dimsum Archives - Foodology

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 Macau

Fortune Palace: Dim Sum in Macau

October 15, 2012

Pousada Marina Infante Hotel has a restaurant called Fortune Palace. It is a popular place to have Dim Sum in a large banquet setting. It’s been here for a very long time and attracts many locals.

The interior is a bit outdated, but people come here for the food.

Chicken Ginseng Soup

You can take the chicken out and eat it separately.

The soup that is left behind is very flavourful!

Sautéed Lettuce

Steamed Rice Noodles and Spare ribs

Braised Octopus

Steamed Meatballs

Sauteed Tripe

Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Dumplings)

Steamed shrimp and scallops over zucchini

Sweet Shredded Coconut Roll Dessert

After lunch we headed to the Ruins of the Church of St Paul to see the iconic sight. The Church burned down in 1835 and all that was left was this wall.

Fortaleza do Monte is a short uphill walk from the Ruins of St. Pauls Church and you can get a great view of the entire city.

As for Fortune Palace, the food quality was OK. Nothing too special. I probably wouldn’t come to the restaurant again. The views of the city totally made up for the unimpressive food.

Address:
Aterro Cotal, Marina da Taipa Sul, Taipa Cotai, Macau

Website:
http://www.pousadamarinainfante.com/restaurant.htm

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=pousada+marina+infante&hl=en&hq=pousada+marina+infante&t=m&z=15″]

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 Brunch

Fortune House: Dim Sum time with lots of shrimp

March 22, 2011

My aunt came and visited for the past weekend and as per usual, when relatives arrive we must go have dim sum. My mother really likes Fortune House at Metropolis and I really don’t mind as long as there is shrimp.

I’ve done a review here before but a few things have changed. They have a built in speaker system in the waiting area, so when you are outside waiting for your number to be called, you can hear it from outside.

At first I didn’t anticipate any loud PA noises, so when they called another family, I automatically flinched in fear.

While we were waiting, my aunt asked me what I wanted to order, so we picked up a menu and I pointed out all the items that had shrimp in it. To my surprise…she would actually order all those items. This is how this dim sum became packed full of shrimp!

On the table, they give you an explanation of how the dim sum works at Fortune House.

As per usual, SuiMai ($3.95) must be ordered.

Shrimp and Chive dumpling ($4.95)

Jumbo Har Gau ($5.45), it’s basically like the shrimp and chive dumpling, but with no chives.

Spare Ribs ($3.95)

Shanghai Pork Dumplings ($3.95). There were not that great since we had so many other dishes that it was left for about 10 minutes. It’s best to eat this right away or else it won’t tast very good..or hot.

Shrimp Bean Curd Roll ($3.95)

Fish and preserved egg congee ($6.95)

Prawn Rice roll ($5.45)

Donut rice roll ($4.95). We really did not like this dish. usually the donut it decently crispy but today it really wasn’t at all.

Deep Fried Wontons ($4.95)

Shark Fin Dumpling ($5.45)

Black sesame Rolls ($2.95). What I LOVE to do with these are to unravel them and eat them like fruit roll up. When I was a kid, we use to call these “film” because it reminded us of the film you would put into the cameras. Eating it the way we eat it is probably the most ugly thing you will ever see. Probably very improper as well.

Mango pudding ($2.95). This is probably the cutest thing they have on their menu. Great for kids! My little sister loved it so much that she gobbled it up without sharing.

That was a lot of their shrimp dishes. Beware, if you eat dim sum with me, there will be shrimp. hahaha. =D

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations if going for Dim Sum
If you can’t read Chinese, there is an english menu
Lots of parking, closest parking is to park near Urban Behaviour/Zara area.

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.

We rate Fortune Seafood House: