Dim Sum Archives - Page 2 of 2

In Dim Sum

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao Restaurant: Downtown Vancouver

February 16, 2013

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao Restaurant is located on Richards and Pender. I’ve always passed by this restaurant but it seemed a bit sketchy on the outside. We decided to give it a try as we were spending the day across the street and needed a quick bite.

There’s really no other restaurant like this in a few blocks. It’s a good place to go if you work in the Downtown area.

We were surprised at the interior, it wasn’t bad at all and there was a good amount of people eating here.

Tea

Fried Bun and condensed Milk is Scarface’s favorite item. The outside was crispy and the inside was steaming hot. Really yummy!

Xiao Long Bao ($5.99) was ok, it was passable, but not the best.

Pan-Fried Green Onion Pancake ($5.50) tasted delicious but you probably want some sauce to dip into it.

Pan-Fried Chive and pork ($5.99) nicely fried on the outside, so when you bite into it, you get the delicious filling of chives and pork. Highly recommended.

Superior Fried Rice ($12.99) was packed full of ingredients and the egg on top made it taste extra good.

Little Pork Buns ($6.99) were like the Xiao long Bao since it does have delicious soup inside. Pretty good.

Hot and Sour Soup (Small – $8.99 | Large – $14.99) was really good. Ask them for some vinegar to add to this as it enhances the flavour a bit more.

Marinated Shredded Jellyfish ($9.99) was ok, but it wasn’t as good as other places in town.

Chilled Pork Jelly ($9.99) was alight as well.

Overall, it was decent Shanghainese food in Downtown. Not the best, but the dim sum items are pretty good. If you do work downtown and craving for some Shanghainese food, its a good option.

We Rate Shanghai Xiao Long Bao Restaurant:

Address:
469 Richards St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.shanghaicuisinerestaurant.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=469+Richards+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=469+Richards+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+3A2&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Chinese

Cindy’s Palace: Signature Dishes

January 7, 2013

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to try Cindy’s Palace’s signature dishes with a few other bloggers. The service is not representative of their usual service since they knew we were coming.

Cindy’s Palace is located on Nanaimo and 2nd and they invited a few bloggers to try their signature dishes. I’ve passed by several times when driving, but never thought too much about dining here. I actually don’t dine out at Chinese restaurants very often since I know I can get some at home. It was an adventure to see what else is out there.

The interior has many round tables and is busy on the weekend but week day is pretty empty.

Dim Sum Dishes:

Deep Fried Shrimp Cakes are filled with shrimp and breaded. It comes with 3 pieces and is one of their dim sum items. I don’t think it’s available during dinner time. It was packed full of shrimp and comes with 2 different sauces.

Pork Dumplings (Sui Mai) is very plump, so definitely filling and one of those items that are popular.

Shrimp Spring Roll with Wasabi comes with 6 pieces and loaded with shrimp inside. You couldn’t taste the wasabi, which was fine since it would have tasted weird. I really liked this item! Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Crispy Tofu Stuffed with Vegetables in Thai Sauce was not one of my favorite items. The combination of the Thai sauce and the crispy tofu tasted a bit strange.

Dinner Dishes:

Stewed Spareribs in Whole Pumpkin you really need to scrape at the pumpkin to get some of its flesh. The spare ribs were nice but I don’t think the pumpkin added much flavour to the overall taste. Just a nicer presentation.

Pork Toro with Vegetables in housed in a fried wonton-like shell. Not a bad dish at all, you have the tender slices of pork with the vegetables, the sauce it a tad spicy, but isn’t too much to create a fire in your mouth.

Pan Fried Vermicelli with Beef in Black Pepper Sauce has the pieces of fried vermicelli on top and the beef, black pepper sauce, and softer noodles on the bottom. The black pepper is a bit overwhelming.

Lamb & Fish in Hot Pot was kinda like a hazard waiting to happen. There are lots of bones, so it’s really not good for little kids. I had to be like a detective to pick out the bones from my fish. Nonetheless, the soup was very flavourful.

Cindy’s Special Fried Rice was decent. It’s a good item to have at the table since it will fill you up and you can’t go wrong with it.

