Category Archives: Chinese

A (Wonderful) Shanghai Adventure

Posted on August 16, 2009 by | 1 Comment

yellow fish in red sauce
I like going on adventures, even if they are small adventures; the kind where maybe nothing overly exciting happens, but you go somewhere new and eat something new and have fun doing it. So a friend and I ended up in Richmond at Shanghai Wonderful a couple of weeks ago. He’d already been to Shanghai River and so we decided to do a little compare and contrast on the xiao long bao, soup dumplings. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Shanghai soup dumplings and I even made a little video of how to eat them properly.

First you pick them up delicately from the steamer, so as not to rip the packet en route to your mouth. Then you tear a little hole in it and slurp out some of the juice before putting the whole dumpling in your mouth. Just tucking in without caution can result in you getting “soup” all over the place or burning your mouth. Consider yourself warned.

The XLB at Shanghai Wonderful were soupy and hot but could have done with some more attention in the flavour department as they were not very fragrant or flavourful.

smoked duck

I was informed that they weren’t as good as Shanghai River and in fact I don’t even think they’re as good as Lin’s, so it was a good thing that we also ordered an entire fish (yellow fish in red sauce which reminded me a little too much of Dr. Seuss) and half a duck. There were also noodles. Needless to say, there were a lot of leftovers.

I quite like unassuming Shanghai-style cafes that can pump out anything from 10 pages of menu and make it taste delicious and Shanghai Wonderful is one of the better ones. Next time I’ll bring even more people so we can order even more food. Groan.

Shanghai Wonderful Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Shanghai Wonderful
8380 Lansdowne Road #110, Richmond

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5 Quintessential Vancouver Restos

Posted on July 30, 2009 by | 4 Comments

kakuni
Someone asked me the other day where I would take foodie guests to eat in Vancouver and even though I did have guests in the summer, I still gave it a good think before deciding to post my top 5 here. To some extent it would depend on the guest (tastes, sense of culinary adventure, favoured cuisines, etc.), your relationship to them (romantic, family, big group, etc) and time of year (patio, view), but here’s a short list:

1. Hapa Izakaya

1479 Robson St, Vancouver

Hapa is first because I take everyone to Hapa. Sexy, modern, exotic and delicious with an inexpensive and varied menu, it does a fantastic job of showcasing Vancouver’s Asian cuisine and satisfying a wide swath of people.

Fresh fish, decadent ebi mayo, cold sake in bamboo carafes. Very reasonably priced. No resos between 6 and 8.

2. Boneta

1 West Cordova, Vancouver

Boneta’s tag line is “Boneta loves you” but I just want to squeeze them and tell them I love them right back. How can you not love Boneta? Fresh, flirty and fabulous, it manages to be somehow luxurious and casual at the same time. By which I mean that you can eat the best carpaccio (bison! with quail egg!) in the neighbourhood and not have to dress up for it, and you can likewise sip a glass of bubbly at the table next to Jennifer Beals and feel absolutely at home. The staff work hard to maintain this balance and I think that the emphasis on creating a welcoming environment is very Vancouver. That and it’s filled with local art, locally harvested products and minor local celebrities.

3. The Refinery

1115 Granville Street, Vancouver

Having recently celebrated their official grand opening, I suspect that the once quiet room at The Refinery is now going to be packed, but with good reason. Amazing cocktails like Lauren Mote‘s prize-winning Charred Bourbon Sour (in house “house” bitters, bourbon, lemon, egg white, charred american oak and caramelized coconut syrup), lots of B.C. wines and locally sourced product wherever possible.

The staff is incredble, the room is gorgeous and icing on this delicious cake is that the place is head-to-toe sustainable. Ocean-wise fish and on-site filtered water, organic and (where possible) homemade juices in the cocktails, recycled wood tables and wood fixtures and even a bike storage locker. The only thing that would make it more quintessentially Vancouver would be yoga on the roof.

4. Raincity Grill

1193 Denman Street, Vancouver

I haven’t actually been to Raincity Grill yet, but it’s a local favorite of many friends and foodists and I think has to be included on this list because of its dedication to West Coast cuisine and locally sourced food.

I used to frequent Aurora for that reason, RIP.

5. Dim Sum…somewhere

Doesn’t really matter where, but you need to go for dim sum if you’re visiting Vancouver. Har gow…siu mai, these are common words in the food-loving Vancouverite’s vocabulary and with so many quality asian restaurants, in my mind it’s a requisite stop. Happy Valley is a good choice, or Dai Tung or any of the fine establishments in Richmond. The Richmond Night Market is also a perfectly acceptable substitute and has the added benefit of being able to buy miles and miles of crap merchandise for your guests to take home with them.

What do you think? Where would you take an out of town guest?

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Comforting Congee Noodle House

Posted on July 9, 2009 by | 1 Comment

congee
The menu reads, “the benefits of eating congee are irrefutable” and sitting in the busy restaurant listening to the din of happy diners competing with the low throb of my hangover, I prayed that that would prove true.

Congee is a sort of Asian hot rice soup, very similar to cream of wheat or porridge, that is often filled with meats or fish. I’ve heard that it’s an acquired taste, but raised on cream of wheat and porridge with sausage and other savories in it, I take to it naturally and seek it out whenever I need some comfort.

The house special congee, an easy favorite, is a bowl of creamy rice broth with toasted peanuts and green onion on top and filled with huge prawns, mushooms and pieces of fish, squid, and scallops. For $7 you are practically guaranteed to be full and also so warm and taken care of after. If you live nearby, you might want to go home for a nap. As it was, I think I nodded off a bit on the bus.

Some day I’d like to try the more exotic congees on offer; ostrich meat congee, and Chinese parsley and sea bass congee but I wasn’t about to risk my hangover on something exotic. The house special fixed me up just fine.

Congee Noodle House on Urbanspoon
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Congee Noodle House
141 East Broadway, Vancouver

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Shanghai River

Posted on April 16, 2009 by | 3 Comments

Ethnic Eats is back in force and today welcomes Travis Smith, our first guest writer, who recently made a foray to Richmond to Shanghai River. He writes regularly at Unvarnished.

Xiao Long Bao, Shanghai River

I had two pick up two people at the airport, 3 hours apart, and thought to myself — why waste a trip over the bridge? So I made a reservation at Shanghai River in Richmond, whose Xiao Long Bao are said to be the best around… but more on that later.

I was quickly reminded of Richmond’s broad roads with narrow or no sidewalks, and getting parking at the restaurant itself proved a bit tricky. Impossible tip: Turn into the parking garage driveway just before you see the restaurant sign because by the time you see it, you’re past the entrance.

Shanghai River presents a typical Chinese dining room experience: large round tables with crisp white tablecloths, waiters in plain shirts and solid ties with one blue-shirted manager supervising the bill-paying procedure. Reservations are recommended, and many of the menu options were built for groups of 4,6,8 or 10.

Shrimp Crab Balls, Shanghai River

But we were just a group of three, which was oh-so-sad because their glossy coffee-table-book-style menu promised such deliciousness on offer if only we had had more people to share with. The menu itself was a fabulous work — but sadly, several of the menu items were not available when we asked; perhaps because we dined late, or perhaps because it’s really hard to change a bound book when food items become hard to procure.

We appetized ourselves with Xiao Long Bao (their most popular item) and three deep fried shrimp paste balls on a crab claw. The bao are superb — a flavourful clear broth and loosely bound pork filling in a tender dumpling wrap that is a true test of chopstick finesse. You must nibble a hole and suck out the piping hot soup, then pop the dumpling in your mouth, all without tearing the delicate dough. I wish there was a second batch.

The shrimp balls were the only sour note of the evening, literally and figuratively. Imagine eating deep fried silly putty (come on, you know you’ve wanted to) that, because of the extruding claw, looks like an alien creature hatching. It was too hot, burning my mouth (OK, fine, that could have been partially my fault), and tasting powerfully of … nothing in particular. I found myself wondering if I could remove the batter and play squash with the balls instead.

