. I always eat it, but I’m not a fan of the combination of the meat and the slightly sweet dough.

The inside has a decent amount of filling. It wasn’t anything too amazing.

Steamed Beef Rice Flour Rolls ($6) has the minced beef in the center surrounded by the rice flour. There are slits cut on top to allow flavour from the soy sauce to seep into the center, plus it’s makes for a good guide to divide this up when eating dim sum.

Bean Curd Rolls with Fish Paste and Greens ($5) was ok, but my parents both felt it was salty.

Pan Fried Eggplants Stuffed with Shrimp ($5) was very weird! It has the shrimp paste sandwiched between two slices of eggplant. It is also very oily, when you bite into it, a lot of oil comes out of it.

Steamed Scallops and Shrimp Dumpling ($5) was ok as well, nothing very special.

Deep Fried Shrimp Toast ($5) was very crunchy and had the slice of toast underneath and the shrimp mixture on top.

Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce ($5) was ok too, nothing very special.

Steamed Pork Dumpling with Shrimp ($5) didn’t look very appealing and the taste was ok.

Chilled Mango Pudding ($3.75) is always my little sisters favorite item. It is shaped like a heart and topped with evaporated milk.

Overall, the food was quite poor and way over priced. It’s what you get when you eat at the airport. I had some hope for this place, but our experience from beginning to end was very poor. We will probably not return.

We Rate Hanami Japanese Restaurant:

Address:
3211 Grant McConachie Way (Before Security, Int’l Level 3)

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In Chinese

Maxim Palace: Afternoon Dimsum in Hong Kong

July 19, 2012

In Vancouver, we all know Maxim as “that asian bakery near T&T”. In Hong Kong, Maxim owns a variety of different restaurants from bakeries, to cafes, and to some very large high end restaurants. While visiting Hong Kong during my first week, my aunt and uncle took us to Maxim Palace. it has won several awards and was named the “Newly wed’s most favorable wedding venue”.

It has been renowned for its Guangdong-style dim sum and dishes and offers a classic Chinese yumcha and dining experience. The servers come around the restaurant with trolleys of dim sum! Maxim’s Palace has eight restaurants, all at prime locations near subways and buses.

The interior is HUGE and I can see why people would use this for special occasions.

Tea! I love tea! It comes in a little coffee cup. I was so happy there was a handle because the usual cups can burn your fingers. It’s like drinking tea with a bit of style.

Fishmaw Stuffed with Minced Prawns were very good! I actually didn’t know the bottom was fish maw until someone told me a week later. I initially thought it was puff tofu. hahaha. Fish maw are the air bladders of a fish to control their buoyancy. It a very delicious item since there are a lot of air pockets to soak in all the flavours of the dish.

Tripe is the stomach lining of beef. This dish was prepared with some aromatic vegetables and a nice savory sauce. I like this type of tripe better than the thick harder ones. It’s a good dish to eat if you can wrap your head around eating cow stomach. It’s a popular ingredient to use in Pho as well.

Steamed Fish Ball is paired with some fish sauce for additional taste. It was delicious and delicate.

Steamed chicken with fish maw (Cotton chicken) was really good. Fish maw seems to be a very popular ingredient in dim sum in Hong Kong. I haven’t seen too much in Vancouver. This was a very delicious dish.

Roasted Duck was really good. Good amounts of meat on the bones and just down to earth good.

Rice was ordered to accompany the meat. Its good with the duck since the duck has very delicious sauce.

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly is quite addictive! If you’ve ever eaten this, you will know that you could eat all the skin like chips. It’s done very nicely here too!

Beef in Rice Roll was alright, nothing too special about it.

Sui Mai was ok as well.

Lotus Wrapped Rice (Lo Mai Gai) came with three pieces with one order. I didn’t eat any of this.

Baked Lotus Seed Paste and Sago Pudding was my little sisters favorite.

Red and Green Bean Soup is made with the two types of beans rather than just one.

Overall, it was great dining at Maxim Palace, but it can get quite pricey. There are long line ups during weekends, so do arrive early if you are with a large party. It’s located all over Hong Kong, but this particular location is at the ShaTin New Town Plaza. you can do some shopping before and after your dim sum!

