Jenkins and I met up with Jenkins’ mom for dim sum one sunny weekend afternoon. Jenkins’ dad was supposed to come as well but there was a slight mix-up in coordinating the date and our original lunch for four ended up being just for three. I had previously reviewed Top Shanghai Cuisine a few years ago but it had been quite a while since my last visit and I had never actually been for dim sum before.

Jenkins’ mom was pretty flexible and decided to let me and Jenkins do the majority of the ordering. We thought we weren’t very hungry that day but we ended up ordering a good mix of dishes anyway. We started with the spicy wontons. I kind of expected them to be similar to the Cantonese version but the Shanghainese version was completely different. The small pork wontons came dressed in a sweet and spicy peanut and chilli sauce that was delicious. The peanut flavour was further heightened by the crushed peanuts on top. I would say this was a fairly spicy dish but it didn’t bother me at all. This dish was quite a hit at our table and we ended up saving the sauce as a condiment for some of our later dishes.

One of Top Shanghai Cuisine’s specialties is obviously the xiao long bao so we definitely needed to order some. I thought that the skin was slightly thicker than my previous visit but still gave way easily to the juicy pork filling inside. I think this place still ranks among the better xiao long bao eateries in the city.

One of Jenkins’ favourite dim sum items is the pan-fried pork buns. Nothing out of the ordinary with the offering here but it was well made nonetheless. The bottom was quite crispy and the filling seemed to be the same as the pork filling used in the xiao long baos. Even though the pan fried buns were not as juicy as the XLBs, they were definitely juicier than the version at many other restaurants, which I liked.

In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have ordered the pan-fried dumplings because they tasted like a cross between the pan-fried pork buns and the xiao long baos so we really didn’t get a lot of variety. The only comment I can make here is that they were fried nicely, with the bottom being nice and crispy. Similarly, the filling seemed to be very similar (if not the same as) the filling for the XLBs and pan-fried pork buns.

We also wanted to order a filler item so we perused the noodle section of the menu for some options. I really like the sticky rice cakes so I wanted something that had that and Jenkins settled on the Shanghai rice cakes with vegetables and pork. I thought the sauce was a little on the salty side but the rice cakes are generally pretty bland so it soaked up a lot of the flavour so the saltiness wasn’t overwhelming. I enjoyed the chewy consistency of the rice cakes and the veggies provided a nice crunchy contrast.

Overall, we had a pleasant lunch at Top Shanghai Cuisine. As I probably noted in my previous review and as many other people have noted, service really isn’t the best here so you have to go in with fairly low (if any) expectations. That being said, the service at lunch seemed to be slightly better than what we’re used to during the dinner service. The food here is quite good though and their dim sum menu is a nice change from the usual Cantonese dim sum fare that I’m used to.

Details:
5880 No. 3 Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-278-8790

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 2 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

Jenkins and I met up with his family one morning for some dim sum at Shun Feng Seafood Restaurant, located in Parker Place mall in Richmond. This location has changed names a few times but I had never been here in its latest incarnation. Jenkins’ mom had seen a dim sum promotion in the newspaper for Shun Feng so she suggested that we check it out.

I’m not sure how long this deal is in effect for but if you submit your order prior to 11AM, you get the “Dim Sum Special for 4”, which is basically 4 dim sum items plus a pot of congee for $20. You don’t get to pick the congee but this is still a pretty good deal. The congee that was available that day was a pork congee with pickled snow vegetables. It was actually quite flavourful with the richness of the fatty pork cut slightly by the tang from the pickled vegetables.

We also ordered some jah lurng, which was also pretty good. The Chinese doughnut in the middle was slightly denser than what I was used to but the rice noodle wrapper had a nice buoyancy to it and was not over-steamed.

Jenkins wanted to have some steamed chicken buns. It’s one of his favourite dim sum filler items. Nothing out of the ordinary that I can really note here but it did have a nice amount of chicken filling. There was also quite a bit of ginger in the version here, which I liked.

The har gow (shrimp dumplings) were ok tastewise but I found the shrimp filling to be slightly watery. For shrimp dumplings, I don’t think this really worked from a texture perspective but there was a nice amount of shrimp flavour in general.

I don’t recall the English translation for these dumplings but they were shrimp dumplings with corn, peas, and diced carrots wrapped in a soy wrapper. I liked the unique combination of the shrimp with veggies in this dumpling but Jenkins noted that he preferred the more traditional har gow more.

You can’t really tell in the photo below but we actually thought the sui mai (pork dumplings) were  a bit on the small side. The pork to shrimp ratio was also a bit off with there being way more pork. Personally, I like a more equal ratio so I thought these sui mai were only so-so.

The phoenix claw (chicken feet) were pretty well made. They weren’t over-steamed so each foot actually retained its shape and had a lot of the sweet soy flavour infused.

We were starting to get pretty full at this point but we still had a couple of more dishes to go. We were expecting the salty fish with chicken rice to be made in a clay pot but for some reason, it came in a mini casserole dish. The salty fish and chicken was seasoned nicely had the chicken had all the great salty fish flavour infused in it but I found the rice to be too dry.

The scallop and pea shoot rice rolls were a bit flavourless and I had to supplement it with a generous amount of the soy dipping sauce. The pea shoots must also have been cooked separately because it seemed to be over-steamed in relation to the other ingredients in this dish.

We were about to call for the bill but a cart came by with fresh tofu pudding. My mom actually makes a delicious tofu pudding so I don’t usually order it when I’m out but I had a hankering for it that day. The version here is quite silky and served warm with some ginger syrup. I liked how they provided a separate bowl of ginger syrup for us so we could add as much (or as little) as we liked.

Overall, the dim sum here was pretty good. It did take quite a long time for some of the dishes to come but I suppose that is ok if you’re trying to pace yourself. For us though, we were tempted to cancel a few of our dishes because it took so long to come. Without the benefit of the dim sum special that we took advantage of though, the prices do tend to be on the higher end of the dim sum spectrum and I’m not sure if the quality of the food is consistent with their regular prices.

Details:
4380 No. 3 Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-304-6088

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

Another guest post from Cat! It’s been such a long time since I was last in Steveston…would really like to try this out sometime

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Last Friday, my friends and I decided to go to Gudrun Tasting Room for some wine and cheese before dinner.  Gudrun is a quiet wine and cheese joint, tucked away from the main street.  As you walk up to its entrance, you’ll see a long wooden table built around a beautiful oak tree.  Unfortunately, we went on a rainy day.  Otherwise, it would be nice to be able to sit at this long table.

As one of our friends had purchased a Groupon, the four of us ordered the wine flights and two fondues to share.  The fondues were made with appenzeller, emmenthal, gruyere, kirsch, and some wine.  We were given two small plates of bread pieces (white and wheat) to dip.  Not being a fan of cheese fondue, I thought the fondue was good.  It was neither too rich nor heavy and it went well with one of the wine I had.

Aside from fondue, Gudrun is also known for its cheese + charcuterie.  Every day, there’s daily selection of cheeses and the choices are written on the blackboard found on one end of the place.

Overall, I had a pleasant experience at Gudrun and would recommend it as a place to hang out before or after dinner.

Details:
3500 Moncton St, Richmond
Tel: 604-272-1991

Summary:
Food: 4 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$$

My post on Alaska king crab is so far past the season that I considered scrapping this post altogether. But since we ate other items at Imperial Court to supplement the main dish of Alaska king crab, I decided to stick with it. When I originally called my mom to ask if she’d like to go for Alaska king crab, she took it upon herself to scour the newspaper and see if there was a new place that we could try out. She stumbled upon Imperial Court, which seemed to be reasonably priced so we decided to check it out.

First came a standard cold plate appetizer. It wasn’t as varied as some of the other ones I was used to and the flavours were pretty standard with what one would come to expect.

Then came some Peking duck. As you can see, the skin had a bit of a sheen but it was not too greasy. The skin was crispy and pretty flavourful and I tucked a piece in the warm pancakes provided and a generous dollop of hoisin sauce and a chive sprig. Nothing spectacular about this dish either but I thought it was quite well executed.

The first Alaska king crab course finally arrived in the form of steamed crab legs with garlic sauce. There was a lot of garlic but surprisingly, it did not overwhelm the delicate flavour of the crab. Even though our dinner was towards the end of the season, our crab was still quite meaty and had a sweet and fresh flavour. Our server took the plates of steamed crab broth away to use for a noodle base in one of our later dishes.

