Chinese Archives - Page 4 of 14

In Burnaby Central

Moment Dessert House: Cafe in Burnaby

April 13, 2017

Moment Dessert House is a another cafe in South Burnaby for coffee, tea and cakes. It is a bit hidden as it is just off Kingsway. I came on a weekend when all the other cafes in the area were super busy. We came here as it was a place we haven’t been to before and it wasn’t as busy.

Interior

There were white walls and then accents of wood all over the cafe. There are lots of tables to sit and chat with friends or study.

Apparently it’s exam time, so there were a few people studying here. Even though it was busy, there were always still tables available for smaller groups.

One odd thing we did notice is that we order up at the counter and we can pay later. I’m use to paying up front as its easy to forget to pay.

Coffee

Some coffee is a requirement when hanging with my friends. They had a coffee and an americano.

I got a cappuccino and it had lots of foam on top. I felt it was a bit on the weaker side with a bit too much milk under it.

Cake

Strawberry Chiffon Cake is what we had to share It wasn’t sweet, which makes it a great asian cake. It looks pretty but it was mostly whipped cream, cake and some strawberries. It was decent, but it was pricey for what it you get.

They also have other types of cakes written on the walls too if you want to know what they are. This place looks cute, but the coffee and cakes weren’t as memorable.

We Rate Moment Dessert House:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/momentdesserthouse/

Address:
7-4300 Kingsway, Burnaby

In Chinese

Flower and Horse in Spring: Yunnan Cuisine

April 7, 2017

Flower and Horse in Spring is a new restaurant serving Yunnan Cuisine with their signature ‘crossing the bridge’ rice noodles. The legend of the noodles comes from the Yunnan Province where a scholar was studying for the imperial exams and his wife would make a long walk crossing a bridge to bring him his midday meal. The meal consisted of hot chicken soup with a layer of oil to keep the meal warm. She would carry the ingredients separately and combine them together when she gave him the noodles until he passed his exam.

This story was passed down from generation to generation inspiring the creation of the noodles that symbolizes the wifes love for the scholar.

Interior

We passed by this place as it looked quite different from the outside. Looking at the menu and seeing this place was packed, we decided to line up. It was a 15 minute wait but the food smelled good.

The bright decorations really reminded my friend of China. She definitely felt nostalgia.

Traditional Crossing the Bridge Noodles

I ordered A5, the first overall pick according to the menu. Not sure what that means, but I felt most of the menu was lost in translation. This set has crispy pork, prawn, kelp, squid, marinated pork, fish, spam, corn, chives, bean curd, quail egg, yunnan pickle, tomato, carrot, bean sprout, parsley, and green onion.

There are instructions at the table on how to put together the noodles, but I learned quickly that I was so hangry that I can’t follow instructions.

It says:

Beat the quail egg
Coat the sliced raw meat with egg and place into the boiling soup
Add cooked meat to soup
Put Veggies into the soup
Add rice noodle to the soup

We just dumped all the meat in first to cook it while the soup is hot. We then put in the rest of the veggies to cook. Then lastly, we throw in the noodles.

Once all the items were put together, it looked and tasted good. I wish it had more spice, but there was some chili oil that you can add a kick to the noodles.

Rice Noodle with sauteed pork sauce

The dish has a soup on the side too. The egg on top was delicious. The menu said the sauteed pork sauce was spicy, but it really wasn’t.

Noodles with with house special braised pork sauce in soup

It also has with shitake mushroom, bean curd sheet, bean spouts, chives, and other stuff. The menu had a big HOT warming on this item, but my friend said it wasn’t very spicy.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a great experience to try something a bit different in the city. The ‘crossing the bridge’ noodles were delicious and I’ll be back. It’s a small space and they don’t do reservations, so make sure to come earlier or have a bit of patience waiting.

We Rate Flower and Horse in Spring:

Address:
1741 Robson St, Vancouver

In Chinese

Ford Fusion Foodie Goes to Heritage Eatery

February 10, 2017

The 2017 Ford Fusion Sport has come out and what better way to explore Metro Vancouver, than to indulge in some fusion cuisine. Partnering up for Ford Canada, we headed to one of the newer restaurants in Vancouver for Pan Asian Cuisine – Heritage Eatery.

Check out my review of the 2017 Ford Fusion Sport as I drove it all around town. The trusty navigation guided me to Heritage Eatery easily even in rush hour.

https://foodology.ca/2017-ford-fusion-sport-review/

Heritage Asian Eatery

Heritage Asian Eatery brings together the flavours of different countries in Asia. They blend together fresh, locally sourced ingredients, prepared with a modern take on the authentic flavours of the Far East. I’ve heard lots about this place, so it was time to make the visit.

Interior

The interior as metal and wood features that give it a cool industrial look. Up on their shelves, there are metal bells, abacus, Asian hat and some other cool items.

Bao

Bao means bun in Chinese. It is a Chinese steamed roll with a filling of meat or vegetables.

The 5 different flavours are:

Cotechino (house made sausage)
Shitake
Duck
Pork Belly
Pork Shoulder

I ordered the Cotechino, Duck and Pork Belly. It all came together in a cute bamboo steamer. The bao is soft and fluffy while the filling is very delicious. Each bao have different complementary toppings and sauce used.

Bowls

There are 4 types of rice bowls at Heritage:

Pork Belly
Duck
Chicken
Eggplant

We went with the Pork Belly as it’s the most fatty and delicious. We also added an extra egg to the bowl. It normally comes with 2 halves. The bowl is very hearty and its good for one person. The other veggies in this dish balance out the egg and pork belly.

Wings

We got a side of wings since we heard it was irresistible. The right amount of spice coat these crisp wings and drumettes.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food was delicious and even thought the menu is a bit small, there’s lots of variety to each dish. Highly customizable to what you want. Eating fusion food and enjoying the Ford Focus was a fun night out.

Address:
1108 W Pender Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.eatheritage.ca/

In Chinese

Sun Bo Kong: Vegetarian Chinese Food in Vancouver

January 2, 2017

Sun Bo Kong is an award-winning vegetarian restaurant for Chinese cuisine. They are open 7 days a week from 11 am to 9 pm. Reservations are also available.

I came here for lunch to try Chinese vegetarian food. A nice change to eating a meal without meat.

Gluten Combination comes with a 4 flavours on a plate with different sauces. The gluten is spongey kinda like tofu. A good starter to the meal and easily can be shared.

5 Spice Bean Curd Rolls Stuffed with Mushroom has 2 rolls and was very delicious.

Deluxe Premiere Bamboo with Vegetarian Thick Soup is filed with different kinds of mushroom. A clean and clear tasting soup with rich mushroom flavours.

Pea Tips Rice Sheet Roll is stuffed with the naturally sweet and crisp pea tips.

Vegetarian Cutlet with Orange Sauce was one of our favourite items. We ate this dish us really quickly.

Monkey-head Mushroom with Vegetables doesn’t have any monkeys in it despite the name. The mushroom is porous and soaks up the sauce.

Lo-Hon Chow Mein had mushrooms, black fungus, and other veggies on the crisp noodles. This was ok, but we probably wouldn’t order it again.

Deep-fried Taro Rolls were so delicious. The exterior was nice and crisp, so when you bite down, you get the soft taro inside.

Deep Fried Seaweed and Enoki Mushroom Rolls had mixed reactions at the table. I personally liked it because I inhale anything mushroom.

Overall, Sun Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant was delicious and it’s hard to find a really good vegetarian Chinese restaurant in town that appeals to meat eaters as well.

We Rate Sun Bo Kong Vegetarian Restaurant:

Address:
1363 Kingsway, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.sunbokong.com/#vancouver-vegetarian

In Chinese

Golden Sichuan Restaurant: Spicy Dishes + Dumpling Trail

December 1, 2016

Golden Szechuan Restaurant in Richmond is known for their spicy food. I came here with Sherman, Dee and Amy to try a few of their dishes as well as try some dumplings as part of the Dumpling Trail.

Interior

The interior has tall ceilings and there are a lot of large round tables which is great for large groups.

Dumpling Trail

Boiled Pork and Cabbage Dumplings were pretty good. The filling was moist and it had a good ration between the pork and cabbage.

Spicy Wontons had a nice thin skin and had a good amount of sauce. It wasn’t too spicy at all.

Other Dishes

Spicy Pork Slices on bamboo comes beautifully presented like as if it was drying laundry. The boiled pork and cucumber sits on top, so you grab a piece and dip it in the sauce below. Very good, but you need to have that sauce dunked to the pork or else it’s just boiled pork belly slices and cucumber.

Dan Dan Noodles was decent.

Braised Beef Noodles was ok, but I didn’t like how it was a tad sweet.

Mouth-Watering Chicken was a good dosh as well. Good meaty pieces of chicken with a slightly spicy sauce. I was surprised it wasn’t more spicy. The peppercorns added a nice kick to the dish.

Boiling Beef should have set my mouth on fire, which I was looking for, but the spiciness didn’t last very long. Not sure why this visit, the spice level was more tolerable.

Twice-Cooked Pork was one of my favourite dishes. The pork was delicious and the garlic scapes were so addictive.

Overall, it was a pretty good spread of food that we ordered for dinner. A few of the outstanding items were the twice-cooked pork, dumplings, and mouth-watering chicken.

We Rate Golden Sichuan Restaurant:

Address:
170-3631 Number 3 Road, Richmond, BC

In Cafe

Tsim Chai Noodles: Dumpling Trail in Richmond

November 12, 2016

Tsim Chai Noodles is located in Richmond and serves Cantonese cuisine. I love Cantonese food since it reminds me of eating at home.

We were invited by Tourism Richmond to experience the Dumpling Trail. Tsim Chai Noodles is one of the restaurants featured in the trail for their dumplings in soup.

Interior

The interior is nothing impressive. Lots of seats and can accommodate small to large groups.

Dumplings

Sui Kau in Soup has a good amount of dumplings inside and they were larger than other places. Plump and there is big pieces of shrimp. One thing I didn’t like about the broth was that is a a little bit sweet. Teh dumplings differ from wontons due to the shape.

Wonton Noodle in Soup came piping hot. The noodles were good and chewy, wontons were delicious but that broth also felt a tad sweet. Perhaps it was just an off batch when we dined here.

