Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to try Shanghai Elan Restaurant’s dishes with a few other bloggers. The service is not representative of their usual service since they knew we were coming.
Shanghai Elan Restaurant is located in Crystal Mall. It takes the place of Pittsburg Cafe, which I’m glad closed down since they did have such horrible food. Crystal Mall probably has a poorly designed parkade since I like to avoid all life-forms there. People drive crazy and there is a good chance someone is gonna mess up your car.
Besides the craziness of the parking, I love Shanghai food and it’s never disappointed me. It’s a bit hard to find Shanghainese food in Burnaby, so I’m glad there’s something close by.
Cucumber & Jelly Fish with Sesame Oil was a good appetizer. The taste is very clean with the accent of the sesame oil. The texture of the jelly fish was a tad crunchy but not too strange. I quite liked this dish.
Shanghai Jelly Pork is a cold appetizer. It is arranged in a zigzag pattern and kinda reminded me of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude …but made of meat. The clear parts is just gelatine. It was delicious and you can’t go wrong with this dish.
Chicken with Spicy Sauce was a tad spicy but not too much. Th chicken was tender and cooked nicely.
Wild Vegetable with Diced Dried Bean Curd and Pine Nuts I think I was the only one at the table that loved this dish. It has a lot of salt and sesame oil, which I enjoyed the flavours of to enhance the dish.
Marinated Beef Wrapped with Pancake is very huge and seemed to be deep-fried and not pan-fried. The beef inside was very delicious and the portion is great.
Stir Fried Shrimps was simply boiled and seasoned. Very simple.
Shanghai Style Juicy Pork Buns was good. Nice broth and the skin was nice and thin. I love getting an order of these and teasing the first person to break their bun.
Braised Potato with Eggplant & Sweet Pepper was not my favorite dish. I really don’t like potatoes.
Shanghai Fried Rice Cake with Shredded Pork the dish was ok, but nothing crazy amazing.
Pan Fried Pork with Bean Sprouts in Crepes was interactive and fun. You would grab the wrappers and put some of the pork filling inside and wrap it up. The pork was tender and delicious.
Shanghai Fried Thick Noodle with Shredded Pork & Soy Sauce was good as well.
Sweet & Sour Rock Cod was really pretty when it arrived at the table. Whoever created this had a sense of humour. There is a boiled shrimp at the opening of its mouth. The whole dish was well executed and delicious.
Ham & Duck Soup with Fried Wonton was a yummy soup filled with lots of ingredients. Very nutritious indeed.
Rice Balls with Sesame Seed Paste Soup was a nice item to finish the meal. The little mochi balls in addition to the large rice balls with sesame inside.
Overall, the food was pretty good and there are tons of items on their menu to choose from. Even us food bloggers had a hard time deciding.
We Rate Shanghai Elan Restaurant: 
Address:
1687-4500 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC
[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=4500+Kingsway+Burnaby,+BC&hnear=4500+Kingsway,+Burnaby,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V5H&t=m&z=16 “]
