NTF and UJ were in town from Calgary this week so that always means lots of eating out. 
We were originally going to take her to a vegetarian place in Richmond…but that was closed for the day so we went to Top Shanghai Cuisine Restaurant instead. The name in English is pretty odd sounding…but in Chinese, it doesn’t make much more sense. In any case, it is a “ho yummy” restaurant that specializes in Shanghainese cuisine at 8100 Ackroyd Rd in Richmond (near the Save-On-Foods).
We started off with a cold chicken dish. The chicken was very moist and juicy and also came with a soy sauce and scallion dip. I enjoyed dunking my whole chicken piece in the sauce.
Next, we had the “dong boa yook”. I have no idea what this is called in English but it is fatty pork belly braised in a special sauce and is one of my favourite dishes to order at any Shanghainese restaurant. This is excellent with some Chinese buns. The pork was very tender and the fatty skin on top tasted like very delicious jell-o.
We also had some bean curd stir fried with edamame beans. Nothing too exciting here but it was very healthy compared to the fatty pork we just ate.
The soup tasted like hot and sour soup but also had chunks of fish and tended more towards the sour side as opposed to being hot and spicy.
Next, we had “woa bah” which was deep fried rice patties…
…and a soupy sauce of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, shrimp, and squid.
Because the rice patties are freshly deep fried, they are very hot…so when you pour the soupy sauce on top, it is supposed to sizzle and crackle…kind of like Chinese-style rice krispies. But this time, the patties were not hot enough so we did not get too much snap, crackle, and pop. I found this dish to be lacking in flavour compared to the “woa bah” that I’ve had at other restaurants.
We also had a sweet and sour tofu and pork dish. The tofu absorbed a lot of the sauce and tasted great.
The jalapeño and garlic deep fried pork chop was very tasty, albeit a bit on the salty side.
The special house fried noodles were very good. It is different from the house noodles in most other Chinese restaurant and came with mushrooms, veggies, pork, chicken, shrimp, squid, and a fried egg on top. The noodles were also different from the regular egg noodles found in most places. It was an interesting twist on a Chinese restaurant staple but was still very tasty.
The shrimp came on a sizzling hot plate but the shrimp themselves were not as crunchy as I expected.
We finished our meal with some steamed Shanghai soup dumplings. The dumplings were one of the highlights of the meal and it was all we could do to resist biting into one before waiting for them to cool.
It is always super busy here so your best bet is to either come early (i.e. around 6pm for dinner) or make reservations. Because it is always so busy, it can be hard to flag down a server if you want to order or just need something in general. The tables are also packed very tightly together, which can create an uncomfortable eating experience.
Details:
120-8100 Ackroyd Rd, Richmond
Tel: 604-278-8798
Summary:
Food: 
(although the fatty pork gets a 5/5 )
Service:
Price: $$
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I’m going here on Saturday. Everyone tells me the service is horrible here, but the food is good. I guess it’ll be an adventure for me one way or another.
Let me know how your experience goes!
Since you said this woa bah wasnt as good as you’ve had at other places, can i ask you where in the lower mainland have you had the best woa bah? i’m dying to have it! but dont really know of a place.
thanks!
josh – haha, unfortunately, the best woa bah I’ve had was made by my mom! I know that doesn’t totally help you…but if I recall, the one at Shanghai Wonderful is pretty good – however, it’s been a while since I’ve had it there. Hope that helps!