Fish Fillet, Shanghai River

The lamb rack was stellar if not too Chinese, and the surprise of the evening was “fish fillet in seaweed,” which turned out to be oh-so-lightly tempura’d and came with straight Worcestershire sauce that was a wonderful accompaniment.

Lamb Chops, Shanghai River

The service started out slow, got better, and then dwindled at the end, but I prefer that to an overly attentive waitstaff when you’re trying to pick through so many menu items, or when you’re in no hurry to leave. Still, this isn’t a dash-in, dash-out place. If possible, ask for a table with a view of the kitchen — the dumpling makers are visible from some of the dining room behind a floor-to-ceiling glass window that makes for fun watching.

Shanghai River on Urbanspoon

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Shanghai River Restaurant
110 – 7831 Westminster Hwy. Richmond, BC

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Lin’s Chinese Cuisine

Posted on April 15, 2009 by | 8 Comments

xiao long bao at Lin's

Food can oftentimes be a daring adventure, but it is just as often a source of comfort and familiarity. It used to be that mashed potatoes were my default comfort food but while I still love them, there is nothing like a bowl of noodles to get me back to centre. And so I found myself at Lin’s the other day, with a bowl of tan tan noodles and some xiao long bao. The menu lists them as “Shanghai-style juicy dumplings” and they’re often referred to as either Shanghai dumplings or soup dumplings, but they all amount to the same thing; meat – usually pork , chives, ginger and spices sealed into a dumpling pastry along with a bit of fragrant broth.

There is a trick to eating xiao long bao. Proper technique is required so as to not burn your mouth or rip the dumpling prematurely and spill the soup. Pick the dumpling up carefully with your chopsticks, making sure it is not sticking to the steamer and plunk it gently in the dipping sauce. It’s crucial not to tear the dumpling because otherwise the soup will spill out. When you have it to your mouth, tear a little hole in the pastry with your teeth. Let it cool for a moment and then slurp up the liquid before eating the rest if the dumpling. Otherwise you risk scalding your tongue or spilling the “juice” all over your shirt. Trust me on this. I’ve done both.

The xiao long bao at Lin’s come 6 for $4.99 and this is unfortunately not really convenient for lunching solo. Six dumplings is a good snack and 6 dumplings plus noodles is way too much food. But I do love noodles and I was in need of some calm, so I ordered both.

tan tan noodles at Lin's

The deluxe tan tan noodle soup is $6.29 for a bowl of hand cut noodles soaking in thick, peanuty broth with bits of pork and topped with scallion. It is the kind of meal that makes you sit back and close your eyes, completely comforted.

Lin Chinese Cuisine on Urbanspoon
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Lin’s Chinese Cuisine
1537 West Broadway (at Granville), Vancouver

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Keep Going on to the Next Noodle Bar

Posted on January 12, 2009 by | 1 Comment

next-duck-noodle-soup

For some reason I have been walking past Next Noodle Bar since it opened, not quite avoiding it, but not going in either. The other day I decided to finally give it a try and what I found inside what not quite what I was expecting. Set up beside Prima, the storefront looks sleek and somewhat upscale, but upon entering, the casual, quick service and bustle are evident. I was seated quickly, handed a plastic menu and asked for my order before I could get through all the pages. They’re clearly used to a busy lunchtime crowd and there’s nothing wrong with that, but the food can be hit and miss.

next-chicken-lollipops

I couldn’t resist the idea of the chicken lollipop appetizer; breaded balls of chicken, fried and skewered on sugar cane with a sweet chili sauce, and they were good, but good in the way that fried mozza sticks are good…because they’re greasy with a tinge of sugar and hit all the tastebuds at once, including the guilt receptors.

Still, they were something different and flavourful, which is more than I can say for the Imperial duck noodle soup that followed. The duck was tasty, but the noodles and broth were both bland and no amount of condiments could to fix it.