Braised Pork Hock with Special Preserved Plum Sauce had lots of bone and fat, which I guess is normal for the pork hock. It’s not my favorite dish.

Steamed Chinese Melon with Vegetables was a good veggie dish for a Chinese meal. You always need a veggie dish for sure. I like how it’s served in the melon bowl.

Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms on Rice in Lotus Leaf, I didn’t enjoy this dish. It was a bit dry and the flavours didn’t really pop out.

Stir Fried Prawns with Special Tea Leaves has a cool presentation, kinda like a cornucopia, but with prawns and tea leaves. I enjoyed this dish. But then again, I enjoy most prawn dishes anyways. The tea leaves added a subtle flavour to the prawns but not a large amount.

Deep Fried Squid with Salt & Pepper was sub par, it really needed more salt, garlic and spice to enhance the flavour.

Baked Pumpkin Pastries tasted really weird as a dessert but did look cute.

Glutinous Rice Balls with Sesame Paste was crispy on the outside and had the gooey sesame paste on the inside. I did enjoy this item.

The dishes at Cindy’s Palace can be a hit or miss, but pretty good offerings for dim sum or dinner. It’s in a strange place, but not bad.

We Rate Cindy’s Palace:

Address:
1796 Nanaimo St
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1796+Nanaimo+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=1796+Nanaimo+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5N+5B9&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Chinese

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant: Signature Dishes

December 29, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to try Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant’s signature dishes with a few other bloggers. The service is not representative of their usual service since they knew we were coming.

Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant is located in Kerrisdale on West 41st street. They serve dim sum in the mornings and the usual dinner at night.

We were able to sample a few dishes from their dim sum menu and other dishes on their dinner menu. You usually won’t be able to have dim sum items at night, so keep that in mind when reading this review.

The interior has lots of seats and is typical of a Chinese restaurant.

Dim Sum Dishes:

Breaded Shrimp with Deep Fried Egg Plant comes with 3 pieces and has the eggplant on the bottom and shrimp paste on top. Its a staple dish of all that order dim sum. One of my favorites since I love all dishes with shrimp.

Breaded Shrimp with Deep Fried Tofu is another great item. The deep-fried tofu on the bottom was crunchy and paired well with the shrimp.

Steamed Shrimps & Fungus Dumpling is another must order item. I’m sure most people order this item when they go for dim sum.

Mini Egg Tarts was pretty average and nothing too special.

Egg Pastry with Dried Shredded Coconut was quite sweet and sticky, I didn’t really particularly like this item very much.

Deep Fried Green Tea Sticky Rice Ball with Sesame are vibrant green and didn’t taste very good.

On the inside, you can see the black sesame.

Dinner Dishes:

Honey Garlic Spareribs and Deep Fried Shrimp Balls was pretty good, the honey garlic spareribs were nicely flavoured and slightly sweet. The deep-fried shrimp balls was a strange combination, but they tasted good too.

Crab with Special House Sauce it also has noodles underneath that soak up the natural crab flavour. Delicious!

Deep Fried Duck Wrapped in Taro tasted alright and definitely had more taro than duck. it was crunchy on the outside and soft in the center.

Stir Fried Beef with Steamed Buns was delicious and the beef in the stir-fry was very tender. You grab the bun and put some of the beef inside.

Steamed Tofu & Egg White with Diced Seafood & Meat was really good! It was delicious and best eaten with rice.

Dried Garlic & Enoki Mushrooms with Pea Tips was something I looked forward to because it was vegetables. I do love meat, but I also like vegetables more. With all Chinese meals, a dish of vegetables is a must.

Deep Fried Sole Fillet was crunchy and tasted ok. I never really liked deep fried fish since it really takes away from its delicate texture and flavour.

Baked Tapioca Pudding was ok, but not super amazing. On the inside, there is red bean paste.

Tofu Pudding comes in a cute container. The texture was a bit dense, but I didn’t mind at all, it just means it stays together a bit more when you’re scooping it up. I may just slightly have an addiction for tofu desserts. The tofu itself isn’t sweet, so you need to add some ginger syrup to it.

Overall, the food alright but nothing crazy amazing. Some dishes were outstanding and some were not very good. Nonetheless, it has always been a neighbourhood favorite for dim sum.