We Rate Maxim Palace:

Address:
8/F, New Town Plaza, Phase I
Shatin, Hong Kong

Website:

http://www.maximschinese.com.hk

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In Chinese

Richmond Night Market 2012: Bakudanyaki, Le Tigre, Icy Bar + More

June 15, 2012

The Richmond Night Market is back! You may be confused why there are 2 night markets in Richmond, I am also confused but I heard there was a feud of some sort. After a four-year hiatus, Raymond Cheung, the founder of the original Richmond Night Market brings it back to a new location close to the Canada Line. There are 250 booths sellingitems such as Korean socks, colored contact lenses, stuffed animals, iPhone accessories, and other cool gadgets. There are also 80 vendors serving up the oh-so-delicious food that definitely attracts the whole city to come here.

Unfortunately, there is a fee of $1.50 to enter the night market, but the parking is complementary and very close! Imagine the admission is the cost of parking…much better than getting a parking ticket right?

By 7pm (the start of the night market), there were already lines into the parking lot of the night market. There is only one entrance and one exit out of this huge parking lot, so be expected to wait. You can also alternatively park at a different skytrain and just take transit down here.

Most people come here just for the food. There is always a crowd near the food area. It’s best to come early before huge lines begin to develop.

There are also a few table that you can sit down and eat your food. Don’t be afraid to eat with strangers if you desperately need to sit down to eat. Near this area are washrooms too.

Whatever you do…don’t buy the drinks from the Coca-Cola staff, they are severely over-priced! Might as well spend your money on something more delicious.

Daikichi Bakudanyak

Bakudanyaki was originally a food truck near the River Rock Casino a few years ago and they are back!! They were the originators of the huge takoyaki balls.

Cost: $5 per huge takoyaki balls
Flavours: Original, Chili, Wasabi, Curry, plus one special feature
Filling contains: Squid, cabbage, corn red ginger, shrimp, rice cake, quail egg and green onions
Website: http://www.bakudanyaki.com/

They cram an enormous amount of filling inside.

Wasabi Huge Takoyaki ($5) is the size of a baseball. All the huge takoyaki’s have the same fillings, the only thing that differs is the sauce they put on top. I chose wasabi since I wanted to be adventurous. The taste of wasabi is quite mild, so it won’t be super spicy. I really enjoyed it and the filling inside the takoyaki is very hearty. You must try this!

Le Tigre – Modern Chinese Cuisine

Le Tigre is one of the new Food Trucks that will be hitting the streets of Vancouver this Summer. They have a stall at the Richmond Night Market, so we had to have a taste of their skewers. What we noticed was the skewers were cheaper than some other stalls, plus they had some very enticing skewers. You definitely need to check out this place!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeTigreCuisine
Twitter: @leTigre_Cuisine

These are way cooler than all the skewer stands at the Richmond Night Market. It’s not just a skewer of meat, they dress them up with sauces and other cool ingredients.

Wouldn’t you want men in hipster hello kitty glasses serve you? We thought it was quite cute.

FoodQueen ordered:

Kickass Rice -$3.50
Pork Belly Skewer – $2.50

FoodPunk ordered:

Mochi Skewer
Pork Belly Skewer
Beef Skewer
3 skewers for $6.50

I ordered:

Beef Skewer
Chicken Skewer
Pork Belly Skewer
3 for $6.50

BBQ Squid

If I could read Chinese, I would let you know what the sign says. Sadly, I dropped out of Chinese school very early so I am no help at all. I really wanted to find some BBQ squid since I kept seeing people’s tweets about them. I didn’t know which ones were good, so I just went to the stall with the longest line up.

You pay at the right and then you line up again and pick up at the left side.

They don’t give you a piece of paper or anything…so I think they trust their customers to be honest. When you get to the man grilling all the squid, he will ask you if you want it regular or spicy.

Spicy Grilled Squid ($6) was spicy. I thought I had a high tolerance for spicy food, but I guess I was wrong. The squid was a bit chewy, but the flavour was good. If you can’t handle your spice, just get the regular one.

Cherry Fruit Juice & Icy Bar

I’ve fallen in love with this stall many years ago. It’s my go-to place for anything mango related. I’ve also been to their location in Crystal Mall a few times for their shaved ice and it’s never disappointed. I would highly recommend this place too.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cherryicybar
Additional Locations: Crystal Mall, Parker Place

Mango Tapioca Icy ($5) was definitely needed after all the salty and spicy food. Plus it was a hot day too. It has layers of mango, icy, tapioca and milk. I loved it!

Red Bean Ice Cream Mochi Icy ($5.50) was what FoodPunk ordered. It was big, but she said it wasn’t as thirst quenching as the mango icy.