The menu has noodles, rice  and soup dishes (among others) and while there appeared to be something for everyone, the menu is really too broad to be useful.  Dishes come from different areas and countries, but too many to be cohesive and often completely whitewashed so that you can’t taste the regional flavour anyways.

It’s that “Pan-Asian” style that caters to white people by trying to incorporate too many flavours and cuisines and ending up doing none well. I’m not really a fan, but it was busy while I was there and as long as there are diners needing decent, quick lunches it will continue to be. You could do a lot worse for $7-$10 entrees in that neighbourhood, but then you can do better as well.

Next Noodle Bar on Urbanspoon
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Next Noodle Bar
560 Robson Street, Vancouver

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Dim Sum Disappoints from Floata

Posted on December 30, 2008 by | Leave a comment

floata-abalone-stickt-rice

Floata Dim Sum in Chinatown used to be an easy favorite for group lunches. Grab a couple of cars, grab a big table and then order one of everything. Beef balls, siu mai, har gow, crepes and sticky rice. A table of 6 could eat well for $15-$20 each. But then some people started dropping off and some of us started venturing farther afield to other (better, cheaper) dim sum establishments and so it’s been a while since I’ve been to Floata.

I was really hoping it would be like a return to an old favorite, but in the year or so since I’ve been there, it has gone downhill.

floata-dim-sum

We ordered all the usual favorites and they were ok. The beef balls were a little greasy. The siu mai and har gow were ok. The crepes (pork and shrimp) were probably as good as they’ve always been, but in the face of such overwhelming averageness, I was disappointed.

floata-crepes

We also ordered a couple of new dishes…at the top is an abalone and egg in sticky rice dish and pictured below was my favorite dish of the day, jellyfish and roast pork.

floata-roast-pork-and-jellyfish

 We ate way more than was good for us and split between 3 people, the bill ended up being almost $30 each, which is an outrageous price for mediocre dim sum. Some of the dishes like the jellyfish and the abalone were more on the expensive side ($6.75) which brought the price up, but even so the traditional “filler” dishes should have satisfied for a decent price.

I’m sure I’ll be back at some point, as Floata is still the best place I know of close to downtown (well, the best place that’s affordable and not Imperial). But I won’t be back in a hurry.

Floata Seafood on Urbanspoon
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Floata Dim Sum
400-180 Keefer Street, Vancouver, B.C.

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Happy Valley Dim Sum Makes Me Happy…and Very Full

Posted on December 6, 2008 by | 5 Comments

har-gow-with-scallops

I have an announcement to make. I have a new favorite dim sum place.

I seem to be getting farther and farther out of town for dim sum, which is as it should be, and this one I had to actually rent a car for, so I had high expectations. Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant is way out on Broadway (for me), but so worth the trek.

There is no cart service, so I read off the list of delicacies to my dining companions and there was some consternation about the amount of food we were ordering, but we pushed on, confident in our appetite and stretchy pants.

We had ordered several of the traditional dim sum dishes; BBQ pork buns, crispy deep fried squid, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves and beef balls (below) and as we started sampling there were happy sounds all around.

dim-sum

The deep-fried squid was particularly good here, as was another favorite of mine, the braised eggplant with pureed shrimp paste. The huge portions of siu mai disappeared quickly, tasty and not too greasy. They were near perfect.

siu-mai

I passed on the green onion pancake and spring rolls because I wanted to save room for some of the more non-traditional items like clams in black bean sauce and har gow (shrimp dumplings) with dried shredded scallop on top (pictured top), pork cheek with tofu, beef shortrib with pumpkin and taro paste in bird’s nest.

And with the exception of the bland tasting taro paste, I was not disappointed. I’ve not had clams at dim sum before, but they were exquisite (if somewhat difficult to pry from their shells with chopsticks) in their black bean sauce and I had far too many of them than was good for me.

Actually, I had way more of everything than was good for me and then I had to go home and have a nap. But it was so very good and ended up only being only $15 each for 5 VERY stuffed people.

The place was bustling on a Saturday lunch, but the service was still decent. As soon as my pants fit again, I’ll be back.

Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant
3432 East Broadway, Vancouver

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Bubble Tea Quest Stops at Sammi’s

Posted on November 17, 2008 by | 2 Comments

Isn’t it always the case that you want what you can’t have? I haven’t gone to our company Christmas party for the last 4 years, but now that we’re not having one, I totally want to go. Similarly, I go to Dragon Ball Tea House somewhat regularly, but now that it’s closed for a MONTH, I want to go for bubble tea every day. Or maybe it’s just that the need is compounding.

So I’ll review my favorite bubble tea place later. Luckily there is still some bubble tea around to satisfy my craving,  Sammi’s Bubble Tea in Tinseltown Mall manages to fill the void admirably.

Bubble tea is an interesting thing to explain to anyone who hasn’t tried it. A milky/juicy drink with tapioca balls/jelly or slush that comes in flavours from wheat to watermelon and that you have to drink with giant straws? Yeah, that’s weird. It is also delicious and the first summer I ever had one I tried to make my way through a huge menu of strange brews. I never made it to the end, but the fierce affection hasn’t abated either.

I’m generally not a fan of the really sweet ones, so Tofu pudding with pearls (always with pearls for me, even though I often come close to choking on them) is a favorite, as well as lychee, but I’ve had the papaya as well. The powder-based ones tend to be much sweeter than real fruit, so go with those if you prefer a less sweet drink. Most are only $3.75 which is quite reasonable for the size you get. It easily lasts me all the way back to Yaletown, even with my addiction.

The shop is in a food court and it feels like a food court. Actually, it feels like the kids’ ball room in a food court, with all the bright colours and cartoony lettering, but there’s nothing to do about it other than get your bubble tea and go.

Sammi's Bubble Tea on Urbanspoon
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Sammi’s Bubble Tea
88 West Pender, Vancouver (in Tinseltown mall)

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Dragon Ball Bubble Tea House – will be open in December
1007 W King Edward, Vancouver

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Fresh Cut Noodles at Sha Lin

Posted on August 5, 2008 by | 2 Comments

Sha-Lin Noodles (finished)

There used to be a time where anyone wanting to take me on a cheap date could just walk me around the corner to the pet store where I would spend an hour in front of the chameleon tank. Now it seems that I can get in dinner and a show. At Sha Lin Noodle House they make all their noodles fresh on site and a window into the kitchen lets you keep an eye on the process while you’re waiting for dinner. A plexiglass partition does double duty keeping things sanitary and keeping the kids away from the vats of boiling water too.

Sha-Lin Noodles (in progress)

Notice that I was the only one up there with the children, but I find it very interesting to see how food is made, especially something as mundane as noodles. These guys were on to something way before Fuel’s open kitchen hit the streets.

Here’s a video I found that showcases the noodle-making technique a bit better:

Now for the food.

We ordered a green onion pancake to start, followed closely by handmade cutting noodles with beef and broccoli. At that point, I was starting to get pretty full. The green onion pancake was flaky and savoury, made with just a small amount of oil, and the freshly made noodles were both delicious and interesting in that they were not uniformly shaped.  A pan fried dumpling, dipped in vinegar (only available at dinner) followed after I had already eaten too much food and so the majority of it had to be saved for lunch the next day.

Entertainment plus way too much food plus 2 beers for $30.00 equals a definite success.

The service was quick too. Food and beer were brought to the table almost immediately and while the pan fried dumplings did come last, after a bit of time, it was still much quicker than the potential 20 minute wait the waitress warned us about. We seemed to have just beat the rush because as we were tucking in to dinner a long line up started forming of hungry diners and people eager to pick up their take-out orders. It’s definitely a neighbourhood favorite and be prepared to wait a bit if you go at dinnertime.

Sha Lin Noodle House on Urbanspoon
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Sha Lin Noodle House
548 W Broadway, Vancouver

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