We Rate Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
2046 W 41st Ave
Vancouver, BC

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2046+W+41st+Ave+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2046+W+41st+Ave,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6M+1Y8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Dim Sum

Din Tai Fung: Michelin Star Restaurant in Hong Kong

November 23, 2012

Din Tai Fung is an award winning restaurant from Taiwan. There are branches all over the world. Din Tai Fung has been around since 1958 and then in the 1980s they began selling Xiao Long Bao, which made them very popular.

The location in Hong Kong is located in Tsim Tsa Tsui in Silvercord and has won a Michelin Star. Also, Open Rice has awarded them Best Restaurant Award of 2012.

It is popular amongst locals and tourists. I came here since I heard they had the best steamed pork buns. I actually came here about 4 times during my Summer vacation. I was crazy addicted to this place.

The interior is nice and has lots of seats. When we came around 11am, it was quite empty.

By 1:20pm, this place was PACKED. It’s best to come here around noon since there will be tables left.

Soy Sauce and Vinegar is at the table and you can use it to flavour your dishes.

I added the soy sauce and vinegar in my ginger for the Pork dumpling.

Juicy Pork Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) are so good! We had to order a few baskets to satisfy our cravings.

Vegetarian Dumpling was another one of my favorites. I know it doesn’t have meat, but it really enjoyed the minced vegetables inside.

Shrimp and Pork Sui Mai was OK. I really didn’t take a liking to it that much because of the overcooked shrimp.

Drunken Chicken was good. There was a good amount of meat between the skin and bone.

Shanghai Smoked Fish wasn’t our favorite item. It had bones inside.

Drunken Chicken Feet with marinated vegetables is not for everyone. It has a bit of alcoholic wine taste to it, but some people love it.

Shredded Vegetable and Tofu has a touch of sesame oil. I really like this dish since I have a bit of an addiction to sesame oil.

Hollow Spinach in Garlic

Marinated Jelly Fish

Pork Jelly

Shrimp Fried Rice is yummy too but it is a bit small, so you may need to order more. It was a little bit oily, but I really liked it since there is so much filling in it.

Braised tripe was good, but its not for everyone. Some people may get scared of the look.

Large Hot & Sour Soup was my favorite soup! Yum!

Pork Slices with garlic sauce

Wonton Soup

Noodle with Minced Pork Sauce

Braised Beef Noodle Soup

Fried Beancurd Puff with Vermicelli Soup

Overall, all the dishes were pretty good. One of my favorite restaurants when visiting Hong Kong. When you come here, you must have the Steamed Pork Buns! Its the one thing that everyone orders.

We Rate Din Tai Fung:

Address:
Shop 130, 3/F, Silvercord,
30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Website:
http://www.dintaifung.com.hk/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=30+Canton+Road,+Tsim+Sha+Tsui&hnear=30+Canton+Rd,+Hong+Kong&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Causeway Bay

Unicorn Restaurant 麒麟閣酒家: Afternoon Tea in Hong Kong

September 29, 2012

Unicorn Restaurant 麒麟閣酒家 has been around for 30 years providing guest with delicious Chinese food for large banquet style events or just for regular dinner. The restaurant is located inside the Lee Theatre Plaza in Causeway Bay.

Since they do hold a lot of wedding receptions, you may see the exterior overly decorated in white and pink.

Even if you are going for regular Dim Sum, they probably are setting up for the banquet in the night-time. I don’t know who Yoko or Smith are, but hopefully they had a good wedding.

Steamed Beef Ball

Steamed Pork Buns

Pan-fried Radish Cake

Spinach and celery

Durian Pastries

Coconut red bean cakes

Lettuce and oyster sauce

Spare ribs

Duck and BBQ Pork

Vermicelli noodles with vegetables

Barbecued pork fried rice noodles with barbecued pork the Seto powder

Steamed sponge cake

Spring Rolls

Taro Pastry

Egg Tarts

Overall, Unicorn Restaurant has a comfortable environment with attentive service. Its in Causeway bay and close to a lot of shopping areas and the MTR. It was a great place for my relatives to have tea, food, and chit-chat. The food was pretty solid with no complaints.

