Archive for the 'Chinese' Category
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
Jenkins and I met up with Jenkins’ parents one weekend afternoon for some dim sum at Golden Ocean in Kerrisdale. Although I’ve come here before, it’s usually for dinner and it was the first time I had been there for dim sum in quite a while. Because Golden Ocean is one of the few dim sum places in the Kerrisdale area, it’s almost always packed during meal times. Lucky for us, that day, we only had to wait about 10 minutes before we were seated.
Jenkins’ mom was responsible for ordering most of the items that day. First came one of Jenkins’ favourites: pan-fried pork buns. It looked quite tasty but the bun part was a bit mushy. The pork part was quite tasty though and went very well with the red vinegar dipping sauce.
Next came the har gow shrimp dumplings. These were nicely steamed with the rice wrapping skin having some nice elasticity to it. It sucks when the skin is over-steamed and it starts to melt away when you try to pick up the dumplings with your chopsticks. 
I had never had these pan-fried turnip cakes before but they were one of my favourite items of the day. The toasted sesame seats on top added a nice roasted and nutty flavour and the puff pastry was flaky but not too oily. I’d definitely order these again.
I’m not sure what these are called in English but they are bean curd rolls with minced pork and some veggies inside. Some restaurants make this oilier than it really needs to be but at Golden Ocean, there was hardly any oil and it actually made you think it was healthy. :) (Or should I say healthier…)
The sui mai pork dumplings were also quite tasty. It was a bit smaller than I was used to but the pork and shrimp had a nice crunchiness to it.
These shrimp dumplings also had garlic chives in it which gave the dumplings a mild garlic flavour. It only had three pieces though so the four of us had to share.
The stamed spare ribs with black bean did not have too much black bean taste but had a great garlicky flavour to it. I think it would have gone really well with a bowl of rice.
It doesn’t seem like we ate too many dishes but I’m trying my best not to overeat at dim sum these days. I figure that way, I’m able to go to dim sum more often without it being too unhealthy. :) If you are ok with waiting a bit to be seated or are able to go earlier in the day, dim sum at Golden Ocean is always a good option.
Details:
2008 W. 41st Ave, Vancouver
Tel: (604) 263-8886
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Price: $$
Posted in Vancouver, Dim Sum, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, August 11th, 2008
It was my grandma’s big 80th birthday back in June and we celebrated it the way our family knows best: a big Chinese dinner at Fisherman’s Terrace in Aberdeen Centre. :) My aunt pre-ordered a banquet menu for us so all we needed to do was pretty much show up and chow down.
First came a mixed cold appetizer platter. I found the duck (pictured below on the far left) to be on the oily side but the other items were quite tasty. The roast pork skin was nice and crispy and I also enjoyed the jellyfish.
Next, we had a scallop dish with snow peas and some seaweed strips. Although the seaweed was an interesting twist, it quickly got soggy from the juice created by the scallops and peas.
The deep-fried crab claws weren’t too bad but I felt that it was a bit over-fried because the skin was quite oily. I dabbed some of the excess oil off with a paper napkin.
The shark fin soup had chunks of crab in it as well. I always like to drizzle a bit of red vinegar in my shark fin soup.
The lobster was obviously a hit with my Uncle Jack, who insisted on being in the picture with the lobster. :) I felt the sauce was too creamy and would have gone nicely with some noodles or something to balance out the sauce.
The abalone and mushrooms were quite tasty. I always like eating whole abalone and then using the juice afterwards with my noodles, rice, or veggies.
Roasted squab is one of my favourite dishes but I found this squab to be on the greasy side and a little too salty. For those of you new to squab, it is young pigeon and has a stronger taste than duck.
The yee mein noodles were overcooked and also somewhat oily. I like my noodles to be slightly al dente and these definitely weren’t.
The lotus leaf flavour came out quite strongly in the lotus leaf-wrapped rice but it was hard to taste the other flavours, even though there were dried scallops and pork. The rice also seemed to be a bit on the mushy side.
As is customary with Chinese birthdays, we had birthday buns shaped in a peach and filled with lotus paste.