QQ Egg Puff

QQ Egg Pugg is a bubble waffle stand at the night market. They have some very unique flavours of bubble waffles. I think they use the Bubble Tea powder in the bubble waffle to give them the color and taste. There are a lot of bubble waffle stands in the Richmond Night Market, so you have tons of options. FoodQueen and FoodPunk chose this because their banner was very cute.

Original, Chocolate or Strawberry – $3.50
Coconut, taro, mango, red bean, cheese or matcha – $4

Coconut Bubble Waffle ($4) looks like the original bubble waffle, but don’t be fooled. It did have a very subtle taste of coconut. it tasted ok, but the waffles looked pretty squished and deformed.

Taro Bubble Waffle ($4) is bright and purple inside due to the taro powder. It was very sweet and tasted like artificial taro.

Rotato

Rotato serves up the hurricane potatoes. The line up was quite long and was about a 30 minute wait. It seems to be the only stall that served these. We didn’t line up, but they do have this really cool illustration about what you can do with your Rotato.

Care For Life Foundation – Wishing Tree

At the Richmond Night Market, the Care For Life Foundation set up a series of artificial trees for people to make a wish. We browsed around and looked at a few wishes. We found a lot of wishes about relationships and how people want their relationship to last till the end of time. Very cute!

Some on the other hand … were not as sweet. I don’t really know what to say about this one…

A good amount of wishes were very sexual in nature as well. On it was a 604 number, but I’m sure no one wants to contact this person.

Address:
8351 River Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
richmondnightmarket.com

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In Bubble Tea

Flo Tea Room: Drinks and Toast Box

May 5, 2012

Flo Tea Room is located on Granville Street in the Marpole area. It’s been there for several year now and they would serve food similarly found at Hong Kong or Taiwanese Style Cafes.

FoodPunk, FoodQueen and I decided to grab some drinks and dessert here since we were in the area.

The interior is quite spacious with a few booth seats and standard tables.

Shakespeare’s Affair ($4.95)

Fire in Ice ($4.95)

Shrek ($4.95) has red bean on the bottom and matcha slush on top. It’s a very creative name since the drink is green and shrek is green. I did enjoy the drink, it wasn’t too sweet at all.

Honey Box Toast ($7.50) is a hallowed out chunk of bread and filled with toasted bread pieces topped with ice cream, fruit, Oreos and your choice of sauce. We got chocolate sauce on top.

I’ve seen so much hype over the Honey Box Toast and when I saw it on the menu, we just had to order it. It seemed quite popular at other restaurants too.

I wasn’t a big fan of this item since it was essentially toast but in a different form. I didn’t find the toppings to be very unique either. To make it a bit sweeter, I asked for a dish of condensed milk to add into it. Even though the honey box toast does look super cool, it’s not for everyone.

Overall, I may not have liked the box toast, but the service was pretty amazing. We probably spent 3 hours here and the servers were so nice and filled up our tea quite often. We never felt any pressure to leave. Great place to have some bubble tea and chat!

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in Rear
Large variety of drinks
Very attentive and friendly staff

We Rate Flo Tea Room:

Address:
7994 Granville St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.flotearoom.com/

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In Chinese

Prince Chinese Seafood: Alaskan King Crab

April 8, 2012

The Prince Chinese Seafood is quite popular for dim sum, but today the family came here to feast on some Alaskan King Crab.

It was my fathers birthday, so he really wanted to eat some King Crab. The prices are a bit higher now, but only by a few dollars. We didn’t do any set meals, but we had the usual dishes plus a few extra items. In addition to the weight of the crab, we had to add around $10 – $15 per dish, so our bill did end up to be quite expensive. They don’t explicitly tell you how much extra they charge per item, so we did get a bit of a surprise at the end of the meal. It took my parents a while to figure out what was what on the bill since they don’t exactly make the bill easy to read.

For dinner time, the restaurant had a good amount of people even at 8pm. Theres also a private room that you can book for larger parties too.

The Alaskan King Crab that we picked out was 10 pounds and it looked quite freaky since one set of its legs were raised. It looked like he wanted to attack.

Shredded chicken sesame salad is a cold appetizer. The flavour of sesame was combined well with the vegetables and chicken. They even add crispy wonton strips into the dish to add a crunchy texture. It was highly addictive!

Steamed Garlic Alaskan King Crab Legs was very fragrant as it arrived to the table. 2 large plates of crab legs, who could resist? The legs had a lot of aromatic flavour from the garlic infusing into the crab meat. Very very delicious.

The meat was very tender as well.

