I was craving for xiao long bao so I suggested to go eat at Dinesty. The restaurant was full on a weekday at lunch hour but the service was so speedy that we were seated within 10 minutes. This is a restaurant where you will feel ushered and rushed so don't expect to be able to relax and slowly enjoy your food. However, it is great if you prefer quick service and to get your food fast.

Beef tendon - This is an appetizer and most pieces were thoroughly marinated to the softness that tendons need to be. A few of the bigger pieces were a bit chewier and could use about half an hour more cooking. This savoury dish has a hint of sweetness and can be quite oily. Since tendons take awhile to make at home, it is probably easier to just eat out.

Beef tendon

"Small Yellow Fish" - I am translating this name directly from Chinese. The fish is deep fried and sits in a pool of Chinese cooking liquor, probably rice wine. Despite being deep fried, this is a cold dish and I did not like it much. It was hard to chew and not especially tasty.

"Small Yellow Fish"

Dan Dan Noodles - One of my favourite things to order at Shanghai food places is Dan Dan Noodles. The soup base I've tried before are seriously peanuty with sesame oil and slight spiciness. This bowl was a bit diluted in the peanut department and lacked any spice (if that's what you're looking for). I would've appreciated chopped up pieces of peanuts to add more texture, though the cucumber did add some freshness to an otherwise oily dish.

Dan Dan Noodles

Xiao Long Bao - Finally, these small steamed soup dumplings are what we came here for and they did not disappoint. The abundance of folds with its thin wrapper contained pork and juicy soup. They were hot but did not burn the tongue. It's personal preference but more soup inside the dumplings would have been even more ideal.

Xiao Long Bao

Ox Tongue Tomato Baked Rice

Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant stands where Hon's Richmond used to be before it closed down. It is now a Chinese restaurant with higher menu prices and fusion interior design.

Deep fried fish flakes and radish ball: The presentation of this dish reminded me of takoyaki balls with the fish flakes on top. The balls are made of shrimp paste and shredded radish so you get the texture of soft radish between the chewy shrimp paste. I quite liked this and wish there was a dipping sauce to go with it.

Deep fried fish flakes and radish ball

Almond sticks: I don't remember the English name on the menu but direct translation from the Chinese name is Almond Sticks. It was oval balls of pork meat covered in almond slices and fried. The almond created a nice crunch and the pork retained its juiciness inside. This is a unique dish that I've never seen at other dim sum restaurants.

Almond sticks

Shrimp and matsutake dumpling: They say that you can evaluate if a dim sum restaurant is good by its shrimp dumplings. Although the previous two dishes were good, this shrimp dumpling was nothing special. The wrapper broke easily and the shrimp didn't have the bouncy texture of fresh shrimp. 

Shrimp and matsutake dumpling

Bitter gourd and chicken shreds rice noodles: This was another dish that fell flat. The rice noodle roll is made with bitter gourd juice so it tastes slightly bitter. It was over-cooked in the steaming process and broke easily. A well-made rice noodle roll would not break when holding it up with chopsticks and retain a smooth texture when you eat it due to the oil used in the steaming process. The dish seems to be creative but not well executed.

Bitter gourd and chicken shreds rice noodles

Baked egg white and cream buns: These buns are really good if you ignore the filling. The outside with the sugar and egg white coating is baked to crunchiness coating a soft layer of bun underneath. The filling of the bun is this white blob-looking custard that is bland. The coating outside offers the only taste for this bun which is slight sweetness and it was not even sweet enough.

Baked egg white and cream buns

Chilled osmanthus jelly pudding: This dessert looked the most different from its menu photo. The photo featured alternating layers of clear beige osmanthus jelly and opaque white jelly. As you can see in the photo below, it arrived as a much brighter yellow and there weren't any opaque white layers. Osmanthus (a flower) is fragrant and tastes excellent in jelly. However, this jelly offered only a mild osmanthus taste and slight sweetness at best. If it was more sweet it would taste more like a dessert.

Chilled osmanthus jelly pudding

Overall there are some unique dim sum dishes that you can try out at Chef Tony but at a similar price point to Kirin I would go to the latter for consistency in quality.