We Rate Unicorn Restaurant:

Address:
22/F., Lee Theatre Plaza, 99 Precival Street,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.unicornrestaurant.com.hk/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Lee+Theatre+Plaza,+99+Percival+Street,+Causeway+Bay,+Hong+Kong,&hnear=Lee+Theatre+Plaza,+99+Percival+St,+Hong+Kong&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Chinese

Super Star Seafood Restaurant: Graduation Buns & Elephant Dumplings

September 26, 2012

Super Star Seafood Restaurant (or some called it Red Star Seafood Restaurant) is located on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. They have various locations in Hong Kong and even one location in Richmond, BC. My grandfather took us to this location for some afternoon tea as it is one of the older location where all the celebrities dine.

As you walk upstairs, there are various awards and photos displayed.

There are lots of seats and can accommodate huge parties. We ordered a lot of dishes since we had a party of 7.

Crispy Whitebait and Peanuts come complementary at the table. It is very crispy and delicious! It’s quite famous and can be purchased in packages to take home.

Salted Peanuts came to the table too. It’s something to nibble on when you are waiting to order.

Graduation Buns (Steamed Oats and Milk Bun) was a special item in the Summer since everyone was graduating in the city. It was very cute!

We realized that after you take the top off of the hat, it looks like old grandmother buns.

This inside was a nice and creamy. It was not too sweet and was a lovely dessert.

Deep-fried BBQ Pork and Vegetable Dumpling in Elephant Shape.

It was very very cute and great for little kids to devour.

Congee with assorted items. You can design your own congee and add anything you want.

Roasted Chicken with Shrimp Chips

Hainanese Chicken

Braised Vegetables and Geoduck.

Jellyfish and Ham

Assorted Mushrooms and Bok Choy

Pineapple Buns were very unique here.

If you look inside, there is BBQ pork and bits of pineapples!

Steamed Rice Rolls

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings

Steamed Spare Ribs

Steamed Meat Balls

Steamed Fish

Rice and minced meat patty

Sui Mai

Sweet Fungus Soup

Daily Soup

Red Bean Dessert

Overall, the food is pretty solid with great service. I would definitely come here again. The prices are a bit higher, but its a good place to go for a large meal with the family.

We Rate Super Star Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
1/F, Tsimshatsui Mansion, 83-97 Nathan Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui

Website:
http://www.superstargroup.com.hk/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Tsim+Sha+Tsui+Mansion,+83-97+Nathan+Road,+Tsim+Sha+Tsui&ll=22.297792,114.172239&spn=0.010701,0.019269&hnear=Tsim+Sha+Tsui+Mansion,+83-97+Nathan+Rd,+Hong+Kong&gl=ca&t=m&z=16″]

In Chinese

Chao and Hak: Chiu Chow Chinese Restaurant in Hong Kong

September 18, 2012

Chao and Hak has 3 locations all over Hong Kong – North Point, Sheung Shui, and Diamond Hill . They specialize in Chiu Chow cuisine. We came to the Sheung Shui location for some dim sum.

There was a large line up and getting a table for 5 took quite some time. If you come at 12 or 1pm, you will have to wait for a table.

The interior has a lot of tables and has a nice elegant decor.

Fried fish, bittermelon and vegetables in black bean sauce was not my favorite dish because I dislike bittermelon and bones. It’s also not kid-friendly either since its hard to find those small bones.

Marinated Pork Hock are the joints of the foot of the pig. You get a lot of flavourful skin, fat, tendon and bits of tender meat.

Pickled Jelly fish and Pork skin and meat in jelly tasted really good. It’s a dish served cold and makes for a great appetizer.

Pig ear, marinated egg, duck and pork sausage was quite an oily dish. This dish is great for sharing with others at the table.

Marinated eggs, beef, and marinated tofu with a side of vinegar. I enjoyed it!

Spring rolls were cool and long like bread sticks. No one else at the table seemed to like it, so I ate a majority of it.

Sui Mai was ok. We had to wait a long time for it and it was a bit disappointing.

Minced Meatball also took a long time to arrive. It was very moist and flavourful.

Xiao Long Bao was the last dish to arrive. We had high hopes for this dish, but was not what we were expecting.