Deep Fried Garlic Alaskan King Crab Knuckles with Eggplant was very savory and I was very surprised the eggplant blended so nicely into the dish. I think I enjoyed the eggplant more than the knuckles.

Baked Alaskan King Crab Fried Rice was originally in the crab head shell, but the waiter put them into bowls for us before I could get a photo. In a sense, it’s like fried rice with crab and a curry type of sauce. I actually quite like this because the crab just gives it the additional layer of great seafood taste.

Braised Bean Curd with Pea Shoots complimented the meal well as the crab is quite high in cholesterol. My little sister enjoyed the bean curd and I couldn’t help liking the broth that it came with.

Alaskan King Crab Broth with Noodles was very very fragrant! It is made from the sauce of the crab leg dish. I could eat this all day!

At the end of the meal, complementary sweets arrived at the table. There were almond cookies and mango custard roll with shredded coconut. The almond cookie were crunchy and not too sweet.

Mango Custard Roll with Shredded Coconut was not my favorite dessert since I really dislike the sweet shredded coconut.

Taro and Tapioca Dessert was the last item to arrive and everyone was too full to really enjoy this item. I thought it tasted ok, but I didn’t like the texture and grittiness of the taro.

Overall, the King Crab dinner was very delicious, but it did come out to be quite pricey. The service was good, but we were seated in a very strange area where there would be smells of cigarette smoke lingering in the air at random parts of the meal. We were not sitting close to the door either, which was very strange.

Words of Wisdom

Close to Renfrew Skytrain
Free parking in front and rear
Double check bill for mistakes (it does happen)
Decent service
Hit and Miss dishes especially during Dim Sum

We rate Prince Chinese Seafood:

They are located at:

2881 Grandview Hwy
Vancouver, BC V5M

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In Chinese

Empire Chinese Cuisine: King Crab + Duck + Tapioca Pudding

April 7, 2012

It’s the time of year for Alaskan King Crab! The 604insomnia crew decided to head down to Empire Chinese Cuisine for one of the King Crab Dinner sets. We chose this place since it was a decent price and has good food.

Since it is in Richmond on Alexandra Road, the parking is quite packed even though they have their own parking lot. I had to park all the way at Lansdowne for free parking.

We went at around 7:30pm and it was packed inside. Not everyone was eating King Crab, but a majority of people were.

This was about 9 lbs. Most places show you the crab before preparing it in the kitchen. You can pose with it too if you want.

Seafood in broth soup was pretty good! It had lots of different seafood inside and it’s one of my favorite types of soups.

Peking Duck Wraps comes with some cucumbers, onions, hoisin sauce, slices of duck and the wrappers.

The duck slice was very juicy and had lots of meat content to them. They lay it on the plate on top of fried shrimp crackers.

All you do is put a little bit of everything together, wrap it up and munch away. It was yummy!

The main part of the feast arrived! This is the steamed garlic Alaskan King Crab legs. All the legs are cut in half so it’s really easy to eat.

There’s a lot of minced garlic on top, so the taste really infuses into the meat.

You can get them to turn the head into a baked fried rice for a few dollars extra, but we didn’t do that.

Deep Fried Alaskan King Crab Knuckles is another favorite dish! It is seasoned with salt, chillies, and garlic. Super yummy and kickass!

Duck Lettuce Wraps incorporates the rest of the duck in a type of meat mixture. You take the lettuce leaves and a few scoops of the duck mixture, wrap it up and eat it.

Alaskan King Crab Broth with Noodles has a nice fragrant taste and cooked well.

Braised Bean Curd with Bok Choy was quite yummy and you kinda need vegetables to accompany the meal since everything else is kinda fatty.

Baked Tapioca Pudding was something we had to order. We actually forgot to pre-order this ahead of time, but they had one more left so we grabbed it up! It’s really delicious and has a very nice crust on top. Kinda like the pineapple bun thing.

You can see all the little tapioca balls. It’s one of the best baked tapioca puddings I’ve had, so it’s highly recommended to pre-order this!

Overall, the food was pretty solid and it costs $43 after tax and tip per person. We had 8 people at the table. We were all pretty stuff after this.

Words of Wisdom:

Can be hard to find parking at peak hours
Reservations are recommended
Decent service
Pre-order the Baked tapioca pudding

We Rate Empire Chinese Cuisine:

Address:

8251 Alexandra Rd
Richmond, BC

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In Chinese

Pelican Seafood Restaurant: Dim Sum + Hello Kitty Mango Pudding

April 6, 2012

Pelican Seafood Restaurant is located on Victoria Drive and Hastings Street. It’s a favorite amongst people in the neighbourhood for dim sum. I came with the Vancouver Gastronomical Brouhaha group to just chow down on some dim sum. It’s always better to eat with great company!

By 10:30am, this place was packed! Unlike traditional Dim Sum restaurants, they do not use carts to push around the food. Instead, you just order it off a piece of paper and it comes to your table. For some people, they may like it, some don’t. It’s just personal preference.

Durian Pastry cane give a lot of people mixed feelings. Some people love durian, some people hate it. Durian is the fruit with all the spikes.

I personally don’t mind durian at all. The pastry was flakey, but the durian was a bit small, so the flavour wasn’t as great as it could be.

Egg Yolk Bun are just the chinese steam buns but filled with custard-like filling.

I didn’t like the texture of the interior because it was pretty gritty. You could taste a lot of the clumps.

Radish Cake is lightly fried on the outside and has a lot of pieces. Good taste too.

Eggplant with prawn puree is one of my favorite dishes.They make it great here! The eggplant is slightly mushy with the savory prawn puree on top. The sauce accompanied the dish nicely too.

Egg Tarts comes with 3 pieces per order. Sometimes if you order multiples of a dish, they combine it together. I’ve never really been a fan of egg tarts.

Rice Rolls with Beef and Parsley is just the steamed rice roll wrapped around a mixture of beef and parsley. It’s another one of those dishes you must order.

Meat Dumpling is crispy on the outside and has a savory meat filling.

Beef Meatballs is one of my favorite items. Who can turn down meat? I sure can’t. hahaha I like dunking the meatballs in worcheshire sauce.

Sticky Rice is wrapped up in leaves and is quite fragrant.

Pan Fried Rice Flour Roll were ok, but I wish it had more stuff to it.

Spring rolls comes in 4 pieces per order, but the picture has 2 orders.I liked them because they had shrimp inside.

Prawn Dumplings (har gau) are my favorites! Or anything with shrimp is my favorite.

Taro Dumpling (wu gok) is super crispy on the outside with soft taro on the inside.

Steam Pork Bun (Xiao long bao) were not very good. The skin was quite thick so it did take away from the flavour of the meat.

Mango Pudding comes in really cute shapes.

Our second order of mango pudding was quite cute too! They really know how to impress the kids. I thought the taste was ok, but it could have had more of a mango fragrance to it.

Overall, the food was good with a few hit and miss items. The service was ok, but there were times where one of the managers or servers were quite rude.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent prices
Rude service
Parking lot in front but usually full at peak hours
Lots of MSG or salt in food

We Rate Pelican Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
1895 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

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In Burnaby Cariboo-Lougheed

Mui Garden: Curry Beef Brisket

March 29, 2012

Mui Garden has 4 locations in the Lower Mainland and serve up Chinese food. M and I come here once in a while when we want to just get some cheap eats without traveling far. We like to be lazy like that.

From past experiences, they have some decent food here and we’ve had some bad foor here. It’s always good to know what are the better items to avoid the horrible ones.

Sauces at your table. Its kinda gross how all the amounts in these jars are quite low.

Tea! Gotta love tea and gotta have tea everywhere I go.

Curry Beef Brisket ($10.50) is something that M always orders. It’s more Hong Kong Cafe – Style rather than what you would find in an Indian restaurant.

It has a good taste and it’s quite large! This is off the regular menu, but there is also a lunch set that you can get too.

Wonton Noodle Soup ($5.50) was very disgusting. It was quite salty or had lots of MSG. The wontons seemed pre-made or something that you can get frozen at T&T. Definitely avoid from here.

Overall, I would still say the dishes are a hit and miss. You can’t go wrong with the curry beef brisket.

Words of Wisdom:

Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Curry Beef Brisket
Great for large groups
Cash or Debt
Hit or miss food
Free parking
Decent prices

We Rate Mui Garden:

Address:
4327 North Rd
Burnaby, BC V3N

Website:
http://www.muigarden.com/

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In Chinese

Po King Seafood Restaurant: $158 Set Menu of Disappointment

March 18, 2012

My parents wanted to have a dinner with the whole family and they decided to choose Po King Seafood Restaurant. My parents usually come here for dim sum and love the portions, quality and price.

I was always quite skeptical about this restaurant because it has horrible reviews and several health violations.

Even though it was King Crab season, this place was pretty empty. My parents don’t like King Crab, so we decided to get the ‘Dinner for 5’ that costs $158.