The red bean soup was too sweet and watery for my taste.
I hadn’t eaten dinner at Fisherman’s Terrace in quite a while but I was a bit disappointed with the quality of food. There was also a wedding going on at the same time, so it was possible that they neglected us a bit in order to tend to the wedding guests, but then I’m just making excuses. :) Fisherman’s Terrace is also on the pricier side in terms of Cantonese restaurants so they really have no excuse to be skimping on the quality of their food. Service was quite brisk and attentive though so I have no complaints there.
Details:
3580-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
Tel: 604-303-9739
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Price: $$$
Posted in Cantonese, Richmond, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Despite my less than impressive bubble tea outing at Corner 23, I decided to give it another try and went there for dinner with Ann and Karen. I had noticed from the last time I was there that most people had some food along with their drink, so I figured it would be good.
Ann ordered some deep-fried crispy chicken for the three of us to share. This is always one of my favourite appies to order at Taiwanese restaurants even though it is definitely not the healthiest. :) The chicken was very crispy and had the slightest hint of spiciness.
I decided to go with the three cup chicken with rice meal. Three cup chicken got its name because it is made with three main ingredients: one cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine. I enjoyed this version quite a bit because it was not too oily. The deep fried basil probably was not the healthiest but was very tasty. Several of the meals at Corner 23 also include some side dishes, such as pickled vegetables and broccoli.
I had a blueberry green tea with my meal and surprisingly, this time, it was very good! The blueberry flavour was nice and I think it went well with the green tea base.
Karen was feeling a bit sick so she went healthy with a seafood hot pot with vermicelli noodles. There was quite a variety of seafood included and a swirly egg as well. I’m not sure how good this would be normally but it was quite suitable for a sickish person.
Ann chose the deep-fried pork chop with rice. If I recall, it was about $8 and as you can see below, was enough food to feed a very hungry person.
I must say that this visit to Corner 23 was much better than my first visit. I went back another time after this and the food was still quite tasty. I suppose they’ll have to work on their consistency if anything else, but in general, both the service and food at Corner 23 are a good value for your money.
Details:
4008 Cambie St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-709-9788
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Price: $
Posted in Vancouver, Taiwanese, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
I headed over to Spicy Court one day for some dim sum with Jenkins’ family. Spicy Court is located diagonally from Oakridge Centre and is pretty close to Jenkins’ family and some of my family members. As a result, I tend to go there pretty often. :) If you order your food and get the bill before 11AM, you can also get 10% off your meal.
We started with sui mai (pork dumplings) as this is one of Jenkins’ favourite dishes. The sui mai at Spicy Court are quite big and juicy. I usually break it into four pieces with my chopstick so it’s more manageable.
Jenkins’ family introduced me to this chicken and noodle dish at Spicy Court. They are a pretty healthy bunch so this dish is right up their alley. The noodles come in a light broth with shredded chicken and lettuce. The bowl is fairly large and makes for a good filler dish.
It was the first time I had tried the scallop and spinach rice rolls at Spicy Court and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The scallops were quite large and plentiful and went very well with the spinach.
Shredded chicken with jellyfish is one of my favourite dim sum items…as mentioned several times before. I don’t think the one at Spicy Court ranks among the best I’ve had…although that doesn’t stop me from ordering it!
Jenkins always likes steamed bbq pork buns. There is quite a bit of filling in this version at Spicy Court…which is much better than when all you get is the white bun part.
We also had some steamed bean curd stuffed with pork and bamboo shoots. Nothing too special about this dish but it was still quite tasty.
Spicy Court seems to be mainly a dim sum place and can get quite busy during lunch time. Sometimes, it even seems busier earlier in the morning because everyone is scrambling to get their 10% discount before 11AM! The dim sum is a good price for what you get although the selection can sometimes seem a bit limited.
Details:
101-5638 Cambie Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-325-1189
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Price: $$
Posted in Vancouver, Dim Sum, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
I first went to Po King a while back when my grandparents introduced it to me. It’s a relatively cheap Chinese restaurant that opened a few months ago and offered dim sum for $2.99 per dish. As such, it’s pretty busy at lunch and it’s best to get there a bit before 12 (at least on week days) if you don’t want to wait for a table. Po King is located along Kingsway about a three minute drive east of Metrotown.
Most dim sum restaurants these days require you to order from a sheet and the dim sum is then brought to your table. Po King kicks it old school by bringing carts of dim sum around. One thing to note though is that the rotation of dim sum can be pretty scant at times so if you see something you want, it’s best to grab it right away.
The bean curd with pork and bamboo shoots was quite tasty. Sometimes, this dish can get a bit oily but Po King’s version was not so. Because there is so much pork packed in the bean curd wraps, it is actually quite filling so it’s best to ask your server to cut them in half.
I am always a fan of these Chinese beef balls, especially when there is an accompanying vinegar dipping sauce.
These bbq pork buns also have a sweet topping which makes for a unique combination of salty and sweet. My aunt first introduced these to me quite a while ago and they always make for a tasty filler dish.
We sure do like our bbq pork buns! We also had the regular version with no sweet coating on top.
My grandma ordered this dish of steamed eel. There were quite a few bones so it is some work to eat it but also worth it.
I really enjoyed this dish of fried leather jacket fish in Maggi sauce. The bones weren’t too difficult to navigate and the crunchy outside of the fish went very well with the Maggi sauce.
We were still a bit hungry so we also ordered some fried noodles with chicken and veggies. This dish was made fresh so the noodles were nice and crunchy.
One of my favourite dim sum dishes is the shredded chicken with jellyfish “salad”. I would say that there was more jellyfish than chicken and I found it to be a bit watery towards the bottom. It tasted good though and I liked the pickled sweetness of the pickled ginger and turnips.
Po King is a great deal for the type of food you get and the price. I’m really glad that another good dim sum place has opened up near where I work. I’ve already dragged my co-workers here a couple of times since first going there with my grandparents.
Details:
150-5665 Kingsway, Burnaby
Tel: 604-436-2986
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Price: $
Posted in Burnaby, Dim Sum, Lower Mainland Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, May 26th, 2008
In our Jiangmen hotel, there was an “eating street” right on the second level of the hotel. Basically, it was a large restaurant but organized into several different storefronts that offered food from all the different regions of China. You can visit as many stalls as you want and everything is tabulated onto one bill. I ate here a couple of times while I was at Jiangmen and really enjoyed how this allowed us to sample several different restaurants/stalls in a single meal.
There were six of us one day for lunch so we decided to go to the eating street so we could sample a variety of different items. First up was a fried curry rice. It had an excellent curry flavour and was very tasty.
We had to sample some dim sum…after all, we were in Guangdong province, one of the birthplaces of dim sum! I found the siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) here to be ok but I’ve definitely had better in Vancouver.
The crab and seaweed dim sum looked pretty interesting so we gave that a try as well. This was actually so popular that I didn’t get a chance to try one myself. I’ll just have to assume it was quite tasty.
The braised pork with veggies went very well with rice. The oil had been rendered out of the pork so it wasn’t too oily.
The ja jiang mein was spicy and very tasty. The noodles were made fresh on the spot and you could really taste the difference.
The vegetables were served with preserved (i.e. 1000 year) egg. I really enjoyed this dish because the egg adds a different taste to the overall dish.
I expected the tan tan noodles to be the peanut sauce version that’s found in most Szechuan and Taiwanese restaurants in Vancouver. This version had no peanut sauce and had a clear soup base but was very spicy.
Now it was time for dessert. We all shared some almond pudding and some black sesame pudding. They were both very tasty but also very thick…meaning they were quite filling.
The glutinous rice with red bean is a popular dessert item for us when we go for dim sum. The beans were left whole instead of ground up in a paste so it made for an interesting texture contrast against the gooey rice part.
We also had a thin pancake with red bean paste. I enjoyed this quite a bit because it was nice and crispy …but not oily at all.
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Price: $ (I think all six of us ate for around $20 Cdn!)
Posted in Jiangmen, Other Cities, Asian, Chinese, Reviews | No Comments »
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