Shun Feng is located inside Parker Place and was quite crowded on a weekend morning. 

They offer a four person dim sum set with a congee and four choices of dim sum.

Congee

Mushroom dumplings: There were various types of mushrooms and veggies inside this dumpling. It's steamed and the dumpling wrap is quite chewy.

Fried prawn on tofu: There is a dollop of shrimp paste on tofu which is deep fried. The fried goods are then slathered in a sweet and sour chili sauce. I wouldn't necessarily order this every time I eat dim sum here but it's a fun dish to try.

Pan-fried lotus root cake: Chopped bits of lotus root is pasted with fish paste to make this lotus root cake. Although the name is pan-fried, it is closer to being fried since it is quite oily. 

Three mushroom rice noodle roll: This steamed dish is rice noodle wrapped in three types of mushrooms as the name suggests. The mushrooms have a distinct flavour which is quite tasty and the wrapping isn't thick as you can see in the photo that the rice noodle is slightly see through.

Overall Shun Feng is a pretty good place for dim sum for the set combo and good ambiance. The seats are quite spacious and doesn't feel crowded even when the restaurant is full of people.

Enjoy Cafe 1+1 is located in a busy Asian strip mall in Richmond. Although the restaurant doesn't serve the best food, it always has customers because if its good location and ability to serve a quick meal.

I tried the beef brisket curry rice. The curry wasn't bad as it was quite flavourful and not too spicy for me. There were beef brisket, potato, and green bell pepper pieces in the curry.

For a small fee I chose to upgrade my meal drink to Horlick with grass jelly. I like how the grass jelly makes the drink feel more refreshing. The texture of the jelly is interesting too.

Despite the name of this restaurant, I never quite reach the point of enjoying my meal here. It is more to fill my stomach when I feel hungry and then move on with my day.

We went to Lucky Tao for dim sum just as it opened at 10am. The dim sum is only $2.99 a dish so the place was filled up quickly after 10:30am. In general the food is good for the price but don't expect service. The servers are long time workers and they are fine but the cashier lady (and probably the owner) was very rude. After waiting for my bill, I walked up to the counter to ask for my bill and she straight out ignored me. She was not on a telephone or talking to anyone else but she did not even look up to acknowledge me. That was the least pleasant part of this meal. Now onto the food.

Fried seaweed wrapped salmon and shrimp: This dish is pretty good. There is shrimp and salmon filling inside the seaweed wrap which is fried to crispiness. It comes with a side of mayo for dipping.

Fried seaweed wrapped salmon and shrimp

Fried Chinese New Year Cake: Typically Chinese new year cake are pan-fried in squares so I was surprised to see it come in this format wrapped in spring roll paper. It didn't taste worst than the typical square version but I prefer it without the wrap. I liked that there was a distinct ginger taste to the dish.

Fried Chinese new year cake

Steamed BBQ pork bun: This bun is what you would expect from a typical dim sum place. There was the usual red BBQ pork filling inside a bun.

Steamed BBQ pork bun

Pan-fried taro cake: This was the most underwhelming dish. It was dry and tasteless. It probably doesn't taste that different from eating a cooked taro directly.

Pan-fried taro cake

Overall, the inconsiderate service from the cashier lady will not deter me from eating at Lucky Tao again because the servers are actually quite prompt and the food is priced well.

Lucky Tao

After eating Din Tai Fung for the first time in Taiwan this summer at the Taipei 101, I was eager to try the one closer to home in Bellevue. Din Tai Fung started in Taiwan and many friends asked me if it was comparable to which I will have to reply no but that does not mean our meal was not delicious. You just have to try the ones in Taiwan to understand why they're so famous. The service of the Taipei 101 one was top notch because they even kindly mix the sauces for you.

It was a weekday evening but the place was completely full. We waited around 15 minutes until we were seated, during which I observed the chefs making the dumplings. They all fit into a cramped small room but the Taipei 101 location had a large open style kitchen (with windows) where each chef had much more room to make his or her food.

Chefs busy making dumplings

Xiao Long Bao: These steamed dumplings is a must have at Din Tai Fung. These came warm instead of hot but still tasted good. The skin was very thin and the pork was juicy with the soup spilling out.

Xiao Long Bao

Dan Dan noodles: This noodle was comparable to the one I had at the Taipei 101. The noodles sit in a thick peanut sauce and is addicting to eat because it is aromatic scent-wise and taste-wise. The use of sesame oil is probably what makes this bowl of noodles so good. There is only a slight spiciness to it.

Dan Dan noodles

Rice cakes with pork: This was least impressive dish. The rice cakes were stuck together or overcooked. They were over-boiled so there were little craters on the supposedly smooth rice cake surface. The dish was overly oily and only tasted like soy sauce. I wouldn't recommend this.

Rice cake with pork

Overall, the service was friendly but be prepared to wait if you're eating here during peak meal times. Most of the food offered at this out-of-Taiwan Din Tai Fung location was still good but does not deserve the best status of the Taiwan locations that won this restaurant its famous name.

Din Tai Fung (Bellevue)

Kirin is an award winning Chinese restaurant in Vancouver so everyone has to make reservations when eating here or else you don't get a seat! On a weekend morning, we arrived at Kirin Richmond right when it opened and there was already a crowd waiting at the reception area. The past few times we ate here, the hostess' was not that great but once seated, the staff are quite friendly.

We ate more things than I photographed below but I will just post some of the more noteworthy things.

Shrimp dumplings: Shrimp dumplings are one of those dim sum dishes that are at every Chinese restaurant so you can really compare the good from the bad. The shrimp in the dumplings were large and had the fresh bouncy texture. They were some of the best shrimp dumplings I've had in Vancouver.

Shrimp Dumplings

Steamed Pork Ribs: The steamed pork ribs were actually just normal and what one would expect from any dim sum restaurant.

Pan Fried Radish Cake: The radish cake was yummy with its soft texture in the middle and crunchiness on the outside from being pan fried. There was a small dish of XO sauce which was great paired with the radish cake.

L: Radish Cake; R: Pork Ribs

Durian Mochis: Durians are definitely not everyone's fruit but if you eat it then you will definitely enjoy this dish a lot. Durian or not, this is one of the best desserts I've had at a dim sum place! These delicate mochis have a very thin skin that encompasses a large dollop of durian and whipped cream. Each bite is so soft, fragrant and creamy. Winner.

Durian Mochis

Kirin's Awards

Overall, just remember to make reservations before eating at Kirin! The service (by the hostess) might disappoint but the food certainly won't.

Ho Yuen Kee is a restaurant that I hear about frequently on the Chinese radio but have not visited in awhile. Since we were hosting a friend from out of town, we decided to go eat some trusted yummy Vancouver Chinese food.

Lobster with sticky rice: We had to order Ho Yuen Kee's famous dish, the lobster and added the sticky rice on recommendation by the server. The lobster was fresh and juicy with the rice soaking up all the juices underneath. The sticky rice just seemed like the texture of normal rice actually and wasn't sticky at all. There were corn pieces mixed into the rice.

Lobster with sticky rice

Bok Choy with Tofu: Cooked bok choy surrounded a plate of soft tofu drizzled in sweet soy sauce. Have to get our dose of veggies!

Bok Choy with Tofu

Beef Brisket & Tendon pot: I really enjoy eating beef brisket and tendons when dining out because it takes a long time to marinate and cook it to the perfect tenderness. This dish was delicious with the brisket and tendons completely soft and marinated thoroughly with the sauce. Great comfort food.

Beef Brisket & Tendon pot

Tofu pudding: Another famous dish here is the tofu pudding. The texture is delicate and smooth while retaining a semi-firm form. Adding a bit of sweet ginger syrup makes this a perfect dessert to end the meal.

Tofu pudding

Heart shaped syrup in tofu pudding

Be sure to make a reservation before eating here because there aren't many tables to fill all the eager customers! We were seated almost straight away with our reservation but I saw some people wait for 15-30 minutes for their table.

Ho Yuen Kee interior