Other Dishes

Beef Rice Noodle wasn’t too oily and has a good amount of beef, bean sprouts, green onions, and noodles. A good dish to share among people at the table.

Yeung Chow fried rice is another good dish to order for multiple people at the table. There is pork, shrimp, egg, and peas in it.

Preserved Egg and Pork Congee is a classic item on the menu. One of my favourite dishes. I had a lot of congee as a kid and when I need a dish that makes me feel better, it’s congee.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food is solid but we felt the broth of the wonton noodles and Sui Kau Soup to be a bit sweet.

We Rate Tsim Chai Noodles:

Address:
50-8251 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC

In Chinese

Xi’An Cuisine: Dumpling Trail in Richmond

November 5, 2016

Xi’an Cuisine is located in the Richmond Public Market and is popular for their hand-pulled noodles. It’s a local favourite and the owner started Xi’an cuisine since he couldn’t find it anywhere else in Richmond.

Dumplings

Potstickers are triangular in shape and golden brown on each side. The skin was a bit thick, but the meat inside was juicy.

Spicy wontons were really good. Soy sauce, chili oil and peppers made my tastebuds tingle.

Other items

Beef Roll was crisp on the outside and had a good ratio of meat.

BBQ Lamb Skewers are covered in spices. This was ok, but I wanted a bit more char to it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed the spices and flavour profile of Xi’an cuisine. The dishes are made from scratch and is something unique at the Richmond Public Market food court.

We Rate Xi’an Cuisine:

Address:
2370-8260 Westminster Highway, Richmond

In Chinese

R&H: Chinese Food + Dumpling Trail

October 22, 2016

R&H Chinese Food is located in the Lansdowne Centre Food Court. They serve up delicious Chinese food that’s a bit different that the other stalls here.

We were invited by Tourism Richmond to experience the Dumpling Trail. R&H Chinese Food is one of the restaurants featured in the trail for their diverse selection of dumplings from crispy to chewy to all types of textures.

You can watch them make the dumplings right in front of you. I love watching them make dumplings since it’s really a craft. I’ve tried making dumplings and I can never make them look beautiful.

Potstickers with cabbage and pork filling had a nice colour on the bottom. As the skin is a bit thicker than the other ones that we ordered, these can be quite filling. Best to share dumplings among others.

Boiled Pork Dumplings with Chives was one of our favourites. Delicious filling and reminded me of a little taste of home.

Xiao Long Bao are steamed juicy pork buns and they come in a bamboo steamer. Nice thin skin, but the tops of them were a bit dense.

You should return the bamboo steam to them once you’re done.

Overall, R&H has a good amount of dumplings on their menu. If you want a taste of homemade dumplings and other Chinese food, come give them a try. Prices are very good too.

We rate R&H:

Address:
5300 Number 3 Road, Richmond

In Chinese

Empire Seafood: Dim Sum + Dumpling Trail

September 26, 2016

Empire Seafood Restaurant is located in Richmond on No. 3 Road and New Westminster Hwy. Surprisingly, I haven’t been here for dim sum before. With so many amazing dim sum restaurants in town, this is one of the popular ones to go to.

We were invited by Tourism Richmond to experience the Dumpling Trail. Empire is one of the restaurants features in the trail for their diverse selection of dumplings from crispy to chewy to all types of textures.

Interior

Dumplings

Shrimp dumplings (Har gow) are a staple in Chinese dim sum. The dumplings are filled with shrimp and wrapped in a tapioca starch pastry. It is them steamed in a bamboo basket.

It comes with 4 pieces in each order. I enjoyed the bounce of the shrimp inside and the skin was a good thickness. Best eaten with some hot sauce or XO sauce.

Pork and Shrimp Dumpling (Siu Mai) is a dumpling stuffed with pork, shrimp and then topped with roe. It is wrapped in a yellow wrapper. It is also steamed in a bamboo basket.

It comes with 4 pieces too. Good mixture of shrimp and pork inside without too much fat.

Taro Dumpling (Wu Gok) is made with steamed mashed taro with mushroom, shrimp, and pork in the centre. It is deep-fried so it gets the wispy texture on the outside. It comes with 4 per order too. You typically get this cut in half before eating.

A nice texture since you get the crunch from the outside and the savoury filling inside.

Fried Pork Dumplings (Ham Siu Gok) has a crisp crust on the outside and inside the the minced pork centre. The filling is pretty good.

Other items

Spring Rolls come in 4 pieces but are cut up into 8 for easy sharing. These are deep-fried and filled with a delicious shrimp centre.

Chicken Feet is a staple in dim sum but not everyone can stomach it. I grew up with chicken feet at most dim sum meals, so this isn’t out of the ordinary for me. It has a nice sauce and essentially you are eating away at the skin and cartilage.

Spareribs with squash comes in one serving in a bamboo basket.

Shrimp Rice Roll comes with 3 pieces and are cut in half. The shrimp is nice and fresh, good colour and tastes great when you pour the soy sauce over top.

Veggies

Pea tips in broth is a delicious dish. The sweetness from the pea tips is really good. Do be careful of bugs since I did find a caterpillar in my portion.

Sweets

Egg Custard Tart is a bit different here since they add some coconut into it. It was good, but unexpected as we devoured these.