It comes with:

Shark’s Fin & Chicken in Superior Stock (5 pots)
Peking duck
Braised Live Lobster
Sauteed Diced Duck served with lettuce
Steamed chicken with ginger sauce
Steamed fish and vegetables
Prawn and duck fried rice with abalone sauce
Dessert

Tea! I must have tea with everything I eat!

Shark’s Fin & Chicken in Superior Stock was ok, but I didn’t know if it’s real or fake. But my parents told me it was real but of cheap quality.

If it is real, I would be quite disappointed at this restaurant. With all the buzz going around with the ethics behind shark finning, I am very sad that people still continue to serve this. Especially in Vancouver, when we are into sustainable ingredients.

Nonetheless, I really felt really bad consuming this, but I did. Since there wasn’t a lot of tables in the restaurant…the managers did seem like they were staring at us. The taste was alright, but I had to add a bit of red vinegar to make it to my liking. Nothing was special about it and the fin tasted like mushrooms.

In the future, I will probably refrain from ordering any shark fin… real or fake.

Peking Duck Wraps comes with some hoisin sauce, spring onions, and pancake wraps. It’s presented like this so you can do it yourself and put it together. Just take a little bit of everything and it should look like this.

I thought it tasted ok, but not amazing. My parents were very disappointed by the duck and questioned if it was even freshly made today. They suspected it was just reheated and served. The meat wasn’t moist at all.

Braised Live Lobster looked great, but the texture was way off. The meat was very chewy and tough.

Sauteed Diced Duck served with lettuce. You are given a pile of lettuce leaves.

You then take a few scoops of the diced duck and put it on the lettuce.

Then you will get this! Wrap it up so none of the filling falls out and then munch away. This was good and I love the crunch of the lettuce to go with the savory filling.

Steamed chicken with Ginger Sauce was addictive with the ginger sauce!

Prawn and duck fried rice with abalone sauce was alright. Nothing amazing, but decent.

Steamed fish and vegetables was good but I really didn’t like the deep fried fish. Other than that, everything else was pretty solid.

Green Bean Soup was alright as well.

Overall, the food was decent, but we didn’t like how some of the items did not seem fresh. My parents were disappointed by the overall quality and they are usually passive about everything. It makes me a bit sad to see them sad over a meal since food is supposed to make people happy. Safe to say, we will probably never return here for dinner.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking on side
Mediocre service
Decent food, but freshness can be questioned
Busy for dimsum, empty for dinner

We Rate Po King Seafood Restaurant:

Address:

5665 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H

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In Cafe

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant: Wonton Noodle Soup

March 17, 2012

Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant is located in the plaza where T&T is on 1st Ave. They sell the usual HK style food at decent prices. They are open quite late, which is awesome but they are cash only. The prices are quite affordable, so you will probably only spend about $7 or $8 on lunch.

My parents and I just came here for a quick bite since we were in a bit of a rush. It was en route to where we needed to go.

I feel like this place has changed so many times that I can’t keep track of what restaurant this is. It’s been many years since I’ve been here, but I did notice the interior has had a face lift.

Steamed Rice Roll with Beef was quite decent. It was around $3, which isn’t too bad and the flavour was so-so.

Hot & Sour Soup was about $5 for a bowl and it tasted good. I’ve just been having a craving for hot and sour soup for some odd reason. The soup here wasn’t as intense but it had a good amount of ingredients in the soup, so every bite had something interesting in it.

Wonton Noodle Soup is very good. My mother swears that this is the only item that is good here. The wontons are quite large and plump with good flavour. Definitely recommended.

Roasted Duck Leg in Noodle Soup is probably like a bowl of fat, or at least that’s what my mom tells my dad. He obviously loved the duck leg, but he found the dish to be a bit salty.

Overall, the food is quite average, but some items do stand out. The service was quite lacking. There seemed to be only one person working the floor, which was super odd. It took them a while to give us menus and tea. They had a good amount of customers, but really needs more staff. I guess the price makes up for the horrible service since each item is quite affordable.

Words of Wisdom:

Bad service
Cash Only
Decent Food
Affordable prices
Free parking at lot

We Rate Venice Garden Seafood Restaurant:
Address:
262- 2800 E 1st Ave
Vancouver, BC V5M

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In Burnaby Cariboo-Lougheed

Yan’s Garden Chinese Restaurant: Dim Sum in the Suburbs

January 24, 2012

Yan’s Garden serves up Chinese food and is popular in the suburbs for their dim sum on the weekends. They have been here for a while and doing fairly well in the neighbourhood. They even cater to the Koreans nearby by having a Korean menu too.

M and I came here since we haven’t had dim sum in a few months, so it was time to try this place out.

There are 2 dining areas in Yan’s Garden. One is very nice and then this side is very dull and super cold. I kept my coat on the entire time since this side was quite chilly. If you can, try to get a table on the other side.

Sui Mai ($2.95) comes with 4 pieces and tasted quite normal and average. It consists of mostly ground pork with some shrimp.

I wish I knew what this was. It tasted like a Steamed Prawn Dumpling, but it looks nothing like it. This had the same wrapping as the sui mai. Clearly I was very very confused.

Pot Stickers came with a vinegar dipping sauce. The inside has some pork and vegetables wrapped in a thin wrapper and pan-fried. This also tasted quite average.

Deep Fried Wontons were crispy on the outside and shrimpy on the inside. I didn’t take a liking to this either. It’s probably because I didn’t like the sweet sauce the went along with this.

Steamed Beef Meatballs ($2.95) comes in 3 large pieces. You can get them to cut it if you wanted them into smaller pieces. This is probably one of my favorite dishes since it has a good mixture of ingredients and its nothing like an Italian meatball. It’s a bit springy and has good flavour.

Deep Fried Meat Dumplings ($2.95) has a very glutenous layer surrounding minced meat and mushrooms. It’s one of those usual items in dim sum.

I personally never liked this since it’s so chewy that it takes so much effort to eat this. In a way, it reminds me of mochi.

Overall, food was pretty average. I don’t think there was any dish that we ordered was amazing. The service was alright, but at times I felt the servers were being way too pushy with selling us the food on the carts.

Nonetheless, it’s still popular in this area for their affordable prices and decent food. I think this time around, I didn’t order the good stuff.

Words of Wisdom:

Pretty average Dim sum
Request to sit at the nicer dining area
Fried squid, egg tarts, eggplant and shrimp is so good
Busy parking lot in the front, you may need to fight for parking spots
Closest Skytrain: Lougheed Town Center
Traditional pushing dim sum carts

We Rate Yan’s Garden Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
9948 Lougheed Hwy
Burnaby, BC
Website:
http://www.yansgardenrestaurant.ca/

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In All You Can Eat

Mongolian Little Sheep Hot Pot: Good Food, Horrible Service

January 24, 2012

TaiwaneseGirl wanted to come here for Hot Pot since it’s a large popular chain restaurant in Asia. Mongolian Little Sheep Hot Pot is located inside Lansdowne Mall in Richmond.

We made reservations at 7:30pm, but they didn’t honor our reservation. So, we waited…and waited…and waited. 40 minutes later we finally got a table. Clearly, we were not impressed with the service. There was 5 of us, so it was a ridiculous wait.

This place is packed on the weekends even though it is so large inside.

All You Can Eat Hot Pot ($19.99/ person + $9.99 broth) with half spicy and half original broth. It’s good to satisfy people who like spicy and non-spicy. The spicy side is really really really good for cooking meat and the original side is good for vegetables.

I usually avoid spicy, but I found the spicy side addictive for cooking meat and tofu!

For dinner, we chose this all you can eat option since it was too expensive buying ala carte.

The sauce is do-it-yourself. You just need to find the table of this stuff and begin mixing. You can choose from the following sauces:

Soy sauce
Vinegar
Peanut Sauce
Chili paste
Chili oil
Minced garlic
Satay sauce

I usually put in a lot of chili oil, satay sauce, and garlic. It’s really up to you what you want your sauce to taste like.

Vegetables, enoki mushrooms, fish balls, corn, tofu, and crab meat!

Udon noodles and vermicelli noodles.

Chicken and fish.

Raw Beef Slices! We order lots and lots and lots of this!

The food was good and we had a great time, but the largest problem here is the service.

Words of Wisdom:

Make Reservations, but not guaranteed to be held for you
Delicious broth
Decent prices for all you can eat
Ala Carte is very expensive
Very poor service

We Rate Mongolian Little Sheep Hot Pot:

Address:
#405-5300 No.3 Road
Richmond, BC
Website:
http://www.littlesheephotpot.com/

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In Brunch

Reno’s: Gotta Love the ‘Greasy Spoon’ Cafes

January 21, 2012

Reno’s is located on the ground floor of the Lee Building on Broadway and Main street. They sell cheap and affordable food! Most of the items on their menu is a little bit Canadian and Chinese, but you still have the breakfast classics.

Munchkie’s Munchies took me here for some brunch since it’s been on her ‘To Eat’ list forever.

To order, you line up at the counter and pay first. Then they will give you a number to wait at your seat.

Tea ($1.25)

Pancake Special ($5.95) comes with 2 pancakes, 2 sausages, 2 strips of bacon and eggs.

It’s a good price for what you get, but you can hear more about what Angela thought about them on her blog – Munchkie’s Munchies.

#3 Special ($6.95) + Side of Sausages (2.95) the special comes with hamburger steak, eggs, potatoes, toast and then additional order of the 3 sausages. I’m pretty sure the hamburger was just frozen and then cooked. The eggs were a bit bland, but if you throw some salt and pepper or some tabasco sauce it’ll be better.

Toast was the usual toast. You can choose from white, brown, or multi-grain bread.It’s buttered and you get a little container of jam.

Overall, the food was decent and at good prices. It’s a place with no frills type of food.

Words of Wisdom:

Paid street parking nearby
Under $10
Lots of seating
You can even order Chinese food here

We Rate Reno’s:
Address:
151 E Broadway
Vancouver, BC

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In Chinese

Lin Chinese Cuisine: Dan Dan Noodles & Xiao Long Bao

December 24, 2011

Lin Chinese Cuisine is well known for their amazing Xiao Long Bao and Noodle soups! They have won multiple awards for their amazing food and chefs. This place is usually packed during the peak hours and caters to small and large groups. The prices are very affordable!

MedicalGiraffe was back in town again and craved some good ol Chinese food since she’s been deprived of it for the past few months.

There are lots of tables, but it’s always good to make reservations. Since there are so many tables, sometimes the seating can get quite cramped.

Tea is the way to go!

Tan Tan noodle soup with minced meat ($6.59) was really good. It was my first time I’ve ever had dandan noodles. The broth had a nice rich flavour and the addition of the meat made it really good. It wasn’t very spicy at all. MedicalGiraffe really liked it too.

The broth is probably not the healthiest, but it does taste good. I’m not a dandan expert since this is the first time I’ve had it….so i’m not sure how it’s really supposed to be like.

Xiao Long Bao (Shanghai juicy pork dumpling) ($4.99) comes with 6 pieces and come with the sauce.

It was really hard to take a picture while eating it since the soup/meat just screamed to be eaten. What we loved about their dumplings is that the skin is thin, yet quite durable. It didn’t break and the pork and the soup inside tasted good.

Overall, what we had was pretty good. It’s sucks that the table arrangements were quite close together, but it was all about the food

Words of Wisdom:

Xiao Long Bao is a must
Service is a bit mediocre
Make reservations if you have large group
Hard to find parking
Very good prices!

We Rate Lin Chinese Cuisine:
Address:
1537 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6J
Website:
linchinese.ca

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Vancouver

In All You Can Eat

Fatty Cow Hot Pot: Perfect Winter Food

December 19, 2011

Fatty Cow Hot Pot is located on Victoria and 35th ave for all you can eat hot pot. I like going here since it’s closer than going to the ones near Richmond. All you can eat is around $20 per person. The #YVRBreakfastClub / #604insomnia group headed here in very unique outfits. Some of us had superhero clothes and some had our PJs on.

The interior is surprisingly nice with lots of tables to accomodate large groups and small groups. Always good to make reservations.

Each setting comes with tea, utensils and all the bowls and plates you need.

You get soy sauce, sesame sauce and satay sauce. The first set are free, but if you need more, it costs $0.50 more.

You first choose your soup base, which is an additional $7, which sucks since you are already paying so much for all you can eat.

Nonetheless, there lots of other items to choose from. Best to order lots of meat and seafood.

Theres also a second side to order drinks and other stuff.

We got the hotpot split in half for 2 types of broth. It accommodates the different tastes, but eventually it all starts tasting the same because some soup from one side will move to the other. It’s $8.50 for double broths.

Fried Fish Skin is something you must order! It’s really good! It might sound a bit strange, but its kinda like chips. You can eat it just as is or dip it into the broth.

To get our moneys worth, we got tons of meat and also TONS of oysters. We also tried ordering 10+ oysters on a 2nd order, but they didn’t think we would finish it, so we kept asking for it. Their oysters are pretty good and very large.

We also ordered other items, but I was a bit too busy eating hahaha.

Sour Plum Juice ($5 – Jug) was good! I’ve never had it with hot pot, but it went well with it. If you order a jug, you will have enough for everyone (7 ppl).