The tofu, shrimp, and cuttlefish hot pot was pretty good, especially when paired with rice. It was not too sweet and I really liked the generous, meaty chunks of tofu. The prawns had a nice bounce and were not overcooked, which I appreciated.

The dishes were starting to come quite quickly so in my haste, the only picture I have of the pea sprouts with mushrooms is the blurry picture below. The pea sprouts were very tender and the mushrooms were all quite tasty. I wish there wasn’t so much broth/sauce though as I would have liked a slightly drier dish.

I’m not usually a huge fan of the free range chicken and although this was slightly juicier than what I was used to, I found the chicken a bit tough and a little too salty for my taste.

Finally, the second duck course came in the form of lettuce wraps. The duck meat was diced up along with celery, carrots, zucchini, onions, and some other crunchy veggies. There seemed to be way more veggies than duck meat in this dish but I did like the crunch of the veggies. The filling overall was a bit on the bland side so I added a little extra hoisin to my lettuce wraps.

After a long hiatus, the next Alaska king crab dish also arrived in the form of baked seafood rice right in the crab shell itself. Although impressive looking, I found the rice to be pretty bland and lacking in flavour. I had once had a version of this but the sauce was made Portuguese style, which I thought went really well with the rice. I didn’t end up eating very much of this rice.

I really should have taken a picture of the cod steamed with soy sauce and chives before the server took the fish apart as it looks a bit depressing below. However, I can say that the fish did taste better than it looked. The meat was quite tender and the light soy broth used is one of my favourite types of preparation for this type of fish.

Our last dish of the evening was also our last Alaska king crab course. The broth from the steamed garlic legs were used to make the broth for the yee mein noodles. Because the flavour from the steamed broth was so delicate, I found that it was a bit lost on these noodles overall and resulted in a fairly bland dish.

Overall, I would say that we had an ok meal at Imperial Court. Surprisingly, a lot of the dishes were quite bland so I’m not sure if it is because they don’t use as much MSG as other places. I also found it interesting that we had come primarily for the Alaska king crab but most of those dishes were pretty lacking and below expectations. Even though we came on a weekend evening, the restaurant was not busy at all so perhaps other people have come to the same conclusion as us.

Details:
6360 No. 3 Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-270-6169

Summary:
Food: 2 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$$

Jenkins and I were in the mood for Shanghainese food one day. It had been quite a while since our last visit and since we happened to be in Richmond, we decided to drop by and check it out for lunch. I wasn’t really in the mood to wait for long though so I was somewhat relieved when the waitress told us we would only need to wait for 10 minutes before a table would be available.

Of course, we had to order the xiao long baos. Since it was lunch, we restrained ourselves and just put in one order. I think Shanghai Wonderful makes a pretty good xiao long bao. The skin is quite thin and not too doughy and the meat filling is juicy, which is aided by a plentiful amount of soup inside.

Between the two of us, we also decided to share a couple of noodle dishes. Noodles always seem like a lunch time dish to me so I felt that it was the appropriate thing to order. First of were the tan tan noodles. The menu stated that these were spicy but we really couldn’t taste much spiciness in this dish. The peanut flavour was quite strong though with a hint of tanginess from some vinegar but I liked how the peanut soup base was not overly thick. The noodles retained some chewiness and soaked up the flavour from the peanut soup quite nicely.

The ja jian mien (or meat sauce noodle per the English translation in the menu) was a bit of a miss for us. The meat sauce itself was quite good but the noodles were so overcooked and soggy that not even the meat sauce could save it. Even though the same type of noodle as the tan tan noodles were used, the way the two were cooked, you never would have thought it was the same type of noodle. I did like the cucumbers, which added some much needed crunch but even more would have been nice.

Overall, Jenkins and I had a fairly satisfying meal at Shanghai Wonderful. Although the meat sauce noodles were a bit disappointing, we did enjoy the xiao long baos and the tan tan noodles. It has actually been quite a while since I last went for Shanghainese food so perhaps I will come back in the near future and drag a bigger group with me for dinner so we can sample more dishes.

Details:
8380 Lansdowne Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-278-8829

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $ (for lunch)

A group of my co-workers were trying to figure out where to go for lunch during a team building event. We wanted to have lunch in Richmond and since I haven’t been very on top of the Richmond dining scene, I wasn’t sure where to go. Winnie suggested trying to go for Shanghainese food at Northern Dynasty and since I’m always up for some xiao long baos, I readily agreed.

We ordered a double order of xiao long bao because I knew it would be quite popular with our dining companions. Many of them had never had Shanghainese food before so we tried to order a nice representation of food that would give people a good idea of what Shanghainese food was all about. The xiao long bao arrived steaming hot and although the skin was not the thinnest I’ve had, they were quite tasty. There was also a nice amount of soup inside and I have to admit that it took me by surprise and I ended up spilling some of the soup.

The pan-fried pork buns were a little greasy on the inside but had a nice crunch to the bottom. There was also some sesame seeds sprinkled on the outside which gave it a hint of something unique. Inside, the filling was pretty regular but overall, I quite enjoyed these pork buns.

The shredded chicken salad with noodles and sesame dressing is another one of my Shanghainese favourites. The chicken was a bit dry but the sesame dressing was able to mask this a bit and the cucumber provided a nice crunch. Overall, nothing really stood out but it was well-made.

The spicy Shanghai fried noodles was spicier than some of us expected but I liked how it was not too greasy. Flavour-wise, I could mostly taste the spice but not much else.

The crispy rice with ham, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms is always a hit and this time was no different. The deep fried rice quickly wilted under the steaming sauce and although I think it could have been saltier, the combination of the sprouts, ham, and mushrooms was quite nice.

We were intrigued by the picture of the pan fried buns with pork but when they finally arrived at our table, we all agreed that it looked better in the picture. I found these to be a bit bland and also felt that they could have been pan-fried a little longer in order to make a crispier exterior.

I expected the marinated garlic cucumbers to be spicy, similar to what I’ve had at other places. However, this version was of the non-spicy variety. I found the garlic a little overpowering for my taste and for some reason, it was very salty.

The spicy wontons were very spicy but it did not hit you until a little after you’ve started chewing. These were pork wontons, as is usually the case with this dish, and there was a nice combo of spiciness and garlicky goodness.

Overall, I felt that Northern Dynasty had some good hits but there were a few dishes that definitely could have been better. Since we ordered so many dishes, we were able to get a pretty good idea of what we liked so if we come back, we’ll definitely be prepared. I have to note that service was quite slow and it took quite a while before our dishes started arriving. The restaurant was full and there were only 2 servers so it took quite a bit of effort to get their attention. We were there for lunch so I’m not sure if service at dinnertime is any better.

Details:
8391 Alexandra Rd, Richmond
Tel: 604-303-1192

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 1.5 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

Another guest post from Pick. Thanks Pick for sharing your experience at The Apron It looks like a pretty interesting place!

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I had the pleasure of attending the Apron at the Westin Wall Centre, Vancouver Airport for a small birthday gathering and again for another separate dinner. The chef at the Apron uses molecular gastronomy to create very detailed dishes filled with a variety of flavors. My first time eating there, I had a delicious butternut squash soup with apple pearls – something that would have been the product of food science. This time, however, I wanted to change my order up and try some new items.

First, I was presented with an amuse bouche of avocado purée foam vegetable garden with popcorn crumbles over it. This was a little bit sour in taste, but was a nice primer for the rest of my dishes.

Following the amuse bouche came the pork puff. I really enjoyed the pork puff, and found each puff individually flavorful enough to eat on its own. The spicy mayo that came with it was far too salty though.

After the pork, we had truffle poprcorn. You couldn’t really taste the truffle flavor in the popcorn, and I admit that I’m not the biggest popcorn fan so I could be a poor judge of this dish. Regardless, at the very least, I can say that my photography skills are improving.

Next came our other appetizer, lobster globes served with gnocchi and a parmesan crisp. I loved this dish! There is no menu for the Apron online, so unfortunately I don’t have more details on what’s in it, but I felt everything balanced itself out well. The foam and sauce was salty, which paired itself nicely with the doughy gnocchi, while the lobster globe’s added a punch of meaty sustenance. Great combination!

After the appetizers, came our mains. The first to arrive was the beef flank steak. Although medium rare was requested, the beef came as a medium almost well. It was served with a sour foam (I think it was wasabi foam), and nicely plated with an assortment of vegetables. Good taste, could have done without the foam, but really, nothing to write home about.

And finally came my favorite main for the evening: the sablefish! Although the camera focuses perfectly on the fish skin and what looks like fish, it’s actually an onion in the middle. The perfectly crispy fish is the golden triangle located on the top right of the photo. This fish would probably be the biggest reason I’d return to the Apron. Everything else I could have done without, but this fish (and it’s crispy detached skin), amazing. So amazing, that my mind has blanked out exactly what else was served with it even though I’ve got the photo right in front of me.

After our mains, we ordered our desserts. We tried the stilton cheesecake first, which was served with rhubarb crisps and port balls. Earlier this season, I had a fantastic blue cheese cheesecake from Salt Tasting Room, which is now (unfortunately), my measuring stick for all other cheesecakes. This cheesecake fell short of the one I had at Salt, but was still decent. The port balls were fun to eat, and burst into flavor when chomped on. The cheesecake also had a brulee top, which was nice, but still, not one of the best cheesecakes out there.

Our last dessert was the chocolate bar served with salted caramel ice cream. I enjoyed this more than the cheesecake, but it still wasn’t fantastic. It may be unfortunate again, that just the week before, I had been treated with the chocolate bar dessert from Oru, which is just amazing. This chocolate bar, was less rich and less creamy as the one from Oru. I prefer rich and creamy – if I’m going to go all out, I might as well do it right! The ice cream that was served with it was also lackluster. The caramel flavor was subdued, and didn’t seem to do much with the chocolate cake.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at the Apron, but felt that there was still more kinks in the work that needs to be combed out in the kitchen.

Details:
3099 Corvette Way, Richmond
604-568-0749

Summary:
Food: 3 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$$

I normally visit my parents on the weekend for dinner but they happened to be out of town one weekend. I wasn’t in the mood to cook for Jenkins and myself and I suspected that Grick and Snoopy were in the same boat so I called them up to see if they wanted to join us for dinner someplace. Lucky for me, I was right and we agreed to meet up at Dinesty for dinner that evening. Dinesty had actually been around for a while but it was one of the few restaurants I never tried out when I was still living in Richmond.

Everyone left most of the ordering up to me so I was able to pick some of my favourite dishes. First up was some cold cucumbers in garlic sauce. The cucumbers had a good amount of spiciness from some chillis to them. The garlic and sesame oil flavour permeated through the crunchy cucumbers and this was a great appetizer for us.

Next came the xiao long baos (steamed pork dumplings). It took me a couple of shots before I could capture the picture below because they were so hot and steamy, my camera kept on fogging up. The skin on these baos were quite thin, although not as much as the ones at Shanghai River. However, they had a ton of soup in them and there was a burst of flavour when I popped them in my mouth.

The pork in the shredded pork in hoisin sauce with pancakes was amply sauced and slightly sweet and salty at the same time. It came with a few pancakes to wrap them in (similar to the one used for Peking duck) but not enough to accommodate this mountain of pork. We ended up ordering another plate of pancakes to finish off the pork and also ate it with rice, which was really tasty.

Marinated beef with soy sauce wrapped in pancake is one of my favourite Taiwanese dishes. I wasn’t too impressed with the version here though. The beef did not have a very strong flavour to it and the green onion pancake was also slightly greasy. I would have liked the pancake to be crispier.

We all agreed that our winner dish of the evening was one of Grick’s choices, the wok-fried spare ribs with salt and hot peppers. The ribs were crispy with very little batter and spiced with jalapenos, Thai chilis, and garlic. They also had a hint of sweetness which really rounded out the flavours. We ate the spareribs with rice as well and I could have eaten bowls and bowls of these.

Snoopy suggested that we also add a tofu dish so we decided to go with an old standby, the Mapo Tofu. There was more tofu than pork in this dish but we really didn’t mind. There was a slight hint of spiciness in this dish as well but it was more garlicky than anything else. As you can imagine, this was another dish that went really well with rice.

The four of us walked away feeling super full but also very satisfied. If I had known how great the food at Dinesty was, I definitely would have come a lot sooner! Their mix of Taiwanese and Shanghainese food seems to work for them and that can be evidenced by the steady stream of people walking in all evening. Service can be a bit sparse but once all your dishes arrive, you don’t need to interact too much with the servers anyway.

Details:
8111 Ackroyd Road, Richmond
Tel: 604-303-7772

Summary:
Food: 4 out of 5 stars
Service: 2 out of 5 stars
Price: $$

Note from Gigi: Samantha had asked me if I was interested in doing a review on the KFC Double Down a few weeks ago but I’m currently trying not to eat any fried food until Christmas so I declined. Samantha thought that doing a post on the Double Down would be so worthwhile to do that she enlisted Julio to take one for the team and give the Double Down a try! So Samantha and Julio…on my behalf and that of Ho Yummy’s readers: Thanks!

Note that this monstrosity is only available until Nov 14 in Canada so if you want to try it out, you better hurry!

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Hi Everyone, I’m Julio, Samantha’s husband, here to write a guest post!

Four months ago an American colleague informed me that in the southern United States, KFC released a sandwich that no one should eat without a defibrillator nearby.  The sandwich is called the Double Down, and according to the KFC website, has 560 Calories, 32g of fat and 1300 mg of sodium which is approximately half of the recommended daily intake of fat and sodium based on a 2000 calories daily intake. When KFC Canada announced that the Double Down would be available in Canada for a limited time, naturally I had to try it.  For my own safety I enlisted the help of a group of coworkers with first aid experience.  Interestingly, the general sentiment of the group was that hopefully the sandwich would not be good so that there would be no follow-up cravings.

It seems the publicity hype surrounding the sandwich has worked, as nearly every customer in the place was there to try the Double Down.

Let’s dissect the components:

Two pieces of skinless chicken breast breaded in the Colonel’s original recipe, two slices of Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese, and a piece of thinly sliced bacon,  all seasoned with some chipotle mayo. The cost of a KFC Double Down meal is $10.10 with fries and a drink.

Out of the group of taste testers:

First comment: “It’s a lot smaller then I thought it would be.”

Second comment after tasting it: “It is very salty.”

Comment after eating the sandwich: “When will they bring out the extra crispy and hot and spicy versions?”

Although the sandwich was tasty, the excessive salt and price would discourage me from repeating the experience. Although the 1300mg of sodium should have served as proper warning, it was still surprising just how evident the salty taste was.  It would appear that they tried to offset this with the addition of a little spice in the chipotle mayo and Pepper Jack cheese, however the heat was so low, I would have gotten frostbite if it wasn’t for all that salt.

Jenkins and I were in the mood for Taiwanese food one day when I remembered that I had been meaning to try Lin’s Chinese Cuisine for a while. Although it appeared to feature an eclectic mix of Chinese food from several different regions, its claim to fame were its xiao long bao. We arrived on a busy Friday night at about 7:30PM and although the line-up to get a table looked daunting, we were seated after about 10 minutes or so.

Jenkins and I perused the menu for a bit and finally decided on what to order. First came the pan fried beef pancake. When it arrived at our table, they looked a little flat but taste-wise, they weren’t bad. However, I felt that the green onion pancake used to wrap the beef a bit doughy since I like my pancakes to be crispier and not as heavy.

Next up were Lin’s famous xiao long bao. The skin on these dumplings was very thin and light, just barely holding the soup and juicy meat filling on the inside. They certainly were quite good and among the best I’ve had but I think I prefer the ones at Shanghai River slightly more.

One of Jenkins’ and my favourite dishes are tan tan noodles so we decided to give it a try at Lin’s. The broth was made differently from the lighter coloured version we’d had at other Szechuan and Taiwanese places which seem to be more peanut-based. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the peanut flavour in the soup were balanced with some salty soy-based flavours and a nice amount of spiciness.

Finally, Jenkins and I closed off our meal with some peppery chicken. We originally thought this would be made in the same style as at a Taiwanese restaurant but our server explained to us that it was not deep fried and had a huge abundance of peppers and chilis. The chicken itself was pan fried until it was quite crispy and this dish was quite spicy. We could really taste the unique flavour of the Szechuan peppercorns used in this dish. We wisely ordered a bowl of rice to go with this dish. Jenkins noted later that there seemed to be quite a bit of MSG in this dish.

Jenkins and I quite enjoyed our time at Lin’s but also felt that it was a bit overhyped in recent times. We noticed that some of the dishes on the menu did not seem to be your traditional Chinese fare but we surmised that they had to do that in order to cater to its wide range of customers. Similar to most restaurants, you just need to know what to order. We haven’t been able to find another restaurant with comparable value and taste so we’ll definitely be back to try some of their other dishes.

Details:
1537 West Broadway, Vancouver
Tel: 604-733-9696

Summary:
Food: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 3 out of 5 stars
Price: $$