Egg Yolk Bun is pretty good here too. The steamed buns have a week yolky centre. Very delicious and you can’t leave here without one.

Final Thoughts

Empire Seafood has some pretty solid dim sum and good prices. Just be aware that they do charge for tea. So don’t be surprised when that pops up on the bill. Try to make reservation in advanced and try to go earlier in the day before some key items run out.

We Rate Empire Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
London Plaza, 5951 Number 3 Rd #200, Richmond

Website: http://www.empirerestaurant.ca/esr/dimsum/

In Chinese

Moral’s Village: Hot Pot in Richmond

September 21, 2016

Moral’s Village is a new a la carte hot pot restaurant in Richmond. They are a chain restaurant in China and has now expanded to Toronto and Richmond.

The main difference in the Toronto location is that they have all you can eat, which isn’t the same as Richmond.

I was invited to try out their signature dishes on their dinner menu by the crew at Chopstick Fest.

Interior

They have private rooms for larger parties or private functions. You should call ahead of time to reserve these rooms. The private room that we were in also came with our own washroom.

Starters

Before the hotpot began, they shared with us 4 starters. All cold dishes to get our appetites going.

Creating your sauce

There is a cart in the hallway with a bunch of sauces and ingredients to create your own sauce.

Hot Pot

Our table got 2 soup broths – preserved egg and pork bone soup. They have a bunch of different broths that range from mild to spicy.

They even have a soup base called Beauty in the Golden House. It’s quite elaborate and at $68, its not any regular broth. It needs to be ordered in advanced and will really impress guests.

As the different ingredients arrived at the table, we put them into the hot pot one by one. The quality of their ingredients are pretty good and it’s reflected in the price they charge.

Meat

Deluxe Lamb Roll came with quite a lot of slices for an order. Fresh and not frozen when it arrives at the table.

Ox Tongue was sliced nice and thin, so it more tender than usual.

Angus AAA Short Rub was very nice quality too. Very fresh and a good amount of marbling.

Standard Joshu Wagyu Kobe Beef is mouth watering. Very expensive cut of meat for $58 for only 5 large pieces.

Look at all those delicious ratio of meat to fat. So good. Since it is such a nice cut of meat, we made sure not to overcook it.

That marbling is awesome.

Beef Balls with cheese, fish balls, pork balls and prawn balls were all fresh and went well with the hot pot. My favourite was the prawn balls.

Seafood

Deluxe Seafood Platter is decadent and costs over $100. It has fresh crab, abalone, prawns, oyster, and grouper. It was so fresh that the prawns were still moving. The presentation is very nice and comes with a cup of smoking dried ice. Fancy Fancy.

Other items

Pea sprouts are one of my favourite veggies to have with hot pot.

They have fresh handmade noodles and its a nice option to have here.

Bean Curd Roll has 7 pieces and it is deep fried. You dip this into the hot pot until it becomes a bit soggy.

They have a lot of different mushrooms that are great too.

Corn is a great item to add to hot pot to add a bit of sweetness.

Deep Fried Chinese Donut with fish paste and tokibo was an interesting item to have as I’ve never seen anything like it.

Overall

The quality of the hot pot was superb, but it can cost quite a bit. They have pretty premium options when it comes to selecting broth, meats, seafood and other ingredients. Definitely not your everyday hot pot place.

We Rate Moral’s Village:

Address:
4540 Number 3 Road, Richmond

In Chinese

Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant in South Burnaby

September 19, 2016

Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant is a new hot pot restaurant in South Burnaby on Kingsway. They are a chain restaurant from China quickly expanding in Vancouver.

They have over 600 restaurants in China. They have 2 more locations on Robson Street and in Richmond. What is unique about their menu compared to their other locations is their pan fried hot pots.

I was invited by the Chopstick Fest, a Chinese Cuisine Festival happening in October later this year to try out a few of their signature dishes.

Interior

The interior is nice and has lot of seating. Depending on your group size, the seating can be quite squishy. For us, we had a group of 7 and it was very tight. We also found that for a hot pot place, there wasn’t very good ventilation.

All of us smelled quite intensely of hot pot afterwards.

Pan Fried Hot Pots

We started with the Pan Fried Crab with ginger onion and short rib soup in the centre. Apparently, you eat the items in the outer rings and then drink the soup in the centre.

The crab was hard to pick at since there were no metal seafood crackers. The taste of the soup was very nice.

The second pot we got was Pan fried fish and sauteed beef in a hot and spicy soup.

This pot had a lot more flavour. The sauteed beef went really well with the hot and spicy soup and spices.

Hot Pot

More spicy soup base is added to the pot. I thought this was pretty strange since the broth would be super oily from the pan fried ingredients originally in the pot. This was definitely a unique experience. We assumed we would get a new pot to switch over but it seemed like it wasn’t the case.

The spicy soup base has quite a kick to it. I always find that spicy is good for cooking meat. It’s a great match to have beef and a good amount of heat.

More of the short rib broth was added to our non spicy hot to cook some meat, veggies, seafood and other items.

To accompany both hot pots, all the extra items are a la carte. So, it’s not all you can eat.

Some of my favourite items were the frozen tofu, quail eggs, and veggies.

Some items were felt were not very fresh like the shrimp. Also the diced beef had bits of shell inside it.