Overall, the marinated appetizer dishes were very good, but the steamed dim sum items were very disappointing. Also the service was very slow.

We Rate Chao and Hak:

Address:
Shop 501, 5/F, Landmark North, No. 39 Lung Sum Avenue,
Sheung Shui

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=39+Lung+Sum+Ave,+Sheung+Shui,+Hong+Kong&hl=en&ll=22.502556,114.127629&spn=0.005739,0.009345&hnear=39+Lung+Sum+Ave,+Hong+Kong&t=m&z=17 “]

In Chinese

Grand Hall: More Dim Sum in Hong Kong

September 12, 2012

We were looking inside Silvercord in Tsim Sha Tsui for Ho Choi Seafood Restuarant, but in its place is Grand Hall restaurant. It serves the same exact food, except they did major renovations and changed their name. This was confirmed by our waitress and is still operated by the Ho Choi Group. They own various restaurants all across Hong Kong.

We went around 11:30 and it was quite empty until around 1pm. It got really busy around 1pm. We ordered a bunch of different dim sum dishes for a group of 9. There were so many dishes that it was hard to keep track of whats what.

Rice Rolls, Deep Fried Wontons, and Beef Stuffed in Rice rolls.

These all tasted pretty good especially with the sauces they are accompanied with. There were so many sauces on our table that it was hard to remember which sauce goes with what dish. As long as you dunk the rice rolls into a dark sauce, you’ll be alright.

Minced Meat Balls was very moist and contained a variety of items inside the meatball. Very delicious!

Minced Chicken on Steamed Rice tasted ok, but was a bit dry and could have used some more sauce.

This was another rice dish, but I don’t remember what this is.

Spring Rolls look like long bread sticks! It was so weird seeing them in this form!

Steamed Pork Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) comes in 4 pieces. The skin was very thin, so no matter how carefully you picked it up, it would always break.

Big Dumpling in Soup tasted very good. The broth was delicious and the seafood stuffed inside was yummy.

Double Steamed Milk was so delicious and melted in your mouth like custard. So good!

Overall, the meal was pretty solid. Some items were a hit and miss, but it was a good venue for a large family gathering.

Words of Wisdom:

Great for large parties
Decent Prices
Gets busy around 1pm
Lots of tables
Recently renovated and clean

We Rate Grand Hall:

Address:
3 / F, Silvercord, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha

Website:
http://www.hochoi.com/

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In Central

Lin Heung Tea House: Oldest Tea House in Hong Kong

September 8, 2012

Lin Heung Tea House was established in 1926 and is one of the oldest tea houses in Hong Kong. With over 8 decades of serving locals and tourists, dim sum is served with the most traditional recipes that results in an endless flow of diners. This place is packed all the time! Not many places in Hong Kong still serve traditional dim sum. You may want to come very early in the morning or late in the afternoon ( 6am and 3:30pm).

They serve dim sum during the day and main dishes during the night.

Don’t be afraid to get cozy with strangers. You may be forced to share tables, but it’s a natural occurrence in Hong Kong. It really helps if you come with someone who can speak Cantonese! It will help a lot when ordering and finding your table.

Service is quite horrendous as the servers are very rude and not very helpful. People are here for the food and not the service.

You will need to wash your utensils even if they look its clean. Just dunk it in tea! They don’t give you napkins either, so make sure you bring a pack of tissues with you.

The tea doesn’t come in a tea-pot, but they have these traditional type of tea pots. You steep the tea in the larger cup and pour it into your tea cup when it’s done steeping.

It’s really difficult to pour if you’re never tried it before.

When you need to get your tea refilled with hot water, the server brings a huge kettle and pours with crazy accuracy. Every time they come by to pour hot water, I am always so scared just in case they scald us with hot water.

Steamed Beef Balls comes in 3 pieces and are delicious!

Pork tripe is a bit scary since it’s an organ. It’s a bit tough and chewy

Beef Tripe and intestines were very chewy, but the sauce that it was in was delicious.

Steamed Sausage Bun is yummy and a great item for kids.

Braised Chicken feet is a typical dish found in Dim Sum. Some love it, some find it super scary. You kinda have to get use to it. I personally like it since you essentially just eat the skin off the bones.

Steamed Fish Head is very succulent and has a delicious flavour when you suck the meat off the bones.

This dish has chicken, mushroom, and fish maw in a yummy flavourful sauce.

Braised Liver looks really nasty, but the liver does have a chalky flavour and texture to it. If you haven’t had liver before, you may not like it.

Chicken Feet wrapped in bean curd wrap was something I haven’t seen done before. the bean curd did taste good.

Fish Cake wrapped in Cabbage was one of my favorite dishes.

Steamed Chinese Sponge Cake (Ma Lai Go) is very very tall compared to most places. It’s usually made out of flour, eggs, butter, lard and brown sugar and then steamed. It tasted very good!

Words of Wisdom:

Wake up early to order the Big Chicken Bun (“Dai Bao”)
Very unique traditional dim sum items
Good Prices
Horrible service and cleanliness
Anthony Bourdain approved

We Rate Lin Heung Tea House:

Address:
160-164 Wellington Street,
Central

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In Chinese

Maxim’s Chinese Restaurant: Dim Sum Stalking in Hong Kong

August 3, 2012

Maxim’s Chinese Restaurant has several locations all over Hong Kong. It is way cheaper than Maxim Palace, so it is affordable for random eats without breaking the wallet. The interior at the Tin Shui Wai location was very large and was quick to get a table on the weekend. There are some waits, but it shouldn’t be too long.

You can wash your utensils here too. It’s a normal thing, but if you are lazy, you don’t need to wash it again. Just double-check if there is grime on your dishes.

Thousand year old egg and pork congee was decent. It wasn’t the best congee, but definitely better than some other places I’ve been to. It could have been boiled for longer to let the flavours seep into the rice a little bit more.

Curried Octopus was a tad spicy, but bearable for those who hate spice. The octopus was slightly chewy, but nothing much to say.

Stir fried noodles had to be hunted down. It’s located way in the front of the restaurant, so you need to grab your slip of ordering paper and grab it.

Fried rice roll was a little bit different that other places, I’ve never seen the outside with this texture. It also comes with sauce on the side for dipping.

Braised Tripe with Fish Maw was ok, I was never a fan of the large honeycomb-like tripe.The part I liked was the fish maw because of it’s porous texture is great for soaking up lots of favour from the sauce.

Steamed Prawns and Fish Maw was very good and always one of my favorites.

Stewed Pork hawk had the meat falling off the bones and was very tender. Delicious sauce too.

Spicy tripe was very good. Ever since this Hong Kong trip, I’ve been into eating spicy food for some reason. This dish had a good amount of spiciness but I did find it a bit oily.

Sesame Seed Balls was crispy on the outside and the inside was very chewy.

Steamed pork buns comes with 2 in each order, so you may want more if you table loves the buns.

The bun had a good amount of meat and enough sweetness. My sister and I enjoyed it.

Overall, good decent dim sum in Hong Kong. Since the restaurant is so large and not all the cart can get to you quickly, you need to walk around the restaurant hunting the carts for what you want. It’s like getting exercise before and during your meal. It’s normal and it’s the part of dim sum that makes it kinda fun.

We Rate Maxim Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
Tin Yiu Shopping Centre, Tin Shui Estate,
Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong

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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

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 Dim Sum

Dinesty Chinese Restaurant: Steamed Pork Dumplings (XLB) Is Addictive

March 29, 2012

Dinesty is a Chinese restaurant in Richmond best known for the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumplings). They have been know to have amazing food and great prices.

Since the last dinner didn’t go so well at Po King with my parents, I decided it was time for me to decide where to eat. After luring them with delicious internet photos, they agreed to take me here.

Once you enter the restaurant, you’ll see a wall of teapot and little dim sum toys. They are glued to the shelf, so don’t think about stealing them.

Told you there were mini dimsum toys.

For a Tuesday dinner, this place was packed. My mom was super surprised and excited at the same time. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. I’m pretty sure the weekends are crazy to get a table.

The best part about the interior is their open kitchen. You can see everyone cooking in the kitchen. It reminded me of watching a reality show on Food Network or something.

Look at them making the Xiao Long Bao. I was excited.

All your utensils and plates already at the table.

Steamed Pork Dumplings ($6.50) comes in 8 pieces. The skin has a nice thin layer, but still keeps the juice locked up inside. They were pretty good! My little sister couldn’t get enough of these.

Comes with a vingar and ginger dip for the dumplings. I love dunking it in this sauce.

Marinated beef with soy-sauce wrapped in pancake ($5.50) is crispy on the outside and has a great flavour overall.

Cold Wined Chicken ($7.50) was good, but it did have a bit of a strange taste with the wine. If you are into the whole cold chicken type of thing, this may just be for you.

Stewed Chicken Leg in Brown Sauce ($6.50) was good, but most of the meat was closest to the drumstick. The meat was quite tender too.

Noodles Topped with home-made Meat Sauce ($6.50) is similar to the Korean Jajangmyeon. You mix everything together really well and just eat it. The dish was ok, but the sauce was a tad bit salty and needed to be more thick and chunky.

Fried rice with scallop and egg whites ($9.95) I liked it. It had a good mixture of ingredients and it wasn’t too oily.

Steamed shrimp scallop and pork dumpling ($7.50) was definitely not as good as the XLB. Even though I really like seafood, the taste didn’t wow me. It just tasted so fishy. It also comes with 8 dumplings.

Steamed Pork Dumplings ($6.50) we also got more of these because we really really liked them!

Almond Tofu ($2.75) was good, but the picture on the menu was pretty misleading…it had more fruit and when this name out…it seemed like there were only a few pieces.

Overall, the food was great and at good prices. The service was really good as well. I love their menu since it’s so easy to read and has PICTURES! I’ll definitely ba back to eat more steamed pork dumplings!

Words of Wisdom:

Steamed Pork Dumplings (XLB) is a must!
Very busy, so best to make reservations
Most dishes under $10
Good service

We Rate Dinesty Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
8111 Ackroyd Rd
Richmond, BC

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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 Chinese

Fortune House Seafood Restaurant: Most Rude Service!

November 14, 2011

BusanGirl really wanted some Dim Sum, so I took her to Fortune House Seafood since it’s in Metrotown. I’ve been there before and I’ve never had any problems here. This visit was quite different and I was pretty annoyed by the horrible service they gave us.

We arrived just in time for last call at 2:30pm since they close their lunch service at 3pm. The hostess was quite rude and told us to order what we wanted as we waited for our table. We shrugged it off since it was a very busy day for them.

When we arrived at the table, we gave the server our order right away. The dim sum took a long time to arrive and the manager kept pressuring us to pay before our orders even arrived. He didn’t say anything, but he kept opening the little receipt folder to check if we paid it. Just to keep things interesting, we did not pay till the end of our meal. He kept making gestures to make us pay faster before we finished our meal.

They even started rearranging their table set up during the lunch service to prepare for their dinner service. A majority of the diners were still eating and seeing the servers move walls and tables around were super distracting. We heard the managers apologizing to other tables but when they approached our table, they told us to pay the bill. Rude much?

Tea ($1/per head) is charged on your bill without them informing you. They have a good selection of tea as well. If you are really really against paying the tea fee, I’ve heard you can just argue with the manager to remove it. I’ve never paid the tea fee when I go with my family…but this time I was charged. We were kinda mad, but just let it go.

Jumbo Shrimp Dumplings ($5.75) were quite large and tasted good. What I like to do is ask them for some hot sauce since I like a little heat.

Fried Mixed Meat Dumpling ($4.25) is not as big as other places I’ve been too. The sticky dumpling skin is not as thick as other places. Also, their filling is very little compared to other places too. What BusanGirl liked about this was that there was little “meat smell”, which she liked.

Steamed Beef Rice Roll ($5.25) is one of the classic items to get. It has nice minced beef in the middle wrapped with a rice roll with soy sauce on top.

Deep Fried Squid ($7.50) made me quite disappointed. For the price, it was small and lacked flavour. It also looked unappetizing too. It tasted alright, but needed some more salt.

Fortune House Seafood is a very popular Dim Sum restaurant to go to but it can get really really busy and LOUD. Make reservations ahead of time.The price is a bit expensive compared to other chinese restaurants in Vancouver. I think it’s really popular due to the location since it is in Metrotown.

Words of Wisdom: