Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant

Food: * * * * 1/2

Service: * * *


Best dim sum (upscale) that we've had in the greater Van area, and the place takes reservations too! Fresh har gow with a nice thin skin, great twists on normal dishes (e.g. pork floss on the crispy donut wrapped in a rice roll), and tasty sticky rice pockets. Ask for the English menu though; the default is all-Chinese. Parking is free, though beware the idiots who park in spaces that aren't actually spots, blocking your exit from the parking lot! Decor is much more classy than other dim sum places (dark wood and ivory, with red accents). Service is reasonable though not expedient, so be prepared to wait. Even people with reservations have to wait, so don't go when you're starving. Otherwise, excellent dim sum. We'll definitely be back!

Shiang Garden

Food: * * * 1/2

Service: * 1/2

Update: Pretty tasty dim sum, especially the har gow and siu mai. Some of the traditional dishes take on a new twist, like the sticky rice that isn't wrapped in lotus leaves but some sort of edible crepe instead. Dim sum menu is a bit limited in variety, but good quality for what you get. Ambiance is strangely pseudo-Victorian, complete with high ceilings, gilded fixtures, and paintings that look like they should have hung on Queen Victoria's walls. Service is horrifying; we did not get our food for over 30 minutes, despite the fact that the place was half-empty. When the dishes finally came, one server tried to take our food away to give to another waiting table. Mid-range affordability; not the priciest but not discount pricing either. Don't go here unless you've got some masochist blood running through your veins; the food is good but it's not worth the misery of the service.

Shanghai Chinese Bistro

Food: * * * * 1/2

Service: * * * * 1/2

Surprisingly awesome service at a Chinese restaurant; attentive and polite. Try their Peking duck; the servers will attempt to wrap them for you (nice, but not necessary, really). All the dishes here were tasty, and of course the handmade noodles are a must. Portions are not huge and prices are heftier than normal for the size you get. However, if you're about quality and not quantity this is a good place to get some tasty Chinese.

Ho Yuen Kee

Food: * * * 1/2

Service: * * *

As with most Chinese eateries, don't even think about receiving great service. Line-ups were insanely long so expect to wait if you go at night. Food was good but not stellar; someone forgot to add salt to our fish maw soup, and all the other dishes tasted okay but were forgettable. Prices were affordable (explains the line-up) and setting was casual. Not sure what the hype was about; maybe I'm too spoiled by my dad's expertise in Cantonese wok-cooking.

Golden Ocean

Food: * * * *

Service: * * *


Going off-peak hours (20% off) on a Saturday, we found the dim sum to be very tasty. Not a huge variety but all of the basics were covered. Definitely as good as the more expensive alternatives. Push-carts and circulating trays were a good reminder of the old fashioned dim sum we know and love. Ignore the holes in the tablecloths and worn out upholstery on the chairs; it's about the food and it's solid. Might get noisy and crowded during peak hours though, so go early!

Mandala Iki Asian Bistro

Hubbs and I stopped in for a quick bite at Mandala Iki over the weekend, attracted by the "Brown Rice Sushi" sign hanging outside the shop.  We've not seen any other restaurant that offers this, so we were pretty psyched at the prospect of having healthy sushi (and not having to forego the rice).

When we arrived, I was struck by the bareness of the place.  A sushi station at the back of the restaurant, with a kitchen tucked away behind said station.  A flat screen TV on the wall, playing TSN.  Booths lining both sides of the wall, and tables set up in a linear pattern in the middle of the room.  A loaded bar (and till) at the front of the boxy restaurant, on one side.  Everything was sort of simply laid out, and completely unpretentious.  It felt efficient (must be Chinese owned, I reason).

Anyway, when we got our menus, I was struck again - this time by the affordable prices.  I could hardly believe my eyes: rolls for only $7 - 9?!? I'm used to the outrageous Kamei Royale roll prices...you know, $14/roll.  This was a pleasant surprise, but of course my skepticism kicked in and I wondered how good the food would be.  The fact that the restaurant serves very traditional Chinese fare (congee, fried rice noodles) along with sushi was enough to make me a bit wary.  

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded.  We ordered 4 rolls (Crispy Lobster, Crispy Mango, Negitoro, Kits Rolls) and 2 pieces of toro nigiri, all with brown rice.  When the rolls came out, I almost died of delight.  They were sizeable pieces, fresh, tasty, and not greasy.  When I read "crispy" I was expecting a bit of tempura overload, but they totally redefined crispy for me.  I think they used sesame seeds or something, because all of the rolls (including the ones with a tempura shrimp inside) were not the least bit greasy.  I particularly loved the Mango roll (a specialty) because the juicy sweet mango flavour was very prominently featured.  The rolls each had its own distinct flavour, and the brown rice was sufficiently moist as to not seem like I was eating brown rice.  The toro nigiri was fresh too, and a good sized piece of toro was offered; the fish wasn't as melt-in-your-mouth as some other specialty sushi restaurants, but for $1.75/piece I was willing to "settle" for this delicious giant hunk of tuna belly.

The best part (aside from the speed of service, due to a lack of patrons at 4:00 in the mid-afternoon) was the bill...a whopping $32! That was it!! Hubbs and I even had tea ($0.75/cup, not the best deal ever) and we rolled outta there with full bellies and not-so-empty wallets.

Will we be back? Hell yes!  Probably on a semi-weekly basis, too.  Next time I might also want to check out their "Chinois" food, since I have a serious hankerin' for some sweet & sour pork (also on their menu).  Hubbs already has his eye on some of the other rolls, and of course he loves that Lobster Roll so he'll be back for it, probably even this week! ;)

Service: 3.5 out of 5

Food: 4.5 out of 5

Update

Hubbs & I came back here a few days ago, and I tried their ginger beef.  It was, no word of a lie, the best ginger beef I've ever had.  They used slices of tender beef instead of sticks of dry over-fried beef, and instead of deep-frying with a ton of batter, they used a light batter (I'm guessing made with cornstarch) and so the beef was crispy yet still soft enough to chew.  The sauce had a good gingery kick to it, leaving my mouth on fire for a bit afterwards.  Hubbs loved it too, and we ended up devouring the entire dish before our rolls even arrived.  Next time I might try their sweet & sour pork.  Even thinking about their food now is making me drool...yum.

Legendary Noodle @ Denman

Once again, pictureless post (you can Google images if you really want them)...this was an impromptu dinner date with friends, and we were running late so of course the camera was not a priority.  We got to Legendary Noodle first, and punctually, and were seated at an old-style Chinese booth (meaning hard solid wood benches with little silk cushions - cute).

When our friends arrived, we ordered the house tea on their recommendation.  It's a hot tea with dried fruits (including the gojiberry) and chrysanthemum.  While the rest of the table enjoyed their tea, I found it meh.  It was only partly sweetened, but I found the chrysanthemum taste and the weird herbal flavourings of the tea to be kind of icky.

We ordered green onion pancakes, the garlic-fried pea shoots, and steamed pork and chive dumplings as appies.  Of course, our appies and mains came out at the same time so really there ws no differentiation of the courses.  The pea shoots were fresh and tasty, and I thought the dumplings were okay; they had a bit of soup inside (sort of like xiao long bao but in dumpling form rather than round).  The green onion cakes were pretty good, and they weren't greasy nor too oniony.  

Our shared noodle courses included the following: a beef broth thick noodle soup with beef, a pan-fried flat noodle with beef brisket, and a saucy peanut-sauce broad noodle with prawns.  I liked all of the noodles, but since this was my first handmade noodle experience in Van, I can't really compare its noodles with that of other handmade noodle shops.  The noodles were crispy and not too doughy, but the noodle soup noodles were so long and of course uncut that it made sharing a bit of a challenge.  I found the beef broth delicate and salted properly, though I wasn't a big fan of the cilantro flavours.  The peanut sauce was yummy and the bits of peanut gave the dish some good texture.  I also enjoyed the stir-friend dish, and their beef brisket was not too fatty (though I had hoped to see more meat than we actually got).  

Prices were unbeatably good though; in all, tax-in, our total was around $56 (not including gratuity).  For four people, you can't beat that.  We were all satisfied and there was even a bit of noodle left over.

The service was quick and efficient, and not rude (as some reviewers had observed).  We enjoyed the place and will probably be back.  If you decide to go, do try to go at an "off" hour since their seating is limited.  If you can, also try to get a view of the noodle man making the noodles.  It's fun to watch!

Service: 3 out of 5

Food: 4 out of 5

Hon's Wun-Tun House

Sorry, no pictures from our meal.  Hubbs and I live close to a Hon's location, and decided one night a few months ago that we needed (well, *I* needed) to have some Chinese food.  We figured that even without a reservation, an informal quick-eats sort of place like Hon's would have room for us.  I was right.

We were seated almost immediately, at a table that was uncomfortably close to another group of diners.  The good part about this was that I was able to check out their food as it was being served.  Maybe my tastes are too picky from my many favourable dining experiences in authentic Chinese hole-in-the-walls in Hong Kong, or maybe I'm just spoiled because my dad is a Chinese chef with mad culinary skillz, but I wasn't impressed with what we got.

Hubbs and I ordered some potstickers, a "medley of seafood" in a potato bird's nest, and curried beef brisket with rice.  The curried beef brisket was okay but I didn't think the meat was tender enough, and I would've tried it without the curry had Hubbs been agreeable to that.  The seafood "medley" was generic and not very seafood-laden, but the folks there gave us an abundance of broccoli lining the bottom of the nest.  There was no way that the two of us could have consumed that much broccoli even if we were starving! Honestly, it was a total waste of veggies.  The potstickers were okay, but a bit flat in shape; I was expecting nice thick 3-D pan-fried dumplings but these were sort of flat and not super meaty.  Overall, the presentation of the food sucked.  

The food came out ridiculously fast though, owing to the fact that the restaurant has several food stations set up, and each station has their designated cooking tasks (eg. the potsticker station, the veggie station, etc.).  The food was also very very affordable.  The servers were efficient, bordering on rude, but not intentionally.  They were just your typical abrupt Chinese servers who didn't feel the need to assauge their patrons.

My conclusion: go to Hon's if you want semi-real (meaning non-Westernized) Chinese for cheaper prices and quick service.  I'll probably give them one more chance just because I have yet to taste their congee (rice soup), homemade noodles, and sweet & sour pork (my litmus of a truly "good" Chinese place).  If you want tasty authentic Chinese food with any semblence of presentation, you will need to look elsewhere.

Service: 3 / 5

Food: 2.5 / 5