Other menu items

Deep fried buns with condensed milk comes with 6 pieces of buns. Crisp on the outside and I like how there were 2 slits on the top so you can get some condensed milk in the cracks.

Green onion pancake was not good at all. It was only and didn’t have a lot of green onion taste to it. Mostly dough.

Yang chow fried rice was good and an easy item to share with the group.

Fresh young coconut was great for the meal as it quelled the heat from the spicy hot pot.

Overall, we felt like the items were a hit and miss. We also didn’t like how they added the broth into the pan fried hot pot as it made it super oily when we were doing the regular hot pot.

We rate Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant:

Address:
5507 Kingsway, Burnaby BC

In Chinese

0755 Restaurant & Lounge: Dinner in Richmond

September 16, 2016

0755 Restaurant & Lounge looks like a club on the outside, but surprisingly, they have really good dishes. They showcase dishes from different regions and provinces in China. They are named after an area code of Shenzhen.

I was invited to try out their signature dishes on their dinner menu by the crew at Chopstick Fest.

Interior

The 2 sides are split up between the restaurant and lounge. It has a dark atmosphere and doesn’t look too much like a regular restaurant setting.

Drinks

Their drink menu is pretty large but I found that most of the drinks are very sweet.

Appetizer

Sweet Olive Chin-Yam was an interesting dish on the menu. I really didn’t like it as it was strange to be slightly sweet. It might of been better if this dish was colder.

Sour Jellyfish Head was really good, I liked the amount of vinegar in the dish, plus the jellyfish pieces were large.

Chongqing Spicy Chicken was another delicious dish. It wasn’t too spicy and it added a lot of flavour to the chicken.

Spicy and Sour Lotus Roots was delicious, but I didn’t like the chopped up into smaller pieces.

Mains

Braised Spot Prawns was bathing in the spicy sauce with corn pieces. They give you plastic gloves so you can peel off the shells with your hands. They try to tone down the messiness, but I still found some seeped into the gloves.

Lobster Noodles had a good amount of lobster and the noodles soaked up all the precious lobster juices.

Garlic Steam Scallop had a lot of garlic on the noodles with the piece of scallop on top.

Pepper Steam Mandarin Fish was a surprising dish. I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the fish was so juicy and well executed. It wasn’t spicy at all. From the looks of it, I thought it would be, but just good flavours.

Spicy Sour Beef in Soup looked unappealing, but the flavours of the beef and enoki mushroom were good. A subtle amount of spice but not too strong.

Roast Duck Slices with Spring Pancakes was ok, but the taste of the duck is masked by all the sauce that its covered with.

Steamed Garlic Loofah was another surprising dish. Even though it was stuffed with garlic, it wasn’t too pungent.

Sauteed Pea Sprouts in Broth is a good refreshing veggie dish. I love pea sprouts.

0755 Stir-fried rice with preserved ham came in a tall bucket with the rice packed in it. Lots of ingredients inside the rice.

Soup

Stewed Chicken Soup came in a jar for everyone that orders it. It was a nice clear soup with pieces of vegetables and chicken. There was a good amount in the jar.

Dessert

Ice Cream Toast was large and a good item to share with a group. They make all the ice cream in-house and the green tea ice cream was delicious.

Coconut Pudding was electrifying when it arrived at the table. It had a sparkler inserted up top and lit when it comes to you. When you pop off the top, you will see the milky pudding up top, but when you did deeper, you’ll find the clear coconut water is gelatin form underneath. It tastes so good and refreshing after the heavy meal.

After you eat the pudding, you can then eat the flesh off the inside of the coconut. I would highly recommend this.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the food here. As a restaurant and lounge, I wouldn’t expect them to have a killer dinner menu. I came here once before for some nibbles and alcohol. I was impressed.

Some dishes were a miss, especially the drinks, but there were a few items that I really enjoyed.

We Rate 0755 Restaurant:

Address:
3779 Sexsmith Rd, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.0755lounge.com/

In Chinese

Chuan Chu Ren Jia: Szechuan Cuisine in Burnaby

August 26, 2016

Chuan Chu Ren Jia is a Szechuan restaurant in South Burnaby on Kingsway. I’ve passed by this place so many times, but have never made a visit until now.

I was invited by the Chopstick Fest, a Chinese Cuisine Festival happening in October later this year to try out a few of their signature dishes.

Interior

The interior is pretty basic with Chinese decor and a few tables. It was pretty packed at dinner time and seems to be a local favourite.

They have large tables available for big groups, but just call ahead of time to make reservations.

Soup

Seaweed Spare rib soup was good and tasted pretty nutritious. This is the large size that 6 of us shared.

Appetizer

Sautéed Free Range Chicken with Chili was pretty good. Very flavourful and not too spicy. Try avoid eating the red chilis as those have a kick kick of spice to them.

Clear Noodles in Chili Sauce was pretty hard to pick up with chopsticks and forks. The noodles pick up most of the flavour from the sauce and the noodles themselves are tasteless.

Entree

Kung Pao Chicken is cooked with chilis, green/red pepper, peanuts and a delicious sauce. The chicken is tender and very flavourful. A good amount of spice to this dish, but it isn’t too intense.

Sauteed Pork with Chili pepper also has shaved jalapeños. It’s spicy, but I enjoyed the flavours.

Grilled Lamb with Cumin was very good. It reminded me of lamb skewers from other restaurants. I gobbled this plate right up.

Braised fish with hot sauce was the most spicy dish of the evening. The fish still had bones on it, so it was a bit difficult to pick out the bones. You definitely want to get a side of rice to go with this dish so it absorbs the hot sauce.

Overall, it was a pretty good dinner and the dishes were all delicious in their own way. If you love spicy food, you’ll enjoy this place. I would definitely come back again.

We rate Chuan Chu Ren Jia:

Address:
6408 Kingsway, Burnaby

In Bubble Tea

Bubble Queen: Bubble Tea and Bubble Waffles

August 18, 2016

Bubble Queen has their second location on Oak Street. The Richmond location is always packed, so my friends and I wanted to check out their Oak Street location and also they were having major bubble waffle cravings.

Bubble Queen is best know for their drinks and bubble waffles. A great combination.

This location has indoor seating as well as patio seating. It has a bit more seating than the Richmond location.

Oolong Milk Tea, Mango Slush, and Peach Green Tea was what we all ordered. The drinks were good and not too sweet.

Original Bubble Waffle was crisp on the outside, but there wasn’t too much of the chewy centre. It seems like its their style to cook it a bit over. Some people seem to like it but I prefer is less crispy.

Oreo Bubble Waffle has the bits of oreo integrated inside of it. Similar to the original, it is also quite crisp.

Overall, the drinks were great but the bubble waffle weren’t my thing. The waffles took a long time to come to the table. The drinks came a lot faster.

We rate Bubble Queen:

Address:
3208 Oak Street, Vancouver

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Bubble-Queen-1948623658697015/

In Chinese

Sun Sui Wah: Dim Sum in Richmond

August 13, 2016

Sun Sui Wah is a popular dim sum restaurant in Metro Vancouver. They have locations in Vancouver and Richmond. We came to the Richmond location with Chinesebites to check out a few of their popular dim sum items. I’ve never been to this location, so I was excited.

A large enough menu for dim sum. Lots of choices!

The interior is large and can fit quite a lot of people. They also have a few large screens for viewing sports games.

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry is topped with sesame seeds and crisp on top.Comes with 3 pieces, but you can easily cut them into bite-sized pieces to have 6 pieces. Good ratio between the pastry and filling.

Deep Fried Squid doesn’t have that much of a crunchy texture. It was ok, but could have used more seasoning.

Shrimp Rice Roll is another classic item to order. It has 3 rolls and cut into 6 pieces. You will want to drizzle some of the soy sauce over the rice rolls to add more flavour.

Bean curd wraps with fish paste was pretty good. I love bean curds and fish paste. a delicious combination.

Donut Rice Roll has dried pork floss on top and little green onions for colour.

Rice Roll with fish paste is a good version of the classic rice rolls. I actually really liked this.

Beef Rice Roll is another classic. Delicious as usual.

Spring Roll comes with 3 pieces cut in half so it is easily sharable. It has shrimp inside.

Har Gow AKA shrimp dumplings are a staple among Chinese Dim Sum. Most tables would order this. The shrimp inside is soft and has a nice bounce to it. One of my favourite items at any dim sum. It goes well with XO sauce or hot sauce.

Deep-fried glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with pork comes with 3 pieces and was pretty standard.

Daikon Cake with XO Sauce needed a sauce to dip into…perhaps more XO sauce.

Duck webbed feet with taro isn’t for everyone. Some may find it gross and creepy since you’re basically eating its skin.

Stuffed Treasures has 3 pieces of green bell pepper, tofu and eggplant topped with fish paste and black bean sauce.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun has 3 pieces as well. Comes piping hot and a good a mount of pork filling inside. I would definitely share a piece with a friend since it can be filling.

Tripe with ginger and onion was tender and had a good texture to it. Another item thats not for all.

Beef Tendon in BBQ Sauce was like jelly.

Xiao Long Bao comes 5 to a basket and were ok. Skin thickness was ok too with piping hot soup.

Sui Mai is the classic pork and shrimp dumpling and was average as well. It isn’t too fatty.

Deep Fried Taro with meat filling is crispy on the outside and the meat mixture on the inside is always delicious.

Mini Sticky Rice comes with 3 to an order. Another staple item to order in dim sum.

Halibut Collar has a good amount of spice to it and was a dish I wouldn’t think about ordering for dim sum.

Creamy Egg Yolk Bun comes with 3 pieces and the delicious egg yolks hide inside. Super delicious.

Egg tarts are small, but come with 4 on one plate. You definitely want to eat it right away when its warm. I kinda prefer the smaller egg tarts since you want to save room for other items on the table. I just wanted a small taste of the golden yellow custard.

Overall, a good place to get dim sum in Richmond. You will find the classic dim sum items and a few different items that they specialize in.

We Rate Sun Sui Wah:

Address:
4920 Number 3 Road, Richmond

Website:
http://www.sunsuiwah.ca/

In Chinese

To Hot Pot: Chongqing Style Hot Pot in Richmond

August 10, 2016

To Hot Pot is the newest hot pot restaurant to open up in Central Richmond. It is located in the same plaza as Dinesty. They specialize in Chongqing style hot pot.

We were invited by Chopstick Fest to have a sneak preview of what To Hot Pot offers to their customers.

It’s very new, so nothing exists online when we were searching this place up.

Interior

This space is huge! This is the main dining area with tons of hot pots. They even have other areas as well for larger groups for more private dining.

We love the table that we sat at since it has hooks for your purses. Love it.

Tracking Card

This little electronic card tracks what you order for your hot pot.

The instructions on the card say:

Pick your soup, bring your card to the counter
Pick your dishes freely
Choose your drink, billed automatically
Pay bill with card

Not the best explanation, but there are staff to help guide you through the process.

Ordering

There is a digital screen where you can make your selection of drinks, soup base and other options. It’s a fairly strange process to me to have servers around, the digital screen to order with the electronic card, then you also have to go pick up what you want from the fridges.

At the far end of the room are these small fridges were you can pick and choose what you want for your meal. Each dish costs money, but you have no idea how much until you tap your card at the end for the total.

You’ll find vegetables, meat, tofu, noodles, and other items that you would typically add to the hot pot. Each dish has an RFID chip, so they can track what items you grabbed.

You place your tray of items on this electronic table, it tabulates and you tap your card.

Mix your own sauce

I love the sauce bar since they have so many options for you to make the perfect sauce thats tailored to your taste buds.

With so many options, there are lots to choose from, but there are only Chinese descriptions for the ingredients, so for only English speakers like me, we accidentally got black vinegar instead of soy sauce.

They also had a small area for fruits and picked vegetables. You can grab as much as you want.

Drinks

Tea is free of charge, but they do have a good range of drinks to accompany the hot pot meal.

Plum Juice is a classic item, but it’s not for everyone. For me it’s something that I’ve grew up drinking, so it don’t notice the flavours too much. To others it can taste like a light BBQ sauce.

Winter melon juice was another item that our group loved.

Hot Pot

We got the two soup bases – Pork Rib Soup and the spicy Chong Qing Style. They also have a special nine combo soup base option that looks pretty cool too.

The spicy Chong Qing broth was very hot for our standards. According to the restaurant, some customers don’t have an issue with it. I usually find the spicy broth is great for cooking meat.

The Pork Rib broth was very nice and flavourful. Great for vegetables, noodles, seafood and tofu.

Veggies

Veggie platter comes with an array of veggies that go well in the hot pot.

Mushroom platter comes with a variety of mushrooms from enoki to oyster mushrooms.

Meat

Pork Belly is always a delicious meat to choose.

Meatball Platter has 4 types of meat balls with 3 each. Beef, lamb and fish I think.

The premium meats will arrive at the tables on nicer dishes, but there are a few cheaper meat options in the fridge like the pork jowl.

All the other dishes may not fit on the table, for us, we ordered so much that it started to overflow the table, so they have these special racks for the extra dishes.

VIP Guests

Apparently, VIP guests get a few special items with their meal. Since we were blogging about the meal, they brought these items over to us.

Deep Fried Pork with Sichuan peppercorn embedded into the batter. The Sichuan peppercorns are pretty intense and numbs your tongue.

The deep-fried buns with condensed milk is always a treat.

Overall

Overall, the quality of the meats, vegetables and broth were good. I’m really use to having all you can eat at other places around town.

The ordering a la carte system was confusing at first since you don’t really know what the prices are until its charged.

We Rate To Hot Pot:

Address:
130- 8171 Ackroyd Road, Richmond, BC

Phone:
604-284-1555 or 604-285-7738

In Chinese

21 Nautical Miles: Seafood Boil and Beer

August 9, 2016

21 Nautical Miles is a new seafood restaurant in Yaletown. They are best know for their Chinese-style seafood boil, drinks and different types of appetizers.

They are right across from other popular seafood restaurant – Rodney’s. Their menu is quite different.

I was invited by Chinesebites to try a few of their signature items. I was pretty excited since I was going to come visit soon. I love a good seafood boil and the Chinese-style of it really intrigued me.

Interior

The interior is pretty neat. Mostly white with access of colours. I kinda liked it and there are a lot of seats inside for small to large groups.

They also have a second floor

Drinks

They have large beer dispensers and we were surprised they had Innis & Gunn on tap. A good drink to have with their seafood boil.

Seafood Party

To get ready for the Seafood Party, you are give a bib, gloves, chopping board, mallet, utensils and gloves. A good way to stay clean when devouring all the seafood in front of you.

There are 3 sauces to choose from:

black pepper
spicy
garlic butter

These 3 sauces put a twist to the traditional seafood boil most commonly found in the states.

It costs $38.95 per person, but you need a minimum order of 2 people.

The seafood is thrown on the tables, so it is a free for all for those sitting at the table.

Inside the seafood party is crab, prawns,clams, mussels, corn, and potatoes.

The garlic butter was my favourite sauce as it wasn’t too messy to hold the seafood and didn’t overpower the natural sweet taste of the food.

The black pepper was more saucy that the other ones so, you’ll definitely get this all over your hands. Half way through, I had to ditch my gloves so I could get a better handle of the seafood.

The spicy sauce wasn’t bad but it did have spicy Szechuan notes to it.

You really get down and dirty with the meal, good thing there are bigs to shield you from the debris.

You definitely don’t want to be eating this and wearing something expensive.

Appetizers

Golden Fried Calamari with pepper and salt. It has a nice crunch and a good portion to share among friends. I liked it.

House Spicy Spot Prawns had a nice look to it and presentation. When I peeled off the shell, the prawns were overcooked and bland inside. A shame since spot prawns are super delicious and sweet when just boiled.

Chinese Pork Burgers was filled with flavourful pork inside the crisp bun. It was toasted well and tasted good.

Grilled Oysters with cheese is half cooked, so it was a very odd experience eating this. I think I would have preferred raw or cooked, but not half way.

Herbal Coconut Mussels was ok, but I prefer the mussels from the seafood party.The herbal coconut sauce can be soaked up with the bread to enjoy it more.

Garlic Steamed Lobster Tails was very pungent with the strong garlic taste that overpowers the lobster tail.

Abalone is cooked with a house special sauce, which reminds me of sweet prunes. I would have liked the sauce to be lighter so we could taste of the abalone.

Skewers

Lamb skewers were smother in cumin and had a fragrant flavour. It is served on metal skewers, so don’t poke your eye out.

Beef skewers were spiced with cumin too, so it was a bit hard to differentiate from the lamb.

Chicken Satay was moist and not dry at all compared to other places in town.

Pork Skewers are braised for 48 hours. Look at the delicious fatty layers, its basically pork belly.

Dessert

Mango Thousand Layer Cake is flown in from Taiwan and has the layers of crepe, whipped cream and then the mangoes in the centre. It is served with ice cream and topped with more whipped cream. It was good and a good ending to the meal.

Overall, the seafood party is a very popular and fun item to order. The other dishes were a hit and miss. They have a few kinks to work out but can’t go wrong with the seafood party.

We Rate 21 Nautical Miles:

Address:
1257 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://21nauticalmiles.com/

In Cafe

Scorpio’s M: Dessert in Richmond

July 20, 2016

Scorpio’s M Dessert is a little shop hidden on Alexandra Road. They specialize in homemade shaved ice desserts.

There is little to no parking in this plaza as most of the spots are reserved for other restaurants and businesses in the plaza.

We were invited by ChineseBites to give a few of their signature items a try.

Interior

The interior is very nice and reminds me of a shop that should be serving high tea. Randomly there are so odd items that seem like they shouldn’t belong, like a bunch of Chinese looking shelves.

Drinks

Mango soda was a drink that the majority of the people at our table ordered. Refreshing, but it was a bit sweet. Could have been a bit more fizzy too.

Papaya Milk was pretty good as it uses real papaya.

Milk Tea was very artificial tasting and seems like it was made from powder. Very sweet and was not very good.

Pancake Series

The pancakes are wrapped up like cheese burgers and are pretty good. It comes with 1 piece per order, but its definitely enough for 2 people to share one.

Mango Pancake has a piece of ripe mango and whipped cream inside the crepe pancake. I really enjoyed it and it was definitely a treat.

Durian Pancake has the similar component and a good amount of durian. Durian is very pungent to some people and to other its an amazing fruit. Half of the table despised it and the other half was on team durian.

Homemade Shaved Ice

Mango, Kiwi, and rice ball with homemade shaved ice. Topped with fresh mango and kiwis, but the milky shaved ice was more like soup.

Strawberry and black sticky rice with homemade shaved ice had a similar feel to the other desserts. Definitely one of the more filling desserts because of the black sticky rice.

Green Tea Shaved Ice with Grass Jelly was decent, but I really didn’t like the chunky texture of the shaved ice.

Mango and basil seed with mango homemade shaved ice had the fresh mango up top, but the foundation of the desserts – the shaved ice really ruined all the desserts.

Overall, we didn’t like any of Scorpio’s M’s shaved ice desserts. The only item that was good were the mango and durian pancakes. They were huge

With so much competition in the area for shaved ice, the icy texture of shaved ice was so 10 years ago. We are seeing more and more shaved ice places having smoother product with a better consistency.

We rate Scorpio’s M:

Address:
1200-8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond

Chinese

Interior

Coffee

Cake

Interior

Traditional Crossing the Bridge Noodles

Rice Noodle with sauteed pork sauce

Noodles with with house special braised pork sauce in soup

Final Thoughts

Heritage Asian Eatery

Interior

Menu

Bao

Bowls

Wings

Final Thoughts

Interior

Dumpling Trail

Other Dishes

Interior

Dumplings

Other Dishes

Final Thoughts

Dumplings

Other items

Final Thoughts

Interior

Dumplings

Other items

Veggies

Sweets

Final Thoughts

Interior

Starters

Creating your sauce

Hot Pot

Meat

Seafood

Other items

Overall

Interior

Pan Fried Hot Pots

Hot Pot

Other menu items

Interior

Drinks

Appetizer

Mains

Soup

Dessert

Interior

Soup

Appetizer

Entree

Interior

Tracking Card

Ordering

Mix your own sauce

Drinks

Hot Pot

Veggies

Meat

VIP Guests

Overall

Interior

Drinks

Seafood Party

Appetizers

Skewers

Dessert

Interior

Menu

Drinks

Pancake Series

Homemade Shaved Ice